Finding the Best Budget Tablets Under $200

Welcome to our monthly updated guide to the best cheap tablets under $200 based on professional reviews, sales, build quality, consumer feedback and real-world performance.

For a couple hundred dollars your options in the tablet market are aplenty. Although you won’t be able to crack an iPad, there are plenty of brilliant Android tablets stepping up to battle it out that threaten to usurp Apple’s tablet dominance. Android has dominated the budget tablet world and taken Apple head-on with the Android operating system. There are many budget tablets available on the market which provide an excellent tablet experience for half the price of Apple’s latest premiums and by many accounts an experience that’s neck and neck. For those on an ultra-tight budget, our guide to cheap tablets under $100 may help as well or for those with some changes to spare our guide to cheap tablets under $300 which fall part of our cheap tablet guides. Our best 10-inch tablets guide as also has a few great budget options to consider, or, if you are looking for a child friend budget tablet, our guide to the best kids tablets.

These high-tech Android devices thrive as the dominant tablet OS by market share and Google’s continually updated Android OS is sure not to disappoint. Although tablets have their place, if you are on the market for a mobile PC our best unlocked cheap smartphones guide over at SmartphoneNinja may offer you ideas on a budget smartphone that could eliminate the need for a new tablet entirely so be sure to keep all of your options open.

Tablet Buying Guide

Before you get started on your journey be sure to check out our Tablet Buying Guide for a rundown on tablet basics if you’d like to know a bit more of the ins and outs of what makes a tablet tick and don’t like being confused by a lot of technical jargon the whole time. We highly recommend it.
Top Picks >> Runners Up >> Honorable Mentions >>

Best Tablets Under $200 – Top Pick

The following tablets are our top picks featuring many discounted and extreme value for money tablets hand selected by our team of experts.

Amazon Fire HD 8 – 32 GB (2017)

Amazon’s 2017 edition of the Fire HD 8 has earned itself a top spot in the bestsellers list on Amazon due to its great value and overall performance. This budget tablet features an 8-inch, 1280 x 800 LCD IPS screen, which many users found to be more than sufficient. However, the folks over at Trusted Reviews have found that the screen reflects quite a bit of ambient light, which could be a little annoying and inconvenient at times. Little complaints were directed towards its performance, with users finding that the 1.3Ghz quad-processor ensures a rather responsive tablet. The battery life is around 12 hours for most and it features Amazon’s super helpful and super intuitive AI, Alexa. FireOS is based on Android, but some found that it does take some time to get used to it. The Amazon Appstore is packed with apps, however, some of the best Android apps, such as the Google suite of apps, are absent, which may be disappointing for some. The Fire HD 8 also comes with useful parental control abilities and a rather impressive battery life of around 12-hours. The two stereo speakers have been commended by many, finding that they are loud and clear enough when used for both movies and music. The RAM is still the same as the previous version at 1.5GB, and as mentioned above, it allows for reasonable performance and makes multitasking fairly easy. The Fire HD 8 remains a popular budget tablet amongst Amazon customers, and thanks to its great price and decent performance, it will surely remain one of the top 2017 budget tablets.

Best Tablets For Kids Under $200 – Top Pick

Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Edition – 32 GB

The Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Edition, much like the The Amazon Fire HD 7 Kids Edition, has been a popular choice for parents looking for maximum control over their children’s movements. Parents are able to set bedtime curfews and are able to control what, when and how long kids watch or play on the tablet. FreeTime Unlimited (which is free for the first year) allows kids to browse through kid’s safe content, and even provides a safer overall internet browsing experience by using Common Sense Media’s curated websites, videos and YouTube videos. Amazon’s Fire Kids tablets really do seem to attempt to make a child friendly experience. The tablet itself is said to be durable, coming with a child protective casing to protect against drops. The screen resolution of 1280 x 800 (189 ppi) received some mixed reviews – some thought that it was slightly too pixelated, while others were happy with it. Most did find that the IPS display did offer some nice viewing angles. Running a Quad-core 1.3GHz, the tablet is not exactly lightning quick, but allows for basic multitasking. The 32GB memory is plenty for children, but it is expandable up to 256GB. The cameras are both rather poor according to users. The rear camera is a 2MP camera, while the front a VGA. Some users directed disappointment towards the fact that videos cannot downloaded and watched on their children’s accounts when off of WiFi, meaning long distance trips are a nightmare without this much needed distraction. Amazon do however give instructions here on how to download movies on the tablet. The battery life of around 12 hours is solid for kids, and the dual speakers received no criticism. The tablet itself is black, while the kid-proof case comes in 3 different colors: blue, pink or yellow. The Fire HD 8 Kids Edition is a super child friendly tablet that offers parents great control over the children’s tablet time.

Best Tablets Under $200 – Runners-Up

Lenovo Tab 4

The 2017 Lenovo Tab 4 is a well affordable tablet that has received some already great reviews. That 8-inch tablet is able to deliver some reasonably snappy performances, even though it only has a Snapdragon 425 under its bonnet. The 2GB of RAM allows for smooth multitasking, and with its large 4850mAh battery, it certainly carries enough juice to be used for most of the day. The screen may only be 1280×800, but the HD LCD IPS screen has received a fair amount of praise from users, who thought it is clear and crisp. Although some reviewers did suggest that it is prone to glare. It comes with Android 7.1 Nougat, and Lenovo have tried to keep it to a mostly stock Android experience, with very little bloatware included on the device. THe 16GB of onboard storage is pretty slim, because the OS system files do take up just under half of the space, but you can easily expand that space with a microSD card, allowing one to add an additional 256GB of storage. The cameras are nothing to write home about. The rear camera is 5MP and front 2MP. The design did not receive much criticism, but some were fairly confused by the power button located in the middle of the side of the tablet, finding that the placement was rather inconvenient. The dual front facing speakers are quite soft according to some reviewers, wishing that it could be a tad louder. Lastly, some reviewers described the screen as being a fingerprint magnet, so be prepared for a lot of smudges.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8-Inch

Samsung is not known for budget tablets, but with the Galaxy Tab A, they have struck a good balance between low price and modest specs. At 0.29 inches thick and with a 0.69-pound weight, the design is slim, light and trendy. Its smooth back panel is comfortable to grip but the plastic gives it a cheap feel. More often than not, budget tablets suffer from poor display quality, and the Tab A is no exception. With a below average 1024 x 768 resolution (160 ppi pixel density) screen, the display is far from decent, offering poor picture quality, limited viewing angles and noticeably pixelated text. The single speaker provides lackluster audio meaning overall, multimedia functionality is not this device’s strong point. The Tab A runs Android v5.0 Lollipop featuring the user-friendly Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. Microsoft Office apps come pre-loaded, and multi-window function works well for basic multitasking with apps that support it. Performance-wise, the device packs a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon CPU and 1.5GB of RAM, which enable it to deal effectively with common tasks and moderately demanding games. Also on-board is 16GB storage, expandable up to 128GB with microSD cards. With moderate to heavy use, the Tab A’s battery will give you up to 13 hours of battery life, which is remarkable.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-T280 7-inch

The 2016 Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-T280 is a solid budget tablet that is able to push a decent performance when it comes to doing the basics such as photo viewing or just for basic navigation around the device. However, it will struggle a tad when you throw more resource intensive tasks at it. It has a quad-core, 1.3 GHz Spreadtrum SC8830 processor, which is entry level, along with a mere 1.5 GHz of RAM. The 7-inch screen has a resolution of 1280×800 and one user reported that it has very little glare, and is well suitable as an e-reader. It runs Android 5.1 and comes with only 8GB of storage. The microSD slot allows you to expand the memory further, so in the case that you find yourself in short supply (which you almost certainly will due to Android Lollipop taking up a fair amount of space), you can always expand the storage space. Some users thought that the screen was not as sensitive as they would have liked, suggesting that the response is rather average. It has both a rear and front camera, with the rear being 5MP and the front a 2MP. Both cameras record videos in 720p at 30fps. It takes around 4 hours to achieve full charge, while maintaining a battery life of around 11 hours, which is impressive.

ASUS ZenPad Z300M-A2-GR 10.1

The Asus ZenPad 10 is a budget competitor to another bestselling large screen tablet, the Lenovo Tab 2 A10. Both of these tablets are equally capable and worth their respective prices, but they have some distinct advantages over one another. With an elegant faux leather textured back, polished metallic band along the edge, the slimmer ZenPad 10 looks and feels more luxurious than the Tab 2 A10. Both the tablets have front-facing speakers but the A10 is equipped with an additional rear-facing sound bar enhanced with Dolby Atmos Audio technology for a surround sound effect. While this may encourage media users to lean towards the A10, the Zenpad’s speakers sound less distorted at higher volumes. The Zenpad’s 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 IPS display is vibrant, adequately sharp and sufficiently bright. Most users won’t notice any difference between this screen and the Tab 2 A10’s Full-HD panel. Intended for basic purposes, the tablet is equipped with a 1.3 GHz MediaTek MT8163 Quad-Core processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB flash storage which can be expanded up to 128GB via its microSD slot. It will play high definition videos as well as run most applications fluently, and thanks to adequate memory, switching between apps is also buttery smooth. The tablet supports many games but the latest high-end Android games may overburden the system. Like the other ASUS devices, the Zenpad 10 runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow with ZenUI overlay. The customized OS looks flashier than vanilla systems and comes with extra features and preloaded apps, but it is intuitive and responsive and won’t affect user experience. The 9 hours of battery life of the Zenpad 10 is similar to that of the Tab 2 A10, and it features the same connectivity options as the latter. If you want the extra pixels and the additional rear speaker, go for the Tab 2 A10; if not, you won’t go wrong with the better looking ZenPad 10 that ships with a newer, faster operating system.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A SM-T350 8-Inch

The Samsung Galaxy Tab A is one of the few budget Samsung devices out there, but it still retains the trendy design of their higher-end devices. It is slim and light, more than most tablets, and feels great in your hands with its rounded edges. However, the plastic frame, to which the tablet owes its light weight, feels cheap and gives in to pressure. Samsung’s TouchWiz is layered over Android Lollipop, and it is fairly user-friendly, though ultimately comes down to user preference. A lot of Office apps like Word and Excel come preinstalled, as well trial versions of Evernote, The New York Times, and more. These will definitely utilize the large 8-inch screen. It is a shame, however, that the display does not have a higher resolution, as most text appears blocky. This should not deter you, as the screen remains bright and colorful despite its low pixel density. For normal tasks, the Tab A performs well; web browsing, video streaming, and playing simple games are all a breeze. It will struggle with modern games, however, and 1.5GB of RAM is not much multitasking headroom. Lastly, rated at 4200mAh, the Tab A’s all-day battery life is more than anyone could ask for, and this can easily be stretched out to a couple of days with light use and with power-saving features turned on.

Tablets Under $200 – Honorable Mentions

Samsung Galaxy Tab 4

The Galaxy Tab 4 is the cheapest among Samsung’s latest tablet offerings. It offers a decent design and daily performance despite its small size. Affordability doesn’t have to scream cheap, and the Tab 4 is pleasing to the eye sporting Samsung’s signature plastic design which feels sturdy and is extremely thin and light compared to most competitors. It’s small enough to easily fit in your pocket, and travels well. The latest Touchwiz UI along with the latest Android KitKat 4.4.2 makes user interaction very intuitive and fluid. Hardware performance is also strong, and it can run most games and apps without hiccups though running too many apps at once is not advisable. If you are into Samsung products and looking for a small-size tablet that is half the price of the latest iPads or Android tabs, the Tab 4 is definitely worth a look.

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ASUS Zenpad S 8.0 Z580C-B1-BK

When it comes to budget tablets, few can make them like Asus. The ZenPad S8 Z580C is yet another brilliant device that pushes manufacturing cost limitations to the very limit. Get the ZenPad out of the box and you will be instantly wowed by the design. Many tablets around this price range are made of plastic but with this one, Asus employs a combination of metal and plastic for additional points in styling. It is also seriously compact, measuring only 0.27 inches thick and weighing a feathery 7 ounces. Powered up, the ZenPad S8 Z580C runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, which is overlain by an updated version of the fan-favorite ZenUI. Using the tablet for basic tasks is generally fun and intuitive, and there is a variety of software tweaks all over the interface for an even more seamless experience. Perhaps the ZenPad S8 Z580C’s strongest feature is the 2,048 x 1,536-pixel resolution LCD, which is undoubtedly the highest you can ever get on a tablet at this price range. Colors are very well balanced with beautiful saturation and sufficient vibrancy. Viewing angles are also admirably wide, and maximum brightness is sufficient for use in the bright outdoors.It is a huge shame then, that the ZenPad S8’s performance is rather underwhelming. The quad-core Intel Atom chipset is typically paired with lower resolution screens, and in this device, it often struggles to maintain frame rates at the native 2K resolution. Even more unfortunate is the toll the screen takes on the ZenPad’s battery life. Continuous video playback will only go as far as 6 hours before the battery juices out, and you will be lucky if the tablets gets you through a whole day of normal usage on a single charge

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Final Word

Although the sub-$200 market has some shining stars, things really start to get interesting when we look at the upper price tiers where premium tablets emerge. For entry level Apple tablets and additional options that pack a bit more heat be sure to checkout our guides to the best 7-inch tablets, the best 8-inch tablets and the best 10-inch tablets where you’ll find the best of the best offered in the tablet market. Although some more powerful tablets may be a lot more expensive, extremely competitive tablets such as the Nexus 7 offer world class tablet experiences at less than $250, including the latest Android operating systems and much more. On the other side of the coin, Apple iPad Mini’s start at $299 for the 2012 version and the latest iPad mini can be had for $400.