Best Backpacking Knives of 2026

Quick verdict: The Bugout is the lightest one-handed knife here with a full-size locking blade. Benchmade lists it at 1.85 ounces with a 3.24-inch drop-point blade in CPM-S30V stainless, a premium steel that tends to hold an edge through a long trip and resist rust.

Benchmade's AXIS lock lets you open and close it with one hand from either side. It's also the most expensive knife on this page. Benchmade will resharpen it free for its whole life, which takes a little of the sting out.

Quick verdict: The Opinel No. 8 has been made in France for generations, and it's a good-value knife to carry. It has a blade of about three and a third inches in Sandvik 12C27 stainless, a beechwood handle, and a twisting steel ring that locks the blade open.

It weighs about an ounce and a half. The tradeoffs: it takes two hands to open, and the wood can swell and stiffen the hinge if it gets soaked.

Quick verdict: The Classic SD is the lightest thing on this page, at under an ounce. It has a small blade, scissors, a nail file with a screwdriver tip, tweezers, a toothpick and a key ring. For a lot of ultralight hikers it's the whole knife kit.

The scissors are the reason to carry it: they cut tape, moleskin and gauze more cleanly than a knife blade. The blade is short and doesn't lock, so treat it as a slicer for food bags and cord. It isn't a cooking knife.

Quick verdict: The Delica 4 Lightweight is one of Spyderco's best-known knife lines. It has a 2.9-inch flat-ground VG-10 stainless blade, a fiberglass-reinforced nylon handle and a back lock, and it weighs about two and a half ounces.

Spyderco's round hole in the blade makes it easy to open with one thumb, and many buyers find it workable with gloves. It costs less than half what the Bugout does. You give up a little blade length and carry a little more weight.

Quick verdict: The Companion is a popular choice in bushcraft circles, and an inexpensive fixed blade. It has a 4.1-inch Sandvik 12C27 stainless blade with a Scandi grind that bites into wood well, a grippy rubber handle and a plastic sheath, all for about four ounces.

It's more knife than an ordinary backpacking trip needs. Carry it if you whittle feather sticks or split kindling. Its spine isn't ground square, so it won't throw good sparks from a ferro rod.

Quick verdict: The Micra is a keychain multi-tool built around spring-loaded scissors, with a small blade, tweezers, a file, screwdrivers, a ruler and a bottle opener. It weighs about 1.8 ounces.

The scissors are spring-loaded, which can be easier to use than the Classic SD's, and that matters if your hands are cold or you're cutting tape for a blister. It weighs more than twice as much as the Victorinox, though, and its small blade doesn't lock.

Quick verdict: The Skeletool CX strips a Leatherman down to seven tools, including needlenose pliers, wire cutters, a one-hand locking knife, a bit driver, a bottle opener and a carabiner clip. At five ounces it's light for a full multi-tool and heavy for a backpacking knife.

The pliers are the reason to carry it. They'll fix a stove or pull a stuck zipper, and they'll straighten a bent tent stake too. If you never carry gear you might need to repair, you're better off with a plain knife.

Quick verdict: The Paraframe Mini is a small stainless frame-lock folder that weighs about 1.4 ounces, with a blade a little over two inches. The open, skeletonized handle saves weight and makes it easy to rinse.

It's the cheapest knife on this page and does the basic jobs fine. The steel is a basic stainless that likely needs sharpening more often than the premium knives here, and the open handle is thin to grip through a long cutting job.