The Ninja Professional Plus BN701 is the budget pick and America's Test Kitchen's value choice. With 1400 peak watts, Total Crushing blades, and three Auto-iQ presets, it makes excellent berry smoothies and milkshakes for around $100, though it leaves small pieces of kale in green smoothies. TechGearLab calls it "an absolute steal" for smoothie and blended-drink enthusiasts. Best for budget buyers who blend mostly fruit-based drinks.
Full review
Real-World Smoothie Performance
For around $100, the Ninja Professional Plus BN701 punches well above its price on fruit-based drinks. TechGearLab found that it "makes a great berry smoothie and Oreo milkshake" and concluded it "is an absolute steal if you are a smoothie and blended drink enthusiast," scoring it 68 out of 100. Tom's Guide was even warmer, calling it one of "the best blenders you can regularly buy for under $100" and noting it "makes superb smoothies, thick and creamy oat milk, and well-crushed ice." The 1400-peak-watt motor and stacked Total Crushing blades pulverize frozen fruit and ice with ease.
The weak spot is leafy greens. TechGearLab notes the Pro Plus "struggles to create a truly smooth texture when leafy greens are introduced to the mix," with small pieces of kale not completely pureeing, and that it "struggles a bit with the green smoothie and fruit and oats smoothie." If your smoothies are berry-, banana-, and protein-based, you will rarely notice; if you make daily kale-heavy green smoothies, the Breville Fresh & Furious or a Vitamix will give a cleaner result.
Controls and Capacity
The BN701 keeps controls simple: three manual speeds, pulse, and three Auto-iQ presets (smoothie, frozen drink, ice crush) that run timed pulse-and-pause patterns for you. America's Test Kitchen, which named it their budget pick, praised that it "makes solid smoothies, crushed ice, and mayo, and it's relatively quiet" — quiet being relative for a high-wattage Ninja.
Capacity is a real advantage. The 72-ounce Total Crushing pitcher (64 ounces of usable liquid) is larger than the Breville Fresh & Furious's 50-ounce jar, so it is genuinely a family-batch machine despite the low price. The pitcher, lid, and blades are dishwasher-safe, though the stacked blade tower needs care when hand-rinsing.
Build Quality and Design
The BN701 is plastic-bodied and clearly built to a price, but it is sturdy enough for daily use and has sold in huge volume with strong owner ratings. The Total Crushing blade tower is the heart of its ice and frozen-fruit performance. The trade-offs versus pricier machines are noise — it is louder than the Breville and the Vitamix E310 — and a shorter warranty. Where Vitamix backs the 5200 for seven years, the Ninja's coverage is far shorter, reflecting its disposable-appliance price point rather than an heirloom-tool one.
Where It Falls Short
The clearest limitation is green-smoothie texture: multiple reviewers, including TechGearLab, report it leaves small kale fragments that the Breville's dedicated green program and the Vitamix machines eliminate. It is also among the louder blenders here and, with its stacked blades and tall pitcher, takes a bit more care to clean than a simple jar. The short warranty and plastic construction mean it is unlikely to last the decade-plus that a Vitamix will. None of these are dealbreakers at $100 — but they are exactly what the extra money buys on the higher-ranked picks.
How It Compares to Alternatives
The BN701 is the value play of this category. It crushes ice and blends frozen fruit as well as machines costing far more, and its 72-ounce pitcher beats the Breville Fresh & Furious on capacity. But the Breville makes noticeably better green smoothies, and the Vitamix Explorian E310 and Vitamix 5200 beat it on every texture and durability metric. Against the single-serve NutriBullet Pro 900, the Ninja wins on batch size and ice crushing but loses on the silky, grit-free texture the NutriBullet achieves on small portions.
Who It's Best For
Buy the BN701 if you want the most blending power per dollar, make mostly fruit-, banana-, and protein-based smoothies or milkshakes, and need family-size capacity on a tight budget. It is also a great first 'real' blender for someone stepping up from a cheap immersion stick. Skip it if green smoothies are your daily ritual (the Breville Fresh & Furious), if you want grit-free texture and decade-long durability (the Vitamix picks), or if you only ever make single servings and would rather have a compact personal blender (the NutriBullet Pro 900).
Strengths
- +America's Test Kitchen's budget pick — "makes solid smoothies, crushed ice, and mayo, and it's relatively quiet"
- +1400 peak watts and Total Crushing blades make excellent berry smoothies and milkshakes
- +Three Auto-iQ presets (smoothie, frozen drink, ice) for one-touch blending
- +Large 72 oz / 64 oz-liquid pitcher handles family-size batches
- +Frequently around $100 — the best power-per-dollar pick here
Watch-outs
- −Struggles to fully puree leafy greens — small kale pieces remain
- −Louder and harder to clean than the Vitamix and Breville picks
- −Stacked blade assembly takes care to wash safely
- −Shorter warranty than the Vitamix machines
How it compares
The power-per-dollar pick: around $100 with a bigger 72 oz pitcher than the Breville Fresh & Furious, and it crushes ice as well as anything here. But it leaves kale pieces the Breville's green-smoothie program smooths out, and it can't match the Vitamix 5200 or Vitamix Explorian E310 on texture or durability.
Who this is for
At a glance: budget buyers who blend mostly fruit-based smoothies, milkshakes, and frozen drinks and want family-size capacity.
Why you’d buy the Ninja Professional Plus BN701
- America's Test Kitchen's budget pick — "makes solid smoothies, crushed ice, and mayo, and it's relatively quiet".
- 1400 peak watts and Total Crushing blades make excellent berry smoothies and milkshakes.
- Three Auto-iQ presets (smoothie, frozen drink, ice) for one-touch blending.
Why you’d skip it
- Struggles to fully puree leafy greens — small kale pieces remain.
- Louder and harder to clean than the Vitamix and Breville picks.
- Stacked blade assembly takes care to wash safely.
Rating sources
“Our budget-friendly choice makes solid smoothies, crushed ice, and mayo, and it's relatively quiet.”
“The Ninja Pro Plus makes a great berry smoothie and Oreo milkshake. It is an absolute steal if you are a smoothie and blended drink enthusiast.”
“Makes superb smoothies, thick and creamy oat milk, and well-crushed ice — one of the best blenders you can regularly buy for under $100.”
Our 4.3 score is the average of these published ratings. Ratings marked * were derived from the reviewer’s written analysis or video transcript — the publisher didn’t print an explicit numeric score, so we inferred one from their own words. Click through to verify. More about methodology.
