Best Plate Compactors and Hand Tampers for Pavers and Gravel (2026)

A paver job uses a plate compactor twice: on the gravel base, one layer at a time, and once more on top of the laid pavers. These are the specs that tell you whether a machine does both:

• A pad for the final pass. Unilock compacts the laid pavers in all directions and calls a protective plate cover a must, because the steel plate can mar or damage the stones. Tomahawk sells the TPC80H and TPC90H with a poly pad as an option; the other compactor pages here list none, so ask the maker before you run one over pavers.
• Depth per lift, not compaction depth. Unilock says most plate compactors will not compact more than 4 in of base and asks for layers of 3 to 4 in. Tomahawk's TPC80H page states 3–4 in per lift at 100% compaction. The bigger “compaction depth” figures other makers quote, such as up to 13 in for the XtremepowerUS, describe how deep the vibration reaches, not how much loose gravel to spread before each pass.
• Force, compared like for like. Tomahawk and XtremepowerUS state centrifugal force in kN, from 9.4 kN to 15 kN. VEVOR states 10.5 kN compaction force, a different term, so we do not rank it against those numbers.
• Plate size. The plates here run from 19 × 15 in to 22 × 20 in. A larger plate covers more base per pass; a smaller one turns more easily on a narrow walkway.
• Weight and power. Tomahawk publishes 110 lb for the electric eJXPC50, 176 lb for the TPC80H and 240 lb for the TPC90H; XtremepowerUS and VEVOR publish none. The eJXPC50 runs on a brushless 120 V electric motor and needs a 12-gauge extension cord or heavier; every other compactor here has a gas engine.

The spec comparison above shows type, plate and weight for every pick, hand tampers included. The table below compares the specs only plate compactors have.

“Not published” means the maker's page does not state it. Each value is quoted from the maker's product page, linked in the pick's card and the spec comparison above.

Unilock's base guideline is 4 to 6 in of compacted gravel for pedestrian walkways and 8 to 12 in for driveways, more on clay. The base should run past the paved edge by its own depth, and the bedding layer on top is leveled, not compacted. Take the paver calculator's default patio, 12 × 12 ft (144 sq ft), with a 6 in base, the top of the walkway range. The paver calculator gives 72 cu ft of base under the paved area. Running it 6 in past each edge makes the base 13 × 13 ft, which the gravel calculator turns into the order:

Base footprint = (12 + 2 × 0.50) × (12 + 2 × 0.50) ft = 169 sq ft
Base gravel    = 169 sq ft × 6 ÷ 12 ft = 84.5 cu ft = 3.13 cu yd
Order          = 3.5 cu yd in half-yard steps, before any compaction allowance
Lifts          = 6 ÷ 4 = 1.50 → 2; 6 ÷ 3 = 2.00 → 2
               = 2 lifts of 3 in, each compacted before the next is spread

Compacted gravel takes up less room than the loose gravel the truck delivers, and the gravel calculator adds no compaction allowance on its own, so ask your supplier how much extra to order for the stone you buy. The gravel sizes and types guide covers which stone packs into a base, and how much a yard of gravel weighs helps you plan the delivery. Count the pavers and pallets for the same patio with how many pavers come on a pallet.

Lifts = base depth ÷ lift thickness, rounded up. Plan on the 3 in column unless your compactor's maker states more per lift. A gravel driveway is built differently from a paver base; see the gravel driveway layers guide.

For a driveway, the base is deeper and the job is bigger: see the gravel driveway layers guide for how each layer is built, and the TPC90H above, tied for the most force and with the largest plate here.

A hand tamper puts its weight on one small square at a time. On the 13 × 13 ft base above, the Kraft Tool CC939's 10 × 10 in plate takes about 244 blows to cover one lift once, before any overlap; the TPC80H's 17 × 21 in plate covers it in about 69 plate footprints, travelling on its own. With 2 lifts that is about 488 tamper blows against 138 plate footprints.

So most patio jobs use both: a plate compactor for the open base, and a tamper along the edges, in corners and around posts where the plate cannot reach. For a short path or a few stepping stones, a tamper alone may be enough. To move the gravel to the patio a load at a time, see the best wheelbarrows for concrete and gravel; every tool on this page is also listed with the rest in our top tool picks.

• Do's and Don'ts of Paver Installation: Step 2 of 3 - Base Preparation — Unilock. Used for: Base 4–6 in for pedestrian walkways, 8–12 in for driveways; compact in layers of 3–4 in; base extends past the paved edge by its depth; bedding layer not compacted. Checked 2026-10-06.
• Do's and Don'ts of Paver Installation: Step 3 of 3 - Installing the Pavers — Unilock. Used for: Compact the laid, cleaned pavers in all directions with a protective plate cover on the compactor. Checked 2026-10-06.
• NIST Handbook 44 (2026), Appendix C: General Tables of Units of Measurement — National Institute of Standards and Technology. Used for: 1 yd³ = 27 ft³; 1 US gal = 231 in³. Checked 2026-10-03.