Best Paper Shredders for Home Use Under $100
Secure shredders for shredding confidential documents at home
For home use it is recommended to get a cross-cut or micro-cut paper shredder for secure shredding of confidential documents, such as personal tax documents, bank statements and paycheck stubs. Don’t just buy the cheapest home shredder, because chances are high that this is a unreliable strip-cut shredder. These type of paper shredders produce long strips from your documents which are pretty easy to read, which is not recommended for sensitive documents with personal and privacy information.
Top 10 Paper Shredders:
So what is the best paper shredder for home use? We have selected 5 shredders to use in your home or even your home office. With these shredding machines you can shred your documents in tiny particles. All the selected home shredders are priced under 100 dollars.
Our top pick:
We recommend the AmazonBasics 12-Sheet High-Security. This silent and compact micro-cut shredder is a feature-packed device that does it all. It is secure, it can shred CDs and credit cards and has a high sheet capacity.
Top 5 Best Paper Shredders Under 100 Dollars
- High Security Micro-Cut – AmazonBasics 12-Sheet High-Security
- Heavy-Duty – AmazonBasics 15-Sheet Cross-Cut
- Basic Budget – AmazonBasics 8-Sheet Cross-Cut
- JamFree Cross-Cut – Aurora JamFree AU1235XA
- Safe to Use – Fellowes Powershred 60Cs
Shred confidential documents with a Cross-Cut or Micro-Cut Shredder
The shredders meet the following requirements:
- Users: 1-2 users (home / personal)
- Price range: $25 – $100
- Sheet capacity: 5 Sheets or more
- Bin capacity: 3 Gallons or more
- Security level: Cross-cut or Micro-cut (tiny particles)
More info? Read our Paper Shredder Buying Guide.
#1 | AmazonBasics 12-Sheet High-Security
Superb Micro-Cut Shredder with Lots of Features
This shredder is quiet, solid and it runs smoothly
The compact AmazonBasics 12-Sheet High-Security is a cross-cut shredder (but it is offered as micro-cut) that does it all. If you want a great shredder for personal use at home, then this is it. The paper shredders makes tiny DIN P-4 paper particles and is very silent. But besides documents it also shreds your CDs, DVD and credit cards. The shredder shreds up to 12 pages per pass and it will run for 8 minutes continuously.
- Security level: Cross-Cut
- Run time: 8 minutes
- Sheet capacity: 12 pages
- Bin capacity: 6.7 gallons
#2 | AmazonBasics 15-Sheet Cross-Cut
Heavy-Duty Shredder with Long Run-Time
Large bin and feed capacity, runs very smoothly and for a long time
The AmazonBasics 15-Sheet Cross-Cut is a shredder that is ready for some intensive shredding work. Fill this machine with up to 15 sheets per pass and it will run for a tremendous 20 minutes in one go. Most home shredders only last 5 minutes untill the device needs to cool down. The shredder comes with extra protection for overheating and overloading, so you won’t experience a paper-jam with this device. Besides your personal documents you can also shred DVDs, CDs, credit cards, staples and small paper clips.
- Security level: Cross-cut
- Run time: 20 minutes
- Sheet capacity: 15 pages
- Bin capacity: 6 gallons
#3 | AmazonBasics 8-Sheet Cross-Cut
Basic & Affordable Cross-Cut Shredder
No-nonsense Shredder & Best Seller on Amazon.com
The AmazonBasics 8 Sheet Cross-Cut is the perfect shredder if you just want to shred a document occasionally. This shredder can’t shred CDs, it only runs for 3 minutes continuously and it doesn’t come with all kinds of nifty featues and sensors. But it does one thing great and that is shredding your documents in unreadable particles. And it does it for a very affordable price. Besides documents it also takes care of your credit cards. This shredder is the best basic budget shredder under $50.
- Security level: Cross-cut
- Run time: 3 minutes
- Sheet capacity: 8 pages
- Bin capacity: 4.1 gallons
#4 | Aurora JamFree AU1235XA
100% Jam Proof Cross-Cut Paper Shredder
Wheels for mobility and Pull-out bin for easy emptying
The Aurora JamFree AU1235XA is a cross-cut paper shredder that eliminates paper jams. The JamFree sensor in this shredder measures the amount of paper you want to shred. When the stack is too thick, the paper shredder refuses to shred this prevents a possible paper jam. With the Aurora paper shredder you can shred your documents for 5 minutes straight. The shredder stops automatically to prevent overheating, the cool down time takes up 30 minutes. It shreds credit cards too.
- Security level: Cross-cut
- Run time: 5 minutes
- Sheet capacity: 12 pages
- Bin capacity: 3.7 gallons
#5 | Fellowes Powershred 60Cs
Safe to Use Paper Shredder for Home
Compact & powerful shredder that is safe for the fingers
The Fellowes Powershred 60Cs is a cross-cut shredder that is perfect for medium duty shredding. The paper shredder with lift-off head can shred up to 10 sheets of paper per pass and can run for 6 minutes. Thanks to the SafeSense technology this shredder is safe to use because it stops shredding when hands or fingers touch the paper opening. Fellowes claims thererfor it is ‘child and pet safe’. The Fellowes shredder is faster than most micro-cut shredders because it has a strong motor.
- Security level: Cross-Cut
- Run time: 6 minutes
- Sheet capacity: 10 pages
- Bin capacity: 6 gallons
Didn’t find the right shredder for home?
The paper shredders above are five great and secure shredders that we recommend for home or personal use. But there are a lot more paper shredders to choose from that are great to use at your home or home office. Check out all paper shredders on Amazon. Or check our recommendations for small office shredders. These cross-cut and micro-cut shredders are perfect to use for shredding your confidential business documents.
Are you looking for a heavy duty solution? Then check our recommended heavy duty paper shredders for continuous shredding. These shredders have a high sheet capacity and can shred non-stop.
The 5 shredders above all shred according to security levels DIN P-3, DIN P-4 or DIN P-5. So these shredders are perfect to use for shredding confidential documents. The shredders are also small and compact so they won’t take up lots of floor space and thanks to their size you can fit them under your desk in your home office.
The shredders are meant for personal use at home. They are not recommended to use intensively in an office environment, because the run-time on these machines is fairly low. Besides that, the waste buckets have a relatively small capacity. They work best for incidental paper shredding.
Can’t you just get the most cheap paper shredder? Even if you use the shredder only a few times a month? We recommend to invest a little bit of money in your home shredder. Most cheap shredders are very slow, jam-up quickly, can only shred one or two sheets at a time and they ‘shred’ your paper in long strips instead of small particles. These longe strips contain still a lot of readable texts, especially when you’ve shred a document that is printed in landscape-mode. These so called ‘strip-cut’ shredders aren’t recommended for the destruction of confidential documents.
A cross-cut or micro-cut shredder is a better option for home use to be sure that your documents will be shredded properly in small particles. The difference between these is that a micro-cut shredder will shred your documents in smaller particles than a cross-cut shredding machine. It is up to you how much security you prefer. But for home use a cross-cut shredder fulfils most peoples’ needs.
What to look for when buying a shredder?
Sheet capacity, bin capacity, run time, security levels. It can be quite overwhelming when you’re browsing for paper shredders online. What to look for? How do you find the best shredder. To help you on your journey we’ve made a paper shredder buying guide.
Why should you shred
It is important to shred documents with personal or sensitive information before you recycle it. This prevents the possibility of identity theft. So don’t just throw away your un-shredded sensitive paperwork into the recycling bin, because is a one of the places where identity thieves look for to obtain personal information.
Alway Shred before you Recycle
Pro tip: Maintain your shredder with oil
It is recommended to lubricate your shredder often with special paper shredder oil. This oil comes in a liquid form or in oil-sheets. The shredder oil makes sure the cutting blades will run as smoothly as possible. Due to paper shredding a lot of dust gets stuck in the blades, the oil will take care of it. We advise to oil your shredder every time you need to empty the bin of the shredder or after intensive usage.
By Recycling.com/ 21 August 2018
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