Ultimate Compost Tumbler Review: 12 Composters Compared 

Just a quick update. My Joraform Composter is still my favorite composter after several years. It makes composting Easy. I have negotiated the best price for my viewers so you can get your Joraform at the lowest price with FREE shipping. Just go to: www.compostingwarehouse.com/ and use the coupon code GREEN10 (must be ALL CAPS). If you prefer to order over the phone, you can call them at 1-888-567-2270.

RIGHT ON THE SUBJECT!!!...Speaks our language...CLEAR ...Concise...Slightly Entertaining!...I LEARNED!!!.....THANK YOU!

I just want to say thank you for helping all of your viewers learn from your mistakes and help us save money and hassle in our composting ventures! Seriously thank you

I never thought I'd be on this part of youtube willingly, but I guess your priorities change as you get older. Excellent Video!

I’m new to composting, and looking at different styles trying to decide what would fit my situation best. I believe I can make a solid decision after watching this video! It’s truly the best compost bin comparison video on RU-vid bar none! Don’t let the 6 year age of the video fool you, all of the information this video gives pertains to all of the popular compost bins that are on the market right now. Thank you for this great video!

My daughter is sitting behind me, I'm at my enclosed patio "office" desk that looks out over my concrete garden, watching this video. Out of nowhere she says, "Mom, WHY does this dude have so many composters in the first place?!?". I laughed and said, "You don't understand gardeners." 😉

I wished I was your neighbour. You're a very interesting individual.

I used to get excited watching juicer comparisons, but who would'a thunk watching a composter competition could be so interesting! Please keep up the great videos John!

I come to this channel when I'm online seeing so much negativity. Nothing but good vibes on this channel.

I watched a TON of your juicer videos a few years ago when I was looking for a juicer. And now I'm here for a composting system :)

A little long winded on the lower models reviews but I learned a lot on this review and why they are least favorites. Thanks for the time spent to make this. Greatly appreciate.

Thank you, I am finally getting into the composting world. I'm really ashamed that I never noticed it earlier. Your presentations are entertaining as well as informative. At the young age of 61, I have hope for the younger generation. I want to recycle my trash. Thank you, again!!!

Good Grief! After a long time of worry over composting and composters, a definitive video. Thank you John. No one has the time or money (especially if you're older, like me) to do the trial and error method. The Juraform 270/400 seems to be the best solution for me, and I'll investigate further. I think that I have one shot at getting this right, at least in the financial sense. Thank you for all that you do to help the rest of us.

John, you haven't made any new DIY composters lately? What do you think about an affordable composter that heats your greenhouse in the winter, for those of us who have actual seasons? You know we don't want to pay for some company's excuse... we want one that YOU designed, or helped design, because you know what we need. Thanks for thinking of the ladies - we definitely do not need more exercise in the garden. The wheelbarrow idea is fantastic. The worries I have about your Joraforms, even though they are Swedish (quality, usually), are about the MATERIALS. As you know, many metals tend to leach when they are heated. Also, we have absolutely no idea what the insulation is made from: is this something we want touching our organics? Is it safe? What about the carbon footprint? I may check out the Joraform, but the CASH problem remains and I have access to all the food-grade barrels, FOR FREE, that I can use. I would like to use them as much as possible for community and school gardening (irrigation & composting), and possibly distribute them for home composting. We need a really affordable and thoughtful DIY design from YOU, John. (You could sell your 'premium' design - everyone who could afford it would buy it with your name on it.) Every day there are more people trying to make that dollar stretch: really hungry folks and folks hungry for organics out here. Thanks for all you do!

We purchased the Joraform 270 Metal Compost Tumbler based on your review. It's well made and shipped fast. Thanks for the discount. We just finished assembling the composter and I'm looking forward to using it.

Probably 2 years away from requiring a composter. Stayed for the whole video. Best comparison video I've seen. For anything. Ever.

Love your videos. You're the best, you tell it like it is - if it's well designed you tell us - if it is poorly designed you tell us how and why. Appreciate the honesty as of which companies have great customer service and which ones do not. So difficult to find good quality on anything now days.

I have a dual chamber tumbler holds about 5 cubic feet of compost. New at this so I hope you have time to answer my questions. 1 - how do you store grass to keep up with the different times one needs to be adding to compost? 2- What do I do about the grass adding in the winter times? 3 - I`m following your recommendations to proper composting, but it never seems to get above 90 degrees. And I do add the pellets you recommend. I further would like to add , your a very interesting person full of energy and I see you love what you do. So thank you for all the wonderful help, keep it up.-

I have been watching for years and years, and just subscribed today, not sure why I waited so long. I come on here to find your videos specifically and trust your opinion and advice more than most. I am not a novice to gardening, have been in horticulture my whole life but I still love learning from the experiences of others. This video specifically is excellent, you have that special ability to just be able to talk and use very little to no gimmicks or music and I am enthralled the entire video and will watch to the very end.

The absolute best composter reviews I've ever seen.

I have just built my first tumbler. Its seems the way forward. It if works out I will build one just like your no 1 best composter. Thank you for the review it has given me many things to consider when building one

John, I have had good luck with a stationary composter, using a cultivator with a 20" long handle to mix it. I also made a tool to pull up material from the bottom occasionally. But you are right that it's more work to keep it aerated. But it does make a big load. I have had a SunMar 400 (and the handle broke) and now have the Joraform JK-270 that you like. I find that both tumblers have a tendency to roll compost into a golf-ball or smaller sized ball that is difficult to break up. My conclusion is that in an eastern humid climate, you should NEVER add water to your tumbling composter, or you will have the ball formation problem. With my stationary composter I have to add water and I never got the ball clumps, but not with the tumblers! I have NEVER seen a review mention the ball-rolling problem with tumbling composters. Maybe in your dry climate it does not occur? Thanks for the reviews. You really had me in suspense when I saw the JK-270 in 2nd place. What could be better? Oh the JK-400.

Thank you for the detailed information on these composters. To stay on budget I bought your second choice Lifetime brand double composter. I took your advice and changed the band screws to Allen-head "6mmx30mm socket head cap screws" from Menards. When I changed from the Phillips-head screws to these Allen-head screws the bands tightened up dramatically tighter. The $4 spent on better screws were worth the investment. Thank you again for taking the time to make this video and saving me several headaches.

Thank you! We love your enthusiasm, wittiness and unsugarcoated opinions!

Confirm, discount still applies at composting warehouse. Initial price was also a fair bit below other retailers. Good find, John. And thanks for all of the content.

This video was posted in 2016.I found it very informative. Thank you! I searched and couldn't find an update on the composters you like now in 2020. Would appreciate if you could send me a link to the newer compilation, please. Thanks in advance!

i have a suncast verticle (freecraigslist) , and i put my worms in with my compost/grass/leaf mix......i do live in the central midwest, so i have a moisture/temp advantage, but i get high quality worm castings (about 3 full 5gallon buckets) every five or six weeks, except during 3 month freezing nights winter.........many love, much props

27:33 John's #2 dual hatch tumbler, Joraform Model 270 (aprox 71 gallons) 25:54 tumbler from Costco, Lifetime brand only online now 5:00 #12 PoS composter 6:45 #11 big tube composter Sun Mar 500 8:35 #10 55 gallon drum that flips from top not side 12:25 #9

Built 10 of these out of plywood, some wood studs and then lined with EPDM rubber. Octagons. About 500L each. I've noticed you can also get a lot of heat from them if you run coils with water inside. I collect waste from neighbors and they get soil back as I have more that I can use for my garden.

John...I just used your review that I watched over a year ago to choose the Jora for a community garden grant that is meant to introduce market gardening into the local school system!

I loved this video. Price is a big factor in the decision. Please don't be bashful about the price you paid, even if it's used. That gives us an idea so we don't overpay on Craigslist. Thanks for this.

Good grief, John. I started watching this and thought, "...another guy who's all flash, but no useful information." Was I wrong. From all the other reviews and videos I've watched/read, I was really starting to believe that compost tumblers were useless. What a great review you've done and a service to those of us who would probably have bought a bunch of crap and given up. And your style and enthusiasm really made watching a 38 minute video on compost tumblers (can't believe I'm saying this) really enjoyable. Instead of taking my wife to dinner and a movie tonight I'll just watch this a second time with her and use the $$ I saved to buy the smaller Joraform. Thanks, man, well done!

Your mini Composttumbler was designed for use on/by a back door or deck. Definitely not for someone who needs a lot of compost like you. I bought the Original, which holds 18 bushels of material, a HUGE amount! Finished compost in 21-25 days. Loved it. But I wish I'd gotten the dual barrel model instead. Holds about the same amount of material, but you get smaller batches more continuously. I could not afford either Joraform. I did use some of your reviews to decide which one to get. Very helpful.

Hi, John, I just ordered Jora Compost Tumbler 270 as you strongly recommended. I cannot wait to start making my own compost!!!

My part of North Dakota only gets 15 inches of rain per year, so your remarks regarding a composter in a dry climate were useful to me. I've had that exact problem where stuff dries out rather than compost.

I just came across this video, watched it to the end and subscribed. Based on recommendations from this video, I bought a Jora composter. Thanks for the tip!

An Excellent review....Sooo helpful! It makes me want to look into your other videos to get more quality down-to-earth advise.

OMG I watched this whole thing. I am so tired of rats jumping out at me. I'm OK if they are sharing the planet with me, I just don't want them jumping at me, ugh. OK, now to save up for a Joraform.270. I love that it's got 2 compartments. Thanks for this!

As so many others have sent. Very informative and entertaining. Thanks, ticked the boxes for me. Efficient, reliable if a little expensive

My first compost bin was also free I had a 55 gal trash can the cracked and couldn't be used for trash I made more holes and put it next to my deck and whenever I had scraps I just tossed them in that made the best compost ever. I now have 3 different ones.. Thanks for the reviews

#10 is actually a shipping Bin used in Greece to ship olives to distributors all over the world. The distributors sells them once they have bottled the olives and rebranded. These bins are supposed to be food save plastic bins. Some farmers use them to make NPK liquid fertilizer.

I originally had the same problem with my Lifetime composter. - the sides pop out when it gets full and heavy. You can solve this problem by using the right screwdriver bit, then cranking all the way until the bands touch. I had to go to the hardware store to replace one of the bolts, but it's very solid now and works great.

Tnx John, was looking forward to this for quite some time, actually ever since you announced you would do another, think quite some time back you did a top 6 or so... Was amazed to see the nr.2 to then chuckle a bit seeing the nr.1 ... tnx, and goodluck on the next try-outs. Looking forward to see the next vid.

so far my compost pile is just that - a pile in the corner of back yard... but then my garden is small, and I do not have much waste to compost. I enjoyed the video, and bookmarked it for when I grow a bigger garden

Get ready springs coming. John is my favorite

I want to get the Jora 106 gallon, but it’s kinda expensive at almost $1000 . I’m glad that you did this video, that definitely is going to help me decide to get it over all of the other cheap junk composters

I had started collecting my food scraps in a trashcan on my balcony, by the time it had gotten full, I found a tumbler for free on the curb, that is similar to #9 on your list. It's made of better, thicker, plastic, and has a screw in end cap, as well as a series of ventilation holes. I agree that vertical axis tumblers aren't ideal, but it was free. They definitely take up a bigger area than the footprint of the frame might suggest, so that affects where they can be placed. Thankfully, on my balcony, the clearance of the drum works well with the shape of the railing. I've put an old, over the toilet shelf behind it so that I have somewhere to set the scraps containers before opening the bin. My balcony faces East, so the tumbler gets about half a day of sunlight to warm it up and the rest of the time to keep going under its own power. In the winter it has to be consistently below freezing for a few weeks before the composting stops. I've just been doing things by trial and error, and it's had a few different ecosystems take off over the years from not turning it enough or having the wrong ratios. I've had mushroom colonies and a mass of bolt fly larva, but they helped break down the materials they were symptoms of. Too much cellulose? Mushrooms to the rescue! Too many food scraps? Here's the bolt fly larvae! I should have taken a time lapse video of them dealing with a head of lettuce and an apple core.

Greetings from France, really enjoyed your very informative review, thank you for sharing with us, will look at getting the Joraform composter here ... currently have 5 static composters + 1 "pallet box" for the excess leaves that we need to cope with in autum, good source for interlayering with the green stuff.

thank you for that very thorough tutorial. I just bought the Jora using the code. Thanks!! these must be good because I have never seen them for sale used. I was thinking about buying a mantis but after watching you I decided to buy the Jora. The mantis's come up for sale occasionally but they usually have some kind of rust issues or the gear breaks. thanks again. I had her even heard of the Jora.

great run-down of the pluses and minuses of the systems we're thinking about buying. Thank You!

entertaining guy. I like how you are descriptive and even with edits, your videos are informative and interesting.

The video I was looking for ! Thanks, great review.

Love it brotha! Spread the compost, spread the love!! I'm so stoked to meet you at the upcoming Costa Rica Fruit Fest, attend your 5 workshops, and also Trey's Composting 101! Puda Vida :=)))

So glad l found this Video!!! Thanks so much for All the great 😃 information that you share. I love your attitude and occasional humor.

i was missing a part on my lifetime composter (your 3rd choice), and they emailed me back within a day and sent me a replacement part within a week. hopefully their customer service has gotten better!

Thanks for the affirmation. Years ago I was looking for a composter acceptable to my HOA. I ended up getting a horizontal plastic barrel-type. It works OK but it does get hard to turn when it gets full and it's too close to the ground to empty easily. Your video showed me I could have made a much worse choice. Thanks again.

Well done video; very helpful. Thank you for taking the time to do the vid. Cheers

this video was great! I was on vacation in Santa fe and couldnt wait to get home to watch the video!! I have a Lifetime dual barrel (# 5) from Costco- and it was a nightmare to put together-my husband is an engineer and he swore he would never buy it again! A Jk 400 is on my wishlist now..very helpful! i have a 3 foot by 3 foot pile of leaves and garden stuff as my Brown supplies- we have foxes, racoons, squirrels, gophers, rodents, snakes to contend with so for the vegetable scraps I used to use a worm composter in the pantry- i couldn't put it outside because of critters and I don't have a garage- in the end the fruit fly situation drove me to donate it on our local yahoo groups community site- it worked great other than the flies and the small capacity- the lifetime dual composter is great -it actually is working really well-I would love the Juraform 400 but it looks so expensive- a groupon for same would be good!! I never thought of using the wood pellets-great idea thanks again for a great video

as with many of your other videos, you hit a complex research topic on the head, thoroughly, with a fun attitude. love your content man, keep it up!

Doing container gardening as well but using a regular rectangular bin. We throw in kitchen food scraps an we are happy with the results.

I have 90ft of compost every year, fluffed and stuffed at 4ft tall, by Season's end it is about a foot deep......I get tired of turning it! :) This week, someone gave me a big Compost Tumbler with a stand and it has a big crank handle! ...It is missing a door, but I bet I get get that fixed up! A Compost Twin Mantis! ...How Awesome!

I used to compost with a wood and screen structure I build myself. It involved a lot of turning the pile with a pitchfork. Now I have the Joraform 270, but it's not heating up for me. At first I thought maybe it's because the volume is so much smaller than the pile I had before when I used the method of turning with a pitchfork. But I watched your video and saw that you had the exact same tumbler up at 140 degrees, so the volume can't be the problem, and it does have those foam insulation panels. I added a bag of already composted steer manure, figuring it would have the right bacteria in it. I also added a bag of compost starter material that I purchased, even though I have heard that you should not really need that. It then heated to 110 degrees, but it cooled quickly and the compost does not look finished. I thought it might be too dry so I tried adding some water, but that didn't get it going. Most of the material in it is grass and weed cuttings, some of which were fresh but some of which were left out to dry first, I think effectively turning them into browns rather than greens. There is also a bit of sawdust. It doesn't smell or seem very moist like when a bin has had too much greens - I know what that looks, and smells, like. I have not been adding foods yet because I'm not yet living where the composter is yet. For the same reason, I have turned it maybe once or twice a week, not daily, but I read that this should be enough. I'm in Florida now, so it's not super-cold or anything, ranging from maybe 50 degree outside temperature to a high of 70. I was thinking of buying some worms and sticking them in there, but that's really a whole different system, and if it ever did heat up, I think it would kill the worms. I don't know what's wrong, especially since I have composted successfully before. Maybe it needs more greens, though I thought I had enough with the fresh grass / weed clippings. I want to get the temperature up to kill weed seeds. I used to have a chipper and run stuff through it but don't at this location. That might help, but really none of the things in the composter are big. Just a few twigs. But I can still see individual pieces of weed or grass, so I really don't think it's finished. Any ideas on what I might try or experiment with adding?

John, I live in Zone 5 (lower Hudson Valley, NY). My backyard and garden face the south (good). I have a very large deck and I was curious as to whether or not the composter needs to be in the sun or can I put it under the deck in the shade. This coming season will be my first attempt at composting. Thank you for your great, very upbeat videos. Your enthusiasm and energetic personality is very entertaining as well as highly informative. Keep up the good work! Thanks! Regards, Rich

I got the number 3. Love it. I think I'll adapt to what I do...

I found your video cuz Im looking in to buy a joraform. Im happy to see that you ate able to compost with the joraform without a lot of drippings. Videos I've seen earlyer they have problems with a lot of dripping from the compost, but I guess they don't have a great mix. Thank you for this video.

Excellent video! I enjoy all your videos I respect what you do, and what you stand for! But I noticed when you were showing the inside of your joreform composers all the center peices are not lined up properly. I saw that your center plastic and foam peice was digging into your foam peices. I also have the 270 and I lined everything up and it works great when I actually spin it all the time 😊! Just and observation dude! I watch all your videos and I learn alot from you! Thanks for all you do!

Thanks, John. Great video. I'm getting excited about getting a tumbling composter!

Thanks for the reviews. I was given one like your #3 recommended. My problem is turning it, as I'm an older lady gardener. ???? 😊

Just bought the Jora 270 after watching your video. Your coupon still works, too. Awesome video, btw.

This video was very helpful and I liked your presentation style! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us.

Just commenting to boost the algorithm. I love indepth product reviews like this!!!

My handle broke too, it was really disappointing but I still use the SM 400. Enjoying your videos, Thanks!

John, twelve composters ? That's impressive.

I bought a joracomposter based on your review and it is Awsome!

Awesome! Your favorite #1...that steering wheel? That's called the 'helm' in nautical terms. The only reason I hesitate on the Jora is the powder coated metal down here in Corpus. The horses' mangers, all that paint peels off after about a decade. Best wishes ever!

Great video reviews John, as usual! Very honest, no fluff, especially including the customer service details, because that matters too. I will definitely be checking out that top composter; anything is better than the useless black boxes taking up space in my backyard. PS, I love the chard shirt, one of my favorite veggies! Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge!!! ;)

Thank you for this thorough review and the discount for the Joraform! New to composting so I very much appreciate the insight!

This was a great video. I wish I had watched before my recent purchase. Perhaps it will be my first of a dirty dozen. I'll look forward to your others posts after viewing this one John.

I appreciate the information, and your hard work to review and inform.

Thanks for this very informative video. An eye opener in this composter hype!

lol I just use a large blue barrel that I got from some deserted kids camp & roll it down the hill, full of scraps. I didnt know they actually had barrel spinning composters haha. I needed to get creative, as my real composter was about ready to be used. Today I needed the barrel cuz im collecting apples now, & when I emptied tye barrel, it smelt like nasty cow shit; guess it needs wayyyy more cardboard. Thanks John, your vids keep me so mentally motivated! My garden this year was the best I have ever had! I never thought it was possible to have such giant tomato trees, in Finland!!!! Im even experimenting with watermelon, on my metal roof! hahaha

Thank you! I've been looking for a new composter for awhile. I notice you did not have Envirocycle. I like mine, but not getting much from it. Looks like I need to step up to JK brand. Thank you again for taking the time to make this video. I'm I cold country, maybe this will help.

I live on 3 acres of land, our local power company dumps their wood chips from maintaining the proper distance from the power line. I fill about half of my truck bed go home and dump them in the far corner of our property and then each time I mow (I have a collection bag) I dump all that grass on top and give it a good mix. I do not have a fancy machine to make my compost. The idea of growing organic is letting nature take its course. Compost bins defeat the their purpose. For some it might help or it might be more polite in a city with small yards but my method works flawlessly. It is virtually zero maintenance beyond a 3 min mix once a month with a hay shovel. Just let nature take its course.

Thanks, I’m looking for a tumbler type. This helped. Suggestion, just add handles to the barrels that only have the groves, easy to do, make sure you use stainless nuts and bolts

Love your channel! Thank you for this video, I have been watching so many reviews of composters trying to find one that best suites our needs. This video was very informative and answered a lot of questions for some that I was looking at.

Thanks. Quite informative. I'm weighing the Joraform 270 vs. the Lifetime Dual only because of space.

The Achla designs comes in larger barrels, but thankyou for sharing!!

This was incredibly useful. Thank you. Thinking about buying an Envirocycle, which you did not review here....Going to see if you review it later on. But really learned a lot from watching this.

I like the compost videos the most atm. as I still haven't really grasped it 😁. thanks

Many thanks John, learning a LOT, subscribed and just ordered my 270 with discount code!

Thanks John just ordered the JK 270 almost made the mistake of buying a lifetime. Fortunately they were out of stock and I run into your video. You're the go to guy on reviews for me.

helpful, and awesome. just awesome. keep being you, and doing your important work.

Excellent show.

Just bought the Good Idea double bin composter at an auction. Retail $900. Got it for $130. Assembling now. Have you seen these? So far, the website is blah and I couldn't find anywhere to down load the directions...

Great job , great to have more prices. Thanks 👍

Love it! Getting excited about composting! Thank you!!!

Maybe recycle a small refrigerator as a compost tumbler. The insulation in the fridge and sealed doors would be great if we install latches to lock it down as we tumble toe fridge.

Thanks for the video! I was looking for some proof that these composters can reach these temperatures, I'm making my own.

Your'e the very best reviewer I ever saw ! -Straight to the point, Clever ,Funny, Very Wise -and now I know which composter I 'm going to choose ! Thank you very much !!! (You looked like a little hamster rolling that composter ! ) Love you ! Carole from France

If you could do a review on indoor electric kitchen composters int day that would be awesome. PS. I'm a big fan. Thank you for all your videos!