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Over the years, we’ve used a lot of different blenders and I’ve written several blender reviews. Cooking from scratch three times a day for eight people gives me a LOT of time to test out blenders while making sauces, smoothies and more. My favorite blender has changed a few times over the years so I figured an updated review was in order!
What to Look For in a Quality Blender
A good blender can last years, so it is worth doing some research before purchasing one!
Before deciding which blender will work for you, consider how often you’ll be using it, how big it needs to be and your budget. I also looked at the warranty length of each blender and how well it could fit in a cabinet or under a counter.
Based on these criteria, I’m sharing my favorite blenders that we’ve used over the years and why. These are our favorites in each category: high-powered, budget-friendly, easiest for kids, and immersion.
Best High Speed Blender
High speed blenders are all the rage. With the continued popularity of smoothies in recent years, these blenders have become the most-used kitchen appliances in many kitchens. We’ve personally tried several different iterations of the top two contenders: Blendtec and Vitamix and while they are both amazing, I think we will stick with our current favorite for many, many years…
My Top Choice: Vitamix 750 Professional Series
We have this brushed stainless steel Vitamix 750 Professional and I love it! It has a 2.2 horsepower motor and blends quickly and completely.
The biggest (and possibly only) downside to this blender? The price.
Most people won’t want to drop $600+ on a blender and there are some less expensive options (see below) that work almost as well. We opted for this one because it is professional grade and our blender gets a lot of daily use making nut butters, smoothies and even soups.
Our very first Vitamix was a refurbished 5200 that we saved up for months and months to get as newlyweds. It was such an improvement over our $30 wedding gift blender and we used it for many years. The only downside was that it didn’t fit well under the cabinet on the counter and the jar was too big to fit in any of our kitchen cabinets. This meant that with very limited counter space, it was always in the middle of the counter in two pieces and in the way. We used that blender daily for over five years and it was still running like a champ when we passed it on to a family member.
The newer professional series fixes this with a shorter design and is our daily blender now. In fact, we now store ours in a kitchen cabinet so it isn’t on the counter at all!
Vitamix Pros & Cons
Pros:
- BPA free carafe
- 2.2 horsepower motor
- Spill-proof lid
- New models fit under counter or store in cabinet
- Four blades for faster blending
- Choice of many restaurants and bars for its consistent and resilient performance
- “Self Cleaning”- if you put soapy water in it, it will clean itself and just needs to be rinsed
Cons:
- Pricy
- Loud (due to the powerful motor, though this is true with all high-speed blenders)
- Not dishwasher safe
Blendtec vs. Vitamix
A few years ago, I had the chance to use a Blendtec for a while. Blendtec is another great option with comparable engine speed and performance. At the time, I liked that the Blendtec was shorter and easier to store, though as mentioned, that has been resolved with newer Vitamix models.
Both have good warranties, BPA free carafes, and are a great choice as a home blender. The reason that the new Vitamix still wins in my book is that the lid has a latch system that stays on (we had a couple accidents with the Blendtec) and the Vitamix has a manual control system vs. the computerized Blendtec system. Also, Vitamix has 4 blades to Blendtec’s two.
So Vitmix wins, though Blendtec is a great runner-up.
More Budget Friendly Vitamix
We have the top of the line Professional Series Vitamix but there are other great models that cost about half the price.
Best choice: The Certified Refurbished Vitamix 5300 still fits under the cabinet on a counter, has a long-lasting powerful motor, and is about half the price of the professional series.
Best Budget Friendly Blender
If a restaurant-grade high speed blender isn’t in the budget, there are some lower-priced options that perform almost as well! In fact, looking back, these would have been a great choice instead of the Vitamix when our budget was much tighter several years ago.
Top Choice: Ninja Pro
The Ninja Professional Blender is a great value and a great blender. It has close to the power of a true high speed blender and can do many of the same things at a fraction of the price.
We got to try this one at a rental house while on vacation. I was impressed with the power of the Ninja, and at under $100 it is a much less costly alternative to the two big brands. The Ninja doesn’t quite measure up to the power of the Vitamix but it can accomplish almost all of the same functions and has great reviews.
Easiest Blender for Kids
My older kids easily work most kitchen appliances and can even safely handle a chef’s knife (thanks to the Kids Cook Real Food course), but high speed blenders are not a toy, and I don’t let our younger kids use ours. It’s too easy (even for an adult) to leave a spoon in and blow out the motor or not latch the top and paint the kitchen. (I’m guilty of that one!)
A while back, we got a Magic Bullet as a gift. I almost didn’t take it out of the box because we use our Vitamix for everything, but I wondered if it would be a good option for the kids and decided to try it because it doesn’t take up much room.
I found that the size and speed are great for kids to make individual smoothies as long as they know the proportions and not to overfill. It was also convenient for chopping foods and making things like guacamole.
I wouldn’t consider it comparable to the options above and wouldn’t have purchased it, but it has been a convenient and inexpensive option to let the kids use.
Best Immersion Blender
I could write an ode to my immersion blender because I use it so often. We had a Cuisinart immersion blender for almost a decade and when it eventually died, we replaced it with the Oxa 4-in-1 Immersion Blender and we absolutely love it!
Immersion blenders are fantastic when you don’t need the power (or cleanup) of a high speed blender. I also use this all the time for blending soups and sauces in the pan without having to risk transferring them to a blender. Since the immersion blender is stainless steel, this also minimizes plastic touching hot foods.
As a bonus, the OXA has attachments that whisk and that chop (great for onions without the tears). Personally, I consider both a regular high speed blender and an immersion blender to be necessary kitchen tools since I use them in such different ways.
There are lots of options available when it comes to blenders, but these are my personal favorites and have met the needs of our family.
What is your favorite blender? Do you agree with my blender reviews? Share below!
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We recently bought a refurbished vitamix. It has a shorter and wider profile than the one you have pictured but our cupboards are so low that it still doesn’t fit. I am very happy with it. The only thing that concerns me is that it doesn’t lock to the base, so when mixing something that requires the tamper and adjusting speed manually, I am afraid it will come off while running. I did think of getting the BlenDTec but hadn’t seen as many reviews of it. I’m glad to know it compares to the vitamix for future reference.
I’ve had my Vitamix for over 10 years and loved it, but it is big and i don’t like cleaning it either. This year i got the Nutribullet (not Magicbullet) and it is now my go to unit. It makes green smoothies fast, the clean up is a breeze, and it’s footprint is small so my counter doesn’t look cluttered. They are carrying these at Costco for the best price, you can also get one at Bed Bath and Beyond with a 20% off coupon.
I bought the Blendtec last summer, and I love it! I had the Vitamix years ago, and it was OK. I own every kind of juicer (and fancy blenders) there is, and they’re fine too, if you have the counter space, and like to spend your time cleaning the accessories.
This one fits under the counter, I can put the whole fruit/vegetable into it (I do remove stems), and out comes a juice that you can dilute anyway you want. I’ve made flour, butters, batters, etc…
I don’t cook much anymore (lazy), but that I use! I can throw in stuff that’s looking ‘tired’ (but not moldy or rotten), parsley stems, celery leaves, etc… and out comes fresh nutrition.
I throw in pills that I’m too lazy to take, leftover herb teas, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, Vitamin C powder, gelatin, lecithin, Inositol, black seeds, flax, etc…
Handmade in the USA, and there are NO sharp blades to wear out. Cleans easily, and the special spatulas are perfect. No waste. I bought the smaller jar too.
The counter says I’ve used it 158 times since last July. That’s pretty good for me. Did I mention I’m lazy? 😀
Only 158 times? We have used our over 1000 times since we got it a little over a year ago. We LOVE our Blendtec.
So, you use your blendtec as a juicer too? I was considering buying a juicer, but if I can do the same with a blendtec…. that might be the way to go. I love juices with ginger in it… how is the blendtec with making ginger into juice? How is it making small amounts of juice? Thanks!
It will make anything with juice into juice, but let me tell you lol. From personal experience, what is actually like 20 oz juiced is like 40 oz in the blender. And pulpy and gross (I am talking about the mean green lol). So if you are juicing and trying to not gag over a bunch of veggies, do yourself a favor and juice them! However, I LOVE my blendtec for everything else 🙂
I have a Vitamix and bought a Blendtec because I thought I would like it (because of the presets). The next day I returned it because I didn’t like it. It took a long time to make nut butters because it didn’t have a tamper like the Vitamix. Also when I made smoothies with the pre set functions it always left unblended chunks in the top. (I have a family of 6 so we need to be able to blend a lot of smoothie at one time) I recently bought a new Vitamix that has presets like the Blendtec and I love it even more than the original. I can fill and even over fill the Vitamix and it blends everything perfectly every time!
I also have my vitamix with the stainless steel container and I love it. I have used both its heating and cooling capabilities for making soups or ice cream.
Check on e-bay or Craigslist for either blender to save some money. I love my Vitamix but would like a blender easier to clean. Thank you for the comparison.
I would really like to see you do a review of the Ninja Ultima. I feel it should be classed in the Vitamix/Blendtec category as it has same features and does the same as these others do. New price is $249.00. and worth every penny!
Oh no! Not even fair to compare the poor ninja to Vitamix or Blendtec. Sorry, that ninja doesn’t last with heavy use. Mine didn’t last a full year and what I needed replaced and fixed the warranty didn’t cover. Never have had a single issue with my vitamix- which I purchased for $259, by the way. They are simply not in the same category. I can tell you from experience.
Wow, great deal you got on your vitamix! I’ve used my heavily since I purchased it in 1982 or so, but I spent over $750 for it!!
I also would not recommend Ninja purely based on bad quality experience. For 1 I barely ever use the blender attachment I use the food processor attachment BUT im not really a fan of the blender part anyways….. The plastic on the bottom of the food processor were the screws are is ll cracked and damaged, if I were to remove the screws the plastic would just crumble and would be useless, as for now it still works but I wish I could clean in there, I can’t though as I would need to remove the screws so I’m afraid there is bacteria in there, for now I just use the sanitize setting on the dishwasher every time i use it. So disappointing, I don’t know how long the warranty lasts but I haven’t contacted them as I’m pretty sure it was only a year and we’ve had it longer than that… We don’t have a lot of money so a vitamix/blendtec is a far off dream, but I’m disappointed that our ninja is already showing signs of poor quality. Will never purchase a Ninja product again… I know this isn’t about the actual blender, but it is about the brand and the quality they have, or rather don’t have…
I have a vitamix 5200 and a Ninja extreme the Vitamix is a MUCH MUCH MUCH better as the Ninja is not in the same category as the Excellent Vitamix
The Vitamix 5200 makes a smoothie that is extremely smooth they Ninja on the other hand chops the food into Larger particle size and there for smoothies with the Ninja are Not very smooth
Wow, I’m astonished. I still use the same Vitamix I bought in the early 70s with the stainless steel container. I LOVE my vitamix. I’d recommend getting an old vitamix with a stainless container, they still come up for sale on line. I keep trying to get Vitamix to make a retro version in stainless steel, I think people would love that. I don’t like the new plastic containers …
I never knew they had stainless steel versions! If you can find one, let me know!
I looked this week on ebay and there are quite a few on there …
Kathi, I also have a stainless steel Vitamix from the 70s (it was a hand me down), and I love it although recently it has started leeking out the side where the little black rubber band thing goes around. I don’t know how to fix it and I called and they told me it would cost $89 for a replacement blade set and that’s all they can do. Which means I might as well just try to find another old Vitamix… Have you ever had that issue with yours??
Hi. We had a SS Vitamix which we bought from a friend moving overseas. It worked great for a few years but then finally started showing its age – leakage, motor issues, etc. We called Vitamix and they offered us a $100 credit towards a refurbished new model, so we ended up getting the 5200 for $225 because of the credit. You may try calling them and ask for that if you don’t mind upgrading to the newer model. Good luck!
Sierra: I had to buy a blade assembly once. Mine never leaked there though, although my black rubber trim piece is long gone …
Ah this is soo awesome! Thank you so much Katie for sharing this review! I was brainwashed to think Vitamix was better and kept telling my husband I wanted the vitamix, nothing else. I now have a change of heart and will tell my husband, yet again, that he is right. Thank you so much!
Xo
I’ve been thinking about selling my Vitamix and getting a Blendtec because of the Blendtec’s twister jar–I’ve heard that it makes it much easier to get the food out of the pitcher and I assume that also means less waste. What about making coconut butter, nut/seed butter, or other thick, pasty things? Did you do any of those in the Blendtec and which did you find easier to clean?
The Blendtec was *slightly* easier to clean because of the wider mouth of pitcher.
Thanks so much for letting me know–that relieves a lot of buyer’s regret I’ve had!
Any idea on if either of those companies will be offering a glass ir stainless steel carafe? Love the blenders, but continue to be uneasy about the plastic carafe–especially when using hot liquids.
I own a vitamix and have made soap in it using real lye. Trust me, the plastic is not affected by heat or even caustic chemicals. It’s tough! 🙂
I read soup instead of soap and thought man I’m not eating at her house lol. But good to know about the heat thing, specifically I want to make soups with mine.
Just another side to things. I have a Vitamix….my friend a Blendtex. We got them about the same time. She had a problem with a rubber gasket that began to degrade and took it back. She got another Blendtex and in about a year the same thing happened. She then got a Vitamix. I have had my Vitamix for about 3 years and could not be happier. I have never had a Blendtex but would not consider knowing what problems my friend had with hers. But I do love your site. Thanks for all.
I used a Blendtec for a year and a half and I never had any issues with it at all. Just my two cents. I think you get lemons in any electrical appliance sometimes, including cars.
I purchased a Vitamix knockoff…the healthMaster Elite. When I say knock off, it has near identical, possibly interchangeable parts. It is slightly higher in specs than a Vitamix and a lifetime warranty. It is the the go to machine in my house. I’ve tried other blenders and with the exception of an actual Vitamix, nothing comes close to performance. it’s a great option if you’re absolutely looking for something under $200. I got mine on Amazon. To resolve the storage height issue I flip the lid upside down and it fits…just barely. The plunger goes in the utensil drawer.
Blendtec sucks when your warranty is up and you need replacement inside parts they will not give sell them to yo you need to ship back for them to repairu that’s a bunch of bull they don’t back their product with replacement motor parts