I’m Wirecutter’s senior staff writer covering all things audio. I’ve been reviewing beard trimmers for four years, but, more importantly, I have over 30 years of product-testing experience, so I know how to conduct fair, unbiased, and thorough evaluations.

For this guide:

• We interviewed industry experts, including Jeff Bovee, former director of product management at Wahl, and Brett Rappaport, who was the consumer marketing manager of male grooming at Philips Norelco.
• We talked with professional barbers, including William Cabrera Jr., owner of Billy’s Barber Shop in Lowell, Massachusetts; Joe and Anthony Berriola, of Razor’s Barbershop in Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts; and Jeremy Villao and Hung Nguyen, who, at the time of our interview, were at Fellow Barber in SoHo and in the West Village (respectively) in New York City.
• We gathered opinions on the various trimmers we tested from three people with very different beards: me, with a light beard I usually trim into a goatee; a person with a medium-thick, carefully groomed beard; and another tester, who has a big, heavy beard that’s tough for weaker trimmers to get through.
• Like all Wirecutter journalists, I review and test products with complete editorial independence. I’m never made aware of any business implications of my editorial recommendations. Read more about our editorial standards.

There are plenty of ways to shave, trim, or cut a beard. This guide focuses on corded and battery-powered beard trimmers designed to shape, angle, cut, or trim facial hair. These tools are suitable for practically any length of beard, from stubble to 6 inches or more. If you’re looking for an electric razor, we have a guide for that. If you’re shopping for hair clippers, we have a guide for those, too. And if you’re more old-school and prefer a manual razor, we’ve got you covered. We also have a guide to “body hair” trimmers (it includes a top pick that’s ideal for trimming pubic hair, and we also recommend a version of the Philips Norelco Multigroom 7000, the top pick in this review).

Still, the array of devices designed specifically for cutting and trimming beards is confusing: models with all-in-one, adjustable guide combs and those with clip-on guide combs; those with rechargeable batteries, and those with power cords; those with T-shaped blades for shaping and grooming, and those with precision-length combs meant for cutting hair at a uniform length. Each of these styles has its pros and cons. Our intent was to find the trimmers that could handle as many of these tasks as possible, as deftly as possible, and at a reasonable price.

In searching for the best beard trimmers, we looked for devices with the following attributes:

• A powerful motor: We searched for a tool that had enough oomph to cut through the coarsest hair, without pulling and without requiring multiple passes.
• A slim, robust design: We like trimmers that are slender in shape but also durable enough to last years without breaking if dropped. Slim models provide more visibility in front of a mirror and allow you to better monitor where you’re cutting, but a too-slim trimmer can be difficult to grip securely.
• Guide combs: Earlier versions of this guide favored trimmers with multiple, fixed-length guide combs, which determine how much beard is left after a pass of the trimmer. Many trimmers, especially inexpensive models, have a single, adjustable-length guide comb. This design is more convenient than having to change combs all the time, but many adjustable guides are flimsy, and most do not offer enough range for thick, long beards. Most of our picks include fixed-length guide combs, but one uses adjustable combs.
• Ability to shave: Any beard trimmer can be used as a shaver by simply removing the guide comb. None can replace an electric shaver or a razor blade for closeness, but some people like the stubble that beard trimmers deliver, and many trimmers do an adequate job of eliminating the stubble at the bottom of a beard, around the neck. We wanted a tool that could at least approximate a shave, cutting the hair as close as possible without nicking or agitating the skin.
• Grooming accessories: The main trimmer is priority number one, but guide combs, additional trimmer heads, shaver heads (which turn the beard trimmer into a smaller version of an electric shaver), and nose-hair trimmers can make a middling device look more attractive. We didn’t dismiss any trimmer for not having these things, but we were definitely impressed with how thoroughly some trimmers completed the “haircutting kit.”
• A pliable, long wire (for a corded tool): Corded trimmers are much more powerful and reliable than cordless models, although they’re less convenient and less popular for beard trimming, specifically. We looked for cords that were both long (at least 5 feet) and flexible, for easy maneuvering and storage.

We’ve been reviewing beard trimmers since 2013. During that time, we’ve consulted numerous professional barbers and trimmer manufacturers to get their input, but we rely mostly on the opinions of our panel of testers, who have different facial-hair textures and styles. In our most recent round, we tested 11 new models.

• How much hair can each trimmer remove in a single pass? How many passes does it take to adequately trim all of the hair in the test area?
• Is it easy to sculpt the beard to the shape you want without worrying about taking too much off?
• Is the trimmer easy to use in hard-to-reach areas, like under the nose and around the lips?
• Is it comfortable to use and hold?
• Do the trimmer’s blades pull on many hairs?
• Could you use the trimmer to approximate a shave in a pinch?
• How many attachments or beard guides does the trimmer come with, and are the attachments useful?
• Are any interchangeable heads easy to swap out?
• How well do the accessories, such as nose-hair trimmers and foil shaver heads, work?

I interviewed the panelists on their experience using the trimmers and then compared their feedback with my notes. Then I spent a few days testing the battery life and evaluating the design and attachments of each of the top contenders.

If you’re looking for an all-around trimmer that’s powerful enough to quickly cut through a thick beard—but not so powerful that it places unreasonable demands on your morning focus—we recommend the Philips Norelco Multigroom 7000 MG7750. Its heft and trimming power make it a pleasure to cut with, it comes with many useful accessories, and it doubles as a hair and body trimmer.

For most beards, it’s got just the right amount of muscle. The MG7750 is powerful enough to remove lots of beard hair with a single stroke, and that extra power minimizes hair pulling, too. But unlike our runner-up pick, the Wahl Aqua Blade 9899, the MG7750 isn’t so powerful or aggressive that you need to worry about a slight slip removing a large section of beard.

Pop off the guides, and this trimmer can deliver a reasonably close shave around the bottom of a beard. It’s no match for a razor, but it’ll probably be fine, unless you have a modeling gig coming up.

The cutter blades are made from stamped steel, but Philips Norelco says they’re self-sharpening and will stay sharp for years. The MG7750 does not require oiling.

It’s comfortable to hold and convenient. The heavy, 7.5-ounce stainless steel body feels sturdy and secure in the hand, and the crosshatched grooves around the top should prevent the rather slick body from slipping. The body flares into a flat bottom, so the MG7750 can stand up on a countertop or in a medicine cabinet, thereby saving space and keeping the trimmer head from getting tangled up in dental floss.

It trims other things, too. Because it’s also intended for trimming head hair and body hair, the MG7750 comes with numerous accessories. In addition to the 1¹⁄₁₆-inch beard-trimmer head, it includes a 1⅜-inch-wide hair trimmer (which also works well with very full beards) and a detail trimmer with a ¼-inch cutting area.

The MG7750 comes with 14 stiff plastic guard combs, enough to suit any beard or hairstyle. There’s also a very effective nose-hair trimmer and a foil shaver head (a smaller version of an electric razor) that’s only marginally useful. Changing the heads is easy. And the MG7750 comes with a fabric case, to carry the accessories.

You’ll rarely have to recharge it. We confirmed the rated battery life of five hours; this is long enough to go a few months without recharging. Charge time is about five hours, and a five-minute charge will provide enough power for a couple of minutes of trimming. An LED light near the bottom illuminates when the charger is connected, and it goes out when charging is complete.

Philips offers a two-year warranty on the body (though not on the trimmer heads and accessories) and a 45-day money-back guarantee.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It’s a little heavy for travel. At nearly half a pound, the MG7750 will add noticeable weight to an overnight bag. Frequent travelers may prefer our budget pick, the lighter-weight Philips Norelco OneBlade 360 QP2724/90.

Heavy beards could require more power. The MG7750 may struggle to tame the thickest beards; if your beard is especially heavy, and you want a cordless model, try the Wahl Aqua Blade 9899 , our runner-up pick.

The Wahl Aqua Blade 9899 is as powerful as any cordless trimmer we’ve tested (a couple of other Wahls we’ve tried were comparable), so it’s a superb choice for thick beards. With its extensive selection of accessories, this model is great for trimming beards, head hair, and body hair, too.

The power is just right for almost any beard. All of our testers found that the Aqua Blade’s powerful motor and fine-pitch, ground-steel blades easily removed hair on the first pass, with only infrequent hair pulling and little need for multiple passes. Despite the head’s generous, 1⅜-inch cutting area, it also does a precise job of shaving hairs near the bottom of the neck. This trimmer doesn’t match the closeness that a shaver can deliver, but it should be close enough for all but the most meticulous grooming.

It offers a secure grip. The Aqua Blade’s rubbery exterior doesn’t require a particularly steady hand. “The material makes it easy to grip, and the grip is thick and fits nicely in your palm,” tester Carlos said. This design reduces the chance that you’ll accidentally swipe off half of your mustache in a split second. At 5.4 ounces, the Aqua Blade is also 28% lighter than the Philips Norelco MG7750.

It’s versatile. Like our top pick, the Aqua Blade doubles as a head-hair and body-hair trimmer. The package includes 11 guide combs, a detail trimmer head with a ¼-inch cutting area, and a nose-hair trimmer that works effectively. And its shaver head gave us a closer and faster shave than the ones included with other trimmers we tested.

It requires a bit more maintenance than our top pick. The trimmer-head blades require a couple of drops of oil every month (the Philips MG7750 and OneBlade 360 do not). But this is easy to do, and Wahl conveniently supplies a small bottle of oil.

The Aqua Blade comes with a five-year limited warranty. Wahl trimmers have a reputation for reliability through years of use, as long-term testers who’ve owned the Lithium Ion+ can attest.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

A stand is included, but it requires two hands to operate. The Wahl Aqua Blade 9899 comes with a charging stand. So it can stand up and therefore takes up less counter space, but you have to hold it down with one hand while you take the trimmer out with the other.

The plastic guide combs are flimsy compared with those of our top pick. They work, but don’t put much pressure on them.

The battery life is a little underwhelming. It’s rated at 40 minutes, though we got about 2.5 hours out of it. That’s not terrible, but we got about five hours out of the Philips Norelco MG7750’s battery.

With its thin, razor-style trimming head, the Philips Norelco OneBlade 360 QP2724/90 doesn’t look tough enough to plow through a thick beard, yet all three of our 2024 testers said they’d buy one. Its slim, pivoting head makes it as precise as a manual razor, but it’s also powerful enough to get most beards under control.

Its pivoting head makes precise grooming easy. The replaceable head is only about 2.5-mm thick. Because it pivots back and forth, and about 10 degrees to the right or left, it can stay very close to the skin. So it’s easy to shave clean edges and lop off single hairs. The small head is also great for getting a mustache looking sharp in seconds. “It’s very smooth, slender, and simple,” according to our tester with a medium-density beard who prefers ultra-clean lines.

You can also use it like a (powered) manual razor to shave any non-bearded parts of your face, such as your neck and (if you have a goatee) your jawline.

There’s no need to worry about oiling or the blade getting dull. The head is replaceable (and one head was about $14 the last time we checked). Philips projects a four-month life for the trimmer head, based on two full shaves per week. But I used the original (non-360) OneBlade for two years without replacing the head, and there wasn’t a noticeable decrease in performance. Philips offers a two-year warranty on the OneBlade 360’s body (not on the heads or accessories).

It comes in different versions to suit different needs. There are several versions of the Philips Norelco OneBlade 360—some meant for face only, some for face and body, and one for pubic-hair and armpit-hair trimming. Here we’re highlighting the least expensive version intended for facial-hair grooming, the QP2724/90. It weighs just 3.3 ounces, it has a modest but reasonable battery life (about an hour, in our tests), and it has a guide comb, adjustable for 1- to 5-mm depth. If you have a goatee or a closely trimmed beard, this may be all you need.

The QP6531/70 costs about one and a half times as much, weighs 4.6 ounces, and includes a guide comb adjustable from 0.5 to 9 mm. All of our testers loved the feel of this guide comb’s big adjustment knob; one said he would have liked to have a 12-mm option. The QP6531/70 ran about three hours in our battery test, and it has a three-segment LED battery-charge indicator.

There’s also the QP2834/70, which includes the smaller adjustable guide comb, plus two body-hair trimmer combs. And in our guide to supplies for the onset of puberty, we recommend the ultra-simple Philips Norelco OneBlade First Shave as a good option for novice face shavers.

Flaws but not dealbreakers

The battery life is shorter than we’d like. The QP2724/90’s battery ran for only about an hour in our tests.

It may not be powerful enough for heavy beards. One tester noted that his heavy beard required about twice as many swipes with the OneBlade 360 as with the Wahl Peanut (our favorite corded trimmer). But he still loved the OneBlade’s light, precise feel, and he said he’d consider buying one after we finished our testing.

If you have a thick, coarse beard, and you find battery-powered trimmers to be too weak, you’ll want the Wahl Peanut 8655. It’s been our favorite corded trimmer since we first published this guide, in 2013. This trimmer is more powerful than any of the cordless models we tested—on a par with professional corded tools. But unlike most pro models, the Peanut 8655 is slim, so it’s practical for home use and precision grooming.

It’s powerful enough for the heaviest beards. Compared with cordless trimmers, the Peanut (which comes in black or white) does a better job of removing a large amount of beard hair in one pass; when it’s used as a shaver, it also gets rid of more stubble than the cordless models we tested. Our heavily bearded 2024 tester said the Peanut was the only trimmer that could trim his heavy beard without multiple passes.

It’s surprisingly easy to handle. Weighing 4 ounces (not counting the cord) and measuring only 4 inches in length, the Peanut is easy to hold and maneuver around the face, even with a 7-foot-long cord attached. This manageable size made the Peanut the favorite of Joe and Anthony Berriola, of Razors Barbershop in Somerville and Cambridge, Massachusetts. “It’s got a small head that makes it easy to get into small areas,” Anthony said.

It’ll probably last a long, long time. Wahl covers the Peanut with a one-year warranty. Chances are good it’ll outlive this by a long shot—several of our own long-term testers and many customer reviewers have used the Peanut for years with no issues. If you break any of the accessories or require a new blade, replacement parts are readily available.

The Peanut is also available in an AA battery-powered cordless version, which we haven’t tested. (Several customer reviewers who have reported over a year of use cite eventual reductions in power not tied to replacement battery status.)

Flaws but not dealbreakers

It’s corded. So you can’t use it in the shower or anywhere that there’s not an AC outlet nearby.

It includes only four sizes of guide combs. Its guide combs range from ⅛ to ½ inch, so you may not be able to get just the right length. The combs are somewhat flimsy when compared with those of our top pick, but they’re stiffer than the ones that come with the Wahl Aqua Blade.

If you trim less frequently, or you want a lighter version of our top pick: The Philips Norelco MG3750 trims about as well as our top pick, the Philips Norelco MG7750.  But its body is made mostly from plastic rather than stainless steel, so it’s lighter and therefore more practical for travel. The MG3750 doesn’t feel as sturdy and stable as the MG7750, though, and it can’t stand on its own. It comes with seven guide combs, a detail trimmer head, and a nose-hair trimmer. Poor battery life is the biggest downside: You’ll probably have to charge it every week, particularly if you’re trimming a thick beard.

If you want a trimmer with a cutting length dial: The Braun All-in-One 9 is a fairly powerful, easy-to-handle trimmer with lots of accessories, including a U blade, a T blade, and a trimmer meant for body hair. With its two combs (one for 1 to 10 mm, the other for 11 to 20 mm), it can accommodate almost any conceivable beard style. If your grooming scheme includes lots of different whisker lengths, you may prefer it to the Philips Norelco MG7750 and the Wahl Aqua Blade 9899, both of which have separate snap-on combs for each cutting length. The All-in-One 9 is significantly more expensive, though.

The Andis WDT-1 Beard and Hair Trimmer has a handy integral comb and trimmer adjustment, but removing the comb for close trims is a pain. And even with the comb removed, it can’t make close trims.

Even at its lowest blade-height setting, the Beard Club PT45 can’t trim close enough to double as a razor.

The Bell & Howell Vacutrim has a built-in vacuum function to keep whiskers from littering your sink. One tester didn’t find the vacuum feature adequately effective; another did, but he found the added noise of the vacuum annoying.

The Braun BT5070 has an odd design, with a second trimmer built in for detail work. It’s a decent trimmer for certain beard lengths, but it’s not very versatile.

The Braun BT5265 is a solid trimmer with two adjustable guide combs. Each of these can be set for 20 different lengths using a top-mounted knob that’s easily flicked with the thumb. Our testers found it powerful enough, but one tester noticed that the combs didn’t glide well through his thicker beard.

The Brio Beardscape is a fairly powerful trimmer with five speeds, and it feels nice and solid in the hand. But it can’t trim close enough to double as a razor, and it’s about double the price of our top pick.

With the ConairMan Cordless Beard and Mustache Trimmer, we found too many reliability-related complaints to consider it as a contender.

The King C. Gillette Beard Trimmer is affordable, but it lacks sufficient cutting power to trim a beard quickly.

The King C. Gillette Beard Trimmer Pro offers 40 cutting lengths in 0.5-mm increments, which is cool. But we found its vibration excessive, and the body’s slick sides were tough to keep hold of.

The Mowbie Beard Trimmer incorporates a silicone scrub brush and a vibrating mode intended to act as a face scrubber. However, the scrubbing power added by the vibration is negligible, and this model didn’t trim as close as our top picks.

The beloved Oster Classic 76 Universal Motor Clipper is a corded model available in 12 colors. But it regularly costs more than double what our corded pick, the Wahl Peanut, costs; it is significantly heavier; and it doesn’t come with guide combs (though you can buy a set of 10 separately).

The Panasonic ER-GB60-K is a powerful, versatile beard trimmer with a whopping 39 length settings. But in our tests it seemed to pull too many hairs for comfort, and the list price is rather high, given the performance flaws.

The Panasonic ER-SB40, another trimmer with an adjustable guide, cuts well, but it’s bulky in the hand. And its guide-adjustment knob has to be spun with your thumb and forefinger, rather than just flicked with the thumb, as with the OneBlade 360 QP6531/70 Pro. We found the ER-SB40’s dial uncomfortable and inconvenient to use.

The Remington PG6025 All-in-1 Lithium Powered Grooming Kit doesn’t perform quite as well as our budget pick. The motor is slightly weaker, and the attachments are flimsier.

The Remington MB4700 Smart Beard Trimmer is a high-tech model with a motorized, adjustable guide comb and an “auto turbo” function, which Remington says will automatically adjust the motor speed for the thickness of the beard. It cuts well but is bulky in the hand, and you have to remember to turn the touchscreen off before you start shaving, otherwise you might accidentally change a setting.

Remington’s MB6850 Vacuum Stubble and Beard Trimmer has a built-in vacuum to catch cut hairs, but for us it seemed to miss a lot of them, and it’s also very bulky in the hand.

The TPOB Ghost X is inexpensive, but it’s tough to get a grip on its plastic body, and it vibrates to the point where it’s annoying.

A pro-style corded trimmer, the Wahl Chrome Pro 3024635 has wide, sharp blades that are too large to trim facial hair effectively.

Wahl’s Lithium Ion All-in-One Rechargeable Trimmer 9854 is a decent trimmer, but we’ve found that as time passes the battery gets flaky, its performance diminishes, and it begins to pull hair.

The Wahl Lithium Ion+ Stainless Steel Trimmer 9818 was once our runner-up pick; the Aqua Blade 9899 we now recommend is basically the same trimmer, with a much more comfortable and secure grip.

The Wahl Power Pro 9686 is typically less expensive than the Wahl Peanut, but we prefer the latter’s slim, peanut shape over the Power Pro’s candy-bar shape. Most reviews from customers who’ve bought the Power Pro 9686 as a replacement for the Peanut consider the Peanut superior. The Wahl T-Styler Pro 9686-300 is virtually identical to the Power Pro 9686 but comes with a wider, T-shaped blade.

The Wahl Extreme Visibility Pro has a very thin cutting head for precise grooming. We liked its power and thought it felt great in the hand. It comes with a lot of accessories—even a foil shaver—but it is about twice the price of our top picks.

The Walker & Company Bevel Trimmer is one of the most powerful cordless trimmers we’ve tested, with exceptionally sharp blades. But the design feels odd, and this trimmer doesn’t have an option to attach a guide comb, which is essential for many people.

Séamus Bellamy and Tyler Wells Lynch contributed reporting. This article was edited by Tracy Vence and Kalee Thompson.