7 Best Fertilizer Spreaders (2025): Find the Type You Need

7 Best Fertilizer Spreaders (2025): Find the Type You Need

Imagine a world without fertilizer spreaders.

You put on your gloves and head out the door. Bag in tow, you grab a fistful of fertilizer and throw it out. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Fertilizer spreaders may be a simple tool, but they're worth their weight in gold. With the right spreader, nutrients fan out reliably — saving you time, money, and hassle. We took a look at some of the best fertilizer spreaders of 2025 to learn more about what's currently on the market.

Types of Fertilizers

Getting the right fertilizer spreader makes a big difference when it comes to creating a beautiful lawn or garden. There are many choices. So, before we hopped into our list of the best fertilizer spreaders of 2025, we wanted to review some of the types you might see when shopping around.

Broadcast Spreaders (Rotary Spreaders)

Broadcast Spreaders or rotary spreaders are the most typical fertilizer spreaders. They push a spinning disc around to send the product across your lawn.

Broadcast spreaders quickly cover a lot of ground and are great for large areas. They spread uniformly over a broad surface and can be used with almost anything from granular fertilizer to seeds and ice melt.

They are harder to control, though, in narrow areas.

Drop Spreaders

Drop spreaders push material down under into a hopper in a uniform, measured stream. Because of this process, they're perfect for small to medium lawns or applications or where you need to be precise (mainly, trying to keep fertilizer off an area like a sidewalk).

Drop spreaders are smaller than broadcast spreaders, so they take longer to treat large lawns. They also can miss spots if the operator does not consider overlaps and where exactly they're covering.

Handheld Spreaders

Handheld spreaders are small, light machines you use to spread by hand. They're usually a crank or hand-pump driven to spread the material, and they're mostly used for occasional light lawn care on small sites.

Portable spreaders like these are affordable and easy to carry. They're perfect for specialty jobs, such as filling in gaps or feeding plants with fertilizer. They're more work. They're slow.

Tow-Behind Spreaders

The spreaders with the most capacity are tow-behind spreaders. They're designed to hook up to a tractor or lawn mower. These spreaders are great for farms, large properties, or other areas that need a ton of coverage.

These fertilizer spreaders often feature other add-ons like aerators. Tow-behind spreaders are typically more expensive and require more equipment.

Battery-Powered and Motorized Spreaders

These spreaders are handheld, broadcast, or drop but have a battery or motor that performs the distribution. With battery spreaders, homeowners don't have to put in much effort and can get even coverage.

Motorized spreaders offer uniform application with no need to crank or push and are especially great for big lawns because they don't require much muscle work.

However, these spreaders are pricier and may require frequent battery recharge. Now, let’s get to our list of the best fertilizer spreaders of 2025.

Scotts Turf Builder EdgeGuard DLX Broadcast Spreader

Scotts DLX Broadcast Spreader is perfect for medium to large lawns. It holds 15,000 square feet of fertilizer and grass seed, so it's more than up to the task of covering your yard in one go.

It's pre-calibrated, so you can get to work right away. What makes it truly great is its EdgeGuard technology, which lets you fence off one side of the spread pattern to prevent fertilizer or seeds from getting on a hardscape, flower bed, or sidewalk. This feature eliminates waste and makes cleanup simple.

The spreader's variable settings give you full command over the flow rate, so you can adjust it to fit your granule size and type. It's easy to transition between fertilizers and grass seed or even winter ice melt, making the EdgeGuard DLX a handy all-year-round solution.

Agri-Fab 45-0543 Drop Spreader

If precision and accuracy are your thing, then the Agri-Fab 45-0543 Drop Spreader might be worth looking into. Drop spreaders spread materials directly under the hopper in a short, controlled path.

The Agri-Fab drop spreader throws fertilizer evenly in a single straight line. It does a lot more than your typical fertilizer spreader. It's a 100-pound towable drop spreader that is also a spiker and a seeder. The capacity of this spreader makes it stand out: 17,500 square feet of coverage, which adds to about a third of an acre.

Users love that you can aerate with its 8-galvanized steel spike disks and seed in one pass with its combined design.

10-inch flat-free tires and a three-year limited warranty are a plus as well.

Earthway 2150 Broadcast Spreader

The Earthway 2150 Commercial Broadcast Spreader is a great professional-grade spreader for homeowners and lawn care pros. This spreader is built to last. Here's a list of its most durable features:

Fully enclosed gearbox

A steel T-handle

Epoxy coated frame

Widespread 13″ pneumatic stud tires

The sturdy tires are a plus on uneven ground, hills, or slippery conditions. The spreader's flow control also allows you to dial in the application rate, so it's good for all types of lawn products, from fertilizer to grass seed to pesticides.

Titan Professional Broadcast Spreader

The Titan Professional Broadcast Spreader is another of the most durable on our list of best fertilizer spreaders of 2025.

The 50-pound hopper has more than enough capacity to handle and lets you get further in fewer refills for increased productivity and time savings on big projects. The spreader is constructed from durable materials and will stand up to years of use and the weather, which makes it a great long-term buy for both lawn care enthusiasts and professionals.

It's easy to store and only weighs 23 pounds. It features three flow settings and spreads out further than many drop spreaders. It also comes with a rain cover and hopper screen, which is a nice add-on.

Sta-Green Precision Broadcast Fertilizer Spreader

The Sta-Green Precision Broadcast Spreader is on the smaller end, but it definitely lives up to the list of the best fertilizer spreaders of 2025.

It's great for small yards and those who want a budget-friendly fertilizer spreader. This spreader also has a variable flow rate that allows you to customize the amount of material pushed through it.

It comes with 10-inch wheels that are strong enough to maneuver on most lawn surfaces (although sometimes it does poorly on rough surfaces).

Lesco Stainless Steel Spreader

The Lesco Steel Spreader is built for large jobs. It's popular among lawn-care pros and homeowners with lots of land thanks to its 80-pound hopper.

An oscillating agitator helps spread the flow of whatever you're spreading and does not damage any product coating.

The stainless steel frame and tire rims are designed to withstand rust and help extend the life of this fertilizer spreader. The handle design, too, makes for ease of use, even after long hours — perfect for the working landscaper.

RYOBI ONE+ 18V 1 Gal. Power Spreader

There's an electric counterpart for most gas lawn care tools on the market. One electric fertilizer spreader, the RYOBI ONE+ 18V Power Spreader, is an awesome tool for the homeowner with a small area to cover.

It holds one gallon of your chosen product and can cover up to 5,000 square feet. Many homeowners have said the fact that it only weighs three pounds is a huge plus. You can store it in a cabinet.

All you have to do is fill it with fertilizer, adjust the knob for your flow rate, set the sliding lever to your desired area of distribution, and go.

Quick Summary

We looked at some of the best fertilizer spreaders of 2025 and went over how these tools make a difference in the well-being of your lawn.

Broadcast spreaders (rotary spreaders) cover a lot of ground quickly and are great for fertilizers, seeds, and ice melt. Drop spreaders can pinpoint small spaces by directly dropping fertilizer under the surface and eliminating the waste stream. Handheld spreaders are light and portable, great for squirting between gaps or corners. Tow-behind spreaders that mount to tractors or mowers are heavy-duty models for large acres.

Battery-operated options are convenient and helpful if you own a small lawn. From price and convenience to speed and precision, every spreader fits a need homeowners and pros have to get their jobs done.