The best lawn scarifiers, from manual to mechanical machines

Need to show your lawn some TLC? Take a look at our round up of the best lawn aerators and expert tips on how to improve your lawn in 12 weeks.

Looking for the best lawn mowers? Read our guides to the best cordless lawn mowers, the best robotic lawn mowers and the best electric lawn mowers. If you have a small lawn, our round-up of the best hand push mowers may prove helpful, and why not keep edges looking neat with our pick of the best lawn edging.

Best lawn scarifiers to buy at a glance

• Best buy for manual performance: Darlac DP888 lawn scarifier
• Best buy for budget: Powerbase 1400W electric lawn rake scarifier
• Best buy for safety: Stihl RLA 240 cordless lawn scarifier

Jump to:

• Best buy lawn scarifiers
• Best of the rest
• What is a lawn scarifier and what does it do?
• Types of lawn scarifiers
• How to choose the best lawn scarifier
• How we tested lawn scarifiers

In every review we award outstanding products our coveted Best Buy award. To see these and the others we recommend, browse our pick of the best lawn scarifiers, below.

Best buy lawn scarifiers

Darlac DP888 Lawn Scarifier

RRP: £40.99

Our rating: 4.8 out of 5

Pros:

• Adjustable handle
• Smooth pulling action
• Easy to control how deep or shallow the blades cut into the turf
• Lightweight
• Good for storage

Cons:

• Hard work and tiring – not suitable for larger gardens
• No safety cover for blade tips
• Less suitable for large gardens

Awarded a BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Best Buy award for manual performance, the Darlac DP888 Scarifier is an excellent choice if you’re up for scarifying your lawn by hand. Its adjustable handle is a great feature, extending from 97cm to 1.5m, and is made from high-quality steel treated with anti-corrosion protection, so it’s lightweight but durable, and feels sturdy to use. The head is 32cm wide and features 11 sharp blades, which you can push into the turf at varying depths by raising or lowering the angle of the handle. It also has two wheels to help it move smoothly along the lawn. It comes with a 35 year guarantee.

Read the full Darlac DP888 Scarifier review

Wolf Garten Multi-Change® Roller Moss Removal Rake

RRP: £64.98 (including handle)

Our rating: 4.8 out of 5

Pros:

• Super easy to attach handle
• Smooth pulling action
• Easy to use
• Lightweight
• Good for storage

Cons:

• Hard work and tiring
• No safety cover for blade tips
• Not ideal for large gardens

Part of the Wolf Garten Multi-Change® tool system, this manual scarifier is made from high-quality plastic and rust-proof aluminium, so it’s lightweight and easy to use. The blades are made from hardened steel, so they’ll stay sharp over their lifetime, and the head is 30cm wide. It’s a really effective tool with a smooth action, but it's best suited to small gardens because it doesn’t have a soft grip handle, which can make it uncomfortable to use after a while, especially given it's hard work to remove moss and thatch in this way. It comes with a 35 year warranty.

Read the full Wolf Garten Multi-Change® Roller Moss Removal Rake review

Vonhaus 1300W Lawn Rake

RRP: £89.99

Our rating: 4.3 out of 5

Pros:

• Easy to manoeuvre
• Lightweight
• Compact
• Folding handles and removable collection box for storage
• Dual start system for safety
• Four depth settings

Cons:

• Tips over when not in use
• Protruding screws base handle
• The collection box doesn’t pick up all the debris

The Vonhaus 1300W Electric Lawn Rake is lightweight, compact and a good step up from a manual scarifier if you have more than a very small patch of lawn to tackle. It features a dual start safety system as well as a thermal cut out that kicks in to prevent it from overheating, folding handles for storage and four depth settings. The scarifying drum is 32cm wide with steel blades and, depending on how much moss and thatch you’re dealing with, there are four depth settings to choose from: -15mm, -11mm, -7mm and +1mm. Weighing 9kg, it’s noticeably lightweight – in fact it has a tendency to tip backwards when not in use and it’s also noisier than some of the others we tested, reaching 98dB. It comes with a 28L collection box and a 10m cable, which makes it best suited to a small to medium sized garden. It has a two year warranty.

Read the full Vonhaus 1300W Electric Lawn Rake review

Vonhaus 1800W 2 in 1 scarifier

RRP: £139.99

Our rating: 4.3 out of 5

• Buy now from Vonhaus (£169.99).

Pros:

• Easy to manoeuvre
• Lightweight
• Folding handles and removable collection box for storage
• Interchangeable drums are easy to remove and install
• Dual start system for safety
• Five depth settings

Cons:

• The collection box doesn’t pick up all the debris
• Noisy - 104dB

The Vonhaus 2-in-1 scarifier is a sturdy machine with a robust but lightweight plastic body, which weighs 16.1kg. Powered with a 1800W motor, it’s a little noisy at 104dB, but removes moss, thatch and other organic lawn debris very efficiently. It has two interchangeable drums to switch between aerating and scarifying modes and has a working width of 38cm. It has folding handles for easy storage, a dual start system for safety, and a built-in thermal cut out if it overheats. There are five depth settings, ranging from -12mm, -9mm, -3mm and +6mm – although we found the lowest setting made the lawn look quite ravaged. At 60cm wide it's one of the largest machines we tested, but is still easy to manoeuvre and comes with a 10m cable. The generously-sized 55L collection bag is moderately efficient, but misses some debris as there is a gap between the box and the blades. It has a two-year warranty.

Review the full Vonhaus 2-in-1 Electric Scarifier review

Stiga Essential SV 213E Electric Lawn Scarifier and Aerator

RRP:£139

Our rating: 4.3 out of 5

• Buy now from: Mowers Online (£155).

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Lightweight and compact
• Folding handles and removable collection box for storage
• Interchangeable drums easy to remove and install
• Dual start system for safety
• Four depth settings
• Quiet at 91dB

Cons:

• 15m cable isn’t included
• The collection box doesn’t pick up all the debris

The Stiga Essential SV 213E Electric Lawn Scarifier is light, compact and efficient at tackling moss and thatch in the lawn. It comes with two interchangeable drums, one each for scarification and aeration, a dual start safety system and can be adjusted to four depths, ranging from -6mm to +4mm, which is shallower than other models we tested. We found that the 40L collection bag left some debris behind and the 15m cable – the longest in the group we tested – is an additional cost. It’s compact and easy to fold the handles for storage, and comes with a two year warranty.

Read the full Stiga Essential SV 213E Electric Lawn Scarifier review

Cobra S3840V Cordless Lawn Scarifier

RRP: £360.99

Our score: 4 out of 5

• Buy now from Amazon (£326.00)

Pros:

• Comfortable to use
• Very effective
• Quick to charge

Cons:

• Scalps the lawn
• Very poor instructions

The Cobra S3840V Cordless Lawn Scarifier is big and the wheels are a little stiff, but it handles well and at 92dB, it’s relatively quiet, too. The 40V 5Ah battery charges quickly, in just 90 minutes and offers 40 minutes of use and it's easy to use, with a comfortable, soft handle, and we love being able to see the charge indicator through the transparent window. The aerating blades slit well, neatly cutting through the soil and getting most moss and thatch, however, the spring tine scarifying drum lifts moss and thatch, but catches a lot of living grass, no matter which of the 5 heights from -10mm to +5mm you choose. The instructions are also poor, so it took a while to get this tool working. At 38cm wide, it covers a large area, but its size makes this scarifier very bulky and difficult to store.

What is a lawn scarifier and what does it do?

A scarifier is essentially a comb for your lawn – strong tines, on either a manual spring-tine rake or a rotating drum, pull through the grass, removing moss and organic debris, also known as lawn thatch. Scarifying is worth doing at least once a year – twice if you’re having to deal with a lot of moss, and the best scarifiers have different settings so you can adjust their height to avoid tearing up your lawn. However, depending on the extent of the moss invasion and debris, you may have to put up with seeing a bit of soil where larger clumps have been removed – if this is the case, simply sow some lawn seed in any areas of the lawn you’re concerned about.

Types of lawn scarifiers: ways to scarify your lawn

There are four types of scarifier, including manual and powered versions, and each have their own pros and cons. Some brands refer to their powered range as lawn rakers, which simply means a powered lawn rake with a plastic cylinder, lined with metal tines. 2-in-1 powered scarifiers, on the other hand, feature two interchangeable drums, one with scarifying tines to rake through the grass and remove thatch as well as organic debris, while the other has metal blades, which cut into the turf creating shallow slits to aerate the soil surface. This helps air and water to move through this top layer of the soil and is also helpful if you’re feeding or sowing seed into your lawn.

However, if your lawn is struggling due to compaction or you have a heavy clay soil, your lawn will benefit from deeper aeration which is the process of opening up the soil by spiking it with long metal tines. See our review of the best lawn aerators for 2021.

• Manual scarifiers. Best for small lawns, or if you just have a few patches of moss to tackle, they’re also handy if you don’t have lots of storage space. A spring-tine rake is one option, as the sharp, hard tines will pull away moss and thatch, but it’s hard work and tiring, even on a small lawn. A manual lawn scarifier is the other alternative, which is similar to a rake, but has stronger blades, rather than tines, and often features wheels, which help to drag it over the lawn. Neither of these options come with a collection box, so once you’ve finished raking the lawn, you’ll have to collect the moss and thatch using a mower with a collection box, or scoop it up by hand and put it on the compost heap or in your green waste bin. Although these scarifiers are very hands-on, they’re a quieter alternative to mechanical machines, will keep you fit and are better for the environment too.
• Powered lawn rakers. These are ideal if you have a small or medium-sized garden. Choose from corded, if you have a nearby power supply, or cordless. They feature a cylinder lined with sprung metal tines that’s capable of combing through the lawn and pulling out moss, thatch, and horizontal grass stalks. They also come with a collection box, so there’s no need to get out the mower or rake to gather up the cuttings.
• Powered scarifiers. Available as either corded, where you’ll need a power supply, or cordless, these have knife blades attached to their cylinders rather than tines, making them effective at removing moss and thatch. Used on the lowest setting, they create slits in the turf, which helps aerate it.
• Powered 2-in-1 aerators and scarifiers. Either corded, where you’ll need a power supply, or cordless, these save buying both types of machine, which is great in terms of money and storage, and feature interchangeable drums with spring tines for scarification and blades for aeration.

How to choose the best lawn scarifier

Once you’ve worked out which type of lawn scarifier will suit your needs, there are several key features to look out for:

• Manual scarifiers – in addition to strong, good-sized blades, a telescopic handle is a useful feature to make it as comfortable as possible to use - a soft-grip is also a bonus. Some types are designed so you can adjust how deeply the blades rake through the grass and thatch, which is extremely useful.
• Powered lawn rakers and mechanical scarifiers – strong, good-sized blades and a collection box are worth looking for. If storage is an issue check whether the handles collapse down so it takes up less space..
• 2 in 1 combination aerator and scarifiers – Check that it’s easy to remove and install each drum.

How we tested lawn scarifiers

To see how well lawn scarifiers perform, the BBC Gardeners' World Magazine Reviews team tested a range of models across a range of garden situations – removing moss, lawn thatch and other organic debris. Before we started, we checked for any wildlife in the grass and organic debris on the lawn surface. The lawn scarifiers were compared, and the following criteria used to calculate the scores, with equal weight given to each:

• Set-up & storage: We looked at the assembly needed, ease and clarity of instructions, any storage features and, where relevant, the cable length.
• Handling: We assessed ease of use, weight, noise levels, comfort and safety features.
• Performance: This considered the strength of the blades, as well as how well the spring tines removed moss and thatch in the scarifying mode. For the 2-in-1 machines, we also evaluated how well the blades created slits in the lawn to aerate it.
• Value for money: We reviewed all of the above, plus quality and design, the RRP and the length of warranty.

For more information on our testing process see How we Review.

This review was last updated in April 2022. Unfortunately, prices change and things go out of stock so we apologise if anything has changed.