Best Personal Blenders

The GE G8BCAASSPSS rates only so-so when it comes to pulverizing ice, but it still crushes our icy drinks test. So if you choose the right ingredients, it’ll whip up yummy smoothies—or piña coladas, daiquiris, and margaritas. It also aces our purée test, so you can serve hearty blended soups, too. This 1,000-watt, multiple-speed blender got high marks for durability, and our testers found it very convenient to use. It comes with a 64-ounce blending jar and two personal-sized blending cups.

Preparing drinks and soups for one is a cinch with the high-performing Ninja BL770. This 1,500-watt personal blender consistently turns out thick soups and smoothies, earning an exemplary rating in our purée test and a very good score in our icy drinks test. It also has some nifty features (like touchpad controls) and earns a very good convenience score. It comes with a one-year warranty.

The 1,000-watt Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System BN801 personal blender doesn’t just make great smoothies—it’s a top performer all around. In addition to mastering our icy drinks test, this blender is excellent at puréeing. It also has a pulse function so you can whip up creamy mayonnaise or pancake mix with ease. As a brand, Ninja full-sized blenders received a favorable score for reliability and an average one for owner satisfaction in CR’s latest member survey. All Ninja blenders come with a one-year warranty.

The powerful 1,600-watt Ninja Twisti Duo SS151 is excellent at making smoothies and very good at puréeing. It also gets top marks for durability but is just average at ice-crushing. The model we tested came with a 34-ounce blending jar, a smaller single-serve cup, and a recipe booklet.

The 3-cup, 1,000-watt Beast Blender packs a punch, hitting CR’s icy drinks and puréeing tests out of the park. This personal blender is easy to use and incredibly durable—but it’s not the best at crushing ice. It comes with a travel-ready drinking vessel with a cap, so you can take your morning smoothie on the go, and it has a two-year warranty. 

The 1,000-watt Ninja BL480 Personal Blender is one of the most wallet-friendly top-rated personal blenders in our tests. It delivers strong performance across the board, snagging near-top-level ratings in our crushed ice and icy drinks tests—it whips up mixed drinks and thick smoothies with ease. It’s just as nifty at puréeing raw ingredients like cauliflower, broccoli, and pumpkin into delicious soups. As a brand, Ninja received very good predicted reliability and average owner satisfaction ratings in CR’s members survey. This model comes with a one-year warranty.

The 600-watt NutriBullet Original NBR-0801 Personal is a mixed bag overall. It’s a great value that nailed the functional aspects of our lab testing—earning excellent ratings for ice crushing, making icy drinks, pureéing raw vegetable ingredients into a soup, and durability. That elevates it as one of the highest-rated, most budget-friendly, and lightest personal blenders (4 pounds). But it disappoints with mediocre ratings for predicted reliability, owner satisfaction, noise, and convenience (it’s push-down operated). So while it can make excellent smoothies, soups, and salsas, it can also develop issues within the first four years of ownership. It has one speed and comes with 18-ounce and 16-ounce cups.

For a double dose of green, you can match this NutriBullet Pro 900 Dark Green Personal blender to your healthy spinach, green apple, or pear smoothies. This blender can craft thick, creamy smoothies and purée raw ingredients for excellent hearty soups. Split pea anyone? It’s fairly noisy, especially if you add ice—and this unit is a mediocre ice crusher. Another push-down-to-operate model, the 900-watt blender comes with a recipe booklet and an 18-ounce cup, and it will remind you to eat your greens.