Each weed management option has advantages and disadvantages in reducing weeds, including suitability in young versus established vineyards, impact on soil, duration of the weed control achieved, operating speed, operating cost and capital cost. The performance of the different tools against a set of key criteria is summarised in this table.
| Finger weeder | Knife weeder | Disc plough | Dodge plough | Powered rotary tiller | Undervine mower/whipper snipper | Undervine sweeper | Straw mulch | Sheep grazing | Sown undervine cover crops | Volunteer undervine swards | |
| Ability to reduce weed competition with vines | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Average | Poor | Good | Average | Good (when using weed-suppressing species) | Good |
| Soil disturbance caused | Average | Average | High | High | High | Low | Low | None | Low | Low (when using no-till practices) | Low |
| Suitability in young vineyards | Good | Average | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Poor | Good | Poor | Good (when using short-season winter active species) | Good (provided highly competitive species are not used) |
| Length of weed control | Average | Average | Good | Good | Good | Poor | Poor | Good | Average | Good | Good |
| Operating speed | Good | Average | Average | Poor | Average | Good | Good | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Operating cost | Average | Average | Average | High | Average | Average | Average | Low | Low | Low | Low |
| Capital cost | Average | Average | High | Average | High | High | Average | Average | Low | Low | Low |