Great screens at small prices: The best budget monitors of 2024

Finding the best PC monitor for your computer setup is one of the most important choices you'll make - even more so when choosing from budget monitors. It's your window into the system and the gateway to your digital world. With so many large screens on the market, it's easy to imagine you'll need a second mortgage to afford a budget monitor, let alone one that'll do everything you need it to. But you can get close to perfection for very little outlay.

Some of the more costly budget options out there can even come with multiple inputs, built-in speakers, and extreme resolutions. You might be a gamer, a casual browser, or perhaps work on creative projects and need a budget monitor for photo editing and such. Having the right screen can enhance what you do.

The best budget monitors of 2024 at a glance:

Best overall: Samsung Odyssey AG320 - View on Amazon
Best budget: Dell SE2422HX 24-inch Full HD Monitor - View on Amazon
Best for working from home: AOC 24B2XDAM 24-inch FHD Monitor - View on Amazon
Best for gaming: BenQ MOBIUZ EX240N 24-inch FHD HDRi VA Gaming Monitor - View on Amazon

At the lower end of the budget monitor bracket, you might not find quite so many inputs and perks. But if you're looking to upgrade your family PC, or need to give yourself more screen space and eyecare features for working from home, you'll find plenty of impressive budget monitors here. Either way, our buyer's guide will help you break through the technical jargon. We've also included some handy FAQs.

So, if you find yourself on a budget and in need of a screen upgrade, we've found some of the best for you. Even better, they're all full HD, wide-screen and brought to you by reputable brands.

Best budget monitors of 2024:

All prices are correct at the time of writing. Prices, stock and deals are subject to change without notice.

How to choose the best budget monitor for you

As with any budget item, the best budget monitors are not brimming with extras - they are set up instead to deliver as well as they can on the basics. However, it's still good to have a plan of action when looking at purchasing a new budget screen.

Prioritise the essentials

The best advice we can give is that you should be led by what you know you need. Whether your priority is screen size or connection types, meet these criteria as best as possible and anything above and beyond that is a bonus. Here are some typical user and monitor types.

General office work - Unless you're working on large spreadsheets and struggle to see small text you may only need a 22 or 24-inch monitor. They're less common, but if you find one with a standard HD resolution (720p, or 1280 x 720 pixels) we don't recommend it for almost all modern uses, as it restricts the detail of small text which can lead to eye strain. On that subject, the most important budget monitor features for office work are eye care additions like low blue light and flicker-free. You'll need a minimum refresh rate of 60Hz too, for a smoother more natural experience during longer working hours.

Family use and general browsing - families and general web users may need something a little more capable than the typical office worker. While eye care and decent refresh rates are always needed, we think that 24-inch monitors are great for all kinds of content – from websites to streaming video, emailing and general tasks. If you want or need a very minimal setup you may benefit from a budget monitor with built-in speakers. They're not going to give you the bass and detail of external speakers, but as an essential budget option for sound, they're a great choice. Depending on your computer you may need to look at connections too, more on that below.

Gaming and multimedia - if you can go for larger than 24 inches, such as a 27-inch gaming monitor. You're likely to be getting a better panel type such as IPS or VA that is good for fast motion, as well as higher refresh rates such as 75Hz – again better for smooth visuals and detailed motion. You may even find gamer-centric features like FreeSync that will give you a variable refresh rate to match the framerate of whatever game you're playing, to fast response times like 1ms which means that you'll have less lag from the moment you press a button to that action showing up on screen.

Consider your connections

As you'd expect, many mid to high-budget monitors will have more connection ports of different types. With others, you may be restricted to just one or two ways to connect the monitor to your computer. Most modern monitors will use either HDMI or DisplayPort. These are digital connection types that support higher resolutions, such as HD and 4K.

If your PC is a little long in the tooth, it may not have these connections. It might have an older type of digital connection called DVI. DVI ports can support some high resolutions but not as high as the others above. Other than that, you're most likely to have analogue connections, such as VGA, which don't support modern high resolutions. There are a number of adapters (such as an HDMI to USB-C adaptor) that can help you get around some connection issues - but not all.

Look carefully at your computer or laptop before you buy a monitor, identify your connection options, and if you've got a lot to choose from, always go for the one that supports the highest resolution. Here's a visual guide to connection types (source: Wikipedia ):

Consider peripherals

Any new budget monitor is really only worthwhile if your other peripherals are up to scratch, like having a high-quality computer mouse or comfortable, responsive ergonomic PC keyboard. Don't be tempted to skimp on these extras, as your brand-new monitor will only be a pleasure to use if your other peripherals are up to scratch.

Best budget monitors of 2024: Jargon buster

What is resolution?

Resolution refers to the number of pixels that are available on the screen – the more pixels, the better the image. It is worth considering that if you plan on jumping above standard Full HD resolution, you'll need to make sure your graphics hardware can handle the extra work. If in doubt, always check with manufacturers.

Resolution guide

HD: 1280 × 720p

Full HD: 1920 × 1080p

Quad HD: 2560 x 1440p

Ultra HD/4K: 3840 × 2160p

Response time

Response time is how quickly a monitor can shift from one colour to another. The smaller the response time, the better. If the response time is too high, the colours may appear to blur, or subjects on the screen may appear to double. This is called ghosting.

Refresh rate

Refresh rate is to a PC monitor what frames per second are to film. The higher the refresh rate, the smoother the image – low refresh rates can make fast-paced displays appear to jump, stutter and jolt. The refresh rate is measured in Hertz (Hz), and most monitors will sit at 60Hz.

60Hz is great for most situations, but gamers may want to look for the best gaming monitor with much higher rates to keep up with modern gaming standards. 144Hz gaming monitors are quickly becoming the minimum standard for high-quality, stutter-free gaming displays.

Panel types

Despite the rise of LED panels in the world of TVs (and some gaming monitors), the majority of budget monitors out there still use LCD panels. But, not all LCD panels are based on the same type of technology. Depending on what you're looking to do on your monitor, the different technologies have pros and cons. LED screens like the Lenovo 24-inch Gaming Monitor above are often the best option, but here are the other three most common types :

 TN (Twisted Nematic) panels: The most common LCD type in budget screens, they tend to have a narrower colour palette, lower contrast ratios, and poorer viewing angles. They do, though, support high refresh rates very well.

 VA (Vertical Alignment) panels: These panels are a more advanced version of TN ones. The key benefits are better contrast and wider viewing angles. Although they can support very high refresh rates, the response time of VA panels can be slower, resulting in some blurring with fast motion.

 IPS (In-Plane Switching) panels: These are generally considered to be the best panel type for an LCD display. They offer excellent colour accuracy and overall image quality, plus great contrast and wide viewing angles. If you can, choose IPS.

Best budget monitors of 2024: FAQs

What is the best budget gaming monitor?

Other than finding the highest resolution, the main thing that most gamers will be concerned with when choosing a new monitor is the refresh rate. As mentioned above, the higher the refresh rate, the smoother and more natural the motion. But, one extra feature that all gamers should look at is latency.

What is screen latency?

Latency, or input lag, is the time it takes between when an event is triggered (such as moving, shooting, etc.) and that event appearing on-screen. Measured in milliseconds, anything below 70ms is acceptable, and under 40ms is excellent. The smaller the latency, the better - it means you can react faster and with more accuracy in games.

Why are monitors titled in whole numbers (e.g. 22-inch) but are actually smaller numbers (e.g. 21.5-inch)?

This can be confusing, but it's just the industry rounding things up. It's extremely common for a 21.5-inch monitor to be referred to as a 22-inch.

What is Eye Care?

Eye Care is a feature included with some monitors that adjusts the blue light emitted by the monitor. This promotes alertness, and improved cognitive function and reduces the negative effects of blue light - such as unbalanced circadian rhythm and eyestrain. Therefore, eye care is a serious benefit to anyone who spends prolonged periods of time working on computers.

Chris Duffill is a Senior Tech Writer and Reviewer for What's The Best. His background includes writing, editorial, marketing, design, video production and photography.

He specialises in home entertainment and audiovisual tech, including speakers, amplifiers, turntables, streaming media players, and TVs. He is also one of our resident experts in computing (PCs, tablets, smartphones, smartwatches), DSLR photography and all kinds of digital cameras. He also writes about retro gaming, game consoles and various electronic gadgets. If it plugs in, lights up or makes a noise, he’ll write about it.

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