The Best Spade Shovels of 2024

The Kobalt garden spade is one of the top performers in our testing. With a flat, versatile blade that is equally good at edging and moving dirt, this garden spade can handle just about any task in the yard. The 20.5-inch D-handle gives plenty of grip options, and the rubber at the second hand spot on the shaft makes this one of the more comfortable shovels we used.

This spade also shines in terms of durability and strength. There was no visible damage at all after our testing, even after intentionally banging the tip on some rocks. And the shaft has all the strength needed to pry rocks and roots out of the holes. The steps on the blade have raised treads to keep your feet stable while pushing. This is one of the best shovels that we tested, as well as being one of the most affordable.

The Root Assassin garden spade is a high quality shovel that performed very well in all of our tests. The D-handle is comfortable to use from numerous positions, which helps to give the shovel a great deal of leverage despite the slightly shorter shaft length compared to some of the other spades we tested. Overall, this shovel was easy to dig with, cutting through the dirt and edging along the garden bed cleanly.

The real differentiators for this shovel are the serrated edges along the sides of the blade. These cut through roots just like a saw would, making working around plants easy enough. We were able to cut through one root that was over 1-inch in diameter in less than a dozen saw strokes. That said, the tip of the shovel isn't as sharp as others in our guide, especially given the enhancements to the side of the blade specific for cutting roots. What’s more, those serrations did lower the performance of the shovel somewhat when it came to moving dirt.

If you plan to work in an area with a lot of roots, such as in a heavily wooded spot, then this is a great shovel. However, if you’re not anticipating fighting those roots, then the sawtooth blade probably isn’t necessary.

The Radius Garden 201 Pro ergonomic stainless steel spade has one of the best handles of any shovel we tested, an important feature when shopping for a garden spade. The handle is approximately circular with a rubber coating, making it both flexible in terms of where to grab and supremely comfortable even without gloves. The shovel’s rubber grip near the bottom of the shaft makes it easy to rest your second hand equally as comfortably.

The other great feature of this shovel is just how much dirt it can move. Rather than a flat blade like many of the other shovels in this category, this has a curved blade, which enables much larger scoops than some of the others. That concave shape does come with one drawback, however. It’s very hard to cut a straight line with this shovel, such as what would be needed with edging. The edges inevitably wind up scalloped.

Now, if you have no intention of edging with your garden spade, then this isn’t a problem at all, but it does limit the versatility of the tool, and is ultimately what kept this shovel out of our top spot.

The Bully Tools 12-Gauge Edging and Planting Spade is a very simple, straightforward tool at a mid-range price. The straight fiberglass handle keeps the weight relatively light and the shovel easy to manipulate. It’s long enough to get solid leverage on obstruction in the hole, and has a nice flat blade to accommodate edging. It’s not a tool meant for moving a lot of dirt from here to there, but it’ll do a good enough job relocating the dirt in your immediate work area.

The drawback of this shovel is the question about durability. This is one of the very few shovels where the blade took actual damage in our testing. It chipped and rolled in several places. This wasn’t enough to impede performance during our testing window, but it does make me question how long it will remain viable for. And as one of the tools in the mid-range of price, it doesn’t seem worth the risk to find out.

The 28-inch Husky drain spade is a good quality spade for the price and function. Like all drain spades, it has a very narrow, curved blade, and is really designed for two things: transplanting and cleaning out drains. And as far as we can tell, this spade will excel in both roles. It cuts through the dirt easily enough, and is able to dig deep, narrow holes perfect for re-homing a small tree or shrub. The curve of the blade fits easily into a drain to clear debris.

That said, it’s fairly limited in other applications. The blade is too small to dig large holes, and it’s not going to be much help in moving even small piles of dirt from place to place. The curve of the blade also means it’s not going to be good for edging. Which in and of itself isn’t a knock against the shovel—after all, it’s not designed to do any of those tasks.

However, when it comes to versatility for an average homeowner, this isn’t going to be a great option for most people. If you have a specific need for a drain spade, this is a great option at a low price. However, if you’re looking for a more versatile garden spade, I’d suggest looking elsewhere.

The Anvil D-handle garden spade is unfortunately the only shovel that we tested where we had real durability concerns. While it completed all of our tests without any kind of breakage, we could feel the shaft flexing every time we pried against a root or rock in the ground. When we checked into it further, we could flex the shaft by hand pretty easily at the point where it connects to the blade. This gives us pause as to whether the spade can hold up to prolonged use.

A quick search of the public reviews of the shovel on a few big box store websites show that a number of users have found the same issue with strength and durability. While it’s the lowest cost shovel that we tested, a low cost can sometimes come with a decrease in quality, and that seems to be the case here.