Best Portable Band Saws of 2026

Five inches of cutting capacity is what earns this saw the top spot. The throat swallows 4-inch rigid conduit, angle iron, and the box steel that stops a compact saw cold, and the brushless motor holds its speed through the cut instead of bogging and then catching up halfway. Through steel and PVC the blade tracked straight and the cut came off clean enough to work from.

Two details we came to rely on. The LED sits right where the blade meets the work and stays on for 20 seconds after you release the trigger, so the cut line is still lit while you reset for the next one. And the blade change lever means no wrench hunt when you swap to a finer pitch for thin-wall conduit.

The integrated hang hooks are a small thing we used more than expected: the saw hangs off a rafter or a ladder rung instead of going on the floor between cuts. It arrives as a bare tool, though, so a 20V MAX battery and charger are on you if this is your first DEWALT cordless. At 12.4 pounds it's a two-handed saw, which is fine over a pipe vise or a bench and noticeable on a long run of overhead cuts.

A 1-3/4-inch throat won't take big pipe, and that's the trade this saw makes on purpose. It's built to be held in one hand: the pivoting guard covers the top of the blade so you can push it through strut or conduit overhead, and it's lanyard-ready for work off a lift.

At 7.7 pounds it's light enough that a run of overhead cuts doesn't wreck your shoulder, and the variable-speed trigger plus a separate speed dial gives you two ways to slow the blade for stainless or thin-wall. The single-point tracking adjustment is the detail we appreciated most — one screw to true the blade instead of two guides to chase.

Where it runs out is stock size. Past 1-3/4 inches you're flipping the work or reaching for a different saw, and thick aluminum asks for patience rather than pressure. Unistrut and 1-inch aluminum go through cleanly; lean on the motor and it lets you know.

Six pounds is the whole argument. This is the saw you can hold at arm's length inside a ceiling grid, work into a cabinet to reach a copper line, and carry up a ladder without thinking about it. The 2-1/2-inch throat covers the conduit, strut, and rod sizes that most jobs actually involve.

The 12V brushless motor turns the blade at up to 570 feet per minute, quick for a saw this small, and the cuts came off smooth enough that a fitting slid straight on. The work light sits where the blade enters the material, which matters in a dark ceiling or a closed cabinet.

The other consideration is the platform. It's a bare tool, so the M12 packs and charger are a separate line item unless you're already on the system, and on 12V plan on two batteries for a full day of cutting. Where it stops is thick material, where the blade slows and you have to ease off.

Set this next to the compact saws and it's a different animal: a deep-cut frame, an 18V brushless motor, and 15 pounds of saw that doesn't flinch when the material gets serious. Square tubing with a heavy wall, threaded rod, rigid conduit, unistrut — it goes through all of it without the stalling the smaller saws show.

That weight is both the point and the problem. Two hands, a stable stance, and the saw's own mass feeding the blade is how it wants to be used, and used that way it cuts fast and straight through stock that would otherwise mean a cutoff wheel and a lot of noise. Held overhead, it's a different story.

On the M18 system you'll want a high-capacity pack to keep it fed through a long run of cuts, since the deep frame draws harder than a compact. If you're already invested in the platform, this is the cordless deep-cut answer; if you're not, a corded saw does the same work without the battery bill.

630 feet per minute is the highest blade speed in this group, and it's why this Makita walks through EMT, strut, and threaded rod so quickly. Speed paired with a fine-tooth blade is what gives you an edge that needs a light pass with a file rather than a grinder.

The wheel cover is the detail we liked most. It encloses the blade outside the cutting area, which is what lets the saw meet the ANSI standard for one-handed operation, so this is a compact you can genuinely run one-handed on a ladder rather than just hold that way between cuts.

Two and a half inches is the ceiling, so treat it as a conduit-and-strut saw rather than a do-everything one. At 9 pounds it's light for its capacity, the aluminum blade housing takes jobsite knocks, and the exterior blade adjustment lets you true the tracking without pulling covers off. It's a bare tool on the 18V LXT platform.

This is the least expensive route to a five-inch cut in this group, and it gets there with a cord: a 10-amp motor, a throat that takes 5 inches wide by 5 inches deep, and variable speed from 60 to 420 feet per minute. For a home shop cutting angle iron and tube on a bench, that covers most of what a band saw is for.

The adjustable front handle is a small thing that matters more than it sounds — you can roll it to change your grip between a vertical cut and a flat one. Ball-bearing blade guides, an external tensioning lever, and a two-year warranty round out a package that doesn't look or feel like the cheapest saw here.

Set the speed low for hard stock and let the saw come to the cut. The 10/14 TPI blade it ships with is a general-purpose starting point; a finer pitch for thin-wall conduit makes a visible difference to how clean the cut comes out, and blades for this saw are cheap enough to keep a few on the shelf.

If there's already a stack of Ryobi 18V batteries in the garage, this is the least expensive cordless saw here and it runs on them. That's most of the case, and for a homeowner cutting conduit, rebar, and PVC it's a good one.

Nine and a third pounds and a 2-1/2-inch throat put it in the same territory as the compacts from Makita and Milwaukee for a good deal less money. The brushless motor runs at 560 rpm and stays smooth in rebar and heavy-wall pipe, and the saw is easy to control with one hand on a short cut.

Where it stops is stock size. Two and a half inches covers conduit, rod, and most of the tube a homeowner handles, and it stops short of the larger schedule pipe and any structural steel. Treat it as the saw that replaces a hacksaw, not the one that replaces a shop machine.

Four and three-quarter inches of capacity in a 15-pound saw is a neat trick, and it's why this one has a following among people who cut a lot of strut and angle. The throat is nearly the size of the corded deep-cut saws, but the saw runs on an 18V LXT pack.

We paid attention to the over-torque circuit: an alert light warns you when you're pushing the motor too hard, which is more useful than it sounds on a saw you're leaning into on a ladder. The variable-speed dial runs 275 to 530 feet per minute, and the trigger needs two actions to start, so it won't fire off inside a tool bag.

Where it earns its keep is a fabrication bench with no outlet nearby — cut a length of angle, set it down, cut the next one, and never run a cord. The 44-7/8-inch blade is a common size, so replacements aren't a hunt.

The removable base is the reason to look at this one. Bolt it on and the saw becomes a small benchtop machine with a fence and miter capability, so a run of identical 45-degree cuts in tube becomes a repeatable operation rather than a freehand one. Pull the base off and it's a handheld 10-amp saw.

The capacity figures carry the trade: 5 inches on round stock and 4.7 by 4.7 inches on rectangular without the base, dropping to 3.9 by 3.2 inches with it fitted. Speed runs 137.8 to 472.4 feet per minute, and the base swivels from 0 to 45 degrees for the miter work that justifies owning it.

Two things to know. At 13 kg it's a shop saw, not something you carry up a ladder, and the head doesn't lock down as firmly as a dedicated benchtop machine's, so check that it holds before you lean into a cut. Buy it for the base — not in spite of it.