#8 Gravel vs River Rock: Size, Cost, and Which to Use

#8 Gravel

Small crushed stone approximately 3/8 to 1/2 inch in size. Good for walkways and as a top dressing for driveways. #8 gravel bridges the gap between coarse aggregates and fine pea gravel, offering a balance of comfort and stability.

River Rock

River rock is naturally rounded stone from river beds and glacial gravel deposits, washed and screened into size bands from 3/4 inch to 8 inches. It costs $40 to $100 per ton in 2026, weighs 1.35 to 1.6 tons per cubic yard, and is the go-to decorative stone for dry creek beds, garden beds, borders, and drainage swales where the rock needs to look good and stay put. It costs two to three times what crushed stone costs because it is sorted and washed, and because the supply is limited to places with river gravel.

#8 Gravel

• ✓ Walkways
• ✓ Patios
• ✓ Between pavers
• ✓ Asphalt mix
• ✓ Top dressing
• ✓ Drainage backfill

River Rock

• ✓ Landscaping
• ✓ Dry creek beds
• ✓ Decorative borders
• ✓ Drainage swales
• ✓ Water features
• ✓ Ground cover

#8 Gravel

• + Smaller size is more comfortable to walk on
• + Compacts better than larger stone
• + Good for filling gaps between pavers
• + Excellent drainage
• + Smooth driveway top-dressing

• − Can migrate without edging
• − Not as stable as larger crushed stone
• − May be tracked by shoes
• − Less commonly stocked than #57
• − Dusty when dry

River Rock

• + Best-looking bulk stone, natural mixed colors
• + Never decomposes, one-time install
• + Drains fast and rarely clogs
• + Large sizes stay put in moving water
• + Available in sizes from 3/4 inch to 8 inch cobbles

• − Expensive, $40 to $100 per ton
• − Never packs, so it is a poor surface to walk or drive on
• − Heavy and awkward to spread
• − Holds heat in full sun
• − Hard to clean leaves and debris out of

#8 Gravel

#8 gravel consists of angular crushed stone pieces from 3/8" to 1/2" in diameter. Like other crushed stone, color varies by source quarry — gray, blue-gray, tan, and brown are most common.

River Rock

River rock is sold by size band: 3/4 to 1 inch (sometimes called large pea gravel), 1 to 2 inch (egg rock), 2 to 3 inch, 3 to 5 inch, and 5 to 8 inch cobbles. Every piece is smooth and rounded. Colors are a natural mix of tan, brown, gray, cream, rust, and black, with regional loads that run mostly one shade. Single-color sorted rock costs more.