We Blended and Blitzed with 19 Personal Blenders to Find the Best Ones for Smoothies

In many households, the day begins with the sound of a blender at work. Thankfully, when it comes to blending up a smoothie for one, the days of painstakingly attaching blades, rubber gaskets, and various bits and bobs to a full-sized blender are over. Instead, you can use a smaller, simpler personal blender—one that often comes with caps for taking smoothies and such on the go.

In order to find the best personal blenders, we dove into testing some of the internet’s favorite and most highly rated machines. We conducted tests to examine each blender’s power, usability, and durability and how easy they were to clean. Of the 19 we tested, six distanced themselves from the pack.

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Personal Blender

Zwilling Enfinigy Personal Blender

$170 $100 at Amazon $130 $100 at Sur La Table $100 at Wayfair

This personal blender was not only aesthetically pleasing, it was also easy to use, blended silky smooth smoothies, and was effortless to clean. 

The Most Efficient Personal Blender

Nutribullet Pro 900 Personal Blender

$110 at Amazon $130 at Walmart $80 at Target

This blender’s power, speed, and whopping 32-ounce capacity impressed us immediately. This is a great option for those in a rush since it blends smoothies in a mere 20 seconds (trust us, we timed it).

The Best Portable Personal Blender

Ninja Blast Portable Blender

$60 $50 at Amazon $60 $50 at Target $60 at Home Depot

With just two buttons, this conveniently cordless blender is easy to use and reliably produces creamy, fully incorporated smoothies. It’s available in a bunch of fun colors, too.

The Best Budget Personal Blender

Ninja BN301 Nutri-Blender Plus Compact Personal Blender

$80 $70 at Amazon $106 at Walmart $80 at Home Depot

You could argue that all personal blenders are good for making smoothies but with its 900-watt motor, this one packs a real punch. It whips ingredients into shape for single-serve smoothies and shakes with a velvety texture. The fact that it comes with three blending cups is a win for households with more than one smoothie drinker—and it's very reasonably priced.

The Best Personal Blender to Splurge On

NutriBullet Ultra Personal Blender NB50500

$150 $115 at Amazon $120 at Williams-Sonoma View on Nutribullet.com

NutriBullet has long been a leader in the personal blender scene and if you’re serious about your smoothies, the Ultra is a fine splurge thanks to its six sharp blades, powerful 1200-watt motor, and quality construction that makes it a pleasure to use. It comes with accessories, too—including stainless steel straws and a cleaning brush.

The Best Design-Forward Personal Blender

SMEG Personal Blender

$215 $163 at Amazon $170 at Williams-Sonoma View on Smeg.com

SMEG’s aesthetics are always on point, but good looks don’t mean much without great performance to back them up. The two simple settings on this personal blender make it simple to operate and while it's not the best personal blender in the world, it gets the job done proficiently.

The Tests

• Kale and Mango Smoothies Test: We blended a combination of raw kale, frozen mango, orange juice, and fresh banana in each blender to see how they handled fibrous and frozen ingredients.
• Ease of Use and Cleaning Tests: While testing, we considered how easy the blender was to set up and use, how it performed during blending, what the final smoothie’s consistency was, and if the blender was complicated to clean.
• Blend Ice and Water Test: To test the durability of some of the machines (except those that explicitly warned against crushing ice), we combined water and ice cubes and attempted to use each blender to create a slush mixture.
• Blend Milkshakes Test (Winners-Only): We tested our top picks by blending a hardy mixture of ice cream, ice, and milk. During testing, we paid close attention to ease of use, the consistency of the milkshake, and whether cleaning was a challenge.

What Is a Personal Blender?

Personal blenders are often designed for one to two servings and include streamlined settings and instructions. Their control panels are made up of one to three buttons or knobs, rather than a fleet of options. This blender usually consists of a blending cup, an extractor blade that attaches directly to the cup, and a motor base. Since there is no lid, ingredients are all added ahead of time—once the blender is running, there isn't an opportunity to add anything else mid-blend. A handful of personal blenders have automated, timed settings for smoothies, while others rely on the user’s discretion.

What We Learned

Automated Blending Settings Didn't (Necessarily) Make Blending Easier

There’s something to be said for convenience. When we started testing, we were curious to see if the personal blenders with automated blending settings stood out against the manually controlled ones. Would we be able to turn on the machine and let it run without paying too much attention? Would the finished product be flawlessly blended? The answer was a little more complicated.

Our winner, the ZWILLING Enfinigy Personal Blender, was one such blender with automated settings. Typically, each automated blending setting ran for a set amount of time, and during the cycle, the machine would stop and start at certain junctures (we think this was in order to allow for ingredients to settle back down near the blade). Unlike other models with automated settings. the Zwilling’s lasted for 40 seconds and resulted in a creamy, well-mixed final product. We also liked that it had an easy-to-use interface with simple options (on/off, pulse, and smoothie) if we didn’t want to go the automatic route. 

On the other hand,  Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro Compact Personal Blender's automated setting lasted longer, clocking in at 50 seconds. The setting had allotted stop and start times, during which the ingredients were able to settle and shift so they could catch on the blade during the next rotation. However, it was very, very loud (like our parents at punk concerts, we spent the entire cycle reflecting on the merits of earplugs.) And, when the cycle ended, there was still a chunk of unblended kale in the mix.

What Size (and Width) Blending Cup Was Best?

During testing, we poured out a fair amount of smoothies, slush, and milkshakes. It quickly became apparent that Goldilocks would have had an opinion: some blending cups were too small, some were too big, and some were just right. While we were pleased overall with the performance of the NutriBullet NB9-1301 K Pro, we did find the larger diameter of the opening led to light spillage. When tilting the cup to pour, all of the liquids—and any icy bits—rushed forward at the same time. On the other hand, the size of the cup (which had a 32-ounce capacity) was great for adding ingredients since larger items, such as leafy kale or misshapen frozen fruits, didn’t need to be squished down or added individually to fit. These similarities were shared between the Nutribullet RX (which was one of the largest with a 4.5-inch diameter opening), Nutribullet Personal Blender, Nutribullet NB9-1301 K Pro, and the BELLA Rocket Extract PRO Power Blender.

Smaller blending cups, particularly the Ninja Fit with its 3-inch wide opening, were slim enough that pouring was mess-free. However, the Ninja Fit’s narrow mouth made adding ingredients challenging. We had to push the kale leaves down into the cup rather than simply dropping them in. We found the ideal cups measured somewhere in-between: the Zwilling Enfinigy Personal Blender cup was three-and-a-half inches and was neither too wide nor too narrow.

Only Some Personal Blenders Were Able to Crush Ice

This may come as no surprise, but personal blenders did not pack the same punch as traditional blenders. For example, a handful of the personal blenders had instructions that warned against ice crushing, so we could only test some of them in the ice and water slushie test. Of those, almost all of them struggled with crushing the ice evenly. 

The Cuisinart CPB-300 350 Watt BPA-Free Blender, Ninja Fit, and the ZWILLING Enfinigy Personal Blender all required multiple stops and starts during blending. This was because the blades stopped catching the ice and water, so we had to shift the ingredients for them to catch again. The final results consisted of a slush with a few larger chips of ice.

The real standout was the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro Compact Personal Blender, which turned the ice and water into a lovely slush. This machine had a particular advantage in this test: it had a specific “crush” setting that included an automatic program. However, the blender was extremely loud while working, especially when the blades were not catching any ice; this was usually because the slush shot up the sides of the cup and all that was left was a thin layer of water on the bottom.

The Less Counter Space Used, the Better

Counter space can be precious. As we tested each blender, we found ourselves moving them from the table to the counter, to the table again. Not only were the largest machines, such as the Ninja BN401 Nutri Pro Compact Personal Blender and the Nutribullet RX, quite heavy (the bases were four pounds, seven ounces, and six pounds, five ounces, respectively), but they also took up a lot of space. The significant weight and size were hindrances to our limited counter space, and these aspects also made storing and moving inconvenient.

Cleaning Was Easy—As Long As We Did So Immediately

One of our least favorite parts about using a traditional blender, as opposed to a personal blender, is cleaning (we couldn’t count the number of times we almost lost a rubber gasket down the InSinkErator). We discovered many of the personal blenders were not as high maintenance. For one, each blender only had three parts: the motor base, the blending cup, and the extractor blade (which also served as the lid). That meant only two parts—and maybe a travel lid, if used—needed to be cleaned. 

Even more conveniently, personal blenders were easy to fit into the dishwasher when disassembled. Every personal blender we tested included top rack dishwasher-safe blending cups and lids. On the other hand, whether or not extractor blades were dishwasher-safe depended on the blender itself (though, in general, we don’t recommend washing blades in a dishwasher since it can dull them faster). 

When hand-washing with soap and water, the plastic blending cups were easy to grip and less likely to shatter if dropped. Washing was painless as long as we made sure to rinse the blending vessels and extractor blades immediately after use. Otherwise, crud got stuck in the grooves. Blenders like the Cuisinart and the Nutribullet RX had instructions for cleaning tough messes: simply add soapy, room-temperature water to the cup and blend, rinse, and then dry.

Who Should Buy a Personal Blender?

If you like smoothies and don't want to lug out a full-sized blender, then a personal blender could be a good choice for you. They're smaller than standard blenders with capacities ranging between eight and 32 ounces (in our tests, we preferred blenders with capacities between 20 and 32 ounces). Their small statures make them easier to stash away but come at a price in terms of power. However, they should still be able to blend a silky smoothie. They're also often more affordable than a full-sized blender, so if you want to save some moolah and like a smoothie now and then, they are a great option. Oh, and sometimes the blending jar doubles as a cup, so you can tote your smoothie wherever you go.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Personal Blender

A good personal blender should be easy to use, clean, and store. Ideally, it has a capacity ranging between 20 to 32 ounces, is powerful (and fast), and has a blending cup that pours smoothly.

Our Favorite Personal Blenders

The Best Personal Blender

Zwilling Enfinigy Personal Blender

$170 $100 at Amazon $130 $100 at Sur La Table $100 at Wayfair

What we liked: The Zwilling impressed us immediately. It was easy to use, as the control knob had three settings: on/off, pulse, and smoothie. We enjoyed that the settings included both a manual pulse option, as well as an automatically timed smoothie setting. This meant the user could choose their own adventure, rather than being stuck with only an automatic setting. Cleaning the Zwilling was especially easy too: typically, other machines had cross blades that were inset, meaning the extractor blade was set inside the lid, with grooved sides rising up on all sides. The Zwilling’s cross blade, on the other hand, was set on the topmost part of the lid and any nooks and crannies were along the outside for easy access when cleaning. The machine was also sleek, simple, and aesthetically pleasing. While it had a medium-sized motor base—measuring 5.75 inches wide—the square-shaped personal blender did not take up too much space on the counter. We were very pleased with how the Zwilling handled blending smoothies and milkshakes. The smoothie was even, creamy, and completely blended within the 40-second automated “smoothie” setting. 

What we didn’t like: At first, we assumed that the grooved plastic on the exterior of the blending cup would make it easy to grip. However, this particular blending cup was actually more challenging to open: the grooves on the base were too small for our fingers to fit within comfortably while twisting. The machine also struggled a bit with the milkshake, with some chunks of ice in the finished product. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 5 pounds
• Dimensions: 5.25 x 5.75 x 14.5 inches
• Cord length: 36 inches
• Capacity: 20 ounces
• Materials: BPA-free plastic, stainless steel
• Wattage: 500 watts
• Voltage: 120 volts
• Accessories: One to-go jar and one to-go lid
• Care instructions: The blender cup and drinking cup lid can be cleaned either in the dishwasher or by hand with dish soap; the blender lid can be run under running water and cleaned with a damp, lint-free cloth; the base can be cleaned with a damp, lint-free cloth

The Most Efficient Personal Blender

Nutribullet Pro 900 Personal Blender

$110 at Amazon $130 at Walmart $80 at Target

What we liked: For those looking for efficiency and ease of use, and who might want to make multiple servings, the Nutribullet NB9-1301 K Pro is a good pick. It completely shredded the kale and mango smoothie in a stunning 20 seconds, and we liked the spacious blending cup, which was a whopping 32 ounces, the largest we tested. It was easy to load, so we didn't need to squish or push down ingredients aggressively in order to make sure they fit inside the cup. The blender’s extractor blade lid was nice to grip when twisting and untwisting.

What we didn’t like: Alas, this Nutribullet was one of the machines with an explicit warning against ice crushing. Aside from that, our main complaint was the blending cup was very wide. While the width of it made loading very easy, we had to be careful when pouring so we didn't lean the cup too far forward, which led to the liquid crowding the mouth of the cup and spillage.

Key Specs

• Weight: 9.68 pounds
• Dimensions: 7.72 x 12.01 x 15.94 inches
• Cord length: 30 inches
• Capacity: 32 ounces
• Materials: Plastic, stainless steel
• Wattage: 900 watts
• Voltage: 110 volts
• Accessories: Two blending cups, one extractor blade, one cup ring without handle, two cup rings with handle, two lids
• Care instructions: It was recommended that the rubber gasket not be removed while cleaning; all parts (aside from the motor base and extractor blade) are top-rack dishwasher-safe; the blending cups, lids, and extractor blade can be hand washed with warm soapy water; the motor base can be wiped down with a damp, soapy sponge or dishcloth

The Best Portable Personal Blender

Ninja Blast Portable Blender

$60 $50 at Amazon $60 $50 at Target $60 at Home Depot

What we liked: This is a fun, sleek blender without a learning curve thanks to a lack of blending power levels—just a simple start/stop function that blends in 30-second intervals. We appreciate how intuitive the Ninja BLAST is, both for its fuss-free operation and how much quieter it was than most blenders we tested. It comes with a blending cup that twists easily onto the base, and its six sharp blades can spin right through ingredients—think spinach and protein powder—to create a creamy smoothie. This is a cordless blender, making it a truly portable blending solution. The whole blender fits in your hand like a big water bottle, so go ahead and take it to the office or pack it for a weekend road trip. And while the BLAST only comes with one blending cup, it’s ready to use as your drinking vessel, complete with a sip-friendly lid and carrying handle. 

What we didn’t like: You'll have to remember to keep it charged up via the included USB-C cable. This isn't as powerful as its corded siblings. The blade can be prone to getting stuck and we recommend starting the blender while the whole thing is inverted so that the blade can spin freely before encountering ingredients.

Key Specs

• Weight: 1.74 pounds
• Dimensions: 3.54 x 3.54 x 10.71 inches
• Cord length: Cordless
• Capacity: 18 ounces
• Materials: BPA-free plastic, stainless steel
• Wattage: 300 watts
• Voltage: 7.4 volts
• Accessories: USB-C rechargeable motor base, USB-C cable, one blending cup, one sip lid
• Care instructions: The lid and cup are dishwasher-safe, and can also be cleaned with a 30-second blend cycle with a drop of dish soap

The Best Budget Personal Blender

Ninja BN301 Nutri-Blender Plus Compact Personal Blender

$80 $70 at Amazon $106 at Walmart $80 at Home Depot

What we liked: The Nutri Blender Plus is extremely easy to use given that there’s no control panel—you just load your ingredients into one of the (three!) included cups, close it with the blade assembly, pop it on the base, and push it down to blend. The Nutri Blender Plus has an impressive 900-watt motor that makes quick work of ingredients and yields smooth, well-integrated drinks every time. We also like how the blades, cups, and lids are dishwasher-safe for easy clean-up. This is a basic blender, but will work well for households that drink a lot of smoothies and shakes; it even includes two spout lids.

What we didn’t like: While blending leafy greens like kale, sometimes we had to shake up the ingredients a few times to ensure all of the leaves were processed. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 5.34 pounds
• Dimensions: 4.7 x 4.7 x 13.8 inches
• Cord length: 31 inches
• Capacity: 20 ounces
• Materials: BPA-free plastic and stainless steel
• Wattage: 900 watts
• Voltage: 120 volts
• Accessories: Motor base, blade assembly, three blending cups, two spout lids, one storage lid
• Care instructions: Cups, lids, and blade assembly are dishwasher-safe (we recommend hand-washing the blades, though)

The Best Personal Blender to Splurge On

NutriBullet Ultra Personal Blender NB50500

$150 $115 at Amazon $120 at Williams-Sonoma View on Nutribullet.com

What we liked: This is a well-constructed machine. Both the motor base and the blending cups feel durable and sturdy. It made us silky mango, banana, and spinach smoothies. The cups are ready to drink out of (after you swap the blades for a lid, of course), and the package includes four stainless steel straws. Everything is quick to clean thanks to dishwasher-safe components. The Ultra is pricier than other personal blenders we tested, but it’s also the most powerful and can blend in two different capacities—either 24 or 32 ounces.

What we didn’t like: Because the NutriBullet Ultra is so powerful, it’s easy to over-blend. This isn’t necessarily a problem so much as something to keep in mind if you prefer smoothies with more texture.

Key Specs

• Weight: 11.28 pounds
• Dimensions: 5 x 4.75 x 7.9 inches
• Cord length: 29.5 inches
• Capacity: 32 or 24 ounces
• Materials: Stainless steel and titanium
• Wattage: 1200 watts
• Voltage: 220 volts
• Accessories: Motor base, blade assembly, one 32-ounce cup, one 24-ounce cup, one 24-ounce cup with handle, two lids, four straws, one cleaning brush
• Care instructions: Cups and lids are dishwasher-safe; hand-wash the blades

The Best Design-Forward Personal Blender

SMEG Personal Blender

$215 $163 at Amazon $170 at Williams-Sonoma View on Smeg.com

What we liked: The retro aesthetic of SMEG is always a hit, and, fortunately, this little blender is worth buying for more than just its good looks. We liked that it has low and high settings (which other contenders did not) and that speed is controlled by a dial rather than buttons. Other than needing an extra 15 to 30 seconds to work through thick ingredients, the SMEG produced effortlessly blended smoothies. The build quality is what we’d expect from this upscale brand, with durable materials and a well-heeled fit and finish. This is a personal blender you’ll want to leave on your countertop rather than stashing away in a cupboard. We liked the cord wrap on the blender's underside, too, for easy storage.

What we didn’t like: It’s quite loud. It’s also worth noting that the blending cup does not fit into most vehicle cupholders.

Key Specs

• Weight: 4 pounds
• Dimensions: 5.5 x 5.5 x 13 inches
• Cord length: 39 inches
• Capacity: 20 ounces
• Materials: BPA-free plastic and stainless steel
• Wattage: 250 watts
• Voltage: 120 volts
• Accessories: Motor base, two blending cups, two lids
• Care instructions: Cups are dishwasher-safe, wash blades by hand

The Competition

• Magic Bullet Portable Blender: This blender is easy to use (there’s only one button) and has a favorable price tag, but it struggled with frozen fruit and ice.
• Magic Bullet Mini Blender: The Mini worked well, but with 8- and 14-ounce cups, it is indeed mini. This one may be better suited to small servings of pesto or salad dressings rather than your morning smoothie.
• Dash Personal Portable USB Blender: The Dash has a cool design that’s perfect for on-the-go use, but it’s not ideal for blending ice or frozen ingredients. We also found the blades—two of which point up, the other two point out—difficult to properly clean.
• Starfrit 2-Speed Personal Blender: This blender is generally fine in terms of performance and appearance, but it’s difficult to properly twist and lock the blending cup onto the base. 
• Hamilton Beach Blend Now: The sleek, portable design is great, but we found the Hamilton Beach lacking in blending power, leaving us regularly having to shake or flip the cup around to redistribute ingredients.
• KitchenAid Go Cordless Personal Blender: KitchenAid’s personal blender failed to impress us. It lacks power and struggles to blend even soft ingredients.
• Elite Gourmet Hi-Q Nutri Smart Blender: The Hi-Q works well, but the included cup and lid aren’t very transit-friendly and the base is on the bulky side. 
• iCucina Personal Portable Bullet Blender: Being prone to overheating after just two minutes of use means the iCucina was not our favorite blender.
• Kitchensmith by Bella Personal Blender: This is a super-basic blender that does work, but it’s loud and doesn’t feel especially durable.
• MYVES Multifunctional Blender B2: Not only did this blender not perform well, but we could also smell the motor each time we used it.
• Oster Actifit Personal Blender: We’d only recommend the Oster if your preferred smoothie is protein powder and water—it just couldn’t stand up to solid ingredients.
• We received a BEAST blender as a PR sample and used it at least twice a week over the course of five months. The machine is quick, intuitive to use, aesthetically pleasing, and relatively quiet. It does, however, struggle with making liquid-light smoothies, and the ridged jar caught gunk and was difficult to clean. 
• Bella Rocket Extract Pro Personal Blender: This was our budget-friendly recommendation, but it appears to have been discontinued.

FAQs

What can you make in a personal blender?

Personal blenders were great for making small, single-serving portions of smoothies and milkshakes. Out of the machines we tested, none were built to blend dry ingredients. In fact, many of the instruction manuals spelled out specific liquid-to-solid ingredient ratios. Most machines were not powerful enough to handle ice-heavy ingredients, either.

How many servings does a personal blender make?

Each of the personal blenders we tested had the capacity to hold one to two servings. The overall capacity of each blending cup ranged from 16 to 32 ounces, but each machine had a different max line for ingredients.

What is the best way to clean a personal blender?

While perusing various instruction manuals during testing, we found the most popular recommendation was to hand-wash blending cups, lids, and extractor blends in warm soapy water. Many of these parts were also dishwasher-safe. As for the motor bases, submersion in water was to be avoided (as with anything with a plug!). Instead, wipe down the motor exterior with either a damp cloth before drying. For tough messes, some blenders could be cleaned by adding soapy water to the blending cup and then blending. However, we do recommend checking each individual machine’s instruction manual for the best instructions.

What is the best (and quietest) personal blender?

It’s hard to describe any of the personal blenders we tested as quiet. Much of what we blended was fibrous or frozen, so there was a fair amount of grinding noises. But we do think the Zwilling Enfinigy Personal Blender was the best overall personal blender, and much quieter than many of its competitors.

Is the BEAST blender any good?

After using the Beast Blender at least twice a week over many months, we found it was quick, intuitive, aesthetically pleasing, and relatively quiet while in use. It does, however, struggle with liquid-light loads and can be inconvenient to clean. The machine has two modes, automated and manual. For the automated setting, the user can choose for the machine to engage for one full minute, employing a series of stops, starts, and changes in tempo to ensure that the contents blend nicely. This can be turned on if the user holds down the “standby switch” on the front of the machine for over one second. The blending cycle can also be easily stopped by hitting the same button. The other option is to manually pulse by holding down the button for less than one second in intervals. Both settings are easy to employ.

While we enjoyed the two options for blending, we do have some complaints about the solids-to-liquids ratio required for the automated blending to work effectively. The instruction manual recommends 25% liquids, but we found we had to put more liquid than that when blending frozen items, otherwise, the food would settle in such a way that the blades would rotate without hitting anything, causing the machine to get very loud and emit a burnt scent. (For this issue, Beast recommends stopping the cycle and shaking the vessel with the top still attached. But we found this an inconvenient solution.) Cleaning is another pain point; since the jar's interior is marked by grooved plastic, food got stuck in it. The grooves also caused complications when using a spatula to scrape it clean.

How long do personal blenders last?

Whether personal or full-sized, how long a blender lasts will depend on everything from its build quality to how frequently you use it and what, exactly, you’re asking it to blend. With proper care and cleaning, you should expect several years of use from your personal blender. You can always check the length of the manufacturer’s warranty before purchase and don’t forget to have a look at the user manual once you’ve made your choice. Using and cleaning your personal blender in accordance with the manufacturer's suggestions will help extend its lifespan.

Why We're the Experts

• Abigail Clarkin is a freelance writer who's been contributing to Serious Eats for about two years. She's also written our review of pepper mills.
• For this review, we tested 19 personal blenders, using them to blend a variety of drinks, including smoothies.
• Summer Rylander helped to analyze further testing results of more personal blenders, including the Ninja Blast, and add them to this review.