10 Best Worm Composter Bins For Easy Homemade Compost

• marquis matson
• Aug 29, 2023
• No Comments

If you’re like us at the Indoor Nursery, you want to give your plants the best of the best, all year round. Did you know you can do this while reducing your food waste? 

Yep, today we’re talking compost – worm compost, that is. 

We’ve rounded up some of the best worm composters available and compared them side by side in this comprehensive guide. Worm castings, the rich organic matter worms produce after eating food scraps (and more!), is one of the most nutrient-dense, slow-releasing organic fertilizers available. 

And like most things good? It’s best if you make it yourself. Whether you live in an apartment with less than zero garden space or have a whole backyard, we’ve found the perfect worm composter for you.

The best worm composter

1. Easiest and most compact worm bin: Worm Bucket™ Indoor Composter Kit

Key specs: 2-bucket worm composting system | 2.5 gallon capacity | can fit under the kitchen sink

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What I love about this worm compost bin is that it is the perfect indoor kit for those who don’t have space for a 30+ gallon vermicomposting system. This Worm Bucket™ kit makes it easy to turn food scrap into finished compost right under your kitchen sink.

The design makes it easy to dump organic material (aka kitchen waste) right into the top of the bucket. The top bucket, with a mesh design on the bottom, sits inside a second bucket so that the compost tea (worm juice) is filtered to the bottom. The spigot at the bottom of the outer bucket allows you to easily drain your compost tea as needed. 

Besides the simple design that solves my own indoor composting needs, I also really appreciate the eco-friendly packaging and design. The Worm Bucket comes in 100% compostable packaging that can be used as fresh bedding material for the worms. If you’re looking for a discreet indoor worm composting bin for your kitchen waste, then this is it.

2. Best overall worm bin: Tumbleweed Worm Cafe Vermicomposter

Key specs: 3-tray stackable system | 20 gallon capacity | 20 x 15.3 x 29.5 inches

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Whether you’re an experienced worm composter or are (nervously) welcoming the wiggly things into your home for the first time, this worm composting bin from Tumbleweed will earn our pick for the best worm bin for its simplicity, ease of use, and quality.

The sturdy, stackable design made of lightweight plastic comes with a lid, three working trays, one collector tray, one tap and nut set for your compost tea spigot, four plastic legs, and a block of worm bedding material; assembly is a quick and easy process. This worm compost bin can handle up to 12 lbs of food waste per week and is suited to both outdoor and indoor use. Just add worms!

3. Best indoor worm composter: Essential Living Worm Composter

Key specs: 2-tray stackable system | 6 gallon capacity | 15 x 15 x 22 inches

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The Essential Living Worm Composter is a neat little cube packed with everything you need to start a thriving worm colony indoors. With specific features to provide the best aeration and moisture control possible for a healthy worm farm (including aeration support points),  this worm farm makes worm composting indoors a cinch.

The design keeps trays lifted above your compost to prevent compaction and includes water retention channels molded into the perimeter of trays to keep worm bedding hydrated. The well-designed aeration features in this model keep fruit flies away by giving worms the best conditions to quickly digest fresh food scraps before they start to smell.

4. Best stackable worm composter: Worm Factory 360

Key specs: 4-tray stackable system | 24 gallon capacity | 17.95 x 17.95 x 14.95 inches

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The Worm Factory 360 is widely loved, and for good reason. Designed to hold the greatest volume with the smallest footprint, the Worm Factory 360 claims our prize for best stackable thanks to its real estate potential – build your own Trump Tower (for worms) by stacking up to six trays – and the suite of tools it comes with.

You get all of the information and accessories you’ll need to get started with your worm composter from day 1, including worm bedding, a thermometer, and hand tools. It features a worm ladder to assist worms in their upward ascent, A 5 year warranty is the cherry on top of this sweet deal.

5. Best worm composter for the squeamish: Urban Worm Bag Version 2

Key specs: waterproof fabric-encased flow-through system | 30 gallon capacity | 26.75 x 26.75 x 31.75 inches

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If the thought of sorting through trays of worm compost and wriggling, slimy critters makes your stomach turn, the Urban Worm Bag is the right choice for you. This flow-through worm composter made in sturdy, waterproof polyester requires minimal fussing (i.e. you don’t have to touch the worms) to produce a huge amount of vermicompost, unlike other worm composters in this guide. This worm composting bag is best suited to a sealed garage or mudroom because it isn’t critter-proof. 

The advantages of the flow-through composting bin design aren’t only for the squeamish gardeners though; this design improves aeration and minimizes disturbance to your worms, keeping them happy, reproducing, and quickly munching through your food waste. Urban Worm recommends starting with a bed of coco coir or store-bought vermicompost for best results.

6. Best backyard worm composter: Subpod Outdoor Compost Bin

Key specs: in-ground, single chamber system | 64 gallons or 32 gallons | 29.5 x 29.5 x 16.9 inches (large model)

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If you have some outdoor garden space or even a single raised bed, the Subpod worm composter is an excellent choice. It’s an open-system designed to be sunk slightly into the earth with holes that allow worms to come and go, functioning as a feeding vessel that not only produces grab-and-go vermicompost, but improves the microbial life and soil quality of the soil around it. Worms return to the compost bin for food where they produce castings.

The downside to this system is that your worms won’t put up with mis-managed compost or bedding (it shouldn’t be too wet or too dry) and will also wiggle out to investigate fresh plantings or manure in your garden. For this reason, we think the Subpod is best suited for gardeners with intermediate or advanced experience with worm composting.

7. Best indoor worm composter: Biovessel Eco Living Composter

Key specs: tabletop system | 1.8 gallon capacity | 17.7 x 8.7 x 6.5 inches

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No space for a worm composting bin?  No problem. If you have room for a toaster in your kitchen, you almost definitely have room for this innovative countertop worm composter from Bionicraft. It’s not just beautiful; this organically-inspired composter is the result of months of research into food waste decomposition.

It’s ideally suited for the movement and digestive pattern of worms and human needs in harvesting vermicompost. It doesn’t produce much vermicompost, but it can process food waste for up to 3 people.  This makes an amazing gift for the indoor gardener in your life!

8. Best stylish worm composter: Urbalive Worm Farm Compost Bin

Key specs: 2-tray stackable system | 9 gallon capacity | 20.1 x 15 x 24 inches

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If you’re looking for a stylish worm composter that’s recommended by professional worm farmers, the Urbalive Worm Farm has the best of both style and function.  It’s a small, stackable system engineered by professional worm famers for regular home use. The Urbalive Worm Farm earned a Reddot Design Award thanks to its innovative use of materials and organic form.

Featuring wooden legs certified by the Forest Service Council (FSC) as sustainably harvested and rounded corners, it’s bio-friendly in more ways than one! We like that worms and compost won’t get stuck in corners, and it looks great in almost any living space.

9. Best XL worm composter: Hungry Bin Flow Through Vermi Composter

Key specs: plastic-encased flow-through system | 20 gallons | 24 x 26 x 37 inches

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The Hungry Bin Flow-Through Vermicomposter is a brilliant solution for transforming high-volumes of waste into rich worm compost without the trouble of switching trays or sorting through worms. Hungry Bin processes up to 4.4 pounds of waste per day, making it perfect for a large family or a small band of guerilla gardeners.

The system is aerated by small holes perforating the lid of the bin, which may be the only big drawback of this XL option; it doesn’t provide enough ventilation to keep worms cool in warm weather or when decomposing “hot” foods like grains. With its heavy-duty green plastic and wheels, the Hungry Bin fits right in next to your average city garbage bin and comes with a standout lifetime guarantee.

You’ll need to wait a bit before harvesting your first batch of vermicompost due to the size of this bin, but it’s worth it.

10. Best small worm composter: Maze Worm Farm Composter

Key specs: 2-tray stackable system | 8 gallons | 15 x 15 x 11 inches

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The maze worm farm composter is another popular, stackable model – this one earns our pick as #1 small worm thanks to its efficient, budget-friendly qualities. It’s a bit more affordable than its competitors with thoughtful features including rounded trays with ample aeration and a slide-out vermicompost-harvesting tray.

It’s a spunky black and green moulded plastic that looks great in the kitchen! If you want to elevate this bin, you’ll need to buy the long legs separately (it comes with little ones).

Our recommendations

Still unsure which worm composting bin to buy?

If you’re new to worm composting or are still unsure which worm composter best suits your indoor garden, here are some additional tips to help you sort through our recommendations for the best worm bins out there.

How does worm composting work?

Just like traditional composting, worm composting involves breaking down “green” and “brown” organic matter into a microbial—and nutrient—rich soil conditioner that plants absolutely love. In the case of worm composting, worms munch through organic matter to break it down and speed up the decomposition process.

The great thing about worm composting is that worms tunnel and burrow as they eat, mixing the nutrients and aerating the organic matter as it decomposes. If you’re new to composting, read our beginner’s guide to composting for more information. 

This is generally how to compost with the help of worms:

1. Set up your worm composter. It should be properly aerated, protected from animals, and kept at temperatures above 55° F.
2. Line and condition bedding. We recommend coconut coir, but you can also add shredded cardboard or newsprint. Spray the bedding lightly with water to mimic an underground environment for your wiggly friends.
3. Add worms. You can buy them online! We recommend red worms for your compost bin.
4. Feed the worms. Toss in food scraps, fine yard waste, and some paper products (no meat or dairy products, and easy on citrus peels and onion). These are some all-time favorite worm foods:

• Vegetable scraps
• Scoby 
• Coffee grounds and tea bags
• Eggshells
• Grass clippings
• Trimmings from your plants
• Some animal manure
• Paper products
• Leaves
• Sawdust
• Do not feed worms cat and dog excrement, citrus, onion, meat, or dairy products.

5. Wait. Depending on the size of your compost bin, what you put in it, and how many worms are in your colony, it can take from 2 weeks to 3 months to get your first batch of vermicompost. Healthy worms can eat about half their weight in food per day, but it takes time to get things moving.
6. Collect worm castings. Worms migrate upwards. No matter what kind of worm composter you’ve chosen, you’ll harvest the castings from the bottom of your compost bin, whether in a tray or a bag. You may need to separate stray worms from the castings.

Why people love worm composting bins

• Fast (plant) food: Worms break down organic matter quickly in comparison to traditional composting. You can expect worms to transform food scraps into finished compost in 2-3 weeks.
• Bioactive black gold: Unlike conventional fertilizers, worm castings contribute to soil structure, drainage, and aeration, and contain microorganisms that anchor plant nutrients in a bioactive environment and release low levels of all of the essential plant nutrients over time.
• Naturally protect against pests: worm castings enhance seed germination, plant growth, flowering and fruit production, and have also been found to strengthen plants’ defenses against root rot and some common insect pests, according to research by Ohio State University
• Worm tea: Most worm composters feature spigots for harvesting worm tea, the liquid runoff from worm castings that collects in the bottom tray of stackable worm composters. Add this potent organic fertilizer to your watering can (a 1:1 water to worm tea ratio works well for most houseplants) to give your plants a powerful nutrient boost

Types of worm composting systems 

Flow through

Flow through systems work on the principle that worms migrate upwards, away from compacted soil. Most flow-through systems are tapered to increase compaction toward the bottom of the system, and are preferred to stackable systems because they don’t require much fussing about. Simply add food scraps in the top, and harvest vermicompost from the bottom.

You’ll typically need to set a tray beneath flow-through systems to catch leachate if one isn’t included in the design. These systems are best for large volumes of food waste and

Stackable 

Stackable worm composting systems are probably the most popular home-worm composting bins out there. While stackable systems also rely on worms migrating upwards towards decomposing food sources, they separate the composting process into layers for easier harvesting and improved aeration.

Some stackable models have notches that allow air to circulate between the layers, while some sit right on top of the organic matter in the tray below. Each tray base is perforated to allow worms to pass through, and some include “worm ladders” to assist in this process.

When vermicompost is harvested from the bottom tray, it is cycled back up to the top to receive waste and worms migrating upwards, creating a continuous loop system. This system is best for indoor worm composting, since it’s rather open and requires regular shuffling about.

Single chamber

Single chamber models are more popular for traditional composting, but you will occasionally find variations of single chamber models designed for worm composting (the Subpod is a good example), and many DIY versions follow this concept. Single chamber worm composters are simple: Everything goes in one big bin.

The downside to single chamber composting with worms is that it’s difficult to access your worms and adjust bedding material if something goes wrong. Harvesting finished vermicompost can also be a big process with these models – be prepared to dumb and sort!

Worm tea vs. Leachate

Most stackable worm bins feature a spigot at the base of the bin that collects a dark brown liquid at the base of the composter. This dark brown liquid is not worm tea. It’s called leachate, and it’s basically the smelly runoff from your food scraps, worms, and whatever moisture collects in your worm colony 💀 If your worm bin is too wet, leachate will collect regularly at the base of your bin, and you will need to drain it weekly. 

Most gardeners recommend throwing this out, since it can contain toxins harmful to people and plants. Worm tea, on the other hand, is a liquid derived directly from soaking your worm castings in water. This is the good stuff.

❌ leachate: liquid collected from the bottom of your worm composter

✅ worm tea: liquid you get after soaking your vermicompost in water

Where to place your worm bin

This might be the most important thing to think through before you buy your worm bin. Worms are sensitive little critters! There are two important things to keep in mind when choosing where to place your worm bin:

• Worms prefer temperatures between 60°-80° Fahrenheit
• Most worm bins aren’t raccoon or bear-proof

If keeping your worm bin outdoors in seasonal climates, you will probably need to move it around throughout the year to regulate its temperature. When exposed to temperatures outside of their preferred temperature range, worms will lose interest in your food waste, produce fewer castings, stop reproducing, and eventually die – both a sad and messy end to your worm farming aspirations!

For bins suited to indoor use, it’s a good idea to keep your worm farm close to where you recycle food scraps. Some worm bins can fit nicely in a cabinet or pantry without legs or supporting base, while larger bins are best kept in a garage, on the patio, or in the garden. 

Keeping your worm bin indoors will ensure you have quality castings year-round without too much fuss. If keeping your worms indoors isn’t an option, you can insulate outdoor worm bins with blankets and heat-conserving bedding.

How to maintain your worm farm

Are you ready to turn your food waste into the best soil you’ve ever mixed? Once you pick your wormery and set it up at home, here are a few tips for maintaining it:

• Use the 50/50 rule. Aim to feed your worms about 50 percent food scraps (“green” material) and 50 percent fiber and paper (“brown” material). This creates the optimal environment for worms and finished compost
• Check the temperature. Check up on the ideal temperature for your worms. Most, including the popular Red Wigglers, prefer temperatures between 68°-77° F
• Don’t sweat overpopulation. In a healthy worm farm, worms will  fill the “carrying capacity” of your bin, but won’t reproduce if they sense limited space and food
• Be patient! Your first batch of worm compost may take about three months to finish, but once your colony is established, you’ll have ample worm castings in as little as a month 

Final thoughts

Are you just dying to get composting? Bad joke… but really. We hope this guide has busted some of the most common myths about worm composting (no, it’s not only an outdoor activity! yes, worms are cool, etc.) and given you some helpful tips to get started.

It takes time to get your system going, but like caring for your garden, the payoff is pure green joy 🌱 Whether you opt for a flow-through, stackable, or DIY worm composting system, we know you and your plants will enjoy the results.

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