Jun 23, 2024 11:03 AM

The Best Pickleball Paddles for Beginners and Pros

Paddles are getting more sophisticated and expensive. We’ve tested dozens over the past year to find our favorites.

Gear for playing pickleball paddles balls bag for paddles and machine that launches balls for practice swings

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Hand holding small rounded racket with black and white design on a pickleball court

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The sport of pickleball—which can be described as a cross between tennis and badminton, played with a hard plastic ball—is less than 60 years old, having been invented near Seattle in 1965. For most of that time, paddles were made of laminated wood and were mostly found in gym classes and retirement communities. But pickleball has exploded in popularity in the past few years, and with that newfound popularity comes an arms race with paddle makers in a quest to make the best pickleball paddles. Paddles are improving, too. The new 2024 paddle offerings I've been testing over the past few months show marked improvement from the 2023 class I tested last summer.

I’m not an expert player, but I’ve been testing paddles while playing against friends and my daughter at indoor and outdoor pickleball courts over the past year. I've also started testing the paddles using a Slinger pickleball machine that I'll be writing a full review of very soon. (This has been helpful, as the machine shoots harder and with more spin than anyone I play against.) After playing with dozens of paddles—and having players of various skill levels try them and share their thoughts—I feel confident that this guide has a paddle recommendation for you, whether you're a beginner or a pro pickleball player.

Updated June 2024: We've got a new favorite overall paddle, added two alternative paddles for power hitters, added a pick for kids, added a ball machine, and removed several discontinued paddles from past seasons.

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Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Best Pickleball Paddle Overall
Selkirk Vanguard Control Invikta
Selkirk is a wildly popular paddle maker, but if you read a previous version of this guide you'll know I was not a huge fan of the higher-end paddles in the lineup after testing dozens of models from past years.
This has all changed with the Selkirk Vanguard Control Invikta, which is the best all-around paddle I've used and the one I'd recommend to anyone who doesn't demand the ability to hit huge overheard smashes—the Invikta is not thermoformed and doesn't have quite the same power as paddles that are. (Thermoformed paddles are molded with heat and injected with foam, while traditional paddles are made by stacking up layers like a sandwich.)
What the Invikta offers, however, is exceptional control and consistency. This paddle is shockingly well balanced and feels great in the hand, thanks to Selkirk's upgraded octagonal grip. Every time you swing the Invikta, the hit feels like you expect it to feel and the ball goes exactly where you expect it to go. It's especially nice to have confidence in that consistency while developing more spin (I was a practitioner of the now-banned spin toss serve and I'm still in rebuilding mode), because you don't have to worry about a goofy bounce from a dead spot caused by a botched thermoforming process. The Invikta does offer impressive spin, thanks to a T700 raw carbon face and a larger-than-average sweet spot.
★ Also consider: I still really like the Omega Evolution Extreme X, which was our previous top pick. Like the Invikta, it won me over with its consistency. The Omega offers excellent ball control with a large sweet spot and an impressive spin. The edges are livelier than other paddles, including the Invikta, meaning it’s more forgiving if you miss the sweet spot. The Invikta has more power, though, and feels even more balanced.
$200 at Amazon
$200 at Selkirk
Photograph: Amazon
Best for Beginners
Panel Sound Pickleball Paddles (Set of 2)
If you've never played pickleball, this is a good place to start, so you can get a feel for the game without sinking too much dough. For less than $30, you get two paddles, a few balls, and, bizarrely, two cooling towels.
I bought this set of Panel Sound paddles when I wanted to try the game with my 9-year-old daughter, who has taken five years of tennis lessons but still serves from a few steps inside the baseline. I have since upgraded to other paddles, but I have no regrets about this purchase and now loan them out to other beginners. These graphite paddles don't have a ton of pop and produce minimal spin, but they're sturdy and have a comfortable grip. While they don't offer a lot of power in each hit, they do perform consistently. They weigh in at 8 ounces and are USA Pickleball Approved (USAPA), meaning you can use them in a tournament if you want. The other paddles on this list are all tournament-approved as well, so sign up for any contest you want with confidence.
★ A beginner upgrade: The SLK Evo Power XL 2.0 is the paddle I bought myself from a big-box sporting goods store after a few times playing with the cheap set off Amazon. I bought this paddle based on its excellent feel and still love swinging it. Selkirk bills this paddle, which has a fiberglass face, as an ideal pick for beginners and pickleball-curious tennis players. Indeed, the balanced weight distribution means it performs more like a tennis racket than any other paddle I’ve tried. That said, the Evo doesn’t offer the kind of spin you see from higher-end paddles.
$27 at Amazon

Photograph: Amazon
For Aspiring Spin Doctors
Pro XR T700 Raw Carbon
Pickleballs are cousins to wiffle balls. If you grew up playing backyard baseball, you probably remember that the holes in the plastic balls allowed them to spin in unpredictable ways when thrown or hit correctly. The same is true of pickleball, where a skilled player with the right paddle can put a lot of spin on the ball and cause problems for an opponent. A serve with spin is so much harder to return that the official rules of the game now ban players from swirling the ball during a drop serve.
I will not claim to have mastered topspin and backspin. But the Pro XR paddle got me interested in developing the skill. The paddle is made with T700 raw carbon, which is known for producing “filthy” knuckleball-type hits with tons of spin. But the biggest difference is the unique slanted XR-23 handle, which has a 23-degree tilt at the bottom. That tilt changes your grip in a way that claims to promote hitting with spin. Everyone who tried the paddle felt a tendency to pull the ball with some spin, though it’s hard to say whether this was a direct result of their grip or just being conscious of the difference.
$210 at Amazon
Photograph: Joola
Best for Power Players
Joola Ben Johns Persus 14 mm
Joola is a relative newcomer to the pickleball game, having started as a table tennis brand. I've tested a half-dozen paddles from the past two seasons of gear made by the Maryland-based company, including a unique round frame paddle more closely modeled on a tennis racket and several from the series made for pro pickleballer Ben Johns, the reigning number one singles player in the world.
This paddle is thermoformed, meaning it's heat-pressed together and virtually indestructible. It’s a little heavy on the head and delivers the most power of any paddle I tested. Everyone who tried this paddle found it not that forgiving, which makes sense given it was designed for an advanced player. The sweet spot is toward the top of the paddle face and isn’t especially large. Whack one right on the money and the ball jolts off it. For a player without great control, it’s easy to hit too hard. However, this paddle was especially appreciated by my friend Danielle, who injured her rotator cuff a few months back and is changing the way she plays as a result. “Coming off a shoulder injury, it was nice because I barely had to work and I felt like I had a ton of pop,” she says.
★ More control and style: The Ben Johns paddle is absolutely the best bet for serious power, but I might personally prefer the Mach 1 Forza, a similar thermoformed paddle that doesn't have quite the same giddy-up but does have slightly more control and an understated style. The Mach 1 Forza comes in the slickest packaging I've yet encountered from a pickleball paddle (is this box my new iPad?), and I really love the black and baby-blue design. It's not as accurate as the nonthermoformed paddles or as powerful as the Johns, but it's a solid all-around bet.
★ Budget mashing: If you want to mash balls, but on a budget, go for the Phantom Eternal. A carbon-fiber face for $85 is a great bargain, and the Phantom Eternal is overall a very solid paddle. I didn't find it all that precise compared to competitors that are more than double the price (there are dead spots at the top of my paddle, around the eyes). However, I loved the thick, slightly sticky grip and appreciated the unique graphics. Mostly, though, I found myself swinging for the fences with this paddle—something about it makes you feel like you can smoke a return right next to your opponent's foot.
~~$250~~ $195 at Amazon
$200 at Walmart

Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Best Sounding
Joola Tyson McGuffin Magnus 3
Joola not only has the top-ranked player in the world but also number six, Tyson McGuffin. What I love about the McGuffin signature paddle is the sound. You may know that the sound of a pickleball game is quite controversial. I happen to like the sound (I do not live next to a pickleball court), and I like the sound of this paddle best of all. The hot-pink McGuffin paddle is one of the hottest on the market right now and frequently out of stock. It's a banger, using “Propulsion Core technology” that offers serious power, and I find myself too often hitting long with it. However, that sound. Pawwwwp. It's so satisfying. Pawwwwp. It sounds like a well-hit baseball by your favorite team to walk off in the bottom of the ninth.
~~$280~~ $222 at Amazon
Photograph: Recess
Most Stylish
Recess Pickleball Paddle
Recess pickleball paddles are known for their unmatched style—these are the prettiest paddles in the game. They come in a wide variety of colorful patterns and have great grips with plenty of cushioning made from faux leather. They also come with an embroidered canvas cover.
With a gritted fiberglass surface over the standard polymer honeycomb core, they do not offer quite the same performance as the high-end carbon-fiber pickleball paddles. Recess paddles do seem to have a smaller sweet spot than some other brands. However, when you play a shot well, this paddle is excellent. I’ll take the satisfaction of a well-played ball hit with a stylish Recess paddle over almost anything on this list.
$85 at Amazon
$86 at Anthropologie

Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Best for Kids
Pickle Genius
Because I'm always testing new paddles, I usually roll up to the courts with about $2,000 worth of high-end paddles in my Babolat bag. My 9-year-old daughter can pick any paddle she wants, and the one she likes best is this $60 paddle from Pickle Genius. At 13 millimeters, it's a little thinner than most paddles here, which means she can swing faster and harder. It has a very neutral feel, mid-grade pop, and a simple and friendly design.
$60 at Amazon
Photograph: Amazon
Ball Out
Slinger Pickleball Machine
We loved the tennis version of the Slinger Ball Machine (9/10 WIRED Recommends) when we tested it a few years ago, and we love the new pickleball version almost as much. This Slinger looks like a large rolling suitcase but serves the same function as a traditional ball machine. Just roll it to the baseline, adjust the angle until you've got the placement you want, and it will fire away balls so you can practice your returns. The Slinger holds up to 92 pickleballs and can fire them at various angles and up to 45 mph.
The Slinger can help you quickly improve your game without needing to persuade anyone else to play, which is why I frequently get approached by retirement-age pickle addicts. The Slinger also has an adjustable spin setting, and I've found it can put more movement on the ball than any player I've faced, which is helpful for practice.
There are a few minor cons: The remote is frustratingly just a tad bit too weak to reliably click from the return position, and the design means that you need to haul the spinning base in separately because it's just a few inches too wide to stuff inside the Slinger's pouch. Still, this is a great practice tool for pickleballers and one of the rare gadgets that can replace your friends and family!
$985 at Amazon
$850 at Slinger

Photograph: Fitbit
Pick(le) Your Paddles
Fitbit Versa 3
What size paddle do you need? Pickleball paddles are restricted by a size formula similar to the one airlines use: The paddle can’t be longer than 17 inches and the combined length and width of the paddle cannot exceed 24 inches. A standard paddle is 16 inches long and 8 inches wide, but some elongated paddles use the full 17 inches and tend to have more power than wider options. There is no restriction on the thickness of the paddle; thin paddles can be about one-third of an inch thick, while thick paddles can be up to three-quarters of an inch thick.
What does “pop” mean? You'll see me using this term a few times in this guide. Pop is the pickleball parlance for how aggressively the ball bounces off the paddle face—you can think of it as an analogue to how "bouncy" a basketball is.
Are they heavy? There is no rule about a pickleball paddle's weight, but almost every paddle hovers around 8 ounces. I went out of my way to test the biggest range of paddles I could find and ended up testing paddles that were within about an ounce of each other. Light paddles tend to be about 7.5 ounces, whereas heavyweight paddles are about 8.5 ounces. More important is the distribution of that weight—paddles that offer more power tend to be top-heavy. I prefer paddles with a balanced feel.
Are they all the same shape? Pickleball paddles tend to look fairly similar shapewise. In my testing, I tried several outliers, including a Joola paddle with a rounded shape more like a tennis racket, and several Selkirk paddles with a cutout between the paddle face and handle designed to minimize air resistance. I think the standard shape is still best.
What are they made of? Old-fashioned wooden paddles still exist, but inexpensive fiberglass paddles are how I started playing. You can nab a beginner set for $30 (see “Best for Beginners”), and it could be six months before you feel the need to upgrade. That said, the paddles recommended here tend to have a carbon-fiber face, which is stiff and light, offering lots of pop. I also tested some graphite paddles, which are cheaper, heavier, and softer than carbon fiber. If your budget doesn’t allow you to start with carbon fiber, I’d recommend starting with cheap fiberglass and then jumping to carbon fiber. Note that when I mention materials, I mean what's used for the face of the paddle—nearly all paddles have a similar honeycomb-shaped polymer core. Pricier paddles tend to cut that core in a way that creates even gaps on the edge and use heat-pressing to seal the face to the core.

Martin Cizmar is the tech category director for the WIRED Reviews team. He specializes in testing mattresses, grills, terrestrial TV antennas, and other large, cumbersome items. Previously he was the editor in chief of Kansas City magazine, a senior editor at Raw Story, an editor at alternative weeklies in Portland... Read more

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