The 9 Best Chainsaw Chains of 2026

The number that decides this one is .325, not 18. Husqvarna's 435, 440, 445, 450R, 543XP, 545 Mark III and 550 XP Mark III run .325 pitch on an 18-inch bar, which means the 3/8 low-profile loop that fits most homeowner saws will not go on — different pitch, different drive sprocket. If that is your model list, this is the loop.

We think the OEM grind is worth the money here. It is a semi-chisel chain, which we prefer for mixed work: it holds an edge through bark and dirty limb wood, files back quickly, and doesn't demand the clean-timber discipline of a full-chisel loop. It arrives sharp and stays that way through a solid run of cutting. Husqvarna also pre-stretches these at the factory, and that shows up as fewer trips to the tensioner in the first hour — the nuisance that makes people think a new chain is the wrong size.

Sharpening is the other half of owning one. The cutters come back to a working edge several times with the right file, so a single loop covers a lot of firewood, and that is what you are buying over a bargain chain. Husqvarna backs it with a 90-day warranty.

.058-inch gauge is the number that decides whether this three-pack is for you. Most homeowner saws run .050, and a .058 loop will not seat in a .050 bar groove — this pack is built for the bigger imported and clone saws: Vevor 62cc and 58cc, Supmix 62cc, Neotec NCS6200, Wemars 6220G, Blue Max 53543 and 52209. It is .325 pitch, 76 drive links, 20 inches.

Full chisel is the other decision baked in. Square-cornered cutters take a bigger bite and clear chips fast, and that is where the speed comes from — long chips instead of dust. They also don't like dirt, and a rocked cutter on a full-chisel loop takes a real filing session to bring back. On a 20-inch bar this is a chain for clean timber and an attentive hand.

Three loops for the money is what we like most here. A 60cc-class saw eats chain, and having two spares means a dull loop doesn't end a session — you swap, keep cutting, and file everything at the bench. Buy a single premium loop instead and you will be sharpening on the tailgate.

Ten-inch loops are where replacement chain pricing gets silly — a mini-saw loop costs nearly what a 16-inch one does at a dealer, and a pole saw goes through them. Three chains for about the price of one brand-name loop is why this pack earns a place: 3/8-inch low-profile pitch, .043-inch gauge, 40 drive links, fitting Ryobi P546, Worx WG322 and LCS1020, and the Craftsman CMCCS610D1 among others.

The narrow .043 kerf is what makes a cordless saw feel competent. Less steel in the wood means less load on the motor, so a 10-inch bar keeps its speed through limb wood instead of bogging down. We like that for pole work especially — reaching into a canopy, you want the saw finishing cuts, not struggling through them. Swapping a dull loop takes a minute; filing one on a tailgate takes twenty.

Sizing is the risk. A loop can land a half-inch short of the one it replaces, which usually means the bar was changed to a different length at some point. Lay the new chain beside the old one before you fit it, and count links if anything looks off.

Five. That is the whole argument. Five 18-inch loops — 3/8-inch low-profile pitch, .050-inch gauge, 62 drive links — in one box, enough that a pinched or rocked chain never costs you a run to the dealer, and enough to hand one to the neighbor who borrows the saw every fall.

The build is generic but not flimsy: heat-treated semi-chisel cutters, a hard chrome outer layer, hardened rivets. Nothing about it is exotic — it is the construction the brand names use, executed to a price. They sit cleanly on the saws on the list, battery models included, and the semi-chisel profile shrugs off the dirty limb wood most of us actually cut.

Where the money shows is consistency. One loop in the box cuts well past expectation; the next goes soft early. That is the trade for five chains instead of two, and for brush, storm drop and fence line it is a trade we are happy to make — you always have a fresh loop on the shelf.

The habit change is the real benefit. You stop nursing a dull chain through the last ten feet of a cut and you stop paying someone to sharpen. For the work that eats chain fastest, spending the same money on five loops beats spending it on two.

This is the cheapest pair of loops here, and for a 16-inch electric saw that lives in a garage, cheap is the right answer. The numbers are 3/8-inch low-profile pitch, .050-inch gauge and 56 drive links — the standard fit for Greenworks, Ryobi, Oregon CS1400, Poulan and Homelite 16-inch saws.

Cutting isn't the compromise. They arrive sharp and cut clean, and 56 links is the count a 16-inch 3/8 low-profile bar actually takes, so the sizing is right for the saws it names. What we don't like is the variance: one loop can run for years and the next goes soft in an afternoon, and you don't find out which one you got until you are in the wood. At this price, we treat them as consumables and keep a spare.

The 14-inch trap is worth knowing. This is a 16-inch chain, and a 14-inch saw takes a shorter loop — a couple of inches of extra chain won't tension up no matter what you do with the adjuster. Measure the bar tip to tip and count links on the old loop; that one step is the difference between a bargain and a return.

1/4-inch pitch is a different animal from the 3/8 low-profile chain on most homeowner saws: smaller cutters, a narrower kerf, and a smoother, less grabby cut that suits a 12-inch bar on a pruning or pole saw. This is the genuine Stihl loop for that job — .043-inch gauge, 64 drive links — and it is the one to buy when the saw says Stihl and the bar is stamped for it.

Small chain is unforgiving of a sloppy grind. The cutters are tiny, the angles are harder to hold, and a chain ground off spec makes a good saw feel weak. That is the case for buying OEM here: this loop arrives sharp, cuts straight, and holds its edge through limbing and light pruning rather than asking for a file after one session.

We think it is the right buy despite being a single loop at a midrange price, because a pole saw with a wandering chain is worse than useless and this one fits and cuts without argument. What it will not do is substitute for a 3/8 low-profile loop on a 12-inch bar — the pitch and drive sprocket are different, and no amount of adjustment fixes that.

Order this one with your old chain in hand. The RAPID Super is a full-chisel 3/8 pitch, .050 gauge, 72-drive-link loop for a 20-inch Stihl bar, and it is fast — but this is the listing where what arrives can fail to match the box or the bar it was ordered for. Confirm the stamp on your bar before you buy, and check the loop against the label when it lands.

When the numbers line up, it cuts the way a full-chisel chain should: long chips instead of dust, a clean kerf, and enough bite that a mid-size saw feels stronger than its displacement. The MS 311 and MS 391 are the saws this loop suits — it wants torque behind it, not a small chassis.

Full chisel is also the least forgiving profile in dirty wood. One touch of grit and the corner is gone, and it takes a proper filing session to bring a rocked loop back. This is a chain for clean timber and a saw that is already running well.

So it stays in the also-consider tier: a genuinely quick chain whose buying experience asks more of you than the others here. Know your bar's numbers and you are cutting clean hardwood, it is worth it; want to order and forget, and the Oregon pack is the easier purchase.

Nobody buys a 24-inch full-chisel chain by accident. This is the loop for a 555, 562 XP, 390 XP, 585 or 592 XP doing real felling and bucking — 3/8-inch pitch, .050-inch gauge, 84 drive links — and Husqvarna sells it three at a time because the saws that wear it go through chain.

X-Cut is the aggressive end of the range, and that is the right call on a big-bore saw: square-cut cutters, a fast kerf, long chips in hardwood. The loops come pre-stretched, which matters more on a 24-inch bar than on a short one — a loop that starts slack on that much bar wastes the first hour of a session on the adjuster.

The detail we appreciated most is small. A gold-colored tie strap marks where to start and stop filing, so you are not counting cutters in the cold with a headlamp in your teeth. On a chain this size you sharpen often enough that a visual index earns its place.

Three loops is a season of work for most people, and buying them together is how a working saw stays working — you swap at the truck and file at the bench, not the other way around.

It is a specialist's chain and we rank it accordingly: the best cutting here for a big saw, and more than a 40cc homeowner chassis can use. For a working saw in that class this is the loop we reach for; below it, the 18-inch X-Cut is the same engineering in a size that makes sense.