The 5 Best Budget Blenders - Spring 2025

The best budget blender we've tested is the Calphalon ActiveSense. It's a great option if you want a multi-purpose blender for around $150. This blender comes with a 64oz main jar with a two-part lid and has a very versatile performance for its price. You'll have no problem crushing big batches of ice in its main jar or making a mostly smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like kale and fruit. It can also hot blend, so you can use it for recipes like soups and sauces. Plus, it comes with a personal jar, which helps it make smooth blends with smaller batches of ingredients, and a travel lid, so you can easily take single-serve smoothies on the go.

That said, using it for thicker mixtures requires a long blending time and quite a bit of effort, so it's not ideal for recipes like nut butter and hummus. It's decently well-built, but its motor base doesn't have a very premium feel. However, it's easy to clean by hand, and all of its components are dishwasher-safe.

If you want a blender with a glass jar, consider the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar. This blender has a smaller 48oz capacity compared to the Calphalon ActiveSense's 64oz, but its pitcher is made of glass, which is more scratch and odor-resistant than plastic. While the blender doesn't perform quite as well overall, it's inexpensive and still offers a good performance with a variety of recipes. It makes well-blended soups, even with fibrous ingredients, and can hot blend, which is a nice touch at this price point. Blending silky smoothies is easy, and you'll also find a 24oz personal jar in the box so you can easily take them on the go.

It doesn't tackle ice as well as the Calphalon but can make decently uniform crushed ice if you use a smaller batch of about six ice cubes. It can make very smooth nut butter, but, like the Calphalon, it requires quite a bit of effort. On the plus side, it's very quiet, and its removable blade assembly makes it easy to clean by hand.

If you plan to use your blender for smoothies, consider the nutriBullet Blender Combo. The Calphalon ActiveSense and the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar each come with a personal jar for single-serves, but the nutribullet comes with a pair of 34oz jars as well as a 64oz pitcher. It makes a smoother blend with small batches, making it a better choice for well-blended smoothies with stubborn ingredients like frozen fruit and kale. It also makes a similarly smooth blend when you use the main jar for a big batch.

While it performs best for blending fibrous ingredients, it's not the most versatile blender listed here. According to the manufacturer, you shouldn't use it for ice crushing unless you add liquid to the jar as well. It's also tricky to use for recipes like nut butter and hummus. That said, it's decently sturdy and relatively quiet for a full-sized blender. Most of its components are also dishwasher-safe, though you'll have to wash the personal jar blade assembly by hand.

If you like to blend frozen drinks like margaritas and need a big pitcher to serve a crowd, consider the Ninja Professional Blender 1000. This blender pulverizes ice cubes into snow-like ice in no time. The 72-ounce pitcher can handle big batches of blended cocktails or frozen drinks, and its lid has a pouring spout to help prevent spills while serving. It has a decent build quality, which is especially important if you regularly use it for tough tasks like crushing ice. Unfortunately, the sharp blades make cleaning by hand difficult, but the jar and lid are dishwasher-safe.

This blender is less versatile than the previous picks since it isn't safe to use for hot blending. It also makes a grainy puree with fibrous ingredients, which might be disappointing if you want to make tropical drinks with pineapple or add leafy greens to a frozen smoothie. There are no blending programs available, so you must start and stop the blender manually. You might prefer the Ninja Professional Plus Blender with Auto-iQ if you like to multi-task while blending. It's slightly more expensive but has a few programs, including 'Smoothie' and 'Ice Crushing.' Otherwise, it has a similar design and performance.

If you want to spend as little as possible on a full-size blender, consider the Beautiful High Performance Blender with Touch-Activated Display. For under $50, this blender offers a solid, versatile performance. Unlike most other blenders listed here, it only comes with a single jar, a 52oz plastic pitcher. However, it's well-built and has a fairly versatile performance. It's a good option if you're looking for the best cheap blender for smoothies, as it makes a mostly smooth blend with fibrous ingredients like fruit and easily crushes ice. It's available in more color variants than most blenders, too, so you can find something to suit your style.

Its controls include a few automatic blending programs, like 'Ice Crush' and 'Smoothie,' but for manual blending, you're limited to two different speed settings. It's not the best for thicker recipes like nut butter since you have to scrape the jar often to keep the ingredients moving and get good results. You'll also have to stop the blender to change speed settings, which is unusual and makes it less convenient to use.

It's important to note that this blender is only sold by the brand at Walmart, and it's tough to find at the moment, but if you can get your hands on one, it's a solid pick at a wallet-friendly price.