5 Of The Best Upholstery Cleaners On The Market (According To Owners)

No matter how hard you try, it's almost impossible to keep car seats and carpeting in pristine condition. Crumbs, stains, and daily dirt are simply a part of life, so you have to expect your car's interior to get grimy over time. You can try to wipe them clean with a cloth or sponge, but the best way to clean your car seats is with a dedicated upholstery cleaner. In classic cars, the seats, consoles, and door panels are often made out of fabrics that absorb just about everything, soaking in any spills and dirt like a sponge. But even new cars with faux-leather upholstery and space-age interior materials develop unsightly stains. Indeed, with all the advancements in the auto industry, upholstery cleaners are still useful.

The best upholstery cleaners are easy to use, effective on a variety of surfaces, and affordably priced. Our deep dive into the sea of options suggests that most upholstery cleaners perform well in one or two of those areas but fail in a third. From that research, we've compiled the best from among the available products, according to previous buyers. The best cleaner for your purposes will depend on your budget and the type of surface that you're looking to clean. Fancier options involve wet-vac style machines that inject cleaning fluids into the seats and then vacuum them up to remove all soluble materials. Cheaper, more affordable options may be as simple as spray bottles of cleaning chemicals, which require a bit more work to apply to and remove from the seats. Some of these products are sold as complete kits, while others require the purchase of additional supplies or accessories.

Peruse any online thread about the best upholstery cleaners, and you're almost guaranteed to see the name Bissell. In fact, the company pops up on our list of the 10 best handheld steam cleaners more than once. Bissell offers a wide array of cleaning products and equipment, from basic sprays to expensive machines. The happy medium is the Bissell Little Green multi-purpose upholstery cleaner. It's the top-mentioned upholstery cleaner for car seats on a thread on the r/VacuumCleaners subreddit, but it also works well on other upholstery surfaces. It's specifically lauded for its spot-cleaning abilities, since it has a handheld hose attachment that lets you attack specific locations. It's also advertised as portable due to the 15-foot power cord, though calling a plug-in wet-vac "portable" is a bit of a stretch. Nonetheless, the long power cord and 4.5-foot hose are definitely convenient for cleaning car interiors, couches, and other fabric surfaces without running out of reach.

With nearly 100,000 reviews on Amazon averaging out at 4.5 out of 5 stars, the Little Green upholstery cleaner is the reigning champ of the market. The Bissell Little Green Pro version has also received high praise, with an average of 4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon from just over 13,000 buyers. Redditor u/VacuumEveryday wrote, "The OG Bissell Little Green is a solid choice for car seats, smaller areas like mats, and spot cleaning." Other reviewers mention couches, entry carpets, and other small- to medium-sized surfaces. That being said, the Little Green isn't particularly cheap. The standard model usually retails for $123.59, the cordless version is priced at $199.95, and the Little Green Pro costs $164.79. Still, owners praise the exceptionally high suction and high build quality of these products, so you get your money's worth.

Taking care of leather upholstery is notoriously difficult. While the material has the advantage of being attractive and durable, it's also exceedingly tough to clean. However, according to those who have bought and used the product, the Furniture Clinic leather care kit is an effective and affordable solution for removing stains and grime on leather upholstery. The product is available in several different formats, but the $37.95 complete kit is the best for covering all your bases. The kit comes with a primary cleaner and a protective cream. It also includes a sponge and cloth, which are effective tools to help distribute the products. The Furniture Clinic cleaners come in 17-ounce bottles, which is more than enough for the majority of leather-cleaning jobs. According to users, those bottles can clean and protect the seats in most cars and still leave you with plenty of product for future spot cleaning.

Over 4,500 Amazon buyers have left reviews on the Furniture Clinic leather care kit, giving it an average rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars. For the most part, buyers applaud the package's easy-to-use design, and many customers praise the end result. One of the most common compliments is how the cleaning solution doesn't change the color of the leather surfaces. One unnamed user wrote, "I did a test first and detected no color changes in the leather ... [it] goes on smoothly and does not require any hard rubbing." It's hard to trust the claims of advertisers, especially when they propose miracle results. However, the number of positive reviews for this kit speaks volumes of the product's effectiveness. Some owners do complain of a smell of ammonia, and others claim it fails to remove really tough stains. Overall, however, reviews are overwhelmingly positive.

Bissell is a brand that pops up a lot in forums discussing the most effective upholstery cleaners, and there are many different options in the Bissell product line. If you need a spot-cleaning spray rather than an entire wet-vac system, Bissell Tough Oxy Stain pretreat formula is the way to go. It has the customer reviews to back it up, with a solid average rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars from more than 850 Amazon buyers. LeaLerises wrote that it "works like magic," though others are less hyperbolic. The cleaning spray does gain a lot of praise for its effectiveness as well as its affordable price of $14.29 for two 22-ounce bottles. These factors are boons for those that have frequent multiple spot-cleaning jobs, such as pet owners and people with infants or toddlers.

One common claim from customers is that the Tough Oxy Stain Pretreat Formula does an excellent job at eliminating the stink that often accompanies such stains. Amazon buyer Nick Capone wrote, "I've used it on carpets, upholstery, and even rugs, and the results have been consistently outstanding ... It doesn't just cover up the smell; it completely eradicates it." Obviously, this simple spray bottle won't be enough for massive, extensive cleaning jobs, but it's cheap and effective enough to tackle everyday stains without costing an arm and a leg.

The $109.38 Kenmore KW2001 SpotLite Go is another upholstery cleaner that claims to be portable, although the primary model needs access to an AC outlet to function. Apparently, it's the 11-pound weight that qualifies it as portable, although there's the 24-volt cordless Kenmore SpotLite Go upholstery cleaner at $169.99 for true portability. Whether you choose the plug-in model or the battery-powered version, the Kenmore SpotLite Go stands out with regards to customer feedback. On Amazon, the corded and cordless versions share more than 2,000 reviews with an average rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars. The system works well on car-seat upholstery, with many owners praising the power of the machine. Ann Marie Raymond gave it five stars and wrote, "It has a powerful suction ... I was not sure how well it was cleaning until I emptied the water holder. Oh my goodness, the water ... almost looked like mud." 

For some owners, the spray mechanism failed to effectively distribute the cleaner, although such complaints may be due to issues with the chemical formula and not the machine. Experimenting with other cleaning solutions may provide a solution, since the wet-vac system seems to work well for most. Users recommend it for cleaning up spills and isolated spots on sofas, car seats, and other upholstered surfaces. This product is similar to other wet-vacuum systems, so you can experiment with other cleaning liquids if the included Kenmore formula doesn't do the trick. Simply put, the star of the show isn't the SpotLite cleaning fluid; it's the Kenmore SpotLite Go upholstery cleaning machine.

Another brand that pops up in online discussions about the best upholstery cleaners is Shark. Specifically, the brand's StainStriker model has garnered strong praise from those who have invested in the system. This wet-vac-system comes in several packages. The Shark StainStriker cleaning unit only usually sells for $139.99, but as of this writing is on sale for $119, a 15% discount. It's also available with a two-step cleaning solution formula for $149.99, and with pet hair and wide path attachments for slightly less. As effective as the Shark-brand wet-vac may be — with its strong suction as noted by owners — the upholstery-cleaning agent that you use with it makes all the difference. 

Some customers praise the pleasant smell of Shark's cleaning chemicals, and others point out the superior spread of the cleaning agent's foam. For example, one unnamed reviewer wrote, "The additives don't have a super strong smell, they're light and pleasant. The machine has great suction and it doesn't take long at all." The simple consensus, though, is that the product is effective. The Shark StainStriker system has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars from over 5,000 Amazon reviewers. Buyers especially like the compact, easy-to-maneuver design as well as the impressive value for the price. It's a wet-vac system that requires an equally effective cleaning fluid, but when combined with a good upholstery solution from Shark or another brand, the StainStriker lives up to its name. 

Our conclusions in this article are based on previous SlashGear reporting and the opinions and reviews of real customers. To find the best upholstery cleaners, we first considered insights from our earlier articles on the topic, like "10 Tips and Tricks to Get Your Car's Interior Clean." We then consulted reviews found on Reddit, Amazon customer ratings, and other reliable sources of customer feedback. 

For Amazon products, we eliminated any items without at least 750 reviews and an average rating of 4.2 stars. We then went through the individual reviews for each product looking for particularly well-regarded items or outstanding issues, and consulted other forums to make sure we weren't missing any important flaws or concerns.