Who makes the best lawn mowers? CR’s testing and survey data show that a few brands consistently perform well and are reliable.
Toro is among the top brands in our analysis of walk-behind mowers.
By Yasmeen Khan
When choosing a new lawn mower, you can start by thinking about the size of your lawn.
If it’s small, under a half-acre, you may settle on a walk-behind mower. For larger yards, there are riding mowers and lawn tractors to choose from. (More on that below.) And then, of course, you want a mower that cuts the grass well. Consumer Reports has more than 180 models in our ratings, which are available to CR members. Our scores include results from our expert testing, along with feedback we get from thousands of our members.
Of course, CR doesn’t test every mower on the market. That’s why we’ve developed brand-level ratings, which can provide an indication of how models from a given brand might perform.
These brand ratings are based on a statistical model that incorporates CR’s Overall Scores for mowers in four categories: battery walk-behind mowers, gas walk-behind mowers, riding lawn mowers and tractors, and zero-turn-radius mowers. (Battery riding mowers are not included in the analysis because they’re not yet popular enough for us to develop a meaningful sample size.) These ratings reflect performance, ease of use, predicted reliability, and owner satisfaction scores.
All brands that are eligible to be considered in the analysis must have at least three available models rated by Consumer Reports and at least a midrange score for reliability. Our analysis of brands also takes into account price.
A Best Brand receives the highest Overall Score in its product category based on the brand’s aggregate performance, reliability, and satisfaction data across the model lineup tested by CR. Look for the CR Best Brand mark in stores and online to help in your shopping journey.
Best Battery Walk-Behind Mower Brands
The best battery-powered lawn mowers perform just as well as—or even better than—gas models. They require less maintenance and tend to be quieter, too. We have more than 100 battery walk-behind mowers in our current ratings and recommend almost half of them. We don’t have enough data to include every company in these ratings. But the analysis shows that the best brands for battery-powered walk-behind mowers include Ego, Greenworks, and Ryobi.
Ego LM2114
The cutting evenness and handling on this Ego LM2114 are both excellent, and it does a solid job of mulching, bagging, and side-discharging. We also like that the LM2114 comes at a competitive price. This 21-inch-wide push mower doesn’t have high wheels for better maneuvering, though, and doesn’t include a second battery. But we did find that the battery can give you a respectable run time of nearly an hour. The battery takes about an hour and a half to charge; it has a three-year warranty, which is fairly standard among the higher-rated battery push mowers in our ratings. Ego’s battery mower predicted reliability is very good, and owner satisfaction is excellent.
Best Gas Walk-Behind Mower Brands
Like the top-performing battery mowers, the best gas-powered mowers do a superb job of cutting, mulching, bagging, and side-discharging. But gas mowers generally require more maintenance and are louder.
Our analysis found that Toro beats out other brands, with Yardmax and Troy-Bilt close behind. (We don’t have enough data to analyze every brand of gas mowers we test.)
Here are the brand ratings, along with details on one of our top-rated Toro mowers.
Toro 21311
This no-frills Toro 21311 is a good option for overall performance. It has a 21-inch deck and excels at cutting evenness, mulching, and side-discharging. We also found it easy to push, pull, and turn. Bagging is just satisfactory. The Toro 21311 isn’t overly loud compared with other gas mowers, but we still recommend wearing ear protection. Toro gas push mowers earn a very good score for predicted reliability and a middling mark for owner satisfaction.
Best Gas Riding Mower and Tractor Brands
The gas-powered riding mowers and tractors that Consumer Reports recommends do all the things that a fantastic mower should do when it comes to cutting, mulching, and bagging. But the standouts handle easily, have comfortable seats, and get stellar ratings in our predicted reliability and owner satisfaction surveys. John Deere is consistently a top performer in this category. It offers a number of highly rated models, including the S240-48 model detailed below. (We didn’t have enough data to include all brands we test in this analysis.)
John Deere S240-48
The John Deere S240-48 offers an expansive 48-inch deck, meaning you’ll be able to cover more ground in one pass. It aced our tests across all three cutting modes—as well as our evenness test—and it gets a very good rating for handling. We found this model to be noisy, though, and it definitely requires good hearing protection. The John Deere S240-48 comes with a hydrostatic transmission, a washout port, cruise control, and a comfortable high-back seat. It also costs less than other top-rated John Deere models.
Best Zero-Turn Mower Brands
Zero-turn-radius mowers are nimble, allowing you to maneuver more precisely around trees, bushes, or flower beds. They can also operate at higher speeds than a traditional riding mower. The best brand scores below represent gas-powered versions, with John Deere coming out on top. Not all brands could be included in the analysis. In addition, battery-powered zero-turn-radius mowers aren’t represented because these tools are just gaining popularity. But Consumer Reports does have battery-powered models in our ratings, with many earning excellent performance scores.
John Deere Z530M
For the money you’ll invest in the John Deere Z530M, you’ll get excellent performance from our highest-rated gas zero-turn-radius lawn mower. It looks and feels like a professional mower, and it excels in everything from evenness and side-discharging to mulching and handling. Like all gas riding mowers and ZTRs, it suffers in testing noise levels near and 25 feet away. In our member surveys, John Deere ZTRs earn very good reliability scores and an excellent owner satisfaction rating.
How to Use Consumer Reports to Find a Great Lawn Mower
First, you need to decide which category of lawn mower to focus on.
“Choosing a mower is going to depend on the size of your yard and whether you want to sit or walk,” says Dave Trezza, who oversees lawn mower testing at Consumer Reports. “You may like exercise, so maybe you don’t mind using a walk-behind mower on a half-acre. Obviously, once you get over an acre, it’s time for a riding lawn mower for sure.” You’ll also want to consider your terrain, and who is doing the mowing. (For information on mower designs and what features to look for, see our lawn mower buying guide.)
Next, Consumer Reports provides three types of information that can help members pick the best lawn mower for their situation.
Model performance: We capture the performance of individual models in our lawn mower ratings. If you see a mower that you’re interested in, you can look it up in our ratings to see how well it does core functions, like cutting, mulching, and bagging. Our ratings also include important scored features, such as ease of use and how noisy a mower is. These detailed ratings are the best indicator of how a model will work for you and your yard.
Reliability: Each year, we survey hundreds of thousands of CR members about the products they buy and, in particular, how well those products hold up over time and prolonged usage. We use the information to generate a brand-level predicted reliability score for every type of lawn mower we test, with the exception of battery riding mowers. (We don’t have enough data on those mowers yet.) We ask people how satisfied they are with their mower over time, and also ask about maintenance and any problems. We use these responses to tabulate a brand-level Overall Satisfaction Score. The results can be found in our ratings charts.
Brand-level performance: The brand scores reflect how well mowers from a particular brand perform in our testing and surveys, and whether they provide good value. The scores are not model-specific, but they can be a good backup if you’re interested in a particular model we haven’t tested. Just remember that a high brand score isn’t a guarantee that every model in that manufacturer’s line is a winner. It’s possible for a company to earn an overall high score for its mowers even if it has a dud in its lineup. The reverse is also possible.
How We Test Lawn Mowers
Our testers and engineers work in Florida in the late winter to test new models on lawns that we specially prepare. We put the mowers to work, cutting identical swaths of grass in every cutting mode—like bagging, mulching, and using the side-discharge—to see how well models handle each task. We assess how evenly each mower cuts, and we score each model for handling and noise. We also factor into our ratings a brand’s predicted reliability and owner satisfaction, based on surveys of our members.
Consumer Reports is an independent, nonprofit organization that works side by side with consumers to create a fairer, safer, and healthier world. CR does not endorse products or services, and does not accept advertising. Copyright © 2026, Consumer Reports, Inc.