2 days ago
The best vacuum sealers in 2025, tested and reviewed
The best vacuum sealer we tested
Best vacuum sealer: FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer VS3130 Cooking big batches of food once a week to meal prep is a popular trend, which is where kitchen appliances like the best vacuum sealers come in handy. With just a few sturdy pulses, vacuum sealers suction the air out of food- and liquid-filled bags and containers.
This helps seal in freshness and can even allow you to keep expensive meat or meals like soup fresher longer by letting you freeze them after sealing. Vacuum sealing food into bags is also useful when you're doing something like sous vide cooking.
While some sealers are purely handheld, others are countertop units that have a handheld option that suctions the air out through a hose attached to the main unit. For this guide, I tested a range of these styles and rounded up a product pool of five vacuum sealers to find the best. Along the way, I compared their settings, performance, value and more. In the end, one vacuum sealer stood above the rest.
FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer VS3130
The FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer is my clear winner as the best vacuum sealer, mainly due to how easy and intuitive it is to use. It also suctioned air quickly and more effectively than any others in my product pool. Its small footprint was a plus as well. As soon as I unboxed this FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer, I immediately noticed how little space it took up on my kitchen counter. I know this sounds like a trivial feature, but the same cannot be said of almost any other sealer I tested. I can easily move this unit around wherever I need it, and that's something I had a hard time doing with most other sealers due to their heavy weight.
The FoodSaver is also intuitive to use, requiring just a few button presses to operate. The control panel is clearly laid out, too, so there should be no difficulties operating it, whether you've used a vacuum sealer before or not. It's this kind of simplicity that allowed it to best the rest of the testing field.
Aside from the unit itself, this vacuum sealer comes with a few of its own bags and a roll of plastic that the unit can easily turn into bags of any size you need. It also features built-in storage and a cutter for bag rolls inside its chamber. I appreciate that it comes with all this, as you're able to quite literally use the sealer within minutes of unpacking it.
Performance-wise, the FoodSaver sealed quickly and efficiently each time I used it. It worked fast to seal my bags of vegetables and cut-up fruit, and it didn't matter if I was using it to seal just one bag or if I threw bag after bag at it. It was reliable and quick every time.
I also like that the unit is solidly built and that it sits sturdily on the kitchen counter when in use. None of its parts feel flimsy, either, and it looks anything but cheap. You can tell the brand used quality materials throughout this machine (including the bags).
Overall, I was extremely pleased with how well the FoodSaver sealer worked, and although it's more expensive than others I tested, I think it's worth the spend. You'll enjoy savings right away from being able to meal prep and preserve food, and you can buy in bulk and vacuum seal your food in individual servings by using the included roll of plastic.
To compile my testing pool, I leaned on my own kitchen appliance expertise and also searched the web for the most popular and highest-rated vacuum sealers, ultimately choosing five to test.
Each sealer was tested five times, using the same types of assorted cut-up or fresh vegetables with each sealer. I evaluated each on the following criteria, including ease of setup and use, performance, durability, weight and footprint and overall aesthetics. See below for more details.
Ease of setup and use
Unboxing: I noted how well the sealer was packaged and what other bags, tubing or rolls of plastic the sealer came with.
Ease of use: I judged each sealer on how intuitive it was to use and whether I needed to consult the user manual to figure it out or not.
Performance
Speed: I timed each sealer on how fast it could vacuum seal one bag of vegetables, giving extra credit to the machines that made a quality seal the fastest.
Effectiveness: Just as important as speed, I noted how effective each machine was at doing its job and whether it created and sealed bags well during each use.
Durability
Build: I noted each sealer's build and whether it felt flimsy in my hands or if it was solid and sturdy while on and off.
Craftsmanship: I considered the quality of the materials used in each sealer and its included bags and containers.
Weight and footprint
Portability: Each unit was judged on how portable and lightweight it was and how easy it was to move around the kitchen counter.
Footprint: I noted how much space each sealer took up on the counter during use and after I stored it away.
Overall aesthetic
Beauty: Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so this can be subjective, but I still judged each vacuum sealer on its overall attractiveness.
Considerations: Would I want this vacuum sealer sitting on my kitchen counter? Do I think this sealer looks classy and elegant, or does it look cheap and plasticky?
Overall value
Price: To accurately judge the vacuum sealer's value, I factored in the overall money saved by first investing in the maker versus how much money can be saved over the long run by avoiding multiple trips to the grocery store or needing to throw out expired food that you couldn't eat before it went bad.
Vacuum sealers help your food last longer by letting you portion out food in bags or containers and removing the air around the food. Then you can store it in the pantry, fridge or freezer. There are five considerations to keep in mind when deciding on which vacuum sealer to choose: whether you want to shop in bulk, meal prep for the week or month, save on storage space inside your home, save the fruits of your home gardening labor or try sous vide cooking.
Bulk shopping
Do you shop in bulk and buy large portions of meat or fish that you want to freeze for later? If so, you're going to want to choose a vacuum sealer that can turn rolls into new bags. That way, you can create different-sized bags to fit all the different cuts of meat and fish in each bag. The pre-sized bags that some vacuum sealers use might not work in this case, since the cuts of meat or fish might be too long to fit in the bag.
Even if you don't buy meat and instead buy a large amount of fruits and vegetables or other foods, bulk shopping can help you save money by letting you bring home the foods, take them out of their original packaging, and vacuum-seal them into bags or containers when you get home. So, if you're a vegan or vegetarian, think about choosing a vacuum sealer that can use both rolls and bags so that you can portion out anything you buy in bulk to use in small quantities later.
Meal prepping
Do you want to meal prep by slicing and dicing your vegetables into bags and storing them in the fridge for easy grabbing throughout the week, either at snack time or as you're making dinner? Or do you want to prepare meals in advance by cooking once a week, say, on a weekend day, and then making and storing your meals for the week in the fridge or freezer?
A vacuum sealer can help you seal up your prepared ingredients, or entire homemade meals like stews and soups, for example, into containers or bags. Your ingredients or meals stay fresher, longer, either in the fridge or freezer, and if you use a vacuum sealer that has a roll, you can keep reusing the same bag you originally made (by opening and resealing the bag again), which can help you use your prep more efficiently.
Storage space
Do you have limited food storage space in your kitchen? If so, you might want to choose a vacuum sealer that can suck the air out of containers using a handheld device attached to a hose. That way, you can organize your storage space more efficiently by vacuum sealing the air out of dry beans, for example, or from sugar or flour. The containers can stack on one another and let you fit more into your space, whether that's in your pantry, fridge or freezer.
If your goal is to save space in your fridge or freezer by buying or making liquid foods like soups and stews, then you should choose a vacuum sealer that also uses premade bags. This way, you can fill a bag up, vacuum seal it shut (using the handheld device attached to a hose), lay the bag flat, and store the flattened bags on top of each other in the fridge or freezer.
Home gardening
Do you grow a garden and want to preserve your vegetables and fruits longer? If so, then you're going to want to choose a vacuum sealer that you can use with bags. You can slice up your strawberries or tomatoes for use later and the same goes for apples and pears. The vacuum sealer can suck the air out of these moist foods.
You don't even need to be planning on cutting up your homegrown veggies and fruits. You can store entire peppers or string beans and similar foods in a vacuum-sealed bag to enjoy later. You'll be saving money in two ways: avoiding the grocery aisle in your overpriced supermarket and saving the homegrown foods you harvest yourself for a longer time, avoiding spoilage and rot.
Sous vide cooking
Are you a home chef who wants to try sous vide cooking? In this style of cooking, you place a piece of meat, chicken or fish inside a bag, add a marinade and other spices and additions to the bag, and then vacuum seal the air from the bag. You then cook it in a water bath. The vacuum-sealed ingredients seep into the nooks and crannies of your meat, chicken or fish as the bag cooks in the water, infusing flavors into the meat.
If this sounds like something you'd want to try, then you should choose a vacuum sealer that can handle vacuum sealing bags and comes with its own bags. There are plenty of recipes that use sous vide cooking, and a vacuum sealer is one of the kitchen appliances that go hand in hand with this style of cooking.
FoodSaver Handheld 2-in-1 Vacuum Sealer
This FoodSaver model has a convenient handheld unit that detaches from the main body and is cordless and rechargeable. This model is powerful and gets the job done, but I prefer the control panel and interface of the winner, the FoodSaver VS3130. Still, if you want a FoodSaver and want to spend a bit less for it than for our winner, you can't go wrong with this model. The FoodSaver Handheld 2-in-1 Vacuum Sealer features three sealing modes: vacuum+seal, seal and marinate. Besides its main body, this FoodSaver model has a handheld unit that feels very similar in my hand to Zwilling's handheld vacuum sealing pump, seeing as it's small and easy to use. I like that it detaches from the main unit's body and is cordless, so I can use it anywhere without needing to stay near the main unit.
It can seal up to 35 quart-sized bags before its battery needs recharging, which it does when placed back onto the main unit. This model is compatible with all FoodSaver bags, rolls and accessories. I like that it is lightweight, but the reason it didn't win the top spot is that I like the FoodSaver 3130's control panel and interface better.
Nesco Deluxe Vacuum Sealer VS-12
For about half the price of my winner, the Nesco vacuum sealer can vacuum seal comparatively as well as the FoodSaver VS3130, albeit a bit slower. I liked that I could use any brand of vacuum sealer bags with the Nesco. Of all the vacuum sealers I tested, the Nesco Deluxe Vacuum Sealer VS-12 is the most similar in its design to my winning pick, the FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer VS3130. Both are units that can be easily carried and placed anywhere on the kitchen counter. Both can create and seal new bags from a roll placed in their inner chamber and both feature built-in storage and a cutter for bag rolls.
They also function quite similarly, though the FoodSaver vacuum sealed a bit faster for me than the Nesco did. Whereas the FoodSaver VS3130 costs around $300, the Nesco vacuum sealer can be found for about $150 less. Another plus is that the Nesco sealer is compatible with any brand of vacuum sealer bags.
Weston Pro 2300 Stainless Steel Vacuum Sealer
This vacuum sealer from Weston is a powerhouse and can easily seal bag after bag of food at a time. Its price tag is high, but it's worth it over the long run, especially if you buy meat, chicken or fish in bulk and want to freeze it. I didn't name this sealer the winner due to its large footprint and heavy weight. Weston's vacuum sealer is powerful. Its 16-inch-wide seal bar can fit a variety of foods and has no problem sealing bag after bag in one sitting. It was one of the more expensive machines in my testing pool, but that initial investment can truly pay for itself over the long run. If you buy meat, chicken or fish in bulk and want to freeze it, this machine is your go-to for sealing those foods up to keep them fresh.
This machine isn't going anywhere, literally, as it has stayed put on my counter since it was so heavy. But its heft is both a blessing and a curse; after my vacuum sealing was done, I gladly put it away in my lower cabinet. It is just too big to keep stored on my kitchen counter or even on my kitchen's baker's rack. I didn't name this sealer the winner since it's so heavy and requires ample kitchen counter space. You should instead go with our winner, the FoodSaver VS3130, to enjoy vacuum sealing that is just as good, for less money.
Zwilling Fresh & Save 7-Piece Glass Starter Set
The handheld vacuum sealer included in this set from Zwilling is simple and fun to use to seal up either bags or glass containers of food. I liked that it's rechargeable, portable and conveniently stores away in a kitchen drawer within easy reach. However, the set isn't my winner because it doesn't use rolls so you cannot use it to create bags in the size you might desire. This simple starter set from Zwilling includes a handheld vacuum sealing pump that is 7 inches long by 1 inch wide. It also includes one large freezable and microwavable vacuum container plus four reusable, heat-resistant and freezable vacuum bags.
I was able to easily dock the vacuum pump onto the container's valve or onto one of the bags' valves and extract all the air from either in about 10 seconds. The handheld pump stops automatically once a sufficient vacuum has been reached.
I like that the handheld unit is compact, quiet and rechargeable via the included USB cable. Unlike the hefty Weston Pro sealer I tested, this Zwilling one is extremely portable and can be taken anywhere. That said, this set only uses pre-existing Zwilling bags and containers, unlike the rolls other sealers can use, and thus, it cannot create new bags in sizes you may need.
How long does vacuum-sealed raw beef last?
How long does vacuum-sealed raw beef last?
Vacuum-sealed raw beef can last one to two weeks in the refrigerator, but you can keep vacuum-sealed raw beef in the freezer for up to two to three years.
Can I vacuum seal bread?
Can I vacuum seal bread?
Yes, you can vacuum seal bread since it helps it stay fresh longer. Vacuum sealing removes the air from the packaging; this airtight environment helps prevent mold development.
How do I vacuum seal liquids?
How do I vacuum seal liquids?
You can vacuum seal liquids such as soups and stews by filling a vacuum sealer's bag with the liquid, inserting the top of the bag into the sealer and suctioning out the extra air and sealing the bag. You can then stack these bags flat in your fridge or freezer for later use.
CNN Underscored editors thoroughly test all the products we cover and provide full transparency about how we test them. We have an experienced team of writers and editors with many years of testing experience who ensure each article is carefully edited and products are properly vetted. We talk to top experts when it makes sense to ensure we are testing each product accurately and speaking about the pros and cons of each.
Testing editor Suzanne Kattau has decades of experience testing home, kitchen and hardware items for CNN Underscored and other outlets. Kattau has also tested some of the best cordless stick vacuums for us as well as the best dehumidifiers, the best robot mops, the best leaf blowers, the best mattresses for side sleepers and the best nonstick pans. For this guide, Kattau vacuum sealed a variety of foods using each of the five vacuum sealers, noting how easy the process was and how well each sealer vacuum sealed the food.
