The one thing every beginner juicer wants to know is “What is the best juicer to buy?” We wish there was a definitive answer to this, but like so many other things in life – it really depends on who’s asking.
What we mean by that is that the best juicer to buy depends very much on who will be using it and what they will be using it for.
Because simply looking around for the best juicers in the world may turn up results that aren’t really aligned to what you’re looking for. Here’s a case in point.
The Best Juicers on the Market
When people go looking for the best juicers on the market or the best juicers in the world, it can turn up some pretty heavy results, like the ones below.
Are you simply looking for the best, top-of-the-line juicers? ‘Cause the answer to that is simple – the absolute cream-of-the-crop juicers are…
GREEN STAR
The Green Star is the best triturating juicer under $1000.
It’ll still cost you a pretty penny but it’s got excellent juice yield, superb juice quality and it can juice pretty much everything you give it.
OMEGA JUICER
The Omega NC800HDS juicer boasts with a quiet motor and high juice yield.
On top of that it is easy to clean and is great at preserving nutrients. Together with a 15 Years Parts & Performance warranty – what more could you want?
PURE
The PURE Juicer is the ultimate juicer – for serious juicers who juice enough to justify the $2500+ price tag.
It’s a hydraulic press juicer with a 2-part process that gently & completely presses out foam-less, froth-less, oxidation-free juice of the highest nutritional value.
Are the above 3 juicers the best juicers on the market? Yes. But are any of them the best juicer for you? Not necessarily.
You see, the above top-of-the-line juicers are sort of like luxury cars. Since the Super Angel is most often compared to the Rolls Royce, let’s go ahead and say that the Green Star is comparable to a Mercedes Benz (S class). As for the Norwalk? Well, that’s not even a car – it’s more like a private jet.
So the reason that we don’t recommend these top-of-the-line juicers to most people is for the simple fact that most people do not need a private jet or a Rolls Royce to get around.
Sure, the above juicers are top-notch and they’ll produce the best-est juice around, but they’re simply overkill for most people. That’s why we only recommend juicers like the Super Angel or Norwalk if you are extremely serious about juicing and/or using juicing as a treatment to recover from serious illness (i.e. on the Gerson therapy) and want to make sure you’ll be getting the highest quality juice possible.
If you’re looking to get started juicing and want the best juicer to do it with – the best juicer for you is simply a juicer that lies at the sweet spot of fulfilling your juicing needs while delivering high-quality juice. The good news is that you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get that.
How to Choose the Best Juicer to Buy
A good place to start in finding the best juicer to buy for your specific needs is to learn a little more about the various types of juicers and how they compare.
Which Type of Juicer is Best for You?
Here’s a very simple analogy that will help you quickly understand the main types of juicers. It works because there may be a lot of juicer machines out there but pretty much all of them fall under just 5 main types of juicers.
Manual Juicers
Manual juicers use a good old hand crank to squeeze the juice out of produce. Think of these juicers as your trusty bicycle – they’ll get you where you need to go but you’re going to have to do the work.
The best of the manual juicer to go for? The Mueller Professional Juicer – see it here.
Centrifugal Juicers
Centrifugal juicers, which chop and spin produce to extract juice. Think of these juicers as your average Hyundai or Suzuki cars – they’re affordable, there’s a wide range of them in this price range, they’re convenient and they’ll get you where you need to go.
The best of the centrifugal juicers to go for? The Breville Juice Fountain – see it here.
Masticating Juicers
Masticating juicers have a single gear that grinds to chomp and squeeze juice out of produce. Think of these juicers as more high-end cars like a Mercedes or BMW. They cost more to get you where you need to go, but they provide a better quality driving experience for the extra cost.
The best of the masticating juicers to go for? The Omega J8006 – see it here.
Triturating Juicers
Triturating juicers work similarly to masticating juicers, except they use two gears to slowly and thoroughly grind the produce, extracting the juice in the process. Think of these as the most expensive, luxury cars like a Lamborghini or a Rolls Royce. Of course, they’ll get you where you need to go – and do it in style – but they can be a bit of an overkill if you just need to run to the supermarket every once in awhile, right?
The best of the triturating juicers to go for? The Tribest Green Star – see it here.
Hydraulic Press Juicers
Hydraulic press juicers have two steel plates, which clamp down on produce and exert extreme pressure to squeeze out every last drop. Think of these juicers as a private plane – you can go a lot of far flung places with them, but they require more of a time investment and a learning curve. And really, not very necessary for your daily needs.
The best hydraulic press is the PURE juicer – it’s $2,500 through Amazon.
So the question comes down to…what’s the best “vehicle” for your juicing needs? Do you not have much time to spend on juicing but want a quick, convenient glass of juice? Choose the Hyundai (centrifugal).
Do you usually go for best of everything and want a top-of-the-line juicing experience with great juice quality and juice yield? Go for the Lamborghini (triturating, aka twin gear juicer).
Or do you want a happy compromise – a high quality juicer with good juice quality and juice yield that’s quick to use and quick to clean? You’ll want to pick the Mercedes (masticating).
And that’s how simply understand the main types of juicers will help you find the best “ride” for your juicing needs 🙂
What are Your Juicing Needs?
But let’s not stop there, once you’ve narrowed down to the general type of juicer you’ll need, there are a couple questions that can help you make the final decision.
Start by asking yourself some questions that will help you choose the best juicer for you.
In brief, these are questions like:
- How much time can you spend on juicing? If not too long, you’ll want a juicer that doesn’t require you to cut your produce in advance or is super easy to clean or both.
- What do you plan on juicing? It’s difficult to find the ‘perfect’ juicer simply because fruits and veggies have very different properties. So the qualities that make one juicer perfectly suited for juicing one kind of produce (i.e. leafy greens) may make it not-so-great for juicing other kinds of produce (i.e. soft fruits).
- How important is juice quality? In juicing, there is a quality vs convenience quandary. Fast juicers like centrifugals are quick to set up, easy to use (you can toss in whole fruits) and quick to clean – but they introduce heat and oxidation into the juicing process and compromise overall juice quality. On the other hand, slow juicers like masticating and triturating juicers take longer because the machines operate at lower speeds and you need to cut the produce before juicing, but have the advantage of not heating juice, thus preserving nutrients and live enzymes.
- How soon can you drink the juice you make? Because fast juicers introduce heat and oxidation while juicing, the juices you make with these machines don’t stay fresh long. So if you mostly plan on juicing in bulk and then storing your juice to take on-the-go, you’ll want to get a slow juicer since juices made with slow juicers last up to 72 hours.
- Do you need a quiet juicer? If you’re a morning juicer and you have roommates/family, you might want a juicer that won’t wake the household.
- How long do you expect your juicer to last? If you’re planning on paying $100+ for a juicer machine, you’ll probably want to consider factors like how long the warranty lasts.
Okay, now that you (hopefully) know the answers to the above questions, we’re going to take a look at the top 3 generally wonderful juicers. They all rank positively on many of the above criteria and produce very high quality, yummy juice.
Just FYI: all our top 3 juicer picks are slow juicers – masticating or triturating. We’ve listed the best manual juicer and the best centrifugal juicer below them, though, in case that’s what you’re looking for.
Happy hunting and here’s to you choosing the best juicer for you and your juicing journey!
The Best Juicers to Buy (Our Top Picks)
Now that you have a very good idea of the type of juicer you’re looking for as well as some specific details that you’d like your ideal juicer to have, here are our very top recommendations.
TOP 1. PICK: Omega Juicer J8006HDS
This is the best-loved masticating juicer and not just by us – it’s got over 1,000 reviews on Amazon with a rating of 4.6 out of 5 stars.
Which is awesome but not surprising considering it’s a top quality juicer at a really affordable price (even compared to centrifugal juicers).
So…how does it stack up on the ‘best juicer’ metrics?
TIME IT TAKES TO JUICE
The one drawback of this juicer is its narrow feed chute, so you’ll have to cut produce before you juice. And because it operates at a super-slow 80 RPM, the juicing is slow and methodical. The good news is that cleaning’s pretty easy. Just make sure you clean as soon as you’re done – it’s a pain once produce dries up in nooks and crannies.
Overall – to make a simple juice with 3 to 4 ingredients for 1 person takes a little under 10 minutes from produce prep to clean-up. Not bad at all.
WHAT CAN IT JUICE
The best thing about the Omega is how versatile it is – it’s great at juicing:
- Leafy greens (even wheatgrass)
- Pretty much every vegetable in existence
- Hard fruits like apples & pears
It does juice soft fruits, but expect pulp-y juice. It’s not great for citrus fruits – you likely won’t get entirely dry pulp. Oh, and no worries about bigger seeds (and stems) – it handles them well.
JUICE QUALITY (AND HOW LONG IT LASTS)
The Omega is a super slow juicer – it goes at 80 RPM which means juicing takes time but you get great juice quality without heat or oxidation.
As a result, you get juice without separation that you can store for up to 72 hours.
NOISE & WARRANTY
This is a pretty quiet juicer – definitely quiet enough to have a conversation over.
Oh, and it comes with a 15-year warranty, which is damn good.
Considering what it does and its price – the Omega J8006 is a no-brainer top choice. And in case you’re wondering what else it has going for it – this juicer can multi-task to make nut butters and fruit sorbets, grind coffee beans, mince garlic, and even whip up baby food and pasta.
Get FREE 2-day shipping for this juicer (as well as a bunch of stuff you buy on Amazon) by signing up for Amazon Prime. Get a FREE 30-day trial for Prime here!
2. HUROM HP SLOW JUICER
Hurom juicers are less well-known than the popular Omegas, but they hold a special place in my heart – mostly because they’re super easy-to-clean.
That’s just one of the perks of a vertical juicer, which is what differentiates the Hurom from every other juicer on this list. Vertical juicers not only take up less counter space – they come with advantages that horizontal juicers do not.
We’ll find out all about that below.
So…how does it stack up on the ‘best juicer’ metrics?
TIME IT TAKES TO JUICE
The best-est thing about the Hurom is that it’s super easy to clean. It takes, oh, 3 minutes.
Another time-saving perk is that this juicer is self-feeding so you can spend your time cutting produce while the juicing does its thing. You do have to cut produce into smaller parts, though, so that’s a bit of a bummer. On the upside – although it also operates at 80 RPM, it somehow juices faster than the Omega above.
Overall – to make a simple juice with 3 to 4 ingredients for 1 person takes way less than 10 minutes from produce prep to clean-up. Not bad at all.
WHAT CAN IT JUICE
Vertical juicers tend to be better with soft fruits than horizontal juicers and that’s a big advantage of the Hurom. Here’s what it juices:
- Soft fruits like berries, citrus fruits and kiwi
- Hard produce like cucumbers, beets, apples & pears
- Leafy greens (even wheatgrass)
This is a very versatile juicer that can do soft fruits and leafy greens. BUT – the pulp won’t be as dry from leafy greens as with the Omega (above) and definitely not as much as with the Green Star (below). And you’ll have to alternate the greens with harder produce to make them feed well. Expect to get dried pulp from harder produce than softer ones.
Last thing – vertical juicers are often guilty of producing pulp-y juice. It’s not terribly pulp-y, but hard to get it totally pulp-free. So if you’re into pulp-y juice, this is for you. If not, you might want to pass.
JUICE QUALITY (AND HOW LONG IT LASTS)
Like the Omegas, the Hurom slow juicer works at 80 RPM, which means no heat and less oxidation. It also has a patented Slow Squeezing Technology that gently squeezes rather than grinding and crushing to preserve nutrients in fresh produce.
This technology also retains heat-sensitive nutrients like Vitamin A and C as well as live enzymes.
As a result, you get juice that stays fresh for up to 72 hours without degradation or separation.
NOISE & WARRANTY
Very quiet juicer – definitely quiet enough to have a conversation over.
It also comes with a 10-year warranty.
More goodies? You can make nut milks, soy milk, tofu, baby food and even sorbets. Here’s a quick demo:
If you’re looking for a juicer that can handle a wide range of produce – soft, hard and delicate – and is super easy to clean…the Hurom should be at the top of your list.
Get FREE 2-day shipping for this juicer (as well as a bunch of stuff you buy on Amazon) by signing up for Amazon Prime. Get a FREE 30-day trial for Prime here!
#3. TRIBEST GREEN STAR ELITE GSE-5000
Tribest makes awesome juicers – and the Green Star is their best one. Amazon reviewers agree – the Green Star has nearly 1000 ratings and is rated 4.4 out of 5 stars.
The only reason we don’t rank the Green Star higher is ’cause it is a luxury juicer and costing several hundred dollars, definitely not for everyone. But for a triturating juicer, it’s the best value and it has enough going for it to make it into our top 3.
So…how does it stack up on the ‘best juicer’ metrics?
TIME IT TAKES TO JUICE
This is the Green Star’s main drawback. For starters, it’s a triturating juicer with two gears that interlock to extract every last drop of juice from produce. It does so at 100 RPM, so it takes a lil while to do its thing. And the cleaning, well, there are more parts and getting them all washed up takes longer than we’d like (around 10 minutes).
Overall – to make a simple juice with 3 to 4 ingredients for 1 person takes around 20 minutes from prep to clean-up.
WHAT CAN IT JUICE
The Green Star is aptly named – it’s fantastic for anything and everything green. Here’s what it’s excellent at juicing:
- Leafy greens (even wheatgrass & delicate herbs)
- Hard fruits and veggies like carrots, beets, apples & pears
It’ll squeeze every last drop out of harder produce, but it’s not good for soft fruits. If you’re doing any fruit, you’ll want to get the fruit knob to make the process easier.
JUICE QUALITY (AND HOW LONG IT LASTS)
The Green Star uses magnetic and bioceramic technology that allow it to both extract juice of higher nutritional content and delays oxidation so your juices stay fresher longer.
As a result, you get juice (without separation) that you can refrigerate for up to 72 hours with a minimum loss of nutritional value.
NOISE & WARRANTY
This is a very quiet juicer – definitely quiet enough to have a conversation over.
It also comes with a 12-year warranty.
The biggest perk of the Green Star is that it really gets all the juice out of your produce – you’ll notice the bone dry pulp as soon as you start using it. This may not be so important if you juice occasionally, but if you’re juicing a lot (and especially if you’re paying top dollar for organic produce) – you’re going to want to make sure there’s very little waste. The Green Star will do that.
Other perks? It has a sort of ‘pulp control’ option (fine screen vs coarse screen) so that you have the option for pulp-ier juices. You can also use it to make nut butters, sorbets, sauces, pate, and even pasta and mochi (rice cakes).
Get FREE 2-day shipping for this juicer (as well as a bunch of stuff you buy on Amazon) by signing up for Amazon Prime. Get a FREE 30-day trial for Prime here!
Juicer Honorable Mentions
As you know by now, our top picks (above) for juicers are all slow juicers. But in case you’re looking for something a bit different – say, a manual juicer or a centrifugal juicers – we’re listing our top picks for those below.
MUELLER MANUAL JUICER
The Mueller is hands down the best manual juicer on the market. It’s a steal for the juicer (person) who wants a juicer (machine) that is easy to use and wonderful with leafy greens, for which it is made.
The Mueller Professional manual juicer is unique in that it’s basically a single press, which means the same process of extraction with no heat and better preservation of nutrients and enzymes.
You can also juice a pretty wide variety of produce in the Mueller, such as citrus fruits (obviously).
We love this juicer for its utter simplicity and function. It’s great to have a fancy juicer with all the bells and whistles, but it’s also nice to have a simple little hand crank that does its job and does it well for those days when you just want a glass of fresh juice without the fuss and muss of prepping and cleaning up.
This juicer is also very portable – making it an ideal choice for every traveling juicer.
Get FREE 2-day shipping for this juicer (as well as a bunch of stuff you buy on Amazon) by signing up for Amazon Prime. Get a FREE 30-day trial for Prime here!
BREVILLE BJE200XL JUICE EXTRACTOR
If you’re going to get a centrifugal juicer, the Breville juicers are the best.
And out of the Breville juicers, the Breville BJE200XL Juice Fountain Compact Chrome Extractor is the absolute best value and certainly one of the most affordable.
It’s also one of the easiest to put together and take apart for easy cleaning.
Plus, it’s quiet, fast, and has super convenient features like a wide feed chute that can take whole carrots and apples (no prep time :)).
The drawbacks of the juicer is that the pulp is not so dry and the juice is exposed to heat and comes out a bit foam-y. Also, this is not a good juicer for juicing delicate greens and herbs. But that being said, this juicer does a good job of juicing hard produce, which you can alternate with leafy greens for better juicing. It can also handle softer fruit like peeled citrus fruits and tomatoes.
Overall, a good, affordable starter juicer that’ll have you juicing in no time!
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published way back in 2013 but it is updated regularly, most recently in November 2021.
The Omega J looks powerful! for that price on Amazon is even a fair deal… I think i’m going to buy one of this 😛
I’m a proud Owner of the Green Star. I have to say that this is BY FAR the best juicer on the market and it is sold for a fair price, yumm!
The Omega J8005 is a very good juicer, but now the new Omega J8006 is even better. I think that it is currently the best masticating juicer on the market.