If you're searching for the best budget Bluetooth speaker, then you've come to the right place.
Bluetooth speakers are incredibly handy if you want to play music, podcasts, or any kind of audio from your phone, but want to listen out loud rather than through a set of your best budget wireless headphones or best bone conduction headphones, for instance, so you can share your listening experience with friends and family.
Where they really stand out from the crowd, though, is that they tend to be fairly portable. This means they're ideal for travelling, as you should easily be able to fit one inside a backpack so you can take your music with you wherever you go.
That being said, buying a good-quality Bluetooth speaker doesn't mean you have to break the bank. All of the products on our list are under $100 but still offer some amazing features, including voice recognition and even water resistance.
Taking this into consideration, we've selected what we think are the best budget Bluetooth speakers based on specs, general reviews and other features we think make them worth considering.
So, let's take a look...
Best budget Bluetooth speaker
Best budget Bluetooth speaker - EarFun UBOOM
When it comes to sharing your music, the EarFun's UBOOM Bluetooth speaker looks to be well worth considering as it features a 24W 360-degree surround sound system with dual stereo drivers and advanced DSP chips to give a higher processing power and improved sound across every direction.
It also comes with two different play modes: one for indoors and one for outdoors. The indoor option amplifies the speaker's bass to enhance the low frequencies, while the outdoor one simply ups the volume to avoid it being drowned out by your surroundings.
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If you really want to improve the volume, you can double up and buy two of these speakers. This works thanks to the fact that TWS technology lets you pair two UBOOM speakers to a single device.
It comes with a built-in high-sensitivity condenser mic too, so you can take calls and utilise voice assistants, such as Siri and Google Voice Assistant.
Another bonus with this speaker is that it's IPX7 waterproof and dustproof. Given its small size and 16-hour battery life, this could be really helpful if you want to take it with you to take it camping or use it around a pool.
Finally, it charges using a standard USB-C charging cable and it also has a 3.5mm aux input jack so you can connect non-Bluetooth compatible devices to it if you need to.
Best budget Bluetooth speaker for battery life - Soundcore 3
With most Bluetooth speakers, battery life is extremely important. Presumably, one of the main reasons you might want this type of speaker in the first place is so you don't have to plug it in and use it from almost anywhere.
The Soundcore 3 16W speaker seems to be well worth considering for this. It can offer you a playtime of 24 hours on a single charge, allowing you to play music for a party or podcasts out loud all day long.
Speaking of parties, if you fancy yourself as a DJ, then Soundcore's PartyCast technology might be for you as it lets you link over 100 different compatible speakers via a single device to sync up your music to really up the volume.
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It also features BassUp technology, which works alongside dual passive radiators to ensure that, even at low volumes, you can really feel the lower frequencies.
Making use of pure titanium drivers instead of plastic ones also brings an extra sense of quality to the speaker as well, meaning it should last a pretty long time before you need to replace it.
And, being both portable and waterproof, you can enjoy any gathering without having to worry about any drink mishaps damaging your speaker.
Best portable budget Bluetooth speaker - JBL Clip 3
Portability can be one of the most important factors when deciding on which Bluetooth speaker to buy.
And the JBL Clip 3, as you can probably tell from the name, can literally be clipped onto your backpack or belt loop so you can listen to music on the go.
It has an integrated carabiner to allow you to do this, which we feel would come in particularly handy if you wanted to listen to some music or a podcast whilst hiking.
Another feature that makes it an excellent choice for taking outdoors with you is that it's IPX7 waterproof. You don't have to worry about it getting rained on...in fact, you can even submerge it in water and it still shouldn't damage it.
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JBL also boasts it's made from a durable fabric material with a rugged rubber housing to protect it from any accidental drops.
Moreover, it comes with a built-in 1000mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery that allows up to 10 hours of continuous playing time.
This is pretty decent for such a small device and should again come in handy if you're camping or hiking and aren't going to be near a power source for a while.
It also has a noise and echo-cancelling speakerphone, meaning you can even take phone calls with it whilst on the move as the speakerphone is only a touch of a button away.
A little added bonus is that the speaker comes in a wide range of different colours, too, so you can choose your favourite to suit your own personal style.
Best budget Bluetooth speaker for bass - DOSS SoundBox
This Bluetooth speaker from DOSS should give you great-quality, full-bodied stereo sound.
It delivers its 12W audio using dual full-range drivers and a passive radiator, which should really enhance the bass for a better, more immersive listening experience in the lower frequencies.
It also boasts less than 1% harmonic distortion to enhance the clarity of your music and allows for minimal interference which, in our opinion, means you could even consider it one of the best wireless speakers as well.
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Although bigger than some of the other products on this list, it should still be small enough to take with you to other people's houses or on holiday so you can listen to music wherever you go.
Its 20-hour playtime should also mean you won't have to worry about not being able to charge either. It shouldn't take long to charge back up as well, with DOSS boasting around 3 or 4 hours until it's ready to use again.
The speaker even has a built-in microphone, so you can make or take calls with it. Doing so will allow you to hear the person you're talking to better, especially if your phone's audio is particularly quiet.
It has a sensitive, laser-carved touch control system too to make changing track or the volume even easy. This is very useful if your phone is charging and out of reach, and you need to control the music from the speaker instead.
Best smart budget Bluetooth speaker - Amazon Echo Dot (5th gen)
Amazon's very own Echo Dot 5th generation looks as though it's come a long way since the 1st and 2nd Dot speakers as Amazon describe the device as delivering the best Echo Dot sound yet through its 1.73” front-firing speaker
Arguably the main benefit of this speaker though is it comes with Alexa built-in.
Having Alexa can be especially convenient if your phone is connected to it via Bluetooth but you don't have your device near you to change a song or adjust the volume.
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The speaker itself is a sleek-looking device whose LED display shows useful information, such as the time, weather and song titles.
It can also be paired with compatible light bulbs and thermostats so you can control them via Alexa as well, plus it has a motion detector allowing it to turn on music or lights when you walk into a room.
Moreover, you can even pair it with other Echo-compatible devices, such as Fire TV to enhance the sound quality, or a Wi-Fi router to extend your Wi-Fi coverage.
Frequently Asked Questions
You're bound to have some questions about the best budget Bluetooth speaker, so we've tried to help you out by answering some of the most frequently asked questions below.
Do higher watts mean better sound?
Yes, a speaker with higher watts will tend to produce a louder and cleaner sound. Some of the best Bluetooth speakers are over 100 watts, but these tend to be quite expensive.
However, the relationship between watts and power isn't linear and significant changes in watts tend to be required to make any noticeable difference in sound quality and power.
Therefore, you shouldn't need to splash out on a speaker to get some decent sound. We'd say anything between 10 and 30 watts should suffice for a home Bluetooth speaker.
Are budget speakers any good?
Budget speakers can sometimes lack the power and sound quality more expensive speakers provide; however, we feel our list showcases some great inexpensive options that don't compromise too much in these areas.
In fact, some budget products even come with the same features as more premium devices. For instance, we mention several water-resistance speakers in our list which tend to be more common among some of the more expensive picks.
Ultimately, we feel it's well worth considering budget speakers as, once you dive into the specs, you may notice they're better quality than you might think.
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