Best wireless earbuds under $100

Just a few years ago, functional and reliable cheap true wireless earbuds would have been an oxymoron, but now they’re being released in droves. You no longer have to shell out $150-plus for solid truly wireless earbuds, instead, save your money and enjoy the latest and greatest audio technology has to offer. Here are the best wireless earbuds under $100.

Editors note: this list of the best wireless earbuds under $100 was updated on October 28, 2022, to add the Beats Studio Buds to the list and to address the upcoming price increase of the Nothing Ear 1.

Why is the Beats Studio Buds the best pair of wireless earbuds under $100 for most?

The Beats Studio Buds is a compact pair of earbuds with a pocketable charging case. At its release, the Studio Buds ran $149 USD, but today you can find it for just $99 at Amazon. Apple doesn’t cram its proprietary H1/H2 chips in here, so you iPhone owners miss out on certain features like Spatial Audio, but otherwise this is a great headset for listeners who switch between operating systems and want noise cancelling.

The noise cancellation isn’t quite as effective as the AirPods Pro (1st gen) or (2nd generation), though it does quiet low frequencies by about 25%. With ANC on, you’ll get about 4 hours, 24 minutes of playtime. This is average for wireless earbuds, but at least the case provides about 18 hours of additional battery life. When the case dies, you can top it up with a USB-C cable, rather than Apple’s Lightning connector (which the company will ditch soon, anyway).

Beats doesn’t give you any way to create a custom EQ within its OS-agnostic mobile app, but most listeners won’t feel compelled to seek out a third-party EQ app with these buds. The bass is a bit louder than the mids, but not to a degree where it hampers audio quality.

The Studio Buds supports just the SBC and AAC Bluetooth codecs, which doesn’t give Android phone owners a reliable high-quality codec. Still, SBC has come a long way, and we doubt your ears will care too much. If you only have $100 USD to spend, we highly recommend this headset. The Studio Buds occasionally goes above $100 USD, though so watch out.

The Google Pixel Buds A-Series is the smartest set of budget earphones around

The budget-friendly Google Pixel Buds A-Series succeeds the famed Google Pixel Buds (2020), and the A-Series has almost all the same specs as its pricier sibling, including an IPX4 rating, a Bass Boost feature, and Google Assistant integration. Few wireless earbuds support hands-free Google Assistant access, let alone the best wireless earbuds under $100.

Upon its release, the Google Pixel Buds A-Series had some volume quirks (it was far too quiet), but Google has since released firmware 233 to bring the output up to an acceptable level. Listeners who enjoy spoken word content will appreciate the Pixel Buds A-Series’ under-emphasized bass response, which yields much clearer vocal reproduction. If you’re exercising or just enjoy more of a bass-heavy sound, then take a minute to enable the Bass Boost response in the Pixel Buds app (Android only).

Ultimately, this is a really solid set of earbuds with plenty of advanced software and hardware to keep up with newer releases.

The Nothing Ear 1 is a great AirPods Pro alternative

The Nothing Ear 1 boasts transparency from the case to the earbuds, and it’s more than a see-through set of AirPods. Nothing’s earphones cost just $99 USD on Amazon still, but the company increased the price on its storefront, citing the global economic climate as a factor for the increase. It includes premium features like active noise cancelling, automatic ear detection, an IPX4 rating, and fast and wireless charging via the case. The noise cancelling doesn’t stack up to similarly priced options like the Amazon Echo Buds (2nd Gen), but it does the trick and actually fairs quite well against the AirPods Pro.

Sure, the stemmed design emulates the AirPods, but you get such a great bang for your buck with the Ear 1 headset. Microphone quality is very good and certainly passable for personal calls along with most professional calls. Battery life is on par with other noise cancelling wireless earbuds as the Ear 1 lasts 4 hours, 30 minutes with ANC enabled. When you disable noise cancelling, you’ll get closer to 6 hours of playtime. What’s unique about the Ear 1 is that both the earbuds and case support fast charging. When you toss the earphones into the case for 10 minutes, you get 60 minutes of playtime; when you plug the case into a USB-C cable for 10 minutes, you get 8 hours of battery life.

If you want a set of earbuds that can do much of what the AirPods Pro can for less than half the cost, think about the Nothing Ear 1.

The Sony WF-C500 can go anywhere

The Sony WF-C500 isn’t a particularly notable pair of earbuds because it isn’t a specialist, rather, this pair of IPX4-rated earbuds gets the job done at just about every twist and turn.

While the WF-C500 lacks noise cancelling, it has good enough isolation to rival other noise cancelling earbuds, and even outperforms the AirPods Pro with ANC on. The default frequency response is very good and should please most listeners. Still, if you’re someone who likes to tweak things to absolute perfection, the Sony Headphones Connect app (iOS and Android) has plenty to offer. Here, you can use its five-band equalizer to adjust the sound and choose to prioritize sound quality or connection stability.

This is the only headset listed to support any kind of 3D audio, and with the WF-C500 set up through the Sony app, you can take advantage of Sony 360 Reality Audio. Bear in mind that access to 360 Reality Audio content is limited to certain services like Tidal, Deezer, and Amazon Music.

Athletes and exercise enthusiasts should pick up the Jabra Elite 3

The Jabra Elite 3 is the company’s cheapest wireless earbuds to date, but it doesn’t skimp on features. You get Bluetooth 5.2 firmware along with SBC and aptX Bluetooth codec support. (Sorry, iPhone owners, no AAC here.) As with most other Jabra products, the Elite 3 is built to endure with its IP55 dust and water-resistant build, making it great for exercise.

Jabra features transparency mode with these affordable buds and a comfortable, sleek design that blends in with any outfit. The earbuds hardly protrude from the ear, and each one features a multifunction touch panel for playback and call controls. You can even select a designated smart assistant to help execute simple commands.

While Jabra’s MySound+ app usually adds a significant number of software features to its other headsets, the Elite 3 has just a few that includes EQ presets and HearThrough mode. You can also enjoy Spotify integration through the earbuds, something more companies are investing in like Samsung and Skullcandy.

Jabra nails all of the fundamentals with these earphones, like sound quality and isolation, making it a great pick for anyone’s daily driver.

What makes the JLab GO Air POP a good set of cheap earbuds?

For just $19 USD, you can get the JLab GO Air POP, undercutting the cost of most of the earbuds listed here. The GO Air POP earbuds have an IPX4 rating and make for great workout earphones, plus the case has an integrated USB-A cable for charging. Standalone battery life is uniquely good at just over 11 hours, with the case adding an extra 24 hours of playtime.

Isolation is quite good too. While the earbuds do little to block out low frequencies, they do render sounds higher than 1kHz up to one-sixteenth as they’d sound without the GO Air POP. Oh, and these earbuds sound good too, which is admittedly a bit surprising for the price. You get a consistent bass and midrange output with a reasonable amount of treble emphasis. Virtually all music will sound good enough through these cheap earbuds, and if you want more bass, you can cycle through three integrated EQ presets directly from the touch controls.

Now, what are the downsides to these colorful earbuds? The microphone quality isn’t very good in anything but optimal conditions. If you only speak from the peace and quiet of your home, the mic quality will be just fine. However, those who take calls while on walks or from the office, you may want to upgrade to something else.

Need more bass? Get the Beats Flex neckbuds

Perhaps you want a bit more oomph to your tunes than our recommendations can offer, well, you’re in luck: the Beats Flex Boosts sub-bass a bit more than most headsets. It won’t absolutely wreck a track but you will notice it and if you don’t like bass that much, you may actually want to EQ it down through one of our favorite EQ apps.

Another reason that we recommend the Beats Flex is because this is much harder to lose than a set of true wireless earbuds. The earbuds magnetically stick together, so you can wear the Flex as a kind of necklace when not listening to music. Battery life is good at 10 hours, 24 minutes. It supports USB-C fast charging (10 minutes of charge yields 90 minutes of playback).

The biggest draw to the Beats Flex is its W1 chip which is great for iPhone owners. This means you get features like immediate pairing and auto-connecting, akin to Google Fast Pair with Android earbuds. Other W1 chip benefits include connection stability and improved battery performance when streaming from an Apple device.

For just $49 USD, the Beats Flex is a great pair of affordable earbuds for iPhone owners.

The best wireless earbuds under $100 USD: Notable mentions

• Amazon Echo Buds (2nd Gen): This costs a bit more than $100 USD, disqualifying it as a top contender, but it’s a great pair of entry-level smart earbuds that retails for much less than the likes of the Apple AirPods Pro. You get hands-free access to Alexa, which is helpful for smart home enthusiasts. Noise cancelling is very good and rivals more expensive competitors.
• Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2 Pro: This brings ANC and a customized sound to your ears for less than $100 USD. The wireless charging case supports fast charging and you can EQ the sound in the free mobile app. If you want something similar without ANC, consider the Anker Soundcore Liberty Air 2.
• Anker Soundcore Life A1: Anker’s IPX7 earbuds cost just $49 USD, and feature stabilizing ear wings that keep the buds in place no matter how you move. The boosted bass response may be a bit much for most listeners but you can amend this from your media player’s EQ module.
• Audio-Technica ATH-SQ1TW: For just $79 USD, Audio-Technica’s earbuds provide great sound quality and above-average isolation. You don’t get any app support, though, and the earbuds only stream audio over the SBC Bluetooth codec.
• JLab Epic Air Sport ANC: Okay, this set of earphones is an epically good deal and ranges from $79-99 USD depending on if you catch it on sale. Even at its full price, you get some premium features like top-notch ANC, an ear hook design, and relatively consumer-friendly sound. The touch controls aren’t great, and neither is the mic quality, but if you can overlook those things, you’ll love these buds.
• OnePlus Buds Z: If you like the design of the original Apple AirPods, but want something that seals to your ears, you should check out these budget buds. They have an IPX4 rating, quick charging, support the AAC codec, and good mic quality.
• OnePlus Buds Z2: This set of earbuds merits an IP55 rating and you can use either bud in mono mode. When you buy the Buds Z2, you get access to Bluetooth 5.2 which opens the door for LE Audio support. These Buds Z2 has good noise cancelling, especially for the price, but it limits you to SBC and AAC streaming.
• Skullcandy Indy: Skullcandy nailed the fit and compact design of the Indy earbuds. These are affordable and boast an IP55 certification. However, there are some drawbacks like disappointing battery life and fickle touch controls.
• Skullcandy Push Active: The Push Active earbuds have an IP55 dust and water-resistant rating that makes it a great option for athletes. You can access your smart assistant hands-free due to Skull-iQ, making it a smart and strong pick.
• TCL MOVEAUDIO S600: If you don’t mind the AirPods-like look and feel of TCL’s earbuds, you’ll enjoy the premium features at an affordable price like ANC, an IP54 rating, and fast and wireless charging.
• 1MORE ColorBuds 2: The 1MORE ColorBuds comes in various fun colorways, so you can express your style through your headset. The earphones are durable too, as denoted by the IPX5 rating.
• 1MORE ComfoBuds Mini: This pair of earbuds is as small as it gets and includes great features like SoundID, wireless charging, and very good ANC for the price.

What you should know about cheap wireless earbuds

When you buy a cheap pair of earbuds, even the best wireless earbuds under $100 USD, you’re sacrificing style, build quality, and extra features like noise cancelling. Just because you’re saving money on your affordable wireless buds, doesn’t mean you’re sacrificing basic Bluetooth performance though. You can read our in-depth buyer’s guide or skim the important stuff below.

How long do wireless earbuds last?

When true wireless earbuds like these were first released, you were lucky to get four hours of playback from a single charge. Now, we have earbuds exceeding 10 hours, setting a new standard for the technology. While shelling out more than $100 USD on wireless earbuds is worth it for many, it’s unnecessary if you’re just looking to get a basic, reliable pair of everyday earbuds. Companies like Jabra and Sony are cornering the cheap wireless market with good quality products for significantly less than the competition.

What is a Bluetooth codec?

Typically we advise listeners to keep an eye out for high-quality Bluetooth codecs. If you’re not too familiar with how codecs work, fear not. They dictate how data is transferred from a source (phone) to a receiver (headphones). Ideally, Bluetooth transfer rates wouldn’t have to make compromises between efficiency and quality, but bandwidth remains limited. Companies are always looking for inventive workarounds: Bluetooth SIG teamed up with Fraunhofer to produce LE Audio and the new LC3 codec, which will greatly improve wireless streaming standards and aid the hard-of-hearing community.

If you’re an iPhone user, make sure to get earbuds with AAC support. Android users, on the other hand, should get something with aptX support. While Android devices support AAC streaming, its performance is inconsistent across the board.

What is isolation and how should earbuds fit?

None of the best wireless earbuds under $100 USD will supply a wide range of ear tips or outperform something like Sony WF-1000XM4 or Shure AONIC Free, but improving isolation is an easy way to improve sound quality. Take a few minutes to figure out which included ear tips are best for you. Ear tips that fit well will seal to your ear canals and stay in place as you jostle your head around. If you can’t get the provided tips to work, invest in a pair of third-party ear tips. Doing so could end up preventing irrevocable hearing loss, too.

How should wireless earbuds sound?

Wireless earbuds are typically aimed toward your average consumer, so the frequency response will reflect that with amplified bass and treble notes relative to the mids. Generally speaking, this is how we created the SoundGuys Consumer Curve, which we use as a way to score how a headset sounds. This curve is by no means a universal truth for what sounds good, but it is what most people will find pleasant.

Athletes need IP-certified earbuds

IP, or Ingress Protection, ratings denote how dust- or water-resistant a product is. Our deep dive into IP ratings is a great resource, but if you don’t have time, the higher the number the more resistant a product is to dust or water.

Why you should trust SoundGuys

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Frequently asked questions about wireless earbuds under $100 USD