The Ultimate Guide to Pruning Shears – Find the Perfect Pair for Your Garden and Budget

Felco F2 pruning shears are regularly used by professionals and for good reason. The bypass pruning shears are strong yet lightweight, with forged aluminum handles and a hardened steel blade.

They are great all-round pruning shears. With a maximum cutting diameter of almost an inch (25 mm to be exact), you can use them for anything from deadheading annual and perennial flowers to pruning shrubs and cutting back herbaceous plants in summer.

The pruners cut smoothly, while the ergonomic grips and cushioned shock absorbers make pruning comfortable and let you use the tools for long periods without fatigue in your hands or wrists.

The quality craftsmanship makes them hard-wearing and long-lasting. Because every part of the tool is replaceable, you can get spare parts if anything goes wrong, and the pruners can potentially last a lifetime.

There are downsides to the Felco F2 pruning shears. They do cost more than other pruning shears, but can last many years if looked after well, and are suited for gardeners with larger hands.

See our in-depth, expert review of the Felco F2 pruning shears.

Not all pruners need to break the bank. A good example is Fiskars pruning shears, which are effective yet inexpensive. They may not have the bells and whistles of more expensive pruners, but they perform well and are perfectly suited to a wide range of common pruning tasks.

These bypass pruning shears have a precision-ground steel blade with a low-friction coating for making smooth cuts on stems up to 5/8-inches in diameter. The coating also helps prevent the pruners from rusting. For comfort, they have ergonomic, non-slip grips, and an easy slide-open lock secures the blades in place for safety.

If you have a smaller garden to maintain and don’t have large numbers of roses to deadhead, borders to cut back, or shrubs to shape, these pruners can fit your needs and last you for several seasons.

You cannot get replacement parts for these Fiskars pruning shears. However, due to their budget-friendly price, it is not painful on your wallet to replace them every few years. Another potential downside is their weight, as these pruners are heavier than other lightweight alternatives.

Another inexpensive alternative to Felco pruning shears is these Darlac bypass pruners at Amazon. They look similar (especially with the red handles) and can cut stems up to an inch thick. You can replace the spring and blades, too.

If you are looking for a versatile pair of pruners, the Corona FlexDIAL ComfortGEL bypass pruner has an innovative dial. This dial has eight different positions that impact how wide the tool opens. You can adjust it depending on the task or the size of your hands, up to a maximum cutting capacity of three-quarters of an inch.

The lowest settings are perfect for faster cuts on thinner stems, such as summer deadheading, and the higher settings are more suited to pruning shrubs or small trees. The gaps between the blades at each setting are minimal – they move a third of an inch each time – but it is a useful feature that especially helps speed up smaller-scale pruning jobs.

Another key feature of this tool is its ergonomic design and the ComfortGEL grips. This, along with the shock absorber, helps to make pruning enjoyable and pain-free.

The Corona FlexDIAL ComfortGEL pruners are in the mid-range price bracket and do offer a level of flexibility that many gardeners will appreciate. They also come with a 10-year warranty and a promise of a replacement if there are defects (provided you have proof of purchase).

See our in-depth, expert review of the Corona FlexDIAL ComfortGEL pruning shears.

If you like to prune in style, the Felco 8 Elite pruners certainly fit the bill. They come with a premium look and a premium price, but can offer years of enjoyable pruning for any passionate gardener and make a great gardening gift for a green-fingered member of your family.

Let’s start with the unique look. The bypass pruners have a coated, hardened steel blade, a matte aluminum finish, and handles adorned with hand-stitched leather grips that mold to your hands with use. It sets them apart from other pruning shears.

Plus, the tools have good eco-credentials, made using 100% renewable energy, 70% recycled aluminum, and 95% recycled carbon steel.

The Felco 8 Elite pruners have a maximum cutting diameter of 25mm, and the cutting head is angled to align with the wrist, making pruning comfortable and intuitive. A useful innovation is a mid-opening thumb catch, which prevents the handles from opening all the way and is suited to doing lots of smaller, faster cuts, like deadheading.

Like with other Felco pruners, every component of this tool is replaceable. The Felco 8 Elite pruners may be a big investment, but with care and a few replacement parts as needed, you can enjoy decades of gardening with them.

See our in-depth, expert review of the Felco 8 Elite pruning shears.

Japanese gardening tools are very popular nowadays thanks to their renowned craftsmanship, which includes pruning tools. One of the best on the market is the Niwaki Higurashi GR pruners.

These sleek pruners are made from drop-forged carbon steel and have a smooth cutting action for pruning any stems up to 0.4 inches in diameter. The sharp steel blade reliably slices through stems easily, whether you are cutting flower stems, pruning houseplants, or harvesting crops.

The Niwaki Higurashi GR pruners are strong, lightweight, and durable. They have a strong, chunky catch for closing the blades, and the yellow grips stand out, which is perfect if you accidentally drop them onto plants or the soil.

The Niwaki Higurashi GR pruners are one of the most expensive on the market. A less pricey set of Japanese pruning shears is these Okatsune pruners (available on Amazon for $28). These are also made from Japanese steel and are easily spotted thanks to their white and red handles. However, the Okatsune pruners can make thicker cuts on stems up to 25mm in diameter.

Anvil pruners work differently from bypass pruners. Rather than cutting like scissors, they cut against a hard rubber 'anvil' to help you slice through thicker, denser branches. For example, you can cut through bamboo with anvil pruners in a way that's impossible with bypass pruners.

The Felco F32 is as good as anvil pruners get. They're similar to the Felco F31, but these are about 3.5oz lighter. While these are a one-trick pony and not as nimble as the Felco F2, they're great for processing thicker, denser material. The hardened steel blade and brass curbed anvil can confidently chop branches up to 25mm in diameter.

The anvil is adjustable, so if you find you can't gain purchase on a particular set of branches, you can adjust the anvil until it works for you. Like all Felco pruners, every part of these can be replaced: you can buy one pair of these and use them for life.

An alternative anvil pruner is this Fiskars Power-Lever pruner at Walmart. With a titanium blade and Fiskars’ power-lever technology to maximize power, the tool can cut dead, hard, or old stems up to 5/8 inch in diameter.

Ratchet pruners are a third type of pruner. They use a ratchet mechanism to cut through the wood in stages, which means that you can cut through much thicker branches than you can with bypass pruners.

You cut a little, engage the ratchet, and then cut a little more, taking you through thick branches. Ratchet pruners are often great if you have mobility issues in your hands like arthritis or Parkinson's, because you can use a little strength at a time.

The downside with ratchet pruners is that cutting in stages often makes for a slightly ragged cut. That's fine if you're processing dead branches to reuse them in compost or mulch, but it could tear bark on live trees and leave an open wound that can cause disease.

These Garden Guru pruning shears offer dual-mode cutting, either for single or ratchet cuts. The ratchet activates automatically when the mode is selected, helping to make cutting stems up to one inch thick easier.

Along with a ratchet cutting mechanism, another feature that gardeners with weaker hands should consider is pruners with ergonomic finger grips to help reduce fatigue.

These lightweight pruners have a high-carbon steel cutting blade and a scissor-style segmented handle designed to accommodate hands of all sizes. It reduces the strain on a gardener’s wrist and lessens fatigue, so you can prune for longer.

The Meperez pruners also have a ratchet design that allows for four times the cutting power each time you squeeze the tool. It makes cutting branches up to one-inch thick much easier for any senior gardeners or people with arthritis or weak hands.

Alternatively, these Gardeners Friend ratchet pruners on Amazon also have a non-slip ergonomic scissor-style handle suited to gardeners with weaker hands. Its Teflon-coated blade is rust-resistant and replaceable in case you do suffer a breakage.

There are real benefits to using electric pruners. Battery-powered or cordless pruning shears are motor-powered. You just need to press a trigger to activate the cutting mechanism. No more squeezing the pruners manually – the motor moves the blade for you.

Electric pruners can complete pruning jobs quicker than manual cutting. It reduces the required effort and makes electric pruners ideal for anyone who does lots of repetitive pruning or gardeners who suffer from hand or wrist issues.

This lightweight tool weighs just 2 lbs and can cut branches up to 1.4 inches in diameter. It is equipped with a sharp high-carbon steel blade for cutting effortlessly through shrubs and trees, and the manufacturer claims it can make over 2,000 cuts per charge. That should be sufficient to complete many tasks around the yard without worrying about running out of power mid-task.

The electric pruner comes with two rechargeable batteries, a fast charger, a replacement blade, plus other additional tools and accessories.