The 4 Best Loppers of 2026 Our Editors Love

Best Overall Loppers

A.M. Leonard Professional Lifetime Lopper

Credit: A.M. Leonard

Why You Should Get It

A 30-day satisfaction guarantee and a lifetime warranty seal the deal for these lightweight loppers made with rust-resistant, replaceable blades and high-grade materials.

Keep in Mind

It’s pricier than other options, including loppers with mechanical enhancements that increase cutting power.

The A.M. Leonard professional lifetime lopper is one of the most reliable loppers out there. Backed by a lifetime warranty that covers potential defects, it’s made to last as long as you have woody plants to prune.

The shorter aluminum alloy handles have the benefit of being easy to manipulate, as well as being strong yet lightweight. At just 2.6 pounds, this lopper shouldn’t tire out your arms mid-prune.

A tubular shape and molded composite grips add comfort, while dense rubber bumpers absorb the shock of each cut. It’s a small detail that not only prevents dings in your tool but also cushions your arm joints from the impact, which is important when you're pruning for extended periods.

The bypass blade, which cuts limbs up to 1.5 inches in diameter, was also designed with longevity in mind. With proper care, the 4-inch carbon steel cutting edge can stay sharp longer than those made from stainless steel.

Plus, its hard-chrome plating resists rust. Once a blade does wear out, it can be removed and replaced—a feature Peters calls “a must.” “You can only sharpen a blade for so long,” Peters says.

A lopper with this kind of thoughtful design comes with a higher price tag than other options, including ones with mechanical enhancements that increase cutting power. But because it has a 30-day satisfaction guarantee (on top of everything else), there’s little risk to see if this high-grade lopper is worth a spot in your outdoor shed.

Best for Thicker Branches

Fiskars PowerGear2 Lopper

Credit: Amazon

Why You Should Get It

Modified gears and ergonomic grips help to cut branches up to 2 inches in diameter with ease.

Keep in Mind

It may be awkward to squeeze the lopper shut from a wide angle.

With the Fiskars 32-inch lopper, cutting through thicker branches no longer requires giving it everything you’ve got. Modified gears multiply leverage to maximize cutting power so you can glide through branches up to 2 inches in diameter with less effort and minimal impact on your joints. For those with less upper-body strength, this can be a game-changer for executing clean, precise cuts.

Other supportive enhancements include a low-friction coating on the alloy steel bypass blade. Along with smooth cutting and less gumming, this lopper is rust-resistant and has a lifetime warranty to set your tool up to last. Ergonomically designed steel handles are rounded and cushioned for added comfort, too.

While all this provides relief to your hands and shoulders, the tool itself may be cumbersome for some gardeners. Opening the lopper to its maximum cutting width creates a wide angle that can be awkward to squeeze, especially for cutting branches above your head.

Best for Tough Branches

Spear & Jackson Heavy Duty Telescopic Ratchet Anvil Lopper

Credit: Amazon

Why You Should Get It

Clean up fallen debris, broken branches, or dry wood in one, forceful chop with a ratcheting mechanism that does a lot of the heavy lifting.

Keep in Mind

The crushing motion of the heavy-duty anvil blade isn’t a good option for pruning green, growing wood.

Dry, rigid branches can be the toughest to cut without Spear & Jackson anvil lopper’s advantages. Namely, the ratcheting action that makes it possible to chop branches up to 2 inches in diameter with minimum effort.

These function a little differently from standard loppers: instead of squeezing with all your might at once, you crank the bottom handle little by little to bring the blades closer together, click after click.

In just a few seconds, the carbon steel cutting blade slices through the branch and onto the serrated anvil blade, made of a softer metal to avoid damage. This “crushes” the woody material, sacrificing precision for power.

This is a bonus when you need to clean up debris caused by strong winds or broken branches after a storm, but it can be damaging to green, growing branches. For the latter, it’s better to use a lopper with a bypass blade or a pruning saw.

Even though the extra machine power makes the lopper top-heavy, it significantly reduces strain on your body. A PTFE-coated cutting blade further reduces friction, keeps it sharper for longer, and provides resistance to rust. Aluminum handles are comfortable to grip and extend easily for more leverage by twisting them open and closed.

Best Telescopic

Corona DualLINK Extendable Bypass Lopper

Credit: Amazon

Why You Should Get It

An added gear mechanism boosts cutting power and the adjustable handles lock into place, making a sturdy base for reaching difficult branches without a ladder.

Keep in Mind

This 4-pound lopper might be heavy for some gardeners.

The Corona DualLink extendable bypass lopper doesn’t sacrifice sturdiness for reach. Its steel-core handles extend up to 37.5 inches, giving gardeners an extra 10 inches to tackle green or dry branches up to 1.75 inches in diameter—all while their feet remain on the ground. This is ideal if you have knee or hip joint issues that make climbing a ladder difficult.

It takes seconds to securely adjust the lopper to your desired length. Simply flip open the red locks on each handle to slide them out, then cinch the locks to hold them in place.

You won’t have to worry about its parts wobbling, but your arms might. This lopper weighs in at 4 pounds, but it’s designed with thoughtful features to reduce further fatigue.

Along with welcomed padded features like ergonomic gel grips, an integrated shockguard bumper, and a non-stick bypass blade, an added gear mechanism boosts the force of each cut. The result is smooth cuts with less effort every time, whether you’re trimming a nearby shrub or reaching for a way-up branch at an awkward angle.

The Bottom Line

Our best overall pick, the A.M. Leonard lopper, is lightweight, easy to maneuver, and made to last. It also comes with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and a lifetime warranty, so you can feel confident in your decision. If you have to prune tall branches but want to avoid having to climb up a ladder, the Corona DualLINK lopper, our best telescopic pick, is equipped with a gear mechanism to boost cutting power and locking extendable handles to help you reach difficult branches while keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground.

What to Know About Loppers Before Shopping

Type

There are two types of loppers: bypass and anvil.

Gardeners who have trees and shrubs to prune regularly will most often use a bypass lopper. It works just like scissors, with two sharp blades slicing past each other to make a clean cut.

“Be sure to orient the beveled edge of the bypass blade toward the interior of the plant (the material to be kept) and the hook to the outside (the part to be discarded),” Peters says. In this position, you’re less likely to leave a stub behind, which can be harmful to the health of your tree or shrub.

The blades of an anvil lopper don’t glide past each other. It has one sharp, cutting blade that chops onto a flatter blade. “An anvil blade ‘crushes,’” Peters says. If it's used on live, green wood, it can cause damage.

“An anvil blade would best be used on 'dead wood,'” Peters says, which is dry and rigid. When you’re tackling broken branches or debris, such as from strong winds or a storm, “crushing” is an advantage, not a concern.

Mechanism Type

Standard loppers, like the A.M. Leonard professional lifetime lopper, require the most exertion and strength to operate. That said, they’re designed to smoothly cut through branches that are just too thick for your hand pruners.

But you can make pruning less tedious from the start using a lopper with mechanical enhancements. A lopper with modified gears boosts cutting power for live, green branches thicker than 0.50 inch, which is ideal for individuals lacking the upper body strength to operate a standard lopper without strain.

It’s extra helpful for tackling girthier branches. The specialized gears on the Fiskars 32-inch lopper boost cutting power with no added effort for branches up to 2 inches in diameter.

A ratcheting lopper requires even less power. Rather than cutting through a branch in one motion, the ratcheting mechanism cuts through it over several small cranks of the handle.

Use the Spear & Jackson razorsharp heavy duty anvil lopper for cleaning up broken branches or debris with ease, but avoid using it on live, green wood so its anvil blade won’t bruise or crush healthy wood.

Length and Weight

The length of a lopper’s handles generally dictates its weight. Generally, the shorter the length, the lighter the lopper is.

The A.M. Leonard professional lopper is the shortest on our list at 28 inches long, and it’s the lightest, too. At 2.6 pounds, it weighs about the same as a thin laptop.

A shorter reach tends to give gardeners more control over their tool and their cuts, which is especially helpful if you have to climb a ladder. “The smaller handles will make negotiating other branches and getting into the interior of plants easier,” Peters says.

Of course, longer handles make it possible to reach higher branches without needing a ladder. This includes loppers with extendable arms that can facilitate even longer reaches from the ground, like the Corona DualLink extendable bypass lopper.

But to completely open the tool around your target branch, you’ll need to pull the handles apart at a wide angle that can be awkward to close. This can be extra tricky if you’re attempting to cut branches above your head.

The extra length makes long loppers bulkier and heavier, although some, like the Fiskars 32-inch lopper, are made with enhanced cutting mechanisms that give you more power to make cuts.

Grip and Handle Type

For us, the no-slip, blister-resistant, and cushioning benefits of grips on lopper handles are non-negotiable. That’s why all of the loppers on our list are made with this comfy feature.

The handle material matters, too. Look for aluminum or metal alloy handles, which are lightweight and durable, like the A.M. Leonard professional lopper, which is just 2.6 pounds.

Many modern loppers come with ergonomically designed handles to minimize hand fatigue, which is crucial if you are pruning a large area for an extended period.

Your Questions, Answered

What’s the difference between a lopper and a hand pruner?

“Loppers are excellent on plant material with a diameter of 0.50 inch to 1.75 inches,” Peters says. That makes loppers the right tool—and most efficient tool—for thicker branches that need pruning on trees and shrubs. “Hand pruners should only be used on stems that are no larger than the diameter of your thumb,” Peters says, including twigs and thin branches. “Cutting anything larger results in poor health outcomes for both the gardener and the plant.”

It's also helpful to have both types of loppers available, particularly if you also frequently need to clear dead, fallen branches, as anvil loppers are specifically designed to crush, while bypass loppers create clean, precise cuts, but don't typically tackle tough, dry branches as well.

What’s the lifespan of a lopper?

Even though loppers are heavy-duty gardening tools, the blades won’t last forever. To ensure your lopper has the longest lifespan, Peters says to shop for one with replaceable blades, like the A.M. Leonard lopper. “A quality pair of loppers with replaceable blades can last a lifetime if they are used correctly and if they are maintained correctly,” Peters says.

Gardeners can do this pretty easily: stick to the maximum cut diameter and wipe your lopper down after each use. “Keep loppers clean and dry to prevent rusting of the blades or other exposed steel components,” Peters says.

“Lightly oil—emphasis on lightly so as to not attract dirt!—all mechanisms and exposed metal,” she says. If you prefer wood-handled loppers, Peters recommends rubbing them regularly with linseed oil. Peters also advises not to let sticky plant sap accumulate, and don’t let your blade go dull—whether it’s replaceable or not.

“The most important thing that a gardener can do is to learn how to sharpen a blade and make sharpening a regular task,” Peters says. “The result is cleaner cuts (for healthier plants) and easier cuts that ultimately lead to a longer lifespan of the tool.”

Who We Are

Kate Puhala is a writer and gardener for Better Homes & Gardens based in Portland, Oregon. Puhala has also written about seed starting soil, tomato cages, weed killers, and gifts for gardeners.

To write this piece, she researched loppers online and consulted with Jenn Peters, landscape technology instructor at Portland Community College.