by what you actually want from the plant.
The flavor king: Sungold
If the cherry tomato world has a celebrity, it’s Sungold. Bright tangerine-orange fruit with an intense, fruity, almost tropical sweetness that converts tomato skeptics on the spot. The vigorous indeterminate vines, per Johnny’s Selected Seeds, start yielding early and keep going all season. Ask a hundred gardeners for their desert-island tomato and Sungold wins the poll.
Its one flaw is the price of its juiciness. Thin skins that split readily after rain, so pick ahead of storms. And note it’s a hybrid, so saved seed won’t come true, buy fresh each year. The full profile lives at our Sungold deep dive.
The production machines: Sweet Million and Supersweet 100
When quantity is the mission, the “sweet + number” clan delivers. Sweet Million and its relative Supersweet 100 are classic red indeterminate cherries that produce almost comically long trusses. Dozens of fruit per strand, hundreds per plant, sugary and reliable. These are the varieties for salsa-by-the-bowl households, kids who strip plants like locusts, and anyone who measures success in buckets. Give them a tall, serious support, because these vines climb with ambition.
The complexity pick: Black Cherry
For grown-up flavor, Black Cherry trades pure sugar for depth. Dusky mahogany-purple fruit with the rich, smoky-sweet complexity of the big black heirlooms, shrunk to snacking size. It’s the cherry to grow for people who find Sungold too much like candy. It makes the most beautiful mixed bowl in the garden alongside orange and red neighbors.
The crack-resistant sweetheart: Sun Sugar
Sun Sugar is the answer to the Sungold gardener’s one complaint. It’s another orange, fruity-sweet cherry in the same flavor family, with a reputation for sturdier skins that hold together better after rain. In wet-summer climates, that trade is worth making; in dry ones, flavor purists usually stay with Sungold.
The wild card: Matt’s Wild Cherry
On the heirloom end sits Matt’s Wild Cherry. Tiny currant-size red fruit on a sprawling, nearly indestructible plant that reseeds so cheerfully it borders on volunteer. Intense flavor in a miniature package, and the classic charm pick for cottage gardens and lazy gardeners who like surprises.
The grape pick, and the container crowd
For a true grape type in the garden, look to the sweet elongated heirloom Riesentraube or any modern red grape hybrid. You’ll get the firm, halve-able, lunchbox fruit the category is known for. And if your cherry ambitions live on a balcony, the trailing and dwarf types, Tumbling Tom and friends, are already covered in our container variety roundup. They’re the stars of the hanging-basket section.
Growing notes that apply to the whole family
A few quirks come with cherry-size fruit, whichever variety you pick. Most of the famous ones are indeterminate monsters. Six to eight feet of enthusiastic vine that will overwhelm a flimsy cage by July. Plan a tall stake or serious support from planting day per our support guide. Harvest runs on a different rhythm too. Fruit ripens a few at a time continuously rather than in one flush. A quick daily or every-other-day pick keeps the plant producing and beats the birds to the ripe ones, with timing tricks in our harvest guide. And go easy on the water right at peak ripeness, since a soaking after dry weather is what splits those thin skins.
One warning offered with love: cherry tomatoes self-seed. Let a few fruit drop in fall and next spring delivers volunteer seedlings in places you did not plan. Some gardeners call this a nuisance. The rest of us call it free plants.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best cherry tomato variety?
For flavor, Sungold, the orange, fruity-sweet variety most gardeners name their favorite. For sheer production, Sweet Million or Supersweet 100. For complex, less sugary flavor, Black Cherry, and for better crack resistance in a Sungold-style fruit, Sun Sugar.
What’s the difference between cherry and grape tomatoes?
Cherry tomatoes are round, thin-skinned, and juicy with a sweet pop. Grape tomatoes are oblong, thicker-skinned, and firmer with concentrated flavor. The full head to head is in cherry vs grape tomatoes. Cherries excel for fresh snacking. Grapes hold up better in cooking, lunchboxes, and shipping, which is why stores mostly stock grapes.
Are cherry tomatoes easy to grow?
The easiest of all tomatoes. They ripen earliest, tolerate beginner mistakes, resist many problems that plague large-fruited types, and produce continuously until frost. The main demands: a tall support for the vigorous vining varieties and regular picking.
Why do my cherry tomatoes keep splitting?
Thin skins plus a sudden gulp of water, usually heavy rain after a dry spell, swells the fruit faster than the skin stretches. Keep watering even, pick ripe fruit before storms, and consider a sturdier-skinned variety like Sun Sugar or a grape type if splitting persists.
Do cherry tomatoes come back every year?
The plants die at frost, but cherry tomatoes are enthusiastic self-seeders: dropped fruit routinely produces volunteer seedlings the next spring. Hybrids like Sungold won’t come true from seed, though, so buy fresh seed for the variety you actually want.
Bottom line: grow the cherries the store can’t sell you. A Sungold for candy, a Sweet Million for volume, a Black Cherry for depth, a grape type for the lunchbox. And a support tall enough to respect their ambition. They’re the highest-payoff plants in the whole tomato variety universe, and the easiest place for any gardener to start growing tomatoes at all.