The Best Massage Guns for Soothing Sore Muscles—and Better Workouts - Buy Side from WSJ

Give yourself a deep-tissue massage with one of our top picks Written By Written by Contributor, Buy Side from WSJ Amy Schlinger is a contributor at Buy Side from WSJ and expert in fitness and

Give yourself a deep-tissue massage with one of our top picks

Written By

Written by

Contributor, Buy Side from WSJ

Amy Schlinger is a contributor at Buy Side from WSJ and expert in fitness and wellness.

Updated October 22, 2024, 7:09 PM EDT

$70 $50

$129

$290

$200 $147

Massage guns, also known as percussion therapy devices, are tools that can be used by everyone from recreational gym-goers to athletes, doctors, physical therapists and more. “As a category, I’m a huge fan of these products, and I think they’ve given patients and providers a new set of options for home care,” says Jordan Metzl, M.D., a sports medicine doctor at Hospital for Special Surgery. “Unlike foam rollers that target a broad area, these high-frequency, oscillating guns are a great way to provide self-myofascial release,” or self-massage of a targeted muscle or muscle group. According to a review of studies done by the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, percussion therapy from massage guns has many benefits including improved acute muscle strength, explosive muscle strength and flexibility, as well as reduction of muscular pain.

With dozens of massage guns on the market, we took the guesswork out of the equation for you by testing the top contenders across key categories. Toloco’s Massage Gun proved to be the best model around, thanks to its strong collection of features and lower price. The small but mighty Hyperice Hypervolt Go is our runner-up. Finally, if you’re looking for one from a trusted brand, Therabody’s Theragun Prime earned the title of best premium massage gun for excellent performance at a higher price point.

Buy Side Top Pick

$50 at Amazon

$70 save $20

$50 at Walmart

With 20 speeds to choose from, 10 interchangeable head attachments and six hours of battery life—all at a lower price—this device is our top pick.

Despite its lower price, Toloco’s Massage Gun matched or exceeded the performance and specs of every other massage gun we tested, beating out more commonly known models and those that cost 10 times as much, making it the clear top choice. Most impressively, it can be adjusted between 20 different speeds or intensities via the LED touch screen—comparable products only offer between three and nine different speeds—with a penetration force of 12 millimeters and up to 3,200 percussions a minute. This range was especially helpful after a longer run session, when we wanted to use it on our thighs and glutes at a rather intense speed but needed to lower the level for our more sensitive hamstrings and feet. We definitely noticed the power of the motor and the 12 mm force on areas like our back and quads, where this gun seemed like it could get deeper into those bigger, stronger muscles.

The Toloco is quieter than many other devices, too, operating at between 40 and 50 decibels depending on the speed setting, which is similar to the sound of a running refrigerator.

Toloco says its massage gun’s battery should last up to six hours per charge, and we were able to get through at least 10 sessions without having to think about recharging it. Most other models run for half as long or less, making this one especially convenient for people who don’t remember to charge after each use. It’s also lighter than most of the competition at 1.8 pounds; that’s nearly half a pound less than the popular Theragun Prime. We found the Toloco especially comfortable and easy to hold, even after a tiring weight session.

The device comes with 10 different head attachments designed for using on different body parts and information on how to use them (we mostly alternated between just three for our needs, preferring the round head, thumb head and fork head), and the carrying case keeps everything in one place, so you don’t have to worry about misplacing any. Admittedly, Toloco doesn’t have the name recognition of Therabody or other popular brands, but our hands-on testing proved it worked as well or better than those models. The company’s one-year warranty might cover you if anything goes wrong; unfortunately we didn’t hear back from Toloco when we tested their email support. That’s not great, but because this model performs so well for so much less than the competition, we still think this unit is worth it. The Toloco comes with a USB-C charging cable, but it doesn’t come with a wall plug, so you’ll have to use one you already have for your phone or computer, or purchase one separately.

$129 at Hyperice

$129 at Amazon

The handle design, multiple intensity levels and low volume make this a great option.

If you’re looking for a smaller massage gun option than the Toloco without stepping down to a truly “mini” size, the Hyperice Hypervolt Go 2 is the best choice. The three intensity levels on this gun, plus its more portable design, make it an easy option to grab at home or on the go. It’s more compact than standard-size massage guns, but we found that its handle was still substantial enough for people with a range of hand sizes to use. Plus, thanks to the angle the handle allows, we were able to reach certain spots on the posterior of the body, like mid-back, (hello, traps!) with a bit more pressure than the other extremely compact devices.

The Hypervolt Go 2 weighs just 1.5 pounds. We had no issue holding it for 10-plus minutes for a pre- and post-workout muscle massage. Even on its highest of the three speeds, the motor was still relatively quiet, though it was a bit louder than the Toloco. It doesn’t feel like everyone at the gym will start staring because of the noise the second you turn it on. One hour of charge time provides three hours of massage time.

This massage gun comes with only two attachments—one flat, one bullet-shaped—and it doesn’t come with a bulky carrying case. Because of that, the Hypervolt Go 2 was easy to throw in any tote or luggage along with our other gear, which is a positive if you’re short on space when packing.

$290 at Amazon

$299 at Therabody

If you’re looking for a trusted massage gun brand with good design and a companion app, you can’t go wrong with the Theragun Prime.

The massage guns above delivered excellent performance for what we wanted in a percussion therapy device, and happen to have lower price points, too. But if you’re looking for one of the major brand names in the space, we recommend the fourth-generation Therabody Theragun Prime.

“I’ve walked through every NBA weight room, and each team is stocked with either the Theragun or the Hypervolt—those are the gold standard,” says Sean Light, a former Los Angeles Lakers strength and conditioning coach, and the founder of 4A Health Health & Performance Sciences based in New York City. “Personally, I give the Theragun products a slight edge as their devices are well-engineered overall, thoughtfully designed and comprehensive in their product menu.”

This specific Theragun product allows the user to switch between five different intensity levels—a feature we enjoyed, although we didn’t find ourselves using the highest level often—as well as four different head attachments to target different muscle groups. The device is on the heavier side at 2.2 pounds, and feels more substantial in hand compared with other options. We found the design made it easy to hold and maneuver around our own body, as well as our significant other’s (who wanted in on the massage gun testing action). We didn’t love the two-hour battery life, though, as we needed to charge it more often than other massage guns that last a lot longer.

The Theragun Prime is Bluetooth-compatible with the Therabody app, which takes into account your habits (based on Apple Health or Google Fit) and recommends personalized routines for you to try with the device. It’s not a necessary feature, but we found it to be a really helpful one that beginners might enjoy as well.

$147 at Therabody

$200 save $53

$192 at Amazon

Massage guns can assist trainers and coaches in applying more pressure and emphasis to specific areas of clients’ bodies than they can on their own, says Justin Di’Angelo Jenkins, NASM, AFAA. The compact size and triangular shape of the Therabody Theragun Mini (2nd Generation) makes it an extremely convenient option for trainers to use on clients. (We found devices with handles easier to use on ourselves.) The massage gun weighs less than a pound, has three speeds and comes with attachments, but it has only two hours of battery life.

If a heavier gun isn’t an issue for you, you might also consider the Lifepro Sonic Handheld Percussion Massage Gun, which weighs 2.5 pounds and has five speeds, eight attachments and six hours of battery life. We found it to be noisier than the picks above, and it tired our arm out pretty quickly, which is why we didn’t choose it as a top pick.

The Renpho Active Massage Gun has five speeds, only weighs 1.5 pounds and delivers a quiet massage at less than 45 decibels. What turned us off was that it holds just 2.5 hours of battery when fully charged, and it ran out of power while we were using it.

Our experts were fans of the Vybe Pro with its nine different speeds and eight head attachments. But it weighs an arm-deadening 4.25 pounds and the motor runs at 60 decibels, which was noticeably noisy after testing many quieter options.

I’ve been writing about the health and fitness industry for more than 12 years, testing countless products and gear along the way for national publications including Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Shape, Self and more. Massage guns have become quite popular, and I’ve spent a lot of time testing them—not only for this story, but while taking part in fitness classes, sporting opportunities and other active adventures.

For expert input on this story specifically, I spoke with Jordan Metzl, M.D., sports medicine doctor at Hospital for Special Surgery; Travis Lampton, a golf sports performance coach at Joey D Golf in Jupiter, Fla.; Sean Light, a former athletic trainer for the Los Angeles Lakers and founder of 4A Health; and Justin D. Jenkins, NASM, AFAA, a personal trainer at Dogpound gym in New York City. Their input about percussion therapy helped me to further understand the professional uses and benefits of these devices.

You might think massage guns are just for pro athletes, but anyone can benefit from them. Massage guns “can do some things that foam rollers cannot, like wake up sleeping muscles,” says Light. “Certain muscles like hamstrings and glutes tend to go to sleep when their counterparts are overused. Massage guns can deliver neural feedback from those muscles to the brain and get those neural networks to start firing again.” One potential big benefit: Massage guns can make getting results from your workouts significantly easier. “Just using the massage gun before a workout to wake up the muscles you’re about to use is a big-league move,” Light says.

With so many massage guns on the market, we knew we had our work cut out for us. We researched some of the most popular, well-known brands, and options that had the highest reviews on Amazon, as well as a variety of different sizes of massage guns. After finalizing the list of products we were interested in, we tested them. We tried out all of the massage guns multiple times before workouts, after workouts, in the morning, on off days and when traveling. We made our decisions based largely on these factors:

Our experts

Amy Schlinger is a contributor at Buy Side from WSJ and expert in fitness and wellness.

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The Best Massage Guns for Soothing Sore Muscles—and Better Workouts - Buy Side from WSJ