The best cheap electric lawn mower for most small lawns is the Greenworks 40V 17" push mower, and the reason is the thing people forget to check: it comes with a 4.0 Ah battery and a charger in the box, so the price you see is the price you pay. If you want the most battery capacity per dollar, the SKIL PWR CORE 40 20" ships with a 6.0 Ah pack. And if your lawn is small and sits near an outlet, the LawnMaster 15" corded undercuts every cordless mower here and never needs a battery at all.
This page is written for the budget rather than the spec sheet, so here is the rule that matters more than any other on an inexpensive electric mower: buy the kit, not the tool.A “tool only” battery mower at an attractive price is not cheap — a battery and charger for it typically cost as much again as the mower. Every cordless pick on this page includes at least one battery and a charger, because that is the only honest way to compare prices in this category.
The second rule: on a tight budget, buy deck width before you buy voltage. Deck width decides how many passes your lawn takes, every cut, forever. Voltage decides how the mower copes with thick wet grass, which matters far less on a small lawn cut weekly. A 17-inch 40V mower and a 21-inch 60V mower are not two points on the same scale; they are answers to two different lawn sizes.
We have mown with none of these. Everything here reads published deck widths, platform voltages, included battery capacity and stated runtimes — see how we pick. Prices are live from the price layer with an “as of” date, which matters on this page more than most: at these numbers a twenty-dollar move changes the order.
Budget electric mowers compared
| Mower | Deck | Power | In the box | Best for |
|---|
| Greenworks 40V 17" push | 17 in | 40V battery | 4.0 Ah + charger | Cheapest honest cordless |
| SKIL PWR CORE 40 20" | 20 in | 40V battery | 6.0 Ah + 150 W charger | Most capacity per dollar |
| LawnMaster 15" corded | 15 in | 11 A corded | Nothing to charge | Lowest price of all |
| CRAFTSMAN V20 20" | 20 in | V20 battery | 2 x 5 Ah + 2 chargers | Existing V20 owners |
| Greenworks 60V 21" push | 21 in | 60V battery | 5.0 Ah + charger | Full-size deck, still cheap |
| Worx WG760 40V | 21 in | 2 x 20V PowerShare | Batteries + charger | Worx 20V tool owners |
Deck widths, platform voltages, amperages and included battery capacities above are the figures the listings publish. Prices are live with an “as of” date beside each mower.
What each price tier of electric mower actually buys
The cheapest tier is a corded electric mower. It has no battery to degrade, no charge time, no runtime limit and nothing to replace in five years. For a small lawn within cable reach of an outlet it is a genuinely sensible purchase that people dismiss out of habit. What you accept is cable management and a hard limit on range.
The next tier up is a 17 to 20-inch cordless push mower sold as a kit with one battery. This is where most first-time battery buyers should land. You get a mower that starts on a button, needs no oil, no filter, no fuel and no winterizing, and finishes a small-to-medium lawn on one charge.
The tier above thatis a 21-inch cordless push mower, which is a full-size deck on a battery — the point at which an electric mower stops being a compromise for a suburban lawn. Still no drive system, so keep it for flat ground.
Above that you are buying self-propelled drive, and you have left this page for the self-propelled electric roundup. Drive is the single biggest price jump in walk-behind mowers and it earns its money on slopes, not on flat lawns.
The battery platform is the real purchase
The cheapest electric mower you will ever buy is the second tool on a platform you already own. If you have CRAFTSMAN V20 batteries in the garage, or Worx 20V PowerShare packs, the mower that takes them is effectively discounted by the price of a battery and charger before you start comparing.
Run that the other way too. If you are buying your first cordless tool, the mower is choosing your platform for the next decade of trimmers, blowers and hedge cutters. Greenworks and SKIL are the value platforms here; EGO costs more and has the broadest range. Our lawn mower brands guide covers what each platform locks you into.
Where being cheap costs you on an electric mower
Buying tool-only. The headline price looks excellent and the battery costs as much again. Always compare kit prices against kit prices.
Buying too little battery for the lawn.A 2.0 Ah pack on a 21-inch deck means a charge break halfway through, every week. If the lawn is near the limit of a single pack, the cheaper mower with the bigger included battery is the better buy — which is exactly why the SKIL kit ranks where it does.
Buying too narrow a deck. A 17-inch deck on 6,000 square feet means something like a quarter more passes than a 21-inch deck, every single cut. The saving is real; so is the extra half hour. The arithmetic by lawn size is in the large-yard roundup.
Where spending more buys you nothing
If your lawn is flat, do not pay for self-propelled drive. On level ground a 20-inch battery push mower is barely any effort, and drive adds weight, cost and a transmission. See self-propelled vs push.
If your lawn is small, do not pay for 80V. High voltage buys you headroom in long, wet, thick grass. A 3,000 square foot lawn cut weekly never asks for it.
If your lawn is tiny and near an outlet, do not buy a battery at all. The corded mower is cheaper up front, has no pack to replace, and the only thing it asks of you is that you learn to swing the cable.
Who should skip these
Skip the 15 and 17-inch decks if your lawn is over about 4,000 square feet — the pass count climbs fast enough that the saving stops being a saving.
Skip every mower here if your lawn has real slope on it. Buy drive instead, even if it means waiting a season; the hill mower roundup is the page you want.
And skip cordless entirely if you mow half an acre of thick grass in one go. Either budget for two packs or read the cheap mower roundup, where gas is still the most capability per dollar.
