I Bought & Tested the Best-Selling Cherry Pitter Tools. Here's Why Drupella is #1:
Written by Sarah Jennings
The morning after that cherry disaster, I did what any stubborn home cook would do: I went hunting for a gadget that would make sure I never repeated it. Over the next three weeks I borrowed my neighbor's decades-old pitter, bought a cheap handheld, and even tried the paperclip trick that every video swears by.
None of it worked. The borrowed pitter had a rusted spring that jammed on the third cherry. The handheld sprayed juice with every squeeze, and the paperclip mangled the fruit into unusable mush. Every option either wrecked the cherries, soaked my sleeves, or wore out my hand before I finished the second pound.
Rather than keep guessing, I did what I do best and set up a proper test. I've now evaluated over 38 kitchen prep gadgets in seven years, so I know how to separate marketing from performance. One name kept showing up in reader emails, and it was the six-at-a-time model that promised to contain the juice. I wanted to know if it was real.
Here's what I found.
My Test Results
Over six weeks, I ran every pitter through the same ten sessions in my own kitchen, using Bing, Rainier, and Lambert cherries, roughly 60 pounds of fruit in total. Each session began with a timed one-pound batch, followed by a larger batch to test stamina. I counted missed pits, wiped counters with white paper towels to track splatter, and ran every tool through the dishwasher ten times.
Our team scored each model on four criteria: pitting speed, mess control, build durability, and hand comfort. We weighted real-kitchen results above spec sheets, so a claim earned nothing unless the stopwatch and paper towels agreed. Those scores, plus a review of customer feedback, produced the rankings you see above.
The first thing that jumped out was raw speed. With Bing cherries straight from the fridge, our top pick cleared a full pound in just under four minutes, a pace the single-hole pitters couldn't touch at nine minutes or more. The six-hole layout does the heavy lifting, and the rebound mechanism snaps back instantly so I never lost rhythm. Fewer than 1 in 100 cherries needed a second pass.
The secondary discoveries mattered just as much. The built-in container caught nearly every pit and drop of juice, and across ten sessions I wiped the counter only twice. The non-skid base never budged on granite or butcher block. After ten dishwasher cycles, the stainless prongs and housing looked exactly as they did out of the box.
Hunting for weaknesses was the hardest part of this test. I couldn't find a performance flaw. The one real frustration was availability: it sold out twice while I was testing, and my own order took two weeks to go through. That signals strong demand rather than a defect, and for a tool this good, I consider it a minor inconvenience.
The Results:
Taken together, Drupella earned the #1 spot by winning all four categories, not just one.
Value
After my first full cherry season with this pitter, I stopped buying pre-pitted frozen cherries and stopped giving up Sunday afternoons to fruit prep. What used to be a dreaded chore became a ten-minute task before the oven even heated. That's the real return: time reclaimed and hassle eliminated, not just a tool in a drawer.
Think about what doing nothing costs you. Every cherry season spent with a knife, or a flimsy pitter that jams, means lost evenings, stained clothes, and sore hands. Cheap alternatives that crack halfway through the season force you to buy twice, and the frustration sticks with you the whole time.
Durability is where it quietly earns its keep. Six weeks of heavy use, a drop onto tile, and ten dishwasher runs left it without a crack or loose part, so I expect many seasons from it. For anyone who loves cherries, this is a smart long-term decision.
Cherry Season, Without the Dread
These days, a bag of cherries from the farmers market no longer feels like homework. I pit a pound during a podcast, drop the fruit into a pie or onto yogurt, and rinse the tool in under a minute. No stained fingers, no cleanup marathon, and no wrist ache the next morning.
The benefits go well beyond bakers. Parents get pit-free fruit for toddlers, jam makers can process a whole harvest, and meal-preppers can freeze pitted cherries for smoothies. Anyone who has ever put off buying cherries because of the hassle will find it hard to go back to doing it any other way.
Customer Reviews
I'm 68 and my hands aren't what they used to be, so pitting cherries for my annual jam felt like punishment. This one needs only a gentle press, and the spring does half the work. I got through three pounds of Montmorency cherries without needing a break.
Our backyard tree gave us about ten pounds this year. Pitting used to take me an hour and a half with a single-hole tool. With this one I finished in about 35 minutes, and the kids helped.
I bake cherry tarts and galettes for a small farmers market stand, so the fruit has to look good. Most pitters I've owned tore the cherries or left them mushy. These come out whole with a clean opening, and I'm no longer rinsing juice off my prep station every ten minutes. It's taken a lot of stress out of my Saturday mornings.
Frequently Asked Questions
A cherry pitter tool uses a plunger or set of prongs to push the pit out through the stem end while the cherry rests in a small cup. Multi-hole models repeat that motion across six or seven cups at once.
A rebound spring returns the plunger for the next press, so each cycle takes about a second.
For anything beyond a handful of cherries, yes. In my testing, well-built six-hole designs cut the time per pound roughly in half compared with single-hole tools. Drupella, our top pick, pits six cherries per press without crushing the fruit.
Single-hole handhelds still make sense for snack-sized portions.
Some can. Single-hole models with a deeper cup, like the OXO Cherry and Olive pitter, accept olives as well. Multi-hole pitters are sized for cherries, so I would not force larger fruit like plums or big olives through them.
Choose a pitter with an enclosed container or a secure splatter shield, because open designs spray juice with every press.
Work over a rimmed tray or deep bowl, and rinse the tool right after use before the sugars dry.
Most modern plastic-and-stainless pitters are dishwasher safe on the top rack, but always check the manufacturer's instructions. In my testing, each pitter went through ten dishwasher cycles, and the better-built models showed no warping or dulling.
Most pitters handle standard sweet cherries like Bing and Lambert with no trouble. Large Rainier cherries can jam smaller cups, so look for generous cup openings.
Tart cherries are smaller and softer, so run a few test cherries first.
A well-made pitter should last many seasons. Look for stainless steel prongs, a thick housing, and a spring that stays quiet and consistent. Cheap models often crack or lose spring tension within a season, which is why build durability is one of our four criteria.
Demand outpaces supply. Drupella is sold directly online and has sold out repeatedly, and I waited about two weeks before my own order would go through.
If it shows as available, order right away.
Purchase and Delivery Process
Ordering is simple. The pitter is sold exclusively online, so there are no store markups, and orders ship fast once placed. Mine arrived within the week.
One warning: it's frequently out of stock because demand outpaces supply. I personally waited two weeks before I could order mine because it had sold out.
If it shows as available when you click through, order it now. Waiting is how readers end up refreshing the page for weeks while cherry season slips by.
Where Can I Buy the Drupella?
Getting your own Drupella with a 50% discount is simple. Just follow these steps: