Best Wheelbarrows for Concrete, Gravel and Mulch (2026)

What to look for

Concrete and crushed stone are the two heaviest things most people move by wheelbarrow, so for them the specs that matter are the ones about weight and wear. Mulch is the opposite case: there the tray's volume decides how many trips you make.

• A published maximum load. Marathon (for both of its barrows), WORX and Gorilla's two dump carts publish one; Gorilla does not for its GS-6 and GPX-8D wheelbarrows. Without one, you judge each load yourself.
• A steel tray for concrete and stone. Both are abrasive and heavy, and wet concrete is shoveled and scraped out of the tray. Poly trays suit mulch and soil.
• Flat-free or pneumatic tires. A flat-free tire can't be punctured by sharp stone or debris; a pneumatic tire rides softer on rough ground but needs air and can go flat.
• One wheel or two. One wheel turns tight and tips easily to dump, but you balance the load. Two wheels (or a four-wheel cart) carry it, so you only steer and push.
• Capacity, for mulch. A bigger tray saves trips with light, bulky material. With stone and concrete you reach the weight you can safely push before the tray is full, as the next section shows.
• Empty weight. The picks run from 29 lb (Marathon's Yard Rover) to 54.25 lb (Gorilla's 7GCG-NF cart). A light barrow is easier to lift and hang up; a heavy cart rolls its load for you.

Stone and concrete: weight sets the loads

Wisconsin DOT measured ¾ in dense graded base, a common crushed stone, at 1.8 tons per compacted cubic yard and found it 36% to 47% bulkier when loose, the way it sits in a pile or a wheelbarrow (see how much a yard of gravel weighs). For concrete, an 80 lb bag of QUIKRETE Concrete Mix makes 0.6 cu ft, so the dry mix alone weighs 133.3 lb for every cubic foot of concrete; the water adds more.

Loose stone   = 1.8 × 2,000 lb ÷ (1 + 47% to 36%) ÷ 27 = 90.7 to 98.0 lb/cu ft
6 cu ft stone = 6 × 90.7 to 98.0 = 544 to 588 lb
Concrete mix  = 80 lb ÷ 0.6 cu ft = 133.3 lb/cu ft (before water)
6 cu ft mix   = 6 × 133.3 = 800 lb or more
500 lb load   = 5.1 cu ft of stone, or 6 bags of 80 lb mix (3.6 cu ft)

For a whole job, work in weight. The gravel calculator's example pad, 40 × 10 ft and 4 in deep with a 10% allowance, needs 5.43 cu yd; at 1.8 tons per cubic yard that is about 9.78 tons, or 19,556 lb. Divide by what each load can weigh: the max load, or a tray filled to its rated capacity with the lightest loose stone if that weighs less.

19,556 lb of stone ÷ the weight of each load, rounded up. "Full tray" loads use the lightest loose stone, 90.7 lb per cu ft, so they are the most trips you should need. Gorilla's GS-6 and GPX-8D are left out because Gorilla publishes no max load for them.

That works out to about 8 loads of 500 lb per compacted cubic yard, so the pad takes 40 trips with the Marathon. For concrete, the concrete calculator's default 10 × 10 ft slab, 4 in thick with a 10% allowance, takes 62 bags of 80 lb mix. At no more than 6 bags' worth per 500 lb load, that is at least 11 loads before counting the water. The bagged vs. bulk guide compares that many bags with a ready-mix delivery.

Mulch: the tray's volume sets the loads

With mulch, count loads by volume. A cubic yard is 27 cu ft (see cubic yards explained), and each load is at most a tray filled to its rated capacity, so the number of loads is the volume divided by the capacity, rounded up. The mulch calculator's example bed, 20 × 10 ft and 3 in deep with a 5% allowance, needs 1.94 cu yd; ordered in quarter yards that is 2 cu yd, or 54 cu ft in the pile.

Loads per cubic yard = 27 cu ft ÷ rated capacity, rounded up
8 cu ft tray = 27 ÷ 8 = 3.38 → 4 loads
about 3 cu ft tray = 27 ÷ 3 = 9 → 9 loads
Example bed = 54 cu ft ÷ 8 = 6.75 → 7 loads with the Gorilla Carts GPX-8D

Volume ÷ rated capacity, rounded up to whole loads. These counts check volume only: no source here gives a weight for mulch, so if yours is wet, or you are moving soil, keep each load under the max load too.

So the example bed takes 7 loads with the Gorilla Carts GPX-8D and 18 with the WORX WG050. For depth and spreading, see how to mulch garden beds.

Wheelbarrow or dump cart?

A wheelbarrow goes where a cart can't: up a plank, through a gate, right to the edge of a form, and it tips forward to pour. A four-wheel dump cart carries its load without you holding it up, and its bed tips to unload, which suits spreading stone or mulch across a yard. The GOR4PS has a 4 cu ft bed and 10 in pneumatic tires; the 7GCG-NF has a 7 cu ft bed, 13 in flat-free tires and a handle that tows behind a lawn tractor or ATV. Both are yard tools rather than concrete barrows. For a big delivery, plan where the truck can drop the pile so the trips stay short; see planning a bulk delivery. The tampers and plate compactors for the base under a patio or path sit with these carts on our top tool picks page.