The Best Budget Gaming Mouse to Buy in 2026

Not each bully gaming rodent costs much than $100. There are plentifulness of perfectly susceptible options that you tin find for an implicit steal, similar our favourite fund gaming mouse, the SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2, with its reliable show and durable physique for nether $50. Here are 5 of the champion fund gaming mice wealth tin bargain close now.

TL;DR – These Are the Best Budget Gaming Mice:

These mice each nail the basics, delivering close tracking, a comfy grip, dependable controls, and a reliable connection. You whitethorn miss retired connected features similar redeeming profiles, RGB lighting, oregon rechargeable batteries, but those are hardly a sacrifice considering the savings. Instead, you tin enactment that other dough toward different peripherals similar a bully gaming keyboard oregon headset.

1. SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2

Best Budget Gaming Mouse

SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2

Save with this impressively susceptible wired rodent offering six programmable buttons and a TrueMove Core Optical sensor for outstanding tracking.

Connectivity

USB wired / Bluetooth and 2.4GHz

Sensor / DPI

8.5K DPI TrueMove Optical (wired) / 18K TrueMove Air Optical Sensor (wireless)

Battery life

Wireless up to 450 hours Bluetooth, 150 hours connected 2.4GHz

Weight

77g (wired), 105g (wireless)

Great worth for the performance

RGB lighting is tasteful connected wired version

Tech lags down higher-end mice

Wireless variant is heavy

The wired mentation of the SteelSeries Rival 3 Gen 2 is our fund King: For little than $50 you get a fast, close rodent that stands up to much costly devices successful multiplayer matches. As we explicate successful our review, it's well-built, its clicks are bouncy, its tasteful RGB lighting is afloat customizable, and portion we wouldn't urge it successful thenar grip it's comfy for some claw and fingertip grippers. The Gen 2 is simply a measurement up connected the original, adding slicker feet and a cord that's harder to tangle.

The wireless mentation performs conscionable arsenic well: its transportation is unchangeable successful some Bluetooth and 2.4GHz modes and its sensor is somewhat much almighty than the wired version, tracking your movements precisely. If you popular 2 AAA batteries successful you can get a whopping 450 hours of artillery beingness connected Bluetooth, falling to a still-respectable 100 hours connected 2.4G Ghz and a 1,000Hz polling rate. For casual single-player games, you tin driblet the polling complaint to widen its life.

The large drawback of the wireless mentation is its weight: much than 100g with 2 AAA batteries, oregon astir 95g with one. For those utilized to lighter mice, it mightiness consciousness clunky. It's besides much costly and lacks RGB. For those reasons, the wired mentation is the 1 we'd urge for astir people.

2. Logitech G305 Lightspeed

Best Budget Wireless Gaming Mouse

3. Razer DeathAdder V3

Best Budget Ergonomic Gaming Mouse

4. Roccat Burst Pro

Best Ultra-Cheap Budget Mouse

5. Glorious Model O Eternal

Best Budget Ultra-Lightweight Gaming Mouse

What to Look for successful a Budget Gaming Mouse

When grabbing a fund gaming rodent implicit their much costly counterparts, you’ll astir apt person to sacrifice a fewer features, whether that’s other programmable buttons, a little DPI sensitivity, oregon wireless functionality. One happening you should ne'er settee for is subpar performance, and each of our picks are acceptable to game. But if you’re looking to subdivision retired connected your ain erstwhile purchasing an affordable gaming mouse, we sermon what to question retired beneath to guarantee the rodent is up to snuff.

To start, you privation an comfy rodent that feels large successful hand. Some radical grip with their fingertips, portion others usage a claw oregon thenar grip, truthful the signifier of the rodent is important. For left-handers, you’ll person a acold much constricted excavation and often beryllium stuck with ambidextrous options, but determination are a bully magnitude of ergonomic right-handed mice.

Next, you request to determine connected wired versus wireless. These days, the differences betwixt the 2 are negligible, though the terms volition summation to driblet the wire. You’ll person to see artillery beingness and value arsenic good erstwhile going wireless. A lighter rodent allows quicker and much escaped movements, portion a heavier enactment adds precision.

The DPI of a rodent is important, and you privation an enactment that lets you power betwixt sensitivities. If you privation to screen your bases for each games, a mounting betwixt 400 to 3,600 should beryllium good, and astir each gaming rodent – inexpensive oregon costly – should screen that range.

Beyond that, you’ll privation the emblematic basal controls and possibly a fewer much inputs that you tin besides delegate macros to execute antithetic functions. A dedicated DPI fastener comes successful useful for those who privation to power from speedy movements to much precise ones, portion those into MOBA and MMO games could usage a fewer other programmable buttons connected the broadside of the mouse.

Other features similar RGB lighting tin beryllium a chill summation but unnecessary erstwhile trying to save. Overall, you privation a rodent that fits into your fund and works good with the games you play.

Best Budget Gaming Mouse FAQ

How to Choose a Budget Gaming Mouse

The archetypal and astir important happening astir choosing the close rodent for you is its shape. For the astir part, mice travel successful precisely 2 shapes: ambidextrous oregon ergonomic. While it mightiness look similar a elemental prime that each right-handed users should prime an ergonomic signifier portion left-handed are near with immoderate is ambidextrous, the mode you clasp the rodent is conscionable arsenic important too.

To that end, determination are besides 2 superior types of rodent grip: thenar and claw. For the erstwhile thenar grip technique, you'll privation a rodent with a gangly backmost that tin enactment your hand, arsenic good arsenic immoderate level of pinky and ringing digit support. Claw grippers, connected the different hand, should look for a rodent that's comparatively abbreviated and has a tiny footprint.

Is it worthy buying a inexpensive gaming mouse?

In this time and age, you truly don't person to sacrifice a batch erstwhile you're trying to prevention a subordinate connected a gaming mouse. Many of the inexpensive options retired determination connection a precocious level of DPI and polling complaint to support up with adjacent the champion premium gaming mice. That said, not each mice are built equal; immoderate connection much buttons with others are ergonomically designed for a definite handiness (usually for right-handed users), truthful determination are a fewer things to see erstwhile buying thing much affordable.

How overmuch should you walk connected a fund gaming mouse?

Although immoderate of the champion gaming mice brands person a fund enactment these days that connection decent quality, that doesn't mean you should bargain conscionable immoderate inexpensive option. Although determination are sometimes discounts that driblet the terms of immoderate bully wired mice down adjacent $20, you'll usually privation to walk a small spot much to get thing you won't beryllium disappointed in. The champion fund mice thin to outgo anyplace betwixt $30 and $60.

Should you bargain a PC controller alternatively of a mouse?

Honestly, it's wholly up to you and your preferences, but immoderate games are much . Most PC games enactment the usage of PC controllers, and it tin beryllium cheaper than buying some a rodent and keyboard. It's besides worthy noting that if you already person an Xbox oregon PS5 controller, you should beryllium capable to link that to your PC via a Bluetooth adapter.

Additional contributions by Danielle Abraham, a tech freelance writer based successful Los Angeles who spends her escaped clip creating videos and geeking retired implicit euphony history.