The Best Garden Tillers (Rototillers)

Garden tillers (aka ‘rototillers’) offer an effective and time-efficient means of getting the best out of the soil in your yard, whether you’re preparing the ground for planting or laying new turf, aerating to promote root growth, or just mixing in compost and fertilizer to give your soil a nutrient boost. Gladly, no matter the size or shape of your yard or the type of soil work you plan on doing, there’s a tiller out there that can help you create a more colorful, vibrant, and healthier garden.

We reviewed dozens of garden tillers to identify the best of the best. We examined a range of factors, including material, size, weight, power, tilling depth and width, convenience, cost, and average customer reviews. All of these top-rated garden tillers can be purchased online at Amazon.com.

Best Garden Tiller Overall
Sun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller
Meet the Sun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller, the best rototiller out there for prepping the soil in your yard.

The Sun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller easily stood out as the best garden tiller for most homeowners. With a tilling depth of up to 8 inches and foldable handles for compact storage, plus a simple, push-button start, it’s a capable and convenient rototiller for your standard gardening needs.

The 5 Top-Rated Garden Tillers

Editor's PicksBrandRating
Best Garden Tiller OverallSun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller4.7
Best Gas Garden TillerSchiller Grounds Care Mantis 4-Cycle Tiller4.5
Best Budget Garden TillerSun Joe TJ600E Electric Tiller4.3
Best Electric Garden TillerEarthwise TC70016 Corded Electric Tiller4.5
Best Small Garden TillerBLACK+DECKER LGC120 Cordless Garden Tiller4.2

*Ratings are from Amazon at the time of publication and can change

Best Garden Tiller Overall: Sun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller

Best Garden Tiller Overall
Sun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller
Meet the Sun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller, the best rototiller out there for prepping the soil in your yard.

In the last few years, Sun Joe has established itself as a market leader in yard appliances, creating a comprehensive catalog of high-quality, low-cost tools that includes lawnmowers, snowblowers, chainsaws, pressure washers, and a handful of very well-made rototillers like the Sun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller.

This machine is a high performer across the board. It boasts a beefy 12-amp motor that can cut through the most stubborn terrain with absolute ease, a 16-inch tilling width that provides the perfect balance between speed and maneuverability, a max tilling depth of up to 8 inches, push-button starter, and foldable handles for easy, space-saving storage. Other features sure to appeal to would-be buyers include a 100-foot power cord (included), the versatility offered by the adjustable tilling depth and width, and its use of 6 sturdy tilling blades.

What we love most about this machine is that all of the above features will cost you less than half of what you might expect to pay for a very similar tiller from bigger-name brands, and without any noticeable drop in quality or durability.

While this machine doesn’t offer multiple operating speeds and weighs in at a relatively hefty 27 pounds, these minor flaws are far from deal-breakers and very forgivable for such a reasonably priced device.

Sun Joe TJ604E Electric Garden Tiller Key Features:

  • 13.5 Amps
  • 16-inch tilling width
  • 6 durable, angled steel tines
  • Adjustable width and depth
  • 100-foot cord
  • Weighs 27.1 lbs.
  • 2-year warranty

Best Gas Garden Tiller: Schiller Grounds Care Mantis 4-Cycle Tiller

Best Gas Garden Tiller
Schiller Grounds Care Mantis 4-Cycle Tiller
A very lightweight, compact, take-anywhere tiller that offers heavyweight power and performance.

The Schiller Grounds Care Mantis 4-Cycle Tiller is the ideal choice for buyers who don’t want to be limited by the length of the power cord on their tiller.

This gas-powered device uses a powerful 4-cycle, 25cc Honda engine that is capable of spinning the tines at a rate of up to 240 rpm, which is around twice as fast as most other tillers in its price and weight range. It also uses a finger-controlled throttle that gives you infinite speed control, weighs in at a very manageable 24 pounds, and boasts a compact, 9-inch till width that makes maneuvering easy and facilitates working in tight spaces that are inaccessible to larger tillers.

The Mantis also features uniquely curved tines (blades) that can be easily adjusted with just the flick of a switch, allowing you to till up to 10 inches deep when you need to completely resoil or de-weed a seed or flowerbed and as little as 2 inches deep when doing a little light cultivation or aeration.

All in all, a burly, powerful machine that’s rich in user-friendly features and ideal for owners of larger yards or those who simply prefer to do their yard work without having to worry about cutting electrical cords.

Schiller Grounds Care Mantis 4-Cycle Tiller Key Features: 

  • 4-cycle, 25cc Honda engine
  • Infinite speed control
  • 9-inch tilling width
  • Adjustable tilling depth (2 to 10 inches)
  • Kickstand for easy refueling
  • Folds for easy transport and storage
  • 5-year warranty

Best Budget Garden Tiller: Sun Joe TJ600E Electric Tiller

Best Budget Garden Tiller
Sun Joe TJ600E Electric Tiller
This very easy-to-use, lightweight tiller is the ideal choice for smaller yards and flowerbeds.

The Sun Joe TJ600E Electric Tiller is the ideal choice of tiller for buyers who want maximum bang for minimal buck.

While a little shorter on power than the other tillers in our review, this low-cost machine is a true all-rounder and ideal for small to mid-sized gardens and flowerbeds. It uses a 6.5-amp motor to power four robust, hard-wearing tines that can till up to 7 inches deep and 14 inches wide. It also scores highly on convenience thanks to its use of a push-button starter and simple 3-position height adjustment lever on the side of the motor, while its 19-pound weight makes it one of the lightest rototillers out there with a tilling width larger than 10 inches.

The TJ600E also requires little to no maintenance, uses a foldable handle for easy storage, and comes with a 2-year, no-questions-asked warranty.

Sun Joe TJ600E Electric Tiller Key Features:

  • 6.5-amp motor
  • 14-inch tilling width
  • 7-inch max tilling depth
  • Weighs just under 19 lbs.
  • 4 steel tilling blades
  • 2-year warranty

Best Electric Garden Tiller: Earthwise TC70016 Corded Electric Tiller

Best Electric Garden Tiller
Earthwise TC70016 Corded Electric Tiller
This corded tiller packs plenty of power and is one of the most versatile, user-friendly models currently on the market.

The Earthwise TC70016 Corded Electric Tiller is one of few tillers on the market that genuinely tick all the boxes that need ticking.

This machine boasts a 13.5-amp motor that packs all the power needed to churn through and mix even hard-packed soil and make light work of the very stubbornest roots. It uses six adjustable tines that offer a maximum tilling width of 16 inches for jobs when you need to process larger swathes of terrain and can be squeezed down to just 11 inches when working in tighter spaces and require more precision.

While some would-be buyers may balk at the TC70016’s 29-pound weight, most users will be surprised by just how easy this machine is to use and maneuver, with its powerful engine and inclusion of two adjustable, flipdown wheels combining to make your tilling sessions far less labor-intensive and tiring on the forearms than most other tillers in this weight class.

Other nice features found in this tiller include an ergonomic handle with soft, comfortable grips, an easily accessible safety switch, a retention hook that keeps your electrical cord clear of your tilling line, and a simple push-button starter.

Earthwise TC70016 Corded Electric Tiller Key Features:

  • 13.5-amp motor
  • 6 adjustable tines (blades)
  • 16-inch tilling with (adjustable to 11 inches)
  • 8-inch max tilling depth
  • Weighs 29 lbs.
  • 6″ flip-down rear wheels for easy transportation

Best Small Garden Tiller: BLACK+DECKER LGC120 Cordless Garden Tiller

If you have a smaller area in need of tilling or just aren’t keen on the idea of toting a 30-pound appliance around your yard for hours on end, the BLACK+DECKER LGC120 Cordless Garden Tiller might just be the solution to your problems.

For over a century, the name Black and Decker has been almost synonymous with reliable, high-quality domestic appliances and power tools, and this tidy little garden tiller continues that tradition admirably.

This tiller uses a lithium-ion battery that offers 40 minutes of run time and is capable of tilling 325 square feet per charge. While the LGC120’s narrow tilling width compared to other tillers in our review means it isn’t the best bet for tilling large areas, if you’re working in tighter spaces, it’s absolutely ideal, allowing you to till the gaps or rows between flowers, trees, and other garden features that simply wouldn’t be accessible with a larger tiller.

This machine’s easy handling is what really sets it apart form the best of the rest, with its soft-grip, ergonomic, adjustable handles, and very manageable 8-pounds weight making it an absolute cinch to maneuver and far less likely to cause forearm fatigue that just about any other tiller out there.

While the LGC120 is only capable tilling to a depth of around five inches and lacks the power needed to till though extremely hard-packed ground that’s infested with weeds, it’s among the most convenient and user-friendly options on the market for prepping flowerbeds, aerating soil, and tilling smaller areas where precision is more of a priority than processing power.

BLACK+DECKER LGC120 Cordless Garden Tiller Key Features:

  • Cordless
  • 4o-minute runtime
  • Oscillating tines
  • 20-volt motor
  • Weighs just 8.1 lbs.
  • Adjustable handle

If you’re in search of a way to give your yard or flowerbeds a makeover with the minimum of fuss, these top-rated garden tillers are a great choice. For more useful yard appliances and tools, check out our reviews of the Best Wood Chippers and the Best Electric Lawn Mowers.