Vacuum
Automatic vacuum cleaners are simple systems that clean most 
pools effectively. Pressure and suction automatic cleaners are fairly easy to install and maintain. Most automatic cleaners have parts that wear with time and need replacement to prevent damage to the cleaner. These items are the wheels, bumpers, and rollers on the sweep tail.   Automatic cleaners can be completely removed from the pool for swimming by disconnecting the leader hose from the pool wall. Another advantage with automatic cleaners is that they are relatively inexpensive when compared to infloor cleaning systems.
Many of the pools constructed today have sun shelves, benches, or shallow areas that an automatic cleaner is not able to reach. Therefore, you would need to brush these areas and push the debris to the main pool so the vacuum could clean properly. Another disadvantage is that automatic cleaners do eventually wear out and need to be replaced.
In-Floor Cleaning System
Infloor cleaning systems have a series of pop up sweeping heads that push debris to the deep end of the pool where it is removed by a specialized drain. From this point the debris is carried to a container that has a large basket which traps large debris and the fine particles go into the pool filter. The basket is cleaned much like a skimmer would be and the filer is cleaned by backwashing or cleaning the cartridges. The pop up sweeping heads operate much like a lawn sprinkler head; working in zones to sweep the pool from shallow to deep.
Pools with shallow depths and zero depth entries can be cleaned without manually brushing. You don’t have to worry about the leader hose getting tangled and the cleaner not doing its job. There is no real visible sign of the cleaner in the pool. There is minimal maintenance associated with infloor systems other than empting a strainer basket located at the pool equipment pad.
The main disadvantages to infloor cleaning systems is the initial cost associated with installation. This type of system is triple the cost of an automatic cleaner.
