10 Best Cheap Tablets of 2023 – Affordable Tablets Under $350

Flashy and expensive tablets get a lot of attention, but cheap tablets are more than sufficient for most people. Manufacturers tend to cut corners on lower-end models when it comes to screen technology and processor speed, but we’ll let you in on a little secret: You probably don’t need the fastest or the best tablet to do the things you want. Almost every tablet on the market these days is good enough for what we use them for the most often: web browsing, watching movies, reading ebooks, and playing simple games.

If you haven’t researched tablets in a while, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what’s available; even lower-end tablets today offer features that would blow away higher-end models from just a few years ago. Of course, don’t expect to be doing super-fast gaming on these models. The processors are too slow for graphics-intensive applications. Also, the screens on lower-end tablets tend to be a little dimmer and not as high-resolution as more expensive options.

Another area where you’ll find cheap tablets are lacking is how they feel in your hand. Unlike the premium feel offered by more expensive models, such as Apple’s $1,000 iPad Pro, inexpensive tablets use more plastic in their frames and tend to be thicker than expensive, ultra-slim options. That said, I often find myself reaching for my cheap Amazon Fire tablet over my pricey iPad Pro to toss into a backpack when I’m on the go, and don’t want to risk scratching or losing a significant investment.

The Best Cheap Tablets

What to Look For

Screen Size

The first thing to consider when choosing a cheap tablet is what you want to use it for, as this determines the screen size most suitable to your needs. If you’ll primarily be using your tablet for reading or composing emails, go for a tablet with a 7- or 8-inch screen, which fits better in your hand and most closely mimics the feeling of holding a paperback book. Smaller tablets also come in handy in situations where you might have only one hand free, such as when you’re riding on a subway or bus.

But if binge-watching movies is your thing or you plan to use your tablet to look at large documents, go for something bigger. A 10-inch model, such as Amazon’s Fire HD 10, is the perfect compromise of portability and size, with a screen large enough to fit sufficient pixels.

Processor

Almost every cheap tablet on the market these days is fast enough for you to surf the web, check your email, and play simple games. Otherwise, you may notice a slight sluggishness when you have multiple tabs open on your web browser.

However, don’t expect a cheap tablet to be capable of multitasking with several programs open at once or when running higher-end games. If you plan to use your tablet as your main computer or get serious work done, like handling larger spreadsheets or editing photos, expect to shell out a few hundred bucks more for a high-end tablet. Keep your expectations reasonable, and any of the cheap tablets on our list will do for basic functions.

Memory

One significant feature that you’ll want to consider is how much memory it has. Even the cheapest tablets come with 16GB of memory, which is sufficient enough for browsing the web and reading ebooks — but just barely enough to load some apps and watch a movie. If you want to download lots of games or other software, consider a tablet with at least 32GB of memory.

The cheapest tablets, such as Amazon’s Fire 7, don’t have a memory card slot that lets you expand the tablet’s storage. Slightly more expensive tablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab A7, can hold a microSD card that supports up to 1 terabyte of storage, so you can store all the movies and music in your library and plenty of software.

How We Selected

To be clear, you can find hundreds of cheap tablets online. And while many of them may be a great buy, little-known or even unrecognizable brands likely won’t guarantee the kind of quality control and customer support as global giants like Amazon, Apple, and Samsung. Taking this into consideration, we included cheap tablets from only those better-known brands, which still offer amazing deals but without the risk.

Every tablet recommended here is sufficient for browsing the web, emailing, reading a book, and playing simple games; some can do more. In addition to our own experience with a bunch of these models, we also considered options on both ends of the features spectrum, as well as online customer ratings. Finally, we looked at screen size, memory, and price when compiling our final list of recommendations.

The Expert: As anyone who has seen the inside of my apartment can attest, I own way too many tablets. Part of the problem is that it’s my job as a technology writer to review all kinds of gadgets, including tablets and laptops. But the truth is, I just love all sorts of tablets and have been using them since the very first computers in this form arrived on the market in the 2000s. In my perpetual search for the best tablet, I’ve owned dozens of models, including all three Amazon Fire tablets I recommend below. In daily use, I turn to my cheap tablet, which is one of my favorite devices for reading books. But I also have a special place in my heart for Apple’s top-of-the-line iPad Pro, which is excellent for watching movies and getting a lot of work done.