If you are buying one welder and do not yet know what you will weld, the answer is almost always a dual-voltage, gas-capable MIG machine. The exceptions are specific rather than vague: if the work is outdoors and heavy, buy stick. If aluminium is the reason you are buying, buy an AC/DC TIG.
This article explains the three processes and the specifications that separate the machines. It is not a review, and no machine here has been on our bench. Where a product is recommended, the reasoning is the process requirement, not a measurement we took. See how we work.
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The question behind the question
Nobody types “MIG vs TIG vs stick welding” because they want a history of arc processes. They type it because there is a machine in a browser tab, a project in the garage, and no way to tell whether the cheaper one will do the job or waste the money.
So this is not a ranking. Each of the three does something the other two do badly, and the right answer falls out of four things: what metal you are joining, how thick it is, where you will be standing when you weld it, and how many hours you are willing to spend being bad at it first.
Get those four straight and the machine chooses itself.
Stick, and why it refuses to die
Stick welding, shielded metal arc welding or SMAW on a spec sheet, runs current through a flux-coated rod. The flux burns, and the vapour it releases shields the weld pool from the air. No gas bottle. No regulator. Nothing to blow away.
That last point is the whole argument. Wind that would ruin a MIG weld does nothing to a stick weld, which is why field welders, farm repairs and structural work outdoors still run rod. It also tolerates steel that has no business being welded: rust, mill scale, old paint, a gate that has been outside for fifteen years. MIG wants clean metal. Stick will chew through the mess and put a weld underneath it.
The costs are real. Every weld leaves slag that has to be chipped and wire-brushed off before the next pass, which is slow and unpleasant overhead. Striking and holding an arc takes practice, because the rod is burning away as you work and the gap you are holding keeps changing. And below about 3 mm, stick is the wrong tool, because the heat blows straight through sheet metal.
Rod selection is its own small education. 6011 digs deep and runs on almost anything, including the dirty steel above. 6013 is gentler and easier to control, which makes it the usual starting rod. 7018 lays the strongest, cleanest bead of the three and is what structural work specifies, but it needs a dry rod and a steadier hand.
Buy stick if: you weld outdoors, you weld thick steel, you repair things rather than fabricate them, or the budget is genuinely tight. A stick machine is the cheapest way to join real metal.
MIG, and why most people should start here
MIG, gas metal arc welding, feeds wire continuously through a torch while shielding gas flows around it. Pull the trigger and it welds. There is no rod burning down, no slag to chip, and the arc is stable enough that a beginner produces something structurally sound within an afternoon.
That is not a small claim. The gap between a first-day MIG weld and a first-day TIG weld is enormous, and for anyone whose goal is a finished trailer rather than a finished apprenticeship, it matters more than any specification.
Speed follows from the same mechanism. Continuous wire means long uninterrupted beads, and on production or repetitive work MIG will simply outrun the other two.
The shielding gas is the catch. Outdoors, a breeze that you would barely notice on your face pulls the gas away and leaves you with a porous weld that looks fine and is not. There is a workaround, and it is worth understanding properly, because it is the single most useful thing a beginner can know about MIG.
Flux-cored, which is MIG without the bottle
Self-shielded flux-cored wire, FCAW-S, carries flux in the core of the wire itself, exactly as a stick rod carries it in the coating. Same shielding logic, same wind tolerance, same slag to chip afterwards. Run it on a MIG machine and you get something close to stick welding’s outdoor manners with wire feed’s convenience.
Almost every hobby MIG machine will run flux-cored wire with no gas at all, and many are sold configured that way. If you are choosing between machines and one is gas-capable, take the gas-capable one even if you start on flux-cored. The upgrade path then costs a regulator and a bottle rather than a new welder.
Aluminium needs more than a setting change
MIG will weld aluminium, but not straight out of the box. Aluminium wire is soft, and pushing it four metres down a standard torch liner makes it buckle and jam at the drive rolls. The fix is a spool gun, which puts a small spool of wire in the torch handle so it only travels a few centimetres, or a push-pull torch, which costs considerably more.
You will also need 100% argon rather than the argon and CO2 mix used for steel. Any machine advertised as aluminium-capable should be checked for spool gun support specifically. That one feature is the difference between a machine that welds aluminium and a machine that says it does.
Buy MIG if: you weld indoors or in a garage, you work with mild steel between roughly 1 mm and 10 mm, you want to be productive quickly, or you are buying your first welder and do not yet know what you will use it for.
TIG, and what you give up to get it
TIG, gas tungsten arc welding, is the one that produces the stacked-dime beads people post photographs of. A non-consumable tungsten electrode creates the arc, argon shields it, and you feed filler rod in with your other hand while controlling heat with a foot pedal. Three limbs, three jobs, all at once.
The control this buys is genuine. TIG welds the thinnest material of the three, handles stainless without discolouring it, and is the only sane way to weld aluminium properly. Where the weld will be seen, on furniture, motorcycle frames, exhaust work or anything polished, TIG is what the finish demands.
It is also slow, demanding, and unforgiving about preparation. Metal must be clean to a standard the other two processes never ask for: no oil, no oxide, no paint, degreased and wire-brushed with a brush kept only for that metal. Contamination that MIG would burn through will ruin a TIG weld outright.
One specification decides whether a TIG machine can weld aluminium at all. AC output. The aluminium oxide layer melts at roughly three times the temperature of the aluminium underneath it, so DC-only TIG cannot get through it, and the alternating current is what breaks that oxide up. A DC-only TIG machine welds steel and stainless perfectly well and will never weld aluminium properly, no matter how the listing is worded.
Buy TIG if: you weld aluminium or stainless regularly, the weld will be visible, you work on thin material, or you already weld and want the process that rewards skill.
The four specifications that actually separate machines
Once the process is settled, most listings blur into the same paragraph of adjectives. Four numbers do the real work.
Amperage, and the rule of thumb that saves you
Roughly one amp per 0.001 inch of steel thickness. So 1/8 inch, which is 0.125 inch or a shade over 3 mm, wants about 125 amps. Quarter-inch wants around 250, or two passes at less.
The rule is approximate and it ignores joint design, but it turns a meaningless spec into a decision. Write down the thickest thing you seriously expect to weld, multiply, and discard every machine below that number.
Duty cycle, which is where the cheap machines tell the truth
Duty cycle is the share of a ten-minute period a machine can weld at a stated amperage before it must cool. 30% at 150 A means three minutes welding, seven minutes waiting.
It is always quoted at a specific amperage, and that is the part people miss. A machine rated 60% at 90 A and 20% at its 200 A maximum is not a 60% machine. For short garage jobs, a low duty cycle costs you nothing, because you spend longer setting up than welding. For a long continuous bead, it is the specification that will actually annoy you.
Input voltage, which quietly caps everything
A 120 V machine plugged into an ordinary outlet is limited by the circuit, not by ambition. In practice that means somewhere around 140 amps, which means single-pass welds up to roughly 3/16 inch and multiple passes beyond.
A 240 V machine removes that ceiling, and dual-voltage machines run on either. If there is any chance of a 240 V outlet in your future, dual-voltage is worth the premium. It is the one decision here that is expensive to reverse.
Consumables, which is the running cost nobody quotes
The purchase price is not the cost of welding. Gas cylinder rental or purchase, wire or rod, contact tips, nozzles, tungstens and grinding discs all recur. Stick is cheapest to run, MIG with gas is the most expensive, and flux-cored sits in between by trading gas cost for a chipping hammer and your time.
MIG vs TIG vs stick welding, in one table
| Stick (SMAW) | MIG (GMAW) | TIG (GTAW) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning curve | Moderate | Easiest | Steepest |
| Outdoors | Works well | Poor unless flux-cored | Poor |
| Thin material | Below ~3 mm, no | Good | Best |
| Thick material | Best | Good with passes | Slow |
| Dirty or rusted metal | Tolerates it | Wants clean | Demands clean |
| Aluminium | No | Needs spool gun | Yes, with AC |
| Speed | Slow, slag removal | Fastest | Slowest |
| Weld appearance | Rough, needs cleanup | Acceptable | Best |
| Running cost | Lowest | Highest with gas | High |
| Typical entry price | Lowest | Middle | Highest |
What most people should actually buy
If you are buying one welder and you are honest that you do not yet know what you will use it for, buy a dual-voltage MIG machine that is gas-capable and supports a spool gun. Start on flux-cored wire while you learn, add gas when you want cleaner welds indoors, add a spool gun if aluminium ever comes up. That path costs accessories rather than a second welder.
Two cases where that is the wrong advice, and they are worth taking seriously.
If everything you weld is outdoors and heavy, meaning gates, trailers, farm equipment and structural repairs, buy a stick machine instead. It is cheaper, simpler, and better at the actual job. Paying for wire feed you cannot use in the wind is not an upgrade.
If aluminium is the reason you are buying, and for a lot of people it is, skip MIG and buy an AC/DC TIG. MIG with a spool gun will weld aluminium adequately. AC TIG will weld it well, and if aluminium is the point, adequate is not what you came for.
The multi-process machines that run MIG, TIG and stick from one box are worth a word. They are real, and they work. But the TIG on most of them is scratch-start DC, with no foot pedal and no AC, which means no aluminium and limited control. As a stick and MIG machine with occasional TIG, good value. As a way to get all three properly, it is not.
Where to buy
VEVOR’s welder range sits in the part of the market this article is about: the machine a home shop buys once, where trade pricing cannot be justified and the alternative is not buying at all.
- The one-welder pick. A 160A 4-in-1 doing gas MIG, flux-cored, stick and lift TIG on 110V or 220V. Dual voltage, gas-capable, and useful while you are still learning.
- Outdoor and heavy repair. A 200A stick and MMA DC inverter on 110V or 220V. Simpler and cheaper than any wire feeder, and it does not care about wind.
- If aluminium is the point. A 200A AC/DC pulse TIG and stick machine. AC is the part that matters here, because a DC-only TIG will not weld aluminium.
Check the amperage and the voltage in the listing title before you order. VEVOR sells several near-identical machines at different ratings, and the difference is easy to miss in a product name.
What to buy alongside it
The welder is not the purchase. This is the part that catches people, and the figure that matters is that the supporting kit routinely costs a meaningful fraction of the machine.
An auto-darkening helmet is not optional. A fixed-shade helmet means nodding it down as you strike, which is how beginners start welds in the wrong place. Look for a genuine 1/1/1/1 optical clarity rating and a shade range covering 9 to 13. This is the one accessory where the cheapest option is a false economy, because it is the one protecting your eyes. The rest of the kit is covered in our jobsite PPE essentials.
Gloves are process-specific. Thick insulated gauntlets for stick and MIG, where heat is the problem. Thin, close-fitting TIG gloves where you need to feel the filler rod. Buying one pair for both means being burned or being clumsy.
An angle grinder does more welding work than the welder does. Joint preparation, cleaning mill scale, cutting stock, dressing welds afterwards. If you own one already you are ahead; if not, budget for it as part of the welder purchase rather than as a separate tool. Our best angle grinders roundup covers the options.
Then the unglamorous consumables that stop a job dead when missing: welding magnets and clamps, a chipping hammer and wire brush for stick and flux-cored, a fire blanket if you are working anywhere near anything that burns, and spare contact tips, which wear faster than anyone expects.
- Helmet — YESWELDER LYG-M800H auto-darkening helmet, 1/1/1/1, four arc sensors. The 1/1/1/1 rating is the specification to buy on, not the shade range.
- Gloves — RAPICCA 16-inch leather welding gloves. Sixteen inches covers the forearm, which is where spatter lands.
- Magnets and clamps — ABN arrow welding magnet set, six pieces at 25, 50 and 75 lb. Three sizes beat six of one size.
- Fire blanket — 850 GSM fibreglass welding blanket, 6 ft by 8 ft, with brass grommets. Cheaper than any other way of not setting fire to something, and the grommets let you hang it as a screen.
Frequently asked questions
Which welding process is easiest to learn?
MIG, and not narrowly. Wire feeds automatically, the arc is stable, and there is no slag between passes, so a first-time user can produce a sound weld the same day. Stick takes longer because the arc length changes as the rod burns down. TIG takes longest because both hands and one foot are doing separate jobs at once.
Can one machine do MIG, TIG and stick?
Yes, and multi-process machines are genuinely useful. The caveat is the TIG side: most are scratch-start DC only, without a foot pedal or AC output. That rules out aluminium and limits fine control. Good value as a MIG and stick machine that will also TIG steel occasionally.
Do I need a gas bottle to start MIG welding?
No. Self-shielded flux-cored wire runs with no gas at all and works better outdoors than gas MIG does. Welds are less tidy and leave slag to chip. Buy a gas-capable machine anyway, so that adding a regulator and bottle later does not mean a new welder.
What thickness can a 120 V welder handle?
Around 3/16 inch in a single pass, with thicker material possible using multiple passes and joint preparation. The limit is the household circuit, not the machine’s design. Dual-voltage machines lift that ceiling as soon as a 240 V outlet is available.
Why will my TIG machine not weld aluminium?
Almost certainly because it is DC only. Aluminium’s oxide layer melts far hotter than the metal beneath it, and AC output is what breaks that layer up. A DC-only TIG machine will weld steel and stainless well and will never weld aluminium properly.
Is stick welding obsolete?
No. It is still the process of choice for outdoor work, thick steel, and metal too rusted or painted for anything else. Pipeline and structural welders run rod daily. It is the least convenient process and, in the conditions it suits, the most capable.
More on choosing tools in Buying Guides, and the workshop end of the site in Tools & Workshop. For how we build a guide without a bench test, see how we work.
