The 5 best budget wireless earbuds vetted by our headphones experts

Who it's for:

If noise cancellation is a must, your best bet on a budget is the Anker Soundcore Life P3i earbuds. They're affordable at $50 and have battery life to get you through an eight-hour workday. While it might not be the best ANC you've ever experienced, we still think they're the best budget option with ANC.

Why we picked this:

The $50 price tag, good audio quality, and active noise cancellation earn these earbuds a spot on this list. You can customize touch controls and adjust audio presets if you're picky about audio.

The biggest miss with these headphones is the lack of a multi-point connection. This means you must completely disconnect from one device before reconnecting to another. This could be a dealbreaker if you constantly need to switch between your phone and laptop.

Otherwise, they're a decent pair of headphones, that you really can't beat for $50.

Read Mashable's full review of the JBL Vibe Beam wireless earbuds.

Who it's for:

If you like the stick design of AirPods and are enticed by fun colors, the JBL Vibe Beam wireless earbuds are a suitable $50 or less pick. If you're not picky about sound quality because these have some faults, but you want the ease of multi-point connection, these earbuds check those boxes. If you need a casual pair to accompany you on errands to listen to your favorite podcasts and music, you'll enjoy the JBL Vibe Beam earbuds.

Why we picked this:

JBL Vibe Beam earbuds have an excellent design. Rather than your traditional choices of black or white, they also come in pinky beige, pastel blue, and vibrant mint for a more playful look. At just under $50 (but they're often on sale for even less), we're pleased with the decent sound quality. Unfortunately, JBL hyped up the audio on these earbuds, which, during testing, we found to be good but could have done better on high pitches.

They don't have active noise cancellation like the Soundcore Life P3i, but they do offer multi-point connection, and smoothly transitioned between devices during our tests.

Despite the good but not stellar audio, the JBLs' battery life really makes them stand out. On a single charge, they run for eight hours with up to 24 more hours with the charging case. Plus, just 10 minutes of charging in the case gives you two hours of playback.

Who it's for:

The Anker Soundcore P20i earbuds prove you can still get a solid pair for under $25. If you're accident-prone or tend to lose track of belongings, you don't want to be too precious about your earbuds — but the P20i are excellent quality, not just a throwaway pair.

Why we picked this:

A pair of wireless headphones for $25? Surely they'll be barebones with tinny sound, right? Nope! The Anker Soundcore P20i earbuds come with everything you expect in wireless earbuds: customizable audio and a charging case. However, some things are missing. You won't find active noise cancellation or multi-point connection here.

Otherwise, these have well-rounded sound, especially when you add Treble Boost, which provides the audio we expect from high-end earbuds. The battery life on these is killer: nearly 10 hours, and the charging case provides 30 hours of playback.

Plus, for the forgetful among us, these Soundcore earbuds offer a find my device feature, which delivers a loud tone to point you in the right direction.

Read Mashable's full review of the Skullcandy EcoBuds.

Who it's for:

If you're environmentally conscious, then buying tech is a constant dilemma. While the most sustainable tech will always be what you already have, if you've run your earbuds into the ground, turn to Skullcandy EcoBuds. The brand reduced its product's usual carbon footprint by 50 percent, using less plastic and metal. Despite that, the buds bring crisp audio for vibrant music listening.

Why we picked this:

The Skullcandy EcoBuds are an interesting competitor in the earbud market. The buds are made of 65 percent recycled plastic and contain fewer metals, so they lack some features.

All of the other earbuds on this list have charging cases that hold enough power to recharge the buds. However, there's no battery in this case. Instead, there's a built-in USB-C charger to plug into your computer, smartphone, or the wall. So, despite not being able to charge on its own, the built-in charger makes up for it somewhat. There's also no lid to the case, which means the buds tend to fall out easily—not great for the clumsy.

These earbuds have audio performance that shines. In our tests, we were impressed with how they picked up the beat of pop songs and the nuances of live performance recordings. However, they don't have ANC, so you'll have to crank up the volume to drown out the world.