The Ford F-150 isn’t just the best-selling full-size pickup truck in America; it’s the nation’s most popular vehicle, period, and it’s been that way for quite a while. The half-ton truck segment is a huge and extremely competitive one, but the F-150 is still king of the hill for many reasons. Brand loyalty is a big factor, of course, as is the wide range of engines Ford offers, including a traditional V8 and a modern hybrid V6.
Some buyers, however, might care more about the hard numbers when purchasing — and for pickup trucks, towing capacity can be one of the most important figures. Most current half-ton trucks offer fairly similar capabilities overall, but the F-150 rules the roost if you’re looking for the best new half=ton pickup truck for towing.
The F-150’s maximum towing capacity varies depending on the engine, but it tops out at 13,500 pounds. That’s enough to edge ahead of GM’s half-ton trucks and is a significant improvement over Ram and Toyota’s pickups. Let’s take a closer look at the numbers to see which F-150 comes out on top, and how big its advantage over the competition is.
The EcoBoost V6 model has the edge
Certain Ford F-150 engines are better for towing than others, with the truck’s maximum towing capacity changing significantly depending on the configuration and engine. On the lower end, the 2.7-liter EcoBoost-powered F-150 is rated to tow a maximum of 8,400 pounds. The 5.0-liter V8 F-150 can tow up to 12,800 pounds, which slightly beats out the 3.5-liter EcoBoost Hybrid’s rating of 12,400 pounds. For max towing capacity, though, it’s actually the less-powerful, non-hybrid version of the 3.5-liter EcoBoost that takes the cake with that impressive 13,500-pound rating.
If towing is your main goal, you’ll also want to skip the off-road-oriented F-150 Raptor and Raptor R models. Despite being powered by either a high-output 450-horsepower EcoBoost V6 or an even more powerful 720-horsepower supercharged V8, towing is not the Raptor’s strong suit, with a maximum tow rating of just 8,700 pounds for the V8 Raptor R.
While comparing the F-150 to the competition, we’ll focus on the 13,500-pound rating of the 3.5 EcoBoost model, and for the competitors we’ll look at the half-ton Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 trucks, as well as the Ram 1500 and the Toyota Tundra. The towing capacity of these trucks will also vary depending on the engine, but to keep things simple, we’ll see how the most capable version stacks up against the strongest version of the F-150.
Ford is the half-ton towing king (by a little bit)
Let’s start with the Ram 1500. This truck is available with a naturally aspirated V6, a HEMI V8, and two versions of the potent, twin-turbocharged Hurricane inline-six that debuted in the 2025 Ram 1500. For towing, the Standard Output Hurricane model comes out on top, with a max rating of 11,610 pounds. With a nearly 2,000-pound advantage, the F-150 is the easy winner here. It’s a similar story with the twin-turbocharged V6 Toyota Tundra, which is rated to tow 12,000 pounds in its most capable configuration. That’s 1,500 pounds less than the F-150.
The closest fight comes from the Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups. With the 3.0 Duramax diesel, the GM half-tons are rated to tow up to 13,300 pounds, with the 6.2-liter V8 right behind at 13,200 pounds. The F-150 has the edge by a couple hundred pounds, but likely not by enough to be noticeable in real-world towing situations.
Finally, on that same note, we should mention that if you regularly plan on towing a trailer weighing 12,000 pounds or more, you may be better off skipping a half-ton truck and going with a more capable heavy-duty model, as even the least powerful gasoline Ford F-250 Super Duty has a tow rating well over 14,000 pounds. Sure, a half-ton might handle the job on paper, but it’s probably best to have some leeway and not max out a truck’s capabilities every time you tow.