Skip to content
Plug & Prep

Hub 02 · Hand Mixers · Hand Mixers

The best budget hand mixers

You don't need to spend much on a hand mixer. Here are the value picks that whip, cream and mix as well as models costing more — and where the cheapest ones cut real corners.

By Stephen V.Updated How we pick
#ad

We earn a commission when you buy through our Amazon links, at no extra cost to you. It never changes our rankings, and we say so when the cheaper product is the better buy. How this works.

A hand mixer is the appliance where spending more buys the least. The gap between a good budget model and a premium one is real, but it's narrow — a nicer soft start, a bit more dough headroom, better speed spacing. For a baker who whips cream, beats eggs and mixes the occasional cake batter, a value pick does the whole job for a fraction of the price.

The Cuisinart Power Advantage Plusis the value baker's mixer. It ships with dough hooks, a whisk and a storage case at a price where most models give you two beaters and nothing else — that bundle alone can be worth the difference. Nine speeds and a rated motor with genuine headroom mean most people never out-grow it. The Hamilton Beach 6-Speedis the true budget floor: consistently one of the cheapest capable mixers, light and easy to hold, with a QuickBurst button and snap-on storage. It won't knead dough, but for whipping and cake batter a few times a month it's all most kitchens need.

If the budget can stretch a little, the Braun MultiMix 5is here as the step-up: more power and a bundled chopper for the baker who wants headroom for stiff dough without paying KitchenAid money. It's the bridge between "cheap and fine" and the premium models in our best-for-baking roundup.

The short answer

Quick picks

#ProductBest forScorePrice
01
Cuisinart Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed (HM-90S)
Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed (HM-90S)

The value pick. A 220 W-rated motor, nine speeds and a snap-in storage case for the beaters, dough hooks and whisk it ships with. Most home bakers won't out-grow it.

Best value hand mixer
8.3
$79.95Amazon
02
Hamilton Beach Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Hand Mixer (62682RZ)
Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Hand Mixer (62682RZ)

The honest budget option. Six speeds, a QuickBurst button and snap-on storage for the beaters and whisk. It won't knead bread, but for whipping cream and mixing cake batter a few times a month it's all most kitchens need.

Cheapest capable option
7.6
$27.85Amazon
03
Braun Braun MultiMix 5 Hand Mixer (HM5100)
Braun MultiMix 5 Hand Mixer (HM5100)

The most powerful hand mixer here on paper, with a 350 W-rated motor and a genuinely useful vario ramp. The bundled chopper and whisk make it the most flexible of the group for someone who won't buy a stand mixer.

Most power in a hand mixer
8.3
$99.95Amazon

#ad · Live prices from the Amazon Product API, as of Aug 5, 2026. Where we have no verified live price we show none — a gap beats a number that has rotted.

In detail

The picks, in full

01
Cuisinart Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed (HM-90S)

Best value hand mixer

Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed (HM-90S)

220 W rated9 speedsDough hooks incl.Whisk incl.Storage case
8.3/10

The value pick. A 220 W-rated motor, nine speeds and a snap-in storage case for the beaters, dough hooks and whisk it ships with. Most home bakers won't out-grow it.

Power
8
Control
8
Comfort
8
Attachments
8.5
Value
9

Pros

  • Comes with dough hooks and a whisk — rare at the price
  • 220 W rated motor has real headroom for the money
  • Storage case keeps the attachments together

Cons

  • Speed 1 is a touch fast for the gentlest folding
  • Case is bulky in a shallow drawer

Don't buy this if…

…you knead bread dough weekly — hand-mixer dough hooks are a stopgap, and a stand mixer will pay off.

$79.95View on Amazon

$99.9520% off

Price as of Aug 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's at checkout is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed (HM-90S)

02
Hamilton Beach Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Hand Mixer (62682RZ)

Cheapest capable option

Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Hand Mixer (62682RZ)

250 W rated6 speedsQuickBurstWhisk incl.Snap-on case
7.6/10

The honest budget option. Six speeds, a QuickBurst button and snap-on storage for the beaters and whisk. It won't knead bread, but for whipping cream and mixing cake batter a few times a month it's all most kitchens need.

Power
7
Control
7
Comfort
8
Attachments
6.5
Value
9.5

Pros

  • Consistently one of the lowest prices for a capable mixer
  • Light and easy to hold for occasional jobs
  • Bowl-rest feature parks it mid-recipe

Cons

  • No dough hooks — not a bread tool
  • Six speeds give less fine control than nine-speed rivals

Don't buy this if…

…you bake often or want dough hooks — step up to a nine-speed like the Cuisinart or KitchenAid.

$27.85View on Amazon

Price as of Aug 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's at checkout is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Hamilton Beach 6-Speed Hand Mixer (62682RZ)

03
Braun Braun MultiMix 5 Hand Mixer (HM5100)

Most power in a hand mixer

Braun MultiMix 5 Hand Mixer (HM5100)

350 W rated9 speeds + turboChopper incl.Whisk incl.SmartMix ramp
8.3/10

The most powerful hand mixer here on paper, with a 350 W-rated motor and a genuinely useful vario ramp. The bundled chopper and whisk make it the most flexible of the group for someone who won't buy a stand mixer.

Power
9
Control
8.5
Comfort
8
Attachments
8
Value
8

Pros

  • Highest rated wattage in this group — muscles through thick batter
  • Comes with a chopper attachment, not just beaters
  • Ramp-up feature avoids the flour cloud

Cons

  • European-styling controls take a moment to learn
  • Beaters are single-piece; some prefer the twin-wire look

Don't buy this if…

…you want the deepest first-party attachment range — KitchenAid's optional dough hooks and whisk are broader.

$99.95View on Amazon

Price as of Aug 5, 2026. Prices change — Amazon's at checkout is the one that counts.

#ad · we may earn a commission from this link to Braun MultiMix 5 Hand Mixer (HM5100)

Where a budget hand mixer is smart — and where it isn't

Cheap hand mixers cut costs in predictable places. Some of those cuts don't matter to a home baker at all; a couple do.

Fine to give up: extra speeds, digital displays, a chopper

Six well-spaced speeds cover nearly everything; a digital readout changes nothing about the cream you whip; and bundled choppers often gather dust. Paying more for those alone is rarely worth it for an occasional baker.

Worth paying a little more for: a real soft start and included attachments

The two upgrades that genuinely improve daily use are a gradual soft start (so speed one doesn't fire flour across the kitchen) and getting a whisk and dough hooks in the box. The Cuisinart wins the value case precisely because it bundles the attachments; the KitchenAid in our main roundupwins on the smoothest soft start if you'll pay for it.

Don't buy a budget mixer to knead bread

The one place a cheap hand mixer will disappoint is real bread dough. Even models with dough hooks are stopgaps for small, soft doughs — a budget six-speed like the Hamilton Beach doesn't even include hooks. If bread is your goal, put the money toward a budget stand mixer instead; our hand mixers and dough guide explains the limits.

How we picked

We don't run a testing lab

We read the manuals, compiled the published specifications, did the wattage-to-dough math and weighed aggregated owner reviews, then scored each product against a published rubric. The scores are judgments from documented research — they are notmeasurements we took, because we do not have a lab and we're not going to pretend we do. Every spec is the manufacturer's published figure, cited in Sources.

Questions

Frequently asked

What's the best cheap hand mixer?
For value overall, the Cuisinart Power Advantage Plus — it bundles dough hooks, a whisk and a storage case at a price where most models include only beaters. The Hamilton Beach 6-Speed is the cheapest genuinely capable option if you only whip and mix occasionally.
Is it worth spending more on a hand mixer?
Only for two things: a smoother soft start and more dough headroom. If you bake often and want the nicest control, a KitchenAid earns it; if you bake occasionally, a value pick does the same everyday jobs for far less. See our best-for-baking roundup for the premium options.
Can a budget hand mixer knead bread dough?
Not really. Cheaper models either omit dough hooks entirely or strain on anything beyond a small, soft dough. For bread, a budget stand mixer is the better use of the money.

Keep reading

Related

Receipts

Sources

We don't run a testing lab, and we don't pretend to. Specs are the manufacturer's published figures, cited above; scores are our judgments from that research. Where we couldn't verify something, we say so on the page rather than quietly leaving it out. Read our full method.