Best Tablet Under 100$: Top Picks for Budget-Friendly Devices

The Best Tablet Under 100$ is larger than a smartphone but less bulky compared to a laptop. This allows easy portability. Today, connectivity is very important. Having a tablet ensures that you are able to work or stay connected on the go.

Despite this flexibility, these budget tablets are not so powerful and are best recommended for lightweight users for simple tasks like browsing, streaming videos, and casual gaming.

It is also possible to get special dedicated notetaking and drawing tablets for under $100. We found the Wacom Intuos Small, XP-pen Star G640, and Huion H610 Pro to be the best pick for this category.

If you are looking for a simple, affordable tablet for your work or entertainment, we have got you covered. This guide covers only Windows, Android tablets, and Amazon Fire OS tablets. This is because it is almost impossible to find a premium iPad tablet for such a low price range.

Top Tablets Under 100$

1. Amazon Fire HD 8: Best Overall
2. Lenovo Tab M8 HD: Runner-up
3. Amazon Fire 7: Cheapest tablet
4. Fusion5 10.1-inch: Windows Tablet under 100
5. Wacom Intuos Small: Best Drawing Tablet
6. XP-pen Star G640: Cheap drawing tablet
7. Huion H610 Pro: best affordable drawing tablet

Amazon Fire HD 8—Best Overall

1. Screen: 8 inches
2. 1280 x 800 pixel resolution
3. Processor: Hexa-core 2.0 GHz and 2 GB RAM
4. Battery life: 13 hours
5. Storage: 32 and 64 GB expandable to 1 TB
6. Connectivity: Bluetooth and Wifi
7. Camera: 2 MP front and rear camera
8. Weight: 337 Grams

The Amazon Fire HD 8 is our pick for the best overall tablet under $100. It comes with a small 8-inch screen with 1280 by 800 pixel resolution. This bright and colorful screen is good for reading books and streaming movies. 

For processing power, you will have a hexa-core 2.0 GHz and 2 GB of RAM for multitasking. This is not the most powerful processing unit but is good enough for its price range.

The Amazon Fire HD 8 2022 is approximately 30% faster than its earlier versions of the Fire tablet from Amazon. 

If you like carrying your tablet around, the Amazon Fire 8 is perfect for you thanks to its small, lightweight build at 337 grams in total weight. 

Additionally, 13 hours of battery life will add to its portability and ease of use even away from your office workstation.

The tablet comes with 32 and 64 GB and is expandable using an external Micro SD card to 1 TB, which is more than enough for applications and saving all your large files.

The front and back cameras have a 2-megapixel camera, which is unusual because most tablets feature a better rear than a front camera. Overall, the cameras are weak.

Just like other Amazon Fire HD tablets, this tablet will work well with Amazon products such as Alexa. One downside to this, however, is that the tablet will have compatibility issues with some Google Play applications, limiting your user experience.

Lenovo Tab M8 Gen 2—Best Runner-Up

• Screen Size: 8 inches 
• Resolution: 1280 x 800 Pixels
• Processor: MediaTek Helio A22 Processor
• RAM: 2 GB
• Storage: 32 GB (Expandable)
• Battery life: 14 hours
• Camera: 2 MP front and 5 MP rear camera
• Wireless: WiFi/Bluetooth

The Lenovo Tab M8 offers a sleek and durable metallic build that is both attractive and sturdy. It features an 8-inch screen size with 1280 by 800 pixel resolution. 

Unfortunately, if you like streaming movies, you will not be able to stream in Full HD on this device. RAM and storage are similar at 2 GB RAM and 32 GB expandable memory. You, however, will not have a 64 GB option. 

Compared to the previous tablet, the Amazon Fire HD 8 is far cheaper compared to Lenovo, so you can not rule it out. However, the Lenovo Tab M8 Gen 2 packs better features.

For example, the Lenovo Tab M8 Gen 2 comes with a 2 MP front camera and a 5 MP rear camera compared to Amazon’s Fire HD 8, which has a 2 MP front and rear camera.

Lenovo and Amazon Fire HD 8 matchup, but Lenovo takes the day with its premium look and better compatibility with Google Play apps.

Amazon Fire 7 tablet—cheapest tablet

1. Screen Size: 7 inches
2. Resolution: 1024 x 600 pixels
3. RAM: 2 GB RAM 
4. Processor: quad-core processor
5. Battery: 10 hours

If you are looking for the cheapest tablet, the Amazon Fire 7 tablet is the best available. You will, however, compromise a lot of the functionality on the more expensive options.

First, the overall look is not very impressive with a thick build of 9.7 mm and a weight of 282 grams. The thick plastic bezels are not classy and make it seem cluttered.

It comes with a 2 MP front and a similar 2 MP rear camera. The front camera can be used for basic webcam and video conferencing, but the rear camera is too low resolution for any good use.

You will have a 7-inch non-laminated screen and 1024 x 600 pixels. The screen is not the best quality but will at least be good for reading and surfing the web.

Battery life is okay at 10 hours of continuous use, which is reasonable considering you will use it mostly for streaming and reading.

To save your files and install applications, you will have 16 GB of storage space with a 32 GB option. For processing power, you will have a 2 GHz MediaTek MT8168A quad-core processor and 2 GB RAM. 

You will have a challenge installing Google Play applications because although the Fire OS is Android-based, it is not compatible with the Play Store. It, however, works perfectly with Amazon products such as Alexa.

The features are not the best, but for a tablet under $60, they offer good value for the price. It is good for streaming, YouTube, Netflix, and reading books.

Fusion5 10.1-inch: Windows Tablet under 100$

If you are looking for an affordable Windows tablet, we recommend the Fusion5. It offers powerful performance for a low price and will provide great value for your money. It is ideal for browsing, streaming, and media consumption, all thanks to the 10.1-inch Full HD display with a resolution of 1920×1200 pixels.

The Fusion5 10.1-inch features an attractive, sleek, and modern ultra-slim body that makes it seem like a premium-level tablet. The user-friendly Windows 11 operating system makes it easy to use for professionals, students, and general users.

For processing power, this tablet features a powerful quad-core processor, 8 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of storage options. The processor and RAM are ideal for multitasking and running complex tasks. I wish it had a larger storage space than 128 GB, which will fill up quickly, especially if you save files like movies and videos on your tablet.

Other aspects like connectivity and accessories are good enough for the price with a USB 3.0, micro HDMI, Bluetooth 4.4, and 5G WiFi. This makes it possible to easily connect to external devices.

Wacom Intuos Small: Best drawing Tablet Under 100$

1. 6 by 3.7 inches active area
2. No screen
3. 4 Customizable Express Keys
4. Pen Pressure: 4096 levels
5. Compatible with Chromebook, Mac, Android & Windows
6. Wireless connectivity
7. 4 Customizable Express Keys

The Wacom Intuos Drawing Tablet is a small tablet ideal for small working spaces and can be used by both amateurs and experts. It is the smallest compared to the Wacom Intuos Medium and Large versions.

You will have a choice between the small wired and non-wired options. The wired Wacom Intuos Small includes Wacom Intuos with Bluetooth, a small Wacom Pen, a 6.6 ft USB cable, and 3 replacement nibs.

The wired, non-Bluetooth Wacom Intuos Small comes with Wacom Intuos, a small Wacom Pen 4K (6.6 ft) that has only 2048 pressure levels compared to 4096 and a USB cable plus 3 replacement nibs.

Although both are small and cheap, the wireless Wacom Intuos Small will give better value for money.

Wacom is a big and reliable brand when it comes to drawing tablets. They did what they do best: presenting a tablet that experts and beginners can use without any hitches.

This Wacom Intuos Drawing Tablet has incredible intuitive features that make navigating the tablet easy. We aren’t going to dwell on our physical appearance. Let’s go down to the specs. This Wacom drawing tablet has a 6 by 3.7-inch active area, offering enough room to work on.

It also has 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, making it easier for you to make thin and thick strokes and even edit your projects.

The Wacom CTL4100WLKO Intuos drawing tablet also has four keys that you can customize and create your preferred shortcuts with. Another plus for this tablet is that it comes with a three-month free trial of EdTech software.

Huion H610 Pro: best affordable drawing tablet

1. 8192 Pressure Sensitivity
2. Battery-Free Stylus
3. 12 Customized Hot Keys
4. 10 x 6.25 inches
5. Digital Art Tablet
6. Compatible with Mac, Windows PC, and Android

The Huion H610 Pro comes at an affordable cost, and the specifications exceed that price by far. For this price range, the Huion H610 Pro is the best Huion drawing tablet you can buy.

The best thing we noted is its very large drawing area of 10×6.25 inches on PC mode. Compared to the Wacom Intuos Small, this tablet is larger and features better pen pressure levels at 8192 and a large number of shortcut keys.

It packs very many improvements for an additional $20 price at around $59 from Wacom Intuos’s small $39 price range.

The tablet also has 12 programmable keys that you can set to your convenience, such as zoom and changing brush size, and speed up your workflow.

The Huion H610 Pro is a great tablet with superb features and is easy to set up and use. The tablet comes with a pressure sensitivity of 8192 levels and an active drawing area of 10 inches by 6.5 inches.

We fell in love with this Huion H610 Pro tablet because of its compatibility. The tablet works pretty well with Chromebook, Windows 7, and later versions, plus Mac 10.11 and other versions. 

However, the tablets only work with mobile phones and tablets powered by Android 6.0 or above. iPhone and iPad are also NOT supported.

XP-Pen Star G960S Plus: best budget Tablet Under 100$

1. 6×4 Inch Ultrathin Tablet
2. 8192 Levels
3. Battery-Free Stylus
4. Compatible with Chromebook
5. Free medium Artist Glove

And here comes another drawing tablet with a spacious working area of 10 inches×6.5 inches. XP-PEN drawing tablets are often pricey, but this time around, the brand has unveiled an affordable model that you can purchase with a budget of less than $100.

Let’s not dwell on the price. The specifications of this drawing tablet are superb for a low price. The screen of this tablet has a paper-like texture that smoothes your drawing experience because there are no lags when sketching or painting on the surface of XP-PEN.

The tablet comes with a passive pen with a pressure sensitivity of 8192 levels. You don’t have to worry about charging or replacing the batteries because the stylus is battery-free.

This tablet is excellent for those who want something portable because it is light and thin, hence comfortable to work with.

That’s not all. XP-PEN Deco 01 V2 has eight customizable express keys that you can set to erase, zoom in/out, and even scroll. This drawing tablet is compatible with Windows 7/8/10 and Mac OS 10.10 and above.

Factors to Consider When Buying a Tablet Under $100

The best cheap tablet does not feature very complicated specifications. When choosing the tablets in this review, we considered these specifications.

• Display Quality
• Performance
• Storage Capacity
• Battery Life
• Operating System Compatibility
• Price

Display Quality and Size

The screen is one of the most important aspects of a tablet. When choosing tablets under $100, you will notice screen sizes ranging between 7 and 10 inches in size. They have a minimum of 1024 x 600 pixels resolution, which is low but good enough for basic tasks like browsing.

Performance

The tablets in this price range are not very fast, especially if you use them for complex tasks. For simple tasks like streaming, emailing, and browsing, it is possible to multitask on these tablets. For the best performance, consider tablets with a quad-core processor and above plus 2 GB of RAM and above.

Storage Capacity

Some tablets feature expandable storage using a microSD slot, which is bought separately. This is because most options in this price range only feature low storage between 16 and 32 GB. Expandable storage is an added advantage despite costing extra.

Portability

Most tablets are lightweight and easy to carry around. You want a tablet that is not only light but also does not require constant recharging. Tablets under $100 usually offer 4-8 hours of battery life. The more the hours, the better the tablet. 8 hours is the optimal performance and is enough for browsing and casual use throughout a working day.

Operating System Compatibility

As mentioned earlier, you will not be able to get iPadOS tablets in this price range unless you consider refurbished options. Android, Amazon Fire, and Windows OS are the dominant options in this price range.

User preference

For a regular browsing or streaming tablet, all the above specifications apply. A cheap drawing tablet, on the other hand, does not come with a screen. You need to consider some additional specifications like the active drawing area and pen pressure sensitivity.

Amazon Fire HD 8—Best Overall

Frequently Asked Questions