Cheap and budget projectors can give you a much larger image than most TVs at the same price, but they usually come with bigger trade-offs than more expensive projectors. You often have to choose between brightness, contrast, portability, and gaming performance rather than getting everything in one package. Some models are bright enough for casual living-room or outdoor use but have weak contrast, while others look better in a dark room but need more careful placement. Still, there's enough variety that you should be able to find something for your particular needs, and all the projectors in this article have a built-in smart OS or come with a dongle, so you don't need to pair them with an external streaming device. If you're unsure about the size of screen you can accommodate at your distance, you can also use our projector throw calculator to determine how each model fits your room.
We've bought and tested more than 105 models, and below, you'll find the lowest-priced projectors to buy. If you're shopping for the cheapest projector possible, look at our best projectors under $500. For a more exhaustive list of projectors at all price points, look at the best projectors instead, or the best home theater projectors if you're shopping for a blacked-out room. If you don't specifically need a projector-sized image, our budget TV recommendations are also worth considering for a simpler living-room setup. You can also vote on which ones you want us to purchase and test.
We've independently bought and tested over 100 projectors and published detailed results for each, so you can decide which one to buy. These have all been tested under the same standardized methodology, allowing you to compare them side by side. We still have all these projectors in our lab, so we can continually go back and compare them to ensure our reviews are still accurate. All our test methodologies are also public on our website, so you can validate the results yourself.
-
Best Budget Projector
Home TheaterOutdoorsBedroomGamingBrightnessContrastPortabilityColorGaming ResponsivenessSmart OS:See all our test resultsCast Capable:The JMGO N1S 4K is the best budget projector. It offers impressive image quality for its price, and its 4k (via pixel shift) resolution produces a sharp image. It has excellent contrast, with deep blacks in dark scenes and enough depth in bright scenes to avoid looking flat. It's not bright enough to prevent the image from looking faded in a room with ambient lighting, but it doesn't look dim in a dark room, and its very good color vibrancy helps make the image look punchy. Video games look good, but since it's limited to 60Hz, you miss out on the 120Hz refresh rates offered by modern consoles. Input lag is low enough for games to feel responsive, but it's too high for more competitive titles where every millisecond matters. It also lacks VRR to reduce screen tearing. If gaming is your top priority, check out the XGIMI Elfin Flip 4K instead.
This projector has a small and lightweight design that makes it easy to carry around, especially with its included handle and carrying case. It doesn't have a zoom lens or lens shift, so you have to physically move it to adjust the image size and center it with your screen. However, it does include autofocus, automatic keystone correction, and post-movement auto-correction, which help speed up the setup process. It also has a one-axis gimbal that allows you to tilt it vertically, making setup easier and allowing you to project an image onto your ceiling when you're lying in bed.
-
Best Cheap Projector
Home TheaterOutdoorsBedroomGamingBrightnessContrastPortabilityColorGaming ResponsivenessSmart OS:See all our test resultsCast Capable:If you just want a cheap projector that gets the job done inside your home, go for the NexiGo PJ40 Pro. It's a 1080p projector, so the image isn't as sharp as it is on the JMGO N1S 4K. Blacks aren't as deep as they are on the JMGO, but it still has very good contrast, so the image has some depth and avoids looking flat or washed out. Unfortunately, it's dimmer, and its colors are much more muted, so it doesn't look nearly as punchy or vibrant in a dark room. It's limited to 60Hz, and its gaming performance is much worse. It doesn't support VRR to reduce screen tearing, and it has significantly higher input lag, resulting in a sluggish feel when playing fast-paced titles like Call of Duty. Its fan is also significantly louder than the JMGO's, which can be distracting when watching content at low volume or when sitting close to the projector.
It doesn't support lens shift to help center the image, and it lacks a motorized zoom lens, so you need to physically move the projector to center the image and adjust its size. It's also limited to manual focus, manual horizontal keystone correction, and automatic vertical keystone correction. It doesn't have obstacle avoidance either, so setup takes longer. Its lack of a gimbal also means you can't easily project an image onto your ceiling. Despite this, it's small enough to conveniently bring over to a friend's house or take outside. Although this projector doesn't offer the best performance, it still outperforms other models in its price range.
-
Best Budget Gaming Projector
Home TheaterOutdoorsBedroomGamingBrightnessContrastPortabilityColorGaming ResponsivenessSmart OS:See all our test resultsCast Capable:The XGIMI Elfin Flip 4K is the best budget gaming projector, and it's also one of the best budget portable models you can buy, so it's very versatile. Like the JMGO N1S 4K, it's a 4k (via pixel shift) projector that produces a sharp image. It has worse contrast than the JMGO, but there's still a decent amount of depth to the image that prevents it from looking washed out or flat. It's a bit dimmer than the JMGO, so it isn't bright enough for well-lit spaces. However, it produces a punchy image in a dark room, especially thanks to its incredibly vibrant colors. What truly separates this projector from other budget models is its outstanding gaming performance. It supports 4k @ 60Hz and 1080p @ 120Hz, letting you choose between a sharper image and smoother motion. Its incredibly low input lag rivals that of good gaming TVs and monitors, leading to a very snappy feel, and it supports VRR to help reduce screen tearing.
It's also small and lightweight enough to easily carry around in a backpack. Although there's no lens shift to help center the image, the motorized zoom lens makes it easy to adjust the image size. It also has a wide range of screen adaptation features, including autofocus, automatic keystone correction, and obstacle avoidance, making setup quick and easy. Its one-axis gimbal also gives you some flexibility when positioning the projector vertically, and you can tilt it toward your ceiling when lying in bed at night.
-
Best Budget Bright Projector
Home TheaterOutdoorsBedroomGamingBrightnessContrastPortabilityColorGaming ResponsivenessSmart OS:See all our test resultsCast Capable:If you want a budget projector for a brighter room, the Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 is the one to get. It's the only projector on this list that's bright enough to handle glare in a room with ambient lighting without the image looking severely washed out. However, its contrast is much worse than on a similarly priced option like the NexiGo PJ40 Pro, resulting in an image that lacks depth and looks flat, so only go for it if you really need a bright-room model. Fortunately, colors look a bit more vibrant than they do on the NexiGo, so the image doesn't look overly dull. Its gaming performance is similar to the NexiGo, since it's limited to 60Hz and doesn't support VRR. Unfortunately, its input lag is quite high, so it's really only suitable for casual titles where responsiveness doesn't matter too much.
This projector doesn't offer much in terms of setup features, so you need to manually center it with your screen and move it to adjust the size of the image. Since it doesn't have mounting holes, it can't be easily mounted to a ceiling or a tripod. It's also a bit light on screen adaptation features, since it's limited to manual focus and manual horizontal keystone correction. However, it does offer automatic vertical keystone correction, which is useful since it has limited vertical tilt. Finally, its fan is pretty loud, so it's not a good option if you sit close to the projector.
-
Best Cheap Portable Projector
Home TheaterOutdoorsBedroomGamingBrightnessContrastPortabilityColorGaming ResponsivenessSmart OS:See all our test resultsCast Capable:If you're just looking for a cheap, portable projector to bring camping or to your friend's house for the odd movie night, go with the XGIMI Vibe One. It has good enough contrast to give the image decent depth, but it's a very dim model, so it needs to be used in a dark space to avoid looking washed out. It's also not very colorful, so the image looks quite muted, but that's to be expected of a projector this small and cheap. It doesn't offer much for gaming, since it's limited to 60Hz and lacks VRR to reduce screen tearing, but it has low enough input lag to play casual titles like Mario Party with your friends.
The biggest advantage this model has is its small size and built-in battery, making it highly portable. It doesn't have a zoom lens or lens shift, but that's expected from a portable model like this one. Fortunately, it still has a one-axis gimbal that allows you to tilt it vertically, which helps to center the image. It also has a good selection of screen adaptation features like autofocus and automatic keystone correction, so it's fairly easy to set up quickly.
Notable Mentions
-
XGIMI Elfin Flip Laser:
The XGIMI Elfin Flip Laser sells for around the same price as the JMGO N1S 4K. It's a good alternative if you need something even smaller and lighter for added portability. The XGIMI can also display a wider range of colors, but the difference is hard to notice in most content. The JMGO's better contrast is more noticeable, and it has much lower input lag, making it the better option overall.
See our review -
Wanbo X5 Pro:
The Wanbo X5 Pro performs almost identically to the NexiGo PJ40 Pro, often at a similar price. They trade blows in some areas, but the NexiGo has slightly better image quality and is more accurate out of the box, making it the better option for most people. Still, the Wanbo isn't nearly as noisy under load, which matters in quiet environments, and it has more automatic screen adaptation tools.
See our review -
Anker Nebula P1i:
The Anker Nebula P1i is a portable model sold for around the same price as the XGIMI Vibe One, and it's a good alternative if you prefer better sound over a built-in battery. The Anker has two 10W Dolby speakers that create a wider soundstage, and it's a bit brighter. However, the XGIMI has better contrast, and its lighter and more compact design makes it easier to carry around.
See our review
Recent Updates
Oct 23, 2026:
We replaced the XGIMI Elfin Flip 4K with the JMGO N1S 4K as our top pick, since the JMGO offers better image quality. However, we added the Elfin Flip 4K to a new 'Best Budget Gaming' category, as it's the best budget option for gamers. We also removed the 'Best Budget 1080p' category, since the XGIMI Elfin Flip Laser is similarly priced to the JMGO N1S 4K but performs worse overall. However, we moved the Flip Laser to the Notable Mentions, as it still has a couple of advantages over the N1S 4K.
Sep 11, 2026:
The BenQ TH575 was replaced with the XGIMI Elfin Flip 4K as our new top pick, since the XGIMI is the better option overall. The XGIMI MoGo 2 was also replaced with the XGIMI Vibe One in the 'Best Cheap Portable' category because the former is no longer available. A new 'Best Budget 1080p' category was added with the XGIMI Elfin Flip Laser in that spot to give readers more options. The 'Best Budget Gaming' and 'Best Budget Portable' sections were also removed, since the Flip 4K is the best budget gaming and best budget portable projector. Finally, we refreshed the Notable Mentions section to offer better alternatives to our current picks.
Jun 19, 2026:
The BenQ TH575 replaces the Epson Lifestudio Flex Plus as the 'Best Budget Projector' due to its mix of solid image quality and decent gaming performance; the Epson is now in the Notable Mentions. The Epson EpiqVision Flex CO-FH02 is also now the 'Best Budget Bright Projector,' as a bright-room alternative to the BenQ TH575.
May 06, 2026:
The Epson Home Cinema 1080 has been removed due to availability issues. We've also updated the Notable Mentions and swapped the NexiGo PJ40 (Gen 3) for the NexiGo PJ40 Pro due to the latter's smart OS implementation.
Mar 11, 2026:
Price creep has pushed the Hisense M2 Pro off the list; it has been replaced by the versatile Epson Lifestudio Flex Plus. The picks were slightly rewritten, and the XGIMI MoGo 2 was added as the 'Best Cheap Portable' option.
All Reviews
Our recommendations above are what we think are currently the best budget-friendly projectors for most people to buy. We factor in the price (a cheaper projector wins over a pricier one if the difference isn't worth it), feedback from our visitors, and availability (no models that are difficult to find or almost out of stock everywhere).
If you'd like to do the work of choosing yourself, here's the list of all our projector reviews, with a price limit of $1,000. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While no projector is perfect, many are good enough for most uses; however, avoid the worst models to ensure adequate quality.