14 Of The Best Lawn Mower Models For Small Yards

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

The small yard can be a tidy, contained growing space that looks great and adds a touch of greenspace to your home environment. These areas offer a manageable snippet of natural growth that can be incredibly valuable for promoting your idealized outdoor living space. But if you don't take care of a small lawn it can quickly become an eyesore. There's an even greater onus on a homeowner with a small lawn to maintain the cutting and edging tasks around the exterior space because tall growth or untamed boundary areas become even more visually striking in a smaller yard. There's less of it to look at, so anything that's out of place takes up more real estate in the green field.

Homeowners with small lawns don't need the height of technology, an obscenely powerful mower, or something featuring massive variability in its cutting capabilities or mode selections. Small yards frequently demand small or fairly basic lawn mowers, which is great for a home maintainer working on a budget or hoping to keep their yard management tasks to a relative minimum. These 15 lawn mowers across seven categories of mowing tools offer a great blend of choices when it comes time to shop around for a new tool. Each one brings its own slate of overarching benefits to the forefront, and all of them can serve as a key asset for someone looking to maintain a pristinely manicured, small lawn.

There are some problems to be aware of with robotic mowers. But for the most part a current model can provide plenty of utility, especially when managing the cutting needs across a small lawn. Quality robotic mowers, even those designed for small cutting areas, won't come cheap, but they do eliminate much of the work involved in keeping your yard looking its best. Robotic tools often cut numerous times per week as well, shaving off a small trim each time to keep the lawn looking perfectly sheared with a fresh haircut at all times. You'll still need to edge and tackle cleanup tasks around posts and other obstructions in most instances, but the bulk of the work is taken care of automatically with one of these tools.

An option at Lowe's is the $1,999 Mammotion Luba 2 AWD Robotic Lawn Mower. It's rated as an ideal choice for lawns ranging from half an acre up to 1 acre in size while delivering a cut height that ranges from 2.2 inches to 4 inches. It works via an app and rolls on four wheels to deliver solid mobility and access, even over difficult slopes. It can handle various cutting patterns too, giving your lawn a nice finish. A less expensive option listed at Amazon is the Segway Navimow i206. It's available at Home Depot as well for the same $999 price tag. This model is best suited to ⅛ acre yards, making it perhaps even better as a small lawn tool. It can handle cut heights between 2 and 3.6 inches while handling significant slopes and doing its job without the need of a buried guide wire.

The reel mower is a manual tool that you'll push like a standard powered alternative. However, as you push, the wheels spin a gear connected to the cutting drum, and that's how the reel is spun up as you move around the yard to perform a cut. Reel (or cylinder) mowers feature a scissor-action to cut the lawn, and they tend to offer a fairly wide height range that can be adjusted for precise cutting at your desired length. Reel mowers cut a smooth shear into the blades of grass, and speaking from personal experience, can be used multiple times per week rather than needing to let the grass heal for longer from its prior encounter with the mower. That allows for a pristine manicure to the lawn, and it's perfectly suited to a smaller patch of grass that isn't likely to take very long to cut down.

There is a surprisingly large market for these unpowered cutting tools, but many options come from unknown brands akin to the strangely named toolmakers you'll find on Amazon. These tools often feature very few reviews as well, marking them as potentially unreliable given their limited user feedback. Two mowers in this category with trusted brand reputations and lots of buyer ratings are the Great States 14-Inch Reel Mower ($95 at Home Depot), and the Craftsman 16-Inch Reel Mower ($159 at Lowe's). Both feature five blades with 10-inch wheels. The Great States model offers cutting heights between 1 and 1.75 inches while the Craftsman delivers a wider range of 0.5 to 2.5 inches. Both streamline the cutting experience and can be a nice analog-style return to simpler times.

A corded mower comes with a distinct drawback that homeowners won't often want to deal with when mowing a larger lawn. These tools must remain tethered to the power outlet, limiting their range. However, in a small yard, that issue gets minimized and perhaps even evaporates altogether. As a result, a corded mower can solve a different problem. Instead of going back and forth over the cost to run a battery versus gas lawn mower and having to think about maintaining juiced up batteries or a reserve of gasoline, all you need to do with a corded mower is plug it into the wall. This can make operating the tool more streamlined, and these mowers are often notably cheaper than their cordless alternatives (in either build).

There are two particular models that stand out in terms of brand prowess and user ratings. The Ryobi 11 Amp 13-Inch Corded Push Mower is $199 at Home Depot and features a lightweight design (23 pounds) that's easy to maneuver and naturally requires no additional operational components beyond a plug and its push button start. It offers an adjustable cut ranging from 1 to 2.5 inches and features a collapsible handle for a smaller footprint while stored away. Lowe's' own-brand Kobalt also offers an option in this category with the $229 13 Amp 21-Inch Corded Lawn Mower. It features a notably larger cut deck with cutting heights ranging from 1.375 to 3.75 inches. It runs on 10-inch wheels and features a push button start with a blade speed maxing out at 3,600 RPM.

A compound function mower is one that can serve in a string trimming and edging role as well as acting as your mowing tool. They're generally built as a weed whacker that can slot into a mower base, but this isn't necessarily a rule. These tools are great for homeowners facing off against particularly intense space saving needs. The multi-functional mower tool can replace two or three tools, with the traditional lawn mower being a particularly large addition to that list. These units naturally feature a smaller cutting width, so they are often not the best option for larger yards. However, in a smaller area of growth, the scaled down cut deck size really doesn't limit your ability to quickly and efficiently mow the lawn, making this a solid choice for these types of properties.

One highly rated option bubbles to the top in this category. The Black+Decker 20V Cordless 3-in-1 String Trimmer, Lawn Edger, and Lawn Mower Kit is listed at Home Depot for $129. It comes with two 2Ah batteries and a charger alongside the four-wheeled base that allows the string trimming tool to transform into a stable mowing solution. When serving as a mower, it offers a 12-inch cutting width alongside an adjustable height range from 1.6 to 2.4 inches. It features an automatic feed spool that eliminates the need to bump the tool if the line breaks and can support all three primary lawn cutting tasks without having to reach for another tool to complete the job.

The "standard" lawn mowing experience is characterized by a push mower with a cut deck measuring somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 inches. This is largely the middle ground option between notably small lawn mowers and tools that start to reach up into the heavy duty or professional sphere. If you're thinking of purchasing a tool that closely adheres to the traditional experience, it may be worthwhile to explore mowers from the major power tool brands you already use in your renovation and maintenance work. All the major players from Milwaukee, Makita, and DeWalt to Skil, Craftsman, and Kobalt offer numerous lawn mowers, and plenty of models run on the same 18 or 20 volt battery systems that their mainline power tools utilize. This offers a crossover opportunity to add to your battery collection or run a new tool on your existing stock.

Among a huge wealth of options are the Makita 36V Mower Kit ($699 at Home Depot) Kobalt 40V Mower Kit ($349 at Lowe's), and Milwaukee M18 Fuel Mower Kit ($1,199 at Home Depot). All of them come with batteries (one in the Kobalt setup) and a charger alongside the mower itself. Makita's bundle features four 18V 5.0Ah batteries, offering itself as a potentially fantastic starting point for a buyer looking to bulk up on Makita power tools. The mower features 10 height positions (1.25 inches to 4 inches) while the other two provide seven. The Kobalt model matches Makita's range and Milwaukee's mower drops the low end to 1 inch. All three can bag, mulch, and side discharge clippings, and the Milwaukee tool can also send it out the rear hatch. All three offer 21-inch cut decks.

Skipping the self-propelled function on a gas mower is easier than on a battery operated alternative. As a natural byproduct of the newer technology underpinning competitive battery models, they frequently incorporate these kinds of features as standard rather than additions. Even so, a mower that isn't imbued with this added function can be a useful find for a homeowner with a small lawn. Cutting this feature out will save you some money in most instances, and it removes some of the weight that an alternative model will carry by taking off some added components necessary to run the system. Self-propelled mowers are ideal for larger lawns that would otherwise demand plenty of push strength to get across the whole area, but in a smaller yard it often just gets in the way. Complicating things for the sake of it can be frustrating, and in many cases, a smaller yard just doesn't require the added capability a self-propelled option brings to the table.

Two options from Home Depot worth considering are the Murray 125cc 20-Inch Push Mower ($299) and the Troy-Bilt 140cc 21-Inch Push Mower ($319). Both run with Briggs & Stratton engines, and both feature easy start sequences to minimize the hassle that often comes along with a gas mower. The Troy-Bilt tool features six height positions ranging from 1.25 to 3.75 inches to the Murray's five with a slightly lower 1.2-inch low end and the same height ceiling (alongside four wheel-height adjustments). Troy-Bilt's mower is rated for a quarter acre or less while the Murray mower suggests an ideal yard size for its use of a quarter to half an acre.

A smaller cut deck can actually be a valuable feature in a mower that will service a small lawn. As you move back and forth across the yard, you'll create cut and wheel patterns in the remaining grass. A small lawn that's streaked by wide lines may not look its best, giving the tool with a notably smaller cut deck a leg up on its competition, if only by way of aesthetics. Of course, a smaller cut deck means more passes across the yard, but for a small area this may not be a problem. Opting for a larger tool will result in a greater storage commitment for the mower, too. In this niche area of landscaping, a smaller tool can frequently be the better choice while also frequently saving you money on the purchase.

Another Ryobi model makes an appearance here. While the corded tool features a 13-inch cut deck too, the Ryobi ONE+ 18V 13-Inch Mower Kit ($279 at Home Depot) offers a bit more mobility. It's noted as being an ideal choice for mowing a quarter acre or less and offers a 30-minute runtime. The kit comes with a 4.0Ah battery and charger. It runs through seven height positions ranging from 1.5 to 4 inches and can bag or mulch clippings. Lowe's carries the $225 Wild Badger Power 40V 14-Inch Mower Kit. The tool includes a 4.0Ah battery and charger, and can handle five cutting heights ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 inches. The same 30-minute runtime is at play here, but the tool is a bit cheaper and features a slightly wider cut deck.

Each of these mowers offer a smooth cutting experience with some great features built into their frameworks. However, most feature smaller cutting capabilities, a slower cut, or less versatility than a mainline lawn mower that someone with a larger yard will require. In many cases, that trade comes with a favorable price reduction, adding another benefit for small yard owners who don't need extreme power or a bulky cutting tool. All of these products are available from the typical home improvement stores that DIYers and lawn maintainers will be familiar with already and each one features at least 100 ratings from buyers with a 4.0 star average score or better.