Best Drones under $100 in 2020 (and what to look for)
In this article you'll se my top drones under $100 ranked until the best one I would recommend (at the end).
If you're in a hurry, check out the winner right here.
It's quite hard to decide between most cheap drones these days. This is why I bought and tested dozens of drones on my youtube channel too.
This way I can give you some great and honest feedback.
If you're simply searching for a cheap beginner drone, I recommend you take a look at my top drones under $50 too.
| Image | Name | Camera | Range | Battery | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1.MJX Bugs 3 | action cam | 300m | 15min | Check Price |
 | 2.DJI Tello | 720p | 100m | 12min | Check Price |
 | 3.Eachine WingGod | 2k | 200m | 14min | Check Price |
 | 4.SG900 | 720p | 100m | 20min | Check Price |
 | 5.Emax Ez Pilot | FPV | 100m | 7min | Check Price |
There is no reason why you should expect much from a drone under $100. However the ones on my list all have pretty impressive features and are some of the ones I'd personally recommend to a close friend.
The criteria bellow is something you should really look for in any drone of this price range. I left out features found in more expensive drones like “camera gimbal” or “flight modes”
Battery Life
Usually drones don't fly for more than 10 minutes in this price range, however, there are a few over that, up to 15 minutes.
Camera
Camera won't be well stabilized, but you can definitely make a good action cam setup with the drone on my first spot.
Drone Type
In this price range you'll find both indoor beginner drones as well as gopro drones, so decide what you're looking for in the first place.
I have sorted my top drones you saw in the table above, from my least recommended to my most recommended. However, keep in mind that this order isn't necesarily right and I don't think these drones differ so much between eachother.
They each have different unique traits that might benefit some people in particular.
MJX Bugs 3
- Powerful Brushless Motors
- Good range
- 15 min battery
- Can carry weight
- Great for Gopro
5.Emax EZ Pilot(great beginner FPV drone under $100)
FPV
28min battery
1km
No image stabilization
The EZ Pilot is an all in one FPV package from Emax that's oriented towards beginners in the FPV hobby as well as pretty much anyone who wants to experience FPV drone flying indoors.
I love it especially in these times of isolation because I can fly a drone using goggles indoors, though the bathoroom, kitches and even annoy my roommates.
There are a few levels of speed and intensity of flying that will allow even beginners to safely fly it. And even if you crash,. you're safe thanks to the prop guards. Hit a wall? Don't worry, the drone will keep flying as the propellers won't be affected.
The goggles are 5.8ghz fpv and work great. You can even use them with any 5.8 ghz fpv drone or camera so you can upgrade the drone in the future yet still use these.
The remote controller looks like a gamepad and is powered, just like the goggles by 18650 batteries and can be charged through micro USB which I think is extremely neat.
Overall the perfect indoors FPV drone for beginners in 2020.
Advantages
- complete package
- no lag camera
- good fpv goggles
- great indoors flying
- multiple speed modes
DISAdvantages
- Short battery life (normal for its size)
4. SG900 (20 min battery or GPS)
1080p
16 min battery
200m
no image stabilization
Advantages
- great flight stability
- long battery life
- spare batteries
- foldable design
DISAdvantages
- not a very fast drone
3.Eachine EG16 WingGod (2k GPS drone under$100)
1080p
15min
400m
2 axis gimbal
This drone is one of the best you can get with GPS under $100, maybe 3 dollars over sometimes, depending on your luck, I'll leave a coupon down in the description to get it for a better price on banggood.
This drone not only comes with GPS, but also a camera at the bottom for optical stabilization so it flies more steady when close to the ground.
You can use a micro SD card so the footage will not be recorded in poor quality on your phone.
Speaking about footage, this camera records video in 2k resolution and takes 4k photos. Don't expect them to be too great, as the camera quality itself matters more than the resolution, but these are not bad either.
Another great feat that you won't find on other drones on this list is the ability to change the camera angle from the transmitter, which is super useful, albeit the controller does make a weird sound when doing so.
It's also a foldable quadcopter, so quite easy to carry around. A great overall drone for someone who wants to do some exploration of photography and videography as a complete beginner with a low budget.
Advantages
- 2k camera
- camera angle can be changed
- foldable
- stable
DISAdvantages
- frankly, none
2.DJI tello(Electronic Image Stabilization Drone)
720p
12min
100m
2 axis gimbal
If you want a capable selfie drone, that can even extend the range up to 200m with the help of a wifi range extender like the Xiaomi Repeater the tello is the perfect drone for that.
Advantages
- Great battery life
- multiple flight modes
- Stabilized video
- Amazing Photos
- Can Use separate controller
DISAdvantages
- Video Can be glitchy
1.MJX Bugs 3 (My favorite cheap GoPro Drone)
action camera
15min
300m
can carry gimbal
The MJX Bugs 3 is definitely my favorite drone under $100 when it comes to having an action camera attached.
It's a very simple quadcopter, but it hits the main sweet spots of what you should look for at this price range.
It comes with brushless motors that are more powerful and durable compared to brushed ones, that are usually the standard in this price range.
The battery life is pretty good and the range you can fly it is quite impressive.
When it comes to build quality overall, it's one of the best I have seen under $200 even. And it cal also do flips!
This can double as a fun speedy drone while at the same time can have a gopro attached or even a gimbal. So it's quite future proof.
Advantages
- Powerful Brushless Motors
- Good range
- Great battery Life
- can carry a lot of weight
- can put a gimbal on it
DISAdvantages
- there's an annoying beeping even before is getting low
