Best Paper Shredders for Home Use

HIGH-QUALITY SHREDDERS FROM REPUTABLE BRANDS
Updated on Sep 25, 2020

Are you looking for a reliable, durable and powerful paper shredder for personal use? We are here to help you find one that suits your needs. Our team made a selection of five high-quality shredders from trusted brands. The paper shredders are high-rated and able to destroy paper documents into unreadable confetti.

We recommend the Aurora AU1060MA as a reliable and secure home office paper shredder. This is a micro-cut shredder that helps you keep your identity secure. Micro-cut and cross-cut shredders destroy confidential tax documents, bank statements, receipts, paycheck stubs, and other sensitive paperwork into small paper shreds. For shredding non-confidential documents, you can use a strip-cut shredder.

Green choice Shredder selection for households

What is the best paper shredder for shredding personal documents at home? Our team researched 270+ paper shredders from multiple brands and we’ve picked five recommendations. We think it is really important that your shredder works great, offers high security and is well-built.

Our top-rated selection is based on these requirements:

• Security level P-4 or more – High security
• Run-time of 5+ minutes – Less waiting
• Sheet capacity of 6+ sheets per pass – More shredding
• Bin capacity of 4+ gallon – High productivity
• Trusted manufacturers – Sturdy and durable
  
• High-rated customer reviews – Minimum of 4 stars

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Recommended paper shredders

Disclosure: This article about ‘Best Paper Shredders for Home‘ contains affiliate links. If you click on a productlink and make a purchase, we may earn a commission – learn more.

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#1 | Aurora AU1060MA

Best high security shredder

Level: P-5 | Sheet capacity: 10 pages | Bin capacity: 6 gallon

The Aurora AU1060MA is a stylish and modern looking paper shredder that will suit well in your home office. The shredder offers high-security thanks to security level P-5. This means that a single document is cut into small pieces that measure 5/64 by 15/32 inches, more than 2500 particles per A4 document. In other words, if security is important for you, this is the shredder to buy.

With the Aurora you shred up to 10 sheets per pass and combined with the run-time of 60 minutes you can shred a lot of paperwork every day. The anti-jam functionality clears any possible paper jams during shredding and the shredder is also capable of destroying credit cards. The only downside is that you can’t shred CDs or DVDs with it.

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#2 | Fellowes Powershred 79Ci

Best all-round shredder

Level: P-4 | Sheet capacity: 16 pages | Bin capacity: 6 gallon

The Fellowes Powershred 79Ci is a perfect household shredder, because this shredder can do it all. Use the Fellowes to securely shred your junk mail, sensitive documents (even with paper clips and staples), credit cards and CDs or DVDs. Your paperwork is shredded into ‘security level P-4’ cross-cut shreds, that are 5/32 x 1 1/2 inch small. This offers you enough protection for your daily confidential documents.

When you want to clear out your file cabinet, this shredder is very helpful because you can shred up to 16 sheets per pass which makes the shredder quit fast. The motor is able to shred for 20 minutes and then you need to cool it down for around 30 minutes. We really like the ‘Safe Sense’ features of this shredder, this disables the shredder instantly when hands touch the paper opening. This helps to protect you, your family and your pets.

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#3 | Aurora AU1415XA

Best under 100 dollar

Level: P-4 | Sheet capacity: 14 pages | Bin capacity: 5 gallon

The Aurora AU1415XA comes with all the features you want in an affordable home shredder. This machine shreds up to 14 sheets in a single pass and is also able to destroy your credit cards and CDs. Your sensitive documents are shredded into small DIN P-4 shreds that are 5/32 by 1-7/32 inches small.

The motor is powerful enough to shred continuously for 10 minutes. This might sound short, but most cheap shredders can only shred for 5 minutes maximum. The shredder operates quietly and prevents paper jams by its overload protection. You move around this paper shredder with easy because it contains four wheels. Emptying the shredder is convenient thanks to the pull-out wastebasket, the only downside is that you can’t insert a bag in the basket.

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#4 | Bonsaii Evershred Pro 3S16

Best quiet shredder

Level: P-4 | Sheet capacity: 12 pages | Bin capacity: 4.2 gallon

The Bonsaii Evershred Pro 3S16 is a powerful shredder that operates very quiet with a noise level of just 58 dB, basically the sound level of a household refrigerator. Most shredders are noisier and operate at 60-70 dB, so this shredder provides you a quiet and smooth shredding experience.

Besides you shred in silence, this Bonsaii shredding machine is also very powerful. The heavy-duty motor offers 60 minutes of continuous shredding without stopping, this is ideal for bulk or mass document shredding. It shreds up to 12 sheets per pass at a rate of 7.2 feet per minute, and the Bonsaii also destroys your old credit cards, CDs. Other features we like is that the shredder is compact and comes with four casters to move it around your home office.

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#5 | Fellowes Microshred 12MS30

Best deskside shredder

Level: P-4 | Sheet capacity: 12 pages | Bin capacity: 6 gallon

The Fellowes Microshred 12MS30 is a powerful deskside shredder that, in addition to paper, also shreds credit cards, junk mail staples and paper clips. What we find impressive is that the shredder can shred for 30 minutes continuously and that the cool down period is just 10 minutes. That is very short in comparison to other shredders.

With security level P-4 this shredder offers you enough security to keep your information safe. The shredder destroys up to 12 sheets per pass into tiny 5/32 by 1/2 inches confetti. Thanks to the auto-reverse feature, this shredder clears a paper jam automatically by reversing the micro-cut blades. We also like the fact that the Fellowes comes with safe sense technology, this immediately stops the shredder from running when fingers or hands touch the feed opening.

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Paper shredder comparison table

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Guide for finding a great home shredder

1. Why do you need a shredder?
2. What is the best shredder for you?
3. Strip-cut, cross-cut or micro-cut?

For secure paper shredding we recommend a cross-cut or micro-cut shredder with security level P-3 or higher.Recycling.com

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Why do you need a shredder?

It is important to shred documents with personal or sensitive information before you recycle it. This prevents the possibility of identity theft and identity fraud. So don’t just throw away your sensitive paperwork into your recycling bin, because this is one of the places where thieves look for to obtain documents with personal information on it. That is why it is recommended to always shred before you recycle.

Is a cheap shredder a good idea?

We don’t recommend you to buy a very cheap paper shredder for your shredding needs. From our experience, these cheaper models are more of an annoyance than it is a convenience for your household. A cheap shredder costs around 30 to 50 dollars, and it is perfectly fine for shredding a few sheets occasionally at home. But when you regularly want to shred your paperwork, you want a shredder that just works and shreds without constant paper jams, interference and without too much noise.

Therefore it is better if you invest in a more powerful and reliable household shredder. Our list contains shredders between 100 and 200 dollars, and that sounds fairly expensive. But when you read reviews from customers for cheap shredders, you can find a lot of negative comments and complaints about these machines. These user testimonials tell you that the shredder feels flimsy, or that the shredder can only shred not more than 3 sheets at a time, or that the shredder has a very short run-time of just a few minutes. Some people even point out security issues with some of the models. All these complaints make paper shredding a hassle and not a fun task for you to do, due to the low performance of these shredders.

Quotes from user reviews (source: Amazon.com):

• “Fire Danger. I have found this shredder running and very hot when I have not been in the room It has started by itself several times.”
• “Spend a few more dollars for something more reliable. You get what you pay for.”
• “Horrid. Horrid. Horrid. Do not waste your money or time. You will only have to return it. This product barely lasted 4 months and already broke. “
• ” It can’t handle more than 2 pages at a time and don’t expect to shred for long it becomes useless after 15-20 pages.”
• “Not worth the money. Extremely loud. Can only shred maybe 3 pages at a time. Overheats after only about 5 minutes. “
• “This shredder is horrible. It is loud when shredding and shreds very slowly. It is also very easily stuck. It is a bust for the money it costs. “
• “f you are shredding sensitive material to prevent identity theft, this cheap shredder is useless.”
• “This shredder is a total piece of junk. It did not even last three months.”
• “This is not a good machine. Even for small or light duty. Everything feeds in at an angle, thus jamming it extensively. Spend the extra few bucks for one that gets the job done quickly and effectively: 

Besides the inconvenience, it is more likely that a cheap or flimsy shredder won’t last a long time. So you need to replace it with a new one, and this is not very durable or eco-friendly. That is why we recommend you to buy a reliable and sturdy paper shredder that offers you and your family a great user experience and is more sustainable because they will last for years to come.

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What is the best shredder for you?

In our extensive shredder guide, you can read everything about shredder specifications and important features of shredders. But for your convenience we’ve selected three key features that are relevant for you which we’ll discuss briefly down below:

• #1 – What do you want to shred?
• #2 – How long do you want to shred?
  
• #3 – How many sheets do you want to shred?
  
• #4 – What size waste bin do you prefer?
  
• #5 – What security level do you prefer?

#1 – What do you want to shred?

What materials do you want to destroy in your shredder? Of course, you want to shred your confidential paper documents. But besides shredding paper, you might also want your shredder to destroy other materials such as staples, paperclips, credit cards, CDs and DVDs. Not every shredder can do this, although most of the machines can handle a few stapled documents every now and then. When you demand your shredder to regularly shred stapled documents or files with a paperclip attached to it, you should look for a shredder that can handle these harder materials to avoid any damage to your shredder.

#2 – How long do you want to shred?

Each shredder has its limits. These limits come visible when you look at the maximum run time, maximum sheet capacity and bin capacity of the machine.

The run time tells you about the maximum amount of time the shredder can shred paper continuously. Basic shredders can run for just a few minutes, while some heavy-duty paper shredders can run for an hour or longer. A shredder can overheat while in use, so to prevent this from happening the shredder stops working automatically to let the motor cool down. The cooling downtime can take quite a while, take into account 30 minutes or more.

We recommend a shredder with a run time of 5 minutes or more.

So when you want to shred a large pile of old documents, it isn’t convenient using a budget shredder that can only run for 2 minutes. On the other hand, when you only shred a few documents incidentally, the short run time is just fine. Keep in mind that a paper shredder with a longer run time is more expensive, so consider for your self if you need the extra minutes.

#3 – How many sheets do you want to shred?

A shredder can only shred a few documents per pass. The number of documents you can shred per pass is called the sheet capacity of the shredder. Basic shredders can shred around five to ten standard A4 documents at a time. But the higher-end models can shred through larger stacks of documents.

Keep in mind that you should interpret the maximum sheet capacity with a grain of salt to prevent the paper shredder from jamming. So instead of shredding the maximum amount of documents, we suggest shredding one document less. The reason for this is that you might shred a document that is a bit thicker than normal, or a document is folded in two and thus makes it a thicker pile.

#4 – What size waste bin do you prefer?

Do you want a compact-sized paper shredder you can easily put under your desk or store away in a closet? Then you have to compensate for the capacity of the waste bin. A smaller sized bin can hold fewer paper shreds and thus needs to be emptied more often. This isn’t an inconvenience when you only shred a few documents a week. But when you use a shredder in your home office and shred regularly, it can be an annoyance to empty the bin every day.

The average size of a home shredder is around 3 to 5 gallons. The amount of paper shreds or strips it can hold depends on the security level of the shredder. Smaller paper particles take up less space than long strips from a strip-cut shredder.

#5 – What security level do you prefer?

The security level of a paper shredder tells you about the size of the paper particles after shredding a document. Generally, shredders are divided into strip-cut, cross-cut and micro-cut shredders. But officially shredders are classified with a DIN P-level, which is used worldwide to categorize the security level of paper shredders, for example, DIN P-3 (or P3 for short). The higher the number of the level, the smaller the paper particles are.

The DIN P-level is part of the official German DIN 66399 standard (since 2012) which is the international standard for secure shredding of data media developed by the Deutsches Institut für Normung (DIN) which translates to the German Institute for Standardization.

For most home shredding needs we recommend a document shredder that is classified with DIN P-3 or DIN P-4. These types of shredders are cross-cut shredders and can shred your confidential documents into small particles. For extra security look for a DIN P-5 micro-cut shredder. We suggest skipping any strip-cut shredder (P1 and P2) because these shredders are only meant for shredding non-confidential papers such as junk mail.

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Strip-cut, cross-cut or micro-cut?

The recommended shredders in our top 10 all shred according to security levels DIN P-3 or higher (more about security levels). So these shredders are perfect to use for shredding confidential documents. The paper 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.

When you are looking for a shredder with longer run-time, higher sheet capacity and or higher bin capacity we recommend looking for an office shredder or and heavy-duty shredder. These types of shredders will cost more but offer faster shredding speeds and overall better performance. So when you want to shred more documents than the average home shredder can handle, it is recommended to invest a bit more than $100.00 for your shredder. You can find more professional shredders for office use here.

Cross-cut or micro-cut shredder

Most cheap shredders are very slow, jam quickly, can only shred one or two sheets at a time and they ‘shred’ your paper in long strips instead of small particles. These long strips can still contain a lot of readable text, especially when you shred a document that is printed in landscape mode. These ‘strip-cut’ shredders aren’t recommended for the destruction of confidential documents. But you can use a strip-cut paper shredder for non-confidential documents, such as junk mail.

A cross-cut or micro-cut shredder is a better option for home use to be sure that your personal documents with confidential information will be shredded properly in small particles. The difference between these shredders 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 fulfills most peoples’ needs. Read more about the differences between cross-cut and micro-cut shredders.

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Step Up: Recycle, Reuse & Reduce

The three arrows of the recycling symbol represent the three main stages of the recycling process: recycling, reusing and reducing. Together the arrows form a closed loop. Step up and implement eco-friendly replacements in your daily life.

Join the movement! Step Up the waste hierarchy together to a goal of Zero Waste.