Finding the best blender for your money can be tricky, especially if you're on a tight budget. Luckily, there are affordable blenders out there that provide good overall value for the price. While they tend to be very simple in design, the best cheap blenders can still produce a smooth blend with difficult ingredients. From morning smoothies for on-the-go convenience to silky soups for family dinners, these blenders offer a decent bang for your buck.
We've tested more than 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. If you're also considering a new microwave, we have good news: no need to spend a lot of money on a high-end model; microwaves all perform similarly, regardless of price. Check out the best budget and cheap microwaves.
Quick Look
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Best Budget Blender
Multi-Purpose8.9Smoothies (Single Serving)9.0Build Quality8.0Jar Capacity6.5Noise7.0Hot BlendingYesSmoothies (Multiple Servings)8.5See all our test resultsIce Crushing8.8The best budget blender we've tested is the Chefman Obliterator. It's a great option if you want a multi-purpose blender for around $125. It comes with a 48-ounce main jar as well as a travel jar, though you can save some cash if you opt to skip the additional jar. This blender performs well, even compared to much pricier models. It's impressively well-built, 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 also use it to hot blend or make velvety-smooth nut butter, though the latter does take some work.
This isn't the quietest blender on our list, and its 48-ounce capacity is on the smaller side, but for the price, its excellent performance is hard to beat. Plus, it's easy to clean; you can use the 'Clean' program, throw the accessories in the dishwasher, or wash everything by hand without too much work.
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Best Budget Blender for Smoothies
Multi-Purpose7.1Smoothies (Single Serving)8.3Build Quality7.0Jar Capacity9.0Noise7.0Hot BlendingYesSmoothies (Multiple Servings)8.2See all our test resultsIce Crushing3.4If you plan to use your blender for smoothies, consider the nutriBullet Blender Combo, which you can usually find for less than $150. While the Chefman Obliterator comes with a personal jar for single serves, the nutribullet comes with a pair of 34-ounce jars as well as a 64-ounce 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.
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Best Budget Blender For Frozen Drinks
Multi-Purpose6.5Smoothies (Single Serving)7.3Build Quality7.5Jar Capacity9.8Noise7.6Hot BlendingNoSmoothies (Multiple Servings)7.8See all our test resultsIce Crushing9.5If you like to blend frozen drinks like margaritas and need a big pitcher to serve a crowd, consider the Ninja Professional Blender 1000. This roughly $100 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 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 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.
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Best Cheap Blender
Multi-Purpose8.3Smoothies (Single Serving)8.4Build Quality6.5Jar Capacity6.5Noise8.1Hot BlendingYesSmoothies (Multiple Servings)7.7See all our test resultsIce Crushing6.6If you want the best cheap blender for smoothies, soups, and sauces, consider the Black+Decker Quiet Blender with Cyclone Glass Jar, which you can usually find for as little as $60. Like the Chefman Obliterator, this blender has a 48-ounce capacity, 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 24-ounce 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 it can make decently uniform crushed ice if you use a smaller batch of about six cubes. It can make very smooth nut butter, but, like the Chefman, 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.
Notable Mentions
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nutribullet Rx:
The nutriBullet Rx is a compact blender with a small capacity. It's fantastic for blending fibrous ingredients and stands out from similarly priced options like the nutribullet Blender Combo because it can heat ingredients, though you can't use it to blend ingredients that are already hot.
See our review -
Magic Bullet Combo Blender:
The Magic Bullet Combo Blender is a small full-size blender that's around the same price as the nutribullet Blender Combo. It has 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
Recent Updates
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.
Oct 09, 2024: We've replaced the Oster Pro 1200 with the Calphalon ActiveSense as the 'Best Budget Blender' since the Oster's price has increased.
Jul 15, 2024: Made some minor writing changes and checked that all recommendations are still in stock.
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.