There has never been a better time to get into digital art. Whether you’re experienced in traditional physical media or looking to learn as a beginner, there’s no shortage of digital drawing tablets to choose from.
There are so many options, especially in the budget segment, that you probably have no idea which ones are good. To get you working on your next masterpiece as quickly as possible, we’ve found some of the best affordable drawing tablets you can buy today.
Two types of drawing tablets
Generally speaking, there are two types of drawing tablets. Standalone drawing tablets don’t have to be connected to another device, like a Mac or PC, to work. This category includes conventional tablets that support a stylus, although many do not have a built-in pen holder.
The other drawing tablet must be connected via a cable or wireless connection to another device.
These drawing tablets may or may not have a screen of their own. The ones without their screens are a bit more complicated to use and more popular for photo editing, but many digital artists use them too. It doesn’t take long to get used to looking at a screen while drawing on a tablet.
We’ve covered all types of drawing tablets here to help you choose the right one for your needs. Especially if you need to remove it on the fly, a standalone option is your best bet.
Important features for a drawing tablet
There are quite a few things to consider when evaluating a drawing tablet. This is even more important when we talk about cheap products. High-end drawing tablets give you the best of everything, but you may not have a budget of thousands of dollars.
The most important considerations are:
- Tablet size and work area – The tablet should be large enough to accommodate the style of drawing you need or to reduce pinching and zooming while moving around the virtual canvas.
- Drawing surface type : Some tablets have a matte finish, others have a smooth finish, or tablets with displays may have an anti-glare coating. Combined with the stylus tip material, this is an important part of the drawing experience.
- Stylus Pressure Sensitivity : The more pressure sensitivity the stylus has, the more subtle details you can put into your artwork.
- Tilt Functionality – Tilt sensitivity and having a tilt function may also be important to you. For example, you can do a lot of shading, and having that feature along with just tilting the pen is a huge convenience.
You should also triple check that a given drawing tablet is compatible with the operating system and apps you want to use. There is no guarantee of universal compatibility!
Reflexes:
- Good price.
- Compatible con Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, Android, Chromebooks, pero no con iOS.
- Perfect for beginners.
The Intuos graphics tablet is as basic as it gets. Still, it’s also pretty good, and its limitations aren’t that crucial for beginners in many types of graphic design.
Build quality is excellent for such an affordable tablet, but that’s to be expected from Wacom. After all, they have been making drawing tablets for decades.
The Intuos has 4096 pressure levels, which isn’t great for professional artists, but beginners or those with more basic drawing needs should be perfectly happy. You also get four “ExpressKeys” shortcut keys that can be programmed to perform everyday actions like Undo, Copy, or Paste.
Aside from its sensitivity levels, the other area where the tablet’s affordable nature shows is in its size. The active drawing area is only 6 x 3.7 inches, so please keep this in mind before making your purchase. Other than that, this is the best genuinely cheap drawing tablet on the market. Anything priced lower is likely to be complete rubbish.
Reflexes
- Top specs at this price.
- The Apple Pencil is a class-leading stylus.
- Some of the best drawing apps on any platform.
The entry-level iPad was designed for the education market, but it’s a great general-purpose tablet and supports the excellent first-generation Apple Pencil. Collectively, they cost about as much as a mid-range drawing tablet that still needs to be connected to a computer.
The A12 Bionic CPU and GPU system on a chip packs more than enough power to put most laptops to shame, and this is a tablet retina display to boot. So you get incredible high-quality images and details.
The main drawback is that this iPad model does not have a laminated screen. This means that there is an air gap between the screen and the touch screen glass. For most people, this isn’t a problem, but some artists feel it can cause a slight drop in pen-to-pixel accuracy.
Affordable Tablets for Drawing
3. Best Affordable Tethered Drawing Tablet: 2020 HUION Kamvas 13
Reflexes
- 8192 pressure levels.
- 60 degree tilt.
- Supports 120% sRGB.
Huion has made a real name for itself as a manufacturer of drawing tablets, and the Kamvas 13 might be their best value for money product yet.
It is a tablet with an integrated touch screen that must be connected to another device such as a laptop or an Android phone that has a desktop mode, such as Samsung Dex.
The stylus is also worth mentioning. It uses Huion Pen Tech3.0 to offer a battery-free pen. The stylus gets its power from a weak electromagnetic field from the tablet itself, so there’s no Bluetooth or charging involved.
The Kamvas 13 allows you to connect it using various connection methods. You can use the included 3-in-1 USB cable, where one cable connects to a wall adapter and the other two connect to HDMI and USB on your computer. Alternatively, you can use a single USB-C cable that carries power, data, and display signals.
Reflexes
- A great solution for artists on the go.
- It can be powered only from USB.
- Great integrated support.
Despite sounding a bit like the latest Pokemon addition, Gaomon is another budget drawing table maker worth keeping an eye on. The PD3120 offers a similar set of features to the Kamvas 13 at almost the same price.
This tablet can be connected to your computer or Android device with a single USB-C cable to carry all the necessary power and data. You can also use the included two-in-one cable.
The Gaomon has a battery-free stylus with +- 60 degree tilt sensitivity and 8192 pressure levels. The Full HD screen is also laminated, so don’t worry about accuracy.
One difference between Gaomon and Kamva 13 is the support mechanism. The Kamvas has a built-in tilt mechanism to tilt the tablet for drawing. The Gaomon is designed to be portable, so it has a folding cover that doubles as a stand. If you don’t mind portability and need angle adjustments, the Kamvas 13 is a better option.
5. Best general-purpose tethered tablet: wacom uno
Reflexes:
- Bring a premium brand to the entry level.
- Includes various trial subscriptions for drawing software.
- Compatible with Mac, Windows, Chromebook and some Android phones.
Wacom doesn’t seem content to let Huion or Gaomon frolic at the lower end of the price range. While the Wacom One is around $100 more expensive than those tablets on average, it still sits on the line between budget and mid-range drawing tablets.
The Gaomon has a battery-free stylus with +- 60 degree tilt sensitivity and 8192 pressure levels. The Full HD screen is also laminated, so don’t worry about accuracy.
One difference between Gaomon and Kamva 13 is the support mechanism. The Kamvas has a built-in tilt mechanism to tilt the tablet for drawing. The Gaomon is designed to be portable, so it has a folding cover that doubles as a stand. If you don’t mind portability and need angle adjustments, the Kamvas 13 is a better option.
5. Best general-purpose tethered tablet: wacom uno
Reflexes:
- Bring a premium brand to the entry level.
- Includes various trial subscriptions for drawing software.
- Compatible with Mac, Windows, Chromebook and some Android phones.
Wacom doesn’t seem content to let Huion or Gaomon frolic at the lower end of the price range. While the Wacom One is around $100 more expensive than those tablets on average, it still sits on the line between budget and mid-range drawing tablets.
Wacom has focused on replicating the feel of writing on paper with a real pen. So this tablet is perhaps not laser-focused on digital artists, but on users who need a digital drawing and note-taking solution to help them go from paper to glass.
We think this is perfect for remote workers, teachers, and anyone else who needs to draw on screen. While it should also work competently as an art tablet, the art-focused (and more affordable) options from Huion and Gaomon may be the best option.
Reflexes
- Premium specifications at an unbeatable price.
- Large screen.
- Integrated support.
When we use a word like “affordable”, it is always relative to something. While the Wacom Cintiq 16’s nearly $700 price isn’t “affordable” in the absolute sense, in the world of professional drawing tablets, anything under $1000 is a bit of a bargain.
This tablet uses a 15.6” screen, larger than all the tablets we’ve covered in this article, but it’s considered small in the Cintiq range. It’s still just a Full HD panel, but with a physically larger drawing surface, the act of drawing becomes more comfortable.
This is one of the cheapest ways to access Wacom’s Pro Pen 2 technology in a display tablet. The pen is particularly precise and intuitive and uses a battery-free stylus implementation.
To give you an idea of how good the value here is, the Cintiq 22, which is also a “budget” model, costs almost twice as much!
Reflexes
- Multi-touch support.
- High precision pencil and drawing surface.
The Intuos Pro pen tablet costs more than the Kamvas 13 or Gaomon tablets, but it doesn’t even have a built-in screen! That’s because this tablet is all about delivering a professional-grade, precise drawing feel without charging the price of a Cintiq. This model comes with the same Pro Pen 2 stylus that you get with Wacom’s premium tablets. You also have the option to purchase alternative Wacom pens such as Pro Pen Slim and Pro Pen 3D.
The other feature that justifies that price here is the sheer size of the tablet itself. The entire device, including the hotkeys and handy dial, measures 13.2 x 8.5 inches. The active area you can draw on measures 8.7 x 5.8 inches. So there is plenty of room to work.
Reflexes:
- Cheaper than the base iPad for a similar experience.
- The stylus is included in the price.
Like the iPad mentioned above, this Android tablet from Samsung is a general purpose tablet. Unlike the iPad, you don’t have to spend extra money on a stylus as the Tab S6 Lite comes with a Samsung S-Pen included in the box.
While the Tab S6 doesn’t compare to the iPad in terms of quality and specs, it’s an excellent mid-range tablet. The S-Pen is great for taking notes and drawing while you’re in class or in a meeting. It offers 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt functionality.
While we think the 8th-gen iPad tablet with a compatible Apple Pencil is still the best standalone drawing tablet combo, there’s no denying the S6 beats it when it comes to price. So if your budget is tight or you prefer Android over iPadOS, this is a brilliant option.
Reflexes
- Compact display with high pixel density.
- Control dial to zoom.
The XP-Pen Artist 12 Pro costs less than $300 and is priced directly compared to the Kamvas and Gaomon tablets on this list. It’s also a very similar product overall, so buying the Artist 12 Pro really comes down to the finer details.
First, this tablet is smaller at 11.6 inches than the 13.3 inches of the other tablets. The resolutions are the same, so you’ll get better pixel density. Many users have limited desktop space, so a slightly smaller tablet is an advantage.
A dial control is also a substantial addition on top of the other options at this price point. None of the three drawing tablets reviewed here support multi-touch, so you have to zoom in and out or adjust other settings with the buttons. A dial is more intuitive and precise.
Reflexes
- Large, high resolution pad.
- High report rate, many shortcut keys.
The Inspiroy is priced close to our top pick for affordable drawing tablets, the Wacom Intuos Graphics. However, there is a big difference between them. The Inspiroy is 10 x 6.25 inches in size, dwarfing the Intuos at 7.8 x 6.3 inches.
