I love working on or gaming on a tablet because they have a larger screen than smartphones and perform better. Picking a cheap tablet under $200 that also run great turns out to be a bit more difficult than you’d think at first. The truth is that extremely great tablets are more expensive, but you can still find some good options for this budgets as well.
And we’re here to help by sharing with you the best cheap Android tablets under $200 in 2018. We did all the research so that you don’t have to waste your time. We’ve selected the best of the best in our given price range and we’re extremely satisfied with the choices we’ve made.
So no matter if you’re looking for a good tablet for working, playing your favorite games or simply carrying around instead of a laptop for doing basic or more advanced things, we’ve got you covered. We have 5 options for you and they all stood out above the competition for this price range.
I’m listing them below in a quick table so if you don’t want to check out all the details, you can easily visit the store pages for more details and purchasing options. Below the table, you can find a more in-depth look at these tablets in case you really want to find out more about them and see what makes each one special! Make sure you do your own due diligence and check out all prices as they fluctuate over the year (prices were all under $200 at the moment of writing this article)
Please note: We get commissions for purchases made through links in this article.
| Item name | Display Size | Processor | Rating | Purchase link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire HD 8 | 8" | Quad core @1.3GHz | 3.5 out of 5 | Get it on Amazon |
| Dell Venue 8 | 8" | Intel Atom Z2580 @2.0GHz | 3.8 out of 5 | Get it on Amazon |
| Lenovo Tab 4 | 10.1" | Quad-core Snapdragon @1.4GHz | 4.3 out of 5 | Get it on Amazon |
| ASUS ZenPad | 10.1" | Quad Core Mediatek @1.3GHz | 4.4 out of 5 | Get it on Amazon |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A | 8" | Qualcomm SnapDragon 410 @1.2GHz | 4 out of 5 | Get it on Amazon |
Why Android tablets?
Although many people prefer iOS-powered devices, the truth is that they are expensive and for our budget, we won’t be able to find a tablet that also offers a solid performance. This is why we have to stick to Android tablets – but if you are an iOS fan, just give them a try and you’ll see how good they really are!
With these in mind, let’s find out more about the best cheap Android tablets for 2018 below, listed from the cheapest to the most expensive at the moment of writing this article.
Fire HD 8
We’re starting strong with the Fire HD 8, Amazon’s own Android tablet that sells at amazing prices and offers really good price/quality rations.
The Fire HD is a multi-purpose tablet that offers you the ability to watch content offline, among many other things. It comes with 32GB of internal storage, a quad core processor running at 1.3 GHz and a display screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels (HD for its 8 inch display). It also has 1.5 GB of RAM. Despite being decent for gaming and work purposes, this tablet performs best at entertainment tasks. Therefore, if you’re a casual user and you don’t play the latest and most demanding games, you should totally consider this entry on our list.
You can expand the tablet’s storage up to 256GB thanks to its MicroSD slot – which is a good thing since 32 GB is starting to become a low amount even for tablets today.
This is a quite thin and durable tablet that comes with a 5MP rear and front HD cameras. But the Fire HD promises to deliver you a whole lot of joy. As so, you can enjoy free unlimited cloud storage for Amazon content and all your photos taken with Fire devices.
Being an Amazon product and having Alexa integrated, this is an amazing (and cheap) choice for those who use Amazon extensively. For example, if you’re an Amazon Prime member, you get unlimited access to over a thousand books and magazines, millions of songs, and thousands of movies and TV episodes – at no additional cost. Now that’s a deal you can’t ignore!
It’s not an amazing photo taker, offering a measly 2MP rear facing camera (plus a front-facing one), but the quality of photos is decent. Not really Instagram-worthy or award-worthy stuff, but for keeping memories safe, it does a decent job.
As an entertainment tablet, you can surely count on it with a very crisp HD display and a smooth and responsive performance. On the other hand, you shouldn’t expect an outstanding execution when you move to more demanding tasks.
Click here to buy it on Amazon now
Dell Venue 8
Although better known for manufacturing laptops and other tech items, Dell’s tablet is cheap and reliable, despite being a bit think and looking bulky in my opinion.
Powered by the Intel Atom Z2580 processor running at 2.0GHz and with 2GB of RAM, this tablet delivers a solid performance when it comes to basic apps, as well as more demanding ones. Very recent games might start to stutter when things become crowded on the screen, but overall, this tablet should handle all apps without a lot of problems. For the more casual user, it’s absolutely perfect!
It also offers 32GB of storage which can be expanded with an Micro SD card – so it can only get better at storing your photos, videos, music and apps.
It comes with a 5MP rear camera that can take pretty good photos under the right lighting conditions, but don’t expect it to be an amazing one. It gets the job done and you can get some nice photos, but there are definitely much better cameras on the market (of course, the prices for those tablets are not as low, so remember that you have to compromise a bit!)
All in all, it is a fairly sized tablet at 8″ offering HD resolution (1280 x 800) and good battery life. It’s been out for a while, so it is a bit outdated, but still remains a strong performer and a great option for those looking for a cheap tablet.
Click here to buy it on Amazon now
Lenovo Tab 4
The Lenovo TAB4 is one of the most powerful tablets you can get under a $200 budget. Besides presenting some remarkable specs, it also comes with a built-in lithium-ion battery for extensive periods of usage without the need to recharge. This tablet is definitely the perfect pick for first-time tablet buyers or enthusiasts who want an amazing experience for a limited price.
With an advanced design, the Lenovo TAB 4 brings forward some of the latest technologies found in the tablet industry. This is undoubtedly a device focused on performance and quality. It comes with a 10.1″ HD LCD screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and a multi-speaker system featuring the Dolby Atmos technology.
This is a very slim and light tablet that can last you the entire day thanks to its solid battery. Additionally, it comes with a 16GB flash memory, 2GB RAM and a 64-bit Quad-core Snapdragon processor running at up to 1.4 GHz. Definitely a strong and fast tablet for all sorts of activities, including gaming and working!
You can expand the limited storage (16GB) with a Micro SD card, and enjoy its crisp image quality at all times. If you value performance above all, then this is certainly one of the best cheap tablets under $200 in 2018.
However, like all good things that are sold for a low price, there must be something problematic. Just like in most cases today, it’s camera doesn’t really manage to rise to today’s standards, offering just 2MP of resolution for the rear camera. But you don’t want to be one of those people taking photos with a huge tablet – you’ve got your phone for that anyway!
Click here to buy it on Amazon now
ASUS ZenPad
My favorite entry on this list is the ZenPad, mainly because I have never been disappointed by ASUS products so far. And for its price, this tablet is a real steal!
We’re talking about a 10.1″ tablet with HD resolution (1280 x 800) and improved visual experience thanks to its proprietary technology – the ASUS TruVivid. It’s not Retina-quality, but it’s pretty close and you’ll love the visual experience offered by the ZenPad! You get accurate contrast, sharpness, and detail and an overall amazing image quality.
In terms of performance, it packs a solid punch too. It is powered by a solid Quad Core 64 bit MediaTek processor clocked at 1.3 GHz, as well as 2GB of RAM. Storage is limited at 16GB, but there’s nothing a cheap microSD card can’t solve: you can get up to 64GB of extra storage this way.
It feels a bit heavy for a tablet at around 1 pound, but we guess that weight is mostly caused by it’s solid battery: you really get to use it a lot, so there’s no reason to complain for it being slightly heavier than you’d probably like it to be.
In terms of cameras, it offers one of the best options when compared to the other tablets on this list, even though it still doesn’t excel and can’t compare with big budget phones or tablets. But it still has a 5MP rear-facing camera that can take decent photos, plus a lower-resolution front-facing cameras for selfies and video calls.
All in all, as I said, the ASUS ZenPad is my favorite on the list as it offers the best price/quality ration, keeping the performance meter high and handling apps without any major problems – including the more demanding ones.
Click here to buy it on Amazon now
Samsung Galaxy Tab A
We can’t have a list of the best Android tablets without a Samsung product. Although the most expensive item on the list at the moment of writing, this is right in the budget for those who want a Samsung product.
This particular tablet has an 8″ display, but a lower resolution of just 1024 x 768. The image still looks good – mainly because the screen itself is smaller and it’s Samsung we’re talking about, so you shouldn’t really worry about that.
In terms of performance, it does a pretty good job too, although we have better options on our list. The processor is a Qualcomm SnapDragon 410 running at 1.2 GHz, while the RAM stands at 1.5GB.
It also offers just 16GB of Storage, but thanks to its microSD slot, you can expand it by 128GB more, so I wouldn’t really consider this a problem.
The cameras are probably the best on our list. Even though they’re also stuck at 5MP for the rear-facing one and 2MP for the front-facing option, the photos taken are crisp and nice. Of course, there are way better options out there on the market, but the prices are much higher too. Plus, tablets are not made for taking photos like phones are, so you can’t really have high expectations here.
All in all, we’re talking about a solid tablet here that has the brand name to back it up. Have in mind that it does offer similar or even worse performance than other tablets on this list (like the ZenPad), so you’re paying a bit extra for the brand.
But at the same time, you can’t go wrong with a Samsung tablet – so if that’s what you want to have, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A is the best option at the moment for under $200.
Click here to buy it on Amazon now
If you are on a tight budget when buying your tablet, you still have a lot of great options for tablets under $200. It’s true, you won’t be able to pick up the largest tables on the market, but we consider the sizes we’ve recommended above at least decent. Combine that with great performance based on the solid specifications and you will have a winner on your hands, no matter which of the recommended tablets above you choose!
Update notice: This article has been originally published in 2017, but we’re editing it on an yearly basis (or even more often) in order to make sure that we’re delivering updated information that allows you to really buy the best cheap tablet whenever you read this article.