Traction combine refers to the tractor pulling operation of the combine, this combine can be divided into with power and no power two. Traction combine harvester structure is relatively simple, but the unit is large, the maneuvering performance is poor, can not open the road by itself, is not suitable for small block operation.

Self-propelled combine refers to the combine that the power required for walking, harvesting, threshing and cleaning is supplied by the machine's own engine. Compared with the traction combine, the self-propelled combine is characterized by good mobility, self-opening, convenient transfer, high production efficiency, but the cost is high and the power utilization rate is low.

A knapsack combine (also known as a suspended combine) is a combine in which the working part of the harvester is suspended from a tractor or general purpose chassis. Basically maintain the advantages of self-propelled type, overcome the shortcomings of low power utilization of self-propelled type, and lower cost. However, because the overall design is limited by the tractor structure, the distance of the conveying mechanism is lengthened, the cleaning mechanism is shortened, and the transmission is more complicated.

According to the classification of feeding mode, combine harvesters can be divided into full feeding type and half feeding type. Full feed combine refers to the combine that all the grain cut by the cutting table goes into the drum threshing. Most combine harvesters of cutting crops adopt this feeding method, which has the disadvantage of incomplete stem and large power consumption. Semi-feeding combine refers to the combine that only the head of the crop cut by the cutting table enters the threshing cylinder. This type of machine maintains the integrity of the stalk and reduces the power consumption of threshing and cleaning. At present, combine harvesters with this feeding method are widely used in rice producing areas in southern China. However, the transmission mechanism of the conveying stalk is complicated and the manufacturing cost is high. There is also a picking type combine harvester (also known as the comb type combine harvester), this model is in recent years began to research and development. During the harvest operation, the cutting table collects only the grain, threshing the grain before cutting the stalk of the crop. This structure has high operating efficiency and less power consumption, but the loss rate is relatively high.