8 Best Garden Scissors of 2024 [Reviews]

Garden scissors, also known as garden shears, secateurs, or hand pruners, are excellent for any gardener’s tool belt. But which garden scissors are the best for cutting through unruly hedges or pruning roses to allow new growth? 

We’ve done the hard work for you and cut, pruned, and trimmed our way through the myriad of options to find the 8 best garden scissors for your outdoor projects. After profiling through our picks, a Buyers Guide at the end will help you choose the best garden scissors for your needs. 

Top 8 Garden Scissors – Reviews

1. Best All-Around Garden Scissors: CIPCO PRO TOOL Professional Ergonomic Ratchet Anvil Pruning Shears 

The CIPCO PRO TOOL Ratchet Anvil Pruning Shear is our top pick for its affordability and buttery-like cuts through thick branches and thin stems. The ergonomic handle is comfortable for both left and right-handed users, and the rubber handle helps absorb shock and reduce fatigue. 

The power and safety of these garden scissors is unmatched. With a ratcheting function that allows for three times more hand power and a safety thumb lock, you can trim through your projects with ease and store it safely once you’ve finished. 

Bonus Points: The CIPCO PRO Tool has a hole on the bottom of the handle for hanging up and easy storage. 

Specifications

• Handle Material: Rubber 
• Blade Material: SK-5 Steel 
• Blade Type: Ratchet Anvil 
• Length: 5 inches 
• Weight: 8.58 ounces 
• Max Cutting Capacity: 1 inch 
• Price Range: Inexpensive 

Pros

✓ Can trim all types of vegetation, from rose stems to branches 
✓ Safety thumb lock
✓ Ergonomic 
✓ Affordable 

Cons 

✗ Can be hard to latch without enough pressure 
✗ May be too big for smaller hands 

2. Runner-Up Best All-Around Garden Scissors: BAIRUI Professional Garden Pruners 

With stainless steel blades, a comfortable grip, and a lifetime warranty, the BAIRUI Professional Garden Pruners is a great option, but its high price makes it our runner-up. 

The blades on this bypass garden scissors are rust-resistant and non-stick, so they’ll stay sharp for longer and are best for trimming rose bushes, branches, and hedges. 

The non-slip and adjustable rubber handle fits well in small and large hands, and the easy-to-use thumb lock will keep you safe. 

Specifications

• Handle Material: Rubber
• Blade Material: Stainless Steel 
• Blade Type: Bypass
• Length: 9 inches 
• Weight: 2.46 ounces 
• Max Cutting Capacity: 1¼ inch 
• Price Range: Expensive 

Pros

✓ The stainless steel blades resist rust and sap 
✓ Can adjust the cutting size and the size of the tool
✓ Lightweight
✓ Lifetime warranty

Cons 

✗ Expensive
✗ Easier to use on larger branches than thin stems

3. Best Adjustable Garden Scissors: Restmo Gardening Scissors Adjustable Clippers 

The Restmo Gardening Scissors is an affordable, durable, and lightweight bypass pruner. This tool is spring-loaded to help reduce fatigue, and the blades are coated with Teflon to prevent scratches and friction. 

Restmo Garden Scissors are great for shaping bonsai trees and trimming flowers, vegetables, and branches. Because these plants tend to be sticky, these garden scissors include a sap groove to keep the blades clean and friction-free. 

Specifications

• Body Material: Soft foam
• Blade Material: Sk-5 steel with a Teflon coating 
• Blade Type: Bypass 
• Length: 5 inches 
• Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Max Cutting Capacity: ¾ inch  
• Price Range: Affordable 

Pros

✓ Sap collector
✓ Adjustable thumb lock 
✓ Adjustable cutting diameter from ½ inch – ¾ inch
✓ Handles include a rubber comfort grip for fatigue-reduction 

Cons 

✗  Can be hard to close for people with weaker or arthritic hands 
✗  Not the best option for skinny stems 

4. Best Lightweight Garden Scissors: LDK Gardening Hand Pruners 

The LDK Gardening Hand Pruners resemble traditional scissors, but its thin and curved blades work best on slender stems and flowers. The stainless steel blades are rust-resistant, and there is a locking mechanism right in the middle for easy storage and safety. 

Bonus Points: You have to apply only a slight amount of pressure to create intricate designs and patterns, thanks to this garden scissors’ spring-action grip. 

Specifications

• Body Material: Rubber
• Blade Material: Stainless steel 
• Blade Type: Curved 
• Length: 6.5 inches
• Weight: 3.2 ounces 
• Max Cutting Capacity: ¼ inch
• Price Range: Inexpensive 

Pros

✓ Extremely affordable 
✓ Easy to use and comfortable
✓ Long blades are intended for detailed designs in hard-to-reach areas 
✓ Great for beginners 
✓ Comes with an extra spring

Cons 

✗ Some users have had their hands pinched when closing the tool 
✗ May not last as long as more expensive garden scissors 

5. Best Garden Scissors for Senior Gardeners: The Gardeners Friend Ratchet Pruning Shears

The ergonomic design of these garden scissors makes the Gardeners Friend Ratchet Pruning Shears great for gardeners with arthritis. These garden scissors have a large cutting capacity to handle delicate snips or a clean cut through thick branches. 

Bonus Points: The tool comes with a cleansing sponge, and the carbon steel blades are detachable for easy cleaning and replacement.   

Specifications

• Handle Material: Rubber and aluminum
• Blade Material: Carbon steel 
• Blade Type: Ratchet anvil 
• Length: 8 inches 
• Weight: 7.7 ounces 
• Max Cutting Capacity: 1 inch 
• Price Range: Expensive 

Pros

✓ Great for seniors or those with trouble holding and closing other garden scissors 
✓ Easy to clean 
✓ Three-stage action for easier cutting through thicker branches 

Cons 

✗ Handle loops may not be big enough if you wear gardening gloves 
✗ Expensive ✗ Slightly heavier and longer than other scissors

6. Best 2-in-1 Garden Scissors: WORKPRO 2 Piece Bypass Pruning Shears Set 

Get the most cut for your garden scissors buck with the 2-tools-in-1 combo Workpro 2 Piece Bypass Pruning Shears Set. This pruning shears set includes both a bypass and straight garden scissors, so you can tackle both detail work and heavy-duty gardening all for one price. 

The handle on both tools is made of anti-slip rubber that’s comfortable whether you are left- or right-handed. In addition, each of these tools comes with a dampening spring and safety lock for safe and powerful cutting. 

Specifications

• Handle Material: Rubber
• Blade Material: Carbon steel 
• Blade Type: Bypass and straight 
• Length: 8 inches 
• Weight: About 9.84 oz each 
• Max Cutting Capacity: 10 mm 
• Price Range: Affordable

Pros

✓ Anti-slip handle 
✓ Affordable 
✓ Two for the price of one 
✓ Good for precision cutting and trimming 

Cons

✗ May be uncomfortable for small hands 
✗ Can be quick to rust 

7. Best Spring-Action Garden Scissors: Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruner

The Fiskars Micro-tip Pruner makes for a powerful garden scissors, and its spring-loaded feature helps reduce fatigue and increase your trimming speed.

Bonus Points: This garden scissors has a non-stick and low-friction coating to prevent sap build-up and blade erosion. 

Specifications

• Handle Material: Soft-grip handle
• Blade Material: Stainless Steel 
• Blade Type: Straight 
• Length: 6 inches 
• Weight: 0.48 ounce 
• Max Cutting Capacity: ¼ inch 
• Price Range: inexpensive 

Pros 

✓ Received a commendation from the Arthritis Foundation for Ease of Use 
✓ Non-stick coating 
✓ Comes with a safety lock and blade cover
✓ Soft-grip handle adds comfort 

Cons

✗ Won’t work on branches, best for flowers and indoor plants
✗ The locking mechanism may be slightly loose 

8. Best for the Details: VIVOSUN 6.5-inch Gardening Hand Pruner

Reduced hand fatigue is one of the most critical factors for gardeners looking for a new pruner. With its spring-loading capability, the Vivosun 6.5-inch Gardening Hand Pruner checks that box. 

But these garden scissors check lots of boxes.

Although it’s not a heavy-duty pruner, these garden scissors have precision blades that make trimming, deadheading, and pruning smaller stems a breeze.

This lightweight, Fiskars-Esque pruner is easy to hold, extremely sharp, and affordable, and its long blades make for easy reach and control. 

Specifications

• Handle Material: Rubber
• Blade Material: Stainless steel
• Blade Type: Straight 
• Length: 6.5 inches 
• Weight: 2.89 oz 
• Max Cutting Capacity: ¼ inch 
• Price Range: Inexpensive 

Pros

✓ Easy-to-use safety lock 
✓ Affordable
✓ Works well in small and large hands 

Cons 

✗ Blade may rust 
✗ Doesn’t work well on thick tree branches or flower stems

Buyers Guide

Garden scissors come in handy whether you need to cut back a privacy hedge, remove dead growth from a rose garden, or create an intricate design on your bonsai tree. But what kind of garden scissors do you need, and how do you choose a good pair? 

In this buyers guide, we’ve broken down all the factors that go into buying the best garden scissors for your needs and what those factors mean so you can make the most informed decision. 

For more information, check out this video tutorial on youtube by Epic Gardening:

Types of Garden Scissors 

The design of your garden scissors is the first factor you should consider when shopping for this type of tool. Here’s why: The way your garden scissors cut can affect the variety of plants you can prune and the type of cuts you can make. What this means: You may need more than one garden scissors, depending on your gardening projects. 

• Bypass: Bypass-style pruners are the most commonly used design for garden scissors. Bypass pruners consist of two curved blades that slide past each other to get a clean, even cut, just like household scissors.
  
  Bypass pruners can slice through both living and dead vegetation, so you can use these garden scissors for gathering herbs for dinner and trimming dead branches.
  
• Anvil: Anvil garden scissors work similarly to chopping on a cutting board. The curved top blade falls onto the flat bottom chamber, which catches the blade and chops the vegetation in half.
  
  Unfortunately, the way these pruners cut can crush healthy stems, so anvil garden scissors work best on dry stems and deadwood. The bottom chamber of an anvil garden scissors can also fill with material, but cleaning the tool after use can help reduce this issue.
  
• Straight and Snip-Style: Straight-style garden scissors look like a mix between household scissors and pliers, with extremely long, thin, and sharp blades. Snip-style blades look similar to the straight style but are usually smaller.
  
  The straight-style blade is excellent for getting into hard-to-reach places, while the snip-style works best for creating intricate designs or pruning delicate plants.

Blade Material 

The blade material also is a significant factor affecting your pruner’s price, look, and durability. Different blade materials require a different amount of maintenance to keep the blade in top shape. 

• Carbon Steel: Carbon steel makes pruner blades tough and sharp, easily cutting through all types of plant materials.
  
  The downside to carbon steel is that it tends to rust quickly, so if you’re cutting through living vegetation (which contains water), remember to clean your blade thoroughly after each use. Keeping your garden scissors oiled also can help prevent rust.
  
• Stainless Steel: Stainless steel is the most common type of garden scissors blade, but some sellers may incorrectly advertise their pruners as stainless steel, so be vigilant when shopping.
  
  Stainless steel blades are rust and corrosion-resistant and can easily cut through stems. The downside? Stainless steel blades can be hard to resharpen if they’ve been used too frequently or used on branches that are too thick.
  
• Titanium Coated: Titanium-coated blades are simply carbon blades with a rust-resistant coating applied over them. This coating helps your garden scissors cleanly cut through sappy stems without having to pay the price of an expensive, fully titanium blade.
  
  An easy way to tell if your pruner has a titanium coating is if the blade has a gold color. 

Ergonomic Design 

When describing garden scissors, a reviewer may talk about their ergonomic design, but what does it mean for a pruner to be ergonomic? Usually, ergonomic design centers on the handle and any mechanisms that make the garden scissors easy to use. 

For example, some garden scissors have round handles to make them easier to hold, and others have rubber or silicone handles for a non-slip and comfortable grip. 

An easy way to determine if your garden scissors are ergonomically sound is by checking if it has a ratchet feature:

Ratchet pruners were designed to help reduce wrist fatigue. You have to squeeze the handle only halfway, and the garden scissors do the rest of the work by cutting in stages. 

Cutting Capacity

Knowing your tool’s cutting capacity is vital when purchasing garden scissors. For example, some pruners can cut through stems only about ¼-inch in diameter, and using a pruner that’s too powerful can crush the stem and damage the plant. 

Why this matters: Using garden scissors with too small of a cutting capacity on too large of a branch can break your pruner and possibly injure you. 

Locking Mechanism

Locking mechanisms are used to keep your garden scissors’ blades sharp and you safe while trimming. Most garden scissors come with a locking mechanism, although these vary in location and use. 

For example, some garden scissors have safety locks on the side, while some have a lock you can open or close with your thumb. (However, some users complain about thumb locks as it’s easy to hit them with your finger accidentally.) 

Spring-Loaded

Spring-loaded pruners work in a similar way to ratchet pruners. The spring works to reduce the amount of pressure you have to exert to close the tool fully, and then it fully springs back open after you’ve made your cut. 

If the spring isn’t strong enough, it will break, and you’d have to use the tool like a pair of regular scissors. (Some spring-loaded pruners include an extra spring in case the original breaks, enabling you to swing back into action, cutting greenery in your garden and yard.) 

Still not sure what type of garden scissors or pruners is right for you and your yard? This video may help:

FAQ About Garden Scissors

When to Call a Professional  

With so many different kinds of garden scissors on the market, all used for different types of pruning, the right pair off this list for someone else may not be the best option for you. 

Not only do you have to choose the right garden scissors for your needs, but you also have to actually do the pruning. Many homeowners just don’t have the time or energy to devote to these tasks. 

That’s where LawnStarter comes in. Hire one of our local landscaping professionals to assist you with trimming flowers, vegetables, trees, bushes, hedges, and all your gardening needs. 

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