Best Cheap Tablets 2024: Great value choices tested and ranked (2024)

Every tablet in this list has been properly tested and used for an extended period of time by one of our product experts. We categorically do not recommend a product unless it has been put through our lab tests and used by the reviewer as their main tablet for at least five days.

Lab testing includes colorimeter checks to gauge screen accuracy and max brightness levels, synthetic benchmarks to evaluate graphics and general performance, and battery drains to assess average discharge rates for basic office tasks, streaming video and gaming.

Our reviewer will then move on to consider the tablet’s performance for everyday use. This will see them use it as their primary tablet and enact common tasks such as movie streaming, gaming, web browsing and video calling. If the device is targeted at a specific market such as digital artists, they’ll also consider areas such as digital stylus support and whether it can effectively run relevant applications.

When a device is sent in for review with optional extras, such as a stylus and keyboard cover, we’ll assess its performance both as a standalone product as well as with any accompanying peripherals.

£179

£349$349

£179.99

£299$299

£209.99$209.99

£249$229

£239

Honor Pad X9

The best cheap tablet

If you’re on the hunt for a great value Android tablet, the Honor Pad X9 should be of serious consideration. Despite its sub-£200 price tag, the tablet boasts a premium look and feel and a seriously impressive display that blows the similarly priced competition out of the water.

The Honor Pad X9 sports a large 11.5-inch display and a 2000 x 1200 resolution that would’ve already been enough to compete with much of the budget competition, but the inclusion of a 120Hz refresh rate truly sets it apart. The super-smooth refresh rate helps the tablet feel responsive, with smooth animations and better response time when gaming on the tablet.

Despite the middling Snapdragon 685 chipset and 4GB of RAM, the Honor X9 can handle everyday tasks like browsing the web, split-screen multitasking and even gaming at medium graphics levels.

Throw in great battery life, a landscape-mounted selfie camera for video chats and surprisingly loud speakers, and it becomes an easy recommendation for any tablet buyer on a budget.

Reviewer: Josh BrownFull review: Honor Pad X9 review

Apple iPad 10

The best value iPad

The iPad 10 represents the upgrade that the entry-level tablet desperately needed, bringing it into line with the updated look of the rest of Apple’s iPad collection. In essence, it’s similar in looks to the iPad Air, complete with flat back and sides, the removal of the Home button and a much-reduced bezel that makes it look way more modern.

It’s also 10g lighter than the outgoing iPad 9, while also offering USB-C connectivity in place of the older Lightning port. There’s also upgraded accessory support with a dedicated Magic Keyboard that turns the tablet into something resembling a laptop, complete with trackpad, although the halfway-house Apple Pencil support is rather odd.

Performance is also top-notch compared to the rest of the budget tablet competition, sporting Apple’s A14 Bionic chipset – the chipset of choice of the iPhone 12 – that makes apps and games run super smoothly, and it should continue to do so for quite some time. The only real disappointment is the 64GB of base storage, which we feel isn’t quite enough for more demanding users.

It was a little too expensive for this list when it first launched back in 2022, but Apple dropped the price down to the same £349/$349 as the outgoing iPad 9 in May 2024, making it a budget-friendly bargain for those on the hunt for an iPad.

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full Review: Apple iPad 10 review

Teclast T40S

The best cheap Android tablet

Teclast might not be a household name in the tech market, but the plucky Teclast T40S manages to deliver a solid Android tablet experience at just £170, and it’s often found cheaper over at Amazon too, further solidifying its value for money.

The star of the show is processing power as, despite its cheap price point, it can compete with more established tablets like the Honor Pad X9 and Oppo Pad Air in terms of performance. There’s also a surprising 8GB of RAM on offer to aid multitasking and help chew through ad-laden websites, with an additional 8GB of your 128GB storage also able to be allocated to RAM when performing particularly power-intensive tasks.

That powers a moderately sized 10.4-inch display that we found perfectly usable indoors, though with a maximum brightness of just 350 nits, it’s not a tablet suited to outdoor scrolling.

There are a few oddities about the tablet – it runs a stripped-back version of Android 12 with bigger buttons and boasts fairly random features like FM Radio support – and it’s not exactly the best-looking tablet around, but for the price, you’ll be hard pressed to find something more capable.

Reviewer: Josh BrownFull review: Teclast T40S review

OnePlus Pad Go

The best cheap tablet with cellular connectivity

The OnePlus Pad Go is the little brother to the company’s full-fat OnePlus Pad, offering a slightly more budget-friendly tablet experience. However, the Pad Go has a trick up its sleeve; LTE connectivity as standard.

That means you no longer need to pay extra for a cellular tablet (Apple, we’re looking at you!), allowing you to pop a SIM card into the included SIM tray and use the tablet away from your home Wi-Fi. It’s a real boon for those who work and play on the go, even if you still have to pay for the data contract yourself.

Elsewhere, the OnePlus Pad Go remains a tempting budget tablet with a large 11.3-inch, high-res screen that’s ideal for watching movies and playing games, especially when paired with the smooth 90Hz refresh rate. The screen is very reflective, however, which can make it awkward to use in brighter environments when paired with a fairly average 400 nits screen brightness.

It’s powered by the Helio G99 and a healthy dose of 8GB of RAM, a combo that won’t exactly win awards for processing power any time soon, but it still provides a largely smooth experience. There is the occasional bit of lag, but nothing that’ll put a real dampener on your experience, especially when the low-powered chipset translates to long battery life and even longer standby times of up to a month.

Reviewer: Lewis PainterFull review: OnePlus Pad Go review

Lenovo Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen)

The best cheap tablet for entertainment

The Lenovo Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen) is a budget tablet with a premium look and feel, sporting an aluminium unibody with a stone-textured strip along one side of the rear to further elevate its design status. It really is a good-looking tablet, complete with a thickness of just 7.5mm and rounded edges that sit comfortably in the palm.

The 10.61-inch 2000 x 1200 display sports a 16:10 aspect ratio that keeps black bars to a minimum when watching video content from the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and when coupled with Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers, the watching experience is quite pleasant. The 400nits of brightness isn’t enough for HDR playback, but it’s just about enough for use outdoors.

It’s just a shame that the MediaTek MT6769V chipset isn’t a little more powerful, with our reviewer noting unpredictable stuttering that would occasionally plague the tablet, and it wasn’t quite enough to run demanding 3D gaming titles either.

It does have a compatible stylus accessory that could make it a tempting option for note-taking students, though it’ll set you back an additional £45.

Reviewer: Josh BrownFull review: Lenovo Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen) review

Amazon Fire Max 11

The best Amazon Fire tablet

The Amazon Fire Max 11 is the latest in a long line of Amazon Fire-branded tablets from the retail giant, though this one looks and feels different.

Sporting a more mature design that’s more than a little bit reminiscent of Apple’s iPad Air, complete with rounded edges and a slightly raised single camera bump on the rear, the tablet feels much more premium than its price tag suggests it should.

The 11-inch 2000 x 1200 IPS LCD display might not boast OLED tech of more premium tablets, but what it does have is a fully laminated screen. It might not sound like much, but it means there’s no air gap between the front glass and LCD panel like Apple’s cheaper iPads, removing that cheap hollow feeling when you tap and swipe on the display.

The big display is designed for productivity according to Amazon, and even sells dedicated stylus and keyboard case accessories for the tablet separately, further separating itself from the rest of the budget Fire collection.

But for all Amazon’s efforts to position it as a productivity workhorse, the lack of pro-level apps on Amazon’s limited Fire OS and Appstore stop it from achieving its aim. Even the built-in word processing app doesn’t fit the tablet’s display properly.

That’s a real shame too, as the chipset within easily beats just about everything else in our charts, and by quite a way too. Still, it does mean it’s great for gaming and general day-to-day use, as long as the apps and games you enjoy are available on the Fire OS platform.

Battery life is also solid with exceptional standby times that allow it to last over a week when not in use, though charging can be slow with only a 9W charging brick in the box.

Reviewer: Lewis PainterFull review: Amazon Fire Max 11 review

Oppo Pad Air

The best lightweight cheap tablet

If portability is one of the key factors in your buying decision, the Oppo Pad Air should be of serious consideration. At 440g and 6.9mm thick, the 10.36-inch tablet is lighter than Apple’s iPad 10 and even the lightweight iPad Air while still delivering that large-screen experience.

It’s not just lightweight either; the gunmetal aluminium shell is smooth and sleek, helping the tablet feel more premium than it actually is, and it comes with handy features like a microSD card slot to expand the 128GB of storage on offer.

The 10.36-inch IPS LCD is sufficiently sharp at 2000 x 1200 and is perfectly serviceable for scrolling through websites and watching movies on Netflix, though with just 360 nits of brightness, it’s not the best in bright outdoor conditions.

It’s not a powerhouse of processing power either, with the Snapdragon 680 delivering fine – but not rapid – everyday performance, though it can’t quite handle high-end AAA games so gamers may want to look elsewhere. Even certain worlds in Roblox would slow the Pad right down.

It’ll last around 15 hours on a charge with decent standby times and although it takes over two hours to charge, that’s in line with the iPad 10 and Xiaomi Pad 5.

All this boils down to a lightweight, portable tablet that’s great for scrolling through TikTok, browsing the web and watching movies on Netflix, though it’ll probably not suffice for the majority of gamers.

Reviewer: Josh Brown
Full review: Oppo Pad Air review

We’ve reviewed

2,592

Tablet

See all reviews

Honor Pad X9

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478

1572

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4 %

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8 %

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16 %

7 %

–

–

117

7 fps

5 fps

Apple iPad 10

1557

3190

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467 nits

6 %

7 %

5 %

1 %

120 min

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–

–

–

–

–

–

–

Teclast T40S

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269

1035

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9 %

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5 %

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154 min

81 Min

15 %

6 %

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4 fps

7 fps

OnePlus Pad Go

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718

1915

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7 %

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5 %

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91 min

43 Min

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35 %

19 %

372

6 fps

8 fps

Lenovo Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen)

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406

1354

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13 %

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8 %

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255 min

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14 %

7 %

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5 fps

8 fps

Amazon Fire Max 11

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932

2245

420 nits

9 %

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10 %

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244 min

120 Min

14 %

7 %

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319

9 fps

13 fps

Oppo Pad Air

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408

1417

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9 %

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1 %

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148 min

70 Min

24 %

11 %

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5 fps

7 fps

Honor Pad X9

£179

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–

Honor

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11.5 inches

128GB

5MP

5MP

Yes

No

7250 mAh

–

267.3 x 6.9 x 167.4 MM

499 G

B0C7RGHMV7

Android 13 (ColorOS)

2023

16/08/2023

2000 x 1199

–

120 Hz

USB-C

Qualcomm Snapdragon 685

4GB

Space Grey

Apple iPad 10

£349

$349

€439

Apple

–

10.9 inches

64GB

12MP

12MP

Yes

IP57

–

–

179.5 x 248.6 x 7 MM

477 G

B0BJLG85NS

iPadOS 16.1

2022

–

1640 x 2360

Yes

60 Hz

USB-C

Apple A14 Bionic (5 nm)

4GB

Silver, Blue, Pink, White

Teclast T40S

£179.99

–

–

–

–

10.4 inches

128GB

13MP

5MP

Yes

Not Disclosed

5999 mAh

–

155 x 8 x 248 MM

460 G

B0C33F28S6

Android 12

2023

20/07/2023

2000 x 1200

–

59 Hz

USB-C, microSD card slot

MediaTek MT8183

8GB

Grey

OnePlus Pad Go

£299

$299

€329

OnePlus

No

11.3 inches

128GB, 256GB

8MP

8MP

Yes

No

8000 mAh

Yes

188 x 6.9 x 255.1 MM

532 G

–

Android 13 (OxygenOS 13.2)

2024

08/05/2024

1720 x 2408

–

90 Hz

USB-C, microSD card slot

MediaTek Helio G99

6GB

Green

Lenovo Tab M10 Plus (3rd Gen)

£209.99

$209.99

–

Lenovo

–

10.61 inches

64GB

8MP

8MP

Yes

Not Disclosed

7700 mAh

–

158.8 x 7.5 x 251.2 MM

466 G

B0B1588GJ6

Android 12

2022

19/07/2023

2000 x 1200

–

60 Hz

USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD card slot

MediaTek MT6769V

4GB

Storm Grey

Amazon Fire Max 11

£249

$229

–

Amazon

–

11 inches

128GB, 64GB

8MP

8MP

Yes

No

7498 mAh

–

163.7 x 7.5 x 259.1 MM

490 G

B0B2SDTSJ8

Android 11 (Fire OS)

2023

31/07/2023

1200 x 2000

–

60 Hz

USB-C, microSD card slot

Octa-core processor

4GB

Grey

Oppo Pad Air

£239

–

€338

Oppo

–

10.36 inches

128GB, 64GB

8MP

5MP

Yes

No

7100 mAh

–

154.8 x 6.9 x 245.1 MM

440 G

B0BB41ZVP3

Android (ColorOS)

2022

16/06/2023

2000 x 1200

–

60 Hz

USB-C

Qualcomm Snapdragon 680

4GB

Grey