Best wireless earbuds under $100 of 2023

Affiliate links on SoundGuys may earn us a commission. Learn more.

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 April 28, 2023, to add the Technics EAH-AZ40 and TOZO NC2 to Notable mentions, and to answer a FAQ.

For our top five picks, you can find the isolation and frequency response charts at the end of each image gallery. You can learn more about how to read our charts.

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 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 active noise canceling (ANC).

The ANC isn't 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 ANC capable 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 will like the sound. 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, 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.

Listen to the Studio Buds microphone demo below and let us know your thoughts.

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.

While the Pixel Buds A-Series lacks noise canceling, it uses Google's Adaptive Sound, which essentially adjusts the volume based on background noise. This is a fine feature, but it can wreck the dynamics of a song. The earbuds have pressure relief vents that should mitigate any uncomfortable suction-like feeling you get with other earphones.

The microphone is quite good on the Pixel Buds A-Series, but its quality decreases as you introduce background noise. Take a listen to our sample below.

For under $100 USD the 1More ComfoBuds Mini has some of the smallest earbuds (3.7g each) on the market with some ANC on tap. In white, red, and black color options, the IPX5 rated buds can handle most daily excursions.

Interestingly, the ANC is pretty good with a function to filter wind noise, but the small size means you might not get as much environmental isolation as a more effective seal can offer. It sounds pleasant, although for some reason the tuning gets more bassy when you turn on the ANC. That might be a bonus for some listeners, who use extra bass for focus. You will need to rely on the app to activate ANC, rather than touch controls, and 1More customizes the sound for you based on your fit.

In all the battery lasts 5 hours and 19 minutes per charge with ANC. Considering the minute size of the ComfoBuds Mini (and in turn the internal batteries) that's a rather impressive figure. AAC and SBC codecs are your sole options for Bluetooth connection. For the price, it's a good pick.

The 1More ComfoBuds Mini doesn't have the best mics. In ideal circumstances it captures your voice fine, and in an office it picks up keystrokes, however, it is useable. Where the mics really struggle is in the presence of street noise, which interferes with transmission of your voice. Take a listen below.

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 canceling, it has good enough isolation to rival other noise canceling earbuds. 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. For iPhones you get the necessary AAC codec to get the best audio you can get with your Apple device. Android owners will make do with SBC or AAC only.

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.

The WF-C500 microphone is all right in ideal conditions but really lags behind the competition when it comes to sub-optimal environments.

The Jabra Elite 4 skates in on to our list by one cent, originally retailing for $99.99 USD. You get Bluetooth 5.2 firmware along with SBC and aptX Bluetooth codec support. (Sorry, iPhone owners, no AAC here, although it still works just fine with iPhones.) As with most other Jabra products, the Elite 4 is built to endure with its IP55 dust and water-resistant build, making it great for exercise. As it lacks stabilizers, it will depend on your specific in-ear fit.

Jabra features ANC and HearThrough (transparency mode) with these affordable buds and a comfortable, sleek design with four color choices. The earbuds hardly protrude from the ear with each bud weighing only 4.7g. These feature a multifunction button for playback and call controls, and surprisingly, Bluetooth multipoint. You can even select a designated smart assistant (Siri or Google Assistant only) to help execute simple commands.

While Jabra's Sound+ app (iOS/Android) usually adds a significant number of software features to its other headsets, the Elite 4 mainly sports a personalized ANC, five band equalizer, and HearThrough mode. You can also enjoy Spotify Tap integration through the earbuds for Android users, something more companies are investing in like Samsung and Skullcandy.

Jabra nails all of the fundamentals with these earphones, like excellent sound quality and impressive isolation, making it a great pick for anyone's daily driver. The ANC itself isn't all that impressive, but the isolation is more than enough for most folks.

The Jabra Elite 4 microphone is fairly decent. It uses four mics and in ideal circumstances it captures your voice pretty naturally. With the introduction of noise, it tends to still capture the voice, but also some of the noise itself. Even so, you’ll still come through to the person on the other end of the call. You can also toggle on a sidetone in Sound+, so that you can hear yourself when speaking.

When the Sennheiser CX True Wireless initially came out, it cost more than our $100 USD budget. Since its drop in price, it has become a truly excellent option for its sound quality and feature set. Using the Sennheiser Smart Control app you can assign commands to different touchpad gestures, as well as access to EQ, and updates. An IPX4 rating rounds out the package. Although you may miss wings or stabilizers to keep the buds in, the frequency response of the buds favors a somewhat more bass forward sound, which is good for workouts.

The CX True Wireless utilizes Bluetooth 5.2 with the high quality aptX codec, and Apple-friendly, AAC codec. Our testing yielded inconsistent results with one earbud lasting 8 hours, 31 minutes, and the other draining at 5 hours, 50 minutes. According to Sennheiser, the buds are meant to switch which is the primary and secondary earbud to even out the battery life over time.

The only thing that keeps the CX True Wireless out of the Best list is the knowledge that the ANC-capable Sennheiser CX Plus True Wireless costs only a little bit more ($69.95 at Amazon) for active noise cancellation. Perhaps though, the very good isolation on the CX True Wireless suffices, in which case, it's a great choice.

The Sennheiser CX True Wireless microphone behaves with a standard proficiency in filtering out low-level environmental noise. It's not podcast quality, but it's certainly good for phone calls. Listen for yourself:

First off, you should only get the Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 if you have an Android device. The app support, which you will want, only works on Android phones. Further, the Samsung Scalable Codec is only available if you have a Samsung Galaxy device to pair this with. However, for under $100 USD, the Galaxy Buds 2 offers really good noise cancellation. That the AKG tuning on the buds supplies you with a sincerely good sounding set of buds may make you wonder why you ever needed to spend more.

On the other hand, the buds only have an IPX2 rating, which doesn't even protect against sweat, and the touch controls can be oversensitive. However, for the solid integration with Android and especially, Samsung, devices and 5 hours and 3 minutes of juice to a charge, it's a worthy option.

The Galaxy Buds 2 mics are neither the best, nor the worst for mic performance. In an office the mics definitely pick up keyboard noises, although, when faced with wind it does filter some of the noise, however, your voice will sound more muffled. Let us know what you think below.

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 well under budget, the Beats Flex is a great pair of affordable earbuds for iPhone owners.

The Beats Flex mic is just all right and won't make you sound like a professional podcaster or vocalist, not even close.

This is a crowded price bracket, so be sure to take a gander through our notable mentions. If you don't see all the features you want, maybe consider upping your price threshold.

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 canceling. 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.

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.

The battery life of Bluetooth earbuds is already improving! For instance, the Beats Powerbeats Pro exceeds 10 hours of playback on a single charge. Generally speaking, the included charging cases make up for an across-the-board poor standalone battery life. Also pay attention to specifications regarding fast charging, as some earbuds can top up your listening time by charging for 10 or 15 minutes.

If you’re on an international flight, you may want to look at over-ear headphones instead. Whether you’re getting a pair of the best wireless earbuds under $100 or the best earbuds you can find, the battery cells will deplete over time, forcing you to reach out to the company for repairs or to buy a new set.

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.

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. Effective isolation is the oldest form of noise canceling, and it blocks external noise from reaching your ears.

Some earbuds come with fit tests in the app, but it's uncommon at this price. 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.

Increasingly, earbuds under $100 USD have also been released with some form of active noise cancellation, proving you don't need to break the piggybank in order to access the feature these days. Not all ANC is equal, however, but that's why we test each pair of earbuds. ANC works best on low and midrange frequency noises, while isolation is most effective with high pitched noises.

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. Very generally speaking, this is how we created the SoundGuys house 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.

If your headset manufacturer also has a mobile app, you can probably use that to EQ the sound profile. Not all earbuds, especially those under $100 USD, come with a companion app though. If that's the case, you may want to check your streaming service to see if it has an EQ module (like Spotify), or download a third-party EQ app.

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.

We at SoundGuys pride ourselves on our ability to provide readers with a focused understanding on the subject of consumer audio using objective measurements. We adhere to a draconian ethics policy and don't allow sponsored content on our site in an age where that's more and more commonplace. Our income depends almost exclusively on people being happy with the products they buy after researching them.

Currently, we quite like the Sony WF-C500 which is on our best list for its good looks, solid functionality, feature-full app, and 3D audio.

The way songs stream over Spotify sound won't depend on your earbuds specifically. However, better quality earbuds will make any streaming service's music sound better. As for iPhone, you’ll want to look for a pair of earbuds that support the AAC codec. This codec works well with iPhones to efficiently transfer data from the source device to the earbuds, so it will maintain the quality of your music very well.

Yes, you can always charge the case, even if the earbuds are not in the case.

Battery life is important besides the obvious reasons that charging is annoying, or getting caught with a dead battery at an inopportune moment isn't fun. The longer your battery life to a single charge, the longer your earbuds can potentially last you overall, because there's a finite number of charge cycles before battery degradation occurs. Seeing as replacing your batteries is either very difficult, or most often not really possible, a longer battery equals a longer lasting set of buds.