Best Battery Chainsaws

The bigger M18 sibling of the M12 Hatchet that climbing arborists made famous — an 8" one-hand-capable pruning saw that Milwaukee rates faster-cutting than 25cc gas while weighing under 5 lbs bare. It comes arborist-ready out of the box: lanyard loop, climbing scabbard, full-house low-vibration chain, metal bucking spikes, and onboard scrench storage. Owner threads treat it as the tool that ended the pole-saw-and-handsaw shuffle for limbing, storm cleanup, and trail work, and the review consensus at retail is near-perfect. The honest caveats: at $499 for the kit with the XC6.0 pack it costs as much as a full-size 16" saw kit; a one-handed 8" chainsaw invites the same kickback and PPE responsibilities as any top-handle saw; the tiny bar means it's a limbing specialist, not a bucking saw; and the auto-oiler shares the M18 family habit of seeping bar oil between uses. Pros on a budget note the tool-only at $279 makes more sense if you already own HO batteries.

Ryobi's 40V HP 14-inch is the chainsaw for the enormous crowd that already charges Ryobi lawn batteries in the garage: brushless, genuinely capable in the 8-12 inch wood that suburban trees actually produce, and rated 4.8 stars across a couple hundred reviews on Ryobi's own site. Home Depot's ecosystem makes it the path of least resistance — tool-only around $149-189 if you own packs, or roughly $299 with a 4Ah battery and charger. Owners praise the instant starts and the HP brushless motor's refusal to bog in moderate cuts; the honest limits are the ones the class shares: the 14-inch bar and 40V platform top out around small-tree felling, the plastic-heavy build reads homeowner-grade because it is, and Ryobi's stock chains and bars are mediocre enough that enthusiasts upgrade both. Within its lane — cleanup, limbing, occasional small felling on a shared battery platform — it's hard to spend less and get more.

The long-running 80V kit that made battery chainsaws credible for cheap — an 18-inch bar, brushless motor Greenworks rates as 42cc-gas-equivalent, and a 2.0Ah battery with a genuinely quick 30-minute recharge. Lowe's buyers rate it 4.6 stars and repeatedly describe dropping and bucking 18-22 inch trees on a charge, and the price is the hook: it lists at $380 but routinely street-prices at $210-250, an absurd amount of saw for the money. The honest caveats from owner reviews: the 2.0Ah pack is good for roughly 110 cuts and fades fast in big hardwood, the chain works loose and derails more than it should (check tension often), it's thirsty on bar oil, and the saw bogs if you lean on it in oversized logs. Note that Greenworks now also sells a newer 2.5kW Gen III 80V 18-inch (CS80L417, ~$430 with 4Ah) with more power for considerably more money — this classic kit remains the value pick.

The Gen II 60V is Greenworks' volume seller — a 2.0 kW brushless saw the company claims out-torques a 42cc gas engine by 20%, sold as an 18-inch kit with a 4.0Ah battery and 40-minute charger for around $310-350 at Lowe's, Tractor Supply, and Greenworks direct. Its 383 Lowe's reviews average 4.6 stars, with owners consistently surprised that a box-store battery saw fells and bucks real trees — the no-prime, no-choke, instant-trigger start is the most-praised feature among gas converts. At 9.5 lbs bare it's manageable for limbing, and the 65.6 ft/s chain speed is respectable if not pro-fast. The complaint pattern in reviews: the chain can come off under hard use, it bogs in very large logs if you rush it, and the 4.0Ah pack is good for about 140 cuts — enough for an afternoon, not a full firewood day. The 60V battery line spans 75+ Greenworks tools, which is a more useful ecosystem than the 80V line for most homeowners.

EGO's volume-seller 16-incher and the saw r/egopowerplus keeps telling first-time battery buyers to get, because the 56V platform shares packs with the mowers and blowers half of them already own. EGO rates it as 40cc-gas-equivalent with a 20 m/s chain speed, and the included 4.0Ah pack is good for a claimed 220 cuts in 4x4 — realistic for storm cleanup and limbing, optimistic if you're bucking hardwood rounds all afternoon. Owners praise the instant torque and the tool-free dual-dial tensioner, but the recurring gripes are real: like most EGO saws it weeps bar oil in storage (store it on cardboard), the chain stretches and needs frequent re-tensioning when new, and the saw down-regulates power on smaller packs, so don't expect full grunt off a 2.5Ah. At $329 for the kit it undercuts the Milwaukee and Makita 16-inch kits by a wide margin, which is why the review counts at Ace and Lowe's run into the thousands.

The biggest saw EGO makes and the closest thing to a battery farm saw the 56V line offers — a 20" bar, a real 3/8"/.050 full-chisel chain, 25 m/s chain speed, and a claimed 55cc-gas equivalence that testers largely back up; Pro Tool Reviews said it went through seasoned oak 'like a hot knife through butter.' It's a genuine firewood saw: 135 claimed cuts on 6x6 with the included 6.0Ah pack, a digital display, and an LED work light. The honest tradeoffs: at 19.4 lbs with battery it's one of the heaviest saws in its class, gas or battery; top chain speed only unlocks with a 6.0Ah-or-larger pack; and owners report the familiar EGO habits — bar-oil seepage in storage and chains that need frequent tensioning. If you're cutting cords of hardwood a 20-minute-per-pack reality means buying a second $300+ battery, which quietly turns a $549 kit into an $850 setup.

The saw that proved an 18V platform could cut like gas — Milwaukee ships it with the giant HD12.0 pack (216 Wh) and claims 40cc-plus performance, and Pro Tool Reviews clocked it out-cutting a Husqvarna 460 Rancher in head-to-head bucking. For the legions already invested in M18 tools it's the obvious choice: 150 claimed cuts per charge, full throttle in under a second, and a proper 16" Oregon bar with metal bucking spikes. r/MilwaukeeTool threads are largely glowing about power but honest about the rest: it's 13.9 lbs with the battery (heavier than a 40cc gas powerhead), the automatic oiler is factory-set and owners report it runs wet — flinging and weeping bar oil in storage — and running any pack smaller than an HO 8.0 noticeably blunts performance. It's also a single-battery saw with no dual-charger in the kit, so sustained firewood days mean either a $250 spare HD12.0 or long charging breaks.

Husqvarna's Lowe's-exclusive consumer battery saw, and one of the fastest-cutting saws in its class thanks to a boost mode that pulls 25% more power on demand. The kit is honest value: an 18-inch bar, a big 7.5Ah BLi30 pack, and charger for about $480, and testers measured it among the quietest saws in the category at 82 dB. Lowe's reviewers (4.4 stars across 300+ reviews) repeatedly describe dropping 18-22 inch hardwoods on a single charge and praise how light and balanced it feels under 14 lbs with battery. The 1-star tail is worth reading, though: recurring complaints about the tool-less chain tensioner losing tension, water intrusion killing saws stored outdoors, occasional battery failures, and frustrating Husqvarna warranty support. It's also a closed ecosystem play — the 40V Power Axe batteries don't cross over to Husqvarna's dealer-line pro tools. For yard trees and storm cleanup it punches well above its price; heavy firewood cutters will find its limits.

Makita's clever answer to not having a big OPE battery: run two 18V LXT packs in series for 36V, so the enormous LXT tool ecosystem doubles as a chainsaw fleet. The XCU04 is the quietest, smoothest-feeling saw in this class — 11.5 lbs with both 5.0Ah packs, tool-less chain adjustment, and an auto power-off that keeps idle saws from draining batteries. But Makita's own 32cc-equivalence claim tells the honest story: this is the least powerful 16" saw among the big brands, and owner reviews echo it — great for limbing, storm branches, and occasional cordwood, but it bogs in hard 12"+ wood and 'gobbles batteries' under sustained bucking. The X2 arrangement also means every outing requires two charged packs, and the saw stops when the weaker one taps out. As a yard saw for someone deep in the LXT platform it's genuinely pleasant; as a primary firewood saw it's outclassed by EGO and Milwaukee at the same money.

The saw Makita built after admitting two 18V packs weren't enough — the 40V XGT GCU05 (sold internationally as the UC016G) spins its chain at 5,020 FPM and carries a 42cc-gas-equivalence claim that puts it in a different league from the old XCU04. Build quality is classic Makita: XPT weather sealing, a proper inertia chain brake, tool-free tensioning, and a standard 91PX 3/8"LP/.050 chain you can buy at any hardware store. The catches are cost and runtime: at $629 the kit costs $100+ more than an EGO CS2005 with a bigger bar, XGT packs are among the priciest batteries in OPE, and Makita's own runtime claim — about 30 cuts in 12" cedar on the included 4.0Ah — means firewood days require multiple packs. Home Depot owner reviews (4.3 stars) praise the power and fit-and-finish while flagging exactly that: you'll want a second (or 5.0Ah) battery, and you'll pay dearly for it. For XGT-platform loyalists it's the best saw Makita has ever made; for everyone else the math is hard.

DeWalt's biggest saw — a 20" bar, up to 3,100W (DeWalt claims 50.2cc-gas-equivalent peak power), and a real 3/8"/.050 chain — aimed squarely at the EGO CS2005 and Milwaukee's M18 flagship. In testing it's legitimately fast, ripping through 16"+ hardwood, and the included hard carry case is a touch nobody else offers at this price. But this is the most polarizing saw in the group: the Ace Hardware aggregate sits at just 3.5 stars, with owners citing batteries that sag or shut down under sustained bucking, mixed durability, and the sheer 17.2 lb heft with the FlexVolt pack aboard. The kit's 4.0Ah (60V) battery is really a 12.0Ah 20V FlexVolt pack, which is great if you own other FlexVolt tools and expensive dead weight if you don't. Buy it if you're FlexVolt-committed and cut intermittently; look at EGO or gas if you're bucking cords every weekend.

Stihl's strongest AP-system saw short of the pro MSA 300, and the one dealers steer serious property owners toward. With the 281 Wh AP 300 S pack it runs a 16-inch bar at a genuinely quick 78 ft/s chain speed, and Pro Tool Reviews clocked up to 48 minutes of trigger time (Stihl claims 40). Owners like the tool-less quick tensioner and that the battery drops into Stihl's blowers, trimmers, and pole saws. The catch is the math: the saw is $450 bare, but the AP 300 S battery is another $320 and the AL 301 charger about $120, so a real kit lands near $890 — roughly double a comparable Greenworks or Echo kit. Owner gripes beyond price: runtime drops fast bucking hardwood over 12 inches, the fine-kerf Picco chain dulls quickly in dirty wood, and a minority of threads report stingy or clogged oilers. If you're already invested in AP batteries it's an easy call; if not, the system buy-in is the whole conversation.

Stihl's flagship battery saw and the first one working crews describe as an honest gas replacement — Stihl rates it at 2.5 kW, comparable to its 50cc MS 271, and it runs a full-house .325 pro chain rather than a homeowner profile. It has real professional touches: three power modes with an LED display, an oil-flow sensor that warns you before you cook a bar, magnesium housing, and an IPX4 weather rating. The sticker shock is the story in every owner thread: $860 for the bare saw, and the 337 Wh AP 500 S battery plus AL 500 charger push a working kit to about $1,555 — gas MS 261 money with change left over. Owners also note the roughly 44-minute max runtime means commercial crews need two or three $400+ batteries to work a full day, and at 14 lbs with pack it's no lighter than the gas saw it replaces. For noise-restricted municipal work and emission-free fleets it has no real Stihl alternative; for everyone else the math is hard.

Husqvarna's professional battery rear-handle, rated equivalent to a 40cc pro gas saw, and the one utility and trail crews reach for because it's genuinely light — 6.4 lbs bare, around 10.6 with the high-capacity 40-B330X (BLi300-class, 9.4Ah) pack. The narrow .325 mini / .043 X-Cut chain and 79 ft/s top chain speed produce clean, fast cuts, and owners report about 40 minutes to an hour of intermittent work per charge with savE mode. ArboristSite feedback is candid about the ceiling: it excels brushing and felling small trees, but pushed into 6-10 inch firs at full slash pace it will stall or flounder — this is a 40cc saw, not a 50cc one. Reliability reports are mostly good, with exceptions worth knowing: at least one documented melted main control board (a $200 repair) and a charger owners describe as fragile. Husqvarna typically sells the saw, battery, and charger separately in the US; complete 16-inch dealer kits run about $1,100, which is the honest number to compare against gas.

Echo's 56V eFORCE rear-handle is the value shock of the battery-saw market: an 18-inch saw with a 252 Wh 5.0Ah battery and charger for a $349.99 MSRP — less than half of what an equivalent Stihl AP setup costs. Independent testing backs the value story; Echo placed near the front for cutting speed in Project Farm's battery-chainsaw head-to-head, and Lawn Care Forum and ToolBoxBuzz reviewers describe a year of near-weekly use with zero maintenance beyond chain sharpening. Echo rates it for up to 200 cuts per charge, and the 5-year consumer tool warranty is the longest in this class. The honest knocks: at 14.6 lbs with pack it's heavier than most rivals, the included standard charger is slow (75-150 minutes — budget for the rapid charger), and there are scattered owner reports of bar-oiler failures out of the box, including a documented warranty return on ArboristSite. Home Depot carries it everywhere, though its review aggregate couldn't be independently verified at research time.

DeWalt's little 12-incher is the chainsaw for people who own DeWalt drills — a 9 lb (with battery) camp-and-cleanup saw that runs on the same 20V Max packs as the rest of the yellow fleet. ToolGuyd's reviewer famously came in skeptical and left converted: for limbs, small trees, and construction demo cuts it's genuinely handy, with a claimed 90 cuts in 4x4 PT lumber from the included 5.0Ah pack. The recurring complaint in dated Home Depot reviews is the oil system: the cap shipped without a proper O-ring seal for years and the saw weeps bar oil when stored flat — some owners report leaks onto the trigger electronics — so it lives best hung up with the tank near-empty. It's no firewood saw: sustained cutting drains the 5.0Ah pack quickly and the 20V motor bogs in hardwood past ~8". As a grab-it-weekly property saw on a platform you already own, though, it's cheap, quiet, and always ready.

The budget path to a big-bar battery saw — $379 at Home Depot buys an 18" bar, a 6.0Ah pack, a rapid charger, and Ryobi's claim of more power than a 40cc gas saw with over 90 cuts per charge. It replaced the well-liked RY40580, and for the homeowner who clears a couple of storm-downed limbs a year and wants zero maintenance, dated Home Depot reviews are full of converts from cranky gas saws. The gripes in those same reviews are consistent and worth knowing: the chain derails and needs frequent re-tensioning more than any other saw in this class, the bar-retention knob works loose mid-session, and sustained cutting heats the 6.0Ah pack enough that it needs a cool-down before the charger will accept it — a real bottleneck if you only own one battery. Power is honest mid-pack: fine for 12" softwood bucking, laboring in big hardwood. You're trading refinement for price, and at $120-250 less than the comparable EGO, Milwaukee, and DeWalt kits, plenty of owners consider that a fair trade.

The Whisper Series 12-inch is the chainsaw distilled to its most convenient form: an 18V ONE+ tool light enough to feel like a big pruner, quiet enough that Ryobi built the marketing around it, and compatible with the batteries half of American garages already own. At $249 for the kit — much less as a bare tool — it exists for pruning, storm-limb cleanup, and breaking down small logs, and owners consistently describe it as the saw that actually gets grabbed because there's zero ceremony: click a pack in and cut. The physics are the honest limit: 18 volts through a 12-inch bar is a light-duty proposition, sustained cuts in hardwood drain packs quickly, and anything beyond ~8-inch wood belongs to its 40V sibling. As a second saw for trim work, or a first saw for a small yard, the convenience-per-dollar is unmatched; as an only saw for real firewood, it's the wrong tool and doesn't pretend otherwise.