The Best Blender Comparison: Vitamix vs Blendtec

Of all the blenders on the market, there are only two that stand out from the pack and claim to be the best machines for making smoothies. In one corner, we have the ever-popular Vitamix 5200 with a reputation for making excellent green smoothies and a build quality that lasts a lifetime.

In the other corner, we have the Blendtec Total Blender with more horsepower and the demonstrated ability to turn garden rakes, golf balls and iPads into fine powder. So, which blender is the best blender for making green smoothies?

Vitamix vs. Blendtec

Price: Vitamix and Blendtec are expensive blenders. Vitamix starts at $449 (“Getting Started” package) while Blendtec starts at $435 (with the smaller “FourSide” pitcher). At both price points, you get the basic blender setup with a standard, 64-ounce pitcher.

Shipping Cost: If you order a Vitamix through any link on Incredible Smoothies, you’ll receive free shipping within the United States. That’s a discount of up to $25! Blendtec does not offer free shipping on their blenders, so the final cost of a Blendtec might be higher than for a Vitamix.

Power/Speed: The Vitamix 5200 blender features a 2 peak horsepower motor that spins its blade at variable speeds from 11 mph (miles per hour) to 240 mph. The Blendtec blender boasts more power with a 3 peak horsepower, 1560 watt motor that spins its blade up to 300 mph according to the product video.

While some people might cite Blendtec’s greater horsepower as a sign of a better blender, Vitamix is no less capable of achieving the same results as the Blendtec. You’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between them in the quality and creaminess of a green smoothie. Basically, there’s no real difference between a 3 horsepower motor or a 2 horsepower motor when you’re blending up food items. Three horsepower for a blender is mostly marketing hype.

Warranty: Vitamix has a solid 7-year warranty. You can purchase an extended warranty for $75 that covers it up to 10 years.

Blendtec now comes with a 7-year warranty. When I purchased my Blendtec at Costco several years ago, I was given a free 4-year extended warranty card which I had to fill out and mail to Blendtec to extend my warranty to 7 years on the base only.

Durability: Both Blendtec and Vitamix are high-end blenders designed to perform a variety of kitchen tasks. They are quite a step up from a $100 name-brand blender that you’d pick up at a department store. Both blenders feature break-resistant, BPA-free copolyester pitchers, stainless steel blades and durably-built base. Both blenders will pulverize hard materials such as ice, frozen fruits, nuts, seeds, grains and coffee beans.

Dimensions: Blendtec has an advantage over Vitamix on size. Blendtec is shorter at 15-and-a-half inches tall with pitcher, which means that it can fit under most kitchen cabinets when placed on your kitchen counter. Blendtec machines are about the same size as a standard blender so you don’t need to make extra room for it, and it fits neatly into a small apartment kitchen, RV or other small space.

Vitamix is taller at 20-and-a-half inches with the standard 64-ounce pitcher, so it will take up a little more space in your kitchen and might not be able to fit neatly under your cupboards. However, I don’t ever “store” my Vitamix under my kitchen cabinets. It’s front-and-center in my kitchen – right where I want (need) it to be for my daily green smoothies.

If you want a compact Vitamix, there is a 32-ounce and a 48-ounce Compact Container option for the Vitamix, but I highly recommend getting the 64-ounce pitcher.

The width and depth dimensions on both blenders are pretty similar, but the Blendtec is slightly heavier at 12 pounds versus Vitamix at 10 pounds.

Pitcher: Both blenders come with a 64-ounce pitcher (depending on which package you choose) made from a durable, break-resistant co-polyester (plastic). Vitamix also offers 32-ounce and 48-ounce pitchers, as well as a specially designed pitcher for grinding grains (sold separately)

Blendtec has three pitcher options including their 64-ounce FourSide and 90-ounce (total volume) WildSide pitchers. A compact Twister Jar is specially designed to quickly grind grains and make nut butters in about a minute.

Unlike the Vitamix, the Blendtec blade is fused to the pitcher, so if the pitcher should need replacing, you’re also replacing the blade assembly too.

The standard 64-ounce Vitamix pitcher is a perfect all around blender pitcher that makes everything, well, perfectly. The Vitamix tamper tool adds to the versatility and speed at which you can blend.

Unfortunately, both Blendtec pitchers suffer from problems. Making green smoothies in the Blendtec FourSide pitcher can be frustrating at times, and you will wish that Blendtec made a tamper for it. Instead, I often found myself picking the pitcher up, giving it a good shake, and blending again. Repeat as necessary if you use a lot of greens in your smoothie. The larger WildSide pitcher is better, as the wider base makes a tamper unnecessary. BUT – good luck trying to blend up frozen strawberries thoroughly.

Every single time I made a smoothie with frozen strawberries in a Blendtec WildSide pitcher, there would be gloppy clumps of unblended strawberry. A quick Google search revealed that this is a common complaint with the WildSide pitcher.

Interface – Buttons vs. Dials: The Vitamix features a switch and dial interface giving you precise, manual control of your blending. While switches and dials might be harder to clean than buttons, I enjoy the complete control I have over my blends that I get with my Vitamix.

In contrast, Blendtec features a push-button interface which wipes clean easily. You can set speeds manually by pressing the “up” or “down” buttons. I find these buttons responsive and easy to use. Blendtec also features pre-programed buttons for smoothies, whole juices, soups, ice creams, milk shakes, etc.

The new Blendtec Designer Series blenders features a “touch user interface”. There are no buttons to press. Simply touch the lighted icons on the interface to activate the pulse and blending cycles, or to turn off and on. A slider bar allows you to speed up or slow down your blend by simply sliding your finger left or right. The control is precise and responsive.

The Tamper: The Vitamix blender includes a tamper tool, which you can use to push the ingredients down into the blades of the blender. It’s a great tool, especially when making green smoothies since large handfuls of leafy greens love to get caught in the pitcher, unreachable by the blades. A tamper is indispensable for making large green smoothies, or nut butters, or ice cream. It also allows you to use less water, or no water, so that you can get just the right amount of thickness for a smoothie, sauce or soup.

Blendtec does not have a tamper attachment but instead boasts a square-pitcher and unique straight-blade design which they say makes a tamper unnecessary. I have found this to be true when using the larger Blendtec WildSide pitcher. I’m amazed at how I can pack the pitcher full of fruit and greens, then hit the smoothie button and in 30 seconds have a rich, creamy smoothie.

I’ve often wished that Blendtec made a tamper for the standard Blendtec FourSide pitcher. I usually need to hit the “pulse” button a couple times before running the smoothie cycle. Depending on how full I fill the pitcher or what my greens to fruit ratio is, I might have to stop the blend and push the greens down with a spoon or give the pitcher a shake after I hit “pulse” a couple times and before I run the smoothie cycle. It can be a little frustrating.

Noise: To my ears, the Vitamix 5200 is noticeably less noisy than the Blendtec. I haven’t put a decibel meter to it, but it is definitely less noisy, even on the highest speed setting.

The Blendtec is louder, but I don’t think it is unreasonably loud, though some people might disagree. It’s as loud if not maybe slightly quieter than my old Cuisinart blender, and it takes a lot less time to make a smoothie than the Cuisinart. The new Blendtec Designer Series blender is slightly quieter than the standard Blendtec Classic Series.

Thanks to the tamper tool, it takes less time to blend using a Vitamix than with a Blendtec so not only is the Vitamix quieter, you’ll spend less time in the morning listening to a blender motor running! Vitamix wins in the “noise” category!

Clean-Up: Both blenders are easy to clean. Simply add a little hot water and a drop of dish soap and run a blend cycle and you’re done. You can take the Vitamix pitcher apart since it has a removable blade, but you generally don’t have to do this if you clean it right after your blends.

The Blendtec does not have a removable blade, since it is fused with the pitcher. Their straight-blade design makes it much easier to clean the pitcher, but it is difficult to clean underneath the blade.

The Blendtec’s square pitcher design also makes it easy to pour smoothies and scrape out thick, gloppy nut-butters or puddings. The pitcher is easy to wipe clean.

It is easy to scrape out gloppy nut butters and batters from the Vitamix pitcher, though it’s tough to get everything that’s behind the blades at the narrow end of the pitcher. However, the Vitamix pitcher with tamper make it a much more versatile tool for making nut butters. Even though the Vitamix is slightly harder to clean, it’s a LOT easier and quicker to whip up your own almond butter in. Making nut butters in a Blendtec pitcher is a neverending start – stop – scrape – start again process.

Blade: The Vitamix features a familiar, four-tipped blade. Blendtec has a single prong, wingtip straight blade. The Blendtec straight blade is not sharp and so it won’t cut your fingers. You have to be careful cleaning around the the sharp Vitamix blade.

Color/Design: The Vitamix 5200 is a stylish blender that has an upscale appearance. It looks like serious business! It comes in black, brushed stainless, platinum, white and red. The Blendtec Total Blender has a sleek, modern design. The Blendtec Total Blender Classic Series is available in black, white and red.

The newer Blendtec Designer Series blender has a sleek, but in my opinion, boring and dullish design. It’s most interesting feature is the lighted “touch user interface”. It comes in “champagne metallic”.

Overall Online Support: While Blendtec has a wildly popular and entertaining “Will It Blend” marketing campaign on YouTube, Vitamix has an amazingly information-packed website that contains a forum, recipes, nutrition information and specific content catering to raw foodists, vegetarians and even baby-boomers. The Vitamix website and recipe book features more healthy recipes than the Blendtec. However, I don’t feel that this is a reason to choose one machine over another. I just that Vitamix has more of a community feel than the Blendtec brand.

Performance: When it comes to making silky-rich green smoothies, both blenders do a fantastic job. I can’t say that one outperforms the other when it comes to green smoothies. Both blenders break up cell walls, which unlocks the nutrition in fruit, vegetables and greens better than any other lower-powered blenders can. Both the Vitamix and the Blendtec can make smoothies, nut butters, hot soup, frozen ice cream, crush ice and grind grains, though the Vitamix might be easier and more effective “out of the box” for things like ice cream, nut butters and grinding grains, as well as blending frozen ingredients – something the Blendtec WildSide pitcher doesn’t excel 100% of the time.

Made In The USA: Both Blendtec and Vitamix are “designed and assembled” in the USA. What this means is that for the most part, the blenders are made in the USA, but some components might come from overseas. While Blendtec isn’t the most forthcoming about how much of their blender components are not from the USA, Vitamix clearly states on their blender base that it is “made in the USA with 70% minimum US content”.

So, Which Is The Best Blender?

Well, this is a subject of debate online. You might as well ask if a Mac is better than a PC or a Nikon camera better than a Canon camera. Basically, those who have a Blendtec love their blender, and those who have a Vitamix swear by it as well.

As far as the end product being the green smoothies and foods you blend using these blenders, the results are identical in quality. I recommend that you look at the subtle differences between the two and see which one feels the best to you.

Personally, I have used both blenders. However, I’ve come to prefer (and fall in love with) my Vitamix 5200. I’ve been using it more and more because it is quieter, takes less time to blend, and provides so much more control. And it doesn’t have the quirks that the Blendtec pitchers have.

Whether you choose the Vitamix or the Blendtec, I don’t think you will be disappointed at all. But if you want me to nudge you in one direction or the other, at this point, I’d steer you toward a Vitamix for many of the reasons I’ve already mentioned in this review. And if you order by clicking on the image below, you’ll get free shipping within the United States!

If you don’t like ordering over the Internet, you can call Vitamix Account Mgr. JP Minard and order directly from him at his direct line of 440-782-2303 (800-848-2649 Ext. 2303). The free shipping discount code if you do it that way is: 06-007702.

Okay, You’ve Chosen A Blender – Now What?

It’s time to put that blender to good use! I’d like to show you how I lost up to 40 pounds and lowered my high cholesterol by 50 points with green smoothies and whole foods. I’d like to show you how you can increase your energy, detox and actually look forward to getting your 5+ servings of fruits and vegetables every single day – without having to eat boring salads or chomping on celery sticks.

My Green Smoothie Health & Weight Loss Program features over 400 delicious smoothie recipes, many of which target specific health goals you might have. Whether you want to lose weight, recover from a head cold faster (or not get one to begin with), improve your love life, boost your workout performance, enhance your creativity and more, there is a recipe for you. You’ll also get expert tips and advice as well as answers to over 115 questions about green smoothies, health and nutrition.

The Green Smoothie Health & Weight Loss program helps you kickstart a new, healthier lifestyle. Try it today!.

Editor’s Note: This article was originally written in September 2009. It has been updated regularly to keep the information current. Even so, prices and specifications may change at any time. This article was last updated on February 21, 2013.

Tags: blender, Blendtec, Vita-Mix, Vitamix