The best garden shredders in 2026 – as tested by our reviews experts

When you're pruning in the garden, rather than adding the spent branches to your green bin or bagging them up and taking them to the recycling centre, why not make the most of this valuable resource by shredding it for the compost or for use as a mulch? A garden shredder chips garden waste so that it takes up less room and breaks down quickly and easily, and if you want to save money on compost and mulch in the future, they’re an essential piece of kit.

There are two main types of garden shredder: roller and impact, and both are available as petrol or electric machines:

Roller shredders use a rigid roller to draw material into the machine to crush and chop it. They're usually quick and therefore good if you have lots of material to shred. They're quiet but tend to struggle with fresher, greener growth, and are heavy and usually more expensive.

Impact shredders are often the budget option. They're simple to build, light, and easy to move around, with steel blades that finely shred material that's perfect for mulching. However,1 they're noisy, and cheaper models can feel flimsy and unstable in use.

Electric shredders are the most common and affordable type of garden shredder, and they're comparatively quiet, emission-free free and better for the environment, but you do need an outdoor power source, or extension cable that's a decent length, and remember to check the length of the shredder cable too, depending on where in the garden you plan to shred.

Best Buy shredders at a glance

• Best budget shredder: Hyundai electric garden shredder
• Best shredder for features: Ryobi RSH2545B Corded 2500W impact shredder
• Best shredder for performance: Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 shredder
• Best rotary shredder: Webb electric silent shredder

Jump to:

• Best shredders
• The best of the rest
• How to choose a shredder
• Shredding with care
• How to use your shreddings
• How we tested shredders

In every review, we award the outstanding products our coveted Best Buy award. To see these and the others we recommend, browse our pick of the best shredders below:

Best garden shredders

Hyundai electric garden shredder

RRP: £139.99

Our rating: 4.5/5

Available from Amazon

Pros

• Simple assembly
• Light and easy to move
• Shreds finely and quickly

Cons

• Noisy

A BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy award winner for best budget shredder, this easy-to-use impact shredder comes with all the assembly tools you need, and just the stand and wheels need attaching, and it’s ready to go. At 10.3kg, it’s light, and large wheels and a handle make it easy to move around the garden and in and out of the shed. It has a long, 10m orange cable that's easy to see and comes with a good-sized collection bag that attaches to two hooks on the side to catch the shreddings as they fall. A flat plunger helps you push down waste into the funnel easily, but it pulls in material strongly and smoothly. Best of all, it shreds quickly and finely, making great mulch. It's quite noisy and not as sturdy as some of the rotary models, but for the price, the ease of use and quality of the shreddings, we think it's a great value shredder.

Buy the Hyundai electric garden shredder Amazon and OnBuy

Ryobi RSH2545B corded 2500W impact shredder

RRP: £179.00

Our rating: 4.5/5

Available from B&Q

Pros

• Easy assembly
• Shreds efficiently and well
• Solid collection box
• Good length, bright cable

Cons

• Round plunger is less effective than a flat one
• Takes up room in storage

This well-thought-out impact shredder won a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy award for features. It's easy to set up, and unlike most of the other impact shredders in our test, it features a 40L collection box that slots under the funnel, helping to make the shredder sturdy and stable. A safety mechanism ensures that the shredder only works if the box is in place, and although the box feels sturdy, if it breaks, it will need to be replaced, or the shredder won't work. Despite its size, the shredder is light to move around, and it has a 6m orange cable, which is easy to see but shorter than some in our test. The round plunger is useful for pushing material into the funnel, and it has a safety flap to protect fingers and a reset button in case of jams. It pulls material in well and shreds quickly and efficiently, down to a fine mulch.

Buy the Ryobi RSH2545B corded 2500W impact shredder from B&Q

Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 shredder

RRP: £289

Our rating: 4.5/5

Available from Just Lawnmowers

Pros

• Easy to assemble, move and store
• Fast, efficient shredding
• Pulls material in strongly
• Flat, wide plunger

Cons

• No collection bag
• Blade is hard to access

Awarded a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy for performance, this impact shredder is well-designed and a joy to use. It's easy to assemble, just the legs need attaching, and at 12kg, it's light and easy to move around the garden and in and out of the shed. It has a large funnel and comes with a wide, sturdy plunger that was our favourite on test and which helps to push material into the shredder easily. It copes with all prunings fast, grabbing and drawing them into the funnel quickly and smoothly and shreds them into a fine mulch. However, no collection bag is provided, and the bright red cable is easy to see but only 4m long, so you may need an extension lead with this, depending on where in the garden you're shredding. It's also a little tricky to access the blades, as the dial was stiff to turn and reach. For shredding performance and ease, however, this is a worthy Best Buy winner.

Buy the Bosch AXT Rapid 2200 shredder from Currys, Just Lawnmowers and Robert Dyas

Webb WEESS electric silent shredder with box

RRP: £249.99

Our rating: 4.5/5

Available from Currys

Pros

• Pulls material in well
• Quiet in operation
• Large collection box and long cable
• Easy to store

Cons

• Heavy to move

One of the quietest shredders on test, this rotary model won a BBC Gardeners' World Magazine Best Buy for best rotary shredder. Like most rotary shredders, this needs more assembly than an impact shredder, but it's not complicated to put together, and once assembled, it's sturdy and stable. It's heavy, though, at 27kg, and is not the easiest to move around, and it would be difficult to lift if you needed to get it up and down steps. But, it breaks down well for storage, with the funnel slotting upside down into the collection box, and if storage space is limited, it would fit easily into a corner or under a shelf. The plastic collection box has a large capacity of 55L and a safety mechanism so that the shredder will only work when this is engaged - if the box breaks, it will need to be replaced or the shredder won't work. This shredder is quiet in operation with a strong pull on material in the funnel, and it shreds prunings down to compostable material easily, dropping them into the box below. It has a reverse button if material gets stuck, a safety switch, a round plunger for pushing material into the funnel and a long 10m orange cable that's easy to see.

Buy the Webb electric silent shredder from Currys, Tooled Up and Wickes

The best of the rest

Although this model didn’t quite achieve a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy award, it still had great features that made it worth recommending.

Einhell electric knife shredder

RRP: £125.95

Our rating: 4.3/5

Available from Tooled Up

Pros

• Simple assembly
• Easy to move
• Shreds finely
• Comparatively quiet

Cons

• No reset switch
• Unstable when loading

This impact shredder just needs the stand and wheels attached, and it’s ready to go. At 9.9kg it’s light, and has large wheels and a handle so it’s easy to move around the garden and in and out of the shed. The black cable is short, at just 3m long, and it comes with a small collection bag that attaches to hooks on the side to help it catch the shreddings as they fall. The flat plunger helps you push down waste into the funnel and can be hung on a simple hook on the handle when it's not in use, a nifty feature which should prevent the plunger from getting misplaced. There's a safety flap to protect fingers, and the steel blade shreds well, producing fine shreddings. It's comparatively quiet, but it can feel quite flimsy and wobbly when loading, so it must be firmly set up on flat ground. There's also no external reset button on this shredder, but it does have an internal stop button if jams occur.

Buy the Einhell electric knife shredder from OnBuy, Robert Dyas and Tooled Up

Our expert testers trial hundreds of garden tools to work out which will do the job well and offer the best value, comfort and quality. We’ve tested essentials like the best garden spades and best hoes as well as more specific kit like the best hedge trimmers, the best splitting axes, the best pressure washers and the best strimmers.

To help you in pruning season, see our tests of the best secateurs, best mini chainsaws, best pruning saws and the best loppers. And to stay safe while you work, check out our test of the best gardening gloves.

How to choose a garden shredder

Think about the following before you choose:

Impact or roller shredder?
Most electric shredders are designed to handle branches around 40mm thick. If you have lighter, fresher branches and twigs to chip, an impact shredder will chop these up easily and quickly. Woodier growth is better suited to a rotary shredder, which can crush most waste apart from wet, sappy material, which will get stuck. They’re also fast, so if you often have piles of prunings, etc, one of these would be a good choice.

What do you want to do with the shreddings?
In our test, some shredders were particularly good at finely chipping while others were better suited to breaking down fresher waste, so think about whether you want a fine mulch to use on your borders or are content with condensing garden waste and speeding up the composting process.
A collection box or bag makes it easier to move and use your shreddings, and the bigger the better. A rigid box may be easier to use, but note that these shredders have a safety mechanism that stops them from working if the box is not in place. If the box breaks, it will need to be replaced, or the shredder won't work.

How often will you use your shredder?
If the shredder is in and out of the shed regularly, you’ll need one that’s easy to manoeuvre. Look for large wheels and comfortable handles, and if weight is an issue, opt for an impact shredder, which will be much lighter to lift and move.
If you’re planning on shredding away from the house at the end of the garden, check the length of the electric cable or factor in the need for an extension cord.
If storage space is limited, assess which type of shredder will better suit the room you have – most impact shredders are tall and thin, while roller models can be broken down to the size of the collection box and should fit in a cupboard or under a shelf.

Is it safe?
Impact shredders should have a safety flap within the funnel to protect fingers from the blades, but stability is also important. Check that the shredder has firm feet so that it remains stable in use. A motor protection lock is also essential if the blades ja,m and a reset button will help ensure you only start the machine when it’s ready to go again. It's also worth investing in some basic safety equipment before you start shredding, such as gloves, goggles and ear defenders.

Is it easy to look after and repair?
The blades on cheaper impact shredders can blunt quickly, so make sure you can access them easily – most funnels swing open with the twist of a dial, and all the machines in our test had reversible blades, so they last twice as long before they need replacing. Check how easy it is to get new blades before you buy. Rotary shredders need the gap between the roller and the plate adjusted regularly, so ensure this is easy to do, or your machine won't shred well.

Shredding with care

• Ensure the shredder is standing firmly on a flat surface before you begin.
• Always wear gloves, eye protection and ear defenders.
• Don’t put too much material in the funnel at once, and put the thicker ends of branches in first if you can.
• As you shred, alternate fresh, wetter, and then dry material to prevent the machine from jamming.
• Never shred in the rain or in wet weather.
• Clean out the shredder regularly, and particularly after shredding sappy growth.

How we tested shredders

The BBC Gardeners' World Magazine reviews team tested different electric shredders for the same amount of time and with the same range of material, including woody branches and fresher growth, and both straight and messier, branched stems. The shedders were assembled, and the following criteria were used to calculate the scores, with equal weight given to each:

• Assembly/storage: Assessed how easy the shredder is to set up, its size and weight, and also how easy it is to store.
• Ease of use: Looked at funnel size, noise levels, blade adjustment, cable length, safety features, collection boxes or bags, and how easy it is to clear blockages.
• Performance: Judged debris collection, blade efficiency and the quality of the final shreddings.
• Value for money: Considered all of the above, plus quality and design, the RRP and length of warranty, and the availability of spare blades.

For more information on our testing process, see How we review

Meet our testing panel

Oliver Parsons, Strategic Projects Editor
Oliver is a gardener and magazine journalist of 20 years’ experience. He trained as a professional horticulturalist at RHS Garden Hyde Hall in Chelmsford and has also worked for Gardening Which?, as a freelance gardener and with the gardening team at Down House in Kent. He is now Strategic Projects Editor at BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine and GardenersWorld.com, heading up our reviews desk, Apple News output and weekly newsletter.

Kay Maguire, Magazines Editor
Kay trained at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and has been writing and making films about gardening ever since. She has written for websites and magazines, including The Garden and Amateur Gardening, was Horticultural Editor on BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine for five years, and has also written several books on a range of gardening topics from growing house plants to making the most of a small space. After several years as Reviews Editor, building up our reviews section into a leading resource for UK gardeners, she has now become Magazines Editor for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, responsible for all print output.

Harry Duncton, freelance powered tools tester
Harry has a wealth of experience, from being a language teacher to a tree surgeon, and has built this into a career writing about all things DIY and gardening. A passionate believer in self-reliance, his aim is to inspire others to give it a go themselves and not worry about making a few mistakes along the way. A regular contributor to popular DIY blogs and a recent addition to the BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine team, he loves tracking down the best new tools and writing about them.

Sue Fisher, freelance garden writer
Sue’s extensive horticultural career spans over 40 years, starting with a decade in the garden centre and nursery industry before developing into an accomplished gardening writer, designer and speaker. Sue writes regularly for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine, GardenersWorld.com, and Garden Answers magazine. She has written 10 books on subjects including container gardening, plants for small gardens and designing with colour, and she has co-authored other books with some of the biggest names in gardening.

Emma Crawforth, Horticulture Editor
Emma holds the Kew Diploma in Horticulture and has been working in horticulture for 18 years, including roles in public gardens, a plant nursery supplying plants for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and a training college for young horticulturists. She looks after an ornamental, fruit and veg garden at home and regularly undertakes trips to see plants growing in their natural habitats. She is the author of the Kew Publications book, Things to Do with Plants.

This review was last updated in January 2026. We apologise if anything has changed in price or availability.