8 Best Benchtop Thickness Planers for Woodworking in 2025

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Benchtop thickness planers are woodworking and carpentry machines designed for dimensioning rough lumber. You need them to make both sides of a rough board smooth and parallel to each other.

It’s called a thickness planer because, apart from smoothening both sides of the board, it’s used to reduce the thickness of the board to an appropriate thickness suitable for the project in hand.

They come really handy if you want to buy rough lumber from the lumberyard and dimension them by yourself. You know rough lumber are usually cheaper than straight dimensioned ones. So, you can save money by simply getting them and planing them by yourself using your own thickness planer.

The thing is, thickness planers usually come in the form of heavy-duty industrial machinery which are quite expensive, they take up a lot of space in the workshop, and they’re not easy to move around.

Benchtop planers on the other hand are portable. They’re smaller box-like versions of these heavy-duty industrial planers. They’re much more affordable, they take up very little space and are very easy to move around if you need to. That’s why most people go for them.

If you’ve never used or gotten a benchtop thickness planer before, choosing the right one can be quite challenging. Mainly because you don’t know what to look for. That’s why we’ve put together this article to help you choose the best one for your projects.

Here in this article, we’ve reviewed and listed 8 of the best benchtop thickness planers you can use for your woodworking and carpentry projects.

We’ve also included a guide that includes all the important features you should look for when making your choice.

The Best Benchtop Thickness Planers

1. BEST OVERALL: Dewalt DW735X
2. RUNNER UP: Wen PL1337
3. BEST CUTTERHEAD: Jet JWP-13BT
4. BEST BUDGET-OPTION: Craftsman CMEW320
5. HIGHEST BUILD QUALITY: Shop Fox W1877

First of all, here’s a comparison table that summarizes everything.

Benchtop Thickness Planers Comparison Table

Our Best Picks

After thorough review, we truly believe the following benchtop thickness planers are the best you can get your hands on today, and we recommend them.

They meet all the criterial we’re looking for when it comes to finish quality, how easy they are to adjust during use, the type of cutterhead each one has, their build quality, and how easy they are to set up. If you’re really looking for the best, here they are.

Dewalt DW735X Benchtop Thickness Planer Review- Best Pick

Price: Check Amazon

The Dewalt DW735X is one of the only portable thickness planers with a 13-inch width capacity, allowing you to plane wider boards than most other portable planers.

That alone is one single reason why most people go for it. It’s for the wider width capacity.

One more thing you’ll notice when you get the DW735X is that the cast aluminum base is almost twice as thick as the base of other units. It has a 19-3/4 inch base compared to the 10-inch base found in other portable units. This makes it more rigid and stable during use.

Another important feature that stands out in the DW735X is the 2-speed gearbox it has. This allows the user to change feed speed from 96 cuts per inch (CPI) to 179 CPI. This will enable you to either optimize the amount of material removed using a slower speed or remove less material while improving the surface finish using the faster speed setting.

The only upgrade I’d like to see on the DW735X is a spiral/helical cutterhead instead of the standard straight knife cutterhead.

That will reduce the noise produced and improve the finish quality. Although, unlike most other benchtop planers with a 2-knife cutterhead, the Dewalt DW735X features a 3-knife cutterhead. This also improves the surface finish on the wood you’re planing, and also makes the knives last longer than a standard 2-knife cutterhead.

One more thing you get with the DW735X is infeed and outfeed tables to support your workpiece and reduce snipe.

At the heart of the setup is a powerful 15-amp motor, running at a speed of 20,000 rpm and spinning the cutterhead at 10,000 rpm.

The fan-assisted dust ejection feature of the DW735X also puts it one step above similar units.

Related: Which Dewalt Planer Is The Best – DW735X vs DW735 vs DW734

Related: Jointer or Planer – Which Tool Should You Get First

​Wen PL1337 Benchtop Thickness Planer – Spiral Cutterhead

Price: Check Amazon

For so many years, the Dewalt DW735X had no close rival when talking about portable benchtop thickness planers due to several distinct features it possesses.

Now however, many other brands are offering the same features which makes the DW735X stand out from the competition such as it’s 13 inch width capacity, and it’s dual speed operation.

One of such brand offering is the WEN PL1337. The WEN PL1337 not only features a 13 inch width capacity and a dual speed gearbox, but it also features a spiral cutterhead which leaves a much smoother finish on boards planed with it, and also enables the machine to work much quieter.

It comes equipped with a 15 amp motor with a rotational speed of 10,000 RPM, generating up to 1354 cuts per minute. The PL1337 will allow you to plane boards up to 6 inches in thickness and 13 inches in width, which is the maximum for most portable thickness planers.

The machine have many other features and accessories such as an onboard material removal gauge, a depth stop, infeed and outfeed tables, and a suitable dust port to expell the dust produced during use.

Overall, I’d say the WEN PL1337 is surely one of the best benchtop thickness planers out there, and I’d recommend it in a heartbeat to anyone looking for a portable machine like this for use in the workshop or on the jobsite.

Related: The Best Jointer Planer Combo Machines for Planing Rough Lumber

Shop Fox W1877 Benchtop Thickness Planer

Price: Check Amazon

The first thing you’ll notice about this Shop Fox W1877 is that it’s pretty expensive compared to the other portable thickness planers reviewed in this article.

Upon further examination, you’ll also notice it’s one of the most well-built planers out there, with every feature needed to turn rough boards into smooth ones ready for fine woodworking projects.

For one thing, it comes with a very powerful 2 HP 15 Amps motor, which allows it to chew through any type of wood you throw at it. That means you can also plane at its maximum cut depth of 1/8th of an inch without bugging the machine down.

The Shop Fox W1877 comes equipped with a spiral-style cutterhead with 26 indexable carbide inserts, something you’ll also not find in most portable planers. This enables you to plane boards with a better surface finish, resulting in a much quieter machine even when under load.

It has a maximum width capacity of 13 inches, accepts a maximum board thickness of 6 inches, and has a maximum cut depth of 1/8 inch. The cutterhead spins at a maximum speed of 10,000 RPM, with a feed rate of 26 feet per minute.

For dust collection, the W1877 features a large 4-inch dust port to connect it to your workshop dust collection system. It also includes a 2-inch and 1/2-inch adapter for connecting it to suitable shop vacs.

All in all, I can say the Shop Fox W1877 is one of the best options to consider when shopping for a portable thickness planer unit, especially if the price is not a deciding factor. Quality-wise, it’s well built with very good in-feed and out-feed tables for material support.

Depth adjustment is also effortless with a hand wheel right at the side of the unit and a marked thickness scale to read settings.

Related: 7 Best Wood Jointers for Woodworking Projects

Dewalt DW734 Benchtop Thickness Planer

Price: Check Amazon

The Dewalt DW734 benchtop planer features a 3-knife cutterhead just like the DW735X. The 3 knives are double-edged, which means you can reverse them after one edge gets dull or blunt.

Spinning the cutterhead is a powerful 15 amp motor that produces a maximum speed of 20,000 RPM, so the user can work on any stock, whether it’s hardwood like oak or softwood like pine wood.

The motor spins the cutter head at 10,000 rpm, producing 96 cuts per inch to ensure the finest finish on the stock.

At the top of the machine is a depth adjustment knob that allows you to raise or lower the cutterhead for easy depth control.

It also has a turret depth stop so that you can make repeat cuts easily and avoid over-planing your lumber pieces.

Large infeed and outfeed tables provide enough space to support the stock and reduce sniping at the ends of the boards.

It also comes equipped with an easy-to-read thickness scale so the user can know how much material will be removed on every pass through the machine.

A large and easily accessible paddle switch ensures you can turn it off whenever needed.

Related: The 10 Best Electric Hand Planers

​Makita 2012NB Benchtop Thickness Planer

Price: Check Amazon

The finish quality you’ll get from the Makita 2012NB leaves nothing to be desired. With a cutterhead that spins at just 8500 RPM, which is 1500 less than the competition, this machine proves that it’s not just about RPM. Build quality and design matters.

The cutter head blades are double-edged, thus they can be reversed when one edge gets dull so you don’t have to buy replacements right away.

It has a width capacity of 12 inches, a depth capacity of 6 -3/32 inches and a maximum cut depth of 1/8 inches.

A very good feature I always want on any planer is the depth stop which this Makita also has. This ensures you don’t over plane your stock past a certain depth, say 5 inches. So, you can set the depth stop at 5 inches, and you won’t be able to crank the cutterhead less than 5 inches.

It comes equipped with large infeed and outfeed tables to fully support the stock and to prevent sniping at the ends

Makita equipped this with an interna-lok automated head clamp that locks the cutterhead in place to limit the movement that causes snipe and improve the performance of the machine.

In terms of design, the Makita 2012NB is compact and lightweight for easy transportation to the jobsite. The lighter weight is usually not a problem because it can be bolted to a workbench to prevent movement and vibration during use.

A powerful 15 amp motor keeps the cutter head running.

​Related: 42 Modern Tools for Woodworking and Carpentry Projects

JET JWP-13BT

Price: Check Amazon

The JET JWP-13BT is one of the most high-end portable thickness planers in this list, but the build quality totally justifies the price.

It comes equipped with a top quality spiral cutterhead, which is one of the things I like most about it. It cuts smoothly and quieter compared to several on this list.

I also like the wide 13 inch wide width capacity, which is 1 inch more than some other units. The 1 inch may not sound like much, but it does make all the difference depending on the project you’re working on.

It also comes equipped with a powerful motor. It’s a 2 HP 15 amp motor which spins the cutterhead at a speed of 10,000 RPM.

The finish quality you get with this is very good, because the motor is very powerful and it produces enough RPM to produce an exceptional finish, whether you’re planing hard or soft lumber pieces.

Overall, I think the JET JWP-13BT has everything you need to plane your own lumber in your workshop. Whether you want to use it in a fixed position in the workshop, or you want to take it with you for jobsite projects, it will not disappoint.

Cutech 40700H

Price: Check Price

Even though the Cutech 40700H comes equipped with a spiral cutterhead, it’s not as pricey as some of the other ones with the same cutterhead, like the Jet JWP-13BT and the Shop Fox which I also wrote about in this article.

That’s one of the main reason I really like the Cutech.

Another feature I really like about the Cutech is the 2 return rollers it has on top of it. That means you can have someone on the other side to receive the boards when you’re planing. And the person can just receive the board on the other side and return them to you via the rollers on top of the machine. They really come in very handy.

The Cutech 40700H also have a very good dust hood with a shop vac adapter. So, you can connect it directly to your shop vac or to your dust collection system if you have one.

To me, I’d say the Cutech 40700H is one of the most complete benchtop thickness planers you can get for your projects.

You don’t have to buy an additional dust hood just like you have to do when you get the Makita I talked about above. It comes with a spiral cutterhead, and the price is great.

​Craftsman CMEW320 – Budget Pick

Price: Check Amazon

Like the other machines reviewed, this Craftsman CMEW320 benchtop planer comes with a 15 amp motor for maximum power and speed.

The motor spins the cutter head at 8,000 revolutions per minute, making 16,000 cuts per minute on the stock, ensuring a very smooth surface is produced on the material.

The 2-knife quick-change solid steel cutter head comes equipped with double-edged knives made of high-carbon steel. These won’t get dull quickly, and you can even reverse them when they finally do.

Included is an easy-to-read depth gauge to make easy depth adjustments and a big paddle switch so you can switch off the machine conveniently.

It also comes with large in-feed and out-feed tables for good material support, with a depth adjustment knob positioned right at the top to easily access it.

A vacuum port at the back provides easy access to connect a shop vac to eliminate chips and sawdust produced.

Also featured is a Poly-V cutter head drive for maximum transmission of power from the motor.

What To Consider When Choosing A Benchtop Thickness Planer

Choosing a portable benchtop thickness planer for your project can be quite complicated if you haven’t used one before. But with the following guide, you’ll know what’s essential and what’s not.

Here’s what you must consider.

Width Capacity

The width capacity of a thickness planer is the maximum size of boards in width it can accommodate. One with a width capacity of 13 inches can plane boards not more than 13 inches in width, and that with a width capacity of 12-1/2 inches can plane boards not more than 12-1/2 inches in width.

When making your choice, the higher the width capacity is, the better it is because you can plane wider boards with it without trying to downsize the boards.

Here are the width capacities of the 10 reviewed in this article.

As you can see from above, the width capacities of portable thickness planers usually range between 12 and 13 inches. Personally, for small DIY / jobsite projects, you can’t go wrong choosing either 12 or 13 inches because the additional 1 inch doesn’t really matter much.

Nevertheless, the additional 1 inch does provide a little advantage of working with slightly wider boards.

Of course, if you need something with a larger width capacity than 13 inches, you can always go for a stand-alone cabinet unit with the capacity to plane boards as wide as 20 inches and above.

Type of Cutter Head

One of the most important features to look out for when choosing a thickness planer is the type of cutter head it has.

That’s because the quality of the one you choose is primarily determined by the type of cutter head it comes with. The cutterhead affects the following:

• It affects the smoothness or surface finish of the boards you cut with it.
• It affects the noise produced by the planer during operation and
• it determines how much you’ll spend to replace it.

With that said, there are two main types of cutterheads available in these machines.

Which are:

• Straight knife cutterhead and
• Helical or Spiral cutter head

The straight knife cutterhead is the most common one you’ll find in most benchtop thickness planers. It usually consists of 2 to 4 straight knives arranged around the cutterhead.

They’re usually made with high-speed steel, and thus they’re cheaper compared to helical cutterheads which are made with carbide steel.

They get blunt easily because they’re not as hard as carbide, but it’s cheaper to replace them, or you can sharpen or reverse the direction of the knives if they’re reversible.

Helical cutter heads, on the other hand, do not feature long straight knives that run the length of the cutter head. Instead, they feature multiple rows of small square-shaped cutters called inserts configured in a helical or spiral orientation as shown below.

Although some woodworkers prefer thickness planers with straight knife cutter heads over the helical style, the helical or spiral style cutterhead has few noteworthy advantages over the straight knife cutter head.

One of the main advantages is the ease of replacing the carbide inserts on the helical cutterhead if any one of them gets nicked or damaged.

When you mistakenly run a nail-embedded wood through your planer, just 1 or 2 carbide inserts might get damaged if it’s a helical style cutter head, and they’re very easy to replace.

In fact, you don’t have to replace the carbide inserts the first time they get nicked; you only have to loosen the nicked inserts and rotate them 90 degrees to reveal a new sharp edge, and it’s as good as new.

Each insert can be rotated 3 times before it’s finally replaced because all four edges are sharpened and can be used for planing.

On the other hand, replacing the knives of a straight knife cutterhead is difficult and time-consuming. First, you have to loosen and remove the damaged knife or blade, then you have to replace and re-align the new blade with the rest of the blades in the cutterhead.

Another important advantage of having a thickness planer with a helical cutter is that it reduces the noise produced by the machine.

Byrd produces a helical cutter head they call the Shelix. On the shelix, the carbide inserts on the cutter head are inclined at an angle to the feed direction so that it produces a shearing action as they slice through the wood without causing much noise.

Straight knives on the other hand cuts through the wood directly at 90 degrees, which scoops the wood and produces a louder sound.

Dust collection is also better with a helical style unit. The small cutters produce little wood chips which your dust collector can easily pickup without clogging the hose or your ductwork.

On the other hand, the straight knife cutterhead produces long chips which are more difficult to extract by any dust collection system.

Cut quality and lower cost of maintenance are two more advantages of a helical-style unit over a straight knife unit.

On the downside, machines equipped with helical cutter heads have more initial costs than those with straight knife cutter heads.

Motor – Cutterhead Speed

The benchtop thickness planer you choose should have a good-quality motor spinning the cutterhead and working the infield and outfield rollers.

Having a good quality and powerful motor will ensure you can plane any wood with it, whether it’s hardwood like oak or softwood like pine.

Most benchtop planers come equipped with 15 amp motors turning the cutterhead at speeds ranging from 8000 rpm to 10000 rpm.

The faster the RPM, the smoother the finish it can produce. That’s because a faster cutterhead means more cuts are taking place per inch of the wood as it’s fed through the machine.

Feeding your wood stock into a less powerful planer also takes longer due to slower feed rates.

Part Replacement

A benchtop planer is like any other machine. It will not stay the same forever. Some parts will need replacement after some time. So, you need to make sure the one you choose has parts that can easily be found in your local dealer’s shop or ordered online.

Talking about part replacement, it’s also good to check the warranty. Ensure you can return it if it falls apart too soon.

Ease Of Making Depth Adjustment

Depth adjustment should be a breeze in any benchtop thickness planer you choose. There should be precise gauges, visible linear scales, and clear directions on how to use and adjust them, so you can plane or trim your boards to the particular dimension you want.

Snipe Handling

Snipe is one nasty wood defect that occurs when feeding boards in and out of a planer as a result of the weight of the board pulling downwards at the free ends, thereby pushing the opposite end into the cutterhead, which creates a dip at the ends of the board.

Sadly, snipe is something that cannot be eliminated totally without providing enough manual support for the material. However, it can be reduced to a great extent if the thickness planer you choose have a few features built in like sturdy outfield tables and mechanisms that locks down the cutterhead from moving during use.

The Dewalt DW734 features a black bar at the top, which, when pulled down, engages an automatic carriage lock that locks down the cutterhead and roller assembly, thereby limiting any upward or downward movement that may cause sniping.

While the Dewalt DW735X’s means of mitigating snipe is automatic, you don’t need to pull down anything to lock down the cutterhead and roller assembly. It locks down by itself as soon as you finish adjusting the depth. This drastically reduces snipe and makes the planing process easier and more accurate.

The Makita 2012NB features an interna-lok head clamp which also helps to lock the cutterhead and roller assembly in place to reduce snipe.

In summary, check out and make sure that the planer machine you choose has a few features that help it handle snipes properly. However, to effectively reduce snipe totally, you also have to support your workpiece manually with your hand while feeding it into the machine, and also support it while it’s out-feeding on the other side.

Also, ensure that the one you choose comes with in-feed and out-feed tables because they go a long way to support the wood, thereby reducing snipe.

Dust Collection

Many woodworking tools create a lot of sawdust, and a benchtop wood planer is an excellent example. It can turn your whole workshop into a huge mess without a proper way to direct, funnel, and collect the dust created.

That is why you must ensure the one you choose has a good dust/chip collection port to expel the dust produced by the machine in a controlled manner.

Some thickness planers like the Dewalt DW735X and the WEN 6552T come with a fan-assisted dust collection port that helps to blow chips and dust out of the machine.

Finish Quality

What is the surface of the finished board like? Is it smooth, or does it still need much work with a sander? How accurate is the thickness or depth scale?

The one you should choose should be able to produce a smooth surface on any wood so that the resulting stock will require minimal sanding if necessary.

Price

Price is another factor that may affect your decision. Some units are obviously more expensive than other ones which can be caused by several factors, such as superior build materials, branding, extra features and more. However, you should always go for what your budget allows.

How frequent you intend to use the planer should also determine the type you get. If you’re a professional woodworker who’ll be using it on a regular basis, it’s totally worth it to go for the best with the best features and build quality.

On the other hand, if you’re a weekend woodworker who’ll be using it sparingly, then it’s okay to get a budget unit, since you’ll not be working it that hard.

At the end of the day, a better tool may have more initial cost, but it will afford you more comfort, performance, and durability, which you may not have with a cheaper one.

Conclusion

No planer will be 100 percent in every angle. There’ll always be some features it has and others it lacks.

It all comes down to what you’re willing to sacrifice for another. We hope this guide helps you choose the right portable thickness planer that will makes your job as a woodworker, DIYer, or hobbyist as easy and efficient as possible.