The short answer: the best vacuum sealer for mason jars depends on how many jars you seal. For a jar or two now and then, a jar attachment on the vacuum sealer you already own is the best value. If you own no sealer and only store dry goods, a handheld electric jar sealer works. If you seal jars by the dozen, the best tool is a chamber vacuum sealer deep enough for jars to stand inside it, because it seals several jars in one cycle and keeps liquids in the jar. That last one is why we designed the JARMAX.
We sell vacuum sealers, so read this knowing that. We also sell the inexpensive option, and for plenty of people it is the right one. This guide tells you which is which.
The three types of mason jar vacuum sealer
| Jar attachment on a vacuum sealer | Handheld electric jar sealer | Chamber vacuum sealer that fits jars | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | A jar or two at a time | Occasional dry goods, no other equipment | Jars by the dozen, and liquids |
| Jars per cycle | 1, then move the hose | 1 | 6 pints or 4 quarts in the JARMAX |
| What you need | A sealer with an accessory port | Nothing else | Counter space and a bigger budget |
| Liquids in jars | Dry goods are the best fit | Dry goods are the best fit | Yes. Jars stand upright and nothing pulls across the opening |
| Also seals pouches | The host sealer does | No | Yes, including Mylar up to 7 mil |
| Typical price | About $14 to $25 | About $30 | A full size chamber sealer. The JARMAX is priced on its product page. |
All three use the jar's standard two-piece lid. Our step by step guide to vacuum sealing mason jars walks through each method.
What is the fastest way to vacuum seal a lot of mason jars at once?
Use a chamber vacuum sealer with a chamber tall enough for the jars to stand upright. A chamber sealer lowers the pressure around every jar inside it at the same time, so all of them seal in one cycle. Hose attachments and handheld sealers do one jar per cycle. In the JARMAX, six pint jars or four quart jars seal together, so twenty-four pint jars take four cycles instead of twenty-four.
The catch is height. Most chamber vacuum sealers are 3 to 5 inches tall inside. A pint mason jar is about 5 inches tall and a quart is about 7. So on almost every chamber sealer, only small jars fit, and everything taller goes back to the hose. We designed the JARMAX to close that gap.
That is the what. The rest of this article is the why: why a chamber vacuum sealer at all, why jars, why the depth matters so much, and who should not buy one.
How does a chamber vacuum sealer work, and why use one?
A suction sealer, the kind most people start with, clamps the mouth of a bag and pulls the air out through it. That works for dry food. It fails on anything wet, because the liquid follows the air straight into the seal. Every ruined bag of marinade is that problem.
A chamber vacuum sealer works differently. The whole pouch, or the whole jar, sits inside a sealed chamber, and the pump lowers the pressure in the entire chamber at once. The pressure drops evenly inside and outside the container, so nothing gets pulled across the opening. Liquids stay put. Powders stay down. We wrote a full comparison of suction vacuum sealers and chamber vacuum sealers if you want the long version, and a guide to chamber vacuum sealing if you are new to it.
There is a practical upside too. Chamber pouches are flat and cost less than the textured bags a suction sealer needs.
Why store food in jars?
Because for a lot of food, a jar is simply the better container.
- A jar does not crush what is inside it. A pouch squeezes down on its contents as the air leaves. That is fine for a steak. It is not fine for freeze-dried strawberries, crackers, or anything else you want to stay in one piece.
- You can see what you have. A shelf of glass is an inventory you read at a glance.
- Jars are reusable. Wash them and use them again.
- Jars stand up. This one matters more than it sounds, and it gets its own section below.
Extension services recognize jars for this job too. For freeze-dried food, Penn State Extension says to put an oxygen absorber in the jar or remove the air with a vacuum sealer. That makes a jar-capable chamber sealer a strong pick if you are looking for a vacuum sealer for freeze-dried food. If you are sorting out the difference, here is our take on freeze-dried versus dehydrated food.
Why we designed the JARMAX: depth is the whole story
Here is every chamber vacuum sealer in our line, by the height of the chamber.
| Avid Armor chamber sealer | Chamber height | Jars inside the chamber |
|---|---|---|
| JARMAX | 8.5 in | Half pints through quarts, all standing upright. 6 pints or 4 quarts per cycle. |
| USV32 | 3.5 in | Small jars that clear the lid, such as jelly jars. Taller jars go through the accessory hose, one at a time. |
| USVXL | 3.5 in | |
| USVX | 3.5 in | |
| USV20 | 3 in | |
| USV1 | 2.25 in |
Those other machines are excellent at what they are designed for, which is pouches. If pouches are most of what you seal, one of them is the right call, and this guide to choosing an Avid Armor chamber vacuum sealer will help you pick. But a chamber that is 3.5 inches tall cannot stand up a jar that is 5. The JARMAX is about two and a half times deeper than any other chamber in our line, and that is the entire point of it.
JARMAX or the USV32? They sit at about the same price, so price will not settle it. The job will. The USV32 is pouches first: an 11.5 inch seal bar, pouches up to 11 by 13 inches, and a stainless steel chamber, with tall jars going through the accessory hose one at a time. The JARMAX is jars first: six pints or four quarts standing upright every cycle, and it still seals pouches up to 10 by 13 inches. One verified USV32 buyer learned the difference the hard way:
“Even though you can sit a jar (on its side) to seal dry goods, I’ve already exploded two jars.”
Jars are made to stand on their base. A chamber deep enough to let them is the whole reason the JARMAX exists. Glass is still glass, so check every jar for chips and cracks first.
Why the batch matters
A hose attachment or a handheld sealer does one jar, then the next one. Twenty-four pint jars are twenty-four separate cycles. In the JARMAX they are four.
That is the difference between sealing jars as a chore you put off and sealing them as the last five minutes of the job. It matters most on the days when everything is ready at once: a freeze-dryer run coming off the trays, a garden that all came in the same week, or a bulk buying day when fifty pounds of rice needs a home.
The jar's own two-piece lid does the sealing. There is no hose, no cap, and no attachment. Our step by step guide to vacuum sealing mason jars walks through it, along with the hose and handheld methods.
Why jars beat pouches for liquids
This is the single biggest reason to choose a JARMAX over a standard chamber sealer. A pouch of liquid lies flat in a chamber. The liquid spreads out toward the seal bar, and a wet seal is a failed seal. A jar stands upright. The broth sits at the bottom, well below the lid, and stays there through the whole cycle.
So bone broth, stock, soup, sauce, brine, and marinade all seal cleanly. If something does spill, the removable silicone liner lifts out by its handles and pours off through a spout, and it goes in the dishwasher. Sealed liquids are still perishable, so they go in the refrigerator or freezer. If you make stock by the pot, here is how one hunter makes venison bone broth at home, and here are our fall soup sealing tips.
Why a dry pump
Many chamber sealers use an oil pump, which means oil to buy, oil to change, and a conditioning cycle to run. The JARMAX runs a dry, oil-free pump. There is no oil and no maintenance schedule. The parts that do eventually wear are the seal bar and the lid gasket, so a replacement for each ships in the box.
Why it is not just a jar sealer
Take the jars away and it is still a serious chamber vacuum sealer: a 10.5 inch double-wire seal bar with a pouch clamp, heat control for everything from everyday pouches to 7 mil Mylar, vacuum time you can set from 25 to 99 seconds, a seal only function for delicate items, and a one button marinate cycle that works on an open dish set right in the chamber. The depth that fits jars also fits a bowl of brisket and marinade.
Why we keep saying it is not a canner
Early on, a customer told us she had expected to can vegetables, tomato sauce, and soup with it, and was disappointed to learn she could not. That was on us. A machine with a jar in its name gets mistaken for a canner, so now we say it everywhere, first.
Canning heats a filled jar long enough to destroy the organisms that cause spoilage and illness. That heat is what makes canned food safe on a shelf. Vacuum sealing only removes air. It kills nothing. University of Minnesota Extension says plainly that vacuum sealing a jar does not result in the same shelf stable food that canning provides. Dry goods can go on the pantry shelf once sealed. Anything perishable still belongs in the refrigerator or freezer. We cover this in full in canning versus vacuum sealing mason jars, and in our list of foods you should not vacuum seal.
Which one should you buy?
Get the JARMAX if
- You run a freeze-dryer and every run ends with a counter full of jars
- You garden or homestead and the harvest comes in all at once
- You build a pantry in glass: rice, beans, flour, oats, coffee
- You make broth, stock, brine, or sauce by the pot
- You want one machine for jars, pouches, Mylar, and marinating
Skip it if
- You seal a jar or two now and then. The jar attachment hood costs about $14 and does that job well.
- You only seal pouches. A standard chamber vacuum sealer is smaller and costs less.
- You are looking for a canner. This is not one.
- You have less than 25.5 inches of clearance and cannot slide it forward. That is how tall it stands with the lid open.
What it costs, and why
The JARMAX is priced as what it is: a full size chamber vacuum sealer. Home and light commercial chamber sealers run from about $300 to well over $1,000. It would be a lot of money for a jar sealer. It is a fair price for a chamber sealer that also does the jars, and that you will not have to feed oil.
See how the JARMAX works or go to the JARMAX product page
From the community: chamber sealer upgrades
These are community members talking about chamber vacuum sealers in general. None of these people reviewed the JARMAX. The JARMAX is new. This is how people in the community talk about this category.
You will want a chamber vacuum sealer. Yes, they are built to last.
Community discussion, r/BuyItForLife
If you can handle the price and size, a chamber vac sealer is a huge upgrade
Community discussion, r/smoking
We upgraded to the chamber sealer from a regular vac sealer a little while back and it’s so frikken amazing I can’t even believe it.
Community discussion, r/Canning
What owners say after they buy
The JARMAX is new, so these are verified buyers of our other chamber sealers, in their own words. Each one says which machine they own.
Questions people ask
What is the best vacuum sealer for mason jars?
It depends on how many jars you seal. For a jar or two at a time, a jar attachment hood on a vacuum sealer you already own is the best value at about $14 to $25. For occasional dry goods with no other equipment, a handheld electric jar sealer at about $30 works. For sealing jars in batches, or sealing liquids in jars, the best option is a chamber vacuum sealer deep enough for jars to stand inside it, such as the Avid Armor JARMAX, which seals six pint jars or four quart jars in one cycle.
What is the fastest way to vacuum seal a lot of mason jars at once?
A chamber vacuum sealer with a chamber tall enough for the jars to stand upright. It lowers the pressure around every jar at the same time, so all of them seal in one cycle. The Avid Armor JARMAX seals six pint jars or four quart jars per cycle, so twenty-four pint jars take four cycles instead of twenty-four.
Are mason jar vacuum sealers worth it?
If you store dry goods in jars, yes. Even an inexpensive jar attachment keeps coffee, flour, and dehydrated food fresher than a jar closed by hand. If you seal jars by the dozen, a chamber vacuum sealer that fits jars is worth it for the time it saves.
Is the JARMAX worth it?
It depends on how many jars you seal. If you seal a jar or two now and then, a jar attachment hood that costs about $14 does the job and the JARMAX is more machine than you need. If you seal jars by the dozen, after a freeze-dryer run, a harvest, or a bulk buying day, the JARMAX seals six pint jars or four quart jars in one cycle, keeps liquids in the jar, and also works as a full chamber vacuum sealer for pouches and Mylar.
What is the difference between the JARMAX and the USV32?
Chamber depth. The USV32 is a full size chamber vacuum sealer designed around pouches, with a chamber 3.5 inches tall. The JARMAX has a chamber 8.5 inches deep, which is what lets pint and quart mason jars stand upright inside it. Choose the USV32 if you mostly seal pouches. Choose the JARMAX if jars are a big part of how you store food.
Are chamber vacuum sealers worth it?
For anyone who seals liquids, seals in volume, or is tired of failed seals, yes. A chamber vacuum sealer lowers the pressure around the whole pouch or jar instead of pulling air out through the opening, so soups, brines, and marinades stay where you put them. Chamber pouches also cost less than the textured bags a suction sealer needs.
Do I still need a hose attachment if I have a JARMAX?
Only for jars that are too tall for the chamber, such as half gallon jars, or for external vacuum canisters. The JARMAX includes an accessory hose for that. Half pint, pint, pint and a half, and quart jars all seal inside the chamber with their own lids.
Is the JARMAX a canner?
No. The JARMAX vacuum seals jars. It does not heat, cook, or sterilize food, and it does not replace a pressure canner or a water-bath canner. Dry goods can go on the pantry shelf once sealed. Anything perishable still belongs in the refrigerator or freezer.
Can the JARMAX seal regular vacuum pouches?
Yes. It has a 10.5 inch double-wire seal bar with a pouch clamp, seals chamber pouches and Mylar up to 7 mil, and comes with thirty pouches and two filler plates in the box.
Where can I buy the JARMAX?
Directly from Avid Armor at avidarmor.com, with free shipping in the 48 contiguous states, 30-day returns on vacuum sealers, and a one year warranty that registers automatically. It is also sold on Amazon.
Keep reading
- How to vacuum seal mason jars: 3 methods, step by step
- The JARMAX mason jar vacuum sealer: which jars fit, how it works, and how it compares
- How to store freeze-dried food in jars and Mylar
- How to vacuum seal soup and liquids without the mess
- Canning versus vacuum sealing mason jars: what is the difference
- Suction vacuum sealers versus chamber vacuum sealers
- Which Avid Armor chamber vacuum sealer is right for you
- Vacuum sealing dry goods for storage
Updated September 21, 2026. Reviewed by Eric at the Avid Armor workbench in Lenexa, Kansas.
