To help you find the best duct tape you can buy for your repair needs, we’ve put in several hours of researching on the top duct tape brands, including Gorilla duct tape and 3M duct tape, in a variety of extreme use cases. Duct tape may or may not have originally been called “duck tape” but there’s no denying the endless variety of duct tape uses. From sealing to patching to wrapping tool handles, duct tape should have a place in just about every DIY toolbox. You can also make DIY crafts out of duct tape, and there are even duct tape patterns available for items like wallets, belts and book covers for school.
Our top pick this time around is Gorilla Black Duct Tape. A double thickness adhesive and extra tight weave gives this cloth tape extra strength to grip uneven surfaces including stucco, wood and brick. It’s also UV and weather resistant, in addition to offering water resistance, which makes it the best tape on the market for general home repair. Read on to see more about Gorilla Black Duct Tape and the rest of our picks for the best duct tape on the market right now.
Top 7 Best Duct Tape
#1 Gorilla Black Duct Tape
Award: TOP PICK
WHY WE LIKE IT: Double thickness adhesive and a tightly woven reinforced structure give this high quality duct tape an advantage when it comes to just about any repair job involving an uneven surface. Unlike some thick tapes, however, it tears by hand.
- UV and weather resistant
- Bonds uneven surfaces
- Easy to tear
- Leaves some residue
- Not the best electrical insulator
This Gorilla duct tape has proven itself as the strongest and most durable duct tape in its price range. It packs a double layer of adhesive, giving it extra grip on uneven surfaces like brick, stucco and unpainted wood. This makes it the best duct tape for home repairs and DIY work around the house.
Gorilla Black duct tape is heavy duty, UV stable and more weather resistant than standard duct tapes. It has a strong, moisture resistant outer shell that makes it suitable for indoor and outdoor use. Since it bonds metal, plastic and vinyl, it’s also recommended if you’re looking for the best duct tape for car projects.
#2 Duck Brand Colored Duct Tape
Award: HONORABLE MENTION
WHY WE LIKE IT: A great value, this high quality duct tape is suitable for crafts as well as heavy duty uses in home repair and packing, plus it comes in different colors to give your eyes a break from the usual silver and black duct tape.
- Bonds to uneven surfaces
- Conforms to ASTM D-4236 non toxic standards
- Tears by hand
- Less UV-resistant than Gorilla tape for long term outdoor use
- Not designed for extreme temperature use
This tape from the Duck Tape brand is among the highest quality tapes for general home repair and DIY use, and it costs less than thick tapes like the Gorilla Black series and 3M’s Ultra Heavy Duty commercial tape. It also comes in different colors, such as the pleasing Dove Gray, which is easier on the eyes for craft projects than the usual shiny silver and black duct tape.
Duck Tape is designed for indoor and outdoor use, though it may not have the same UV-stability as Gorilla Black Tape. It’s also weather-resistant and can bond uneven surfaces, both features coming in extremely handy. For indoor and school use, it’s worth noting that this duct tape conforms to the ASTM D-4236 safety standard for non-toxic materials.
#3 3M Multi-Use Duct Tape
Award: EASIEST TO USE
WHY WE LIKE IT: This high quality multi use duct tape is great for packing and shipping, reinforcing and patching and wrapping tool handles. It also has a classic silver finish and weather resistant shell.
- Easily tears by hand for quick applications
- Weather resistant shell
- Indoor or outdoor use
- Not as effective as Gorilla Black tape for uneven surfaces
- Not as great for duct repair as foil tape
This high quality duct tape comes from one of the best duct tape brands and the original maker of the first duct tape, intended for use in repairing HVAC ducts and air tubing. This tape is weather resistant, UV-resistant and bonds especially well to surfaces like plastic, vinyl, laminate and metal.
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3M duct tape is a great multipurpose tape for home repair and it also has a variety of uses in packing and shipping. It’s suitable for indoor and outdoor use and can be used in temperatures ranging from just above freezing to about 120º F. We also loved how easily it could be teared by hand, eliminating the need for scissors.
#4 Craftzilla Colored Duct Tape
Award: BEST FOR ART PROJECTS
WHY WE LIKE IT: This multicolored duct tape is our pick as the best modelfor arts and crafts and school projects. It ships in a handy 6-pack with different colors.
- Waterproof to resist against liquids, such as paint
- Tears easily by hand
- Suitable for home repair as well as crafts
- More expensive than standard duct tape
- Less versatile than Gorilla Black tape
This multi-pack of high quality arts and crafts duct tape comes in six different colors and is suitable for a wide variety of projects and uses ranging from sealing cardboard boxes for moving and shipping to making crafts like duct tape wallets, gaffers tape sculptures, journal and book covers, and more.
Each pack contains orange, yellow, blue, purple, pink and green duct tape in a 10-yard by 2-inch wide roll. While it’s slightly more expensive by the yard than standard silver duct tape, this craft tape is just as useful and adds the bonus of bright colors for various school projects and home or car projects.
It’s also billed as being waterproof, and tears easily by hand.
#5 Lockport Heavy Duty Silver Duct Tape
Award: BEST FOR BIG PROJECTS
WHY WE LIKE IT: Available in large quantities and designed for heavy duty uses, this indoor and outdoor duct tape is weather resistant and a great duct tape for the price when it comes to packing and shipping, wrapping tool handles and more.
- Rips both vertically and horizontally
- Easy to tear
- Lower priced than 3M duct tape
- Not as durable as Gorilla Black Tape
- Doesn’t come in different colors
Suitable for craft and home repair projects where you may need a large quantity of good duct tape, this weather resistant multi-purpose tape comes in wide 2” rolls and you get 5 x 30 yards in each pack. This makes it the best duct tape for Etsy stores and for painting and other home repair projects.
It’s not the strongest tape on the market, but it is pretty close, especially if you’re not planning to try and bond different, uneven surfaces. For that you’ll want a thick, max strength rubber-based adhesive or thick gaffers tape.
#6 Gaffer Power PowerSteel Heavy Duty Duct Tape
Award: BEST FOR EVEN SURFACES
WHY WE LIKE IT: This max strength gaffers tape is the best duct tape we’ve researched for heavy duty and commercial uses in HVAC and other repair jobs where all weather durability is important, including simple car repairs. It’s among the stickiest and strongest duct tapes on the market.
- Thickest tape on our list for added durability
- Excels with HVAC repairs
- Highly weather resistant
- May leave some residue
- Not the easiest to tear
If you’re wondering what’s the best duct tape for repairing an actual duct, this PowerSteel Heavy Duty max strength tape may be the answer. It’s more expensive by length than duck tape or Gorilla Tape, but promises more outdoor durability and in real world experience, resists extreme temperature better than most high quality duct tapes. Since it’s UV stable and has good water resistance, it makes the best duct tape for car projects and minor exterior repairs like temporarily securing a spoiler, diffuser or undertray.
This high quality duct tape is extremely sticky and has a shell thickness about twice that of “standard” duct tape. This means it will likely hold up better under tension and provide more durability when used in crafts, giving you the best duct tape wallet and tool handle material. However, it’s more expensive than standard duct tape or gaffers tape and it’s not as easy to tear by hand.
#7 Blue Summit Supplies 12 Pack Duct Tape, Tear by Hand Design
Award: BEST ON A BUDGET
WHY WE LIKE IT: The best value duct tape, price wise, that we’ve seen, this large pack comes with 720 yards of duct tape, great for businesses or large repair job projects and craft or school projects.
- Long-lasting at 2160-feet (half a mile)
- Strong adhesive
- Weather resistant
- Not as durable as some picks on this list
- May be overkill for most home repair needs
If you’re a heavy user of duct tape or need to supply a classroom or small business with a large amount of good quality tape, this weather resistant silver duct tape from Blue Summit Supplies is the best deal we’ve found by price and remains among the best values for duct tape Amazon offers.
This industrial lot comes with 12 60-yard rolls of thick tape. Sometimes, you need quantity as well as quality, and that can especially be true when it comes to duct tape crafts. You can use this to fully wrap a leaking air duct or securely close a large number of packing boxes, making it a great buy for small businesses and Etsy users.
How We Decided
In order to help you narrow down what’s the best duct tape for your needs, we limited our search to high quality duct tape with proven adhesive properties and indoor-outdoor uses.
We selected for weather resistance, considering only duct tape that promised at least a weather resistant outer shell. We also looked for temperature range, where available, and required that the tape perform in the 40-110 degree F range.
We only considered tape that was at least 1.8-inches wide and at least 5 mm thick, with preference given to “double thickness” and max strength adhesive tapes. We also only selected tape that could easily be tornby hand, since you don’t want to buy the strongest tape, only to have to then search for the best scissors for cutting duct tape.
Best Duct Tape Buyer’s Guide
Features to Consider
- Waterproof Shell
The shell refers to the outer, non-sticky backing of the tape, and for duct tape to live up to its original nickname of “duck tape,” this should be a waterproof or at least weather resistant material, that shields the adhesive and prevents it from degrading in rain. - UV Resistance
UV resistance is also an important consideration if you’re looking for duct tape uses that include outdoor home repairs. Many plastics and natural rubber products break down and become brittle in UV light. - Adhesive Thickness
Max strength duct tape typically has an adhesive layer of at least 8 mm thick. This increases the available surface area for bonding and lets the tape stick to uneven surfaces like stucco, bricks, rough hewn wood and iron. - Tearing Ability
For duct tape to be convenient, you don’t want to have to be constantly remembering to keep on hand the best tool for cutting duct tape. The best duct tape should tear by hand. For some projects, you may want duct tape that tears longitudinally as well as horizontally across the width of the tape. For other uses, this may be undesirable.
