A front loader carries material and puts it somewhere, usually into a truck. A bulldozer pushes material across the ground and cuts a grade as it goes. Both rent in the same broad band, roughly $500 to $1,200 a day at small sizes, so the choice is about the task rather than the price. Picking the wrong one doubles the hours, not the rate.
The one-line difference
A loader lifts a full bucket clear of the ground and moves it, which is why it loads trucks and stockpiles material. A dozer keeps the blade on the ground and shoves, which is why it strips, spreads and shapes. If the material has to go up into something, you want the loader. If it has to go across and end up level, you want the dozer.
Stripping topsoil and rough grading
This is dozer work. The blade takes a consistent cut, windrows the material to the side and the tracks leave a compacted surface behind. A loader can do it in short runs but has to lift, turn and dump every bucket, which on anything over a small pad turns into three times the machine hours for the same result.
Loading trucks and moving stockpiles
This is loader work, and a dozer cannot do it at all beyond pushing material into a pile for something else to lift. A wheel loader also travels on hardstanding at speed without tearing it, so it works around a yard or a finished road where tracks would mark the surface.
When the answer is neither
On residential jobs a compact track loader frequently replaces both. It carries like a small loader, takes a box blade or grading attachment, floats on soft ground and costs less to hire and to transport than either full-size machine. Price that option before committing to a lowbed and a week.
Questions people ask about front loader vs bulldozer
Which is cheaper to rent?
At comparable sizes the day rates overlap heavily, and transport is similar because both travel on a lowbed. The real cost difference is hours on site, which is decided by whether the task suits pushing or carrying.
Can one machine do both jobs?
A compact track loader comes closest for residential work: bucket for carrying, blade attachment for grading. On larger earthworks the specialised machines are far more productive and the hire cost is recovered in days saved.
How do I know how many yards a site has?
Take the area and the average cut depth in feet, multiply, and divide by 27 for cubic yards. That figure tells the rental yard which size class to quote and tells you whether trucks are needed at all.