NO........they are not. Almost 85% of our repairs are bagless vacuums! From Central Vacs to Hand Vacs. Bagless vacs require WAYYYYY more maintenance than a bagged vac. If you are not cleaning them almost every time you vacuum: Dirt builds up in the filter, then works it's way through to your motor.....then you are blo​wing fine dust all over your house. I say if you have dust on your vacuum...it isn't cleaning. All of these Hepa ratings and false advertising about asthma and allergy certified go out the door, as soon as you release that button, dispensing the debris into your garbage can. Where the next 10+ items thrown in cause it to poof out all over the place. Not to mention that you probably had to reach your hand up into the chamber to grab that mitt full of stuck hair dust disgust...PS for health reasons, you are actually supposed to wear gloves and a mask when doing this as "it isn't just dust". Skin Cells, micro eggs, dust mites (Droppings from dust mites can carry diseases or airborne illnesses.) Pet hair...whatever your pet brought in from outside. You know how good he is at making "friends"!

In fact we had a customer who bought a house...It had a bagless central vac system. It was full. She had been doing reno's so she took the full bin to the dumpster and dumped it in, not thinking much about it. she cleaned the internal filter (all with out gloves and a face mask) re-assembled the unit and continued to use it. Over time she got her reno's done, was settling nicely into town. Several weeks later, breathing problems started, she thought it was just different air. She steadily got worse, until she went to her doctor, who prescribed asthma inhalers. it didn't help at all, she got sicker. When an ex-ray of her lungs was taken, they found hundreds of small worms. I learned this when she came to me with her central vac canister asking for it to be fitted for a bag. She had inhaled worm eggs in the dust particles when she dumped the bin. 

A lot of people say they switched to bagless to save the environment....I have been noting the lifespan of bagless vacuums. It is between 2-5 years, depending on if the person maintains the filters. And no there is no such thing as a lifetime filters. There is no cost savings between buying bags and replacing filters! Also Bags never harmed the environment, most are harvested from renewable resources, and deteriorate. Now going through a vacuum cleaner every year (focusing on the cheap bagless vacs here) is not very environmentally conscientious...Most people buying those vacs throw them in the garbage instead of recycling. 

So buy a bagged vac, at least for your health. We have way too many asthmatic children as it is.