Back in November, I was on the hunt for a smoothie blender, hoping to snag a deal before my January health kick. As a kitchen appliances editor, I know the Winter sales are the perfect time to shop deals on summery kitchen appliances, like blenders, smoothie bowl makers and ice-crushing gadgets.
So, NutriBullet or Ninja? That was the big question on my mind. Both brands feature in our best blender guide, praised for their efficient, powerful blenders that come in a range of sizes and designs. But which brand is the best buy?
NutriBullet blenders are famous for their compact, bullet-style design, which provide single-serve convenience. With just a twist, the best Nutribullet will have your morning smoothie ready in seconds.
Ninja blenders offer great single-serve options too – the Ninja Blast actually just rocketed to the top of our best portable blender guide. But they're more famous for their larger kitchen systems that do it all – from blending, processing, chopping, shredding.
I bought the Nutribullet ultra blender for a very cool $80 – and there are similar December deals available on Amazon. The power is perfect for my morning smoothies (you'll find our testing notes below).
Of course, there is a lot of cross-over between Ninja and Nutribullet – so I picked the top products from each brand (from personal blenders to large, multi-functional models) and I'll talk you through the differences in detail. With the help of my team, we've even carried out head-to-head comparisons in the test kitchen.
Ninja vs NutriBullet deals
NutriBullet vs Ninja blenders can cost up to $200, so I’m always keeping a close eye on the sales to compare the prices. Here are the best deals of the day.
NutriBullet vs Ninja: Personal blenders
Power: 900W
Cup Capacity: 32oz.
Modes: 1
Colors: 17
RRP: $109.99
This Nutribullet is sleek, slender and easy to operate; all we had to do was twist on the lid and lock it into place to start blending. We whizzed up the smoothest, creamiest smoothie in seconds. It only has a single speed, so if you want to get creative with a recipe you might be a little stuck.
When we tried it on hummus, it left a little to be desired. It lacks the control of pulse settings. When we were cleaning up, we found that the blades weren't dishwasher safe, but they're easy enough to rinse under the tap.
Read more in our NutriBullet Pro 900 Blender review.
Power: 1000W
Cup Capacity: 24 oz
Modes: 3
Colors: 1
RRP: $79.99
With 1000 watts of power and three speed settings, the Ninja has a bit more bite and control. It's also cheaper, but in our tests we saw less refinement. When we blended single-serve smoothies, we noticed tiny bits of kale in the blend. The pulse setting worked really well on hummus, but struggled on dry seeds and nuts. It was also quite noisy.
Overall, it offers a good mid-range blender – high power and a pretty low price. One thing I would say is that the Nutribullet is much more attractive – I'm not so keen on the bulky Ninja design.
Full Ninja Nutri-Pro review coming soon.
NutriBullet vs Ninja: the smoothie test
We put two blenders side-by-side to directly compare the results of two identical smoothies. We added the same amount of frozen mango, fresh pineapple (with the tough core included), curly kale, yogurt, and water to each cup, but because of the difference in cup sizes, the Ninja blender cup filled up far more.
We added the blending lids and twisted both into the bases before pressing down the NutriBullet and twisting the cap into place, pressing the 'Blend' button on the Ninja.
The Ninja had a preset time of 50 seconds, and it pulsed multiple times to incorporate the fresh and frozen ingredients with no difficulty. The NutriBullet, by contrast, simply had a continuous blend cycle which we also left for 50 seconds.
NutriBullet warns that its Pro 900 blender cannot be used for more than a minute at a time, presumably out of fear that the engine can overheat. However, we have used it for over a minute in the past and it did not have any issues.
Neither blender had trouble slicing through the kale, frozen fruit, and pineapple core, and they came out very similar in color.
However, there was a difference in the texture. The Ninja smoothie had more visible patches of green where the fibers of the kale had not completely been broken down, whereas the Nutribullet smoothie came out much more finely blended and it tasted very smooth.
Overall, it was a better drinking experience. The smoothie was creamier and every ingredient had clearly been broken down, whereas in the Ninja there were small specs of kale that could have used more blending. Overall, the Nutribullet personal blender won on the NutriBullet vs Ninja smoothie test.
NutriBullet vs Ninja: Portable blenders
Portable blenders are perfect for people who are always on the go. Both NutriBullet and Ninja make excellent compact and cordless options. We've tested both models below – and loved them.
Here's our comparison in the NutriBullet vs Ninja tests. My verdict is they're both good options, but Ninja is a lot like a water bottle in shape, so works well in backpacks – but the lighter, wider NutriBullet is ideal for handbags.
Ninja's portable blender weighs 1.74 lbs and holds 18 oz. It's tall and slender, slotting well into backpacks. Compact and colorful, it features a sip lid for easy use on the go, though it can be pretty loud and struggles with tougher ingredients like fibrous veggies and seeds. The leakproof lid actually works.
Read more in our full Ninja Blast review.
The Nutribullet is slightly smaller and lighter, weighing 1.56 lbs and containing 16.7 oz. It's not as powerful; the Ninja is tougher on frozen fruit. However, I actually prefer the ergonomics of the Nutribullet. It's nicer to hold and easier to fit in a handbag. Also, it has a handy indicator light which lets you know when it's running out of charge.
Read more in our full Nutribullet Portable Blender review.
NutriBullet vs Ninja: Large multi-functional blenders
To test out the larger, multi-serve NutriBullet vs Ninja blenders, we started with the Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-IQ. The versatility on this one was a big winner. It has a very powerful food processor attachment, with two levels of chopping blades that effectively cut through onions, dough, and more. Most importantly, the blending worked very well, even on soups.
To test NutriBullet vs Ninja, we also tried the latest NutriBullet Triple Prep System. It was a very strong contender, just slightly more expensive, bigger and not quite as consistent.
Power: 1400W
Cup Capacity: 72oz pitcher, 64oz bowl, two 24oz cups
Modes: 5 preset speeds
RRP: $219.99
With 1400 watts of power and five preset modes, this blender boasts some serious power and capacity. It was faultless across all our tests, so if you want an appliance that can do it all, look no further. Just note, this is huge.
The package includes a large 72 oz pitcher, a 64 oz food processing bowl, and two 24 oz cups, making it perfect for both family-size and single-serve portions. Fantastic value for money.
The attachments are dishwasher-safe. However, the bulky design requires more storage space. Also, if you want to take a smoothie on the go, the lids don’t very close securely.
Our Ninja Professional Plus Kitchen System review has more details.
Power: 1500W
Cup capacity: 32 oz bullet; 24 oz bullet; 64 oz blending pitcher; 7 cup food processor
Modes: 11 speeds
RRP: $229
Nutribullet recently released this sleeker, more expensive rival. It's a seriously good contender, so this is one to look out for in the sales. It's a brilliant blender, whizzing up perfect smoothies, soups, dips, and ice cones. It comes with a family-sized pitcher, single-serve cups and a food processor attachment for chopping, shredding, and pureeing effortlessly.
However, it faltered on smaller quantities. The food processor is so big that when I added one small onion, it rolled around and didn't get thoroughly chopped. The Ninja is slightly more consistent, since the blades sit at different levels, meaning that it achieves more thorough results, even as the bowl fills up. This is where the Nutribullet slipped up.
Read our full Nutribullet Triple Prep review here.
Which is better: the NutriBullet or Ninja?
For ultra-smooth, single-serve smoothies, choose a NutriBullet. Having tested NutriBullet vs Ninja blenders head-to-head, the NutriBullet came out on top. Despite its marginally less powerful battery than the Ninja BL480D, it was able to cut through kale stems, tough pineapple core, and frozen chunks of fruit with absolutely no difficulty. Nutribullet is the smoothie pro.
If you need more guidance on which Nutribullet to buy, I've rounded up the top six here.
For large portions, soups and food processing attachments, choose a Ninja blender. Designed to offer versatility and a selection of attachments to choose from, we gave the Professional Plus Kitchen System with Auto-IQ 4.5 stars when we tested it.
With the multiple speed settings and versatile function, it can handle pretty much anything – pipping Nutribullet's multi-tasking 'triple-prep' blender to the post.
How we tested NutriBullet vs Ninja blenders
We've had hands-on testing time with all the NutriBullet vs Ninja blenders. When reviewing we crushed ice, blended frozen fruit into thick smoothie bowls, and made green smoothies from fibrous kale and spinach.
Cleaning a blender is a very important part of the user process, so we give props to blenders that can be cleaned in a dishwasher. However, some also come with self-cleaning settings that can prevent ingredients from sticking to the blades of the pitcher. We cleaned every blender by hand to see how easy this was, and if it felt safe.
You can find out how Homes & Gardens tests blenders in our dedicated page. Our review and testing guidelines provide more insight into our process.
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