We Tested 16 Personal Blenders—The Best Can Pulverize Ingredients Into Creamy Smoothies and Sauces

Personal blenders, though small, can make a big difference in your kitchen, whether you’re working with limited counter or cabinet space, or frequently whipping up single-serving smoothies. We tested several of them a few years ago, but since then, numerous brands have released new models, many of which promise better performance than their predecessors.

But just because new blenders are flooding the shelves doesn’t mean we’re quick to jump on the bandwagon. Over the past decade, we’ve consistently recommended the same traditional blender, the Vitamix 5200, which can tackle just about any task. So, when we dish out accolades, we don’t do it lightly. We decided to round up popular personal blenders and put them to the test: making smoothies, pulverizing ice, and whipping up the creamiest milkshakes. While some of our older picks still rose to the top, so did a few newcomers.

The Tests

• Smoothie Test: To assess how well the portable blenders handled fibrous and rock-solid ingredients, we blended a combination of raw kale, frozen mango, orange juice, and fresh banana in each one. We timed how long each blender took and evaluated the smoothie’s texture.
• Ice Slushy Test: To better understand the blenders’ durability and versatility, we blended a slushy-like beverage of ice and water. Some models warn against crushing ice, but that’s no fun if you want to use your blender to make margaritas.
• Milkshake Test: We made milkshakes by blending ice cream, ice, and milk. We examined the shake each blender produced, looking for a creamy consistency.
• Usability and Cleaning Tests: While testing each model, we took notes on the overall experience, design, ease of cleaning, and noise level.

What We Learned

Personal Blenders Are Ideal for Small Spaces and Single-Serving Recipes

Personal blenders are typically small, with all our winning models measuring no more than eight inches in diameter and maxing out at 32 ounces in capacity. They’re ideal for people with limited kitchen real estate, as they fit snugly in a corner or can be easily tucked away in a cabinet. If you make a lot of single-serving recipes, a personal blender is more convenient than lugging out an 11-pound full-size model. And if you take smoothies on the go, most models come with lids or travel cups.

Blade Design Was More Important Than Wattage

Many brands boast about the purported benefits of high-wattage, but during our tests, we found that personal blenders with dull blades performed best. It may sound counterintuitive, but hear us out. Blenders with sharp blades wear down faster, losing their blending abilities, while models with dull blades have better longevity. 

Blades with at least four prongs—like on our top pick, the Nutribullet Pro—help keep ingredients moving so they can blend smoothly without getting stuck. Surprisingly, in our testing, the 150-watt Beast Go Cordless held its own against the 1200-watt Beast Mega. Both turned out creamy smoothies in under 30 seconds, thanks to their four-blade configurations that keep frozen ingredients from getting caught. 

A Spacious Blending Cup Was Nice to Have

A spacious cup, like the 32-ounce one in the Nutribullet Pro, is ideal, especially if you’re into large smoothies or want to make two drinks at once. Even better, it gives you room to pack in bulky ingredients, like big handfuls of kale or spinach. 

Even with smaller portable blenders, models that could hold at least 18 ounces, like the Zwilling and Ninja Blast, consistently turned out smooth, creamy blends in our tests. That’s because they had enough space to pull ingredients down toward the blades to get fully pulverized.

Most Personal Blenders Had Trouble Crushing Ice

Unlike traditional blenders, personal ones weren’t the best at crushing ice. For the most part, they had smaller blades that couldn’t handle chunks of ice or jars that didn’t offer enough surface area for ice to cycle through. Our winner—the Nutribullet Pro—was the exception. It tackled this challenge with ease, yielding fine, consistently textured slush. 

Blending Results Stayed the Same—With or Without Automatic Presets

A few models we tested, like the Zwilling, had one-touch smoothie buttons. The pre-programmed setting from Zwilling ran for about 40 seconds and delivered a smooth result. While we liked the convenience, we found it wasn’t essential—several of our top picks, including the Nutribullet Pro, Beast Go Cordless, Beast Mega, and Ninja Blast, didn’t have this functionality and still delivered a creamy smoothie in under 30 seconds.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Personal Blender

For the best consistency and durability, you want a personal blender with dull blades and at least four prongs. When you’re tossing rock-solid frozen staples into your blender, this blade configuration will power through frozen ingredients. The shape of the jar also makes a difference—a roomy cup gives chunks of mango or kale enough space to cycle down toward the blades, and this design helps you pack in bulky ingredients like kale without jamming things up. Look for one that’s quiet, too, so you don’t compromise your morning routine. The good news is that most portable blenders are easy to clean—you can hand-wash them or toss them in the dishwasher.

Our Favorite Personal Blenders

The Best Personal Blender

Nutribullet Pro 900 Personal Blender

$125 at Amazon $85 at Target $87 at Home Depot

What we liked: This Nutribullet has been our personal, small blender recommendation for years, and it held up in this retesting, too. Setting it up is simple: Just add your ingredients to the spacious 32-ounce jar, seal the lid, twist the container onto the base, and turn the blender on. It cranked out a creamy smoothie in 15 seconds—faster than any other blender we tested. Plus, it was one of the few that could handle pulverizing large chunks of ice during our milkshake and slushy tests. We believe its success comes from its design: dull blades with four prongs, which help ingredients move smoothly through the blending cycle without getting stuck. Cleanup is easy, too, and you can either hand-wash the cup or pop it in the dishwasher.

What we didn’t like: There are no buttons or light indicators to let you know it’s on, but we still think its twist-and-blend design is easy to use.

Key Specs

• Weight: 5.5 pounds
• Dimensions: 7.72  x 12.01 x 15.94 inches
• Cord length: 29 inches
• Capacity: 32 fluid ounces
• Wattage: 900 watts
• Accessories: 2 to-go cups with drinking lids, 2 lip rings, 2 lip rings with handles

Another Great Small Blender

Zwilling Enfinigy Personal Blender

$100 at Amazon $140 $100 at Sur La Table $100 at Wayfair

What we liked: The Zwilling personal blender offers three modes: on/off, pulse, and a pre-programmed smoothie button. It’s powerful and quick, blending smoothies to the right consistency in about 20 seconds. The four-pronged dull blade easily pulverized tough ingredients like rock-solid mango. We also appreciated the spill-proof drinking lid that comes with it, which makes it easy to take your drink with you on the go. 

What we didn’t like: During the milkshake and slushy test, this blender struggled. We found several large ice chunks that didn’t get fully pulverized.

Key Specs

• Weight: 5.13 pounds
• Dimensions: 6.8 x 7.8 x 18.3 inches
• Cord length: 35 inches
• Capacity: 20 fluid ounces
• Wattage: 500 watts
• Accessories: 1 to-go cup with drinking lid

The Best Mini Blender

Beast Go Cordless

View on Thebeast.com

What we liked: This personal blender has a sleek design and rechargeable battery, making it portable. During our tests, it handled fibrous kale and frozen mango with no problem, whipping up creamy smoothies in about 20 seconds. It also comes with a bunch of accessories to make taking your drinks on the go easy, including two blender cups, a drinking lid with a resealable cap, and a few straws if you prefer sipping over chugging. Even with the ribbed jar design, which could’ve made cleanup tricky, we had no issues rinsing it out after each use.

What we didn’t like: We’ve established that many personal blenders struggle with pulverizing ice, and this miniature model from Beast was no exception. During the milkshake and slushy test, there were noticeable ice chunks that didn’t get processed.

Key Specs

• Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Dimensions: 3.4 x 3.4 x 3.5 inches
• Cord length: N/A
• Capacity: 22 fluid ounces
• Wattage: 150 watts
• Accessories: 1 to-go cup connected to the blender with a drinking lid, 1 to-go cup with a drinking lid and carry cap, straws, cleaning brush

The Best Budget-Friendly Mini Blender

Ninja Blast Portable Blender

$70 $60 at Amazon $70 at Target $70 $60 at Home Depot

What we liked: First off, we appreciated the lower price of this model, which is one of the reasons we named it a winner. But beyond its affordability, we were genuinely surprised by how quiet it was. Compared to the other options we tested, it barely made a sound—perfect if you value a peaceful morning. It’s sleek, compact, and even fits in your car’s drink holder, so it’s easy to take on the go. The four-prong blade is a bit sharper than some of the other models we tested, but it still handled kale and frozen mango, blending a smoothie in about 20 seconds.

What we didn’t like: Like the Beast cordless blender, this model from Ninja didn’t do well with ice. Also, its cup is built into the base, so while you can pop on a drinking lid and take it to go, you’ll need to bring the whole appliance with you. Thankfully, it weighs less than two pounds, so it’s easy to carry. Lastly, cleaning is a bit trickier with this one—you have to make sure everything’s out of the jar before removing it from the base, or your drink will spill everywhere.

Key Specs

• Weight: 1.73 pounds
• Dimensions: 3.54 x 3.54 x 10.71 inches
• Cord length: Cordless
• Capacity: 18 fluid ounces
• Wattage: 500 watts
• Accessories: 1 to-go cup connected to the blender with a drinking lid

The Best Small Blender for Smoothies

Beast Mega 1200 Blender

$219 at Amazon View on Thebeast.com View on Crate & Barrel

What we liked: We loved the look of this personal blender from Beast. It combines vintage-looking jars with a sleek, modern base. It also performed exceptionally well in both our smoothie and milkshake tests, easily pulverizing frozen ingredients into smooth, creamy drinks. The four-prong dull blade—one of our favorite design elements in high-performing blenders—helped it handle everything we threw at it, with the exception of really big chunks of ice. And even with the ribbed jar design, cleanup was easy. We had no trouble rinsing it out.

What we didn’t like: We were impressed with how well this model handled ice during the milkshake test, but for some reason, it struggled with larger amounts of ice in the slushy test. Lastly, this is the biggest personal blender we tested, so if your kitchen’s tight on space, you’re probably better off going with a smaller model.

Key Specs

• Weight: 6.9 pounds
• Dimensions: 4.92 x 4.92 x 17 inches
• Cord length: 38 inches
• Capacity: 28.75 fluid ounces
• Wattage: 1200 watts
• Accessories: 1 to-go cup with a drinking lid and carry cap, 2 to-go cups with a lid, straws, cleaning brush

The Competition

• Magic Bullet Portable Blender: With one button, this blender is easy to use, but it struggles with frozen fruit and ice.
• Magic Bullet Mini Blender: The model worked well, but with eight- 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, while 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. It has also been discontinued.
• 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. It is also no longer in stock. 
• 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: The iCucina was not our favorite blender, since it overheated after just two minutes of use.
• Kitchensmith by Bella Personal Blender: This is a super basic blender that does work, but it’s loud and doesn’t feel especially durable. It has also been discontinued.
• 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.
• Beast Health Blender: The machine is quick, easy to use, aesthetically pleasing, and relatively quiet. It does, however, struggle with making smoothies that are liquid-light, and the rigid jar tends to catch gunk, making it difficult to clean. 
• Bella Rocket Extract Pro Personal Blender: This was our former budget-friendly recommendation, but it appears to have been discontinued.
• Ninja Nutri-Blender Plus Compact Personal Blender: For starters, we didn’t like that you have to press down on the cup in order for the model to blend. It completely failed the ice test, leaving big chunks behind, too.
• Nutribullet Ultra Personal Blender: While we couldn’t stop gushing over its iconic gold color, unfortunately, during the smoothie test, the fibrous kale adhered to the top of the cup, and we had to use a spoon to loosen it. The same issue arose during the ice test, where we had to repeatedly shake the cup to get the ingredients to blend.
• Smeg Personal Blender: Like the Ninja Nutri-Blender Plus, this model requires you to hold the cup down while blending—a characteristic we didn’t appreciate. After the milkshake test, we also noticed large chunks of ice left in the cup. It is very cute, though, if you’re into that retro kitchenware aesthetic. 
• Our Place Splendor Blender: We spent a good amount of time trying to securely twist the cup into the base. If it’s not properly put on, the machine won’t work. Once we got it to turn on, it struggled during both the slushy and milkshake tests, leaving big chunks of ice behind.

FAQs

How many servings does a personal blender make? 

Capacity-wise, personal blenders vary in size. One of our winners—the Ninja Blast Portable Blender—can hold up to 32 fluid ounces, or about four cups of smoothie or milkshake. On the other hand, smaller models that aced our tests, like the Ninja Blast Portable Blender, carry up to 18 fluid ounces.

What can you make in a personal blender? 

Personal blenders are the most helpful sidekicks in the kitchen. For breakfast, blend up a smoothie. For a salad, whip up a creamy Caesar or ginger peanut dressing. At dinner, pulverize almonds, fennel, olive oil, and garlic for a quick pesto. And for dessert? Toss in some ice cream, milk, and ice for a decadent milkshake.

Is the Beast blender worth buying?

You’ve likely seen Beast blenders pop up on your TikTok or Instagram feed. The brand is continuing to gain popularity on social media. When we first tested the Beast Health Blender three years ago, we weren’t huge fans. But this time around, we got to tinker with their Beast Go Cordless and Beast Mega 1200, and found them to be strong contenders if you’re looking for high-speed, durable options that can handle a morning smoothie and other blending projects.

What’s the best way to clean a personal blender? 

First, check the manual that comes with your blender—it’s the best way to understand how it should be cleaned. For the most part, you’ll find that many models recommend filling the jar with warm water and a few drops of dish soap, securing the lid, and running the blender for 30 to 60 seconds. Then rinse out the jar in the sink, let it air dry upside down, or use a kitchen towel to dry it off. Alternatively, many options now offer dishwasher-safe blender cups. Once you’re finished cleaning that part, use a damp cloth to wipe down the base of your machine.

Why We're the Experts

• Ashia Aubourg is a Serious Eats contributor with experience reviewing cooking gear and working in kitchens (and farms!). Her work with Serious Eats spans gift guides, educational pieces, and product reviews. She recently fried tons of omelets, over-easy eggs, and crepes to find the best nonstick skillet. 
• For this review, we tested 16 personal blenders by making smoothies, slushies, and milkshakes to find the ones with the most powerful motor and high-speed performance.  
• We first tested personal blenders three years ago and compared our previous winners against other models for this review.