The 6 Best Corded Electric Chainsaws of 2026

The Makita is the priciest saw here, and the only one that feels built for daily work. Soft start brings the motor up smoothly instead of snapping it on, and the current limiter backs power off when you overload the saw in a thick cut, which protects the motor in a way the cheaper saws don't.

Everything you touch is set up for repeat use: rubberized grips, a large trigger, tool-free bar and chain adjustment, and an oil reservoir with a window so you can read the level without tipping the saw. At 14 pounds it is the heaviest saw in the group, and you feel that at shoulder height. Bucking logs on the ground, the weight steadies the cut, and it is the balance we preferred for long sessions.

Two things to know before you spend the money. It can weep bar oil between uses, so park it on cardboard or a tray. And durability is the soft spot in its record, with a share of saws failing early despite the price. The one-year warranty is the shortest here, which stings on a saw this expensive.

On paper the CS1518 does what our top pick does: 15 amps, an 18-inch bar, 12.5 pounds. It gets there for less money, and that is most of the case for it. The bar and chain are low-kickback, and the saw arrives ready to cut apart from filling the oil tank.

The push-button start is the detail we appreciated most: press the button, pull the trigger, cut, with no priming and no fiddling. The tool-free tensioner is one of the easier ones to work with gloves on, and the oil window saves the usual guessing about how much bar oil is left.

Where it gives ground is the chain. It comes off the bar more than it should, and a slack chain on this saw is the fastest way to lose an afternoon, so check tension before every session and again halfway through a long one. Durability is the other soft spot; this is a saw for a yard, not for a season of firewood. If you want the sharpening convenience of the Oregon, that is what the extra money buys. If you already own a file and will use it, the Black+Decker is the smarter spend.

Ten pounds is the number that decides this saw. That is the lightest full-size saw here by a couple of pounds, and it shows up in your shoulders at the end of an afternoon. If most of your cutting happens above waist height — suckers off a trunk, branches over a fence — this is the one that won't wear you out.

The 12-amp motor is the trade for that weight. It pulls a 16-inch chain fast enough for limbs and small logs and will section a decent trunk if you don't crowd it, but it slows in dry hardwood where the 15-amp saws keep going. For the money, we think it is the best value in this group for a yard that needs tidying rather than logging.

The tensioner is the weak point. It works loose as you cut, and a loose chain jumps the bar, so check it before each session and expect to adjust mid-job. Everything else is simple and welcome: automatic oiling, a kickback brake, tool-free tensioning, and a strain-relief notch that keeps a snagged cord from pulling the plug out of the handle.

Buy the CMECS600 knowing one thing up front: the chain tensioner doesn't hold. It is tool-free and quick to turn, but the chain works loose and you will be back at it every few cuts. That single behavior is why this saw sits below the WEN in our ranking, and why we don't hand it to someone who wants to set a chain and forget it.

The rest of it is more appealing than that flaw suggests. The 12-amp motor cuts small and medium limbs cleanly, the body is compact enough to work between fence posts and along a house wall, and it goes together in about five minutes. The three-year limited warranty is the longest of any saw here, which counts for a tool that sits in a shed between storms.

This is a light-duty saw: trimming, cleanup, and cutting up what a storm drops. The auto-oiling system has an oil window and needs no priming, and the low-kickback bar keeps a grabby cut predictable. It is a good second choice in its class rather than a first choice, and the tensioner is the reason.

Some jobs never leave the reach of an outlet: the brush pile behind the garage, the hedge line along the driveway, the branches the last storm dropped. That is the ground this saw covers, and it covers it for less money than anything else here.

Twelve amps and a 16-inch bar handle limbs and small logs, and the saw runs as long as you do, with no battery to fade or swap. Two practical notes: at 13 pounds it is heavier than the 10-pound WEN despite the smaller motor, and leafy growth and thin vines clog it, so keep it for woody material rather than green clutter.

The caveat is depth of experience. Nothing else here has as little behind it, and not all of what exists is encouraging, with at least one saw giving out inside its first hour of work. Buy it as a first saw for light work near the house, with the two-year limited warranty as the cushion, and we think it makes sense.