Best Cordless Chainsaw 2026: 10 Ranked, and Why 40V Isn't 40V

This is the only saw in the ten that arrives with two batteries rather than one, and the second one is the point: the listing promises 'one to run and one on charge'. The motor is quoted at 12 m/s chain speed and up to 30% more power and run time than a brushed version. The spec table lists 3.4 kg; the bullet point above it says 3.5 kg. That 100g gap tells you nothing about the saw and a lot about how these pages get filled in.

In practice the 35cm bar and the 180ml translucent oil tank are the numbers that matter daily. An automatic oiler means no stopping to drip oil onto the chain, and the kickback brake stops the chain instantly on recoil. Greenworks sells this as a brushless cordless chainsaw on its own 40V platform, so both 2Ah packs also run any other Greenworks 40V tool you own.

That said, 4.2 stars from 247 ratings is the second-lowest score in this top five, and 8 of the 100 ratings shown are one-star. If you already own a 36V Bosch or 18V Ryobi battery, buying into a third platform is the expensive part, not the saw.

Bosch lists this saw's 'Horsepower' as 36. That is not horsepower, it is the volts, dropped into the wrong field. Set that aside and the hardware is the same 36V brushless unit as the £256.00 kit in tenth place: 14 m/s chain speed, OptiCut torque and speed adaptation, tool-free assembly, and 2.88 kg here against 3.56 kg for the version with the 2.0Ah battery fitted. By contrast, the £76.05 difference buys a battery, a charger and 680g.

In practice this is the saw for someone already inside Bosch's 36V system. The box is deliberately thin: the tool, a scabbard, a chain and bar, a 50ml starter oil bottle and a tensioning aid. No battery, no charger, and no oil beyond that starter bottle.

Worth noting the review base: 96 ratings at 4.5, with 7 one-star against 80 five-star. That is a small sample next to the Ryobi's 2,168, and small samples swing easily in both directions. If you own no 36V battery, this is the wrong end of the range to start from — the kit in tenth place is the simpler way to buy the same machine.

The largest body of evidence here belongs to this one: 2,168 ratings at 4.5, with 74 five-star and 5 one-star in the histogram Amazon shows. The spec table, though, lists 'Horsepower: 18 Watts'. Those are volts in one field and watts in another, and neither is horsepower. The same table gives the item dimensions as 2.1L x 0.49W x 2.4H metres — a 2.1-metre saw. Treat that row as decoration and use the bullets instead: 30cm Oregon bar and chain, 10 m/s chain speed, 18V brushless motor.

In practice this is the cordless electric chainsaw for someone already inside ONE+. Ryobi sells over 100 tools on the same 18V packs, and this one arrives as a bare tool with bar and chain oil and a bar sheath, nothing more. Automatic oiling and tool-less tensioning are both there, plus a mechanical chain brake for the kickback case.

The catch is the price of entry. At £169.96 for the tool alone, a battery and charger on top pushes it past several complete kits in this list. If you are not already in the ONE+ system, the arithmetic does not work. Even so, 4.49 kg with a 30cm bar is a serious pruning saw, not a toy — the listing even calls it a 'barezero tool'.

Two numbers on this page do not agree. The title says 'with Battery and Charger 18V PXC' and the bullets describe the GE-LC 18/25-1 'Kit (1x 3,0 Ah)'. The Item Type Name field, meanwhile, says 'Battery and Charger Not Included'. At £88.49 with 4,106 ratings at 4.3, this is the cheapest cordless chainsaw in this top ten — but which version arrives is the question to settle before you order.

In practice the hardware is a 25cm bar with a 23cm cutting length, a 1.1mm drive link thickness, 40 drive links and a 3/8-inch chain pitch. Chain tensioning is tool-free, lubrication is automatic, and a metal bumper spike plus a chain catch pin cover the safety side. The quoted cutting speed is 4.5 m/s.

That said, this is a light-duty cordless saw. Against 10 to 14 m/s on the bigger tools here, 4.5 m/s will feel slower in anything but small branches. If you are felling beyond garden timber, the 30cm and 35cm saws above will finish sooner. Worth noting too that the '1x 3,0 Ah' comma formatting suggests the copy was written for a European SKU.

Amazon ranks this #1 in Chain Saws, and 4,388 ratings at 4.5 back it up. The voltage label needs translating, though. Supstable calls its packs '21V 4000mAh'; a charged 18V lithium pack reads around 21V, which puts these in the same nominal 18V class as Ryobi ONE+ and Einhell PXC. The spec table's 'Horsepower: 1000 Watts' is another field filled with the wrong unit — watts, not horsepower.

On paper the Supstable offers the most for the money: two batteries, a fast charger, gloves, a 12-inch bar, 10 m/s chain speed, a 150ml translucent oil tank with automatic lubrication, and up to 120 cuts per charge. At 2.4 kg it is genuinely light, and tool-free tensioning means no wrench in the field. In practice that makes it a cordless chainsaw with battery and charger for the price other brands charge for the bare tool.

However, 120 cuts per charge is a battery claim, not a cutting claim: it says nothing about wood diameter or how long each cut takes. In theory two packs cover a full afternoon; in reality 4,000mAh at 18V nominal runs down faster under load. If you need to fell a mature tree, this is the wrong class of tool — buy it for pruning, hedge work and small logs.

Here is a listing that argues with itself. The tool is an 18V XR brushless saw, sold without battery, yet the Power source field says 'AC Power'. The Chain Speed field says 'Variable Speed', which is not a speed. Meanwhile the useful numbers hold up: a 30cm bar and chain that DeWalt says will cut wood up to 25cm in diameter, and up to 100 cuts per charge.

In practice this is the compact saw for building sites and for people already carrying 18V XR packs. Tooled chain tensioning uses a bar clamping mechanism with a wrench stored on the tool itself, which is slower than the tool-free systems above but harder to get wrong on site. The 4.6 kg body and 80cm overall length make it the longest saw here.

The catch is the price: £179.45 for a bare tool with only 52 ratings at 4.2, the thinnest evidence base in this top ten. Ten of those 100 ratings are one-star. If you do not already own 18V XR batteries, this is a poor first purchase. If you do, it is a well-built 30cm saw with a 3-year warranty.

The weight on this page moves by about 2.3 kg depending on where you look. The bullet point says 'just 5.5 lbs (with battery)', roughly 2.5 kg. The spec table says 4.79 kg. Both cannot be right, and the spec sheet is the one that usually comes off the warehouse scales. What is consistent: a 12-inch (30cm) bar, 12 m/s chain speed, two 4.0Ah batteries and a claimed 80 cuts per charge through 4x4 inch wood.

The features are aimed at first-time users: tool-free chain tensioning on a side-mounted dial, an automatic oiler, and a chain brake rated to stop the chain in under 0.12 seconds. One detail to check before ordering — the Included Components field names only 'Battery pack'. The charger is not listed there, though the kit copy refers to fast charging.

Even so, 4.1 stars from 98 ratings is the second-lowest score in this list, and 13 of the 100 ratings shown are one-star. If you want a budget battery chainsaw for light pruning, it will do the job. If you want one for regular firewood work, that rating and the weight discrepancy are reason to look at the Greenworks kit instead.

This is the lightweight cordless chainsaw of the group: 1.7 kg (3.9 lbs) and built for one-handed use. The motor is quoted at 1,200W, a wattage claim on a battery tool that tells you nothing about bar length or torque. Chain speed is given as 29ft/s, about 8.8 m/s, against 10 m/s from the other 12-inch saw here — so this is the slower of the two minis.

In practice the small size is the whole point: one hand, 12-inch bar, two 4.0Ah batteries and a claimed 30-45 minutes of cutting per charge. The kit is generous — two chains, two batteries, a dual charger, gloves, goggles and a manual. Note that the item highlight says 'Auto Oiling', while the bullets describe an easy-press manual oiling system, and the note tells you to add oil and let the machine run for about 10 seconds before cutting.

The catch is the sample: 4 one-star and 3 two-star ratings against 73 five-star in the 100 shown. A 1,200W claim on a 20V pack is marketing arithmetic, not measured output. For hedge trimming, lopping branches and small logs, this is fine. For firewood by the cubic metre, the 35cm and 41cm saws above are the right tools.

This is where the voltage label unravels. Dong Cheng calls it a 40V saw, then describes it as running on 'dual 20V (40V total) batteries' — the same arrangement as any other 2x20V tool. Greenworks brands its 40V packs without that explanation, which makes the two labels look like different classes of machine. They are not. The rest of the spec is honest about scale: a 16-inch (41cm) bar, 14 m/s chain speed and 7.94 kg.

In practice the bigger bar and 4.0Ah packs are what you pay for: a claimed 120 cuts through 4x4 lumber per charge, tool-free tensioning, an automatic oiler and an inertia chain brake rated under 0.1 seconds. This is a battery chainsaw built for small tree felling and firewood, not for tidying a hedge.

However, the review distribution is the worst in this top ten: 9 one-star and 10 two-star ratings among the 100 shown, against 58 five-star, for 4.0 stars from 64 ratings. At 7.94 kg it is also more than twice the weight of the 40V Greenworks. If you need a 41cm bar, this is the cheapest way to get one. If you need to hold it above shoulder height, it is the wrong saw.