The 3 Best Knife Sharpeners for 2025

This is not a comprehensive list of everything we tested in previous iterations of this guide, just what’s still available.

Electric knife sharpeners

We liked the compact size, lightness (about 1 pound), and portability of the Chef’sChoice Rechargeable AngleSelect DC 1520. It stands apart from other electric sharpeners because of its rechargeable battery, which means it can be operated unplugged. Like the Chef’sChoice 1520, this model sharpens Asian and European knives at 15- and 20-degree angles. But unlike the motors on its Chef’sChoice siblings, this model’s motor is very loud, and it didn’t yield quite as sharp an edge as our picks.

The Ken Onion Edition Knife & Tool Sharpener MK.2 comes with a QR code for watching a demo, which is absolutely necessary in order to figure out how to work it. This model features seven speeds, and it has five belts, since it can go beyond the kitchen — it can also sharpen axes and tools. Because of the studying involved, and because this feels more like a garage tool than a kitchen tool, we considered it less user-friendly than the other sharpeners and more than the home cook needs.

We found the Tormek T-1 Kitchen Knife Sharpener to be heavy, bulky, very expensive, and unable to get the knives nearly as sharp as our picks.

We were excited about the compact design of the Smith’s Mesa Diamond Adjustable Electric, and we liked that it featured adjustable angles and was extremely easy to use. After several tests, however, it would not significantly sharpen a dull knife.

The budget-friendly, three-slot Smith’s Deluxe Diamond Electric Knife Sharpener promises to sharpen straight and serrated blades, plus scissors. However, compared with our budget pick, the Work Sharp E2, this model took much longer to render an only somewhat acceptably sharp edge.

The Work Sharp Culinary E5-NH is capable of making an edge as sharp as the Chef’sChoice 1520 and the Trizor 15XV. But it lacks spring-loaded guides that align the blade — you have to carefully hold the knife against the slot’s sidewall. Unlike those of the Work Sharp E2, the sides of the slot are not parallel, and if you slide the knife along the wrong side, you’ll be sharpening at an incorrect angle. Like the E2, the Work Sharp E5-NH has an automatic timer function that’s more of a hindrance than a help: It shuts off the machine every couple of minutes, often in the middle of a sharpening session.

The Chef’sChoice ProntoPro 4643, a former pick, costs about the same as the Work Sharp E2, but it produces a coarser edge. The E2 makes a finer edge that cuts more smoothly and with less effort.

The electric Presto EverSharp 08800 gets great reviews. In our test, though, its flimsy motor instantly bogged down when our knife contacted its sharpening wheels — even light pressure threatened to stop the sharpening wheels entirely. The high, wide guide frames meant it couldn’t sharpen the last ¾ inch of a blade, an unacceptable shortcoming.

Manual knife sharpeners

The Mueller UltraSharp Diamond 4-stage Manual Knife Sharpener was the only model that rendered our knives even duller.

At first, the Cangshan Professional Knife + Scissor Sharpener, 3-Stage Adjustable 14-24 Degree, 1026108 seemed like it could be a great budget contender, returning dull knives to sharp after an initial round of testing. But it did not perform as well on subsequent tests, which caused us to believe that the carbide wore down after just a few uses.

The Brod and Taylor Classic VG2 is easy to misuse, which means blades could get damaged. When used correctly, it can quickly produce a sharp, honed edge. But a slight error in the angle at which you’re holding the knife can create an uneven bevel or strip away too much metal from the blade.

Rolling knife sharpeners

We previously recommended the Tumbler with reservations, as it had the strongest magnet of all the rolling sharpeners in our first round of testing. But in our latest round of testing, the HORL3’s even stronger magnet beat out the Tumbler.

While we loved the next-generation Tumbler Pro series’ attractive array of colors (forest green, Arctic gray, charcoal black, original orange and camouflage), we weren’t so charmed by its performance. Our knife dislodged several times during use, and we found the Tumbler Pro’s roller shaved off a disconcerting amount of metal.

The HORL3 Cruise also featured a stronger magnet than the previous generation of HORL sharpeners we tested, and it has the gentlest price tag of the new releases. But its roller has ¼” less diameter than the rollers on the other HORL models, forcing the user to tilt it upward in order to make contact with the entire knife edge. This makes it less comfortable (and safe) to use than the other HORL3 models.

We were impressed by the speedy HORL3 PRO, as it held true to its claim to sharpen three times faster than the other HORL models (about 3 minutes total compared to 9-10 minutes). But we don’t think the hefty price ($400) is worth the investment, especially since our top picks, the Chef’sChoice 1520 and the Chef’sChoice Trizor 15XV, were equally speedy for roughly half the cost.

The Work Sharp Rolling Sharpener was the most ergonomic of the seven we tested: In lieu of a fully cylindrical shape, it has a “soft touch grip” and rolls on mini wheels. But its weak magnet caused the knife to become easily dislodged.

This article was edited by Marilyn Ong and Marguerite Preston. Tim Heffernan wrote an earlier version of this guide.