The list in brief
1. Best for most people
2. Best personal blender
3. Best premium
4. Best for small kitchens
5. Most stylish
6. Best large capacity
7. Best value KitchenAid blender
How to choose
How we test
The best blenders make it easy to create a whole range of healthy foods and tasty treats. You can use yours to whizz up great smoothies, blend soup, juice fruit, and even make things like hummus, mayonnaise and salsa. If you're used to buying shop-bought smoothies or soups, making your own and blending it at home can save you a ton of money in the long-run, too.
There's plenty of choice about, but this guide is here to simplify things and help you find the best blender for you. We've tested a wide range, including portable blenders for single-serve smoothies and jug blenders that are designed to sit on your kitchen counter, and you can get the low-down on our top picks below. In our tests, we assess not only how well they blend different types of food, but also things like how noisy they are and how easy they are to clean.
Not sure if it's a blender you need? There is some overlap with today's best food processors – broadly speaking, if the result you're aiming for is a liquid (smoothie, soup), a blender is the best tool for the job. A food processor will be better for chopped things like pesto or salsa. All clear? Read on for our pick of the best blenders for a range of budgets and food types...
The best blenders, tried and tested
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The best blender 2024: the quick list
Not sure quite what you want? This quick list runs through each of our top picks in brief. If you see something you like, click down for more information on each one.
Best overall
This just blender performed well in all our tests, tackling smoothies, ice and more with ease. It's versatile, powerful and not too expensive.
Best personal blender
If you just need a compact, single-serve blender for your daily smoothie or protein shake, the Ninja Blast is a top choice. It's simple, affordable and effective.
Best premium
Dedicated foodies will appreciate the wide variety of modes and features on this premium jug blender. It's powerful and versatile, but pricey.
Best for small kitchens
This blender has a small footprint that's perfect for compact kitchens. There's only one mode, but it packs a punch, and the design doubles up as a single-serve blender.
Most stylish
This blender is perfect for anyone who wants something cool on show on their countertop. It's not all style over substance, either, performing well in our tests.
Best large blender
This blender has the largest capacity of any model here. It's not so good with small portions, but if you're working with big batches, it's a top choice.
Best value KitchenAid
This mid-range KitchenAid doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it's brilliant at the basics, including chopping ice.
The best blender for most people
Breville's The Fresh and the Furious (known as Sage the Fresh and Furious in the UK) is our top overall pick. This blender combines the brand's sleek styling with power to create a compact blender that's effective and easy to use. It's also more affordable than other models the brand offers, although the base is made from plastic rather than metal.
On test, this blender performed well across the board. It was able to liquidize pineapple and leafy spinach into a completely smooth and lightly aerated drink, with no bits, as well as crush ice, chop nuts, and emulsify eggs and oil into mayonnaise, with no issues.
The 1.6-quart /1.5-liter jug is smaller than most other Breville blenders, and you might want to go bigger if you're regularly catering for large numbers. We also found a slight amount of leakage when the blender was filled to maximum capacity, but this was only in the well of the lid and not enough to be a serious concern.
If you're only looking for a blender to tackle your daily smoothie, then something smaller like the Ninja Blast (#2) will do the trick, while dedicated foodies with deep pockets might prefer the all-powerful Vitamix A3500 (#3). But if you need a more general-purpose jug blender for a wide range of kitchen needs, the Fresh and Furious is an excellent choice.
Read our full Breville the Fresh and Furious review
The best compact blender
If you just need something compact to tackle a daily smoothie or protein shake, the Ninja Blast is the best blender for the job. Not only is it travel-friendly and retro-stylish but it's compact and capable.
On test, it proved excellent with handling fibrous fruits and vegetables, thanks to its powerful blades – although we have found that it's decent at best with crushing ice.
You won't get all the various modes and presets you'll find with pricier jug blenders. Ninja keeps things super simple here: there's a single start / stop button on the base, and a cycle lasts 30 seconds. It may take a couple of cycles when dealing with dryer, thicker blends, it still delivers silky smooth results.
The Blast has a built-in rechargeable battery that gives you 10-15 blend cycles before recharging, meaning that you can take it with you on camping trips, road trips, and more. Finally, with an affordable price tag, it's a fantastic value for money.
Read our full Ninja Blast review
The best premium blender
The Vitamix A3500 blender means serious business and made light work of combining ingredients in our tests without leaving any chunks behind. We used it to create deliciously smooth smoothies, as it can quickly blitz ice cubes.
This Vitamix blender has an impressive 10 variable speed settings, a pulse function, and five programs with predefined speeds and durations for everything from smoothies to dips and spreads. There's even a programmable timer to set the blender to work and automatically switch it off once the timer is up.
However, the A3500 is quite bulky and heavy. If you're short on space or don't often need to cater for lots of people at once, you could opt for something more compact. It's also quite an investment – there are plenty of cheaper but still excellent models about for more casual home chefs.
Read our full Vitamix A3500 review
The best blender for small kitchens
The Nutribullet Pro 900 (just called the Nutribullet 900 in the UK) is the perfect blender for those who are short on counter space. It has a small footprint but packs plenty of power. It's designed like a portable blender, with cups that can be removed and used to drink from directly, or there are larger cups for bigger blending jobs.
It's not as versatile as a true jug blender like the Breville / Sage model at #1, and you only have a single speed and no pulse options here. However, on test we found it very effective – this Nutribullet does a great job of crushing ice, breaking down veg and more. It's 50% more powerful than the original Nutribullet, and the blade spins at 24,000 RPM to make light work of smoothies, sauces and dips. With a shake halfway through it also did a good job with thicker smoothies and dips.
Nutribullet promises one-minute smoothies and that's exactly what we got in our tests: provided you put everything in in the right order, with liquid going in last, and don't overfill it, the results are consistently great.
Read our full Nutribullet Pro 900 review
The most stylish kitchen blender
The KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender has the brand's signature style but isn't lacking in substance either. There are seven color options to choose from, and each model has four preset blending programs, a pulse function, and a choice of five-speed settings. You can select all programs using the dial on the front of the K400, keeping things simple.
In our tests, it impressed us by producing smooth, grit-free smoothies and thick glossy mayo. The ice crush program does short work of blitzing through ice cubes too. Unfortunately, this KitchenAid blender has no additional blending cups or accessories, and struggled to chop nuts evenly. If you buy this blender in the US or Australia, it'll arrive with a plastic pitcher, whereas it's sold with a glass pitcher in the UK.
Read our full KitchenAid Artisan K400 blender review
The best large blender
If you want professional-style smoothies, Breville the Super Q is the option for you (also known as Sage the Super Q in the UK). This powerhouse blender wouldn't look out of place in a professional kitchen. It's also got a personal blending cup with a travel lid to make smoothies for when you're on the go.
It impressed us during tests with the 12-speed settings and the preset programs for creating crushed ices, smoothies, and more. The smoothie settings did an excellent job creating a silky mixture, and the green smoothie setting effectively mixed up veggies. It was simple to use, too.
The Breville Super Q machine was designed to make larger quantities, and it struggled to mix the small mayonnaise recipes we tried. However, when it's filled, the blender copes well, and there are no leaks.
This blender is excellent if you have a large household or want to make large quantities of mixtures in one go. The machine is also pretty tall, measuring 18.1 inches/ 46cm high.
Read our full Breville the Super Q review
The best value KitchenAid blender
The KitchenAid K150 is a worthy contender for a place on your kitchen countertop. While this may be KitchenAid’s entry-level blender, it certainly doesn’t compromise on power. On test, we found that it quickly pulverized fruit and vegetables and made a great mayo. If you’re a cocktail fan, a durable blender that can easily crush ice is a must-have, and this model won’t disappoint you. It’s a great all-rounder.
The blender comes with a 1.5-quart / 1.4-liter plastic pitcher and has three-speed settings. While you won’t find any presets for making different dishes such as smoothies and sauces, we think this will appeal to those that want a simplistic blender that looks stylish too.
It doesn’t come with many accessories, such as individual blending cups. However, we think that’s acceptable considering this is the most-affordable blender KitchenAid offers.
Read our full KitchenAid K150 Blender review
How to choose the best blender for you
When selecting the best blender for you, start by identifying the type of blender you need. Jug blenders have a blade inside the plastic or glass receptacle, which spins when connected to the motor in the base units. As a result, they can blend in large quantities but the downside is that they are also usually bulky.
Smoothie blenders, also known as personal blenders, come with a small plastic cup rather than a jug. Fill the cup with your ingredients, then attach the blade, flip the cup upside down and connect to the base. When the ingredients are blended to your liking, remove from the base, unscrew the blade, and screw on a to-go lid, then take your drink with you.
Finally, there are also immersion blenders to consider. These are really useful for soup, where you can blend your soup in the pot instead of having to pour it into a separate blending appliance. Often referred to as hand blenders or stick blenders, immersion blenders are designed to be inserted into a saucepan or container of ingredients you want to puree. These compact appliances should be swirled around in the liquid while the blade spins to ensure it’s blended uniformly – but you need to be careful if you don't want soup shooting everywhere. For more advice on this, it would be worth taking a look at our jug blenders vs immersion blenders guide.
Things to look for in a blender
- Auto shut-off for safety
- BPA-free or glass jug
- Measurements on the jug
- Drip-free pouring spout
- Capacity of jug (counter top) / tumbler (portable)
- No. of speed and power settings
- Non-slip feet
- Available accessories
What can you use a blender for?
Blenders can be used to blend, smooth or pulse a variety of foods (and liquids) depending on the type of blender you need. For example, if you just want to make simple smoothies and soups then a straightforward blender with not too many features and functions will be suffice. If, however, you want to smooth-out hot soups or pulse small, hard ingredients such as nuts then you will need to look out for the blender spec (and our reviews) which talks about this capability.
Blenders can also be used for making a healthy drink on-the-go. Portable and one-cup blenders cater for this. You'll often find that they are also much easier to clean than the larger countertop blenders, simply because there are fewer components to it.
If you're short of countertop space then a blender can sometimes even be used as a food processor. When we investigated whether or not can a blender be used as a food processor we found that hybrid blenders that come with a food processor attachment can do many of the jobs food processors can do, and while we wouldn't recommend them for serious processing they're great for smaller jobs.
Which blender is best for smoothies?
If you’re looking for the best blender to make smoothies in, we’d recommend opting for a dedicated smoothie maker rather than a jug or immersion blender. As mentioned above, these feature a cup that the blade assembly screws onto before being attached to the base. Once blending is complete, the blade assembly can be switched for a to-go lid that includes a spout, letting you sip the drink without having to decant it first. Our pick is the Ninja Personal Blender and Smoothie Maker QB3001, as it strikes the right balance between price and the ability to blitz fresh produce into a smooth, grit-free drink.
However, there’s no way to add liquid during blending, so you can’t use it to emulsify ingredients, such as when making mayonnaise. In this case, we recommend the Breville the Super Q, as it comes with a pitcher so you can add liquid during blending. It’s also powerful enough to crush ice and pulverize nuts and come with a travel cup for smoothies - although you will need to decant the drink from the jug into the cup.
Blenders vs juicers
While juicers and blenders look similar, they perform slightly different tasks. Blenders use sharp blades to break down the contents of the blending jug. This means everything in the jug is turned into a smooth mixture. Juicers, however, extract liquid and leave behind the rest of the fruits or vegetables. As you might expect from the name, juicers are primarily used to make fresh juice, so they can be pretty limiting, whereas blenders give you the means to make everything from smoothies to dips.
For all the pros and cons of these appliances, head to our full feature on Blenders vs. juicers: what’s the difference?
How do I clean a blender?
Staying on top of cleaning your blender is vital if you want it to last as long as possible and if you want to avoid any nasty odors building up. You can place many blending jugs inside the dishwasher, but you can also clean them by adding warm water and dish soap to the blending jug, putting the lid on, and blending up the soapy solution.
If you’re struggling to get rid of any stubborn stains, create your cleaning paste using one tablespoon of baking soda and mix it with one teaspoon of white vinegar. You can add this solution to the stains using a clean scrubbing brush or a clean toothbrush.
For more handy hacks, read our how to clean a blender feature.
How we test blenders
To compare each blender, we’ve spent hours in the kitchen preparing bowlfuls of mayonnaise, and blending pineapple, spinach, and Greek yogurt into a smoothie. As well as assessing how smooth the sauce and smoothie are, we’re also looking for ingredients that are well-combined without any curdling and whether there is residue trapped under the blade or if the elements have leaked from the base lid during blending.
We also evaluate how finely and evenly the blenders chop ice and nuts and compare how easy they are to use. Finally, for each model, we rate how loud they are, how durable and easy to clean the body and parts are, and the valuable accessories they come with, such as a tamper for moving ingredients closer to the blade, extra jugs, or containers, and recipe booklets for inspiration.
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