If you have started shopping for a robot vacuum in the UK, two names come up again and again: Shark and Roborock. They are arguably the two brands people cross-shop the most, and for good reason — both make genuinely capable machines, but they come at the problem from opposite ends. Shark is the value-focused, deep-cleaning specialist that most people already know from cordless vacuums. Roborock is the mapping-and-mopping powerhouse that tends to sit at the premium end. After researching both ranges in depth and analysing hundreds of verified owner reviews, this guide is an honest head-to-head to help you work out which one actually suits your home rather than which one wins on a spec sheet.
The short answer
If your priority is deep-cleaning carpet on a sensible budget, Shark is the smart buy. If you want the most polished navigation, app and mopping experience and you have rugs, thresholds and a mix of floor types, Roborock is worth the extra money. That is the comparison in a sentence — but the detail is where you will find your answer, so let us go through it properly.
Price: Shark undercuts, Roborock justifies
This is the most obvious dividing line. The Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 lands around £399, self-emptying dock included. The Roborock Qrevo Curv sits around £899 — more than double. Roborock does make cheaper models, and Shark does make dearer ones, but taking these two flagships as representative, the gap is real. The question is not "which is cheaper" (Shark, clearly) but "is the Roborock worth the extra £500 for your home?" For a lot of people the honest answer is no — and that is fine.
Cleaning performance: carpet vs everything
Shark built its reputation on suction, and it shows. On carpet — especially medium and deeper pile — the Matrix Plus is genuinely excellent, and its "Matrix Clean" grid pattern goes over high-traffic areas several times rather than in a single pass. If most of your home is carpeted, this is exactly what you want. Our guide to how robot vacuums handle carpet goes deeper on why pile depth matters so much.
Roborock is no slouch on carpet, but where it pulls ahead is versatility across floor types. The Qrevo Curv is built for homes that are a patchwork of hard floor, rugs and raised thresholds — its party trick is climbing thresholds that leave most robots beached, and lifting its mop pads clear of carpet so it does not drag dirty water across your living-room rug. If your ground floor is a mix of tile, wood and rugs with a step or two between rooms, that adaptability earns its keep.
Navigation and the app
Here Roborock has a clear lead. Its LiDAR mapping is fast, accurate and stable, and the app is the best in the business — proper room-by-room control, no-go zones, cleaning schedules and per-room suction settings that just work. You map the house once and then forget about it.
Shark's navigation on the Matrix Plus is competent but a step behind — it maps and does room-by-room cleaning, but it is a little slower and less surgical than the LiDAR Roborock, occasionally taking a less efficient route. For a single, mostly open floor it is absolutely fine. In a larger or more compartmentalised home, Roborock's smarter routing means faster, more reliable full-house cleans.
Mopping
Both machines mop, but the experience differs. Shark's mopping is best thought of as a bonus for light everyday freshening — the pad needs manual rinsing, and there is no hot-water washing. Roborock's mopping is far more hands-off: the dock washes and dries the pads for you, and the mop lifts automatically on carpet. If daily mopping matters to you — households with kids, kitchens that see a lot of traffic — Roborock is the more convincing all-in-one. If you mostly want a vacuum and treat mopping as occasional, Shark's simpler approach saves you a lot of money.
Allergies and air quality
Both brands offer sealed, self-emptying docks that trap dust rather than puffing it back into the room, which matters if anyone in the house has asthma or a dust-mite allergy. Asthma + Lung UK recommends vacuuming with a HEPA-filter machine and doing it regularly to keep allergen levels down — and the great thing about either of these robots is that they will do it daily without you having to remember. On this front it is a draw: both do the job well, and daily automatic cleaning beats a weekly manual vacuum every time. Our pet hair guide covers which models cope best with heavy shedding.
Running costs
Neither will trouble your electricity bill. Both draw roughly 30 to 80 watts while cleaning, which works out at around 1p to 2p per clean and well under £7 a year even running daily. We did the full sums in our robot vacuum running-cost guide. The meaningful cost differences are the up-front price and consumables (dust bags, filters, mop pads) — and those are broadly similar between the two.
Shark vs Roborock: side by side
| Shark Matrix Plus 2-in-1 | Roborock Qrevo Curv | |
|---|---|---|
| Typical price | ~£399 | ~£899 |
| Best for | Deep carpet cleaning on a budget | Mixed floors, rugs & thresholds |
| Navigation | Good, room-by-room | Excellent LiDAR, class-leading app |
| Mopping | Basic, manual pad rinsing | Self-washing & drying, auto mop-lift |
| Self-empty dock | Yes | Yes |
| Our rating | 8.6 / 10 | 9.1 / 10 |
Which should you buy?
Buy the Shark Matrix Plus if: your home is mostly carpet, you want strong deep-cleaning without paying flagship prices, and you are happy with basic mopping. At around £399 with a self-emptying dock, it is superb value and covers what most UK households actually need.
Buy the Roborock Qrevo Curv if: you have a mix of hard floors, rugs and thresholds, you want proper hands-off mopping, and you value the best app and navigation on the market. It costs more, but for the right home the extra spend genuinely translates into a smoother, more automated experience.
If you are not yet sure what type or budget suits your home, our ultimate robot vacuum buying guide walks through every category, price band and specification that actually matters.
If neither feels quite right, it is worth stepping back and asking whether a robot suits your home at all — our honest verdict on whether robot vacuums are worth it covers the situations where you are better off with a good cordless. And for independent lab data on suction and battery life before you commit, the Which? robot vacuum buying guide is a good sense-check.
Ready to compare the full field? Our robot vacuum reviews put Shark, Roborock, eufy, Dreame and more side by side so you can match a machine to your floors and your budget.
