Best picks
Picks for specific gardens and budgets. For the overall picture, start with our guide to the best robot lawn mowers.
By garden and budget
Each list sets out who it’s for, then ranks the current models that fit, with live UK prices.
6 picks
Budget here means the cheapest robot mowers that can genuinely run themselves: they dock and recharge on their own, mow to a schedule and handle a typical UK lawn of 300–1,000 m². In practice that's a UK RRP of roughly £700 or less in September 2026. Drop-and-mow models that you carry out and restart by hand aren't picks. We haven't tested these mowers; the picks come from specifications, manuals, UK warranties and prices.
5 picks
We call a garden complex if it has two or more lawn areas the mower must travel between, a link between them narrower than about 1 m, or a significant part of the lawn under trees or within a few metres of a tall building. We favoured mowers with a published minimum passage width under 1 m, at least 10 zones, and navigation that doesn't rely on satellites alone.
6 picks
We define a large garden as a lawn over 1,500 m² (about 0.37 acres), and a very large one as over 4,000 m² (about an acre). Every pick is rated for at least 2,000 m² in the version we feature, which leaves the 20% headroom we recommend for a 1,500 m² lawn.
6 picks
We call a lawn steep if any part of it is over 35% (about 19 degrees), which is beyond the rating of many budget and two-wheel-drive mowers. Every pick is rated for at least 55% (about 29 degrees), and most for 80% (about 39 degrees) or more, so there's a margin for wet grass and turns.
6 picks
For this page, a small garden means a lawn of up to 600 m² (about 0.15 acres), which covers most UK terraced, semi-detached and new-build gardens. We only considered current models sold in the UK with a rated area between 300 m² and 800 m², so there's headroom without paying for capacity you won't use. We haven't tested these mowers; the picks are based on specifications, manuals, UK warranty terms and prices.
5 picks
Every pick has at least one current UK version with a manufacturer RRP or brand-store price under £1,000 in September 2026, and a rated area of at least 500 m². That's the bracket where most UK buyers shop and where wire-free mowers with proper mapping start to appear. Prices change often, so the figures on this page update from UK retailers where we have them. We haven't tested these mowers; the picks come from specifications, manuals, UK warranties and prices.
Photos: Pascal Debrunner, Heather Wilde, Annie Spratt, James Read, Tile Merchant Ireland, Brett Jordan / Unsplash
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