Best lawn mowers in 2025 – expert tried and tested models that guarantee perfectly manicured grass

When it comes to achieving a perfectly manicured lawn, investing in one of the best lawn mowers can make all the difference. For some, buying a new lawnmower is an exciting buy. The smell of freshly cut grass, the light exercise and delight at the pristine green afterwards, might make mowing a gardening task you relish.

For others, having battled with poor mowers in the past could mean you see this job as more of a hassle than a hobby. Whether you are the latter or the former, we want to help you find a product that means mowing the lawn is always enjoyable.

If you are due an upgrade, there are loads of mower options out there. Maybe moving the cable is your gripe and you want to embrace the latest battery tech with a cordless lawn mower? If budget is holding you back, you'll want to know what the most powerful and effective mower you can get for your money is.

We’ve tested and reviewed the very best lawn mowers on the market, from powerful petrol models to fuss-free electric and cordless options, ensuring that each one meets the highest standards of performance, ease of use, and reliability.

With cutting-edge technology, smart features, and ergonomic designs, these top-rated mowers take the hard work out of lawn care, delivering precise, even cuts every time. Anything that didn't make the cut (sorry) has been left off our shortlist so you know you can find a new mower that makes a necessary job one you actually look forward to.

Read on to see the best choices, and then for a really tidy garden, check out the best strimmers.

If you're wondering when to cut your lawn after winter, experts say this is the prime time to get your lawn mower out.

If you're looking for a new model, keep reading to find out which lawnmowers we rated as worthy as we looked out for cutting ability, ease of use and value for money.

Quick list

Best lawn mowers – tried and tested by the IH team

Best lawn mower overall

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Husqvarna's Aspire lawn mower is perfectly designed for those looking for a reliable cordless mower that can easily tackle even overgrown grass on small to medium lawns.

Our reviewer thought it was super easy to set up and quick and light enough to make light work of your lawn. It has excellent cutting quality, and its mulching option is super handy. And if you're worried about what time is acceptable to mow your lawn, worry no more as the Aspire is quiet enough not to disturb the neighbours.

Not only that but the Husqvarna Aspire LC34-P4A battery-powered lawn mower is also a great choice for anyone with storage issues. The mower's telescopic, fold-down handles, collapsible cutting collector and sturdy hook means it can be stored vertically, freeing up valuable floor space in your shed or garage.

Its 25-minute run time is ideal for small to medium gardens, and it features a genius automatic power boost when tackling long grass. Plus, our reviewer loved the fact that the battery can also be used on a host of other Husqvarna tools, as well as Flymo, Bosch and Gardena.

Our Husqvarna Aspire LC34 P4A lawn mower review has the full details.

Best cordless lawn mower

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Our reviewer was wowed by Worx WG743E cordless lawn mower's robust cutting capabilities and user-friendly design. Tackling both long and short grass with ease, it offers seven adjustable cutting heights, making it versatile for various lawn conditions.

Assembly is straightforward, and the mower’s performance in edging is particularly noteworthy ensuring a pristine finish along our reviewer Amy's borders. Its lightweight build means it's super maneuverable, especially in medium to large gardens up to 500 square metres. The 45-litre grass collection bag gathers up a lot of clippings efficiently, reducing the need for multiple trips to empty it during extensive mowing sessions.

However, a few of the design elements could benefit from minor tweaks. The safety key mechanism feels somewhat awkward, requiring simultaneous handling with the main control, which might be challenging for some users. And while the handle’s collapsible feature aims to aid storage, the process is a bit fiddly, involving unscrewing wingnuts – a task that might get a tad tedious over time.

Despite these minor drawbacks, the Worx WG743E remains a solid choice for those looking for a reliable and efficient cordless mowing solution.

Our Worx WG743E Cordless Lawnmower review has the full details.

Best lawn mower for small lawns

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The Stihl RMA 239 Cordless Lawn Mower is a stellar choice for those with small to medium-sized gardens seeking efficiency without the hassle of cords. Its 37cm cutting width and six adjustable height settings, ranging from 20mm to 70mm, allow for a tailored mowing experience.

The 40-litre grass collection box is both spacious and easy to empty, ensuring a seamless mowing session. During our testing, the mower delivered an impressive performance, providing a clean and precise cut. The battery life is commendable, with its ample runtime to cover the intended lawn size without frequent recharges.

One of the standout features is its user-friendly design. The folding mono-handlebar not only enhances maneuverability but also makes storage a breeze, especially for those with limited space. While assembly might require an extra pair of hands due to its design, once set up, the mower is straightforward to operate. Its lightweight build further adds to the ease of use, allowing for effortless navigation around garden obstacles.

The one downside is assembling it can be a bit of a faff, often requiring two people to manage the fiddly bits. Additionally, it doesn’t come with a built-in cleaning tool for the cutting deck, which would have been a handy addition for maintenance.

Our Stihl RMA 239 Cordless Lawnmower review has the full details.

Best lightweight lawn mower

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While it may not be suitable for rough terrain or large lawns, the Gardena Handymower is ideal for those with limited storage space and a small to medium-sized garden. Gardena says it makes mowing as easy as vacuuming your home and we're here for that.

Battery-powered, it's a great alternative to a hefty electric or gas-powered lawn mower. It's important to note though, that you have to buy the battery separately, making it a little pricier than first thought. However, as part of the Power For All Alliance, the universal battery you get will work across various garden appliances and brands.

With three cutting heights to choose from, we found it coped well with longer-growth grass, even when it was slightly wet, producing a great clean cut. And featuring a single mulching blade, it's super easy to clean with no grass clipping bag or box to clean out as the clippings are small enough to fall back into the grass.

Our Gardena Handymower review has the full details.

Best value for money mower

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Greenworks' G24X2LM36 Cordless Lawn Mower is the brand's mid-range model, offering a powerful 48v battery (which uses two 24v batteries so you can stay on Greenworks battery system), a 36cm cutting diameter and a clean cut to grass.

Designed for small to medium-sized gardens, our reviewer was impressed by the tidy and even result it left after a single cut and liked how easy it was to have a battery-powered mower and did not miss trailing a cable around behind us.

This lawn mower also needed little assembly to get it up and running, with the machine's body arriving complete, with only the handle to lock into place. These handlebars can be folded down to store easily, however, the overall size of the mower means it requires a good amount of space to store it which is worth considering if storage space is an issue for you.

Plus, there are a few build issues we think are important to flag before you click the buy button. One such issue we query is the material quality and durability of these. For example, we can't see the foam on the handlebars lasting well over a long period of use. With that in mind, we can think of other mowers with better build quality that are much easier to store.

Our Greenworks G24X2LM36 Cordless Lawn Mower has the full details.

Best petrol lawn mower

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The latest large-based self-propelled petrol lawn mower from Hyundai takes all the years of experience and quality of previous models and makes it even better. And it replaces the previous Ideal Home Approved HYM510SPE.

Equipped with a powerful 196cc engine, it offers six adjustable cutting heights and four grass disposal options, including mulching and various discharge methods. During testing on two distinct lawns, the mower demonstrated impressive cutting performance, even in damp conditions.

Our reviewer Joanne Lewsley remarked that assembly was straightforward, making it accessible for users familiar with petrol mowers. However, its substantial size and weight make it less suitable for smaller gardens or those with multiple levels, as maneuvering can be a bit of a challenge.

The mower’s large footprint means you'll also need ample storage space. However, overall, for gardeners with large lawns seeking a powerful and efficient mowing solution, the Hyundai HYM510SP packs a punch.

Our Hyundai HYM510SP Petrol Lawn Mower has the full details.

Best budget lawn mower

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Our reviewer thinks the Flymo Easiglide 300v Electric Hover lawnmower is a game-changer for those with small to medium-sized gardens. As the name suggests this friendly-looking orange garden buddy has a 30cm cut area.

Its powerful 1700W motor effortlessly tackles overgrown, damp grass, delivering a pretty decent cut. The lightweight hover design ensures great manoeuvrability, allowing you to navigate around tight corners and obstacles easily.

Assembly is straightforward, and the handles provide comfort for both left- and right-handed users. Additionally, the mower’s compact design, featuring folding handles and vertical storage capability, makes it a perfect fit for those with limited storage space.

However, it’s worth noting a few drawbacks. The mower tends to eject grass clippings during operation, necessitating a thorough cleanup post-mowing. The cutting height adjustment, ranging from 10mm to 30mm, can be a bit fiddly and may not suit those desiring a higher grass length.

It's also a corded model, albeit with a 10m cable, which limits its mobility and requires proximity to a power source, compared to the other cordless alternatives in this list. Despite these minor issues, the Flymo Easiglide 300v offers excellent value for money, making it an ideal choice for first-time lawnmower owners seeking an affordable and efficient solution for their garden maintenance needs.

Best quiet lawn mower

This isn’t just a mains-powered lawnmower that looks like a stealth fighter plane. It sounds stealthy, too. Thanks to new ProSilence tech, as Bosch calls it, this 1,700-watt mower is 75 per cent quieter than previous models at a meagre 89 dB.

This isn’t just subtle when it comes to noise though. Even changing the height has been made a simple pleasure with a one-touch system that takes you between 20 and 80mm across seven steps.

The ErgoSlide control system is a welcome wonder that makes finding the right height and angle simple. There are a few triggers to activate the lawnmower so you can change hand positions as you need. The collection grass bag holds a hefty 50 litres and there is also a LeafCollect system.

This makes collecting leaves - even in large amounts - a simple process. The 10-metre cable is long but most people will still need an extension cord for true freedom of movement. But with a super-smooth action working around the garden is a really easy task making this perfect for larger and smaller gardens alike.

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Best self-propelled lawn mower

Our reviewer Amy Lockwood thinks the Worx WG749E cordless self-propelled lawn mower is a great choice for those seeking efficiency and ease in lawn maintenance. Its self-propelled feature significantly reduces the effort required, especially on sloped terrains, making it ideal for small to medium-sized lawns up to 500m².

The mower boasts a 46cm cutting blade, powered by two 4.0Ah batteries, ensuring a clean and precise cut. Assembly is straightforward, with adjustable handle heights and a simple mechanism to set the cutting height between 20mm and 80mm. The 55L grass collection bag is lightweight and easy to detach and reattach, though it lacks an indicator to signal when it’s full.

Storage is a breeze, thanks to its foldable handle, allowing the mower to be stored vertically, saving valuable space in your shed or garage. However, the battery compartment lid could benefit from a hinged design for easier access, and the battery charge indicator is not easily visible during use, which could be improved for better user experience.

Despite these minor drawbacks, the Worx WG749E offers excellent value for its price point, delivering strong performance and practical design features that make lawn care less of a chore.

How we test lawn mowers

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At Ideal Home, we believe that in order to give our verdict on the best lawn mowers and in order to rank them, we need to have tested them ourselves. That's why you'll find star ratings on the mowers in this list, which we've decided on after extensively testing them in our own space. Every lawn mower in this list has been reviewed by a member of our team, so you know that you can trust us to give you a detailed look at each model.

Our expert testing process means you can trust that every mower in our roundup has been put through its paces, tackling real-life gardens to assess cutting efficiency, maneuverability, and battery life where applicable. We’ve also considered noise levels, storage convenience, and value for money to help you find the perfect fit for your outdoor space.

Where we can, we've also sought to keep hold of these lawn mowers for long-term testing, so that we can feedback on just how they deliver after years of use. Below you can find out more about exactly who has tested the lawn mowers in this round-up.

Joanne Lewsley

I regularly test home and garden products for UK and US websites, including Ideal Home, Top Ten Reviews, and Live Science, evaluating the quality of home and garden gadgets by putting them through their paces in a natural home environment.

I tested the Gardena Handymower on a small lawn measuring 12.5 square metres (134 square feet) in wet and dry conditions.

Steve Bradley

Steve has written (or co-written) over 40 practical gardening books, and along with his wife Val (also a qualified horticulturist) was commissioned to update some of the world’s best-selling gardening books, The Expert series, originally written by Dr David Hessayon.

Steve and Val have worked for the Sun newspaper since 2002, writing the Gardening page with the late Peter Seabrook and answering hundreds of readers’ letters every year. Over the years, Steve has also written for most of the popular UK gardening magazines. He has a vast knowledge of gardening and enjoys sharing it with listeners on BBC local radio.

How to choose the best lawn mower

We all love the smell of a freshly cut lawn, but getting to that state can be a varied task. So to make that transition as smooth as possible you need to work out what is the exact job you need your mower to deal with.

The most obvious point to think about is the size of the area that needs to be mowed. Based on that you can work out the best type of mower to suit your needs. Here are the basic variations to consider.

What are the different types of lawnmowers?

'There are various types of lawnmowers and the decision of which is needed will come down to the size and complexity of your garden. There is the option of going for a battery, petrol or corded power lawn mower.'

'The power source of the mower can be a deciding factor, whether you want the quieter performance of a battery mower, the small-scale option of a corded mower or the trusted petrol power,' explains Ryan Patterson, Residential Segment Manager at the global leader in robotic lawn mowers, Husqvarna UK.

Here we simply explain the differences between the main types of lawn mowers.

• Petrol lawn mower: This classic offers a lot of power for cutting longer grass as well as wetter lawns while having a large range and long life. The downside is buying and mixing fuel, noise and vibration.
• Main electric lawn mower: These offer lots of power like a fuel mower but without the smell or hassle. You are limited by a cable which oftens means the need for an extension lead, external socket and a whole lot of cable moving.
• Battery lawn mower: This offers a truly mobile mower for hassle-free mobility. These can limit you on power and life before needing a charge.
• Robot lawn mower: These battery powered mowers will do the cutting for you. They are best on large open areas only, don’t get into edges and spread rather than collect the grass waste.
• Rotary lawn mower: You can also get rotary or push mowers but for the purposes of this guide we are focusing on cutting-edge (yes, pun intended, again) tech only.

Mulching vs collecting mowers

'You can also choose between a collection or mulching lawn mower. Many lawn mowers can come with a collection bag enabling tidy results and saving time since you don't need to rake clippings after you've finished mowing,' explains Ryan Patterson, Residential Segment Manager at the global leader in robotic lawn mowers, Husqvarna UK.

'In the autumn, you can choose to use these collection bags for leaves. The mulching method can also be considered, however, if you mow your lawn often and want first-rate results. The finely chopped grass cuttings will quickly decompose and then return to the lawn as fertiliser, making it more drought-resistant as well.'

Which is better, a self-propelled or push mower?

'If you have a medium-to-large-sized lawn or if it is a little more complex, it is recommended that you buy a self-propelled lawn mower. These come with an in-built drive system that can help tackle slopes and hills more easily and help on longer jobs, reducing strain on the user. A push option relies on the user to manually push the mower, which can be more cost-effective and a great option for cutting a flat space,' explains Ryan Patterson, Residential Segment Manager at the global leader in robotic lawn mowers, Husqvarna UK.

'Robotic lawn mowers are also a great option especially if you are looking to save time for the things you enjoy and don’t want to be manually mowing the lawn.'

Are hover mowers better than wheels?

Darren Feasey, Product Director at Flymo explains, 'Hover mowers - Invented by Flymo over 50 years ago, hover mowers glide on a cushion of air, making them very agile and easy to manoeuvre. Rotary mowers are great for uniformed mowing and if they feature a rear roller, give you beautiful stripes, effortlessly. Cylinder mowers are also a great option for smaller gardens, working by the user pushing the mower and the rotary blades cutting the grass.'

'For those who want a beautiful, healthy lawn without lifting a finger, robot lawnmowers are ideal. They take a fine layer of grass from the lawn, putting clippings back into the grass, acting as a natural fertiliser.'

What size of lawn mower bag do you need?

This is a factor since a larger collection bag means fewer stops with trips to empty it out. Bag size also affects the weight of the mower. So if you’re not going for a self-drive model, this may also be a factor based on how much physical effort you’re willing to put in.

What diameter lawn mower blades do you need?

The diameter measurement of the blades is another factor to consider since that determines the width of the cut. The wider you go the faster you can mow the lawn. However if you go too large it might affect getting in tighter spaces, between trees for example, as well as storage.

How much should I spend on a lawn mower?

The short answer is that you spend based on your needs – the higher you go, the bigger the mower, which will save you time. But in reality, spending more can get you features you might not need. For a medium-sized lawn, you might not need a mower that drives itself along, for example.

However, you might want to splash out a bit more to get a larger blade size that cuts a wider area, meaning fewer laps up and down the garden.

Another factor is if you want a roller, this will cost more but means you get those brilliant lines left in the lawn to give the cut a really professional finish.

You can save more money by going for a wired mower over battery, for example, but you just need to decide if that cable constantly being moved is going to be worth the saving.

One consideration is brand. You can get more affordable brands that claim to offer everything more established names do. In reality you’re often going to get a longer lifetime from an established brand and, especially in the petrol mowers, better performance.

FAQs

Why do you need a lawn mower?

If you want to look out at your garden and see a neat and tidy lawn, you’ll need a decent mower. The better the mower the faster the job can be done which means you may do it more often for a better-kept garden. Like getting a regular haircut, it pays to keep on top of the lawn.

Regular cuts spell less physical effort, and less grass mess to clear away.

Another reason to get mowing is to clear leaves. Many mowers will chew up leaves and either bag them for you as you go or cut and spread them onto the lawn to work back into the soil. Either way, you end up with a tidier lawn without the need to use a leaf blower or do all that rake work.

How often will you use a lawnmower?

The frequency of use is another issue. If you like to cut regularly, the idea of rolling out an extension cord each time might seem painful. Equally refuelling can also be a chore. That said, if your garden is not too large, a full tank of fuel could last you a good few cuts, whereas a battery-powered option may only manage one pass before needing a charge.

Is an electric or petrol lawnmower better?

We asked Ryan Patterson, Residential Segment Manager at Husqvarna UK for his thoughts.

'Both battery and petrol lawn mowers have their benefits, so it will depend on the needs of the user. While petrol mowers can house powerful engines with reliable petrol power, which is especially useful for cutting over long periods, developments in battery have made this a much closer conversation.'

'Battery power mowers can now cater for small to large lawns depending on the mower and battery power. They’re also much more sustainable, quieter to operate and more cost-effective in the long run. They tend to also be easier to operate as opposed to the traditional pull cord on a petrol walk behind. Some brands also utilise battery systems that can be used across a variety of that same brand's tools, as well as various other garden and power tool brands.'

Darren Feasey, Product Director at Flymo adds, 'Electric lawn mowers are better for the environment due to lower emissions and are quieter than petrol products. Thanks to technological advancements, both electric and battery-powered mowers feature powerful motors which are just as effective as petrol for mowing garden lawns.'

Which lawnmower is the best for a sloped garden?

'A self-propelled mower would be recommended as this can utilise the in-built drive system to help the mower tackle hills, slopes and undulations with ease,' says Ryan Patterson, Residential Segment Manager at Husqvarna UK.

Flymo's Darren Feasey also recommends robot mowers for a sloped garden. 'Robot mowers can handle slopes of up to 35%, but if your garden has steeper hills, a hover mower may be for you. As they glide on a cushion of air while mowing, they do not carry weight in the front of the mower, making them easier to navigate down slopes.'