Cheap AirPods Alternative with Noise Cancelling (UK)

Apple's AirPods 4 list at £119 on Apple's own UK store, and sell for less again on a good deal. That lower figure, not the list price, is the real number to beat. It's also worth knowing upfront that the base AirPods 4 don't come with active noise cancellation at all. You'd need the pricier ANC version, £169 from Apple, for that.

What "cheap AirPods alternative" usually gets wrong

Most searches for this land on generic, no-name earbuds from marketplace listings. There's no real brand behind them and the specs are hard to check. That's a real risk with wireless earbuds specifically, since fit, seal, and how well the noise cancelling actually works are hard to judge from a listing alone. A name you can actually look up matters more here than in most product categories.

Our pick of five

We list five sets below, all with real active noise cancelling, all cheaper than the ANC version of AirPods 4. They are not equally good, and we have said which is which rather than pretending every option is a winner.

Nothing Ear (a): £74.60 (was £82.99)

Nothing is a real, independently reviewed brand, not a mystery marketplace listing. It's known for a see-through, minimal design that draws obvious comparisons to Apple's own products. At £74.60, it beats even the best current UK deal on the base AirPods 4, and it comes with active noise cancelling, something the base AirPods 4 don't offer at any price.

Noise cancelling: Rated up to 45dB, a genuine ANC system rather than basic passive isolation. That puts it close to AirPods 4's separate £169 ANC version, at well under half the price.

Sound quality: An 11mm driver with dual vents. Hi-Res Audio runs up to 24-bit/96kHz over LDAC, on Android phones that support it. iPhone gets AAC instead. That still sounds solid, just not the full Hi-Res spec.

Battery life: This varies with your settings. Expect 6 to 9.5 hours per charge depending on whether ANC and the higher-quality LDAC codec are switched on, with the case stretching total playtime to around 42.5 hours. Leaving ANC on will noticeably cut into that number, which is true of most ANC earbuds, not just this pair.

Durability: The earbuds themselves are IP54-rated, giving real dust and splash resistance for the gym or a walk in light rain. The charging case is only IPX2 though, which means light splash resistance rather than proper water resistance, so don't submerge it.

Multitasking: You can pair to two devices at once, which is handy for switching between a laptop and phone without reconnecting each time. The base AirPods can't do this.

Pros:

• Cheaper than AirPods 4's best current UK deal
• Real ANC included as standard, not a paid upgrade
• Hi-Res Audio support and two-device pairing

Cons:

• Charging case is only lightly splash-resistant
• LDAC Hi-Res Audio doesn't work on iPhone
• Battery life drops noticeably with ANC switched on

Verdict: Cheaper than even AirPods 4's best current sale price, with ANC included as standard instead of locked behind a pricier tier.

SoundPEATS Air5 Pro: £67.99

The value pick, and the one that undercuts our main choice while adding a feature it does not have. Adaptive hybrid ANC with aptX Lossless, built on the same Qualcomm QCC3091 chipset as sets costing considerably more.

What reviewers say: The recurring praise is that the noise cancelling does not flatten the sound the way budget ANC usually does; if anything reviewers note the bass firms up with it switched on. The sound is described as warm and bass-forward, which suits pop and rock more than it suits classical. Nobody claims it beats Sony or Bose, and neither do we.

Pros:

• Cheaper than our main pick, with aptX Lossless on top
• ANC that reviewers rate as genuinely good rather than merely present
• Multipoint pairing and long battery life

Cons:

• Bass-forward tuning is not for everyone
• Occasional tinniness reported at the top end
• A less recognisable brand than Nothing or Anker

Verdict: The best value here if you want lossless audio and can live with a warm tuning.

soundcore P42i by Anker: £59.99

Anker's 2026 replacement for the popular P40i, and the safe choice if battery life matters more to you than anything else.

What reviewers say: Around 8.5 hours with ANC actually switched on, which is the number that matters, since most quoted figures assume it is off. Reviewers describe up to 55dB of noise reduction, a meaningful step up from the P40i, and a smaller, more comfortable fit. Anker is a known quantity with a real returns process, which counts for something at this price.

Pros:

• Battery life that comfortably covers a full working day with ANC on
• Bluetooth 6.1 and LDAC support
• A brand with genuine support behind it

Cons:

• Sound is punchy rather than neutral, typical of Anker
• No lossless codec, unlike the SoundPEATS
• Priced above the other Amazon-sold options here, and it moves about

Verdict: The one to pick if you want to charge them as little as possible.

AGM Buds 9: £39.99

The cheapest ANC set we list, by a wide margin. It comes with a touchscreen charging case and a claimed 40 hours of total playtime.

Be careful with this one. AGM makes rugged phones and is new to audio, and we could find almost no independent testing of this specific model. Everything above comes from the manufacturer's own specification, not from anyone who has measured it. That is exactly the situation this article warned about at the top, and we are including it because the price is genuinely low, not because we can vouch for it.

Pros:

• The lowest price here by a wide margin
• ANC, transparency mode and Bluetooth 5.4 on paper

Cons:

• Essentially no independent reviews of this model
• A brand with no track record in audio
• Claimed ANC figures are unverified

Verdict: A gamble at a low price. Fine if you want cheap earbuds and would not be upset if they disappoint. Not the one to buy if these are your only pair.

EarFun Air Pro 4: £79.99 (was £99.99)

The best reviewed set in this list, and the most expensive. Adaptive ANC up to 50dB, aptX Lossless, LDAC and Auracast, on the same Qualcomm chipset as the SoundPEATS.

The honest problem: our link goes to EarFun's own shop at £79.99, which is 20% off their £99.99 RRP but sits at the top end of this page. The same earbuds frequently sell for less on Amazon, where we earn nothing. We are telling you that rather than quietly taking the click. If you want these specifically, check both before buying.

Pros:

• The strongest independent reviews of anything here
• Lossless audio and 50dB adaptive ANC
• Auracast support, which nothing else on this list has

Cons:

• Among the priciest here, and rarely the cheapest place to buy it
• Often cheaper elsewhere than through our link
• Overkill if you mainly want something to take calls on

Verdict: The best earbuds in this list. Just buy them wherever they are cheapest on the day.

What you'd actually be giving up

Apple's ecosystem, instant pairing, Find My tracking and smooth switching between Apple devices are not things any third-party earbuds fully copy. If that's the real reason you want AirPods specifically, no alternative fully replaces it. But if what you actually want is good ANC earbuds at a fair price, that's a different, more answerable question, and it's the one this comparison is about.

Quick comparison

Every option in that table costs less than the ANC version of AirPods 4. The order between them shifts, sometimes weekly: the soundcore jumped by £15 the day after we listed it, which is exactly why the prices above are read live rather than typed in.

How we sourced this

The AirPods 4 prices came from TechRadar's live UK deals tracking, not a single shop's listing that might be out of date. We've also been specific about which AirPods 4 tier each price refers to, since the base and ANC models aren't the same product despite sharing a name.

The prices for our own picks are read from each retailer directly, so they move when the shops move them.

We have not tested any of these against each other, and we are not going to imply we have. What we can do is check what independent reviewers found, and be straight when we could not find any, which is why the AGM entry is flagged rather than quietly listed alongside the rest. We also chose the picks on merit rather than on what pays us. The cheapest option here earns us the least. The best reviewed one is a set we are telling you to price-check elsewhere.

Frequently asked

Do these work properly with an iPhone? Yes, over standard Bluetooth and AAC. The LDAC Hi-Res codec specifically is an Android feature. iPhone users still get full ANC, calls, and touch controls.

Is 45dB ANC actually noticeable, or just a number on a spec sheet? Real ANC at this level noticeably cuts steady background noise, like traffic, air conditioning, or office chatter, though no ANC earbuds fully block sudden sharp sounds like a door slamming. It's a genuine, working feature here, not marketing.

Is IP54 good enough for the gym? Yes, for sweat and light rain. It isn't rated for swimming. If you need that, you're looking at a different kind of earbud entirely, usually with a higher IP rating on both the buds and the case.

Is it worth paying more than the cheapest option? Usually, yes, though not always. The gap between the cheapest set here and the mid-priced ones is mostly certainty: at the bottom you are trusting a specification nobody has independently checked. Pay a bit more and you are buying earbuds several reviewers have actually used and written about, which for something that lives in your ears every day is worth the difference.

How does the touch control system work in daily use? Each earbud has a pressure-sensitive panel on the stem, used to play or pause music, skip tracks, answer calls, and switch listening modes. It takes a short adjustment period if you're used to a physical button, but most people get comfortable with it within a day or two.

The bottom line

The honest comparison isn't "cheap earbuds versus AirPods". It's "cheap earbuds versus what AirPods actually cost on a real deal". Against that real number, every set here comes out ahead on price, and all of them offer ANC that the cheaper AirPods tier doesn't have at all.

If you want one answer: the Nothing Ear (a) is still the best balance of price, reviews and features. If you want lossless audio for less, take the SoundPEATS Air5 Pro. If battery life is what you care about, the soundcore P42i. If you want the best of them and don't mind paying, the EarFun Air Pro 4, bought wherever it is cheapest that day.

For more picks like this, see our Fitbit Charge 6 alternative and budget mechanical keyboard comparisons. Our other audio and gadget picks are gathered under Electronics & Tech.