Tested And Reviewed: Find Out Which Editor-Approved Portable Table Saws Made the Cut

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A portable table saw is a great machine. Unlike the stationary table saws contractors use, these relatively lightweight options rest on top of a workbench and often come with a folding metal frame with wheels for easy transport.

The vast majority of portable table saws are equipped with a 10-inch blade that provides more than enough height above the table to cut thick lumber. That big blade is backed up with a big motor that typically runs on 12 to 15 amps, which provides enough power whether you’re working with hardwood, softwood or plywood.

Beyond those specs, however, there’s a lot that distinguishes one portable table saw from the next. Plus, it’s essential to choose the right blade for the job—whether that’s ripping wood in the same direction as the grain, or crosscutting. To help you find the best portable table saw for your needs, read on for reviews of our favorite models, along with expert advice on what to consider before buying.

The Best Portable Table Saws

• Best Overall: Bosch 10-in 15-Amp Portable Benchtop Table Saw with Gravity Rise Stand

• Best Heavy-Duty: Skilsaw 10-Inch Heavy-Duty Worm Drive Table Saw with Stand

• Most Versatile: Metabo HPT MultiVolt 10-in Portable Jobsite Table Saw

• Best for Jobsites: DeWalt 10-Inch Table Saw With Rolling Collapsible Stand

• Best Cordless: Flexvolt 60-Volt Table Saw

What to Consider

Type

There are two basic types of portable table saws: benchtop and jobsite. Benchtop saws are the lightest and cheapest, although they require an existing work surface to place them on. Jobsite table saws are essentially the same—although sometimes more powerful—as benchtop models, but with wheeled stands for support. These stands are essential for maneuvering and repositioning the saw around a busy jobsite, and don’t require any other surface for support. Although jobsite portable table saws are bulkier than benchtop models, they usually fold down for vertical storage.

Power

As we mention above, most portable table saws are corded and run on 12 to 15 amps. But there are also cordless options to consider. They tend to weigh less than corded portable table saws, but and their limited runtime means they’re better suited to short jobs around the house.

Rip Capacity

The distance between the saw blade and the fence—the vertical guide that runs parallel to the blade—determines the size of material you can rip. Portable table saws use extendable rails to provide maximum rip capacity without sacrificing support, so you can still make accurate and safe rip cuts by yourself. Just be sure your prospective saw has the right rip capacity for whatever dimensions you plan on working with.

Weight

Although all these table saws are meant to be portable, some are easier to transport than others. Pay attention to their overall weight—especially if you plan on moving the saw frequently—as well as the dimensions to ensure it fits in your space. If you don’t already have a workbench or tabletop, or want to move the saw around a jobsite easily, make sure to choose a model with a rolling support stand.

Safety

Table saws are inherently dangerous machines, so safety features are paramount when considering the best saw for you. Look for models that include plastic blade guards–transparent covers that only expose the blade when wood is being pushed through–and push sticks that allow you to keep your fingers away from the blade during operation. Straightforward instruction manuals with detailed illustrations are also extremely helpful for understanding safety measures and overall operation.

Choosing the Right Blade For the Job

To cut effectively—and safely—it’s important to use the right blade for the job. That means investing in a selection of blades to help the saw reach its potential.

Most portable table saws come with an inexpensive general-purpose blade (a 10-inch 42-tooth is common) that can rip and crosscut, but won’t do either one particularly well. Below, we cover a few common jobs and the best blade to use for each.

24-Tooth Heavy Duty Rip Blade

This blade’s angle, tooth shape, and heat-expansion slots are made for rugged work, such as quickly bringing stock to approximate dimension.

80-Tooth Plywood & Melanine Blade

This blade's sharp tooth tip alternates direction to resist chipping and tearing the wood veneer and plastic film surfaces of plywood and melamine.

60-Tooth Fine Finish Crosscut Blade

This blade isn’t for rough work. It’s designed to prevent chipping when crosscutting solid wood and reserved for work that must be perfect when it leaves the blade.

30-Tooth Glue Line Ripping Blade

This blade produces a ripped edge that is smooth and straight enough such that it can be joined seamlessly with glue to another similarly ripped edge.

Pro tip: An inexpensive outfeed roller will increase your productivity—and also your safety—by providing a smoothly rolling support surface to receive the board as it leaves the saw table. Lacking such a roller, you need a helper who can deftly take the board and carefully support it without interfering with the cut—not a job for the squeamish.

How We Selected and Tested

During my time as a commercial and residential carpenter in New York City, I used a variety of cabinet and portable table saws. Whether I was working as part of a crew remodeling a townhouse ceiling, or creating a custom bookcase in a restaurant, portable table saws provided the functionality and convenient size needed to tackle challenges posed by different jobsites. I kept this experience in mind when updating this guide, including the brands, safety features, and ease of use I have come to know and appreciate over the years.

We personally tested three of the five portable table saws reviewed below. We worked indoors and outdoors, ripping and crosscutting a variety of wood types, and used saws on their stands (when so equipped) to build simple projects like fastener trays and sawhorses. We also ripped shelving to width. For those we didn’t test—the Skilsaw SPT99-11-10 and the DeWalt FlexVolt 60V Max—we rigorously reviewed specs and saw enough technical merit to make them worthy of inclusion.

Few portable table saws have the lineage of this model from Bosch. When we tested a forerunner of this product more than 20 years ago, we commended it for its power and soft start that brings blade speed up gradually. We also appreciated its arbor lock that kept the blade in position while we loosened and removed the spindle nut.

Bosch has wisely not altered any of those praiseworthy features over the decades, and it still has its large cast aluminum top with a slide-out extension. With the addition of a gravity-rise wheeled stand, it’s perfect for finish carpenters who have to wheel the saw around on site, as well as those with a crowded home shop that don’t have room for a larger cabinet table saw.

Now it equips the saw with a gravity-rise wheeled stand; that’s more of a benefit to finish carpenters who have to wheel the saw around on site, but we can also see it as a benefit to someone with a crowded home shop that doesn’t have room for a saw with a fixed position.

With a torque-friendly worm-drive power train, and a maximum depth of three-and-five-eighths inches—deepest of all the options listed here—this Skilsaw is perfect for heavy-duty projects. It also features a 30.5-inch rip capacity and a user-friendly rack and pinion fence system for maximum accuracy.

The huge 16-inch wheels also help it easily traverse over bumpy surfaces, stairs, and curbs, if need be. We also appreciate the detailed and useful user manual, which is filled with technical illustrations that make clear the saw’s ability to be adjusted and dialed in for precise cutting. An owner’s manual of this caliber is just about unheard of in this class of product. You can have a look at the PDF yourself at the Skilsaw website.

The Metab0-HPT was a 2020 Tool Awards winner, as the first 10-inch saw to cross the multi-voltage threshold. You can operate it on either 120 volts with an adapter or a 36-volt battery designed for the saw (and other Metabo power tools).

As shown, the saw is equipped with neither the adapter nor the battery; figure the cost of the adapter, battery, or both into your purchase. If you plunk down the extra $300 or so for both the battery and adapter, you have one of the most versatile saws in the industry, with the capability to be operated anywhere.

You also get a soft start that ramps up motor speed slowly, increasing motor life in the process. Plus, it features oversize rip capacity—33 inches to the right of the blade and a slide-out outfeed support—which isn’t as much as a dedicated outfeed roller, but it’s still darn good.

We’ve personally used this DeWalt jobsite portable table saw for chopping and ripping up lumber, and can vouch for its rugged durability and quality construction. The rolling stand provides a ton of stability too, making it easy to perform cuts safely and accurately. Rack and pinion fence rails allow for easy adjustments, and are strong enough to support an impressive amount of weight. We’re also big fans of the two-and-a-half-inch dust collection port for easy clean-ups, even after heavy-duty jobs.

On-board tool storage keeps the push stick close at hand, which encourages safe use and potentially cuts down on time wasted searching your workshop for whatever you need.

Compatible with DeWalt’s Flexvolt 60V battery, this compact table saw is about as portable as they come. It’s also smaller than every other option on our list, and with no extension cords or power outlets needed, is ready to work as soon as you are. Despite its small size, this portable table saw still provides a stable and sturdy work surface, thanks to a rugged metal roll cage and large rubber feet. Its rack and pinion telescoping fence rails are also capable of ripping large four-by-eight plywood sheets.

Its eight-and-a-quarter-inch diameter blade is smaller than the 10-inch versions of most other table saws though, so the maximum cut depth won’t be as deep.

Guide to Table Saw Terms

There a lot of confusing terms when you enter the world of table saws, their blades, and various wood-cutting operations. We offer this explainer to help guide you through.

Alternate Top Bevel (ATB)

A tooth configuration on table saw blades where the bevel on every other tooth alternates from left to the right. ATB teeth are used on all-purpose blades that offer satisfactory ripping and crosscutting performance but don’t excel at either.

Crosscut

A cut made across the long-axis of the wood’s grain direction. The primary grain axis in solid wood is parallel (along) the board’s length–the same direction that the tree grows. A cut made perpendicular to this axis is a crosscut, such as occurs when cutting a 2x4-foot wall stud to length. In plywood and composite panels, typically 4x8-foot sheets, crosscutting refers to cutting across the panel’s 4-foot width or perpendicular to the direction of the grain direction of its face veneer.

Dado

A wide, U-shaped and flat-bottom notch cut across the grain (across the width) of a board or workpiece. The nomenclature is tricky in this respect: A similar cut made along the length of the workpiece, such as in the edge or face of the board, is known simply as a groove, not a dado. Further confusing matters is that both a dado and a groove may be made with the same accessory, a dado blade (see next entry).

Dado Blade

A multi-blade assembly. It consists of individual dado blades and spacers. A dado blade (even though it consists of multiple blades and spacers) is used to cut a dado or a groove.

Flat Top Grind (FTG)

The simplest shape on a table saw blade tooth where the top of each tooth is ground to a flat tip. This tooth configuration is typically used on ripping blades.

Hook Angle

The angle that the table saw blade tooth leans forward. As seen from the side, each table saw blade consists of a series of wave-shaped cutouts made in the body of the blade. The saw tooth is either ground directly into the wave or, more often than not today, the tooth consists of a piece of carbide brazed in place. The forward-leaning angle of the tooth—where it contacts the wood—is its hook angle.

Rip

A cut made along the long axis of the wood grain. In solid wood lumber, this is along the length of the board, the same direction that the tree grows. With panels and plywood, it is along the length of the panel or parallel to the long axis of the face grain veneer.

Triple Chip Grind (TCG)

A grind geometry that shapes three surfaces of each saw blade tooth–the top, the left side, and the right side. This tooth geometry is used to reduce chipping, tearing, and splintering when sawing plywood, panels made of composite materials or panels with a surface of soft plastic veneer, such as melamine.

Throat Plate

The removable oval-shaped piece of metal or plastic set into the table of the saw through which the blade projects. A table saw will come with a throat plate that will accommodate a single blade. The manufacturer may or may not offer accessory throat plates that allow the user to operate a dado blade.

Worm Gear

A two-gear assembly consisting of a spiral worm and a worm gear. The output of the two gears reduces the speed coming from the motor, but increases the torque (turning force) delivered to the blade.

Zero-Clearance Throat Plate

A throat plate that is an accessory that is specifically meant to be used with dado blades. The plate will come with a slot in it wide enough to accommodate a dado blade or the user installs the dado blade in the saw, lowers the blade below the surface of the saw table, then installs the zero-clearance throat plate as it would be normally installed.

The user will then turn the saw on and slowly raise the spinning dado blade up through the plate. When the blade is raised up to its operating height, it makes a cut through the plate that corresponds exactly to the width of the dado. The lack of an air gap on both sides of the dado blade provides increased support to the workpiece being cut, improving cut quality and safety in the process.

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