The Best Vacuum Sealer for Keeping Food Fresh in 2026

External Vacuum Sealers

Test #1: How long is 1 vac seal cycle?

A frequent question we hear about external vac sealers is how many bags it can seal before it needs a rest or the sealing bar gets too hot.

Most of these sealers don't list their limitations and focus their marketing on other things, but this is a major consideration for buyers, so we're going to test it.

We're starting by calculating the time for a single cycle on each sealer, and here's how they ranked.

The quickest single cycle was the Potane at 18 seconds for a single cycle, and the longest was the MZROT at just shy of 37 seconds, with the other sealers falling in-between. Individual cycle time matters, but I think even more important is how many cycles can be run before it locks us out or the seals become compromised.

Test #2: Seal width

Before we began our torture test, we first needed to examine the seal that each unit is capable of.

Seal width determines what size of bags you can use with each sealer. These are all called 12 inch sealers, but you'll have a really hard time finding 12 inch WIDE bags. The most common width you'll find in a bag or roll of roughly that size is going to be 11 inches, and the 11 inch width will work in all of these sealers. 

Probably more important than the seal width however, is the thickness of the seal itself. The thicker the seal, the more reliable it is.

The thinnest seal of them all, at only 1/16", was made by the FoodSaver FS2100. The Meat Your Maker seal and Bonsenkitchen seals were 2/16". The Anova, Potane, FoodSaver Power Vac, MegaWise, and Nesco all made 3/16" seals, and the MZROT seal measured a whopping 5/16".

However, the Nesco has the ability to make a double seal if you prefer, while the Anova Precision vacuum sealer double seals all the time. Experience has taught me the value of a double seal, because if one ever fails, you always have that second barrier.

Test #3: Heat seal torture test

All of these vacuum sealers can make a decent seal in one isolated bag, but how do they keep up if you're trying to seal a bunch back to back? We ran each sealer with no vacuum or waiting between seals for 5 straight minutes, and here's how many heat seals we got on each unit.

BonsenKitchen came in first with 18 successful seals, followed by Meat Your Maker, Potane and the Food Saver 2100 with 14. The Anova and Nesco sealed 13, the Food Saver PowerVac and the MegaWise did 12 seals, and the MXROT finishes in last place with 10 seals. Quantity of seals is a great metric, but it's really the quality of the seal that matters, and here's what we found.

Some of these sealers performed flawlessly. The Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer was unquestionably in first place, as every seal looked picture-perfect. The Nesco comes in second, with the smallest of differences behind the Anova. I would put these sealers in 3 quality categories, and it looks like this. First is the Best Seals, Second we have Good Seals, and then "It's Probably Good" Seals. The last category I'd be a little worried about long term storage and if it would hold its seal years in the freezer, but it could be fine, time will tell.

Test #4: Can it handle delicate and wet foods?

If there's one thing that I enjoy the least about external vacuum sealers, it's how they deal with delicate and wet foods. To test exactly that, we sought out the humble peach, because what's more vulnerable than a peach? They're easily squishable and when canned have plenty of liquid, so we test sealed a bag of peaches in each sealer.

There are two methods to do this, first is by using the "moist" setting, and if that word makes you bristle, I apologize for the next segment. The second way is to pulse seal, where you push the pulse button until you have the vacuum you want on the bag, and then it seals when you tell it to. Not all of these have all options, so we'll explain as we go along.

The Foodsaver PowerVac doesn't have a pulse feature, so a moist cycle was attempted. We did not get a great seal, missing about 10%, and a large amount of wetness in the drip tray, and thus failed this test.

The Potane moist setting ended up with about 98% of a seal, but on the manual pulse, it was only about 50% of a seal, so neither method worked for us in the peach test.

The MZROT only has a Moist button and no pulse, and as soon as you push Moist, it starts straight away. It gave us a solid seal, but left a bit of moisture in the tray in the end.

Megawise had a bit of moisture get past the seal on the moist test with some in the drip tray as well, but a solid seal. Trying it with the pulse option, it performed worse with a sizeable gap in the seal, so better with the moist setting.

The Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer didn't fare as well in the moist test, but the pulse version got us a solid seal in the end. Some moisture above the seal, but the two seals both were secure even with moisture getting past each.

The Bonsenkitchen doesn't have a moist setting, but does pulse, and when you let go of the button, it auto seals, so just 1 shot at it. This sealer also recommends a double seal, so we hit seal a second time as the manual suggested. Moisture got past the seal point, but with the double seal cycle, we got a solid seal with no drips in the tray.

The Food Saver FM2100 has a moist setting and no pulse, and a cycle resulted in minimal liquid getting past the seal, but a solid seal, passing the peach test.

The Meat Your Maker 12" sealer doesn't have a pulse option, but the moist setting came through. Liquid got past the seal point, but a solid seal and a good vacuum pull on our peaches.

The Nesco Deluxe had 1 of the two seals work on the moist setting, with the first seal being compromised in multiple places, but the second seal being solid throughout. We tried the pulse setting as well, and while quite a bit of liquid got past the seal, the seal was solid, even with a single seal instead of a double, and no liquid in the drip tray.

JVR Vac100- Our Top Pick!

What we like:

What we don't like:

Honestly, we can use any of the vacuum sealers in this article whenever we want. But this is the one we keep out and use regularly. We love the low profile, clear lid, accessory hose, ability to seal wide bags and quiet operation. And the customer service at JVR is second to none. Read our full review of the JVR Vac100 to hear why it's currently our favorite vacuum sealer.

JVR Vac110

What we like:

What we don't like:

For a larger-sized chamber vacuum, the Vac110 offers a lot of versatility with its retort capability and ability to seal 16 ounce jars.

Meat! Chamber Vac

What we like:

What we don't like:

With a lifetime warranty, the Meat chamber vacuum sealer is the last vacuum sealer you'll have to buy. Yes, it is expensive to purchase initially. But with a lifetime warranty, you'll literally never have to purchase another. And it does all the things you'd want it to do, and does them well.

Vevor DZ-260A

What we like:

What we don't like:

If you're wanting to make the transition to chamber vacuum sealers but aren't thrilled with the price tag that usually comes with them, this Vevor is definitely one to consider. It performs very close to the level of the much-more-expensive chamber vacs at a fraction of the cost.