Under a hundred dollars you are buying a casting and a promise, and only some of these makers publish either. Seven planes ranked on what they will be held to.
We earn a commission when you buy through our Amazon links, at no extra cost to you. It never decides a ranking, and where the best tool in a class is one we earn nothing on, we say so and link it anyway. How this works.
A competent modern Bailey clone at a price that assumes you will do some setup. The castings are better finished than most in this band, which is where the money went.
A gray cast iron No. 5 whose maker publishes a sole tolerance, a blade hardness and a bed angle — the same three numbers Rockler publishes — at hardware-store money. It is the budget pick because the paperwork exists, not because the casting is special.
The cheapest No. 5 with a published flatness tolerance
The 18 in sibling of the Big Horn No. 7: cast iron, a 1/8 in iron on a stated 45 degree bed, an adjustable frog and rosewood handles. The maker's page names two different steels for the same iron, which is why it sits last on a page it might otherwise have placed higher.
The budget fore plane with a 1/8 in iron and a stated bed angle
A full 22 in cast iron jointer at about half the money of the next plane up, from a maker that names its iron steel, its thickness and its bed angle but, unlike on its own No. 5, publishes no sole tolerance. It is the cheap way to find out whether you use a jointer enough to buy a better one.
The current production Bailey is the same architecture as the plane your grandfather owned, at a price that leaves room in the budget for a stone. It needs more fettling than the Sweetheart and rewards it.
The pattern everything else copies, at half the Sweetheart price
A ductile-iron 60-1/2 with an adjustable mouth and a 3 mm O1 iron, at a fraction of what that combination costs anywhere else on this page. The mouth adjustment is the feature this list is ranked on, and this is the cheapest honest way to get it.
The adjustable mouth at the lowest price it exists for
Genuinely usable after an hour of setup, and genuinely disposable. We include it because pretending the cheap option does not exist helps nobody, not because it belongs in a buy-it-for-life kit.
Finding out whether you like planing, for the price of lunch
#ad· Live prices from the Amazon Product API, as of October 16, 2026. Where we have no verified live price we show none, and the cost-per-decade figure is suppressed with it — we would rather leave a gap than print a number that has rotted.
Buy the Jorgensen No. 4. It is the only plane in this band whose maker publishes a lifetime warranty with no receipt required, names a sole tolerance across the line, and sells the iron as a numbered part — three facts the rest of the band does not offer at any price under a hundred dollars. If you need a longer plane, the Big Horn No. 5, No. 6 and No. 7 are the cheapest planes we can find that publish a flatness figure at all. And if you want one small plane that gets used every week, the Jorgensen 60-1/2 block plane with its adjustable mouth is the best thing in this band, full stop.
A note on the number in the title, because it is the one thing on a page like this that can go stale. Every plane here was inside the sub-$100 band when this page was written, checked against the same live price layer that renders the figures in the Quick Picks table above. Prices move. The number under each pick is the current one with its own “as of” date attached, and if a pick has drifted over the line the table will say so before any prose could. That is why no price is ever written into the writing on this site.
What a hundred dollars actually buys
It buys a cast-iron body, a frog, an iron, a chipbreaker, a lever cap and two pieces of shaped hardwood. All seven planes here have all of those. What separates them is not the parts list, it is three things the parts list does not show.
Whether the sole is flat, and whether anyone will say. A plane that rocks cannot take a shaving at the end of a board. Big Horn publishes 0.002–0.004 in on its No. 5, Jorgensen publishes 0.003 in ground flat and square, and the rest of this band publishes nothing. An hour with abrasive paper and a reference surface fixes a bad sole, and how to flatten a plane sole is the whole job, so treat an unpublished tolerance as an hour of unpaid labor rather than a reason not to buy.
Whether the iron is thick enough not to chatter. Big Horn publishes 1/8 in at 55–60 HRC on the No. 5 and 1/8 in on the 6 and 7; Jorgensen publishes 3 mm O1. Stanley and Amazon Basics publish no figure. A thin iron rippling under load is the defining complaint about budget bench planes, and it is the one defect in this price band that money genuinely fixes — just not necessarily by buying a dearer plane. See the best replacement plane irons.
Whether anything is covered when it breaks. Jorgensen publishes a limited lifetime warranty requiring no receipt. Stanley publishes a limited lifetime warranty that excludes blades by name, which on a plane leaves the casting. Big Horn and Amazon Basics publish nothing. On a cast-iron tool with no moving parts a warranty is a weaker signal than it looks — warranties and repairability is why we weight the parts catalog above the warranty everywhere on this site.
What the makers publish in this band
Plane
Size
Sole flatness, published
Warranty
Jorgensen No. 4
No. 4 smoother, 10 in
Not published for the No. 4
Limited lifetime, no receipt
Big Horn 19328
No. 5 jack, 14 in
0.002–0.004 in
Not published
Big Horn 19329
No. 6 fore, 18 in
Not published
Not published
Big Horn 19330
No. 7 jointer, 22 in
Not published
Not published
Stanley Bailey No. 4
No. 4 smoother, 9 in
Not published
Limited lifetime, blades excluded
Jorgensen 60-1/2
Block plane, 6-1/4 in
Not published
Limited lifetime, no receipt
Amazon Basics No. 4
No. 4, 2 in iron
Not published
Not published for this item
The useful thing in that table is its shape. Two makers publish numbers, and both of them are the ones we rank highest. On a page where nothing can be tested, a maker willing to be held to a figure is the strongest signal available, and we have ranked on it rather than on finish — which photographs well and tells you nothing.
The sizes worth buying in this band
A hundred dollars will buy any single size, so the question is which one. The answer depends on what you already own, and the usual advice to buy a No. 4 first is not actually right for everyone.
If you own no planes at all,buy a No. 5 jack. Fourteen inches is long enough to flatten a board and short enough to smooth one, and a jack with two irons — one cambered, one straight — covers most of what a three-plane set does. What is a jack plane explains the pattern, and the best jack planes is the roundup with no price ceiling.
If you own a table saw and a planer,buy the block plane. The work a hundred-dollar bench plane does will mostly be done by your machines; the work a block plane does — chamfers, end grain, easing a door edge, fitting a drawer — is not. The best block planes has the full field.
If you joint edges by hand, buy the longest plane you can, which in this band is the Big Horn No. 7. A 22 in sole bridges hollows that a shorter plane follows into. The best jointer planes covers why length wins, and what is a jointer plane covers the pattern.
If you dimension rough stock,the No. 6 fore plane is the under-appreciated size — long enough to flatten, light enough to use all afternoon. See the best hand planes for rough lumber.
The alternative nobody in this band wants to mention
A hundred dollars also buys a pre-war Stanley Bailey in need of an afternoon. The casting will be better than anything new at this price, the iron will usually be thicker than a modern Stanley's, and the parts interchange with a century of other planes. What it costs you is the afternoon, a rust-removal routine and some judgment about what a cracked tote looks like — vintage vs new planes is the honest comparison and how to restore a hand plane is the afternoon in question.
We have not ranked a vintage plane here because we cannot link you to a specific one that is live and verifiable, which is the rule this whole site runs on. But if you enjoy the restoring as much as the using, it is the best value in the band and it is not close. Buying used hand tools covers what to check before you bid, and electrolysis rust removal is the cheapest way to deal with what you find.
Every pick, in full
The write-ups
01The under-$100 plane that needs the least work
Size
No. 4, 10 in
Pattern
Bailey-type, bevel down
Iron
Carbon steel
Warranty
Not published
Jorgensen No. 4 Smoothing Plane
Jorgensen
6.7/10
A competent modern Bailey clone at a price that assumes you will do some setup. The castings are better finished than most in this band, which is where the money went.
Cost per decade
$39.99
Horizon · tier C
20 years — No lifetime warranty; parts purchasable and resharpenable
No lifetime warranty published at the date checked. The iron is a standard Bailey-pattern size, so aftermarket replacements from third-party makers are purchasable, and the body is a casting with no consumable part.
Rebuy risk
Medium
parts listed, resharpenable
Sole & body
6.5
Iron & edge
5.5
Adjustment
6.5
Out of box
6.5
Parts & repair
6.5
Value
8.5
What it gets right
+Body finish is a genuine step up from the sub-$50 castings
+Standard iron size, so an aftermarket upgrade is available later
+Sensible first plane if the budget has to cover stones too
What it costs you
−No published warranty or parts listing from the maker
−Factory iron is the weak point and is the first thing to replace
−Depth adjuster has more backlash than the Stanley equivalents
Skip this if…
…you are buying once and never again. Nothing published supports a lifetime horizon for this one.
02The cheapest No. 5 with a published flatness tolerance
Size
No. 5 jack, 14 in sole, 2-1/2 in wide
Iron
Hardened carbon steel, 1/8 in, 55-60 HRC, 2 in
Sole flatness
0.002-0.004 in, per maker
Body
Cast iron (not stated as ductile), 45 deg adjustable frog
Warranty
Not published
Big Horn 19328 Jack Plane, No. 5
Big Horn
6.7/10
A gray cast iron No. 5 whose maker publishes a sole tolerance, a blade hardness and a bed angle — the same three numbers Rockler publishes — at hardware-store money. It is the budget pick because the paperwork exists, not because the casting is special.
Cost per decade
$42.72
Horizon · tier C
20 years — No lifetime warranty; parts purchasable and resharpenable
No lifetime warranty published at the date checked. The iron is a standard Bailey-pattern size, so aftermarket replacements from third-party makers are purchasable, and the body is a casting with no consumable part.
Rebuy risk
Medium
parts listed, resharpenable
Sole & body
6.5
Iron & edge
6.0
Adjustment
7.0
Out of box
6.5
Parts & repair
6.0
Value
8.0
What it gets right
+Maker publishes a sole flatness tolerance, 0.002 to 0.004 in, which no other plane at this price on the site does
+Adjustable frog and a stated 45 degree bed, so it sets up like a Bailey
+Standard 2 in iron, so an aftermarket upgrade is a straightforward later purchase
+Sapele handles rather than plastic
What it costs you
−Body is stated as cast iron, not ductile — the only plane on this page without a ductile body, and the one to be careful with if dropped
−No warranty, weight or replacement iron published
−Softest published iron on the page alongside the Rockler, at 55-60 HRC
−Little maker history to check the published numbers against
Skip this if…
…you can stretch to the Jorgensen. The extra money buys a ductile body, a numbered O1 iron and a lifetime warranty; this plane's whole case is that it is cheap and measured.
03The budget fore plane with a 1/8 in iron and a stated bed angle
Size
No. 6 fore plane, 18 in; weight not published
Iron
1/8 in, 2-23/64 in wide, 45 deg; steel listed as O1 in the spec table and EN42Cr in the feature list
Frog
Adjustable; solid brass depth knob and lateral adjuster
Body
Cast iron (not stated as ductile), rosewood knob and handle
Warranty
Not published
Big Horn 19329 No. 6 Fore Plane
Big Horn
6.5/10
The 18 in sibling of the Big Horn No. 7: cast iron, a 1/8 in iron on a stated 45 degree bed, an adjustable frog and rosewood handles. The maker's page names two different steels for the same iron, which is why it sits last on a page it might otherwise have placed higher.
Cost per decade
$44.99
Horizon · tier C
20 years — No lifetime warranty; parts purchasable and resharpenable
No lifetime warranty published at the date checked. The iron is a standard Bailey-pattern size, so aftermarket replacements from third-party makers are purchasable, and the body is a casting with no consumable part.
Rebuy risk
Medium
parts listed, resharpenable
Sole & body
6.5
Iron & edge
6.0
Adjustment
7.0
Out of box
6.5
Parts & repair
5.5
Value
7.5
What it gets right
+A 1/8 in iron on a stated 45 degree bed, with an adjustable frog, at a hardware-store price
+Rosewood handles rather than plastic
+Precision-ground sole and sides, per the maker
+The cheapest 18 in plane on the page after the Groz
What it costs you
−The maker's own page lists the iron as O1 steel in its specification table and EN42Cr in its feature list; one of them is wrong and we could not tell which
−No sole tolerance, hardness, weight or warranty published; the Groz above it publishes two of those for less money
−Body stated as cast iron, not ductile
−The 2-23/64 in iron is a hair under the standard 2-3/8 in, so check fit before ordering an aftermarket iron
Skip this if…
…the Groz is in stock. It is cheaper and publishes a tolerance and a hardness; this plane's argument is the thicker stated iron and the wood on the handles.
EN42Cr hardened steel, 1/8 in, 2-23/64 in wide, bevel down
Bed
45 deg, adjustable frog; solid brass depth knob
Body
Cast iron (not stated as ductile); precision-ground sole and sides
Warranty
Not published
Big Horn 19330 No. 7 Jointer Plane
Big Horn
6.8/10
A full 22 in cast iron jointer at about half the money of the next plane up, from a maker that names its iron steel, its thickness and its bed angle but, unlike on its own No. 5, publishes no sole tolerance. It is the cheap way to find out whether you use a jointer enough to buy a better one.
Cost per decade
$49.99
Horizon · tier C
20 years — No lifetime warranty; parts purchasable and resharpenable
No lifetime warranty published at the date checked. The iron is a standard Bailey-pattern size, so aftermarket replacements from third-party makers are purchasable, and the body is a casting with no consumable part.
Rebuy risk
Medium
parts listed, resharpenable
Sole & body
6.5
Iron & edge
6.5
Adjustment
7.0
Out of box
6.5
Parts & repair
6.0
Value
8.5
What it gets right
+The full 22 in jointer length at the lowest price of any No. 7 on this page
+Maker names the iron steel (EN42Cr), a 1/8 in thickness and a 45 degree bed, which the WoodRiver above it does not
+Adjustable frog and a solid brass depth-adjustment knob, so it sets up like a Bailey
+Sapele or rosewood handles rather than plastic, depending on which line of the maker's page you read
What it costs you
−No sole flatness tolerance published, although the same maker prints 0.002 to 0.004 in for its No. 5 jack
−No hardness figure, no weight and no warranty published
−Body stated as cast iron, not ductile: the plane to be careful with if it goes off the bench
−The maker's page names the handle wood as sapele in the features and rosewood in the specifications, and the iron is listed at 2-23/64 in, a hair under the standard 2-3/8 in, so check fit before ordering an aftermarket iron
Skip this if…
…you can stretch to the Taytools. Twice the money buys a ductile body, a Bedrock frog, a lapped sole and a fully published iron; this plane's whole case is that it is long and cheap.
05The pattern everything else copies, at half the Sweetheart price
Size
No. 4 smoother, 9 in sole
Pattern
Bailey, bevel down
Bed angle
45 deg
Warranty
Limited lifetime, blades excluded
Stanley Bailey No. 4 Smoothing Plane
Stanley
7.5/10
The current production Bailey is the same architecture as the plane your grandfather owned, at a price that leaves room in the budget for a stone. It needs more fettling than the Sweetheart and rewards it.
Cost per decade
$31.93
Horizon · tier A
30 years — Lifetime warranty, cited
Stanley publishes a limited lifetime warranty on hand tools against material and workmanship defects. Note it excludes consumables including 'any blade' — the casting is covered, the iron is not. Bailey-pattern irons are a standard size and replacements are widely sold.
Rebuy risk
Low
lifetime warranty, parts listed, resharpenable
Sole & body
7.0
Iron & edge
6.5
Adjustment
8.0
Out of box
6.0
Parts & repair
9.0
Value
8.5
What it gets right
+Same warranty position as the Sweetheart at a much lower price
+Standard Bailey iron size, so a $40 aftermarket iron transforms it
+Every setup guide, video and parts diagram ever written applies to it
What it costs you
−Sole flatness out of the box is inconsistent and may need lapping
−Factory iron is thinner and softer than the Sweetheart's A2
−Tote and knob finish is functional rather than pleasant
Skip this if…
…you want to open the box and take a shaving. This is a plane you set up first; budget an evening.
06The adjustable mouth at the lowest price it exists for
Pattern
No. 60-1/2 low angle, 6-1/4 in
Mouth
Adjustable
Iron
O1 steel, 3 mm thick, 1-3/8 in wide
Body
Ductile iron, stress relieved
Jorgensen No. 60-1/2 Low Angle Block Plane
Jorgensen
7.7/10
A ductile-iron 60-1/2 with an adjustable mouth and a 3 mm O1 iron, at a fraction of what that combination costs anywhere else on this page. The mouth adjustment is the feature this list is ranked on, and this is the cheapest honest way to get it.
Cost per decade
$21.49
Horizon · tier C
20 years — No lifetime warranty; parts purchasable and resharpenable
No lifetime warranty published at the date checked. The iron is a standard Bailey-pattern size, so aftermarket replacements from third-party makers are purchasable, and the body is a casting with no consumable part.
Rebuy risk
Medium
parts listed, resharpenable
Sole & body
7.5
Iron & edge
7.5
Adjustment
8.0
Out of box
7.0
Parts & repair
7.0
Value
9.0
What it gets right
+Adjustable mouth at a price where nothing else here has one
+Jorgensen publishes the iron as 3 mm O1, which is thicker than most block plane irons and thicker than most makers will state
+Ductile iron rather than grey cast iron, so a drop onto a concrete floor is less likely to crack it
What it costs you
−No warranty terms published by Jorgensen at all
−Jorgensen publishes no bed angle for this model, only the 60-1/2 designation
−Fit and finish is noticeably below the Taytools above it
Skip this if…
…you want a tool that feels expensive in the hand. The money here went into the mouth and the iron, not the finish.
07Finding out whether you like planing, for the price of lunch
Size
No. 4, 2 in blade
Pattern
Bailey-type
Body
Cast iron
Warranty
Not published for this item
Amazon Basics No. 4 Adjustable Bench Plane
Amazon Basics
4.4/10
Genuinely usable after an hour of setup, and genuinely disposable. We include it because pretending the cheap option does not exist helps nobody, not because it belongs in a buy-it-for-life kit.
Cost per decade
$26.21
Horizon · tier D
10 years — No warranty and no parts availability found
No warranty terms and no replacement-parts listing found for this item or maker at the date checked. The horizon is the floor value, and the rating below is what that absence means.
Rebuy risk
High
resharpenable
Sole & body
4.0
Iron & edge
3.5
Adjustment
5.0
Out of box
3.0
Parts & repair
3.0
Value
8.0
What it gets right
+Cheapest honest way to learn whether hand planing suits you
+Standard iron dimensions, so it can be improved with a better blade
+Nothing about it is dangerous or unusable once tuned
What it costs you
−Sole flatness is a lottery and lapping it is most of an afternoon
−Soft iron loses its edge fast, which beginners misread as their own technique
−No warranty terms and no parts listing found, hence the tier D rating
Skip this if…
…you already know you want to work with hand tools. Spend the difference on a vintage Bailey and a stone and skip a step.
Best in the band: the Jorgensen No. 4. Ductile iron, an O1 iron, beech handles, a published sole tolerance across the line and a lifetime warranty that does not ask for a receipt. It needs the least fettling of anything here, and it is the only pick whose iron has a part number.
If you want one plane to do everything: the Big Horn 19328 No. 5 jack. The cheapest No. 5 we can find with a published flatness tolerance, a 1/8 in iron at 55–60 HRC and an adjustable 45 degree frog. No warranty is published, so buy it as a specification rather than a relationship.
For flattening wide boards: the Big Horn 19329 No. 6 fore plane. Eighteen inches and a 1/8 in iron at a price that is hard to argue with. Note that the listing names two different steels for the iron in two different places, which tells you how much of the specification to lean on.
For jointing edges: the Big Horn 19330 No. 7. Twenty-two inches of sole is the whole point and the only way to get it in this band. Expect to flatten it, and expect to hone the iron properly before you judge it.
If you want parts available forever: the Stanley Bailey No. 4. The pattern every plane here copies, a limited lifetime warranty on the casting, and spares in every flea market in the country. Budget for an hour on the sole and a thicker iron later.
The one most people will actually use most: the Jorgensen 60-1/2 low angle block plane. An adjustable mouth at this price is unusual, the iron is 3 mm O1, and a block plane gets picked up for small jobs ten times as often as a bench plane does.
Finding out if you like it: the Amazon Basics No. 4. Publishes nothing, renews nothing, costs less than a restaurant meal. A legitimate first plane if what you want is to learn whether you want a plane.
Where to spend the money you saved
Sharpening, before anything else. No plane in this band arrives usable, and the difference between a sharp hundred-dollar plane and a blunt four-hundred-dollar one is not subtle. A stone and a guide cost less than the plane — the sharpening starter kit is the short list and freehand vs honing guide settles the method argument.
A thicker iron, second. On any of the bench planes here this is the single upgrade that changes how the tool behaves, and it costs a fraction of moving up a tier.
Nothing else. Not a film kit, not a camber jig, not a second plane. Buy one plane in this band, sharpen it properly, use it for six months and let the next purchase be decided by what annoyed you.
Cost per decade in the cheap seats
The temptation on a budget page is to pretend the cheap thing is secretly the best thing. It is not. Over twenty years the plane with a catalog iron and a published warranty costs less than two cheaper planes bought in sequence, and that is the whole argument this site makes — see cost per decade for the arithmetic and tools that last a lifetime for the pattern.
What is true is narrower and more useful: a cast-iron bench plane has no mechanism to fail, so the cheap end of this band fails by being annoying rather than by breaking. You can buy your way out of the annoyance with an iron and an hour. That makes the sub-$100 band genuinely defensible as a starting point, and a poor place to buy your third plane.
Questions
Frequently asked
Can you get a good hand plane for under $100?+
Yes, with one condition: you have to be willing to sharpen it and possibly flatten the sole. Every plane in this band arrives with a grinding-shop edge rather than a honed one, and some arrive with a sole that rocks. Do both jobs and several planes here will take a shaving you can read through. Skip both and none of them will, which is the real reason budget planes have the reputation they do.
What is the cheapest hand plane worth buying?+
Of the planes here, the Jorgensen 60-1/2 block plane — an adjustable mouth and a 3 mm O1 iron at the bottom of the band, and a block plane is the plane a casual user reaches for most. If you specifically want a bench plane, the Jorgensen No. 4 needs the least work of anything in this price range.
Is a cheap hand plane better than no hand plane?+
For learning, clearly yes. A sharpened cheap plane teaches you how a shaving forms, how grain direction behaves and what chatter feels like, and none of that is wasted when you upgrade. What a cheap plane should not be is your excuse: if you conclude from a blunt one that planing does not work, the plane has cost you more than it saved.
Should I buy a cheap new plane or a used Stanley?+
A used pre-war Stanley is better value if you enjoy restoring and can judge a casting; the iron is usually thicker than a modern one and the machining is better than anything new at this price. A new plane is better value if you want to make shavings this weekend. Vintage vs new planes and buying used hand tools cover both sides.
Which hand plane should I buy first on a budget?+
A No. 5 jack if you own no machines, because fourteen inches will both flatten and smooth. A block plane if you already own a table saw and a thickness planer, because that is the work your machines cannot do. Building a hand tool kit on a budget puts it in the order we would actually buy in.
Do cheap hand planes need a new blade?+
Need, no. Benefit, usually yes. The stock irons in this band are thinner than the frog can fully support, and a thicker aftermarket iron with a matching chipbreaker removes most of the chatter complaint for well under the cost of moving up a price tier. It is the highest return upgrade in hand tools — the best replacement plane irons has the options.
We have not handled these tools. Nobody here has tested one, owned one, or taken one apart. Specifications come from the manufacturer or the retailer listing; warranty terms come from the maker's own warranty page; the cost-per-decade arithmetic is ours and reproducible. Where we could not verify a figure we say so on the page rather than quietly leaving it out. Read the full method.
