The Best Utility Knife of 2026
We tested three new knives from Bosch—the H11-11100-1 Folding Utility Knife, the H11-13000-1 Retractable Utility Knife, and the H11-12100-1 18mm Snap-Off Utility Knife. All three are high quality knives, but they lack the speed and ease of use that characterize Fastbacks.
Milwaukee has a number of other Fastback knives, all of which are excellent. While we like our picks, if other models appeal to your specific needs, you’ll likely be satisfied. The Fastback Compact Folding Utility Knife is smaller than our pick and a little more difficult to hold, but it’s also inexpensive, in case you’re looking to add another knife to your toolbox or workbench. The Fastback 6-in-1 Folding Utility Knife has a screwdriver and bottle opener added to the mix. A screwdriver adds bulk, but works well for smaller projects.
James Brand Palmer abandons the ready-to-build vibe of others in favor of sleek looks and a variety of colors. Made of anodized aluminum, it is very thin and creates less shadow than a credit card. It’s a fun knife, but the downside is that its lack of grip and small size make it very special for any kind of rough work. It’s also an expensive item, usually selling around the $40 mark.
The Stanley 10-499 is a regular resident of professional tool belts across the country. It’s durable, easy to use, and has blade retention on board. Compared to Fastbacks, it is not easy to hold, and it is very difficult to stick in the pocket. It’s a tough knife, but we love Fastbacks.
The Stanley STHT10432 Control Grip Utility Knife has a slim body, a recessed slide switch, and rubbery padding on the grip, making it one of the more ergonomic knives we’ve used. But as much as we loved this knife, it still has the problem of falling off other retractable knives. Most importantly, the blade can peek out while the knife is in the pocket, something that happened to us a few times during testing.
The Irwin 2088600 Self Retracting Safety Knife, has a strong spring loaded blade so it always wants to retract back into the tool. As soon as you let go, the blade vanishes. It’s a fairly safe system, but it doesn’t work for any involved projects like cutting old caulking off a kitchen sink or trimming a rug pad.
The knives in the Irwin FK Series (FK100 and FK150) share some similarities with the Milwaukee Fastbacks, but are slightly more refined. They have a wide open thumb that usually requires two hands, and they are nowhere near as comfortable to hold.
The Olympia Tools 33-187 Turbopro Autoload Knife is a nice retractable knife with a traditional thumb slide, and it fits well in the hands. It also has an auto-load feature, which automatically loads a new blade into an empty cartridge. The downside is that it’s not as comfortable or “grippy” as Fastbacks.
The Olympia 33-200 Turbofold has the easiest blade change mechanism in all models tested, but two hands are required to fold and unfold the blade. The handles also don’t have the good grip of Fastbacks.
The Gerber EAB Lite Pocket Knife is so small that, when folded, it can fit on a credit card—with room to spare. But with its small size you get poor ergonomics. With any moderate or aggressive cut, the steel edges of the knife dig into the hands. Also, changing the blade requires undoing the flathead screw, and it can’t be done quickly or easily.
The DeWalt Folding Knife is an interesting model because it folds and retracts. There is no question that it is a solidly built device, but it is heavy. Compared to the speed of the Fastbacks blade deployment, DeWalt’s thumb seems like an unnecessary extra step. Also, the comfort of the handle is nowhere near that of Fastbacks.
Greenlee’s Heavy-Duty Folding Utility Knife is a large knife that can store five extra blades. Unfortunately, there is no belt hook, and this knife is too big for any regular pocket. Thanks to the strong hinge and locking mechanism, the Greenlee has both open and closed hands.
The Sheffield Lock-Back is an attractive knife, but you have to use two hands to close it, so it doesn’t work as well as others. It also had the hardest change of all: To lock the new blade, we had to press down on the piece, basically pushing our thumb toward the bottom of the blade while the top piece was pressed down. If it comes out…
The Alltrade Squeeze Utility Knife is large and has a large storage area with 10 blades. It is very comfortable to hold and has an internal auto-loading feature that feeds a new blade when a blank has been removed. Thanks to the number of blades stored and the comfortable rubber padding on the grip, this will be a winner for someone who has a knife in their hands all day. But for general use, it doesn’t beat Fastbacks.
The Olfa XH-1 uses a segmented snap blade. This is a long blade that can be extended to nearly its full length when needed (in this case, just over 4 inches), giving it the ability to cut thick materials like foam insulation. When the edge becomes dull, take a knife and cut off the last part to reveal a new edge. The blade is locked with a heavy-duty and slow-moving wheel. It’s not our first choice for indoor use, but if you think you’d like to be able to extend a long blade, the Olfa XH-1 is definitely the most comfortable knife we’ve got our hands on.
Cheap utility knives, like the classic Stanley 10-099, aren’t too expensive, but they offer nothing but extraordinary performance and safety features.
