
A pill splitter can be a real cost-saving device for many seniors. This is because when you need a prescription a higher dose pill is often no more expensive than a lower dose one!
So, if you have a pill cutter then you can cut pills in half and take a “half dose” that is equivalent to your full dosage. That way you get twice the medicine for the same money!
However, while you can use a knife as a pill cutter for some very large pills, most pills aren’t large pills, and investing in a pill-splitter can help with accurate cutting and ensure you don’t cut off your fingers in the process.
With that in mind, we took a bunch of pill cutters and put them through their paces and came up with a list of the very best that are commonly available.
The Best Pill Cutters For Small Pills
One thing we should note is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money on a good pill-splitter, in fact, in our trials we were struck by how often a cheap pill cutter did a better job than a more expensive one. And whether you use Medicare or Medicaid, the cost of this cutter will need to be met by you.
However, we did notice that ultra-budget models (those in the 99 cent category) tended to just fall apart in a day or two.
Throughout our tests, we used several different tablets including some of our favorite multivitamins.
Walgreens Safety Shield Pill Cutter
This pill-splitter uses a stainless steel blade that has a retracting blade guard and rubber-coated wings to provide maximum safety as you cut up your medications and pills.
Other features include a lovely ergonomic design and a transparent body which means that you can see if the splitter is actually working correctly and adjust the mechanism as needed.
One thing that we think you’ll love to hear is that not only is this a super cheap device for cutting up tablets, pills, and medication but you don’t need to live near a Walgreens to buy one.
It’s, perhaps, the most generic cutter on the market and you can find it in CVS and Rite Aid too with a slightly different name in each store.
It’s a low budget device too and you should get change from 10 bucks wherever you buy it from.
Check Price here.
Apex Deluxe Pill Splitter
This also uses a stainless steel blade but in this case, it’s a “double-beveled German” blade.
However, it has no blade guard which is something that we wish it had. The blade may be sharper on this cute pill box cutter but you’re going to need to watch your fingers or you may lose them.
It can handle pretty much any size pill though and it’s cheaper than the Apex Ultra which is nearly identical and made by the same company.
Check Price here.
Ezy Dose Pill Cutter and Splitter with Dispenser
This compact device is probably ideal for travel and it dealt with all our pills, tablets, and medication with ease and of all different sizes too.
Our doctor recommended this one and while we were very impressed, it’s a bit more expensive than the other two models we recommend and doesn’t offer much more functionality.
Some people have suggested that it might be more durable than the other cutters but we weren’t convinced that this was the case and we don’t have any machines for stress testing a cutter.
Check Price here.
The Worst Pill Cutters In Our Tests
We also came across a handful of cutters that we definitely wouldn’t cut our pills or medication with.
These three options simply didn’t offer a cost-effective, reliable way to cut up tablets at all and we think that you’d be better off avoiding them if you can.
EZ Dose Deluxe Cut N’ Crush
It looks awesome and the packaging bosts that readers will be able to easily shape any poll to the size that they need.
But was this accurate? We didn’t feel that it was. In fact, we found their claims harder to swallow than even the largest pill.
It doesn’t hold the pills you place into the wings (which don’t have any rubber coating) securely and that means it’s really hard to operate one-handed.
And it has no safety shield, we’re not sure that makes it dangerous but we’d prefer to take no chances.
Check Price here.
The EQUADOSE Pill Cutter V2
This is an expensive cutter and frankly, at this price, we wanted something more than brand recognition.
We didn’t get it. Not only was this splitter not the best at splitting pills in half – but if you use anything other than the smallest pills in this cutter? Well, the blades won’t close over it properly and the device jams open.
It is lightweight but so is every other device in this test and though the unit is also solid, it’s more of a pill crusher than a pill cutter and that means we’d avoid it.
Check Price here.
Large Swiss Pill Cutter (Gold)
There are many affordable cutters on the market but this luxury brand is not one of those.
When a cutter costs over $50, it needs to be packed with features and never slip when it cuts.
Sure, the design will protect your fingers and yes, the blades are super sharp but customers are going to be very disappointed to put it into use.
It crushed pills rather than cutting them, we actually found pieces of the tablet could go missing inside the housing too!
Oh and even though it’s a “large cutter” – it won’t take any larger pill! It’s fine to fit a small pill inside but for the price of a decent meal in a nice restaurant, it ought to cut every pill on the planet with precision accuracy and it just doesn’t.
Check Price here.
Final Thoughts On Cutting Pills
You can easily purchase a cheap cutter that has sharp blades and which is much safer than using knives without spending a ton of money.
We’d recommend that’s exactly what you do if you want to cut down your medication costs – talk to your doctor about which of your medications this clever trick might be useful for.