Track Saw vs Circular Saw: Which Should You Buy

If you cut sheet goods, this is the saw that makes the circular saw feel crude. The plunge action starts a cut in the middle of a panel, the rail's rubber strip grips the workpiece, and the splinter guard holds the veneer down so the edge comes off the saw ready for glue. A circular saw with a guide gets you straight; this gets you straight and clean on both sides of the kerf.

The Makita is our pick over the Festool TS 55 because it delivers almost all of the cut quality and dust collection for about $43 less and ships with a rail and case. The kit price was about $626 at the time of writing. If you want the deeper comparison, our Makita vs Festool track saw page covers the exact differences, and the best track saws roundup has seven saws ranked.

A circular saw is the saw you will use most if you build anything structural. The 5007Mg is the one pros reach for because the base is dead flat, the blade stays square after a drop, and it rips a 4x4 post in one pass. Pair it with the Kreg Accu-Cut below and it makes straight plywood cuts that are fine for shop cabinets and paint-grade work.

What it will not do is plunge mid-panel or leave a splinter-free edge on veneer without a sacrificial board or masking tape. That gap is exactly what the track saw exists to close. At about $170 at the time of writing, it is the circular saw we would buy first regardless of which side of this page you land on.

The WEN is the cheapest honest answer to "do I need a track saw." Put it on a rail and the cut is straight and mostly splinter-free, which is a bigger jump from a freehand circular saw than the jump from this to the Makita. At about $100 at the time of writing it costs roughly what a Kreg Accu-Cut does, so if you do not own a circular saw yet and mostly cut plywood, this is the better buy of the two.

What you give up is refinement: the plunge is stiff, the depth stop drifts, and you will be sweeping up after it. It is a starter track saw, and a good one.

The DWE575SB is the circular saw to buy if $170 feels like too much for a tool you use twice a month. It cuts the same 2-9/16 in. depth as the Makita, weighs over a pound less, and has an electric brake, which is a real safety upgrade on a saw you set down between cuts. It is a very good saw for about $127 at the time of writing.

On a guide, the Makita's flat magnesium base holds the line a little better than DeWalt's stamped shoe. If most of your straight cuts will be on a track guide, that is the one spec worth paying for.

The Accu-Cut is the answer to "can a circular saw with a guide replace a track saw." Mostly, for crosscuts, on a budget. The saw sits in a sled that rides an aluminum track, the anti-chip strips keep the keeper side clean, and the anti-slip backing holds without clamps. The edge is straight and usable for shop cabinets and anything that gets a face frame or edge banding.

What it is not: a plunge saw, a dust-collecting saw, or a guaranteed splinter-free edge on both sides. For a cabinet shop it is a stopgap. For a homeowner with a circular saw and the occasional plywood project it is the best $88 on this page.

Track saws are slow at repeat rips because the rail has to be repositioned and re-measured for every strip. The Rip-Cut side-steps that: set the width once, hook the guide on the factory edge, and rip strip after strip at the same width. At about $49 at the time of writing it is the cheapest way to cover the one job a track saw does worse than a circular saw.

Pair it with the Accu-Cut and a 15 A circular saw and you have about $300 worth of sheet-goods capability. That is the whole "circular saw with a guide" argument in one kit.