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The worst sound in home canning is a quart of tomatoes sliding out of the lifter and back into the boiling water. A jar lifter looks like nothing — a hinged pair of tongs with a curve at the business end — but the difference between one that cradles a hot jar and one that lets it slip shows up at the worst moment. A good one keeps your hands clear of the steam and carries a full jar level from canner to towel.
I’ve put up enough tomatoes over the years to be picky, and this past season my team and I pulled several hundred jars with 14 different lifters, from half-pint jams to wide-mouth quarts. The stainless steel gets all the attention, but what’s on the jaws matters more — bare metal on a wet, hot jar is a coin flip, while a cushioned grip is what keeps the jar from rotating. And wider isn’t better: a lifter has to open wide enough for a wide-mouth quart yet still close tight on a half-pint, and plenty manage one but not the other. The picks below did both.
Best for One-Handed Lifting
Ball Secure-Grip Jar Lifter
Key Features
- Handle: Ergonomic
- Jar Grip: Molded grip pad
- Material: Stainless steel
- Spring Release: Spring-loaded
- Price: Premium
The spring hinge is the whole reason we hand people this lifter. Squeeze the handles and the jaws clamp onto the jar; relax and they open by themselves, so you can clamp, lift, and set a hot quart on the counter without ever freeing your second hand. Over a canner of boiling water, that is the difference between one controlled motion and a two-handed negotiation with something you very much do not want to drop.
The jaw is shaped rather than just bent. Ball molds a grip pad that spreads contact across the rim instead of letting bare steel touch the glass at two points, and we noticed it most on wide-mouth quarts, the heaviest and most awkward jar in the load. Regular-mouth pints sit just as squarely, and a half-pint jelly jar still settles inside the jaws instead of slipping through.
Because the jaws stay open until you squeeze, the lifter slides into the water without snagging the rack or the jar beside it, a small thing we did not expect to care about until we were working a full seven-jar load in a crowded canner. Rinse and dry the hinge once the jars are cooling and the spring keeps its snap.
Pros
- Spring jaws open and close one-handed
- Molded grip widens contact on wet rims
- Steady on regular and wide-mouth jars
Cons
- Costs more than the squeeze-only lifters here
This is the lifter we recommend to anyone who cans a few batches a season: the spring hinge clamps and releases one-handed over a steaming canner.
Best for Standard Water Baths
Norpro Canning Jar Lifter
Key Features
- Care: Hand wash
- Length: 8.75 in
- Jar Grip: Vinyl cushion coating
- Material: Stainless steel
- Price: Budget
Where the Ball lifter springs open by itself, this one gives nothing back. You squeeze, hold, lift, and keep holding until the jar is down. That single difference is the whole of what you give up, and on a jar of pickles it costs you almost nothing.
What we like is the coating on the jaws. Bare steel on wet glass is a slip waiting to happen, and Norpro’s cushioned vinyl presses into the rim and stays there, which makes those pads the part of the tool doing the real work. The opening is generous: wide-mouth quarts drop in easily, and a half-pint jelly jar sits deep in the curve rather than square in the middle.
Length is the figure worth checking before you order. At 8-3/4 inches it clears a standard water-bath canner with room to spare and starts to feel short in a deep stockpot, where the waterline sits well below the rim. Over a single batch the squeeze never crosses your mind; over an afternoon of seven-jar loads you understand why the spring design exists.
Pros
- Cushioned vinyl jaws hold wet glass
- Generous opening takes wide-mouth quarts
- Non-slip handle keeps a firm hold
Cons
- Manual squeeze, with no spring assist
- Hand wash only
A dependable, plainly built lifter whose cushioned vinyl jaws bite wet glass, a good match for occasional canners who do not mind a two-handed squeeze.
Best for Budget Canning Setups
Rainspire Heavy Duty Canning Tongs
Key Features
- Handle: Non-slip
- Length: 8.75 in
- Weight: 6.7 oz
- Material: Stainless steel
- Price: Budget
There is no mechanism to learn here, and for most people that is the point. This sits at the value end of the group, and it does what we ask a jar lifter to do: take a hot jar out of the water and set it on the towel without your fingers going anywhere near the steam.
The coated jaws are why it works. A jar coming out of a water bath is streaming and heavier than it looks, and the pad grips the rim without the slow rotation that has you reaching for a second hand. The black finish is a small, real convenience, since it is the utensil you spot in a drawer of steel instead of digging for.
The trade-off is the one the Norpro carries too: no spring, so you squeeze through the whole lift. The steel body feels solid for the money, though the plain bar handles are not shaped to your hand the way the rubberized ones on the Oriflame are. It rinses clean, dries fast, and goes back in the drawer. What you give up here is refinement, not function.
Pros
- Least expensive lifter in this set
- Coated jaws hold wet glass without slipping
- Sturdy steel body with an easy-to-spot finish
Cons
- No spring, so you squeeze for the whole lift
Buy this if you want a dedicated jar tool without spending much: sturdy steel, coated jaws that hold wet glass, and no mechanism to fail.
Best for Long Canning Days
Oriflame Canning Jar Lifter Tongs
Key Features
- Length: 8.8 in
- Weight: 5.3 oz
- Handles: Rubberized
- Material: Stainless steel, vinyl
- Price: Budget
Red handles are the first thing you notice; how little the tool weighs is the second. At about five ounces it is the lightest lifter in this group, and the stainless frame with its red handle coating feels lighter than a jar lifter has any right to.
The vinyl coating on the jaws does what it should on a jar coming out of a water bath: it holds without the glass rotating in the grip, and it does that on a half-pint jelly jar as readily as on a wide-mouth quart. The 8.8-inch frame is comfortable over a standard canner, long enough that your knuckles stay clear of the steam.
Hand fatigue is where this lifter makes its case. Lifting quarts one after another is a wrist workout, and a light tool with a shaped grip is easier on it than a heavier one. The handles also work the same way round in either hand, so a left-handed canner is not fighting the tool, and a helper can take a turn without being told which way to hold it.
Pros
- Lightest lifter here at about five ounces
- Rubberized handles work in either hand
- Vinyl-coated jaws hold hot jars steady
Cons
- Manual squeeze, no spring assist
If you can all afternoon, reach for this one: it is the lightest lifter in the set, with rubberized handles that work equally well in either hand.
Best for Light-Duty Backup
EEOYU Canning Jar Lifter Tongs
Key Features
- Style: Scissor tongs
- Length: 8.6 in
- Weight: 5.6 oz
- Material: Stainless steel, vinyl
- Price: Budget
The hinge is the part to watch. On a normal lift the vinyl-coated jaws hold a hot jar as well as anything in this group and the scissor action is smooth; the difference is that this is the lifter where the joint between the arms is most likely to work loose over a season of use. Check it before a canning day and retire it at the first sign of play.
That is why it sits at the back of this list rather than in the top tier. Where it earns a place is as the second lifter: the one that lives in the camping box, or that a helper uses at the other end of the canner while you work the Ball. At 8.6 inches and under six ounces it handles like the rest of the group, and the handles stay comfortable through the short lifts a spare usually does.
Cleanup is a rinse and a dry, and it lies flat in a drawer, which is more than you can say for a spring-loaded lifter that wants to open on its own every time you put it down.
Pros
- Coated jaws hold hot jars securely
- Comfortable scissor-style handles
- Inexpensive enough to buy as a spare
Cons
- Hinge joint can work loose with use
A cheap, capable second lifter with coated jaws and smooth scissor action; keep it for light duty and check the hinge each season.
How We Tested Canning Jar Lifters
We started by gathering every jar lifter we could find on mainstream retail shelves and inside the canning starter kits sold next to water-bath canners, then narrowed to 14 based on jaw material, hinge design, handle length, and the jar sizes each maker says it fits. Most cost less than a box of lids, so price wasn’t the filter — we kept a spread on purpose.
Testing ran from August through November, four months, on the heaviest canning weekends of the year. Every lifter went through the same run: half-pint jam jars, pint pickles, regular-mouth quarts, and wide-mouth quarts, all pulled straight from a rolling boil, then again with jars dunked and shaken wet so we could see whether the coated jaws held or let the jar spin in the grip. We measured each one’s maximum jaw opening and tried it on the smallest half-pint in the cupboard. For sturdiness, we hung a quart of tomatoes — about three pounds — over the sink for 30 seconds and watched the arms for flex.
Ease of use came down to small things: whether a stiff spring forced two hands, whether the lifter reached the bottom of a deep stockpot without knuckles hitting the rim, and whether the jaws stayed open when I set it down mid-batch. For quality, each lifter handled 50-plus jars and was then washed the way its maker recommends — several say hand wash only — and we checked for cracked cushioning, loose hinges, and rust at the rivets. Value was the last question, and the answer was mostly whether the coating survived the season intact.
How to Choose a Canning Jar Lifter
Reach and spring action decide more about a jar lifter than brand or price, and both are easy to check before you buy.
Spring Release or a Manual Squeeze
Two designs do the same job very differently. A spring-hinged lifter stays open until you squeeze it shut and opens again the moment you relax, so you can clamp, lift, and set a jar down without your second hand. A plain squeeze lifter, the more common and less expensive style, holds only while you grip it. Neither is a bad tool, but the difference compounds: a full canner is seven jars one after another, with your other hand busy holding a lid or a towel. If you can every year, the spring earns its keep; if you put up a batch or two, a manual lifter does the work.
Match the Reach to Your Canner
Most lifters here run 8-1/2 to 9 inches, enough for a standard water-bath canner with an inch or two of headroom above the water. It is not enough for a deep stockpot pressed into canning duty, where the waterline sits far below the rim and your knuckles end up in the steam even with the jaws on the jar. Measure from the waterline to the rim before you order and add a couple of inches. The trap runs the other way too: an overlong pair of canning tongs is clumsy when you are reaching into a small saucepan to fish out a simmering lid.
The Jaw Grip Does the Work
A jar straight out of a boiling-water bath is wet, hot, and heavier than it looks. What holds it is the jaw: vinyl or rubber padding that presses into the rim and resists rotation, rather than bare steel touching glass at two points. Every lifter here has some version of that pad, and the shaped one on the Ball spreads contact furthest around the rim. Grippy coatings hold water as readily as glass, so rinse and dry the jaw and hinge after a canning day instead of leaving them soaking. Norpro specifies hand washing, and the coated tools generally last longer for it.
Weight and Handle Shape Over a Long Batch
A lifter weighs five to seven ounces across this group, so shopping by weight looks fussy until you are holding a quart of tomatoes at the end of an eight-inch lever. The jar does the pulling, but your wrist does the steadying, and the lightest tool here, the Oriflame at about five ounces, is noticeably easier over an afternoon. Handle shape matters as much: a rubberized, shaped grip holds with wet hands in a way a plain steel bar does not, and handles that work either way round suit a left-handed canner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use regular kitchen tongs to lift jars out of a canner?
Not safely. Kitchen tongs grip on two flat faces, and a canning jar is round, wet, and hot, so the jar rotates as it comes up. A jar lifter is shaped to drop over the rim and cradle the jar body, which is what holds at the worst moment, when the jar clears the water and everything on it runs down the glass. If you can once or twice a year, buy the least expensive lifter on this page rather than improvising.
How do I lift a jar without it slipping?
Come straight down over the jar so both jaws land on the rim together, close the handles, and lift vertically. Squeezing harder does not fix a crooked grip; it just means one jaw is doing all the work. Let the jar drain over the canner for a second before you move it, since a streaming jar is heavier and slicker than a drained one, then set it down flat before releasing. If a jar does slip, let it go rather than chasing it into the water.
Will a jar lifter hold wide-mouth quart jars?
Every lifter here is built to span from half-pint jelly jars up to wide-mouth quarts, and the quart is where the jaw opening matters most. Come down squarely over the rim and check that both pads are on the glass before you lift; a wide-mouth jar caught on one jaw tilts as soon as it clears the water. If quarts are most of what you can, favor a wide jaw and a spring hinge and skip a second, smaller lifter.
Final Verdict
Start with the Ball Secure-Grip. The spring hinge is the part you notice every time you lift a jar: it clamps when you squeeze and lets go when you do not, so one hand stays free to steady the jar or hold the lid, and the molded jaw takes a wide-mouth quart without the glass turning in the grip.
If a spring is not worth it to you, the Norpro does the same lifting with a cushioned vinyl jaw and a plain squeeze, and the Oriflame is the tool to reach for when your hands tire or a left-handed cook shares the kitchen.