Today, we’re having a friendly competition between the Shark VACMOP and the Shark Steam Pickup 3 in 1. Both of these Shark products are designed to pick up debris and mop your floors simultaneously, but they approach the task in entirely different ways (and they are priced differently). We bought both and took them to the lab for extensive evaluations, and initially thought this review would favor the VACMOP because it’s cordless and cheaper.
Instead, the Steam Pickup impressed us so much that it now holds the No. 1 spot on our Best Hard Floor Cleaner list. If we re-ran that competition today, it would take the top position without hesitation. In this review, we’ll explain the performance and features that let the Steam Pickup outperform the VACMOP in nearly every category.
About the Shark VACMOP
Shark VACMOP
Price as of July 14, 2025
The VACMOP has been around for some time, and it’s been very popular. It’s lightweight and easy to use – like an upgraded Swiffer. It’s “upgraded” because it can vacuum debris into a reservoir inside its disposable pad, which Swiffers can’t. Additionally, it can mop after you press a button on top that electronically sprays a solution onto the floor. From there, you simply move back and forth to mop your floors.
While the battery lasts only about 13 minutes, you don’t have to run it continuously—thanks to a trigger that lets you control the vacuum motor. Also, the sprayer button is separate from the trigger, and you can’t spray the solution and vacuum at the same time, which we found a bit annoying.
And lastly, it comes with its own cleaning solution and a starter pack of mopping pads, which can also be purchased separately.
About the Shark Steam Pickup 3-in-1
Shark Steam Pickup 3-in-1
Price as of July 14, 2025
The Shark Steam Pickup 3-in-1 is a newer, corded model that does everything that the VACMOP can do—and then some. It can pick up dry debris and mop at the same time. But instead of using a detergent solution like the VACMOP, it generates steam. So it sanitizes your floors with just water.
The Steam Pickup features a roller mop, similar to most vac- or hard-floor cleaners today, and stores dry debris in a tray located inside the vacuum’s head.
This tray design makes cleanup way easier than traditional hard-floor cleaners that we’ve tried. But we’ll come back to that later.
And while some may be concerned about using a corded model, its 25-foot power cord is longer than average, providing extended reach and flexibility.
Evaluation and Performance
When we put them through real-world evaluations, the VACMOP’s strengths were immediately apparent.
The best part of the VACMOP is zero cleanup afterwards: you finish the job, toss the mop pad in the trash, and you’re done.
But there are some downsides to the VACMOP. You must be very careful with the amount of solution you spray on the floors, as it can become excessively sudsy if too much is used. Also, once the pad is fully saturated, there’s no way to absorb the excess. In fact, more than once, we had to pull out the Steam Pickup to clean up the suds that the VACMOP left behind.
Dry Debris Vacuuming
Dry-debris vacuuming performance is another area where the Steam Pickup outperformed the VACMOP. We intentionally skipped vacuuming our home for a while, allowing plenty of hair and debris to accumulate. And the VACMOP simply wasn’t as effective or reliable at picking up dry debris as the Steam Pickup.
We even tried the VACMOP with a dry pad first. We vacuumed up everything and then went back to mop, but it still didn’t make much of a difference. It just doubled the cleaning time.
In contrast, the Steam Pickup did a flawless job simultaneously vacuuming and mopping dry debris without missing a thing.
Ease of Use
As for ease of use, the VACMOP is cordless and incredibly lightweight, but the Steam Pickup is also very light compared to most hard floor cleaners. And the Steam Pickup’s swivel steering felt better than the VACMOP’s, which tended to over-steer, making it feel a little unruly.
Additionally, with the Steam Pickup you don’t have to hold the trigger down continuously to vacuum, unlike the VACMOP.
The VACMOP is also noticeably loud during operation. In contrast, the Shark Steam Pickup operates practically in silence.
Cost of Ownership
The VACMOP itself is only about $70 new, but you do need to keep buying pads and solution.
On the other hand, the Steam Pickup is currently around $200 upfront. But there are no ongoing costs since it uses tap water to produce steam.
Steam Use
And speaking of steam, this floor washer puts out a lot of it. We’ve evaluated many other steam-enabled vac combos, like the one from Tineco, but the Shark easily produces the most steam. We even ran most of our evaluations using its lowest steam setting, and still got the floors just as clean.
Dried-on Stain
Where the Shark Steam Pickup really shines is with dried-on stains. We originally designed this evaluation for robot vacuums, and then tweaked it slightly for vacuum-mop combos. The Steam Pickup scored a perfect 176 with only 1.3 g of water left behind—that’s the best score on record, with the Tineco S5 Steam in a distant second place. That one costs a lot more, too.
In contrast, the VACMOP got a respectable 109 points, but it left behind seven grams of water, which is five grams more than the Steam Pickup.
That’s not very good, but in fairness, the VACMOP’s spray-and-wipe style isn’t really designed for this torture assessment. So it’s not entirely an apples-to-apples comparison. However, even with all that extra water, the VACMOP still couldn’t match the Steam Pickup in pulling up dried stains.
Machine Cleaning
Probably the biggest reason that the Steam Pickup won us over is the way it handles dirty water and dirty debris.
Every other vac mop combo or hard floor cleaner we’ve evaluated sucks up the mix of debris through the hoses into the body of the vacuum—which is almost impossible to clean out. It seems like you almost spend more time cleaning the machine than you do cleaning up debris.
And even with self-clean cycles, which most feature these days, you can’t see inside those tubes. So you never really know if it’s actually sanitary. However, the Steam Pickup uses a completely redesigned system, which mostly cleans mechanically; it doesn’t use a vacuum motor to suck it all through the machine.
It keeps everything inside the head, so when you’re finished, you pop the tray out, rinse it, and rinse a few other things in the head, and it’s spotless. It’s a night-and-day difference and a real game-changer.
Shark Steam Pickup vs Shark Vacmop: Conclusion and Recommendation
The VACMOP absolutely has its place. We think it’s fantastic for RVs or tiny spaces where you just want a quick, disposable solution, and never want to deal with maintenance.
But if you want to pick up debris and mop floors at a high level with no recurring pad costs, the Shark Steam Pickup 3-in-1 is the best tool we’ve evaluated yet.
