The Best Plastic Rakes for 2022

A reliable rake is an essential part of any landscaping tool collection, and indispensable when it comes to gathering leaves, pine needles, and other lawn debris. Plastic rakes are especially popular, striking an ideal balance of affordability, function and maneuverability, thanks to their flexible but lightweight heads. Plus, they’re easy to clean—just hose them off when you’re finished and hang them up in your garage or tool shed. Although their plastic construction won’t rust, corrode, or bend like metal rakes sometimes do, they’re not going to be as durable when it comes to heavy-duty use.

The Best Plastic Rakes

What to Consider

Make sure the rake you choose is the right size for the job you’ll be using it for. The larger the width of the rake head, the more leaves it will be able to capture with each pass, and the faster you’ll get done with large raking projects. But extra-wide rakes can be too bulky for smaller tasks, like raking between shrubs or garden beds, and their bulky size could be a challenge to store if you don’t have much space.

You should also pay attention to the handle length of the rake. If you’re especially tall, make sure to go with an option that has a long handle, so that you can effectively use with both hands. Otherwise, you may find yourself stooping over more than you’d like, making for an uncomfortable day at best, and creating or aggravating a lower back issue at worst.

How We Selected

We’ve used plastic rakes for decades, both at home for residential cleanup projects, as well as part of a professional landscaping crew at a large state park. Since users will likely have a range of different tasks in mind when selecting a plastic rake, we did our best to include a wide variety of head and handle sizes. We also kept budget in mind when selecting potential options, with some models priced as low as $20, and as high as $57 (although we excluded a few ultra-cheap models that didn’t seem to have the durability required).

For more great lawn maintenance tools, check out our picks for the best metal rakes, riding lawn mowers, and baggers for mowers.