Best Tonneau Cover for an F-150: Picks for Gen14 and Gen13

For most F-150s, the cover to buy is the TruXedo Sentry CT. It isn't the cheapest cover here and it isn't the hardest to break into, but it does the most things well. It rates driest of every cover we've reviewed, it hands back the whole bed without blocking the rear window, and on most versions it lifts out without tools when you need every inch. The other four picks each win one job outright: rack rails, a latch thieves can't fish open, or a much lower price.

Two things matter more than the brand. One is your bed and model year. Some covers come as one part for every F-150 from 2015 on, others as separate Gen13 and Gen14 parts, and the listings don't name the beds the same way. The other is what you need the cover to do besides keep rain off: carry a rack, guard tools on a job site, or stay out of the way of a bed you load to the rails every weekend.

The best F-150 tonneau cover for each job

Start with the job, then pick the cover.

• Best overall, and the driest bed: the Sentry CT. Most owners who describe water report a dry bed, and the rest get car-wash drips or a little in very heavy rain, never wet cargo. RealTruck rates it at 400 lb evenly distributed and backs it for 5 years.
• Full bed access: the Sentry CT again if you want a hard cover. It rolls to the cab and straps there, and RealTruck says that opens 100 percent of the bed. For noticeably less money, the TruXedo Lo Pro rolls the same way in soft vinyl.
• A rack on the cover: the RetraxPRO XR. Its T-slot rails run the full length of the cover, and its keyed latch locks at any point along the track. It's the most expensive cover here, and its canister takes about a foot off the front of the bed for good.
• Security: the LEER HF650M. Its CYNC latch releases only with the tailgate down and can't be fished open with a coat hanger, and its four panels are rated 450 lb evenly distributed. LEER has taken it off its own website, so weigh the 3-year warranty and buy while the listings last.
• Budget: the Tyger T3 Soft Tri-Fold. Vinyl over an aluminum frame, a 5-year warranty and a price far below the name brands. It has no lock and no load rating, and the folded stack sits on the front third of the bed.
• Soft cover: the Lo Pro if you use the whole bed often, the T3 if price leads. Neither locks, and neither keeps a bed fully dry. The Lo Pro sheds water only as well as its vinyl is kept tight.

The five covers side by side

Here are the picks from their makers' pages and listings, with what each means on an F-150:

All five clamp on without drilling into the bed on most trucks, per their makers, and none has a published cover weight. Two exceptions to the no-drill rule are worth planning for: the RetraxPRO XR's drain tubes sometimes go through holes drilled in the plastic plugs at the front of the bed, and an over-the-rail drop-in liner needs small holes cut for the T3's clamps.

Read the ratings for what they are. Evenly distributed means weight spread across the whole closed cover. None of these numbers covers a person kneeling on one panel, a cooler sitting on a seam or a rack on the move, and the two soft covers have no rating at all. Tyger's warranty says to put no weight on the T3, and that includes a wet load of snow, so clear it after each storm.

Roll-up, folder or retractable on an F-150

For most F-150s we'd take a hard roll-up over a hard folder, and a folder over a retractable unless you need the rails. The difference shows up every time you load the bed.

A hard folder stacked at the cab sits in your rear window, and anything taller than the bed rails at the front of the bed means folding it all the way up. A roll-up gets out of the way in one motion and leaves the glass clear. If you want a folder anyway, the LEER hurts least here. Split evenly, its four panels on a 5 ft 6 in bed come to about 16 to 17 in each, against about 22 in for a three-panel cover, so the stack stays below the cab roof.

A retractable keeps the window clear too, but the canister costs floor space for good. RealTruck doesn't publish the RetraxPRO XR canister's footprint, and owners measure it at about 12 to 13 in. On the 67.1 in short bed, that leaves about 54 in of full-height floor, though the space under the canister still holds camp chairs and flat gear. A 6.5 ft bed feels it less.

Roll-ups have their own trade-offs. Snow and mud can make a hard roll-up hard to roll, and the roll at the cab takes a little space. With the Sentry CT, the tailgate has to close before the cover does, so if you want the tailgate to open and shut on its own with the cover closed, a folder does that better. The soft covers trade security for price: a knife gets through vinyl, and neither soft pick has a lock. If tools ride in the bed overnight, buy a hard cover.

Gen14 or Gen13: bed lengths and the right listing

The 14th-generation F-150 (Gen14, 2021 on) and the 13th (Gen13, 2015-2020) share the beds F-150 owners call the 5.5 ft, 6.5 ft and 8 ft. Cover listings rarely use those names. RealTruck's TruXedo and Retrax listings call the short bed 5 ft 7 in (67.1 in), LEER calls it 5 ft 6 in and Tyger 5.5 ft (67 in). The standard bed is 6 ft 7 in (78.9 in), 6 ft 6 in or 6.5 ft (79 in), and the long bed is 8 ft 2 in (97.6 in). When the names disagree, go by the inch figure.

Some covers are one part for both generations. The Sentry CT and the Lo Pro each have one listing per bed for 2015-2027. The LEER's two listings each span both generations: 2015-2025 on the 6 ft 6 in, and 2015-2026 in the short-bed title against 2015-2025 in its bullets. The T3's 6.5 ft listing covers 2015-2026. Others split by generation: the RetraxPRO XR has separate Gen13 and Gen14 parts, as do the BAK, UnderCover, Gator and Extang covers we've reviewed, and the T3's 5.5 ft listing is Gen13 only. A separate part number doesn't prove a cover won't fit the other generation, and a shared one doesn't promise a used cover moves cleanly, so buy the one listed for your model year.

Covers do move between trucks. A TruXedo soft roll-up that started on a 2018 F-150 now rides on a 2024. With a cover sold as separate Gen13 and Gen14 parts, ask the maker before you count on the same move.

Lightning and Raptor owners have one more check. The RetraxPRO XR's Gen14 short-bed listing names both, and RealTruck's own Lo Pro page names both for the short bed. The Sentry CT and LEER listings say F-150 without naming either, so confirm with the seller. Tyger's site lists the Lightning for its Gen14 5.5 ft T3, but we haven't confirmed that part on an Amazon listing, so search for the Gen14 5.5 ft T3 and check fit for your truck.

BoxLink, the tailgate and Pro Power Onboard

None of these five covers' makers says anything about Ford's BoxLink on its product pages. The one conflict we know of is the RetraxPRO XR: on a Gen14 short bed its canister covers the front tie-down anchors and the two BoxLink holes closest to the cab on each side, so plan on aftermarket BoxLink hooks in the outer holes for your front tie-downs. RealTruck says the Sentry CT keeps stake pocket access for accessories.

The tailgate shapes daily use more than most buyers expect. The LEER latches with the tailgate open or closed, per its listing, and on a Gen14 with the power tailgate the gate goes up and down with the cover shut. The Sentry CT's rear seal sits on top of the closed tailgate, so the gate closes first and the cover second, and TruXedo support says not to drive with the tailgate down and the cover closed. The RetraxPRO XR opens with the tailgate shut and locked, so the bed is only secure once the cover's own lock is keyed. If your tailgate has the built-in step, look at how a folding cover's rear panel and seal sit on its plastic cap before you buy.

Pro Power Onboard raises a question none of these makers answers on its pages: how a cord gets out of a locked bed. Check how your cover seals at the tailgate and the cab before you count on running power with the cover shut.

Keeping an F-150 bed dry, with a spray-in or a drop-in

No cover in this guide will keep a bed bone dry through every car wash. If dry cargo is the priority, buy the Sentry CT. It rates driest of the covers we've reviewed and is the only one with a low reading on our leak-risk gauge. The LEER and the RetraxPRO XR read moderate: the LEER lets in a little at most, while the Retrax lets at least a little in on most trucks, along the side rails first and then at the tailgate. The Lo Pro and the T3 depend on tight vinyl, and the Lo Pro should be expected to let some water in at the corners in a car wash. If the bed has to stay bone dry, look at a one-piece lid or a cap; we haven't reviewed one yet.

Water usually finds a cover's ends first, the tailgate seal and the front corners at the cab; on the RetraxPRO XR the side rails come first. Seat the bulkhead seal carefully, hose-test the cover before you load anything that matters, and check it again after the first car wash.

Liners change how a cover seals. With a spray-in liner, factory or aftermarket, clean the front wall of the bed well before you press on a taped bulkhead seal. On an F-150 with a LINE-X spray-in, a BAKFlip F1's adhesive bulkhead seal let go after a wash, and water came in at the cab end. With a drop-in liner that wraps over the bed rails, Tyger says you'll cut small holes in it for the T3's clamps; an under-the-rail liner needs no changes. If you're adding a spray-in and a cover to a new truck, spray first and clamp second.

Racks on an F-150 cover

If the rack mounts on the cover, buy the RetraxPRO XR. Its T-slot rails run the full length of the cover, and Leitner sells a version of its rack, the TONNEAU, that rides on those rails, with F-150 parts for the 5 ft 7 in and 6 ft 7 in beds. Our Leitner ACS FORGED review covers all three versions of that rack.

Read the ratings before you load anything. RealTruck rates the PRO XR at 500 lb evenly distributed on the closed cover and publishes no rack, T-slot or on-road limit, so that number isn't a rack rating. Leitner's FAQ and install guide rate the TONNEAU at 400 lb on the road and 800 lb parked, and Leitner publishes no off-road figure because the rack is secured through the cover. Nobody has rated a rooftop tent on a trail on this setup. Get the limit for your load from Leitner and RealTruck in writing first, and torque the rack hardware to the figures they give you, not by feel; overtightened bolts have bent the PRO XR's aluminum tracks.

The other picks are harder to pair with a rack. The Sentry CT has no rails of its own and RealTruck publishes no rack statement for it, though owners run it with TruXedo's Elevate rack rails; buy and install the two together, because the rack rails mount closer to the bed sides than the cover's clamps. The LEER has no T-slot version, and whether Adarac's straight-bar rack works with it is unconfirmed. Bed racks and folders can share a truck, with friction: on an UnderCover Armor Flex with an Adarac rack, each panel has to be pushed past the rack's towers, which rub the cover's side seals. BAK sells T-slot versions of the MX4 and the Revolver X4s, the MX4 TS and the X4ts, if you want rails on a folder or a roll-up. Neither soft cover lists any rack compatibility.

Other covers we reviewed for the F-150

• BAKFlip MX4: a popular pick for security, a flush look and a tailgate that works with the cover shut. Some run dry for years, but too many arrive leaking for us to pick it; we rate its leak risk high. The LEER keeps water out better and costs less on the same bed.
• UnderCover Ultra Flex: the folder we'd take over the MX4 at about the same price, with a 400 lb rating, a 5-year warranty and a stack that stands upright on prop rods instead of leaning on the rear glass. Choose it over the LEER if a longer warranty from a company still selling the cover matters more than the LEER's latch and lower price. It has Gen14 listings for all three beds.
• BAK Revolver X4s: a hard roll-up with a vinyl top instead of canvas. Owners love it once it's seated right, but getting it seated takes fuss, and it costs more than the Sentry CT on every matching F-150 listing. Buy it if you don't want fabric on the cover.
• Gator EFX: the budget hard folder we'd buy, with flush aluminum panels and slam latches that lock with the tailgate for noticeably less than the name brands. Expect damp corners after hard rain, a 2-year warranty and a front third that stays down unless you pull the cover. It has separate Gen13 and Gen14 listings in 5 ft 7 in and 6 ft 7 in.

Which cover goes on your F-150

Most F-150s should wear the Sentry CT. It rates driest of every cover we've reviewed, hands back the whole bed and the rear window, and one listing fits your truck whether it's a 2016 or a 2026. Spend more on the RetraxPRO XR only if a rack is going on the cover. Take the LEER if you carry things worth stealing and want a folder.

On a tight budget, the T3 is the cover we'd buy, and the Lo Pro is the soft cover for owners who use the whole bed often. Neither locks. If your cargo can't take a drop of water, skip tonneau covers and price a cap.