Best budget wireless earbuds 2023

If you’re not on a really tight budget then you’ll really struggle to find better wireless earbuds for this kind of money.

They might have a slightly cheap-feeling case and no auto-pausing tech but those downsides are massively overshadowed by great performance and a surprisingly comprehensive feature set.

As well as powerful bass, the A2 buds have excellent noise cancelling with three presets for different environments and the app offers EQ sound customisation. Throw in touch controls and solid battery life and there’s very little to dislike.

These are the best budget noise cancelling wireless earbuds you can get.

At the top end of the budget market, the Pixel Buds A have some omissions that might make you look elsewhere. Mainly the lack of noise cancelling and limited battery life of the buds on their own, although fast charging helps here.

However, Google’s cheapest earbuds will appeal to those looking for something a little different to rivals. While they are comfortable and offer good sound quality, it is the smart features that make them stand out.

The Google Assistant is built-in, there’s ear detection, Fast Pair, Adaptive Sound, real-time translation and more.

We’ve been fans of Redmi Buds for a while and following the already excellent 3 Pro, the Redmi Buds 4 Pro are another solid offering.

The tweaked design of the earbuds makes them very comfortable for long periods of listening and the active noise cancelling is improved, too, though still behind some rivals.

There are still premium features you rarely find at this kind of price, too, including wireless charging and now Hi-Red Audio support thanks to LDAC.

It’s frustrating to need the app for certain features but that’s also not uncommon for earbuds. Overall, these are another bargain purchase from Xiaomi.

Whether the Nothing Ear (Stick) are the right earbuds for you depends on what you are looking for. What these are not, is a replacement for the Ear (1).

The fit and comfort level is very impressive for a ‘half-in’ design with no silicone ear tips to keep things in place. They also sound good without needing to adjust them into a sweet spot, although the Ear (1) certainly offer superior sound.

We love the innovative and interesting case, even if it doesn’t have wireless charging. It’s also worth noting there’s no noise cancelling here but if you want earbuds for long periods without fatigue and a spacious sound where you can hear things around you to some extent then these might be perfect.

Huawei continues to offer excellent wireless earbuds at budget prices and the FreeBuds 5i get you an astonishing amount of features for the price.

Headlining the list is support for Hi-Res Audio via Sony’s popular LDAC codec, which is typically reserved for much more expensive earbuds. Sound quality is well-rounded and there’s Adaptive noise cancelling, too, although some rivals offer better performance in this area.

Still, it’s decent and the FreeBuds 5i are comforable and battery life is solid, too. There’s no wireless charging so look to Xiaomi for that and the case isn’t the most durable but Huawei did add IPX4 water resistance which is a step up from the 4i.

Overall, a very good pair of cheap wireless earbuds indeed.

You might not even know Asus makes true wireless earbuds, but you wouldn’t know the firm is new to it. While the Cetra buds are part of the company’s Republic of Gamers (ROG) range, they’re a great affordable option for just about anyone.

Sound quality is solid with rich, detailed audio and thumping bass to boot. Both active noise cancellation modes are effective at blocking out external noise, but it’s great to also have the option to amplify what’s going on around you.

However, the fiddly touch controls used to move between these modes are frustating, while much of the impressive app functionality is buried beneath an unintuitive design. But with great battery life and a very comfortable fit, these are budget buds that are worth considering.

Although they are a chunk more expensive than the previous model, the Buds Z2 are a huge improvement and well worth considering if you have enough budget. They are still very comfortable and the app offers a fit test.

They are better with OnePlus phones though as features like Dolby Atmos and low-latency are exclusive. Still, there are lots of smart features available regardless such as Fast Pair, multi-device connectivity, wear detection and customisable touch controls.

Furthermore, sound quality and ANC are both great and battery life can be long if you don’t use noise cancelling too much.

Getting active noise cancelling for under £50 (or $60) is unusual so this makes the Mobvoi Earbuds stand out on its own.

While the ANC performance isn’t amazing, there is also a useful Sound Pass-Through mode so it’s not simply on or off. Sound quality is overall decent and you can also make use of voice commands and touch controls, the latter being particularly unusual at this price.

You don’t have any volume control which is a shame and the battery life of the earbuds alone is limited to under three hours.

It’s somewhat more of the same from Jabra here and the Elite 4 sadly cost more than their predecessors.

However, the firm has added active noise cancelling and decent ANC including the best transparency mode we’ve tried on a budget price, so it’s not like the price rise isn’t justified to some degree.

Battery life is solid with up to a total of 28 hours between the buds and case and Jabra’s app is one of the best including a very useful EQ. The higher price just means there’s strong competition from the likes of Google, OnePlus and Nothing.

If incredibly cheap and long lasting are top of your wishlist for wireless earbuds then Tronsmart’s Onyx Ace Pro will be a good purchase. They can last for six hours on their own and a total of 36 hours when you factor in the case.

There’s good audio performance, comfort and also a Gaming Mode to ensure good sync with your phone (which also helps for streaming video, too).

They are undoubtedly a bargain and less than half the price of many rivals, but they don’t justify the ‘Pro’ moniker with no noise cancelling or other typically pro features like wireless charging.