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Head-to-head · Best Paper Shredders

Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Micro Cut Paper Shredder vs Bonsaii C206-H

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

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The short answer

Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Micro Cut Paper Shredder comes out ahead by a clear margin (3.9 vs 3.3). Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Micro Cut Paper Shredder is best for: households that shred a few statements, cards or CDs at a time and want micro-cut security. Read the strengths below before deciding.

Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Micro Cut Paper Shredder
Higher ratedRanked #4 in Best Paper Shredders
Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Micro Cut Paper Shredder
1 source$75as of Oct 17

A micro-cut shredder rated for eight sheets, with a 4-gallon pull-out bin and a separate CD slot. Wirecutter names it its budget pick, reporting that it never jammed on junk mail, credit cards or CDs and outperformed some models at twice the price. TechGearLab gives it its Best Bang for the Buck award, found it shreds 10 to 11 sheets despite the 8-sheet rating, and scored it 68/100, marking it down mainly for speed. It suits households with light, intermittent shredding; anyone clearing large backlogs should look elsewhere, because it stops after five minutes and needs a 30-minute rest.

Strengths
  • — Micro-cut blades handle paper, credit cards and CDs; Wirecutter saw it never jam
  • — Shreds beyond its 8-sheet rating: TechGearLab fed 10-sheet stacks easily and 11 with a slowdown
  • — Very small 0.18 x 0.5 in shreds, the highest-security cut in TechGearLab's comparison
Watch-outs
  • — Runs only five minutes before a 30-minute cooldown, so it suits light, occasional jobs
  • — Slow: 41 sheets per minute at most and 9 seconds for a single sheet in TechGearLab's tests
  • — Cutters kept running for almost a minute after the last sheet, a concern around toddlers
$75 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →
Bonsaii C206-H
Ranked #5 in Best Paper Shredders
Bonsaii C206-H
1 sourceall derived$120as of Oct 10

The Bonsaii C206-H is a cross-cut shredder for a home office: twelve sheets a pass at P-4 security, into a four-gallon pull-out bin with a window that shows when it is full. Auto start/stop and a manual reverse handle the usual jams, and it takes staples, paper clips and credit cards along with paper. The motor runs fifteen minutes before it needs a forty-minute cooldown, which is the real ceiling on how much gets shredded in one sitting.

Strengths
  • — Features 15-minute run time with automatic shut-off to prevent overheating
  • — Includes a 4-gallon pullout waste bin with transparent window for easy monitoring
  • — Equipped with auto start/stop and manual reverse functions to prevent paper jams
Watch-outs
  • — Limited to 15-minute operation before automatic cooldown
$120 · Buy at bonsaiishop.comFull review →

Derived means the reviewer published no score, so one was inferred from their written verdict. Everything else is a number the publisher printed. How we rank.

How they stack up

Amazon Basics 8-Sheet Micro Cut Paper Shredder

At about $75 it costs well under half the Aurora AU120MA, which Wirecutter credits with a 120-sheet auto feeder and a 5-gallon bin against this model's hand-fed 8-sheet slot and 4-gallon bin. Unlike the Fellowes Powershred 99Ci and 79Ci, which the page lists for buyers who do not need micro-cut security, this is a micro-cut machine, but its five-minute run time makes it a poor fit for the high-volume jobs those models are listed for.

Bonsaii C206-H

The Bonsaii C206-H shreds 12 sheets per pass, against the 120-sheet auto-feed capacity of the Aurora AU120MA 120-Sheet Auto Feed Micro-Cut Paper Shredder. Its 15-minute run time is half the 30 minutes of the Aurora and the Fellowes Powershred 99Ci, and its 4-gallon bin is under half the 99Ci's 9 gallons. It is cross-cut like the 99Ci and costs far less.

Specs side-by-side

SpecAmazon Basics 8-Sheet Micro Cut Paper ShredderBonsaii C206-H
Cut TypeMicro-cut (0.18 x 0.5 in)Cross Cut
Rated Sheet Capacity8 sheets—
Bin Capacity4 gallons (15 litres)4 gallons
Run Time5 minutes, 30-minute cooldown15 minutes
ShredsPaper, credit cards, CDs—
Dimensions13.2 x 8.9 x 18.1 in—
Weight14.2 lb—
Security Level—P-4
Sheet Capacity—12 sheets
Shred Speed—1.8m/min (8 sheets)
Noise Level—72 dB
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