Top 10 Best Paper Shredders Under $100 in 2021

• A cross-cut shredder is preferred the most as it cuts documents into hard-to recover and smaller pieces.
• A large storage bin can help in keeping the shredded paper accumulated in a place.
• A quiet shredder is always preferred although it shouldn’t come at the expense of shredding power.
• A smart shredder shuts down whenever it encounters objects apart from what it has been programmed to shred thus marking it safe for being used around pets and children.
• Reverse gear can be of great help in clearing paper jams in an easy manner.

Having 12 sheet capacity, the high security shredder can destroy CDs, Credit cards and DVDs in a seamless manner.

Paper jams can be cleared with the manual reverse feature while auto start keeps the device running throughout the day for taking up shredding whenever paper is fed into the system.

It can be used for destroying credit-card bills, ATM receipts, pay stubs, mortgage statements, insurance packets and similar sensitive information which you surely don’t want to fall into the wrong hands. It can also shred credit cards without having to remove small paper clips or staples.

The machine functions for a stretch of 3 minutes before requiring a cooling period of 30 minutes. The device might stop automatically if it operates beyond the maximum running time as the device starts to get overheated.

The shredder features a convenient handle to lift up the shredding part with much ease and empty the wastebasket when it becomes full. The shredding begins automatically while the device is in auto mode and the sensor detects paper being inserted in the middle of the feed slot.

Accidental paper jamming can be cleared out using the manual reverse option.

Its steel construction imparts greater durability to the shredder which can keep up with its operations for long spans of time without showing any signs of fatigue.

This hi-tech machine can either be operated at manual reversed or auto/forward mode. It also features an indicator which can notify the operator about the status of the content.

The highly economical and reliable paper shredder can slice through paper as well as digital media information written on DVD’s, CD’s as well as your credit or debit card in cross patterns so that it cannot be reassembled.

The Royal 112MX paper shredder can deal with 12 sheets at one go coupled with its 9-inch-wide paper input slot which can easily take in a large number of papers without having to arrange them properly.

Featuring Safety Lock functionality, this child and pet safe shredder gets disabled automatically for additional safety protection whenever it detects your hand on its opening slot.

The shredder can operate for a stretch of 5 minutes which needs to be followed up with a resting time of 20 minutes for the machine to cool down.

The shredder is accompanied with a 5-gallon pull out waste basket which can be emptied in a hassle-free affair.

You can gauge out the remaining space easily through the glass window for emptying it in between uses.

This versatile shredder is accompanied with a separate cutter for dealing with hard objects like CDs and DVDs which help in imparting greater longevity to the same by buffering the shredder from all chances of wear and tear.

While operating in the auto mode, shredding starts once something is detected by the sensor. Shredded paper is accumulated in a larger capacity wastebasket which can hold up to 3.2 gallon of waste.

You can clear paper jams easily coupled with the manual reverse option. The strip-cut shredder requires a cooling off period of 15 minutes and can run at a stretch of two minutes to present you with confetti like strips.

The high level of security provided by the shredder can be of great help in protecting highly classified documentation.

It can also cut DVDs, CDs and Blue Rays into pieces for rendering them useless. The shredding action begins once something is detected by the sensor in the auto mode. The manual reverse helps in clearing it out on the unlikely event of a paper jam.

Featuring Safe Sense technology, the Powershred 60Cs Cross-Cut Shredder ceases the shredding operation whenever hands touch the paper opening thus making it ideal for being used in houses having children and pets.

The device runs for a stretch of 6 minutes before feeling the requirement of a 20 minutes cooling off period. The medium duty shredding provided by the Powershred is perfect for desk-side usage.

Some of the Key Points to consider when buying Paper Shredder

Reverse Switch

The issue of a paper jam is a common problem with a paper shredder. In that scenario, a manual reverse, reverse switch or auto REV mode is simply inevitable. Or, the machine would remain down for hours.

There is also some paper shredder coming with 100% jam proof system, a costly affair though.

Safety Lock

It helps you put your machine in an inactive mode. Something very important if you have small kids and pets at home.

Auto Mode

Using auto mode your machine automatically starts operation on sensing the approaching paper when someone tries to feed paper into it.

Multi-Slots

There are various shredders that apart from shredding papers, shreds your CDs, DVDs and credit cards. They mount different size slots for cards and compact disks. This helps to maintain the blade life.

Safety Sensor

This is an important safety factor. The safety sensors automatically shut down your machine as soon as it detects your hand or another body part close to the entrance.

Some of the sensor helps to keep your T-shirt, shirt and tie from getting trapped into the blades.
This cut any chance of accidental mishaps.

Security level needed

You better know what kind of security is needed at your workplace. And, security levels various even at the department level in the same organization itself.

For example, you need much higher security in your R&D and design department in comparison to service departments. A single leakage of the latest design and innovation can be like a gold mine for your rivals.

Though there is a number of standard available worldwide for governing the security level of shredders, the popular and most accepted one is DIN( Deutsches Institut für Normung).

There are seven levels in it, like DIN P1, DIN P2, DIN P3, DIN P4, DIN P5, DIN P6 and DIN P7. Without going into many details for now, just know that you get finer cut as the level increases, thus a better security.

For example, at DIN P1, the machine cuts papers into strips of width less than or equal to 12 mm and at DIN P7, the paper is reduced to size with a surface area smaller than 5 mm sq having the width less than 1 mm.

So, how can you choose the security level with your paper shredder?

Different shredders come with different security level based on the size of cut strips. Smaller and finer the strip size better is the protection level. Also, it takes a longer time to get finer cuts, that why you get a slower operation. Also, higher the security level higher goes the cost.

The cut sizes are divided into three main groups:

• Strip Cut
• Cross cut
• Micro Cut

Micro Cut

Let’s start with the highest security level that is, micro cut.

It turns your paper into small confetti-like pieces of small 5/32” x 15/32” width. As clear from the image below, the cut size is so small that no one can join the cut pieces to decipher any information out of it.

Cross-cut

It shreds your document to the width of 7/32″ x 1-27/32″. These shredders are priced between the micro-cut and strip cut shredders and are faster than micro-cut.

These are most popular shredder types considering the speed, security and price factor.

Strip Cut

At this basic level, ou gets a shredding width of 1/4”. For example, a normal A4 sheet is cut down into approximately 35 strips having a width of 1/4″.

The shredders working on this security level are available at the comparatively low price and their processing speed is also much faster.

How much is the load at your workplace? How often (frequency) do you need to access the shredder?
Once you chalk out the security level at your office, you need to know about the load and frequency of use.

The shredder comes with different loading capacities. For example, the same AmazonBasics shredder is available in three variants.

1. AmazonBasics 12-Sheet Shredder
2. AmazonBasics 8-Sheet Shredder
3. AmazonBasics 6-Sheet Shredder

(There are shredders coming with 14, 18 and even higher sheets capacity too)

Thus, you can feed 12 sheets at once in the first one, eight and six sheets in the second and third respectively.
And when you look at the price you would find 12-sheet shredder most costly and the 6-sheet shredder least costly.
That is justifiable too.

Thus, you can choose the one as per load requirement at your workplace.

Another factor to check is the run time. Most of the shredder works on continuous runtime like 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 5 minutes and 8 minutes. After that, they automatically switch to cool down mode for around 30/40/45 minutes.

This is done to save the shredder machine from the ill effects of overheating.

If you, does the price check, generally you would find those with longer run time and shorter cool down time are costlier.

Thus, you have to chalk out your decision based on the three factors, that are runtime, cool down time and price to find a perfect balance.

Tips: For personal use and small offices you can go for one with a shorter operation and longer cooling duration without any problem.

If there is a large number of people depending on the single shredder, you should go for the one with longer operation time and shorter cooling duration. This would cut the wait time.

And with this growing need for data security, you must check out these top ten paper shredders.

Above is the list of some of the best performing Paper Shredders under $100 available in the market

The background

No doubt, with the growth of digitization in the recent time use of papers, have reduced significantly. And, it’s good for our environment too.

Yet, the use of ink and paper can’t be totally discarded.

The important and sensitive details need to be put in black and white. In that case, it becomes equally important to safeguard these papers containing secure data from reaching in wrong hands.

There are many instances where rivals have been able to get their hands on important data of their competitors through that dustbin. Yes, throwing a complete piece of paper full of information can be disastrous.
That’s where a paper shredder comes to your aid.

What is a paper shredder?

A paper shredder is a device that shreds or strips your sensitive documents (like credit card slips, official documents or contact list) so that it can’t be deciphered.

The modern paper shredders are also coming with features like CD shredder and Credit/ATM card shredders. Thus, helping you to destroy the sensitive information inside your CDs and cards securely.

What are the benefits?

The sole purpose of having a paper shredder is to provide you complete data security canceling any instance of data theft, cyber breach, and the related threats.

It helps to instill a sense of security among your employees.
Apart from that, it helps in waste reduction and waste management. For example, the shredded strips can be easily used for package filling during transportation.

Apart from that, it helps in waste reduction and waste management. For example, the shredded strips can be easily used for package filling during transportation.

Bin Size

To the most of the space occupied by a shredder machine, the main contribution comes from its bin. The bins are available in various sizes like 3.0 gallons, 3.8 gallons, 4 gallons, 4.5 gallons, 5 gallons, 5.5 gallons and 6 gallons.

Again, to choose the right size of the bin, you should have a clear idea of space available, workload, the number of people going to use the shredder and whether it is for personal or an office use.

Also, you should consider the bin type. Mostly these are regular( the simple one), pull out the type and pull out a type with wheels.

Tips: For largely sized bin, you should go for pull out type with wheels. It helps you to empty the bin easily.

Noise level

Since the shredders have to churn out paper sheets, cards, and CDs, they produce some noise. Most of the shredder are available in the noise range of 55 dB( decibels) to 75 dB.

You would always like to have a quiet shredder for a peaceful office environment. However, for a little noisy environment like cabins next to workshop or production area, noise factor of shredder may be ignored.

Warranty

Getting a customer friendly warranty on any electronic device come as a big peace of mind.

A good warranty is also the sign of manufacturers’ confidence in their product. You should never ignore warranty when purchasing mechanical cum electronic product like a paper shredder.

Thus, whenever you buy a paper shredder, you should check the warranty conditions and warranty duration.

Tips: Apart from competing for warranty, you should also inspect if the shredder is coming with a warranty on the cutter and blade.

For example, Fellowes Powershred W11C offers a 3-year warranty on cutter apart from 1-year warranty on the complete system.

Price

Pricing is a deciding factor when you plan to buy any product, not just the paper shredders.

Well, whatever your budget is like under $100, $200, $500 or $1000 a little research on the internet can help you find you best product.

And, there is some trusted site similar to sparrowsurf that you can always refer to discover the best product to buy online. They review the product with a price range filter for the very reason.

Other additional features to watch in a shredder.

Apart from these basic points, you should give weight to some other important features too.