The 8 Best Smartphone Gimbal Stabilizers in 2023

Whether you’re shooting pictures for your Facebook account or simply enjoy filming your neighborhood area, you’ll want a gimbal stabilizer to make your content stable.

Phone screen shake is a common problem that anyone can encounter, no matter how stable your hands are. In many cases, people try to find a balance between a high-quality image or clip and stability, which inevitably ruins both. A gimbal stabilizer can help with that, but not every model is up for the job.

Many stabilizers are too expensive, and in many cases, even too heavy to be considered practical. There are obvious differences between ’good’ and the ’best’ stabilizers, even though their price tags won’t tell you that right out of the gate.

To help you avoid these issues, I’ve made this little guide for you to understand the basic elements I’ve searched for in every gimbal stabilizer I’ve reviewed:

1. Price

The amount of money doesn’t necessarily reflect the full value of any product, and this obviously applies to gimbal stabilizers as well.

However, the amount of money required for a model may be reflective of the quality of materials that were used for its construction, the quality of technologies, and so on.

There’s a world of differences between a $60 budget gimbal stabilizer and a $1,000 boutique one. For example, the $60 models are mainly for beginners, offering a shallower learning curve at the expense of performance and versatility; pros that can afford a $1,000 stabilizer already know how to use it, so they wouldn’t really benefit from the main selling points of budget models.

Although there are more than a few gimbal stabilizers in the high-tier price points, we’ve mainly narrowed the selection down to products that cost less than $200 for several reasons.

First of all, action cameras, smartphones, and camera setups, in general, are quite expensive to begin with. Add to that the cost of camera bags, cases, and accessories, and you probably won’t have much left to afford a premium gimbal stabilizer kit.

Finding the right balance between price and performance is hard, especially if this is the first gimbal stabilizer you’re buying. As a good rule of thumb, starting out with a cheaper model is generally better, as certain features of more expensive products can be quite complicated to use for beginners.

The price point of $200 and below is then optimal for pretty much everyone, regardless of the budget. If you’re new to this type of technology, you can simply get a $50 stabilizer to get familiar with the features. If you’re looking for an upgrade, pitch in another $50 to get yourself a quality 3-axis one. With another $50 bill, you could easily afford some of the best picks on the list.

2. Versatility

Although I was mainly focused on smartphone gimbal stabilizers, I didn’t want to neglect the users of 4K cams, action cameras, and everyone that could benefit from these products. That’s why my picks are versatile products that could cater to the needs of beginner content creators, experienced vloggers, videography pros, filmmakers, veteran users of action cameras, and pretty much anyone using filming devices.

There’s a distinctive difference between smartphone gimbal stabilizers and models designed for action cameras, DSLRs, and such. However, if you get a model with flexible clamps, you can use it with nearly all devices in your setup.

Zhiyun Smooth X is an excellent choice that is both versatile and comes at a cheap price. However, most models included in the selection above are not only more versatile but more stable and packed with superior features.

3. Standalone Stabilizers versus Bundles

I’ve mainly focused on standalone gimbal stabilizer products for a very simple reason – bundles are not only more expensive, but the chances are that you have a camera bag at home, and that’s usually the best accessory that comes in the box.

Although a gimbal stabilizer kit may be a good choice for people that have only just begun building their camera setup, this amounts to little if you don’t know how to use the accessories; this is especially true if you’re on a cash-strapped budget, as you’ll have to pay drastically higher amounts of money for something that you can purchase at a later date.

The easiest way to determine whether you need a bundle or a standalone stabilizer is to check with different manufacturers and compare the prices. Try to narrow down the individual prices of each accessory, and see whether it’s worth buying them as a part of the kit.

4. Learning Curve

Gimbal stabilizers aren’t the easiest pieces of technology to use. A lot of these devices feature an abundance of control buttons and functions, and plenty of them feature gimbal apps with different methods of operation.

What adds to that is the fact that the stiff competition between different manufacturers has led to each brand upgrading their models and gimbal apps to extremes, sacrificing the ease of use for more versatility and utility.

A lot of people don’t pay too much attention to this aspect and end up hating electronic devices they don’t understand.

That’s why it’s important to pick in accord to your experience in terms of the gear used in your field.

That being said, I would also like to note that the learning curve of a gimbal stabilizer should not be mistaken for its versatility or complexity of features alone. It’s a balance, or better said, a combination of factors that contribute to how easy or difficult it is to use a specific model.

While feature complexity contributes the most, the way the features and apps are designed, the structure of the grips, and the sheer intuitiveness of a product are also factors that play certain roles when it comes to the learning curve. Pros typically don’t bother with how difficult a stabilizer it is to set up and use, but that’s one of the biggest issues for beginner videographers, vloggers, content creators, and filmmakers.

5. Quality of Clamps and Arms

The strength of the stabilizer’s clamps and arms encompasses a lot of things – the maximal weight capacity that it can support, the strength of the grips, the sturdiness of the product, and so on.

I recommend gimbal stabilizing devices with robust arms to everyone and anyone, regardless of whether you’re a seasoned videographer or have just started out shooting stills or scenery pictures in your backyard. This is a feature that you can’t overpay for, as you’ll be investing in both reliability and durability.