The Best Computer Monitors Under $200 of 2026

• Screen size: 23.8 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 180Hz

The Gigabyte G24F 2 sets a powerful example of how good a budget gaming monitor can be. It marries exceptional color quality and motion clarity that even high-end monitors can struggle to balance. The IPS panel Gigabyte has employed delivers a wide color gamut that’s exceedingly accurate, it has good contrast, and can get far brighter than most of us likely need in a gaming room.

While 1080p is usually the best you’re going to get from a sub-$200 monitor, Gigabyte pairs that with a 180Hz max refresh rate that came with no noticeable impacts to other areas of the monitor’s quality and provided pleasingly smooth visuals in games.

A very fast pixel response time helps each frame the monitor is presented display clearly, making the G24F 2 reliable in fast-paced games. Gigabyte even includes a height- and tilt-adjustable stand and two USB-A ports, neither of which should be taken for granted at this price point. It sometimes even dips as low as $130 on sale.

• Screen size: 24 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 165Hz

The AOC Agon C24G1A brings some extra speed to the sub-$200 market, though its price can sometimes be a few dollars over $200, depending on where you buy the monitor. The 24-inch 1080p display isn’t offering much in terms of size or resolution, but it’s an effective pairing. And the resolution makes it all the easier to have your system push for the display’s max 165Hz refresh rate, which comes smoothed out with FreeSync Premium. The fact AOC could still bother to sit the AOC C24G1A onto a highly flexible stand at this price is a big bonus.

The display itself is a stunningly colorful curved VA panel with fairly compelling contrast ratios compared to what’s found on most IPS panels. It’s punching well above its weight class for color gamut and accuracy, even offering exceptional uniformity across the display. But, where’s it’s still visuals excel, it struggles a bit with motion. Ghosting can be a bit extreme in the wrong conditions, and no overdrive settings fix that, but it isn’t always distracting in games and beats coronas.

• Screen size: 24 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 144Hz

The Monoprice Dark Matter 42770 offers bright, punchy visuals. Its color accuracy is astounding for a monitor at this price, let alone when considering that it comes alongside gaming performance on a 144Hz panel. The minimal ghosting makes this a solid option for gamers looking for clarity while they play without worrying about how much they’ll have to pay.

The design of the monitor also makes it a worthy addition to your desk. The stand is sturdy and doesn’t let the monitor wiggle too much, and its wide legs won’t occupy too much desk space.

Monoprice also includes a wide port variety with two HDMI ports and a DisplayPort. The USB-C port with 15W power delivery is icing on the cake, as it’s easy to use for charging up a phone or even plugging into a laptop/phone to use for a display—and Monoprice includes all necessary cables with the monitor to truly maximize its value. An effective joystick for menu navigation and some subtle red accent lights round out the experience.

• Screen size: 27 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 75Hz

The BenQ EW2780 is a nice, utilitarian monitor. It comes on a pretty straightforward stand that only offers vertical tilt adjustments, but you can always swap it over to a VESA mount. Three HDMI ports let you set it up with multiple devices, though DisplayPort is notably lacking here. For a neater setup, the included basic 2.5W speakers are helpful, though they aren’t loud enough to fill a room and can be a bit harsh when maxed out.

The display panel itself isn’t overly exciting, but it offers what it promises. In our testing, it actually exceeded BenQ’s specs in some regards. It managed to cover 97% of the sRGB color space and pulled off an average color accuracy of dE 0.74, which means this monitor has excellent color accuracy for the price. At max brightness, it can even provide a contrast ratio of 1110:1. All that said, the uniformity of the display could be a bit better, but it’s not noticeable or unreasonable for a display in this price bracket.

The monitor provides some headroom for higher refresh rates, going up to 75Hz. It’s not blisteringly fast, but 25% extra smoothness never hurts. It can also run FreeSync. Just don’t expect the HDR feature to do much for you. The display isn’t that bright, and enabling the HDR mode just saturated the colors to the point of making the display wildly inaccurate.

• Screen size: 24 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 60Hz

The HP VH240a stands out as the most flexible monitor of the options we tested for this roundup. Its claim to fame is its highly adjustable stand/tilt options. It's one of the only monitors in this price range that offers a combination of panel tilting, adjustable height, and portrait rotation. This means you can easily find a comfortable viewing position, which is important if you work from home.

You're also getting a 24-inch screen, an IPS panel, 1080p resolution, and pretty respectable response times (5ms) for an IPS-equipped LCD monitor. Overall, this gives the VH240a widespread appeal, and the display works well in most situations.

The monitor’s major flaw is one it shares with other affordable IPS monitors: contrast ratio. This monitor can’t display deep black levels, yet isn’t all that bright either, so it struggles to deliver a sense of depth in movies and games. If you need a good monitor for work, however, the HP VH240a is an excellent choice.

• Screen size: 24 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 144Hz

Acer’s XFA240 is a rare and affordable gaming monitor. It’s a 24-inch, 1080p display with a 144 Hz refresh rate. It’s compatible with both AMD FreeSync and Nvidia G-Sync, which ensures smooth gameplay no matter the brand of video card you own.

The XFA240 is well built for the price. It feels sturdy and includes a stand that has height, pivot, tilt, and swivel adjustments. Most gamers will have no need to buy a third-party stand or monitor arm.

It’s not all good news. This monitor achieves its high refresh rate at a low price by using a TN panel and, frankly, it shows. The monitor’s contrast ratio, color gamut, and color accuracy are just OK. It also has very poor viewing angles, which can be distracting when viewed even slightly off-axis.

Still, the Acer XFA240 is superior to the other budget gaming monitors we've tested, many of which have only a 60 Hz or 75 Hz refresh rate. This is the best budget monitor for hardcore gamers.

• Screen size: 27 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 60Hz

The BenQ GW2780 is a budget 27-inch monitor that we recommend primarily because of its price for the size. Your choice of monitor slims if you want a 27-inch screen, but the GW2780 is no more expensive than most 24-inch monitors on this list.

Its image quality is extremely similar to the HP VH240a, which is good news for most owners. The BenQ GW2780 has a decent color gamut, reasonable color accuracy, and is bright enough for most rooms. The monitor’s 1080p resolution doesn’t look as sharp as it would on a 24-inch monitor, but that’s a compromise you’ll have to accept on this budget.

Unlike the smaller HP VH240a, the BenQ GW2780’s stand only adjusts for tilt. The monitor is VESA compatible, however, meaning it can be mounted on a variety of third-party stands, and it’s so inexpensive that it remains good value even if you budget a bit extra for that purpose. Also, because this BenQ has a larger 27-inch screen, the included stand sits the monitor at a usable height for most people under six feet tall.

Still, value is what gives this monitor the nod. The BenQ GW2780 is extremely inexpensive and cuts few corners to reach its affordable price.

• Screen size: 22 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 60Hz

This monitor from HP is teeming with value. Having stripped away almost all unnecessary extras, this small monitor boasts a high-quality IPS panel and 1080p resolution, which is an ample pixel density for its 22-inch screen.

While it's on the small side, 22 inches is a big step up from most laptop screens. Its crisp IPS panel and space-saving stand give it wide appeal for writing, coding, or browsing the web. Standing in as an upgrade from your laptop screen is likely where this generalist HP monitor will shine the brightest.

It's not the best choice for gaming with a native 60 Hz refresh rate. Also, this monitor’s stand only adjusts for tilt, and it’s not compatible with third-party stands.

This is the least expensive monitor we recommend, significantly undercutting our top pick, Samsung’s C24F390. We think the Samsung is well worth its price but, if you absolutely must keep your budget to a minimum, this HP will do the trick.

• Screen size: 15.6 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 pixels
• Refresh rate: 60Hz

The Uperfect 15.6-inch 1080p Portable Monitor (DS-15608) almost seems too good to be true. In a way, it is, but that doesn’t prevent it from being a pretty decent option for workers on the go. The display offers up a 15.6-inch IPS panel that’s got plenty of room and is easy to see. 1080p at this size gets the job done and doesn’t inflate the price like a 4K panel might.

If you’re just trying to get extra screen space for spreadsheets, text documents, or chat applications to the side of your laptop’s primary monitor, this display is up to the task. However, the claims of a 350-nit brightness, 2000:1 contrast ratio, and 100% sRGB color gamut didn’t hold up in our testing. You’ll want to stick to using this monitor indoors, and its limited color volume and contrast range won’t make it too useful for color-critical work or showcasing the beautiful graphics in games like Cyberpunk 2077 or films like Mad Max: Fury Road.

But at least the Uperfect 15.6-inch 1080p Portable Monitor offers a decent setup and nice flexibility. It has two USB-C ports, one for charging only and another that can handle a DisplayPort video feed as well as power. So, the monitor can run off a single cable connection.

There’s also a mini-HDMI port, which may be somewhat inconvenient, but at least Uperfect includes all three cables you might need in the box. It even includes a USB-C power adapter. The monitor has a magnetically attached folio cover that’s nice for protection, but it can be a bit tricky to set up. Awkwardly, there’s no distinct model name/number for this product, but this is the one we tested.

The Acer Nitro VG240YP keeps almost everything basic so it can deliver a 144Hz refresh rate with FreeSync support at this price point. It sticks to a compact 24-inch size, doesn’t go past 1080p, and doesn’t upgrade the brightness level beyond the typical 250-nits typically found at this price point. The buttons on the back don’t quite line up with the on-screen display (OSD), but at least it does use a directional joystick for some of the interactions.

But, it’s bright enough for a modestly lit bedroom gaming setup and looks good enough while gaming. We didn’t notice any ghosting or coronas while playing, so it’s managing a high pixel response time even without pushing into overdrive settings. That’s a boon for anyone looking to get a competitive edge in esports without needing an expansive budget for hardware.