Top chargers and power banks compared

About Top chargers and power banks compared

Picking a charger or a power bank means weighing the price at the shelf against what you rely on later. Entry prices in this category start at €5.25 and top out at €1,139.17, with the middle at €30.68. Cost does not follow capacity or power in a straight line, so this ranking lines up three levers: what a plan costs, what it includes, and where it runs. Output reaches 22,000 at the top end against a median of 145, and warranty has a median of 2 years and runs up to lifetime. A fourth lever is reach, since several sellers here list a single market. Every one of the 70 brands below is judged on those, and each entry says where it stands.

How we picked

Every brand here is scored on three axes. Cost carries 40%, what the offer includes carries 40%, and trust carries 20%. Cost and offer together decide most of the order, which is why a low entry price on its own does not lift a brand when the plan behind it is thin. Trust is the smallest slice and leans on warranty length, the support routes a reader can reach, and how widely the brand sells. Figures come from each brand's own published material: product collections for capacity, output and product types, warranty pages for cover length, support and contact pages for help routes, shipping pages for the markets served, and store listings for the lowest advertised price. Entry prices are reported as listed and kept apart from renewal terms, so the number shown is what a shopper meets first rather than a continuing charge. Partner brands are listed first, ahead of scored entries, and the rest follow on score. Yes or no facts are reported as such rather than scaled. Where a detail is not published, a brand gains no credit for it, and it is never held against the brand.

Our top picks

1. AM8. AGM Mobile

   AGM Mobile closes this ranking because its catalogue is phones rather than power. The product types are new and rugged phones, AGM Mobile prices start at $59.29, the warranty is 1 year, and support runs on email, help centre and community with no phone line. GaN is not offered and the market list is a single market. Set against PowerA, the brand ranked above, the difference is spec: PowerA pairs a 2 year warranty with controllers and gaming headsets, while AGM Mobile pairs its shorter cover with phones. Readers in this ranking who want stored power will find it at INIU and Anker, with power banks reaching 25,000 mAh and 27,000 mAh.

   • Price from: $59.29
   • Warranty: 12 months
   • Return window: 15 days

   Pros

   • Price from $59.29 puts AGM Mobile at 4 of 29 brands on entry price.
   • Handsets are sold unlocked and run Android, so there is no carrier lock to work around.
   • Cover is included: a 12 months warranty on phones and 1 year on audio and accessories.
   • The audio line adds noise cancelling earbuds with 30 battery hours and IPX7 water resistance.
   • One store covers phones, computers and audio, with free delivery at a $0 threshold.

   Cons

   • Returns run 15 days, placing AGM Mobile at 28 of 42 brands on the return window.
   • Support runs on email, help centre and community, and a voice line is not among those channels.
   • A 12 months warranty ranks 12 of 33, so cover sits in the middle of the field rather than above it.
   • The accessories line does not include Gan charging, which matters for anyone packing light.

What to look for

Entry price is the anchor

The middle entry price here is €30.68, the lower quartile €17.97 and the upper quartile €65.33. Read the lowest listing on a brand rather than a bundle, since that is the figure most people meet.

Output, and the GaN question

Typical top output is 145, with 100 at the lower quartile and 555 at the upper. GaN designs appear in 60.5% of the plans listed, so a compact plug can still handle laptop class power.

Warranty is the renewal cost

Cover has a median of 2 years and reaches 2 years at the upper quartile. A plan is only as good as the warranty behind it, so weigh cover length as part of what you pay over the life of the device.

Help you can actually reach

A help centre leads the support routes at 93.4%, with email at 85.2% and phone at 47.5%. Check the shipping page as well, because several sellers here list a single market.

Wireless pads and the rest of the basket

Wireless charging pads show up across the field, at 100% of the plans listed here. A brand that covers pads, cables and docks as well as plugs and power banks saves a second order, and a pad adds nothing to the output figures.

Frequently asked questions

Top chargers and power banks compared by country

• Australia
• Canada
• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

The data behind this ranking

All data and the CSV