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I was fumbling around the “kitchen” before my guests “dropped” who I was having over for “dinks” (no dinner), and I wondered whether the best budget pickleball paddle would outcompete any any of my $100+ paddles.
It’s not a great pun, but my goal has always been to find the best budget paddle in the world.
I believe I may have accomplished that task. As you can see below, many of my paddles are cheap, affordable paddles, clearly not the most expensive paddle in the world.
When I look for a value paddle, I am looking for the quality of a $200 paddle (such as my Holbrook Aero or Volair Mach 2 Forza) at under $50, so let’s review the list.
1. Best Overall Budget Pickleball Paddle
The best overall budget paddle is a new 2025 entrant with crazy T700 carbon fiber and a 20mm thickness, but it’s seriously an insane deal. It’s the Doctor pickleball surgical control paddle, and I liked the paddle so much that I wrote an entire deep dive review.
Still Undefeated
You may not believe this, but I recently played against my friend who is probably in the 4.0-4.5 DUPR range. I used the Doctor pickleball paddle and defeated him in the first game. When I switched to other top budget paddles below (the PBVMUTG paddle and the Fanovae paddle) I lost the next games to help this paddle claim the top budget paddle position.
Here’s the side view of the paddle showing the 20mm thickness, proving better control.
Even more impressive, check this out when I played 4 games with 4 different paddles.
- Game 1: I started with a $10 pickleball paddle and lost the game 11-6.
- Game 2: After a solid loss, I played with around an $80 carbon fiber weave pickleball paddle and barely won the second game 12-10.
- Game 3: I played with my #1 favorite pickleball paddle, the Joola Ben Johns Hyperion CFS (Price: $150-$200 per my full review), and won the game 11-8.
- Game 4: I decided to play with this Doctor Surgical Control pickleball paddle, and had my best game yet. I won 11-3, In the game, I felt that I had such control of all of my shots. The grit on the paddle grips the ball, and the 20mm paddle thickness gives ample control to get your shots where you need them to fall.
One thing to consider is that some brands choose to spend more to get a more premium paddle, and forego the expensive cost of USAP approval. This is what Doctor Pickleball did, but Dinks USA stated that USAP approval is not necessary for a majority of pickleball players because that approval is only necessary for sanctioned tournaments.
I checked the pricing yesterday, and it was $69.99 for this paddle, and apparently recently the brand priced it on sale at $49.99. Honestly, it may be hard to believe how this brand can make money, selling this paddle for under $50.
Finally, I absolutely love the simple design of this paddle. It is also a fun brand name with Doctor Pickleball and the paddle provides surgical control.
Let’s chat about the paddle in the second position as I have enjoyed this paddle as well.
2. Runner-Up Overall Budget Pickleball Paddle
It took me a while to find the PBVMURTG carbon fiber paddle, but the brand has an odd name, but it’s seriously a fun paddle.
I played with a $200 paddle recently against my friend who is probably in the 4.0 DUPR range. He beat me 3 games in a row, but then I switched to this PBVMURTG pickleball paddle in game 4, and won the game 11-3. I could not believe it.
What’s best is that the PBVMURTG paddle is currently under $50 on Amazon, but what’s amazing is that it is a carbon fiber paddle. My guess is that this deal won’t last forever as my previous favorite Anything Sports Carbon Fiber paddle was discontinued, which was unfortunate. That said, I played with this paddle side by side with my previous favorite, and I liked this pickleball racket more.
I mean, I liked this paddle so much that I wrote an entire review article covering my experience.
Here’s the design of the PBVMURTG pickleball paddle.
Finally, the PBVMURTG paddle looks very similar to the JoJoLemon pickleball paddle that is often around double the price of this paddle.
3. Runner-up Overall Budget Pickleball Racket (Under $50)
This is a 10mm thickness racket, so it’s a bit thinner than what I would go with as a beginner. That said, the grip size is 5 inches, and this racket is made of polypropylene, which has the same feel as carbon fiber. which helps grip the ball, providing more control.
The Franklin paddle is also 8 ounces, which I find a fine weight for beginners.
If you like paddle design, I appreciate how this paddle has an image of the sweet spot, making it potentially easier to understand where you need to hit the ball.
Also, I have these 3 pickleball paddles that I see many people playing with: Head Extreme Elite, Onyx Z5 or Hello Friday paddle. I prefer this Franklin pickleball paddle to all 3 of those more expensive options.
4. Best Very Cheap Pickleball Paddle (Under or around $10)
The VoicePTT pickleball paddle set is another paddle that was incredible difficult to find as I do not believe this brand pumps out ads, making these paddles potentially more difficult to find in Amazon search.
The VOICEPTT Pickleball Paddle is one of the least expensive pickleball paddles that I could find, which means that you can test out pickleball at a low price. In fact, I got this paddle for around $10 for a set of 2 pickleball paddles. Here’s a picture of the paddles.
I added the link below, but please note that these deals go in and out, so I added a link to a search that can find you a paddle under $15.
In addition, I appreciate that this pickleball paddle maintains a 4.4 rating based on over 21 reviews
I like how this paddle is still similar to paddles in the $10-$25 range but doesn’t seem to be marketed as heavily as other paddles. For example, I wrote a MTEN pickleball paddles review article covering how those paddles arep priced much better even though these feel almost exactly the same.
If this is not available anymore, check out this search, which provides paddles under $15 that should have higher ratings.
Did you know I purchased two different sets of paddles at various prices, to find out that I think the paddles were manufactured from the same company?
This may happen more often on Amazon paddles sent directly from abroad.
5. Best Budget Racket Under $25
The Coastal Sports paddle is currently my top pick for the under $25 option. It carries a 4.8 rating on Amazon, based on over 100 reviews.
The paddle boasts a graphite face (which I appreciate more than Fiberglass) and a honeycomb polypropylene core. Plus, the design is sporty, yet simple.
Please note that this pickleball paddle often has a 5% coupon via Amazon that drives the price down even lower.
6. Best Discounted Code Pickleball Paddle
I like that JustPaddles offers a 10% discount code in addition to allowing extra savings on paddles.
That said, JustPaddles doesn’t have many budget paddles available. My favorite cheap paddle that you can get an additional discount on is the Gamma Fusion Power Middleweight Composite Pickleball Paddle.
Here are the specifications:
- Paddle Weight: 8.0 oz
- Paddle Face Material: Textured Composite (Fiberglass)
- Paddle Core Material: Polypropylene Honeycomb Core
- Paddle Shape: Wide Body
- Core Thickness: 13 mm
- Paddle Length: 15 5/8”
- Paddle Width: 8 1/4”
- Grip Size: Thin – 4 1/8”
- Handle Length: Standard – 5″
- Colorway: Pink | Black | Blue/Green
I like that this paddle provides a lot of power while maximizing the sweet spot. With an 8 1/4″ width, this paddle has a massive sweet spot allowing you to hit the pickleball ball from many different angles.
With the code: bepickleballer, this great paddle goes down to $44.99, which includes free shipping. I also appreciate that JustPaddles offers free shipping and a great return policy.
7. Honorable Mention Value Pickleball Paddle
This would probably be my favorite budget pickleball paddle if it were constantly available on Amazon. Unfortunately, it continues to be unavailable, so I moved it to the second position.
I love the carbon fiber 20mm or 14mm as a beginner pickleball paddle. I have the 14mm, but I would do a 16mm if you are a beginner.
At the time of this writing, the Anything Sports Carbon Fiber paddle is under $30 on Amazon. Now, on Amazon, this paddle gets a solid 4.4, but I was curious why it would get anything less than a 5.0.
While the paddle height and width are not as large as my other paddles, I appreciate that you get to test out a carbon fiber face at a fraction of the price. The paddle plays well, and even the reviews mention that this paddle used to be in the $70 range, so around $30 is a huge improvement.
Two of the most negative reviews mention the grip, which I will give to them. I wouldn’t purchase this paddle for the grip, but I value the face of the paddle over the grip, and it plays so nicely for the low price.
Conclusion
Pickleball paddles can be very expensive, but not all great paddles are.
You are looking for the best budget pickleball paddle that can provide any attributes including power, control, and spin. Hopefully one of these value pickleball paddles will be affordable for your budget, and still not play like a cheap paddle.