18 best AirPods alternatives in 2023

Available at Amazon and Soundcore

Excellent noise cancellation in a compact form factor for under £100. What’s not to love about that? The Space A40s don’t have the white colour or stem-shape design that has been immortalised by the AirPods – instead coming in a smaller ergonomic shape that fits neatly into your ears – but from our testing, we know they are comfortable and sound great for all music genres and podcasts, with impressively effective ANC. We used them for a couple of weeks when commuting and they were so good that we didn’t mind using them in place of the over-ear Bose QuietComfort 45s in a pinch. They block out loads of ambient noise, including the deeper rumbles of the carriage and light conversations of other passengers – albeit not to total silence.

The carry case is also pleasingly compact, so the A40s will easily fit into your jeans pocket or bag without being a burden. We didn’t encounter any problems with pairing them to a Google Pixel smartphone, with connectivity consistently quick and strong. The same goes for pairing to the Soundcore app, which is used to switch between ANC and transparency modes, alter touch controls, view how much battery life is left in each earbud, and more. These are long-lasting, too, with up to 40 hours of ANC (50 hours of non-ANC) when using the case. That often lasts us multiple days of moderate use before needing a top up and unlike some other buds on our list they can connect to up to two devices at a time.

• Weight: 4.9g per earbud (58.2g with charging case)
• Battery life: 8 hours ANC (Up to 40 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Yes, via your smartphone
• Wireless charging: Yes
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Amazon, John Lewis, Argos and Currys

Jabra's cheapest buds to date, the Elite 3s feature an understated and minimal design, impressive audio quality and competitive battery life. For the size and the price, we think these are some of the best earbuds you can buy. The sound is well-rounded, they do a great job of instrumental separation and it's handy that you can tweak the equaliser to your preference in the Jabra Sound+ companion app.

We like how these come in black, dark blue, beige or lilac, and how the charging case is small enough to fit in your pockets too. They use physical buttons on the buds for control, rather than touch-sensitive surfaces, and these work for playing, pausing, controlling volume, talking to voice assistants and engaging the "HearThrough" mode that amplifies outside sounds.

The big difference between these and some of the main rivals is that these lack active noise cancelling (ANC). If you pick the right ear tips you'll get a good seal and may not need to worry about it, but if ANC is important to you, we'd recommend going with one of the other picks.

• Weight: 4.6g per earbud (42.6g with charging case)
• Battery life: 7 hours (Up to 28 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: No
• Noise cancellation: No

Available at Amazon

We know size matters when it comes to earbuds, which is why every pair on our list is small and compact. But there's nothing quite as small as the ComfoBuds Mini, which are as close to being invisible as possible once they're in your ears. These also come in a charging case that's more compact than the AirPods version, while still providing a maximum of 6 hours of battery life in the buds and a total of 24 hours with the case.

These aren't just alternatives to the standard AirPods, though, they're a decent rival to Apple's flagship AirPods Pro as they include active noise cancelling too. That's impressive both at this low price and in this form factor, and the ANC is more than decent too. On test, it cut out the chatter in the office and the rumble of a train, and there's also a wind noise resistance mode to deal with high-speed noise too.

The sound quality is excellent and improves when you turn the noise cancelling on. When it comes to the drawbacks, though, we'd avoid using these for phone calls as the microphone falls short, and we did find it frustrating that you need to switch the ANC back on every time you put them in.

• Weight: 3.7g per earbud (42.3 g with charging case)
• Battery life: 6 hours (Up to 24 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: No
• Wireless charging: Yes
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Nothing and Amazon

There's a lot of hype around Nothing, the London-based startup from OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, but we feel the buzz surrounding the company's debut product is justified. These unique earbuds have the AirPods Pro squarely in their sights, and they make a worthwhile dupe when compared to the top-spec Apple buds. Tiny lightweight buds? Impressive noise cancelling? Decent battery life? They tick all three boxes.

The most distinctive thing about them is their unusual design. There's nothing quite like these transparent buds on the market. Beyond the looks, they sound great and are especially good with balanced detail and voices – ideal for podcast fans. If you need thumping bass, you may want to look elsewhere, but we reckon most people would struggle to tell the difference between these and the AirPods Pro.

They're comfortable and come with active noise cancelling that worked well on our commute. And they have a decent transparency mode to amplify outside sounds too, although this isn't as refined as what you'll get on the Apple device. Battery-wise, they'll deliver about as much as the AirPods Pro, lasting for around five hours and providing up to 34 hours once you factor in the case. The case is the one downside, in our opinion, as it's a touch bulkier than most others on our list.

• Weight: 4.7g per earbud (57.4g with charging case)
• Battery life: 5 hours (Up to 34 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: Yes
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Amazon and 1MORE

They don't have the brand recognition of the AirPods, but the 1MORE Evo buds impressed during our testing. We love the design of the buds and they are small and comfortable to wear, while the charging case is also sleek. The sound is a big bonus – it's detailed and accurate while playing music, and the active noise cancellation works well for blocking out the rumble of our morning commute and background noise at the office.

While the audio quality is great, we did experience some connection issues with our first review unit (the replacement is fine) and found the app experience to be quite clunky to use. The touch controls are also quite fiddly, and it's a shame that there isn't more customisation over what each press does. For example, unlike some buds we've used, a double tap pauses the music instead of skipping tracks by default – and while you can change this, you can't program a single tap to do anything.

We do like that you can choose between noise-limiting modes – adaptive, wind noise resistance, mild and strong – and found the battery life to be strong. While the AirPods Pro gives you up to 4.5 hours of listening time with ANC on, the 1MORE Evos last closer to 5.5 – roughly an extra hour. With the charging case, you'll get up to 20 hours of life in total using ANC, and while that's slightly less than the AirPods' 24 hours it's still solid.

With an RRP of £179 on Amazon, these are the most expensive set of earbuds on our list, although we don't recommend buying them at full price (they are currently on sale for £159 at Amazon) as there are some very impressive buds at this slightly lower price point.

• Weight: 5.7 g per bud (58.3 g with charging case)
• Battery life: Up to 5.5 hours (up to 20 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant
• Wireless charging: Yes
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Amazon, Currys and Soundcore

It’s rare to get decent noise cancellation south of £150, and these Soundcore buds not only have effective ANC but also detailed audio quality, custom controls and a wireless charging case. That's a lot of value given the price. For most listening, there's distinct instrumental separation, a lot of clarity and low distortion. You'll only notice muddiness on the most challenging tracks (Massive Attack's 'Angel', for instance). They've got a hearing test through the app that can customise the equaliser for you too.

One of the main benefits here is the superb fit, as they come with a range of soft wings and silicone tips in the box. Once you've found the best choice for your ears, they're some of the most comfortable earphones we've tried. We'd recommend downloading the companion app as it's got plenty of tweaks and features hidden within – like wind noise reduction and adjustable ANC. There aren't many downsides, but we did notice some random Bluetooth interruptions. These don't happen often, but the connection isn't as rock solid as some, especially compared to our AirPods Pro.

• Weight: 6g per bud (53g with charging case)
• Battery Life: 8 hours (up to 32 hours with case)
• Charging: Wireless charging case and USB-C
• Colour: Grey, White, Black and Purple
• Voice Control: Google Assistant and Siri

Available at Amazon and Oppo

Apple’s AirPods are all notorious for not playing well with Android devices. While you can technically pair them up, you won’t be able to access any of the key settings or firmware upgrades. We’re sure you’d agree that it somewhat defeats the point. So, what if you want that AirPods Pro look but you're using an Android phone like the Pixel 7? Don’t worry, both this Oppo pair and the Huawei FreeBuds below follow a lot of the same design cues as Apple’s flagship. If what you want is a sleek style and slim charging case, these are some of the best options around. The noise-cancelling is also impressive, and the on-bud controls are intuitive and offer full volume control. They’re a little less clicky and responsive than Apple’s own ones or the Huawei pair – but they still impressed us.

But it’s sound quality that really matters, right? Well, we don’t think you’ll be disappointed. These offer a detailed sound with a lot of dynamism – they’re an enjoyable listen for a range of genres. We threw on Marcus Mumford’s ‘Better Angels’, and found it possible to identify instrumental separation and excellent vocals, and we liked the sound for pop, 80s hits and some classic rock. These are a little impaired when it comes to detail in the bass, and we found the undertones of Megan Trainor’s ‘Made You Look’ sounded rather squashed. Overall, these work well for most music and podcasts, though. The noise-cancelling is also decent, they’re comfy to wear and we think they’re good value for the money.

• Weight: 4.7g per earbud (56.4g with charging case)
• Battery life: 5 hours (up to 20 hours with the charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: Yes
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Currys, John Lewis, Google and Argos

Just like AirPods and Apple devices are made to work together without any fuss, the Pixel Buds are designed with Android phones in mind. They support Google's Fast Pair with Android devices, offer Google Assistant with the "Hey Google" wake word, and give you clever "real-time" translation that can interpret 40 different languages as you talk.

They're best seen as a rival to Apple's entry-level buds as they don't give you any noise cancellation or transparency, but they come in at a more affordable price than AirPods and offer better sound isolation than the basic ones, with the three included pairs of silicone tips in small, medium, and large. The charging case is tiny enough to pop in your front jeans pocket, and they offer controls via a touch-sensitive exterior surface, allowing you to play, pause, skip tracks, and call on Google Assistant.

Sound-wise, these prioritise balanced audio with a lot of clarity and instrumental separation, making them a great pick for music across a wide range of genres, podcasts and audiobooks. The microphones here are great for calls but if you're after headphones for distraction-free listening, we'd recommend picking an option with ANC instead.

• Weight: 5.06g per earbud (52.9g with charging case)
• Battery life: 5 hours (Up to 24 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant
• Wireless charging: No
• Noise cancellation: No

Available at Amazon, Argos, John Lewis and Currys

Love the idea of true wireless earbuds but aren't prepared to fork out loads of cash to upgrade? We'd recommend the Go Air Pop as some of the best basic, no-frills buds on a budget that you can buy. They're compact and fit in a little case that comes with the charging cable built-in, so you don't have to worry if you're prone to leaving your charger behind. It refuels via a standard USB-A port, so you'll already have the wall plug you need to top it up, and it's easy to hook up to your laptop to charge up too.

They're available in a decent range of colours for personalisation – you can pick between black, lilac, red, grey and blue – and the buds themselves are super lightweight at 3.7g. You won't find any special features like noise cancellation or transparency mode here, and they're not the best for calls or voice assistance either. But if you seldom use these features, you won't miss them. With the low sub-£20 price, these are excellent value with a good sound profile and solid battery life.

• Weight: 3.7g per earbud (35.4gg with charging case)
• Battery life: 8 hours (Up to 32 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: No
• Noise cancellation: No

Available at Amazon

Proper noise-cancelling tech for under £60? It sounds impossible but the HiTune X6 Pro buds deliver. While the ANC here isn't on the same level as the others with this feature on our list (if you've got the extra cash, we'd suggest going for the 1MORE or Nothing buds), they are more than half the price of some rivals and won't disappoint if you need to cancel out the drone of a train or a fan. Where they struggle is with inconsistent noise, and we've found they're not good with traffic or wind noise, and the ANC can leave you with a pressurised sensation in your ears.

It's easy to switch off the ANC when you don't need it, though, and it's still impressive that this feature is present on such affordable buds. We've talked a bit about some "no-frills" earphones on this list, and these are more of a "one-frill" option. While they include noise cancelling, there's not much else when it comes to special features. They come with decent battery life, adequate sound quality and a good fit that's comfortable to wear for a long time. We don't love the plasticky look of the buds but the pocket-friendly case is great and this is still the best budget noise-cancelling pick you'll find.

• Weight: 5.2g per earbud (50g with charging case)
• Battery life: 6 hours (Up to 26 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: No
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Amazon

The real appeal of Amazon's buds is the built-in hands-free Alexa support via the "Alexa" wake word. This makes it a lot like having an Echo speaker in your pocket, and if you already use Alexa for reminders, alarms, weather forecasts and controlling your smart home devices, these will be essential. You don't have to tap a separate button, you just say "Alexa, remind me to buy milk" and you'll get the nudge you're after. The support extends to streaming music via the Alexa app or Audible books and includes smart integrations, like being able to "send" what you're listening to on an Echo speaker to the buds.

They have a clear, detailed sound and powerful bass, and include both active noise cancellation (for when you want to focus and cut out distractions) and a "passthrough" mode (for when you need to be aware of the world around you). While the price undercuts several flagship buds from big brands like Apple, Sony and Sennheiser, the battery life is disappointing. Sometimes, the Echo Buds are available at a big discount (for example on Prime Day), but if they're not on offer and the seamless Alexa support isn't a must-have for you, we'd go with one of our other recommendations at a lower cost.

• Weight: 5.7g per earbud (55.8g with charging case)
• Battery life: 5 hours (Up to 15 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: Available with either a wired or wireless charging case
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Nothing

Nothing is known for cooking up a lot of hype around its new launches. It has made no exception with the release of the Ear (stick), debuting the buds on the runway at London Fashion Week. The quirk here is that they come in a pocketable cylindrical case, which has a super-satisfying mechanism to swipe it open and closed, revealing the buds nestled within. Unlike Nothing’s existing earphones, they’re a more open (“half-in ear”) design that’s out to challenge Apple’s OG AirPods. They do a great job of providing a real rival for Android owners, especially if you’ve got the Nothing phone (1). Some people love this fit and hate the feel of silicone ear tips. If that sounds like you, these are ideal. If we’re honest, we’re not the biggest fans of the “half dangling out your ear” style, but as much as we tried we couldn’t get these to fall out, and that’s saying something.

Of course, due to the open approach, there’s no noise-cancelling at all. But there is the benefit of more external awareness. It’s a trade-off, and one that some shoppers will be happy to make. The design of the buds themselves is a lot like if the existing Nothing ear (1) ditched the tips on the end but otherwise looked the same, and we do love the distinctive semi-transparent look. They deliver a fun and energetic sound that has worked well for all our recent listening on Spotify, whether that’s the new Taylor Swift album, some relaxing freeform lofi beats or our podcast queue. We like the pressure-sensitive controls too, although we did miss the swipe for volume control present on Nothing’s other pair. Overall, these are an expressive and delightful pair of in-ears that have a unique look, even if we’re constantly worried they’re going to drop out of our ears.

• Weight: 4.4g per earbud (55.1 with charging case)
• Battery life: 7 hours (up to 29 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: No
• Noise cancellation: No

Available at Amazon and Cambridge Audio

Not fussed about noise cancellation and just want excellent sound at a sensible price? These earplug-like buds from Cambridge Audio are well worth considering. They deliver a clear, balanced and detailed quality that lives up to the British brand's mission statement to "save the world from shit sound".

At 4.6g per bud, they're among the most lightweight options on our list and have a tiny pocketable charging case, too. We found them comfortable to wear, but the design won't suit everyone. Those with smaller ears may find the sharp edges irritating.

They come with a wide range of ear tips including silicone and memory foam. Once we found the right ones, the seal was impressive enough that we didn't miss the noise cancelling functionality. They're also sweat-resistant and have extensive battery life. The handy companion app enables EQ tweaks and precise battery monitoring. We'd recommend these for music lovers looking for a discreet and basic option, but we found the call quality a bit hit-and-miss.

• Weight: 4.6g per earbud (46.2g with charging case)
• Battery life: 9 hours (Up to 45 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: No
• Noise cancellation: No

Available at Amazon, John Lewis, Argos and Currys

Sony is well-known for its audio prowess, and while its XM4s remain some of our favourite wireless earbuds if you've got around £200 to spend, the LinkBuds S buds give you a very similar design at a much more appealing price point. Sony describes them as the "world's smallest and lightest noise cancelling Hi-Res truly wireless headphones" – and while the weight claim is up for debate (the 1MORE Mini's on our list are technically lighter) there's no doubt that the LinkBuds S are a compact package, ditching the AirPods stem design in favour of an ergonomic shape that's comfortable to wear but closer in looks to the Amazon Echo Buds and the UGreen HiTune X6 Pros elsewhere in this roundup.

At £139, they're one of the more expensive AirPods rivals on our list – priced between the AirPods 3 and AirPods Pro models and costing a little bit more than our top pick. But you get a lot for the money – including active noise cancellation that effectively blocks out noises during commutes and office working, plus adaptive sound levels that adjust to your surroundings. You can also set them to recognise locations you visit – so your settings will be different depending on whether you're at work or your local coffee shop.

If you need to chat with a friend or co-worker, we love that the buds automatically pause your music when they detect you speaking, then start playing again after your conversation ends. And just like the AirPods, you can pop these in your ears for gym sessions thanks to the IPX4 resistance rating that protects them against water splashes and sweat, too.

• Weight: 4.8 g per bud (44.6 g with charging case)
• Battery life: Up to 6 hours (up to 20 hours with charging case)
• Voice control: Alexa, Google Assistant
• Wireless charging: No
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Amazon and JBL

These are some pretty unusual earbuds. They offer the ability to wear them two ways, with either an open or a closed design. If you like the idea of the awareness afforded to you by an open earbud design like that on the original AirPods or on the newest Nothing buds above, but you’d also like the option of noise-cancelling without having to buy a separate pair, these JBLs are worth a look. When you don’t want a seal in your ear, you can fully remove the ear tips on these. But when you do, just add them back on – once that’s done, you’ll get the added benefit of some pretty decent active noise-cancelling too.

We’re fans of the diminutive charging case for these earbuds, it’s a proper pocket option. We also tried the “Ghost Edition”, which comes in a cool semi-transparent design, making them a rival to the options from Nothing. The sound out of these is decent – it’s heavy on the bass and punchy overall, although you’ll get a richer quality out of some of the models here that cost a bit more, and the audio performance is affected by using them without the sealing ear tips. The transforming design is the big selling point, though, and that makes them a good alternative to both the AirPods and AirPods Pro. They’re earbuds that work as well for when you need to hear your surroundings as they do for when you need a bit of peace. They’re also budget-friendly with a sub-£90 price tag.

• Weight: 9.6g per earbud (57.8g with charging case)
• Battery life: 6 hours (up to 32 with the charging case)
• Voice control: Google Assistant and Siri
• Wireless charging: No
• Noise cancellation: Yes

Available at Amazon, Very and Huawei

So you want the look and feel of AirPods Pro without having the identical white stem design that everyone else has? We get it, and we’re here to recommend Huawei’s Freebuds Pro 2 as serious rivals to the Apple model. The case is about the same size, the buds have a similar look and feel (complete with satisfying clicky controls on the stem) and they deliver an incredible premium sound, with Huawei entrusting French audio firm Devialet to tune the audio. The sound is dynamic and warm, especially for pop music, and they’ve got impressive ANC specs with three options of noise-cancelling.

We don’t love the software experience within the clunky Huawei AI Life app, but that’s one of the only downsides when it comes to these excellent buds. The new silver blue colour is a bit too glossy for our liking, but you can still get these in a shiny white or grey colour, and that’s more options than Apple gives you with any of its AirPods. Overall, these come in at an affordable price for the superb sound you get, and we reckon they’re a worthy challenger to the flagship AirPods, which is a considerable achievement.

• Weight: 6.1g per bud (58g with charging case)
• Battery Life: 4 hours (up to 18 hours with charging case)
• Charging: Wireless charging case and USB-C
• Colour: White, Silver Blue and Silver Frost (Grey)
• Voice Control: Google Assistant and Siri

Available at Amazon, Very, Harman and JBL

Latency is the all-important spec that every gamer cares about, and nobody wants a lag between what’s happening in the game and what you’re hearing – the milliseconds all matter. All earbuds try to have as low latency as possible, but JBL has taken things a step further with these gaming-focused buds. They come with a tiny dongle in the case to create a 2.4GHz connection with your device, giving you less than 50-millisecond latency. This makes them ideal for use with the PlayStation 5 and the Nintendo Switch, and we found them perfect for our adventures around Hyrule in Breath of the Wild.

They’re also great for connecting to your iPad or any other USB-C device for a quick connection via the dongle if you don’t want to deal with the fuss of Bluetooth pairing. Plus, low latency matters for movies too. Using them as your daily earbuds and don’t want to use the dongle? You don’t have to, they also pair like any other earbuds right to your phone. They’ve got six microphones for enhanced call quality, an eight-hour battery life, and great ANC. Overall, they’re an ideal versatile package for gamers who don’t want to lug a clunky headset or an easily-tangled pair of wired buds around with them.

• Weight: 11g per bud (64.4g with charging case)
• Battery Life: 5 hours (up to 21 hours with case)
• Charging: USB-C
• Colour: Black
• Voice control: No

Available at Amazon, Samsung, Argos, Very and John Lewis

While the AirPods are best for Apple fans, we’d recommend checking out the Galaxy Buds 2 for anyone using an Android phone (particularly a Samsung model). They look largely the same as the other Galaxy buds in the family, though they are the smallest and lightest at 5g per bud. But it’s the features here that are worth your attention, with a long-lasting battery, splash-resistance, and adjustable noise-cancellation that gives you three choices to block out distractions.

Audiophiles have rated Samsung’s earphones ever since it acquired Harman, and these are no exception. They’re well-tuned for sound quality, and they deliver capable noise-cancellation for the price. They play especially well with Samsung phones and the brand’s ecosystem, offering head-tracking spatial audio (like you find in the AirPods Pro) and 24-bit hi-fi audio from compatible handsets. There are four colour options (graphite, white, olive or lavender) and three tip sizes, and while we think they are best suited to Samsung devices, Bluetooth allows you to link up with any device.

• Weight: 5g per bud (51.2g with charging case)
• Battery Life: 5 hours (up to 25 hours with charging case)
• Charging: Wireless charging case and USB-C
• Colour: Black, Graphite (Grey), White, Lavender and Olive
• Voice Control: Google Assistant and Siri