Best lawn edgers: Give your garden a professional finish
Create perfect clean lines after mowing for a neat and tidy-looking outdoor space with the best lawn edgers
If the lines between your lawn, paths and flower beds are becoming blurred then the best lawn edgers make it easy to achieve clean separation, giving your garden a neat, professional look.
Without maintenance, grass can grow wildly, rooting into areas of a garden that are meant to be for other types of planting. Typically lawn edgers are used along pathways and driveways, as well as along the perimeters of bedding and any lawn to keep a garden looking pristine.
They are available in both manual and electric models. As you might expect, electric lawn edgers tend to be more expensive but allow you to achieve your desired look more quickly.
We’ve chosen the best lawn edgers to help make your job easy, including a range of options to suit different budgets and sizes of garden. You can skip straight down to our recommendations, or first read our buying guide to discover lots of useful information about picking the best lawn edger for your needs.
Best lawn edgers: At a glance
- Best budget lawn edger: Unibos Carbon Steel Head Lawn Edger | £7.57
- Best lawn edger for durability: Draper Stainless Steel Lawn Edger | £27
- Best lawn edger for hard ground: Wilkinson Sword Stainless Steel Edging Blade | £40
How to choose the best lawn edger for you
Looking for the best lawn edger for your garden, but not sure where to start? Let’s run through some of the factors you’ll want to consider.
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What types of lawn edger are available?
- Manual – A manual lawn edger has a long wooden or metal shaft, usually with a T- or D-grip handle. In general, these edgers have a semi-circular head with a rounded bottom, although some look like angled spade heads. The bottom will have a sharp edge and there will be a small foothold at the top that you step on to apply pressure.
- Electric – These edgers are usually marketed as grass trimmers. You’ll find cordless battery-powered versions, as well as corded tools for larger areas. Cordless edgers will be powerful enough for most average-sized gardens.
- Gas – There are also edging machines available that are powered by gas, but these are generally used by professional landscapers.
How big is your garden?
The type of edger you choose should be influenced by the size of your garden, as well as taking into account how many “edges” you have to keep tidy. If you have a large garden with lots of edges to maintain (paths, driveways, flowerbeds and the edges of gardens), then you’ll probably want to invest in an edger that’s powerful enough to do things quickly. Conversely, those with lots of fiddly flowerbeds, for example, might want to consider a manual lawn edger for ease of movement.
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What features should I look for in a lawn edger?
- Construction – Whether a manual or electric lawn edger, you’ll want to choose one that feels solid and well constructed. Make sure it isn’t flimsy or wobbly and, if it requires assembly before use, read the instructions carefully when putting it together.
- Materials – If you’ve decided on a manual edger then look for one with a stainless or carbon steel blade for strength. Electric/gas edgers normally have blades made from hardened steel.
- Comfort – Make sure you choose an edger that isn’t too heavy for you to wield. It’s also useful to check whether the handle is long enough for you to use without having to bend over and risk giving yourself backache.
How we test lawn edgers
We test every lawn edger in the round up along our own garden paths and flowerbeds. Our initial tests assess how clean and sharp a line they can cut. We also consider how loud and heavy the edgers are and how sturdy the blade and handle feels during use – comfort is a big priority when gardening.
To ensure each lawn edger is suitable for a variety of users, we also ask other testers to try them out. Someone with a larger build might not have the same experience as a shorter person, age can be a factor too, that’s why we try to ensure each edger we recommend is suitable for a variety of people
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The best lawn edgers you can buy in 2023
1. Draper Stainless Steel Lawn Edger: Best lawn edger for durability
Price when reviewed: £27 | Check price at Robert Dyas
The Draper lawn edger is made from stainless steel with a solid ash handle, giving it a sleek and traditional feel. With a good-sized deep and wide tread, this is a solid edger that will last for many years.
We particularly liked the stainless steel double-riveted socket that attaches the blade to the handle, which gives a strong and secure connection. What’s more, the ash handle is made from sustainable timber sourced from Forest Stewardship Council forests, meaning this is an ethically sound choice.
With its solid design and firmly attached blade, the Draper lawn edger is particularly durable. It should be strong enough to tackle even harder ground, with the slightly smaller blade ideal for delicate edging. This is a high-quality lawn edger that’s been really well designed.
Key details – Size: Overall length 100cm, tool head width 24.5cm; Materials: Stainless steel blade, ash handle; Weight: 0.75kg
2. Wilkinson Sword Stainless Steel Edging Blade: Best lawn edger for hard ground
Price when reviewed: £40 | Check price at Wilkinson Sword
Wilkinson Sword’s lawn edger is made from stainless steel and is incredibly sturdy, making it ideal if you live in an area with hard ground. The rust-resistant steel blade sits at the end of a handle made from ash, which has been weatherproofed to allow for use in damp conditions. The two parts are held together with a rigid rivet that secures the head socket in place, meaning that you won’t be at any risk of the two sections breaking apart.
The edger is made with a traditional half-moon-shaped blade, with a tread plate for your foot to rest on. However, this foot rest isn’t the biggest we’ve seen, so you might find it a bit small if you have larger feet.
We think the Wilkinson Sword lawn edger is particularly suited to tough clay and chalk soils, where you should be able to get precision results on your lawns and flowerbeds. There’s also a slightly cheaper version available with a carbon steel blade.
Key details – Size: Overall length 90cm, tool head width 21.5cm; Materials: Stainless steel blade, ash handle; Weight: 0.76kg
3. VonHaus 2 in 1 Cordless Trimmer & Edger: Best lawn edger for tidy-ups
Price when reviewed: £32 | Check price at Amazon
If you’re looking for a lightweight tool to tidy up and perfect the edge of your lawn, the VonHaus 2 in 1 cordless trimmer and edger is a great budget choice. Weighing in at only 700g it’s easy to handle, and it comes with 7cm-wide grass shears that will allow you to precisely shape your lawn.
There’s also a second set of blades in the form of 10cm trimmer blades, which can cut through small branches up to 8mm thick. With a full three-hour charge, you can expect to get around 30 minutes of run-time for edging and 40 minutes for trimming.
The VonHaus edger isn’t designed for cutting new borders or heavy edging work, but it’s perfect for the small tidy-up jobs that lawns inevitably need through the year. We also liked how simple the edger is to use and the fact that you can simply click in the different blades without needing any tools.
Key details – Size: 13 x 30 x 8cm (HWD); Materials: Plastic and metal; Weight: 700g; Safety features: Two-stage safety trigger to prevent accidental activation
4. Wolf-Garten RMM Multi-Change Lawn Edge Iron: Best lawn edger with generous-sized tread plate
Price when reviewed: £17 | Check price at Amazon
Wolf-Garten’s lawn edger is part of the brand’s “multi-change” range, where all tool heads can be used with the entire range of handles the company sells. Its lawn edger sports a traditional half-moon design, and is constructed from aluminium and iron. This extremely tough blade is also self-sharpening.
We were particularly impressed with the tread plate here, which is deep and large enough to support bigger feet. And we also liked the fact that you can use any handle from the range with the edger, meaning you could choose the telescopic handle with an adjustable height range. However, the most suitable handle is probably the D-ring version, although we don’t think this is as easy to exert pressure on as the more traditional T handle.
The plastic release button on the handle does feel a little bit flimsy, but the “heft” of the actual edger should easily be sufficient to achieve sharp edges without exerting too much pressure on the handle.
Key details – Size: 31.5 x 23 x 2.5cm (blade dimensions, HWD); Materials: Aluminium, iron; Weight: 0.61kg
5. Unibos Carbon Steel Head Lawn Edger: Best budget lawn edger
Price when reviewed: £7.57 | Check price at Unibos 
If you’re on a tight budget, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a more reasonably priced lawn edger than the Unibos. For less than £10, you get a carbon steel head with a steel shaft and plastic handle.
The half-moon shaped blade is surprisingly sturdy for such a budget item, cutting sharp edges with ease. It also has a rust-resistant finish, meaning that the blade will last for years.
The tread on this edger isn’t particularly deep, so it might be a little bit of a challenge for those with larger feet. We also felt that the plastic handle was a little flimsy, but this is largely negated by the strong shaft and blade. Overall, this is a great edger at an affordable price.
Key details – Size: 10 x 22cm (blade dimensions, HW); Materials: Carbon steel; Weight: 0.75kg
6. Fiskars Solid Lawn Edger: Best lawn edger for straight edges
Price when reviewed: £34 | Check price at Amazon
Fiskars is a Finnish company that was founded as an ironworks in 1649, and its all-steel lawn edger will certainly provide you with a durable and long-lasting tool. This is a tough edger that will cut through lawns and flowerbeds with minimal effort.
The unusual trapezoidal shape of this edger is particularly well suited to cutting extremely sharp and straight edges, making it easy to achieve neat lines on your lawns, path edges and flowerbeds.
We also like the slightly longer handle, which is very back-friendly and helps users to avoid aches and pains. Since the blade is larger at the top there’s a good tread – and this, combined with the grip on the T handle, makes it easy to exert good pressure on the edger without too much effort.
Key details – Size: Overall length 110cm, tool head width 23cm; Materials: Boron steel blade, ash handle; Weight: 1.85kg
7. STIHL FSA 57 Cordless Grass Trimmer: Best battery-powered lawn edger
Price when reviewed: £330 | Check price at STIHL
If you have a large garden or lots of flowerbeds and edges to deal tackle, an electric grass trimmer and edger could be a good investment. The FSA 57 from STIHL is part of the company’s AK tool system, offering a choice of batteries that will work with other tools in the range.
There’s an adjustable loop on the handle that makes it easy to move the edger around the garden, and the handle is extendable so that you can adjust it to suit your height. We liked how quiet the edger was in use, and the fact that it’s pretty lightweight.
There are three batteries that will work with the FSA 57, delivering run-times from 25 to 60 minutes (approx.). Do note that the recommended battery for the edger is the AK10, which offers around 25 minutes running time yet is lighter and helps keep the tool balanced.
Key details – Size: 149cm; Weight: 2.7kg
