What's the best Bluetooth speaker under $100? It's a question we get asked a lot, as buyers want quality on the go without breaking the bank, but it's tricky knowing which are worth your time when there a lot of bargain basements from unknown brands that can leave you feeling short-changed.
All said, part of the point of a great Bluetooth speaker, aside from being durable, hardy and portable, is that it can fill practically any space (Carnegie Hall and the Michigan Stadium aside) without leaving you penniless. Price and practicality are very much watchwords here, so nothing we've listed below will set you back more than a handful of dollars.
Listed are our favorite budget Bluetooth speakers, all under $100 and all put through their paces across a spectrum of use cases, locations and purposes to ensure you're getting a model that doesn't suffer from cheap sound or cheap build but which instead provides you will plenty of cheap thrills.
Find out more about our testing process here, or carry on scrolling to see the best Bluetooth speakers under $100 that we've tested.
Recent updates
30th September 2024: We've replaced the Wonderboom 3 with the JBL Go 4 as our best waterproof speaker following a five-star review for the latter.
The quick list
The Flip 5 remains an outstanding Bluetooth speaker at this level, with a compact, durable and long-lasting design working alongside a powerful sonic performance.
It’s not just the price tag that’s small on this palm-sized wonder, but the sound it makes is bigger and more capable than it has any right to be.
Not keen on spending a fortune? The diminutive HomePod Mini will give you streaming smarts and sophisticated sound without costing you an arm and a leg.
Waterproof, world-ready and wonderful to listen to, the Go 4 is yet another winner from JBL.
A great-sounding speaker that can also answer questions and control your smart home kit with its voice-controlled AI assistant.
I'm a staff writer who has listened to and reviewed dozens of products during my time at What Hi-Fi?. Aside from trying out the heavyweight hi-fi we permanently have populating our testing rooms, I've spent hours and hours with some of the best affordable and portable Bluetooth speakers you can get hold of. For these units, we're looking at value for money above most else, and while some sacrifices are inevitable, we've sought out models that still have key areas of performance and functionality covered across the board. I've had hands-on experience chatting with every entry on the list below, probing and pushing the limits of their sonic and capabilities, durability and features to ensure you're getting a great buy.
Best bluetooth speaker overall
Yes, it's still going strong. Despite being released nearly five years ago, the Flip 5 is still around, and because of its advancing years, it's only getting cheaper.
It's also still great. If all you need is a portable speaker that sounds great for around $100, you’ll be hard-pressed to better the Flip 5. JBL’s old-timer sounds excellent for the price and is more than rugged enough to cope with a night on the town or a day at the pool.
Ok, so the new Flip 6 has arrived to steal some of the Flip 5's thunder, but the fifth-gen model shows its worth by edging in under the $100 mark, with frequent deals often taking this figure even lower as stocks now begin to diminish. The Flip 5 is waterproof to an IPX7 rating, boasts a 12-hour battery life and has a USB-C charging port, meaning it goes from flat to fully juiced in just 2.5 hours.
It's simple and satisfying to use and scores highly for portability, with a wrist strap that slips comfortably over your hand. A PartyBoost button also helps you pair two PartyBoost-enabled speakers to create a stereo pair, or you can link over 100 PartyBoost-compatible speakers in mono.
The sound is impressively weighty and agile, with a good bass punch and a real sense of openness and texture. Assuming you don't mind the lack of an aux-in port or inbuilt microphone, you'll almost certainly be wowed by this speaker's sonic chops.
The JBL Flip 5: great after all this time.
Read our full JBL Flip 5 review
Best affordable bluetooth speaker
Tribit Audio was relatively new to the Bluetooth speaker game when it revealed the Stormbox Micro, hitting the ground almost immediately with a debut that was as satisfying as it was surprising. The big question for Tribit after the debut of the excellent Stormbox Micro was whether it could repeat the feat when it came time for the tricky second album.
Fortunately, it could. The small-form-factor sequel doesn’t have the 360 grill design of rivals like the dinky UE Wonderboom 3, but during our tests, we found it is one of the best value options on the market right now. If you don't want to spend a fortune but still need substantial sound on the go, please don't overlook the excellent Stormbox Mico 2.
Building on the success of the original Stormbox Micro and featuring a thick, durable woven finish design, the Micro 2 surpasses its older sibling with superior audio and majorly bolstered battery life. Although a speaker of such dimensions is limited in terms of bass weight, the Micro 2 does remarkably well; close your eyes while listening and you’ll picture a far larger product than the one before you.
The only issue is that the Stormbox can suffer from distortion at louder volumes, but based on our head-to-head checks, you’ll have to pay more and invest in either a JBL Flip 6 or Wonderboom 3 to get better.
Read our Tribit Audio Stormbox Micro 2 review
Best Apple Bluetooth speaker
It's close, but Apple's HomePod Mini just qualifies for this list and is the value alternative to the full-sized HomePod 2 smart speaker, although given its quality, it can be hard to see exactly how Apple got the price to drop under the $100 mark. Make no mistake: this is one of the best smart Bluetooth speakers in the business, even if it's completely designed for Apple users thanks to its limited third-party platform support.
If the HomePod 2 is too big for your living space but you still want a smart speaker to integrate into your Apple ecosystem, the Mini is your next best bet. At just 8.4cm tall and 9.8cm wide, it’s quite a bit dinkier than the similarly spherical Amazon Echo and Echo Dot models. Get Siri up and running though and you'll see just how smart and sophisticated the HomePod Mini can be.
Siri is excellent with the Mini, learning what your preferences are in a way that makes it (or her) one of the best musical companions around. After a short while, she will respond to the phrase “Hey Siri, play something I'll like” by playing tracks that you probably haven't heard before but which have been curated to fit in with your listening habits and overall tastes. It's a real trump card that Alexa can't quite match.
The HomePod Mini goes loud and proud, too. From the moment we start playing music, the Apple-made unit reveals its capacity to outperform its size and price, embarrassing most direct competition with the sophistication and maturity of its sound.
Five stars all round.
Read our full Apple HomePod Mini review
The HomePod Mini is unquestionably an attractive proposition, but hold your horses; it may not be the smart speaker for you. Great sounding as it is, the Mini has been designed specifically to work within Apple's ecosystem, which is great if you're an Apple Music subscriber but less convenient if you're an Amazon or Tidal devotee - Siri's curated playlists only really work with Apple Music, for example. If you're considering the Echo Dot (5th gen) below, that rival is a little more open in its compatibility but is still more appropriate for Amazon users and doesn't slot in particularly well with Apple's wider ecosystem and dedicated platforms.
Best waterproof Bluetooth speaker
The JBL Go 4, like a chewy chihuahua or one of Ant-Man's insect comrades, is small and cute yet remarkably tough and tenacious. Sporting the same form and dimensions as, say, a large deck of cards or your standard bar of soap, the Go 4 has been designed for ultra portability – the sort of thing you can stuff into the bottom of a gym bag or even ram inside an accommodating back pocket. If you need something that offers more wallop and musicality than your phone's measly in-built speakers, JBL's smallest portable unit is your best bet.
In a straight competition with the best that your phone can handle, and quite a few larger Bluetooth rivals, the Go 4 is sonically supreme. It doesn't have the open, mature presentation of the crowd-pleasing Tribit Stormbox Micro 2, but we're still so impressed by how the JBL's taut bass, restrained trebles and smooth mids combine to craft a marvellously coherent sonic picture. Textures are revealed with clarity and character, but there's body and power to the music to which we're treated.
You also rarely see such impressive spec sheets and feature lists. We weren't so pleased to find that the outgoing Go 3's battery life was frustratingly paltry (around five hours), but the fourth-gen sequel bumps those numbers up to seven hours as standard plus an extra two with Playtime Boost activated. Auracast lets you pair two Go 4 speakers together in stereo or hook up multiple compatible JBL units, helping to future-proof the speaker as newer JBLs will likely be compatible with the current model. You even get app support, with a five-band customisable equalizer for getting your Go 4 sounding just how you like it.
For around $50, we haven't found anything better.
Read our full JBL Go 4 review
Best smart Bluetooth speaker
Like the HomePod Mini above, the Echo Dot (5th gen) isn't a classic What Hi-Fi? Bluetooth speaker; it's not portable, for one thing, as it requires a plugged-in connection to the wall to work, and it relies on wi-fi for Alexa to work. You can (and will), however, use Bluetooth to link your iPhone to the Echo Dot, especially if you want to play music, qualifying it as a Bluetooth speaker on more than a mere technicality.
Either way, the Dot earns its place thanks to its five-star capabilities, all-round excellence and supremely attractive price tag. It may be super affordable, but nothing here feels tacky or cut-price, and whereas once Alexa was a one-note performer capable of answering basic questions, she's as filled to the brim with skills and knowledge as Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. The Dot's AI assistant is more useful than she's ever been, loaded with so many tricks, quirks and even jokes that you'll often find yourself falling speaking to Alexa as though it (or she) were a real person. It can't slot into foreign ecosystems, of course, meaning you'll be best-served by the Echo Dot if you use a healthy stable of Amazon products, services and platforms.
And boy has the audio come a long way. We haven't been sold on the sound of Amazon's early Echo models, but continual improvements within the walls of Amazon Towers have clearly been paying dividends. The super-corp's so-called “best-sounding Echo Dot yet” actually manages to live up to its billing thanks to a single 44mm front-firing speaker which sprays out a sound that feels weighty, listenable and surprisingly versatile given the size.
Read our full Amazon Echo Dot (5th Generation) review
Also consider
Note: If you're restricting your budget to $100 or under, you may also be limiting your options just a tad. The below speakers are all superb alternatives, but note that you may have to break that $100 price barrier in order to get them.
JBL Charge 5: Perhaps our favourite portable speaker of recent times, JBL's Charge 5 is still nabbing Awards thanks to its broad, open soundstage, supreme build quality and class-leading value. Prices are dropping all the time, and while it's still too costly to find a place on the main list above, the Charge 5 is ideal for anyone happy to spend a little extra to get a lot more speaker.
Beats Pill: The Beats Pill has returned, and what a pleasant surprise; it's quite good! Serving up a clear, clean sound and admirable bass reproduction, not to mention that distinctive oblong design and an outstanding IP67 rating, long-term Beats fans will be very pleased to find that the Pill has ended up ageing pretty well. Note that we tested the new Beats portable at $150, so you'll have to stretch a little beyond your budget to get one at full price.
Audio Pro Addon C3: While its initial RRP takes it beyond the realm of "budget", Audio Pro is great for frequently discounting its wireless speakers. Currently hovering around the $130-$160 mark, the C3 is a former Award-winner that combines portability, multi-room skills, and a more mature and subtle sound quality than you'd expect from your standard Bluetooth speaker.
Ultimate Ears Wonderboom 3: UE's eye-grabbing, likeable portable speaker offers a punchy, upbeat sound that has no problem filling most rooms with ease. It's not as musically refined as the JBL Flip 6, but the Wonderboom will appeal to anyone looking for a slim, portable speaker that gives your tunes some kick, especially now that its price frequently drops to around the $60-$70 mark.
How to choose the best Bluetooth speaker
When choosing a Bluetooth speaker, ask yourself what you want from it. Does the speaker need to be portable and versatile enough to use both indoors and outdoors? Or are you happy with a mains-powered speaker that can fill a big room with brilliant audio?
Sound, of course, should play a huge part in your decision, because there's absolutely no guarantee that two models of a similar price will end up sounding the same in terms of quality, audio presentation and general timbre. Some Bluetooth speakers will be peppy and exciting, while others will prioritise pulsating bass to get the party started. Most of the units on this list are pretty small, so they'll likely not be the booming floor-shakers you'd find on our list of the best Bluetooth speakers overall, say.
Size and power should be a consideration, although again, we're in the realm of the rather small with these affordable wonders. The Tribit Micro 2 is a handy little speaker to take into the shower or clip onto your rucksack during a hike, but you'll find it practically useless if you plan to rave away your nights to the sound of the best house, dance and electronic floor-fillers every weekend. If you want a bigger option like the JBL Charge 5, you might have to spend north of $100.
If you're focusing on portability, you'll want to think about battery life and other aspects such as how waterproof, dustproof and rugged the design is. How durable a Bluetooth speaker is can quickly become a determining factor, especially if you want to, say, take one to the park or the beach and on holiday.
Generally, the more you spend the more features you get, such as multi-room functionality, higher-quality Bluetooth codec support (for aptX or aptX HD, for example), and the ability to answer calls hands-free. Some portable Bluetooth speakers even allow you to charge a smartphone or tablet using their own built-in battery. Naturally, you should only consider treating a buying decision as a box-ticking exercise based on the features you think you'd benefit from.
How we test Bluetooth speakers
At What-Hi-Fi?, we review hundreds of products each year – always as a team and always at our acoustically treated sound test rooms in London and Reading (and outside when it comes to portable products). This gives us complete control over the testing process, ensuring consistency and impartiality.
All products are tested against rivals in the same price category – often the current What Hi-Fi? Award winner that sets the benchmark – and all review verdicts are agreed upon by the team as a whole rather than an individual reviewer, again helping with consistency and avoiding any personal preference.
When testing Bluetooth speakers, we don't just look at audio quality but all other aspects of performance too, like claimed vs actual battery life, the strength of Bluetooth connection, ease of use, and much more. It's important we get a good sense of a product's performance but also its value for the price as an all-rounder.
We choose only the best products from all of these reviews to feature in our Best Buys. There's no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict. At What Hi-Fi? we are proud to have been delivering honest, unbiased reviews for decades. Our goal? To help you find a product you'll be over the moon with.
FAQ
What's the difference between wireless and Bluetooth speakers?
Naturally, Bluetooth speakers are wireless in that they need wires to hook up to an audio source, instead using the familiar Bluetooth streaming protocol. That said, Bluetooth speakers don't necessarily also support wi-fi, which is a necessary feature of what we would call "wireless speakers". A wireless speaker can connect to an audio source via the internet (i.e. your home wi-fi) – via things like Apple AirPlay or Google Chromecast – whether or not it also has Bluetooth. By our criteria, then, the JBL Flip 5 is a Bluetooth speaker but it isn't a wireless speaker, as while doesn't use a physical tether, there's no support for internet-supported services like AirPlay or Chromecast.
Transmitting audio over wi-fi rather than Bluetooth does offer certain benefits: wi-fi doesn't have as limited a signal range as Bluetooth, often helps to attain better sound quality and is capable of transmitting higher-quality audio. Standard Bluetooth codecs (SBC and AAC) aren't widely capable of transmitting CD-quality (or higher) files and even the higher-quality codecs like aptX are lossy, so data gets lost during transmission.
That said, Bluetooth-only speakers are generally more portable, as they don't require an internet connection or being plugged into the mains, and are often more affordable than wi-fi-enabled wireless speakers. Sometimes you get both, like the new(ish) JBL Charge 5 Wi-Fi, which streams via Bluetooth when you go out and about and can connect via wi-fi if you've got a viable internet connection.
Is JBL a good brand?
In short... yes, JBL is doing really well right now, especially in the world of portable speakers.
There are a few JBLs represented on this list, but the US brand is doing extremely well at putting out great products across the board, be they big or small, cheap or a little more costly. At What Hi-Fi?, we have reviewed many products from both JBL and have found that many of JBL's current speakers provide excellent audio quality and great value, earning them many five-star reviews.
That's the situation at the moment, but things change constantly. Today it's JBL that is dominating this corner of the market, but the Bluetooth and portable speaker industry is getting very popular. JBL won't be short of competition in the coming years, so don't expect things to stay this way forever. Plus, there are great alternatives out there now from the likes of Ultimate Ears or Tribit to make things a bit more interesting.
Recent updates
- July 2024: Added the Beats Pill to our Also Consider section.
- July 2024: Added Also Consider section and references to new or upcoming speakers within the main copy.
- February 2024: Added FAQ section to help with buying decisions and frequently asked questions.
- November 2023: What Hi-Fi? Award winners labelled after the 2023 Awards Best Buys and Product of the Year announcements.
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