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The 5 Best Drones for Any Budget

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By Dean Blake - Guide

Published: 10 Dec 2024

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Photography has been changing pretty rapidly in the past few decades. Between smartphones essentially reinventing the point-and-shoot camera, to social media encouraging millions of people to become content creators in some fashion, our current world has a fascination with cameras.

But what if they could fly?

And even better, what if they could automatically track you as you walk through a beautiful environment, wirelessly picking up the audio on your attached microphone, allowing you to essentially have a one-man production studio?

Or, what if they could fit in the palm of your hand? Or soar through the air at impressive speeds, taking you on an aerial journey akin to a bird?

Well, it’s all possible, and we’ve collected all the best drones for each use case so that no matter what you’re looking for, you’ll find it here.

1. Best Overall: DJI Air 3S

If you’re after a fantastic drone that can do a bit of everything, DJI’s Air 3S is the best pick on the market right now. It brings together everything you could want from a drone in one neat little package. Great image quality? Check. Internal storage? Check. Decent battery life? Check. Quick charge time? Check,

It’s so good, in fact, that we’d really only recommend other options if you need something specific that the Air 3S doesn’t offer, DJI really know how to make a quality drone at this point, and the Air 3S is proof of that.

It features a dual-camera set up (like many phones now do) that enable it to take either wide-angle or telephoto shots, which can deliver footage wirelessly from up to 20km away. Pair that with DJI’s ‘ActiveTrack 360’ feature, which automatically keeps the subject in frame, and you have a powerful content creation device at your fingertips.

2. Best Mini Drone: DJI Mini 4 Pro

If you’re looking for something a bit on the smaller side, the DJI Mini 4 Pro delivers most of the features of its bigger brother in a more compact chassis. In fact, it packs a lot of the same capabilities into something far more portable: it’s about one-third of the weight.

In saying that, you’re losing quite a bit of internal storage, as well as the high-quality wide-angle and telephoto lenses. Instead, you’re getting a solid camera that can hit 4k60fps footage (more than enough for most people), and a shorter 30 minutes of flight time on the standard ‘intelligent flight battery’. If you want to grab the bigger ‘plus’ battery, you’ll get around 45 minutes of flight time for an extra ~$150.

The real deal-breaker for users here will be whether the camera fits their needs, as well as a preference on size and weight. The Mini 4 Pro does a good job of balancing those needs, but if you’re after higher-quality footage, you’ll probably need to jump up to another model.

3. Best for Video: DJI Mavic 3 Classic

While the Mavic 3 Classic may not be the top of the heap in DJI’s camera-oriented lineup (that crown goes to the Mavik 3 Pro), the Classic is about $1,000 cheaper, and delivers most of what any aspiring videographer would want.

The Classic can capture up to 5.1k footage, which is already pretty impressive, but it also does so through an Hasselblad-designed camera system. For those of you not in the know, Hasselblad is an iconic Swedish camera brand that consistently delivers incredible camera tech, and it made a custom 4/3 CMOS system made specifically for the Classic’s form factor.

If you’re someone looking to create some truly stunning video work, the Classic is an incredible piece of tech.

4. Best on a Budget: DJI Neo

The Neo is a new gamble by DJI to deliver something that can literally fit in the palm of your hand, while also giving you the absolute basics of what you’d want from an everyday drone.

It’s a lot cheaper than many of DJI’s other efforts, but you really are sacrificing a lot to get there. The camera is significantly downgraded to fit into such a small space, but it can still deliver up to 4k footage at 30fps. The Neo also has 22GB of storage built in, but no MicroSD card slot, so what you get is what you get.

We get the feeling the Neo is really built to be the brand’s entry-level model for most people to try out and, potentially, upgrade to a bigger and better model should the need arise. For most of us, the Neo will deliver all we really need, but people with more specific needs should really look elsewhere.

Related: See our review of the DJI Neo here.

5. Best for Thrill-seekers: DJI Avata 2

So you’ve seen all those cool videos online of people using drones to sweep through beautiful natural landscapes at high speed, and you want to recreate them yourself? Well, look no further.

The Avata is DJI’s answer to your prayers, and when paired with DJI’s wireless video goggles (which can be bundled together, thankfully), you’ll feel like you’re soaring through the skies from the comfort of the Earth. Keep in mind, though, that flying an expensive piece of technology at high speeds through areas you yourself can’t access does lead to quite a bit of risk, so try to not to wreck the Avata against a cliff or something or you’ll probably never see it again.

Still, there’s a burgeoning scene of drone racing that you could jump into if you’re that way inclined. Just don’t complain to us when your prized possession hits a tree at 20+ metres a second.

Related Story: DJI Mic Mini Review: Best Content Creator Mic Just Got Smaller