Best Juicers (5 Picks, Plus Centrifugal vs Masticating Explained)

A juicer rarely gets abandoned because the juice was bad. It gets abandoned because of the ten minutes of scrubbing afterwards.

So cleaning counts here as much as yield does. So do noise, and how much chopping the machine makes you do before anything goes in.

The first real choice is centrifugal or masticating. Everything else follows from it, which is why this guide to the best juicers starts there rather than with a list.

Quick answer: If you want juice in two minutes and you mostly juice apples, carrots and oranges, buy a centrifugal machine like the Breville Juice Fountain Cold. If you juice kale, celery or wheatgrass, buy a masticating one like the Omega NC900HDC. Greens are the line that separates the two types.

How a Juicer Actually Gets the Juice Out

There are only two mechanisms in home juicing, and they behave nothing alike.

A centrifugal juicer spins a flat cutting disc at high speed. The disc shreds produce into wet pulp, then throws that pulp outward against a fine mesh basket. Spinning force pushes juice through the mesh and flings the pulp into a bin. It is quick, and it is loud, because a motor is doing all the work in a few seconds.

Speed has a cost. The shredding whips air into the juice, so you get a thick head of foam. Air plus friction heat starts oxidation, which is why centrifugal juice browns and separates within hours. Breville’s answer on the Juice Fountain Cold is a slower cutting disc and a cooling design, and the company states the process transfers less than 1.8°F to the juice.

A masticating juicer does the opposite. A slow auger, turning at about 50 to 80 revolutions a minute, crushes produce against a screen and presses the pulp dry. There is almost no whipping and very little heat, so the juice comes out denser, with less foam and a longer life in the fridge. These are the machines sold as slow juicers or cold press juicers.

The trade-off is time at both ends. A narrow chute means more chopping before you start, and the slow auger means more waiting while it runs. Then there are more parts to rinse. A citrus press is a third, simpler thing: a spinning cone that only reams halved citrus, and nothing else.

	Centrifugal	Masticating	Citrus press
Speed of the part that cuts	Very fast disc	50 to 80 RPM auger	Slow reaming cone
Foam in the glass	Lots	Very little	Some pulp, little foam
Leafy greens	Poor	Very good	Not applicable
Hard produce	Very good	Good	Not applicable
Juice keeps	Same day	Up to about 72 hours	Same day
Noise	Loud	Quiet	Quiet
Prep chopping	Little, wide chutes	More, narrow chutes	Halve the fruit
Cleaning	Fewer parts, fine mesh	More parts, coarser screen	Easiest

If you are still deciding between juicing and blending, the split is simple. A juicer removes fiber and gives you liquid, while a blender keeps everything and gives you a thick drink. Our roundup of the best blenders for smoothies covers that side, and the difference between a food processor and a blender explains where a third machine fits.

Our Picks at a Glance

• Best overall: Breville Juice Fountain Cold BJE430SILJump to review ↓
• Best masticating juicer: Omega NC900HDC Cold Press JuicerJump to review ↓
• Best budget juicer: Hamilton Beach Big Mouth 67601AJump to review ↓
• Best for hands-off juicing: Hurom H320N Cold Press JuicerJump to review ↓
• Best for citrus: Breville 800CPXL Citrus Press ProJump to review ↓

The Five Juicers Compared

Juicer	Type	Motor	Feed opening	Best at	Watch out for
Breville BJE430SIL	Centrifugal	850W	3 in	Speed, big batches	Foam, same-day drinking
Omega NC900HDC	Horizontal masticating	150W, 80 RPM	Narrow	Greens, celery, nut milk	Most chopping
Hamilton Beach 67601A	Centrifugal	800W	3 in	Price	Wetter pulp
Hurom H320N	Vertical masticating	150W, 50 RPM	5.4 in hopper	Loading and walking away	Price, height
Breville 800CPXL	Citrus press	Not published	Halved fruit	Oranges, lemons, limes	Citrus only

How We Chose

Nothing here was bought or juiced for this article. The picks come from manufacturer spec sheets and care pages, plus published motor speeds and chute sizes. We also looked at the complaint patterns that repeat across verified owner reviews. The last test was simple: how well does each machine handle the jobs people buy a juicer for? Any model with more real flaws than strengths was left off.

1. Breville Juice Fountain Cold BJE430SIL: Best Overall

This is the centrifugal juicer to buy if you want one machine to cover most mornings. Breville calls the design Cold Spin, and the point of it is temperature. The company states the process transfers less than 1.8°F to the juice, so you are not warming the liquid on the way through.

That matters because heat speeds oxidation, and oxidation is what turns bright green juice muddy. Breville pairs it with a sealed jug and a froth separator, and says juice kept in that jug stays fresh in the fridge for up to three days. For a centrifugal machine, that is a strong claim.

The 3-inch chute is the other reason it earns the top spot. A whole apple drops in without being quartered, so prep for a full jug is mostly rinsing. The 3.6-quart pulp bin also means you can juice for four people without stopping to empty it.

Who should buy it: Households juicing apples, carrots, beets and citrus several times a week who do not want to stand over the machine. If counter height is the problem, our countertop organization ideas for a small kitchen show where a machine this size can live.

2. Omega NC900HDC Cold Press Juicer: Best Masticating Juicer

The Omega is the machine people buy when celery or kale is the whole reason for juicing. The auger turns at 80 RPM, which is slow enough that almost no heat reaches the juice and almost no air gets whipped in. Omega describes the extraction as triple-stage, meaning the pulp is crushed and then pressed again before it is ejected.

Slow crushing is what makes the difference with fibrous produce. Celery stalks and kale leaves get squeezed flat against the screen rather than flung past a blade, so far more juice comes out and the pulp leaves drier. That same gentle action is why the juice holds its color longer in the fridge.

The horizontal body also doubles as a food mill. Swap the juicing screen for the blank one and it extrudes pasta, grinds nut butter and makes frozen fruit sorbet. If you use it for nut milk, our notes on substitutes for whole milk cover which nuts give the creamiest result.

Who should buy it: Daily green juicers, and anyone who wants one appliance to make nut milk as well. Keep a good knife next to it, since prep is the bulk of the work. Our guide to the best knife set under $100 is a sensible place to start.

3. Hamilton Beach Big Mouth 67601A: Best Budget Juicer

This is the machine that proves you do not need to spend a lot to start juicing. It has the same 3-inch chute as juicers costing several times more, an 800-watt motor, and an extra-large pulp bin. Hamilton Beach lists all the food-contact parts as BPA-free and dishwasher safe.

It works the way every centrifugal juicer works, so expect foam and expect to drink the juice the same day. What you give up against the Breville is refinement rather than function. The pulp comes out wetter, which means slightly less juice per pound of produce, and the machine is louder.

The three-year warranty is the quiet selling point. Cheap juicers often carry one year, and the motor is the part that fails. If you are not sure juicing will stick as a habit, this is the low-risk way to find out. It also suits a kitchen where an appliance has to earn its shelf, a theme we cover in small kitchen gadgets worth buying when you cook for one.

Who should buy it: First-time juicers, students, and anyone testing whether a daily juice habit will last. Store it low and near a socket. Our small kitchen cabinet organization ideas help if the cupboard is already full.

4. Hurom H320N Cold Press Juicer: Best for Hands-Off Juicing

Most slow juicers ask you to stand there feeding produce down a tube. The H320N does not. Its 2-liter hopper sits on top with a 5.4-inch opening, so you load a whole batch, switch it on and walk away while the auger pulls produce down.

Hurom builds the machine around that idea. The auger turns at 50 RPM while a separate brush rotates at 17 RPM to keep the screen clear as it works. Hurom says the squeeze leaves bone-dry pulp, and two strainers ship in the box, so you can run clear juice one day and a thicker, higher-fiber drink the next.

The 15-year warranty on motor and parts tells you how the company expects it to be used. At 13.7 pounds and 18.2 inches tall it is a permanent counter appliance, not something you lift out of a cupboard. It is also the most expensive machine here by some distance.

Who should buy it: People who juice most days and want the machine to do the feeding. It suits anyone already thinking in terms of vertical storage ideas for small kitchens, since it takes height instead of width.

5. Breville 800CPXL Citrus Press Pro: Best for Citrus

A citrus press is not a compromise juicer. It is a different tool, and for oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit it beats both other types on juice per fruit and on cleanup. The Breville 800CPXL is the heavy version of that tool, built on a die-cast base with a stainless steel cone and filter basket.

The lever is what separates it from a cheap reamer. You pull the triple-hinged arm down and the dome presses the fruit onto the spinning cone for you, so your hand is not doing the squeezing. That is the difference between juicing two oranges and juicing twenty.

Cleanup is the other win. There is no fine mesh basket full of shredded pulp, just a cone and a filter that rinse in seconds, and Breville lists the removable parts as dishwasher safe. If you mostly want lemon juice in small amounts, a manual press still makes more sense, and our guide on how to use a lemon juicer walks through that.

Who should buy it: Anyone who makes fresh orange juice most mornings, bartenders, and cooks who go through a lot of lemons and limes. If you want to know how far a bag of lemons goes, our note on how much juice is in one lemon has the numbers.

Yield, Foam and How Long the Juice Keeps

Three things happen to juice the moment it leaves the produce, and the machine decides how fast.

Foam comes from air whipped in by a fast disc. A centrifugal juicer makes a thick head that you either skim or drink. A masticating auger turns too slowly to whip much air, so the glass looks clearer and settles less.

Oxidation follows the air in. Oxygen and a little friction heat start breaking down color and flavor, which is why centrifugal juice separates into layers and dulls within hours. Slow juicing delays that. Sage, Breville’s sister brand, puts properly stored masticating juice at up to 72 hours, and Breville rates its own sealed Cold Spin jug at up to three days.

Yield is where the two types separate hardest, and it depends entirely on what you feed them. Hard, watery produce such as apples, carrots, beets and cucumber juices well either way. Fibrous produce is a different story, and the table below shows where the gap opens.

Produce	Centrifugal	Masticating	Notes
Apples, pears	Very good	Very good	Little reason to pay more
Carrots, beets	Very good	Very good	Both leave fairly dry pulp
Cucumber, celery	Fair	Very good	Long fibers wrap a spinning disc
Kale, spinach, chard	Poor	Very good	Leaves slip past the mesh
Wheatgrass, herbs	Very poor	Good	Needs crushing, not shredding
Soft berries, citrus	Fair	Good	A citrus press beats both on oranges

However you juice, treat the result as a fresh food. The FDA points out that fresh-squeezed juice is untreated and needs refrigeration, and it advises extra caution for young children, older adults and anyone with a weakened immune system. Fill the bottle to the brim so there is no air on top, and keep it cold. A set of airtight food storage containers does that job better than an open jug.

Leafy Greens Are the Real Dividing Line

If you only remember one thing from this guide, remember this.

A centrifugal disc works by shredding and throwing. Leaves are light and flat, so they get flung across the mesh instead of pressed into it, and much of the leaf leaves the machine still wet. That is why a centrifugal juicer can turn a whole bag of spinach into an inch of juice.

A masticating auger works by squeezing. The leaf gets pinned between the auger and the screen and crushed until the liquid has nowhere to go but through. Celery is the clearest example, because its long fibers wrap around a spinning blade but flatten neatly under an auger.

So the question is not which juicer is better. It is what is going in the chute. Apples and carrots every morning means a centrifugal machine is enough. Celery, kale or wheatgrass means a masticating one, and our roundup of the best commercial masticating juicers covers heavier options if you juice greens in volume.

Feed Chutes and How Much Chopping You Save

Chute size is the spec that quietly decides how often you use the machine.

A 3-inch chute swallows a whole apple. Prep becomes washing the fruit and pulling the stalk, which takes about a minute for a jug of juice. A 1.5-inch chute means every apple gets quartered and every carrot halved lengthways, and that adds five to ten minutes each time.

Hurom’s approach changes the maths again. Its 2-liter hopper with a 5.4-inch opening takes a whole batch at once, so the machine feeds itself while you do something else. You still halve large produce, but you are not standing there with a pusher.

If your juicer has a narrow chute, good prep tools pay for themselves. A sharp knife matters most, and a dull one is the real slowdown, which is why a knife sharpener belongs in the drawer. A large cutting board that sits over the sink gives you somewhere to work in a small kitchen, and a vegetable chopper speeds up the repetitive cuts. For apples in particular, an electric apple peeler and corer turns a slow job into a quick one.

Cleaning Is Why Juicers End Up in the Cupboard

Every juicer is easy to clean if you do it straight away. Every juicer is miserable to clean an hour later.

The reason is the mesh. Pulp dries into the holes of a filter basket and sets like glue, and once it has, you are picking at it with a brush. Rinse the parts within a minute or two of finishing and most of the work disappears.

Machine	Parts to wash	The hard part	Dishwasher
Breville BJE430SIL	Lid, disc, mesh basket, jug, pulp bin	Fine mesh basket	Some parts, check the manual
Omega NC900HDC	Auger, screen, drum, end cap, tray	Screen needs the brush	Removable parts, top rack
Hamilton Beach 67601A	Pusher, cover, strainer, bowl, pulp bin	Fine strainer	Yes, all five
Hurom H320N	Hopper, auger, strainer, brush, bowl	Most parts to handle	Check the manual
Breville 800CPXL	Cone, filter, dome	Almost nothing	Removable parts

Three habits keep it short. Rinse every part under a running tap before you sit down with the juice. Use the brush that came in the box, because a sponge cannot reach into mesh. Let the parts air dry on a rack instead of towel-drying them, so nothing sits damp in a cupboard.

If the parts go in the dishwasher, put them on the top rack and run a normal cycle rather than an intensive one. A machine that is not cleaning well makes this worse, and our walkthrough on how to clean a dishwasher fixes the usual causes.

How Loud Is Too Loud?

Noise is the spec nobody checks and everybody notices at 6am.

A centrifugal juicer is loud by design, because a motor is spinning a disc very fast under load. It is a short burst, usually under a minute, but it is closer to a blender than a kettle. If you share a wall or have a sleeping household, that matters.

A masticating juicer is much quieter. The auger turns at 50 to 80 RPM, so there is no whine, just a low grinding sound as produce is crushed. Hurom describes its AC motor as near-silent, and Omega markets the NC900HDC on its quiet motor too.

Power draw follows the same pattern. The centrifugal machines here pull 800 and 850 watts, while both masticating juicers use 150. Neither figure will move your bill much for two minutes a day. If you are counting anyway, our guide on reducing kitchen energy use in a small apartment puts appliance wattage in context. The most energy-efficient small kitchen appliances roundup takes it further.

Which Juicer Should You Buy?

Pick by what goes in the chute, not by the price tag.

• Apples, carrots and beets, fast: Breville Juice Fountain Cold.
• Celery, kale or wheatgrass: Omega NC900HDC.
• Trying juicing without spending much: Hamilton Beach Big Mouth.
• Juicing daily and tired of feeding a tube: Hurom H320N.
• Fresh orange juice most mornings: Breville 800CPXL Citrus Press Pro.

One last practical point. Put the machine where you will see it, not in a low cupboard, because a juicer you have to lift out is a juicer you stop using. Our list of small kitchen appliances for cooking for one is built around exactly that idea, and how to organize a small kitchen with no pantry helps you find the space.

Related Guides

• 6 Best Commercial Masticating Juicers
• 6 Best Blenders for Smoothies
• NutriBullet vs Ninja Blender Reviews
• How to Use a Lemon Juicer
• What Is the Difference Between Apple Juice and Apple Cider?
• Best Blender for Protein Shakes
• 8 Best Immersion Blenders
• Best Airtight Food Storage Containers

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, a centrifugal or a masticating juicer?

Neither is better across the board. A centrifugal juicer shreds produce at high speed, so it is fast, cheap and quick to rinse, but it foams the juice and struggles with leafy greens. A masticating juicer crushes slowly, so it gets more juice out of greens and celery and the juice keeps longer. It also costs more, needs more chopping and takes longer to wash.

How long does fresh juice last in the fridge?

Slow-pressed juice holds up better than centrifugal juice because less air is whipped into it. Breville says juice from its sealed Cold Spin jug stays fresh for up to three days refrigerated, and Sage, its sister brand, puts masticating juice at up to 72 hours. Centrifugal juice separates and browns faster, so drink it the same day. The FDA treats all fresh juice as untreated, so keep it cold.

Do masticating juicers really give more juice?

For leafy greens, celery, wheatgrass and herbs, yes, and the difference is large. A slow auger crushes those fibers against a screen, while a centrifugal blade tends to fling them past the mesh. For hard produce such as apples and carrots the gap narrows a lot. If you juice mostly apples, oranges and carrots, a centrifugal machine will not waste much.

Are juicers hard to clean?

Cleaning is the main reason juicers get abandoned. A centrifugal juicer has fewer parts but a fine mesh basket that needs a stiff brush every time. A masticating juicer has more parts, though the screen is usually coarser and rinses more easily. Either way, wash it right after juicing. Dried pulp sets hard in the mesh and doubles the job.

Can you juice celery in a regular juicer?

You can, but a centrifugal juicer gives a poor return on celery because the long fibers wrap around the blade instead of being crushed. A masticating juicer squeezes the stalks between the auger and the screen, so you get far more juice and drier pulp. If celery juice is the reason you are buying, choose a masticating model.

Is a bigger feed chute worth paying for?

It saves real time. A 3-inch chute takes a whole apple, so the prep for a jug of juice drops to rinsing and topping. A narrow chute means cutting everything into fingers first, which adds five to ten minutes. Hurom's H320N goes further with a 2-liter hopper you can load in one go while the machine runs.