No, even if they're half full, they're still more efficient. Hand washing is so much worse it's almost never appropriate. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/dish

No, even if they're half full, they're still more efficient. Hand washing is so much worse it's almost never appropriate. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/dishwasher-vs-hand-washing/ https://www.bobvila.com/articles/dishwasher-vs-hand-washing/ >In the past, dishwashers might have consumed 10 to 15 gallons of water per cycle. Modern dishwashers, on the other hand, are designed with water efficiency in mind. In fact, the Department of Energy mandates that full-sized dishwashers can use a maximum of 5 gallons of water per cycle. Energy Star-rated appliances require even lower water usage, at 3.5 gallons per cycle. >According to a study conducted by the University of Bonn in Germany, washing a full load of dishes by hand uses an average of more than 26 gallons of water. The study also found that handwashing techniques vary widely, with some people using just 8.7 gallons for the task and others using 116! In other words, if you wash dishes like an average German, hand-washing half a load of dishes is roughly equal to using an old, inefficient dishwasher. And of course the dishwasher advantage gets larger with a modern system.