A lower budget doesn't have to mean settling for a blender that struggles with everyday tasks. While affordable blenders tend to keep things simple, the right one can still easily power through ice, frozen fruit, and fibrous greens. From morning smoothies for on-the-go convenience to silky soups for family dinners, these blenders offer a decent bang for your buck. Beyond performance, details like whether you'd prefer a glass jar over plastic for better scratch and odor resistance, or want extras like personal blending cups for shakes and smaller servings, can also help narrow down the right choice.
We've tested over 125 blenders, and below are our recommendations for the best budget blenders you can buy. If you're looking for more options that keep your wallet in mind, check out our list of the best blenders under $100. You can also find budget-friendly options on our list of the best glass blenders and best personal blenders.
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Best Budget Blender
Multi-Purpose8.9Smoothies (Single Serving)9.0Smoothies (Multiple Servings)8.5Ice Crushing8.8Soups8.7Build Quality8.0Jar Capacity6.5Hot BlendingYesNoise7.0See all our test resultsCleaning8.5The best budget blender we've tested is the Chefman Obliterator, and it earns this spot thanks to its all-around amazing blending performance that punches far above its price tag. You can regularly find this blender on sale for around $70 USD, so it's worth waiting for a sale if you don't see it at that price; if you're in a rush, though, even at its MSRP of $150 USD, it's a great buy. Whether you regularly make smoothies or soups with fibrous ingredients, thicker blends like hummus or nut butters, or love making ice-based daiquiris or margaritas, this blender is for you. It performs well, even compared to much pricier models. It makes a smooth blend from fibrous ingredients in big and small batches, and, true to its name, obliterates ice cubes, resulting in fluffy, snow-like crushed ice. You can also use it to hot-blend soups or make velvety-smooth nut butter, though the latter does take some work.
This blender also feels more premium than the price suggests, though the limited accessories are fitting for a budget blender; you can buy this model as a combo with a 48-ounce main jar and a smaller travel jar, or you can save some cash if you opt to skip the travel jar. That said, its 48-ounce capacity is a little small for a full-sized blender, so it may feel limiting if you regularly make large batches for families, meal prep, or parties. It also gets fairly loud at higher speeds, reaching noise levels that can easily compete with nearby conversations. Still, it's straightforward to use, with a wide range of manual speed settings as well as dedicated programs for blending and crushing ice. Cleanup is fairly easy, too; the Clean program handles most residue, though the lid's rubber gasket and the area under the blades can trap ingredients and need a little extra attention.
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Best Cheap Blender
Multi-Purpose8.3Smoothies (Single Serving)8.4Smoothies (Multiple Servings)7.7Ice Crushing6.6Soups8.5Build Quality6.5Jar Capacity6.5Hot BlendingYesNoise8.1See all our test resultsCleaning9.0If you can't stretch the extra $10 or so for the Chefman Obliterator or you prefer a quiet blender, the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar is a solid alternative that consistently sells for around $60 USD. It's noticeably quieter than many budget full-sized blenders, making it a good fit for smaller kitchens or thin-walled apartments. Like the Chefman, it offers a 48-ounce capacity, but its glass pitcher is a nice bonus at this price point, being more resistant to scratches, stains, and lingering odors than plastic. It handles most everyday blending tasks surprisingly well for a budget model, whether you're making smoothies with frozen fruit and leafy greens, hot soups, or sauces, and the included 24-ounce personal jar makes it easy to blend smaller servings or take smoothies on the go.
This blender is also easy to use, with dedicated programs for smoothies, icy drinks, and shakes, plus manual speed controls for recipes like pesto or salsa, where you want to limit heat buildup or dial in a specific texture. Cleanup is also easy thanks to its removable blade assembly and dishwasher-safe components. That said, its performance doesn't quite match the Chefman overall. Ice crushing is less consistent with larger batches, and thicker blends like nut butter take more effort and scraping to get moving properly. Its 48-ounce capacity can also feel limiting if you're regularly blending smoothies for multiple people or meal prepping larger recipes.
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Best Budget Blender For Soups
Multi-Purpose7.1Smoothies (Single Serving)8.3Smoothies (Multiple Servings)8.2Ice Crushing3.4Soups9.4Build Quality7.0Jar Capacity9.0Hot BlendingYesNoise7.0See all our test resultsCleaning9.0If soup season is a year-round event in your kitchen but you don't want to spend premium-blender money, the nutribullet Blender Combo is worth a look. Generally available for around $100 USD, it's a solid value, with a large 64-ounce pitcher that's great for bigger batches, whether you're making soup for the family or blending sauces and purees in bulk. It handles fibrous ingredients like kale exceptionally well, producing extremely smooth, silky results, and you can pour hot ingredients straight from the pan directly into the jar, making it a natural fit for soups and sauces. The included personal jars are also handy for smaller portions like dressings, baby food purees, or single-serve soups. It's also reasonably compact and relatively quiet for a full-sized blender, and cleanup is quite easy thanks to the dishwasher-safe jars and lids, though the personal jar blade assembly still needs to be washed by hand.
Although it handles soup-like consistencies like a breeze, it lacks the versatility to tackle thicker, tougher recipes. The manufacturer advises against crushing ice without added liquid, and recipes like nut butter or hummus require frequent, tedious stopping, scraping, and stirring, with results that fall short of the smooth, creamy finish most people would likely expect from butter. Controls are fairly basic, too, with just a few speed settings and a single automatic program.
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Best Budget Blender For Frozen Drinks
Multi-Purpose6.5Smoothies (Single Serving)7.3Smoothies (Multiple Servings)7.8Ice Crushing9.5Soups4.8Build Quality7.5Jar Capacity9.8Hot BlendingNoNoise7.6See all our test resultsCleaning6.0If frozen margaritas, daiquiris, or slushies are a regular part of your hosting routine, the Ninja Professional Blender 1000 might just be the budget blender your kitchen has been missing. Generally available for around $100 USD, it delivers excellent ice-crushing performance with a massive 72-ounce pitcher that's ideal for serving a crowd. It pulverizes ice into fluffy, snow-like crushed ice in seconds, making it especially well-suited for frozen drinks and cocktails. The pitcher's pouring spout is also a nice touch when serving, helping cut down on spills around the counter. Compared to many budget blenders, it also feels fairly sturdy, which matters if you regularly put it through tougher tasks like crushing large batches of ice.
That said, it's less versatile than some of the other picks here. It can't safely hot-blend soups or sauces, and fibrous ingredients like kale or pineapple tend to leave a grainier texture in smoothies and purees rather than blending out completely. The controls are pretty basic too, with just a few speed presets and no automatic programs, so you'll need to manually start and stop the blender yourself rather than walking away and letting it run. Cleanup can also be a bit of a hassle; while the blade assembly is removable and the components are dishwasher-safe, the stacked blades are extremely sharp and awkward to clean by hand, with some tighter areas prone to trapping residue.
Notable Mentions
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Magic Bullet Combo Blender:
The Magic Bullet Combo Blender is a small full-size blender with limited versatility, since it's not ideal for ice crushing or making nut butter, but it makes an extremely smooth blend with common smoothie ingredients.
See our review -
Ninja Professional Plus Blender with Auto-iQ:
The Ninja Professional Plus Blender with Auto-iQ is a good alternative to the Ninja Professional Blender 1000 if you like to multitask 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.
See our review
Recent Updates
May 26, 2026:
We confirmed that all listed products are still available, updated the writing throughout the article to focus more on real-world usage and recommendations, and renamed 'Best For Smoothies' to 'Best For Soups' to better reflect the blender's strengths.
Feb 18, 2026:
We verified that all our picks were still available and made minor edits to the text.
Nov 13, 2025:
We replaced the Calphalon ActiveSense with the Chefman Obliterator as our pick for the 'Best Budget Blender,' as it's better built and better for multipurpose use. We also replaced the Beautiful High Performance Blender with Touch-Activated Display as the 'Best Cheap Blender' with the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar since the former has been discontinued.
Apr 04, 2025:
We've noted that the Beautiful High Performance Blender with Touch-Activated Display is currently difficult to find. We also made minor text edits, but our picks haven't changed.
Jan 07, 2025:
We've added the Beautiful High Performance Blender with Touch-Activated Display as the 'Best Cheap Blender' since it offers solid performance for under $50.
All Reviews
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best budget options for most people. We factor in the price, feedback from our visitors, and availability.
If you'd like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all our full-sized blender reviews, sorted by price. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no blender is perfect for every use, most are good enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.