Best cheap monitors in 2023

The best cheap monitors offer a gorgeous picture experience but without the bank account-burning price tag. They also serve up impressive displays, decent brightness, accurate colors, VESA-mount compatibility, and more. You shouldn’t have to shell out heaps of dollars just to snag the best cheap monitor for yourself, right?

However, finding the best cheap monitors isn’t easy, whether you’re looking for a gaming monitor or a work-from-home display. There are so many aspects to consider, including brightness, color quality, resolution, size, refresh rates and more! Taking all of these factors into consideration, we’ve rounded up a list of the best cheap monitors you can buy.

Our best cheap Monitors page has a refresh coming as we will be switching new for old. As we are seeing some 4K and 2K monitors drop in price, we are ready to share with you which are best for work or play. Will some of our old faves remain, or will they be sent off to the recycling center in the sky? We shall soon find out. 

The Quick List

Best overall

The Acer R240HY bidx monitor has a 4.7 out of 5-star rating on Amazon, which is pretty darn close to perfection if you ask us! This 23.8-inch stunner is one of the best monitors of 2023 because of its ultra-slim bezels and sleek design, gorgeous, vivid colors and wide viewing angles. 

Users heralded the the Acer R240HY bidx as an excellent choice for the external monitor experience and for hooking up with one’s gaming console. The Acer monitor for its 178-degree wide viewing angles, impressive 72% color gamut coverage, as well as its low-blue light feature for those who work hours upon hours staring at a monitor for work (Acer Vision Care). Ports include VGA, HDMI and DVI.

Best port selection

The 24-inch ViewSonic VP2458 Professional is the best cheap monitor for users seeking a monitor with vivid and accurate color. This ViewSonic color has a Delta E score that is less than 2 — the closer to zero, the better. Delta-E tells you how accurate the colors on your monitor will be, so you can be rest assured than ViewSonic’s color accuracy will be satisfactory for your viewing pleasures. The ViewSonic monitor will likely appeal to graphic designers and other digital artists.

The 24-inch ViewSonic VP2458 Professional is also a perfect budget monitor for productivity users. The monitor features a blue-light filter to help boost productivity for all-day comfort. One trade off you’ll have to make with this cheap monitor, however, is response time. The response time is 7ms.

Best color accuracy

The Asus VS228H-P monitor is one of the best cheap monitors due to its bargain price, but it comes at the expense of screen size, offering a 22-inch screen with a basic TN panel. 

The display itself is capable, if not impressive: It boasts an average brightness of 184 nits and accurate color (Delta-E 0.10) while covering a fair amount of the sRGB gamut (110 %). The monitor also offers some versatility, thanks to VESA-mount compatibility and an audio jack for connecting speakers or headphones (when connected over HDMI). It comes with a generous three-year warranty. 

Best curved monitor

The AOC C24G1 24-inch Curved Frameless Gaming Monitor is one of the best cheap monitors you can get with a high refresh rate of 144Hz. There’s a reason why it’s got an Amazon rating of 4.6 stars out of 5. Customers who’ve had the pleasure of taking this beautiful monitor home gush about its sharp, crisp visual quality — it’s not as visually pleasing as a 4K monitor, of course, but the picture quality is impressive.

The AOC C24G1 24-inch Curved Frameless Gaming Monitor has a quick response rate of 1ms, which is particularly useful for games requiring fast reflexes or precise timing. This is a great selling point for gamers: in gaming situations where the difference between life and death is measured in milliseconds, having a speedy response rate is crucial to have an edge over your opponents.

This monitor is compatible for VESA mounting so that you can neatly place it on your wall. This 24-inch display is perfect if you’re a budget-conscious consumer seeking cheap alternatives for your artistic, gaming or office needs.

Best gaming monitor

HP sells the Omen in several display sizes, but let’s zoom in on the HP Omen 24.5-inch model that you can snag for around $250. What we love about the HP Omen as the best cheap monitor is that it has everything a gamer needs to have a satisfying, immersive gaming experience.

It has a super-fast response rate of 1ms, it has a 144Hz refresh rate and it has AMD FreeSync, which is a technology that reduces input lag, screen tears and monitor stutter so that you can sweep the leaderboards and dominate fast-paced gameplay.

It also has an anti-glare panel, so if the sun is beaming at you through your windows, you won’t be obstructed by its rays. This monitor also has tilt adjustment and wide viewing angles.

Monitor with smallest footprint

The Dell P2219H monitor has an impressive 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon due its modern, thin-bezel design, variety of ports and angle versatility.  For those with sensitive eyes, Dell introduced a ComfortView feature that reduces blue-light emissions that can harm you. So if you tend to spend hours and hours at work on your monitor, you can reduce the straight on your eyesight.

You can also tilt, swivel , pivot and adjust the height of your monitor for a more comfortable setup.

Best 24-inch monitor

This Dell SE2416H monitor is ideal for everyday productivity. It has a stylish, elegant design, and customers are raving about its sturdy base of excellent build quality. The quality is decent for a sub-$200 monitor, providing sharp colors and crisp picture. It’s packed with VGA and HDMI ports for your connectivity needs.

This monitor has viewing angles of 178 degrees vertically and 178 degrees vertically. Its panel has an anti-glare coating and covers 84% of the color gamut. One downside, however, is that it’s not VESA mount compatible. However, it’s not the end of the world; you can always purchase a VESA adapter such as the Dell Monitor Arm/Mount VESA Adapter for $26.

It’s also worth noting that this monitor is the highest-rated on this buying guide with 4.6 out of 5 stars on Amazon.

Brightest cheap monitor

The 24-inch Asus VS248H is a solid option for the bargain hunter. It offers a decent-size display, quick 2 millisecond response times and Asus’ standard three-year warranty. While the color accuracy (Delta-E of 0.10) and gamut (108 percent) aren’t anything special, it does offer some of the better brightness of the low-priced models we tested, averaging 241 nits. Additionally, the monitor’s controls are easy to see and use, thanks to clear labels and placement along the bottom of the bezel. 

Best Dell monitor

The SE2416HX is the best cheap monitor from Dell. It has an attractive price for a 24-inch display. Viewing angles are quite good; thanks to an IPS panel. Its color accuracy is solid (0.11) — if not the best we’ve seen — and its 108% of the sRGB color gamut is in the middle of the pack. 

However, there are some trade offs for the cheaper price tag. The Dell SE2416HX monitor suffers from dimmer-than-average brightness (averaging 179 nits) and slow response times (6 milliseconds) that result in image smearing when viewing fast-paced video or games. The monitor has an attractively sleek design with inputs for both HDMI and VGA, but it lacks any mounting support. It is covered by a one-year warranty. 

How to choose one of the best cheap monitors

In this price range, expect screens that are smaller than 30 inches with 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution, but not higher. Some of the best budget monitors we looked at use IPS display technology, but the majority use the older TN panels, which often suffer from narrower viewing angles and less accurate color. You’ll also give up conveniences like built-in USB connections, faster refresh rates and height-adjustable stands.

Screen Size

Let’s talk screen size. Most external monitors can range anywhere from 20 to 49 inches, measured diagonally. But if you really want to save some extra coin, you’ll have to settle for a screen display under 30 inches. 

Resolution

You’ll also want to consider display resolution, which refers to the number of horizontal and vertical pixels; the bigger your screen gets, the higher the resolution should be. However, when it comes to cheap monitors, you’re unlikely to find any models higher than 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels). And while 1080p resolution might be just fine on a 24-inch monitor, you may notice a drop in overall quality on a 27-inch monitor, since those pixels have to “stretch” themselves to fit into the extra real estate.

Panels

There are four main types of display panels: TN, IPS, VA and OLED. TN and VA panels are usually the least expensive. On the plus side, TN panels feature decent response times and low input lag, but tend to offer not-so-great color richness and viewing angles. VA panels offer better contrast and more vibrant colors, but typically are not recommended for budget gamers. (TN may be a better choice for faster response rates, but you’ll have to sacrifice image quality.)  IPS offers better image quality than TN and VA panels, but the response time may be subpar for a gamer. IPS panels are best for creators (eg, professional video and image editors) seeking the best cheap monitor. OLED is the priciest option — good luck finding this premium panel on a cheap monitor.

VESA-mount compatibility

If you’re planning on mounting your monitor to a VESA mount, you’ll want to make sure the monitor has VESA-mount compatibility. 

Tilt adjustment

Perhaps you’ll want a display that can change angles, and if that’s the case, look out for cheap monitors with tilt adjustment capabilities.

Ports

What laptop ports do you plan on using? Most contemporary laptops use one or more of the following for display connections: HDMI, DisplayPort, and USB-C (Thunderbolt 3). Make sure your chosen monitor can effectively connect with your laptop.

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