Mason Jars: Where to Buy Online and In Store for Canning, Crafts, and More
Mason jars are thick-walled glass containers with two-piece metal closures, built for home canning and now used for far more. One distinction matters above the rest: not every jar sold under that name is rated for canning, and that detail decides whether your food is safe. Sizes run half-pint to half-gallon. Mouths come in two widths whose lids do not swap. Cases beat singles on price. Here is what to look for, where to buy mason jars, and the mistakes that cost people a batch.
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Who Actually Needs Mason Jars
A mason jar is a molded glass container with a threaded neck and a two-piece closure, a flat metal lid plus a screw band, that forms a hermetic seal once the contents are heat processed. John Landis Mason patented it in 1858 and the shape has barely moved since.
Home canning is why the category exists. Canners fill them with fruit preserves, jam, tomato sauce, and pickling projects, and the glass is annealed to survive a boiling water bath. It is not tempered, which is why a sudden temperature swing cracks it. Everyone else uses them for quieter work: dry food storage for flour, sugar, and spice, meal prep and dessert portions, candle making, vases, centerpieces, wedding favors, and drink service in the handled mug versions that sit near the copper mugs.
If you are preserving food rather than storing it, follow a tested process. The USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning, published through the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and your state Cooperative Extension service publish the verified times, pressures, and headspace. This guide covers what to buy, not how to process it.
Buying Criteria: What Separates Good Mason Jars From Bad
Mouth width first, then size, then whether the glass is rated for canning. Those three choices account for most wasted money here.
Regular mouth or wide mouth. The most common buying mistake by far. Regular mouth openings run roughly 70mm and pour cleanly, suiting sauce, syrup, and jelly. Wide mouth openings run roughly 86mm and let you scoop, pack, and clean by hand. Lids, bands, plastic caps, fermenting airlocks, and pumps do not swap, so the wrong width makes the accessory drawer you own useless.
Size. Half-pint (8 oz) suits jam, jelly, and gifts. Pint (16 oz) is the workhorse for preserves and meal prep. Quart (32 oz) handles vegetables, pickles, and pantry storage. Half-gallon (64 oz) is for dry goods, cold brew, and fermenting, not general canning.
Canning rating, not looks. Only canning jars manufactured for the purpose belong in a canner. Decorative and vintage-look craft-aisle glass, and commercial food containers that held pasta sauce or pickles, are not made for repeated thermal cycling. Fine for dry storage. Not for preserving.
The lid and band system. The flat lid is single-use for canning. Its sealing compound is engineered to deform once and form one vacuum seal, so a second run is not reliable. The screw band is reusable until it rusts or bends. Almost everyone has this backwards. Weck, the German alternative, uses a glass lid and rubber gasket instead.
Brand. Ball and Kerr are both Newell Brands products, so that rivalry is cosmetic. Alternative and imported labels now compete hard on price, and Anchor Hocking still makes glass domestically. The honest caveat is lids: off-brand flats have a mixed sealing reputation among canners, and a failed seal costs you the food inside. Be relaxed about the glass, pickier about the lids.
Case quantity. Buying by the case is far cheaper per unit, and empties store flat in the box between seasons.
How Much Should You Pay for Mason Jars
As of July 2026, a single pint bought loose at a grocery store runs about $1.50 to $2.00, while a standard 12-count case works out to roughly $10 to $15 depending on capacity and retailer. Singles are a convenience purchase. Cases are the real price.
Three tiers matter. Budget is store-brand or imported cases, plain glass with no embossed detail, often in 6-pack quantities. Mid-range is Ball or Kerr in a standard case, where most buyers land. Premium is Weck, quilted decorative lines, or specialty finishes, where you pay for looks and gasket hardware, not better preserving. For plain canning that tier buys nothing functional, so spend the difference on lids.
The used channel is genuinely cheap. Estate sales, thrift shops, and marketplace lots turn up canning glass constantly, often well under retail. Buy it, inspect the rims, then buy new flats separately. Secondhand glass is fine. Secondhand sealing lids are not.
Buying Mason Jars Online: Retailer Comparison
Odd capacities, wholesale case pricing, and brands no local shelf carries all live online. Shipping bites, though: glass is heavy and packed with air.
Amazon
Amazon carries the broadest range: Ball, Kerr, smaller and imported labels, plus accessory kits with airtight lids, pour spouts, and fermenting hardware. Compare per-unit cost, since a bigger multi-pack is not automatically cheaper. Shop on Amazon.
Specialty Suppliers: Fillmore Container and MasonJars.com
Fillmore Container, a wholesale glass packaging supplier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, sells by the case along with replacement metal lids and uncommon capacities, what candle makers and volume canners need. Browse Fillmore’s catalog for wholesale pricing. MasonJars.com stocks canning supplies, lids, and accessories; their catalog is worth a look when a size is sold out elsewhere.
Ball Direct
Ball sells through its own site, carrying the full catalog including bundles that pair glass with canning tools. Useful when you want a specific line rather than whatever the shelf holds.
eBay and Etsy
eBay is the vintage market: blue Ball pieces, amber Atlas glass, embossed antique lettering, and bulk used lots. Search eBay for character, but treat old glass as decor unless you can confirm it was made for canning. Etsy covers custom work: painted finishes, engraving, wedding favor kits. Browse Etsy for personalized pieces.
Buying Mason Jars Locally: Store by Store
Buying in person lets you check rims for chips and skip shipping. Timing matters more than store choice: canning season peaks from late summer into early autumn, which is right now, and that is when glass and especially lids sell out. Buy lids and citric acid early rather than in September.
Walmart
Walmart, the largest brick-and-mortar retailer in the United States, is the reliable default for Ball and Kerr at low prices, with selection widening through the preserving season. Browse the selection on Walmart’s site and check local stock first.
Target
Target leans decorative. Alongside standard Ball stock you will find colored glass, quilted patterns, and seasonal décor that suits centerpieces better than pressure canning. Check current stock on Target’s website.
Publix
Publix is worth a stop in the Southeast, where home preserving is common enough that grocery chains stock Ball seasonally, though selection is narrower than big-box. Search the Publix site, and call ahead for larger capacities.
Hardware and Farm Supply Stores
Ace Hardware, Tractor Supply, and True Value are the overlooked channel, especially in rural areas where preserving is routine. Stock varies and is often seasonal, so phone first. These are also the likeliest places to still have lids once grocery aisles are stripped.
Red Flags When Shopping for Mason Jars
The most expensive mistake is treating any glass container with a screw-on metal top as canning equipment. That failure shows up months later as a spoiled shelf.
Vintage-look and decorative pieces. Craft-aisle glass and antique reproductions are made to look right, not to cycle through heat. If the packaging does not say home canning, keep it for dry storage.
Reusing flat lids. The sealing compound is designed for one seal, so a reused flat is the most common cause of a seal that looks fine and is not. Bands are reusable, flats are not.
Repurposing commercial food containers. The jar your pasta sauce or store pickles came in was made for one industrial fill. Its glass thickness and finish are not specified for home processing, and the lid will not re-seal.
Using the wrong process for the glass. Tapered shapes are not freezer containers unless straight-sided and labeled freezer safe, because expanding contents push against a shoulder that cannot give. Thermal shock does the rest: hot food into cold glass, cold glass into heat, either direction cracks it.
Chipped rims. Run a finger around the sealing surface of any used piece before buying, because a chip you can barely feel will stop a vacuum seal forming. Strain jelly through cheesecloth, pack it into flawed glass, and you find out too late.
Best Mason Jars Right Now
Picked on availability, accessory compatibility, and case pricing.
Best overall: Ball Wide Mouth Quart, 12-count case. The default for vegetables and general preserving, and the width most accessory kits are built around. Around $12 to $16 per case. Check price on Amazon
Best for jam: Ball Regular Mouth 16 oz, 12-count. Pours cleanly for jelly and syrup, and the portion works for gifts. About $10 to $14 per dozen. Check price on Amazon
Best budget: Anchor Hocking 16 oz, 12-count. A cheaper domestically produced option. Confirm the packaging states home canning before processing food in it, since the range spans canning and plain storage glass. Around $8 to $12. Check price on Amazon
Best for meal prep: Ball Wide Mouth 16 oz. Easy to layer and eat straight from. Plastic storage caps sold separately suit a fridge, but treat “leak-proof” as a fridge claim, not a backpack one. Around $10 to $14 per 12-count. Check price on Amazon
Best large format: Ball Wide Mouth Half Gallon, 64 oz. Sized for cold brew, dry bulk goods, and ferment projects. Not a general canning size. Around $10 to $13 each. Check price on Amazon
Decide the mouth width first, since it locks in every lid and accessory you buy afterwards, then pick the capacity matching what you actually preserve. Buy a case rather than singles, buy new flats every season however the glass was sourced, and if you are canning this year, order mason jars and lids now rather than at the peak. Our guides to apple cider vinegar, beeswax, and honey baked ham cover related buys.
Mason Jars Questions, Answered
Is a Ball jar different from a mason jar?
No. “Mason” describes the threaded, screw-band canning design; Ball is the brand that has dominated the US market since the late 1800s. Ball and Kerr are both owned by Newell Brands, formerly Jarden Corporation, which is why the lines share threading. Any competitor using the same neck finish takes the same lids.
Are old jars worth anything?
Some are. Value tracks color and rarity: aqua and cobalt blue pieces, unusual embossed logos, and short-production closures draw collector interest, while the common clear quart your grandmother had is worth roughly what a new one costs. Age alone is not value.
Do mason jars contain lead?
Modern canning glass made for food use does not. The concern applies to antique and imported decorative pieces, where painted exterior decoration can contain lead, and to old lids. Treat pre-war and unmarked decorative glass as display items, not food containers.
Can you freeze food in mason jars?
Only in straight-sided pieces labeled freezer safe. Tapered shapes have a shoulder that expanding liquid pushes against, which is what cracks them. Leave the headspace the manufacturer specifies, chill contents first, and never move glass straight from freezer to heat.
Are mason jars microwave safe?
Treat them as not microwave safe. Ball does not market its canning glass as microwave safe, and annealed glass handles rapid temperature change poorly. Metal lids and bands must never go in a microwave. Decant into something rated for it instead.
In July 2026 our editorial team re-verified retailer availability, pricing, and picks, and checked safety guidance against the National Center for Home Food Preservation.