Best Can Openers of 2026

The case for this opener is a single motion. You set the can under the head, press the lever down, and the machine does the rest while you keep one hand free for the pot on the stove. No clamping, no cranking, no wrist work at the end of a long day. If you open several cans a week, or if hand strength is the reason you are shopping at all, this is the model the others have to beat.

It cuts along the side seam rather than down through the lid, so the lid comes away with a smooth edge you can handle and set back on the can to cover leftovers. Pop-top cans and extra-tall cans are both rated for it, which matters if your pantry runs to crushed tomatoes and tall coffee cans. For an appliance it is compact at 4.67 inches wide and 10.2 inches tall, and at 3.1 pounds it moves easily; the cord winds into the base so it can live in a cupboard between uses.

Two things to know. The lever stays down through the whole cut, so you cannot walk away from it, and it needs an outlet plus a semi-permanent spot on the counter. Longevity is the open question, since the mechanism is what decides whether you get years or months, and the experience here runs both ways, with openers still going after a decade and others quitting within a few months. That is the trade for the convenience.

This opener does not cut the lid. It splits the seam from outside the can, so the top lifts away with a rim you can run a thumb along. Nothing sharp, and the cutting wheel never goes near the contents, which is why it stays cleaner than a top cutter that drags through the lid on every turn.

The trade is technique. The first can is confusing: it clamps on the rim and turns, but the lid stays sitting on the can until you lift it with the built-in lifter, and until that clicks you will wonder whether it worked. Once it does, this is one of the easiest openers here to turn, light enough at 5.6 ounces to forget in a drawer and simple to wipe down. The ring-pull hook at the tail end is the sleeper feature: it saves fingernails on a pop-top can when the tab is stubborn.

OXO sells two openers worth owning, and this is the one to buy if you have already snapped a plastic-handled opener in the drawer. The Good Grips model is built around cushioned plastic; the Steel is a metal body with a stainless cutting wheel, and you feel the difference as soon as you pick it up. Nothing flexes, nothing rattles, and nothing looks ready to let go halfway around a can.

It is designed to be used from either side, so it works for a left-handed cook in a right-handed kitchen, and the knob is oversized and geared to keep the turn easy. The cushioned touch points land where your palm presses, which matters more on the third can than the first. It also goes in the dishwasher, which most of the manuals here do not recommend.

The cutting wheel is sharp and the clamp is positive: it bites the rim and stays there, and the cut runs cleanly around without a second pass. Our one recurring annoyance is the finish, because the lid can drop into the food when the wheel completes the circle if you are not ready for it. That is worth watching on a can of tomatoes you plan to use the liquid from.

The lid is a small thing to work around, and the rest of the tool earns its keep. Of the manuals here, this is the one that feels most like equipment rather than a gadget, and the easy turn plus the either-hand handling are why we keep reaching for it. It is the manual to buy if you are on your second or third cheap opener and you are tired of the pattern.

Pound for pound, this is the most tool-like opener in the group. The body is heavy-gauge chromed steel, the cutting wheel is carbon steel, and the handles are thick rubberized grips on a frame that weighs 11.2 ounces, enough that you notice it when you pick it up and never notice it while you are turning. It is priced with the budget manuals and built like something from a hardware store.

The swing design is the old reliable: open the handles, clamp the rim, turn the knob, and let the gear drive walk the wheel around. Ours turned smoothly from the first can, with no wobble at the pivot and no moment where the wheel lost its bite. Nothing about it is clever, and that is the appeal, because there is no lever to break and no plastic housing to crack.

What we like most is the sense that it will not fail quietly. The gears are metal, the handles are riveted, and the whole thing has the balance of a hand tool rather than a kitchen gadget. Of everything here, it is the one most likely to end up in a first apartment years from now, still cutting.

One habit comes with it: dry it by hand. The carbon steel blade will spot if it goes back in the drawer wet, and hand washing is what the maker asks for anyway. Do that and the rest is maintenance-free, with no cord, no counter space, and no parts to lose.

If the reason you are shopping is that opening a can has started to hurt, start here. The handles are big and cushioned, with a soft non-slip surface that still holds when your hands are wet, and the knob is oversized so you can turn it with your fingertips instead of a fist. OXO designed this one around the sore-hands complaint, and you can see it in the shape rather than the copy.

It also handles the cans that fight back. The wheel is sharp, the clamp bites, and the cut runs around without the skate-and-scrape a dull opener gives you. We have used it as the house opener for months and it still turns as smoothly as it did in the first week. Where it asks for a little care is the finish of the cut, since the wheel can leave a thin sliver of metal holding the lid; lift the lid rather than pulling it and the sliver separates cleanly.

Comfort is the reason to buy, and it is the part that holds up. If your hands are strong and you mostly want the cleanest cut, the Zulay is the better tool; if they are not, nothing here is easier to hold on to.

Think of the Swing-A-Way as the EZ-DUZ-IT's smaller, lighter cousin: the same all-steel swing design and high-carbon skip-proof wheel, but a 7-inch frame at 9.6 ounces instead of a workshop tool. It fits a drawer that is already crowded, and it is the least expensive opener here.

It performs like the classic it is. The steel knob turns easily, the clamp is positive, and the body does not flex under load. There is a bottle opener on the side and a five-year warranty, both of which are more than the price suggests. It is the natural one to keep in a camping box or a second kitchen, where a drawer full of better tools is not available.

What holds it back is consistency. The wheel is a wear item on a budget frame, and once the edge goes it skates instead of cutting, which is the failure that ends most cheap openers. Ours is still cutting cleanly, and replacing one is not a crisis, but the EZ-DUZ-IT is the sturdier steel tool and the Zulay is the smoother one if you want to stop thinking about it.

Anyone who has fished a lid out of a can of crushed tomatoes will understand the pitch here. A strong magnet under the head catches the cut lid and holds it, so it comes away with the opener instead of sinking into dinner. For a mid-priced manual, that is an unusually practical feature, and it is why this one earns a place over several better-known openers.

The rest is solid if unglamorous. The knob is big with a rubber insert, the handles are soft enough that you do not have to squeeze hard, and the high-carbon blade bit on the first turn of every can we opened with it. The green finish is a nice change from the usual black and steel in the drawer.

Whether it is the right buy comes down to how much the lid bothers you. If a lid in the food is a weekly annoyance, the magnet earns its place and the turn is easy enough for tired hands. If you want the tool that outlasts everything else in the drawer, put the money into the EZ-DUZ-IT instead.