Artificial grass vs real grass
Updated: October 2026
The lawn is tired, the mower is in the shed, and a roll would make the view green in an afternoon. Artificial grass versus real grass is a choice about what the ground is for, not about which amazon.co.uk listing has the most stars. A synthetic piece can cover a patio you cannot grow on. It does not feed insects, and rain runs off it more readily than off a living lawn. Peter F. used public UK sources and the price band in the [artificial turf comparison](/hub/flooring/artificial-turf). We did not measure your garden. If you have already decided to buy, the buying guide is the next page. This one is allowed to end with keeping the grass you have.
The lawn is tired, the mower is in the shed, and a roll would make the view green in an afternoon.
The lawn is tired, the mower is in the shed, and a roll would make the view green in an afternoon. Artificial grass versus real grass is a choice about what the ground is for, not about which amazon.co.uk listing has the most stars. A synthetic piece can cover a patio you cannot grow on. It does not feed insects, and rain runs off it more readily than off a living lawn. Peter F. used public UK sources and the price band in the artificial turf comparison. We did not measure your garden. If you have already decided to buy, the buying guide is the next page. This one is allowed to end with keeping the grass you have.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Pile height | Coverage | Where to lay | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  GardenKraft GardenKraft 15 mm, 4 m x 1 m | 15 mm | 4 m x 1 m | Soil, paving, balcony | 9.2 | about £24.99 | View offer |
| Best value |  WADOODI WADOODI 30 mm, 1 m x 4 m | 30 mm (title also says 20 mm) | 1 m x 4 m | Garden, deck, balcony | 9.0 | about £30.99 | View offer |
 Ark Mat Ark Mat Cotford 35 mm, 1 m x 2 m | 35 mm | 1 m x 2 m | Garden, balcony | 8.6 | about £21.95 | View offer |
On this page
What each surface is for
A living lawn is soil, roots and a cut. It deals with wear badly when the wear is constant: a dog track by the back door, a path that is mud from October, a shaded strip that never thickens. It deals with habitat well, because something is growing. Artificial grass in this comparison is a textile on a backing. The pieces run from a 15 mm strip to about 35 mm, and from a two-pad pet pack to 10 square metre rolls. Once it is down, the colour you bought is the colour you have, mud on shoes aside. It will not thicken in May, and it will not recover from a bald patch by growing.
Use the synthetic surface where plants were never the point: a balcony, a concrete side return, a patio that is already slabbed, a small dog corner you are going to rinse. Use living grass where the soil is the point, which is most of a back garden that still drains and still gets light. The HomeOwners Alliance, writing for UK homeowners, puts the practical case for synthetic grass as no mowing and a year-round green, and then sets biodiversity and some sweeping on the other side. That is a fair split. It is not a reason to cover every square metre you own.
Wildlife and water
WWF describes artificial grass as a plastic surface that clears plants and blocks the soil. Insects, birds and small mammals lose the food and the shelter the lawn was providing, and water runs off instead of soaking in. Their alternative on the same page is to mow less, or to leave a wildflower patch, rather than to swap the whole lawn for a roll. The Natural History Museum, in August 2022, put the wildlife point in one line: artificial grass has no wildlife value in itself. The same piece reported that the UK government then had no plan for a ban or a tax. Campaigners had asked for both. No ban is not the same as good for a garden.
Water is the part you can see in heavy rain. A controlled study published in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening in 2021 found more runoff from the artificial lawns it tested than from living grass. That is a result about those experimental plots, not a flow rate for the Ark Mat or GardenKraft pieces in this folder, and it is not a claim that every street with a synthetic lawn floods. It is enough to refuse the idea that drainage holes make a fake lawn behave like turf. Holes pass water to the layer below. If that layer is a membrane over compacted stone, the water still has to leave the garden at the edge. If the garden is already a bog, neither a new roll nor a pep talk about bees fixes the outfall. If the garden is an ordinary lawn that is simply long, the museum’s practical alternative is to mow less often before you kill the soil to save the mowing.
Upkeep, cost and permission
No mowing is the true saving, and it is not no work. The domestic trade note says you still brush, keep the pile standing, and avoid soaking it flat. Leaves, moss in the shade, pet waste and mud from shoes do not vanish because the plant is plastic. Reflected heat from a nearby window can scorch fibres, which is another aftercare line in that trade note, not a detail these amazon bullets spell out. A LITA reviewer could not wash dog urine smell out of a piece used as a toilet. The chore moved. It did not disappear.
On money, keep two figures apart. In this amazon.co.uk set, where the area is clear, shelf prices on 19 October 2026 work out at about £6 to £9 a square metre for the larger rolls and about £11 to £15 a square metre for the smaller specified pieces. That is the mat only. The HomeOwners Alliance quotes about £20 a square metre excluding VAT, and that is their figure for supply, with installation on top, plus a lifespan of about 7 to 10 years if the lawn is laid and looked after. Those years are theirs. They are not a warranty for any ASIN here. Fitting, a stone base and waste disposal of the old turf are the costs the shelf price leaves out. The Planning Portal says that in most cases you need neither planning permission nor building control to replace a lawn with artificial grass, and that a conservation area or a listed building should be checked locally. That is English portal wording about paperwork. It is not an environmental approval. Laying a piece on an existing patio is a smaller intervention than stripping a lawn. Trade-offs before a purchase are on the artificial grass buying guide.
When to buy and when to stop
Buy a synthetic piece for a small hard area you cannot grow on, or for a short strip that is already paving, and keep living grass where the soil and the wildlife are the point. That is the recommendation. A 15 mm roll on a muddy side path can be a reasonable cover. A 35 mm piece on a balcony can be a reasonable cover. Replacing a whole back lawn because October is wet is the decision to refuse, unless you have read the runoff and wildlife limits and you still prefer the textile.
If the lawn is only tired, mow higher, repair the worn track, and leave a rough corner. WWF and the museum both point that way before they point at a ban that does not exist. If the dog is the only reason, a pad in a flat is a different purchase from covering the garden, which is on artificial grass for dogs. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.
Common questions
Is artificial grass better than a real lawn?
It is better at staying green and at skipping the mower, on a surface where you were never going to grow anything. It is worse for soil life and, in the 2021 rainfall study, it shed more water than the living grass those researchers compared. For a whole garden that still drains, living grass is the better default. For a balcony or a concrete strip, the synthetic piece is the one that can exist there.
Does artificial grass help wildlife?
No. WWF treats it as a barrier over soil that removes food and shelter for insects, birds and small mammals. The Natural History Museum says it has no wildlife value in itself. A pot on the patio does not replace the lawn you covered. If wildlife is the goal, mow less or leave a wildflower patch instead of ordering a roll.
Does it drain better than real grass?
Not in the study that compared them. That experiment found more runoff from artificial lawns than from living grass. Drainage holes in a household mat let water through the backing. They do not store it in soil, and they are not a flood defence for the street. On a patio that already drains, a mat is fine. On clay with no outfall, the holes will not rescue the garden.
Will you still have to look after it?
Yes. You stop mowing, and you still brush, clear leaves and deal with pet waste. The trade aftercare note also warns against soaking the pile flat. Shade can grow moss on the surface, and a dog toilet can hold a smell after washing, which one review in this set already reports. The time saving is real. It is not zero maintenance.
Do you need planning permission to swap the lawn?
In most cases the Planning Portal says no, you do not need planning permission or building control to replace a lawn with artificial grass. Check if the house is listed or in a conservation area, and ask a landlord before you fix a balcony. That answer is about paperwork in England. It does not mean the change is good for drainage or for wildlife.
Is there a UK ban on artificial grass?
The Natural History Museum reported in August 2022 that the government had no plan for a ban or a tax, even though campaigners had asked. Do not describe a ban that is not in force. Also do not treat the absence of a ban as a recommendation. The wildlife and runoff objections still stand whether or not a fine exists.
When is a synthetic piece the reasonable choice?
When the ground is already hard, small, and unable to grow a lawn: a balcony, a paved side return, a patio. A short amazon.co.uk piece in the £6 to £15 a square metre band can cover that without pretending to be a habitat. It stops being reasonable when the plan is to strip a living lawn that only needs less mowing, or when the site holds water and you hope the backing will drain it.
Related pages
Sources
Public UK sources and amazon.co.uk listings used for this comparison, last checked on 19 October 2026.
- Planning Portal — replacing a grass lawn with artificial grass (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- BSI, BS EN 15330-1:2013 — synthetic surfaces for outdoor sport (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- HTA / APL domestic guide to artificial grass (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- ESTC — UK REACH work programme for 2022–2023 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- GOV.UK — General Product Safety Regulations 2005 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- WWF — artificial grass and its impact (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- Natural History Museum — artificial grass controversy, August 2022 (retrieved 19 October 2026)
- amazon.co.uk — Artificial Grass Direct listing, checked 19 October 2026 (retrieved 19 October 2026)