Garden Last updated · owner ratings verified July 2026
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Side by side
| Our pick WORX WORX WG896 12 Amp Electric Edger and Trencher Better overall $90–120 Check price | Greenworks Greenworks 27032 12 Amp Corded Edger Better value $75–105 Check price | WORX WORX WG163 GT 3.0 20V Trimmer and Edger Best cordless combo $110–150 Check price | Greenworks Greenworks 40V 2-in-1 Trimmer Edger (Gen 2) Cordless with more voltage $130–180 Check price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What owners rate it | ||||
| Owner rating | 4.4 / 5 (15,393) | 4.3 / 5 (2,112) | 4.3 / 5 (28,065) | 3.7 / 5 (611) |
| Specifications | ||||
| Format | Corded electric | Corded electric | Cordless, 20V | Cordless, 40V |
| Power | 12 amp | 12 amp | 20V PowerShare | 40V |
| Cutting head | 7.5-inch steel blade | 7.5-inch steel blade | 12-inch trimmer line | 13-inch trimmer line |
| Depth control | 3 depth settings + trench mode | 3 depth settings | Not adjustable — line cuts to grade | Not adjustable — line cuts to grade |
| Guidance | Cutting line guide and guide wheel | Guide wheel | Edging wheel, rotating head | Edging wheel, convertible head |
| Battery platform | None — mains power | None — mains power | WORX PowerShare 20V | Greenworks 40V only |
| Warranty | 3 years, tool | 4 years on many corded tools — confirm on the listing | 3 years, tool | 4 years tool, 2 years battery on most 40V — confirm on the listing |
| Who it suits | ||||
| Best for | cutting a clean new edge along a driveway or bed for the first time | maintaining an edge that already exists, on a budget | small yards where one tool has to trim and edge | existing Greenworks 40V battery owners |
Ratings are aggregated Amazon owner ratings, not our own testing. Figures verified July 2026.
Pros and cons
WORX WG896 12 Amp Electric Edger and Trencher
- Cutting line guide shows exactly where the blade will land, which is most of the skill of edging
- Three depth settings plus a trencher mode for laying cable or drip line
- Adjustable shaft and auxiliary handle make it usable for tall and short operators
- Deepest owner-review record of any electric edger, by a wide margin
- Corded — you are managing an extension lead along every edge you cut
- Plastic wheels chatter on rough concrete and wear faster than the blade
- Heavier at the head than the Greenworks, which shows on a long driveway
Greenworks 27032 12 Amp Corded Edger
- Tracks straight along a hard edge with less correction than most owners expect
- Three-position depth adjustment covers everything a home lawn needs
- Lighter at the head, so following a long curve is less tiring
- Usually undercuts the WORX by a useful margin
- No cutting line guide, so your first pass on a fresh edge is guesswork
- Far smaller owner-review base than the WORX
- Corded, with the same extension lead management
WORX WG163 GT 3.0 20V Trimmer and Edger
- Head rotates 90 degrees so trimming and edging are one tool and one battery
- Command Feed advances line at a button press instead of bumping it on the ground
- PowerShare 20V battery fits over a hundred other WORX tools
- One of the most-reviewed outdoor tools on Amazon with a consistently strong rating
- Cuts with line, not a blade — it maintains an edge, it does not create one
- 20V runtime on two small batteries is short for anything past a small yard
- Wheels are small and skate on uneven concrete
Greenworks 40V 2-in-1 Trimmer Edger (Gen 2)
- 13-inch cut is wider than the WORX cordless, so fewer passes along a long fence
- 40V has noticeably more authority in thick, damp growth than 20V line trimmers
- Converts to edging without tools
- Shares batteries with the large Greenworks 40V mower and blower range
- Lowest owner rating of the four here, with recurring line-feed complaints
- Greenworks batteries do not cross between its 24V, 40V, 60V and 80V lines
- Line-based, so like the WORX cordless it cannot cut a new edge
Decision factors
What you actually pay
The two corded edgers sit close together — the Greenworks 27032 usually in the $75 to $105 band and the WORX WG896 a little above it at $90 to $120. That gap is small enough that the guide alone justifies the WORX for anyone cutting a fresh edge. The cordless combos cost more: the WORX WG163 GT 3.0 runs $110 to $150 with batteries, the Greenworks 40V unit $130 to $180.
Where the premium goes. Not into the motor. On the corded pair it buys the cutting guide and the trencher mode. On the cordless pair it buys the battery, which is most of the price — bare-tool listings exist for both brands and are far cheaper if you already own packs.
Running costs favor the blade machines. A steel edger blade costs a few dollars and lasts one to three seasons on a home lawn, and the pattern is common enough that generic replacements fit. The cordless line trimmers consume spools continuously, especially edging against concrete, and a season of line costs more than a blade does.
The cost that dwarfs both. Batteries. A replacement pack for either brand runs a meaningful fraction of the tool price, and packs fade after a few hundred cycles. That is the real argument for a corded edger on a suburban lot, and the real argument for picking one battery platform and staying in it.
Which one fits you
- Cutting a brand new edge along a driveway or bed WORX WG896 Only a blade edger cuts a fresh trench, and the cutting line guide is what stops the first pass wandering.
- Keeping an existing edge tidy, spending as little as possible Greenworks 27032 It tracks well along a hard edge, weighs less at the head, and usually costs less than the WORX.
- Small yard, wants one tool for trimming and edging WORX WG163 GT 3.0 The rotating head and PowerShare battery mean one purchase covers both jobs and a hundred other tools later.
- Already owns Greenworks 40V batteries Greenworks 40V 2-in-1 The battery you already own is worth more than any spec difference between these two brands.
If neither is right
- BLACK+DECKER LE750 2-in-1 Edger and Trencher The long-standing budget blade edger. No cutting line guide and a lighter build, but it does the same job as the corded WORX and Greenworks for less, backed by a big owner-review base.
- Radius Garden 206 PRO Stainless Steel Edger A manual half-moon edger with the highest owner rating in the whole category. For a small yard with fifty feet of bed edge, it is quieter, cheaper and more precise than any powered tool.
- Ryobi ONE+ 18V Trimmer and Edger Worth a look only if you already own Ryobi ONE+ batteries — the platform is the reason to buy it, exactly as it is with WORX PowerShare.
Which one should you buy?
Buy the WORX WG896 if you are cutting a new edge — the cutting line guide is the single feature that makes a first pass come out straight, and the trencher mode is genuinely useful for burying cable or drip line. Buy the Greenworks 27032 if your edges already exist and you just want them kept sharp for less money. If you want cordless, the question changes entirely and becomes which battery platform you want to own for the next ten years.
The wider field, including manual and cordless options, is in our best lawn edger roundup.
Why does the cutting line guide matter so much?
Because edging is a steering problem. Both of these corded machines run a 12 amp motor and a 7.5-inch steel blade, and neither is short of power for a residential lawn. What separates them in the owner record is how easily you can hold a straight line while walking backwards along a driveway.
The WORX gives you a visual guide that projects the blade's path ahead of the cut, so you are steering to a mark rather than guessing from the sound. Owners who describe first-time edging results consistently mention it. The Greenworks relies on its guide wheel riding the hard edge, which works well once there is an edge to ride, and not at all when you are cutting into unbroken turf.
That single difference maps cleanly onto the two jobs. Creating an edge favors WORX. Maintaining one is a tie, and then price decides it.
Which battery ecosystem is the safer bet?
WORX, for one structural reason: PowerShare. Every WORX 20V battery fits every WORX 20V tool, and two 20V packs slot together to run the brand's 40V machines. Buy a trimmer today and the battery still earns its keep when you add a blower, a hedge trimmer or a mower.
Greenworks makes good tools but runs parallel platforms at 24V, 40V, 60V and 80V that share nothing. That is not a defect — the 60V and 80V lines exist because serious mowers and blowers need the voltage — but it is a trap for a homeowner who buys a 40V trimmer, likes it, and then buys a 60V mower assuming the batteries carry over. They do not. Pick one Greenworks voltage and stay there, or the savings evaporate into duplicate chargers and packs.
If you already own batteries from either brand, that decides this comparison regardless of anything else on the page.
Is corded still the right answer for an edger?
For most homeowners, yes, and it is worth saying against the general drift to cordless. Edging is a linear job along driveways, paths and beds that almost always run near the house, so an extension lead is less of a nuisance than it is for mowing. A corded 12 amp motor never fades in the last ten feet, never needs charging before you start, and costs less than a bare cordless tool with no battery.
Cordless earns its place in two situations: a yard with edges far from any outlet, and a household already committed to a battery platform. Otherwise the corded WORX or Greenworks does the job better for less money, and there is no runtime anxiety on a job that can take forty minutes on a large lot.
Blades, line and what you will actually replace
The corded machines cut with a steel blade. It dulls, it chips when it meets gravel, and it is cheap and generic enough that replacements are easy to find for both brands — this is a category where you are not locked into proprietary consumables. Expect one to three seasons from a blade on a home lawn.
The cordless combos cut with trimmer line, which is a different proposition. Line is consumed constantly, especially against concrete, and refilling is the job people complain about. WORX's Command Feed advances line at a button press, which is the better system; the Greenworks 40V unit draws the most line-feed complaints of the four models here. Neither line-based tool will cut a new edge, and buying one expecting it to is the most common mistake in this category.
Where each brand's line-up is strong and weak
WORX is strong on clever mechanical design at a homeowner price: the guide, the Command Feed, the rotating head, and PowerShare tying the whole cordless range together. WORX is weak on heavy-duty work — the 20V platform runs out of authority in thick growth, and there is no high-voltage line to step up to.
Greenworks is strong exactly there, with 60V and 80V tools that genuinely compete with gas, and typically longer warranty terms on its cordless range. Greenworks is weak on platform coherence and on the small usability details — no cutting guide on the corded edger, and a 40V trimmer whose owner rating trails everything else in this comparison.
The call
WORX WG896 for anyone cutting or recutting an edge, which is most people buying their first edger. Greenworks 27032 if the edges are already there and the budget is tight. If you want one cordless tool for trimming and edging, take the WORX for the PowerShare battery alone — and if you already own Greenworks 40V packs, ignore all of that and buy the tool your batteries fit.
Timing matters too: cut fresh edges in spring while the soil is still soft. Our lawn care calendar sets out when each job belongs, and every ranking here comes from aggregated owner ratings rather than first-hand trials — see how we rank.