6 Earbuds Under $100 That Are Actually Worth Buying

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Anyone who's tried to save money on a gadget knows that it can be a risky undertaking; cheap tech can sometimes be fantastic, but other times it can leave you with less than you paid for. And it's no different if you're trying to cut the costs on some of the best noise-cancelling earbuds you can buy; some alternatives are amazing0, but many aren't.

We're here to focus on the options which are worth buying, to prove that "cheap" doesn't always mean "bad", and there are some great earbuds which sell for under $100 that you should consider before any others. Six pairs of earbuds in particular, from many from the best-rated earbud brands, are often recommended by reviewers as the top budget buys; I also have experience with all of these brands, and many of the specific buds, which is why I feel confident flagging them.

All of these budget earbuds cost under $100 before any discount, are currently available to buy in the U.S., and are sold by major retailers, so you can easily buy them if you feel they're right for you. The list is ordered with the more expensive buds first and the cheaper ones later on, so you can gauge your budget to decide which to consider.

Earfun is a reliable maker of affordable audio products, especially earbuds, and the Earfun Air Pro 4+ is one of its most beloved gadgets. Case in point: We recommend it as one of the best wireless earbuds you can buy right now, and at $99.99, it's arguably the most affordable "premium" earbud you can find. Just note that some retailers are selling it for more, but avoid these listings, because it's easy to find for $99.99 if you look (such as the link for the product above).

The Earfun is surprising as a cheap earbud as it has dual drivers, which means the buds have speakers designed for different parts of the audio spectrum; this ensures it offers better audio fidelity than many rivals (or pricier options). Some mid-range or expensive earbuds use dual-driver set-ups, but it's rare for budget buds. The Air Pro 4+ were also praised for their lightweight design and have a battery life that lasts for 12 hours of listening, so they're comfortable and long-lasting too.

Many reviewers rate the Earfun Air Pro 4+ as the premier pair of cheap wireless earbuds, citing the value for money as well as the sound quality, noise cancellation ability and range of features offered via the app. You can often find them for under MSRP in discounts which save you $10 or $20, but they're still great value at full price.

Soundcore, Anker's audio-focused sub-brand, has recently been making waves with its premium earbuds, showing up people who wondered whether Soundcore headphones were any good. However it still offers loads of reliable low-cost options, like the Soundcore Space A40, which are affordable in-ears that originally retailed for $99.99. 

True to the name "Space", which Soundcore uses for its active noise cancellation-focused products, one of the standout features of the Space A40 is its ANC. Reviewers have called its noise isolation "amazing", and online users have also praised the feature, so if ANC is at the top of your list then they're well worth considering. However, some reviews noted that the feature can affect the buds' sound a little.

Like the Earfun, the Soundcore often show up in best cheap earbuds roundups, and beyond the ANC praise also goes to their comfortable fit and battery life. They're slightly older than other options on this list, but are still sold by Anker, haven't been displaced by a newer alternative, and top many buyers' rankings. Plus, it's almost impossible to find them for MSRP now, as they generally sell for between $49 and $79.

It'd barely be an audio round-up without a look-in from Sony, which is known for premium earbuds like the Sony WF-1000XM5, but also has plenty of well-received budget headphones and buds for people who don't need the top-end models. Case in point: the Sony WF-C510, siblings to the pricier C710N, are some of our favorite highly-rated cheap AirPods alternatives and they sell for just $69.99.

The Sony WF-C510 have received perfect and near-perfect reviews from plenty of brands, with reviewers citing their energetic sound, long-lasting battery and small carry case as reasons to enjoy the buds. The price is, of course, another oft-mentioned winning feature of the C510, even if they haven't seen as many price cuts as the other options mentioned above. In fact, some brands promote the Sony WF-C510 as the best cheap wireless earbuds money can buy, beating out other Sony pairs and options from other manufacturers mentioned on this list.

The catch here is in the name, specifically the lack of an "N" as in the WF-710N. That indicates that the 500-series buds, unlike their pricier siblings, don't have noise cancellation capabilities. It's a capability you're losing to get buds this cheap with all of Sony's features, but if ANC is important to you, Soundcore's option listed above is a better pick. Some reviewers also flagged that the case battery life is lower than on rivals.

CMF is a sub-brand of British tech company Nothing, releasing simple, cheap, and cheery gadgets. Its earbud line-up can be confusing; we've reviewed the CMF Buds 2 Plus and there's also the CMF Buds Pro 2 and Buds 2a, but the most popular second-gen model is the standard one: the CMF Buds 2. These retail for $49 and come in a range of colors, including the distinctive orange hue which you can see above.

The CMF Buds 2 are popular because they offer loads of features for the price. It's something often mentioned in reviews, with tools like spatial audio, a unique-looking and user-friendly equalizer and noise cancellation options all winning praise. The EQ in particular has seen the CMF Buds 2 recommended as great for audio customization, because it gives you far more control over your sound than you get in many similar-price alternatives. There's even a listening test which allows you to fully tune the buds to your ears, even if you don't know how a traditional equalizer works.

The buds aren't without downsides, with some reviewers mentioning that the ANC isn't particularly strong, or that the case feels a little fragile, and some weren't happy that the spin-wheel on the case doesn't do anything (it does on some other CMF earbuds). But that $50 price point making some flaws easy to overlook, especially if you like the zingy orange look.

Someone has to offer the cheapest recommendable ANC earbuds, and reliably budget audio manufacturer JLab has risen to the occasion. Its JLab Go Pods ANC cost just $31.99 yet, as the name suggests, offer noise cancellation so you can block out the world. It's not just a feature thrown in to draw sales, either, with reviewers praising how well the ANC works for the price.

That's not all, with testers glad at the addition of an attached USB-C cable so you can charge them without needing to bring your own, and also highlighting the equalizer as offering lots of audio customization. However multiple reviews criticize the in-ear fit of the Go Pods, as well as the uncompetitively short battery life before you need to charge the buds in the case, so bear these issues in mind when you buy the buds.

If you're tempted to buy these earbuds, make sure you actually buy the right one, because JLab has many others with very similar names. The likes of the Epic Pods ANC, Go Pop ANC, and JBuds Pods ANC, with similar designs and feature sets, makes buying the right pair a little confusing. However the Go Pods ANC are the pair recommended in round-ups as the best super-cheap options, praised for the aforementioned cost and ANC combo, so are the ones you should look for.

So far in this round-up, we've looked at standard in-ear buds, but we'll return to JLab for a look at another model that also costs $31.99. This is the JLab Go Sport+, designed for those looking for the best wireless running earbuds, who don't want to spend much money on the product. These aren't to be confused with the similarly-named JLab Go Sport ANC, which add in ANC but cost a little more.

The Go Sport+ are often recommended as the best value running earbuds by exercise-oriented outlets, as well as other brands which test exercise buds, marking the main option you should consider if you want buds for workouts. The athletic traits come in the design: They have a sports loop, which hooks them to your ear, so you can do vigorous activities without risking them flying from your head. The secure fit is often mentioned by reviewers, who commend their comfort and reliability. The sound quality is sometimes pointed to as a weak link,  and even testers who like them admit that the sound is bassy.

Again, JLab's confusing naming complicates buying these. Don't confuse them with the similarly-named JLab Go Sport ANC, which add in ANC but cost a little more. They're also different to the older Go Air Sport, JBuds Sport, or Epic Sport ANC. Those may all be popular options, but they don't appear on round-ups like the Go Sport+ does.

To qualify for a place on this list, wireless earbuds must have ticked several boxes. They needed to cost under $100 before sales or discounts applied and still be available on sale at that (or a lower) price from a reliable US retailer. They couldn't be an older model of an earbud which had seen a successor, and had to be a physical in-ear bud, not a pair of headphones or an open-style earbud. We've recommended the best headphones under $50 if you'd rather that style of audio. 

To choose the specific models included in this list, I looked at round-ups of affordable earbuds from major review outlets and also round-ups of all earbuds which had sections for cheap models. I only included models which had been listed by multiple outlets to ensure a consensus was achieved, and also removed some options to ensure a diverse range was highlighted (otherwise, the list would have countless similar CMF and JLabs options). This brought the options down to the six you've read about.

I've personally reviewed three of the options on this list, and for the other three have used similar models from the brand. This experience was used to contextualize each product and point out the key features, but not to dictate the overall picks on the list. The order the earbuds were listed in was an objective one: price, starting with the expensive options and ending with the cheaper ones.