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Our home experts tested compost bins from Miracle-Gro, FCMP, Algreen and more to find the best composting solution for your garden
Composting is a great way to reduce household waste and renew your garden's soil, and the right bin allows you to enjoy composting no matter where you live.
Looking for the best compost bin for your garden? Our team of gardeners researched 30+ top models available before buying and testing 8 bins side by side. We rigorously compared bins both big and small, evaluating each for their ease of assembly, loading, turning, and aeration properties. After a season of collecting our food scraps and dialing in our carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, we shed light on which bins are best for your expansive backyard menagerie and which are most suited to apartment life. Regardless of your habitation situation, there is a bin that can help you experience the miracles of decomposition and make a nutrient-rich soil amendment for your garden.
If you have some cooped-up kids in your home, the FCMP Outdoor Hotfrog could be a great way to get them outside, where they can get some exercise while learning about the natural and intriguing phenomenon that is decomposition. This simple composter can be turned on its stand, but it's also perfectly fine (and more fun) to roll it around the yard. The Hotfrog arrives completely assembled. All you need to do is unbox it and place it outside on its stand and you're ready to go. It has a few aeration holes, and despite our concerns that they would become clogged and prevent any aerobic decomposition, the Hotfrog churned out compost just fine.
While a lack of moving parts keeps this compost bin durable and tough, it can be difficult to turn as its interior weight increases. It will turn on its stand, but the whole thing is pretty close to the ground, and turning it could be hard on the back. Transform it into an even more interactive activity by having the kids push it around the yard. Having a little space for it to roll makes this model easier to use, too. The door slides much like the Miracle-Gro composters, but it is made out of thicker plastic and it slides open and closes more easily. We just wish it was a little wider. If the assembly process of other tumblers seems daunting to you, and you just want a compost bin that's ready to go, then the FCMP Outdoor Hotfrog is an excellent alternative.
This bin doesn't require assembly and can be fun to turn. You can put the kids to work by having them roll the bin around the yard.
The Miracle-Gro Small composter is a fully contained and compact tumbler, ideal for rooftop gardens or situations where space is at a premium. For the price, it's a great way to venture into the sweet science of composting, especially if you want to teach and share the experience with youth. Assembly takes a little time, but all the plastic pieces snap together without too much effort, and no tools are required. Once assembled, the tumbler spins easily unless you flip a switch to lock it in place. The switch is a little flimsy, but this model isn't very large, and it doesn't take much to stop it from rotating. A generous amount of holes on either side ensures good aeration, and while the door isn't huge, it's big enough to add food scraps and amendments with a small trowel.
The main drawback of this compact composter lies in its sliding door. If you aren't careful, it can get stuck in its sliding tracks, especially if dirt works its way in — which it will, since the door is fairly small. It's likely to get leaves, sawdust, or whatever carbon amendment you're trying to shovel in there. The door is hefty enough to keep out mice, rats, and squirrels, but an enterprising raccoon could potentially pry its way in, while a bear could easily crush the whole unit. We suspect most folks ordering this small compost bin won't have any bears to deal with and will appreciate the lightweight Miracle-Gro Small, especially if space is a prime concern.
This little guy will need finely chopped materials and a more precise 30:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio to be successful, but makes composting possible in smaller yards or apartment balconies.
Leaves lots of leftover material to be buried or thrown out
Increased likelihood of mold
For those living in a yardless apartment or who need a little compost in the dead of winter, the SCD Probiotics All Season Indoor compost bucket could be just the thing you're looking for. Mind boggled by the 30:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio? No need to worry about that with this composter. You're provided with a bag of Bokashi to get the party going. Bokashi is a “compost starter” that creates an anaerobic fermenting process, which is why it works in an airtight bucket. Layer your food scraps with the included Bokashi starter, seal up the lid, and in about a week you have a fertile compost tea that's easily dispensed from a spout at the bottom. Then you can pour it in your potted house plants for a nutritious boost.
The SCD bucket includes simple instructions that don't quite represent our experience with making compost tea. It suggests usable compost tea is ready within three days, but it took about a week to extract any tea. The instructions also state that white mold growth is possible, which is fine, but that smelly blue-green mold is bad, and if it's present, restart the process. After a few days of composting, we opened the bucket for inspection and noticed lots of fuzzy white growth, accompanied by an unpleasant smell. After consulting with some friends who've used this process before, we learned the smell was standard, as was the white stuff, and we decided to press on. We're glad we did because compost tea is great for our plants. Unfortunately, there were still a lot of food scraps left over after the fermentation. If you don't have another way of further composting these leftovers, you'll need to throw them out or bury them. In short, the SCD bucket is a fun, odor-sealing science experiment your house plants will love, but it can't eliminate all the food scraps from your kitchen.
While sensitive noses may be able to detect some odors from this indoor composting bucket, our human noses couldn't smell anything when it is properly sealed.
The Miracle-Gro Dual Chamber one-ups the competition with two independently rotating chambers. While one chamber churns and burns with microorganisms digesting your food scraps, the other chamber can remain static as your finished compost cools down and stabilizes so it can be used in your garden. A chamber for curing isn't really necessary, as once your compost reaches maturation, it is unappealing to animals and bugs, and only gives off a low-key musty smell. So, you can always leave it exposed in a pile in your yard. It is, however, nice to have somewhere for curing if there isn't room in your yard or if where you live doesn't allow tarp-covered dirt piles. Both chambers have a locking tab that makes sure they won't rotate when rotation isn't desired. Assembly is just like the single-chambered version we tested; you just need to do everything twice. The plastic parts snap together fairly easily to create a surprisingly solid little tumbler. If your composting ambitions are bigger than the 18.5-gallon single-chamber Miracle-Gro Small, this one is exactly the same, but with twice the capacity.
Not to sound like a broken record, but our major complaint about this model is its size and operation doors. Herky and jerky as you slide them open and closed, these doors are hardly big enough to accept a small bucket of food scraps. You'll need to shovel that slop in with a trowel. If you're looking for a medium-sized composter that will remain easy to turn even as it reaches capacity, we recommend this one over the single-chambered version, though it is a bit more expensive.
This model is exactly like its single-chambered cousin but lets you compost two batches at different stages at the same time, at only a slightly higher price.
If you have a small yard and a shovel, the Algreen Soil Saver is an easy way to compost while protecting it from skunks, squirrels, and rats. It's like having a big trash can without a bottom. The three access doors slide up so you can shovel out and spread your finished compost. Additionally, the entire top is removable, making it very easy to load. There is also plenty of room to maneuver a shovel or pitchfork to turn your pile. The Algreen Soil Saver contains the unsightly mess of a compost pile while the microbes do their job.
Since this model composts directly onto the ground, it is not leakproof. So if your ratios are off, smells will be more evident than with one of the more discreet, self-contained tumblers. As far as security goes, a large dog or a bear could easily knock it over and feast on its rotten contents. Turning this composter will require a pitchfork and some sweat equity but may result in a more even and thorough mix than a tumbler. If you need a good amount of compost for a large garden, the Soil Saver may be the right option for you.
This open bottom design is easy to load and can keep small animals out (unless they can dig) but requires a shovel or pitchfork to turn.
To use GEOBIN Expandable 216-Gallon, you'll need a pitchfork, perhaps a tarp, and plenty of space. This bin is actually a roll of plastic mesh that can create an enclosure capable of containing up to 216 gallons of compost. The high walls will discourage pets and children from messing with your compost, but mice, squirrels, and all sorts of bugs will have free access. Because the enclosure is open on the top and bottom with plenty of holes in the mesh, lack of aeration is not an issue here. Our testers didn't love this composter but feel that it's a great way to store leaves to add to compost throughout the season.
There are a few things to note about this design. To start, it does not offer protection from curious critters, and it does not keep odors contained. The walls measure just over 3 feet tall, and we found it easiest to detach the plastic clasp that holds the bin together to gain proper access for turning. Moreover, setup requires a bit of strategy. It can easily blow over if there isn't any material to weigh the fence down. Therefore, it's a good idea to have a healthy amount of leaves or grass clippings ready to fill most of the enclosure from the get-go. If you have a big yard and a lot of leaves and kitchen waste, this huge, expandable fence could make a nice boundary for your compost pile.
This large plastic fence is easy to assemble, but it's flimsy, and if you don't start out with a large enough compost pile to help it hold its shape, it can easily blow over.
The Squeeze Master Large Compost Tumbler offers a nice alternative to the larger models, and its dual chambers allow a safe and secure place for your compost to cure. Once your compost has reached maturity, it will need to cure, and while it's curing, you can't add more food scraps. This model lets you keep the party going. When one batch is ready, you can start a fresh batch in the second chamber. This composter takes a bit of time to assemble, and you'll need a screwdriver and a socket wrench to tighten all 56 of the tiny fasteners, but the instructions are clear, and our testers found the assembly to be reasonably easy.
Each 21.5-gallon chamber has a small, flimsy plastic sliding door. This makes it difficult to add scraps to your compost and even more difficult to remove all the finished compost from the bin. The doors are secure enough to keep small animals at bay. The chambers don't rotate individually, so when you turn your active compost, you turn your curing compost. This isn't a huge deal, but it's better for curing compost to remain static while it cools and the composting process winds down. If curing compost out in the open isn't an option where you live, the Squeeze Master might just do the trick.
The Squeeze Master design has a large capacity and two chambers so you can continue composting a new batch while another batch cures, all while safely contained. We wish the doors were a little bigger.
The Bamboozle Food Composter is a nice place to store food scraps in your home for a few days before taking them outside for composting. The lid has a carbon filter, and despite having no latching mechanism on the lid, it contains odors fairly well. This little bamboo bucket is compact, so it's easy to keep under the sink, and sits nicely on the counter, ready to accept onion peels and other scraps while you cook.
To call this container a “composter” is a misnomer. Its capacity isn't large enough to compost a reasonable amount of material. If you filled this bin following the proper composting carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, you'd end up composting very little kitchen waste. We found it best to use it as a temporary storage container for your scraps. And we mean temporary, since leaving scraps in this bin for more than two days quickly led to a smelly, moldy mess. The lid is easier to remove than that of a 5-gallon bucket from the hardware store, and the Bamboozle fits nicely under most sinks.
This elegant little bucket is good for collecting food scraps before adding them to your compost but is too small to function as an actual compost bin.
Credit: Matt Bento
Why Trust GearLab
We poured hours of research into the top compost bins on the market before selecting the products in this review. Before testing started, we identified four metrics for evaluating composters; turning, loading, aeration, and odor containment. Additionally, we factor in ease of assembly, since assembly is fairly involved for some models and a non-issue for others, but has little to do with how well each model produces compost. We made compost with each model, following the provided instructions and using food scraps from our kitchens and yard wastes from our yards. While almost every model in our review is fully capable of generating composted material for your garden, some proved much easier to use than others, and there are clear winners in terms of ease of use and how well they contain odors.
Lead tester Matt Bento's first forays into compost began in high school when, during an attempt to reduce existential dread about the health of the planet and become more environmentally friendly at home, he nailed four pallets together and declared it a compost bin. Using an unlimited supply of dried grass clippings, he achieved the perfect carbon to nitrogen ratio of near 30:1, produced steaming hot compost, and became fascinated by decomposition. In college, he designed a large-scale composting program for his school cafeteria after a considerable amount of research, visiting composting programs at universities and prisons across North Carolina. He'll be the first to say that small-scale composting at home is a lot more fun and more forgiving than trying to manage a university-sized waste stream. Today he composts for the fun of it, and he loves seeing his household garbage turn into food for his garden.
The Hotfrog bin can be difficult to unload, especially when it becomes full.
The huge Lifetime composter is the most forgiving. Thanks to its capacity and aeration tube, we were able to get steaming hot compost with the least effort.
Mixing in nutrient-rich soil into your garden beds ensures you'll be ready for another season of fresh veggies and healthy flowers. It's the payoff for your composting efforts.
Composting doesn't have to be complicated or require special tools. A tarp, a shovel, and a good supply of dry leaves, grass, or sawdust are all you need to produce great soil amendment and reduce waste from your kitchen. However, many folks don't have space in their yards for a large open compost pile, plus neighbors often don't appreciate the smells of a compost pile before it's completed its decomposition process, while mice, possums, and flies find it particularly attractive. A compost bin limits how much you can compost but creates more opportunities for where you can compost. A good bin needs to offer an easy way to turn your compost, some way to aerate the compost, contain odors and deter pests, and be easy to load food scraps and unload the finished product.
Having a 30:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio is the golden rule of aerobic composting. No matter what container system or open-air pile method of composting you use, you'll need to get close to the 30:1 ratio. An easier way to think of this ratio is 3 parts brown to 1 part green, browns being the less dense carbon-heavy ingredients like dried leaves and old grass clippings, and greens being the denser nitrogen-heavy materials like food scraps (no meat or dairy) from your kitchen. Keep in mind that getting these ratios right requires some experimentation, as well as adequate airflow and turning. There's no “set it and forget it” small-scale home composting, but a little time and effort will produce the desired results while increasing your knowledge and appreciation for decomposition.
Analysis and Test Results
After thorough testing, we compared our notes and experiences. We scored each product relative to the other models in the review to create a comparative assessment of the bins we reviewed. Below, we highlight the top performers in each metric so that you can select models that fit your specific needs best.
When your compost is complete, you won't recognize all the leftover salads, discarded eggshells, leaves, or even the jack-o' lantern you threw in there last fall. You'll have a uniform mixture of nutrient-rich compost for your garden.
Credit: Matt Bento
Loading
Loading (and eventually unloading) your composter is an almost daily task and the most common interaction you'll have with your compost bin. If it's easy, you'll happily leap out the door to load food scraps into your bin. If loading is difficult, it becomes a chore — meaning you may procrastinate, leaving your food scraps to mold. The GEOBIN Expandable is essentially a boundary for your compost with a completely open top. Hence, it's the easiest model to load. Simply throw your food scraps in and stir them with a pitchfork. To unload, merely detach the fasteners to disassemble the whole bin and distribute the finished compost as you see fit. We love the easy access, but so do squirrels, mice, and other rodents. The Algreen Soil Saver has a large lid to discourage animals and is as easy to load as the GEOBIN, plus it has 3 panels at the ground level that help with unloading.
The Allgreen Soil Saver has three garage-style doors to help with unloading or rotating the contents of the bottom of your pile to the top.
While the Hotfrog is easy to assemble, it takes a little muscle to empty due to its small opening.
The Miracle-Gro models have small doors, but they're appropriate considering the size of the containers, while the Squeeze Master tumbler has very small doors that make it very difficult to unload all the compost once it has matured.
To unload this model we needed to employ quite a bit of shaking and even reach inside with our hands. The openings are too small to effectively use a shovel.
Credit: Matt Bento
Turning
Turning your compost is a critical task that ensures your compost is receiving the proper amount of oxygen so that the microorganisms can complete their aerobic decomposition process. For a traditional “compost pile” that sits on the ground, you can use a pitchfork every few days to churn things up. Several of the self-contained bins we tested rotate on an axis, making it easy to turn the compost while it remains in the container and not all over the ground. Once these containers start to get full, turning becomes more difficult, but some designs offer solutions to make turning easier.
The Miracle-Gro models have a much small capacity and spin easily even when they are full. They also feature a small plastic tab to prevent undesired rotation.
The Hotfrog can be turned on its stand, but it's more fun to roll it around the yard if you have the space available.
Credit: Matt Bento
The FCMP Outdoor Hotfrog has the most unique (and fun) way of turning. It rotates freely on its stand, but the best way to turn this bin is to roll it around your yard. This is also a great way to get kids excited about composting. The Hotfrog has a pretty large capacity, and even on its stand, it still sits very low to the ground, so it's not the best choice for folks with mobility issues.
Aeration
If you never turn your compost and it doesn't get much oxygen, you'll still get usable compost eventually. Proper aeration will get you usable compost much more quickly. Aeration is key to maintaining the aerobic process by which microorganisms break down food waste; therefore, you don't want your compost sitting in an airtight box. The GEOBIN comes out on top when it comes to aeration since it's an open-air plastic fence, but the other bin designs provide aeration and some security from bugs and rodents.
The Algreen Soil Saver has plenty of holes for aeration, keeping microbes oxygenated and happy. Its open bottom does little to deter bugs or digging animals, but experienced composters will be able to create the proper ratios of carbon and nitrogen to generate piping hot compost, too hot for bugs, and even too hot for seeds to sprout.
Credit: Matt Bento
The Miracle-Gro bins feature 12 small holes on the sides of each chamber to increase airflow. The Miracle-Gro Dual Chamber has two independently rotating chambers, so as the compost gets close to maturation, you can start rotating a new batch in the chamber next door while the old batch cures, unrotated.
Once compost reaches a point where there is nothing left for microorganisms to break down, the compost no longer heats up. The compost should smell earthy and musty at this stage, and whatever organic matter you've used should no longer be recognizable. At this point, the compost will no longer be attractive to animals as a food source, and it shouldn't emit powerful orders and attract bugs. Before you can use it in your garden, you should let your pile cure for a least a month to ensure the decomposition process is finished. You could store your pile on the ground at this stage, but a dark, dry place is best, so leaving it inside your compost bin is an excellent place to cure your compost. The Miracle-Gro Dual Chamber and the Squeeze Master Large Compost Tumbler both have a two-chamber design so that once a batch of compost is finished, you can let it cure in one chamber of the bin while you start a new batch in the other chamber. For single-chambered bins, you'll either need to find a space for your compost to cure, or take a month off from your composting while it cures in the bin.
The Miracle-gro models have small aeration holes in the corners. We have some concerns about how effective they are when the bin is full, especially when using a carbon amendment like sawdust. We found this model more effective when we kept it under 2/3 full.
Credit: Matt Bento
The Hotfrog tumbler has some small holes on the side for aeration. Our testers were concerned that these holes were too small and would become clogged, especially since they used fine sawdust as a carbon amendment. Much to our surprise, the holes remained unblocked throughout the process. While the Hotfrog doesn't have the best aeration, we were able to get good compost from it.
The SCD Probiotics All Season Indoor breaks down food wastes via fermentation, which is an anaerobic process. To work properly, this bin needs to be airtight so the Bokashi compost starter can do its thing, and also to prevent the smell from permeating your home.
The Bokashi starter included with the SCD Probiotics composter uses a different process than the other compost bin in our review. Instead of aerobic decomposition, it extracts a "compost tea" from your food scraps through fermentation.
We were alarmed to see a fuzzy white mold after our food scraps spend a week in the SCD Probiotic bin. According to the instructions, this white-colored mold is to be expected, but it's green or blue, you need to throw it out.
Odor Containment and Security
If you are a scientifically precise composter whose carbon to nitrogen ratios are perfectly balanced at 30:1, odors won't be much of a problem once your compost is churning and burning. For most of us, some experimentation will be required to hit the perfect balance, and there will be some periods where our compost pile will be a pile of rotting food, which is very attractive to raccoons, squirrels, mice, possums, neighborhood dogs, ants, and flies. A self-contained bin is much more forgiving and can protect your pile from small animals while you dial in your ratios, while somewhat containing odors that might offend your neighbors. The less space you have for composting, the bigger the problem odors can be. We tested odor containment by putting a rotting piece of pumpkin in each bin for a few days and then conducting some comparative sniffing. This produced stronger smells than normal active compost.
When your compost is just getting started, it will smell the most. The Bamboozle container will keep odors at bay while you store food scraps under your sink to add to your pile later, but wait too long, and it will start to mold.
Credit: Matt Bento
For truly odor-free operation, the SCD Probiotics All Season Indoor is the only way to go. Its airtight lid keeps order out of your home, and since it's meant to be used indoors, animals won't be a problem. The downside is that this composter is very limited. It can only process a gallon at a time, and since it uses a fermentation process, you'll be left with plenty of organic matter that will still need to be composted in a traditional way. You will get great compost tea for fertilizing your house plants, though.
This nutrient-rich fermented “compost tea” is the end result of a week's worth of food scraps spending 5 days in the SCD Probiotics bin. It's what plants crave.
Credit: Matt Bento
While not really suitable for actual composting, the Bamboozle Food Composter does do an admirable job at odor containment. Its lid isn't airtight, but it has some air holes with a carbon filter. We couldn't smell anything with the lid on, even when we neglected to empty it for a few days and smelly mold grew all over the food scraps.
Carbon vs. Nitrogen for your compost:
Browns (Carbon)
Dried grass clippings
Dried leaves
Sawdust
Straw
Pine needles
Greens (Nitrogen)
Fresh grass clippings
Coffee grounds
Fruit and vegetable scraps
Eggshells
Horse or cow manure
For more info on what can and can't go in the compost, plus plenty of helpful composting tips, NC State provides an excellent composting resource.
Of the outside bins, the Hotfrog tumbler is a very secure model, constructed from the thickest, most durable plastic of any bin we tested. It has a long sliding door, and we'd be very impressed with a raccoon that could open it. The Miracle-Gro bins have thin plastic sliding doors. While a large animal could possibly crush the entire bin for its contents, it is impervious to rodents and all but the smartest raccoons.
There's something both miraculous and satisfying when a big column of steam rises out of your warm compost. It's warm because millions of microscopic creatures are digesting your food scraps, creating heat as a byproduct.
Credit: Matt Bento
The open-air GEOBIN provides very little protection from animals, bugs, or even the elements. If you're concerned about rodents or odor, do not purchase this compost “fence.” If it isn't held in place by a large compost pile, it can even blow away in high winds.
The Hotfrog arrives completely assembled and only has three parts; a door, the tumbler, and a stand.
Credit: Matt Bento
Assembly
How long it takes to assemble your compost bin has little effect on how well your bin can make compost, unless you never get around to putting it together. As mentioned earlier, you can make compost just fine on the ground. However, we understand some folks don't have the time or patience for involved assembly processes, plus they bought a bin to make composting easier, not because they want to spend an entire afternoon putting a bin together.
Assembly can feel overwhelming, but the bins we tested all have detailed easy-to-follow instructions.
Credit: Matt Bento
The Hotfrog arrives completely assembled in its box. It consists of three parts: the tumbler, its stand, and the detachable sliding door. While it's not the easiest bin to turn, you can start composting minutes after it arrives in the mail. The same goes for the SMC Probiotics Indoor Composter. Just layer your food scraps in the bin with the included Bokashi compost starter, seal it up, and you'll have nutritious compost tea for your house plants in about a week.
The GEOBIN takes almost no time to assemble or disassemble for expansion, as it's held together with 5 plastic fasteners that can be installed or removed by hand.
Credit: Matt Bento
As a rule of thumb, the larger composting bins will be more conducive to producing compost quicker and more easily than smaller bins. A larger compost pile has more space for the “hot zone” where the bacteria have the airflow to complete their aerobic process, while also having space for fresh organic material to break down. Composting in smaller containers is quite possible, but it will require a bit more experimentation and micromanaging to be successful. This means going to extra lengths to make sure your carbon/nitrogen ratios are as close to 30:1 as possible and evenly mixed. You can help the process along by carefully layering your “brown” (carbon) and green (nitrogen) and making sure all your ingredients are chopped into small pieces. You could throw a whole pumpkin into a large and healthy outdoor pile and expect it to be digested a month later, but the smaller bins are finicky and need optimal conditions to be successful.
The Miracle-Gro compost bins are constructed from plastic panels that snap together, a relatively simple process that takes about half an hour and results in a surprisingly solid bin. If you're intent on having a bin that rotates on a stand but wary of complex assembly processes, the Miracle-Gro Small and the Miracle-Gro Dual Chamber are both excellent choices.
The Miracle-Gro bins are easy to assemble. They are made from panels of molded plastic that snap together without much effort.
Credit: Matt Bento
Conclusion
The compost bins in our review offer a wide range of solutions to the problems faced by the urban gardener who might have a lot of ambition but is short on space. You can create a steaming hot pile of compost with the 94 gallon Algreen Soil Saver composter, and folks in tiny apartments can glean an extra something for their house plants from their food waste with the SCD Probiotics All Season. Either way, composting is a good way to be a little greener with your food waste and a fun biology lesson for the whole family. We hope this review has helped shed light on what the best models out there have to offer, and help you make the best compost bin purchasing decision you can.
