Best pen displays to get in 2025 (from all I've reviewed)

Submitted by  Teoh Yi Chie on  December 25, 2025 - 12:00 pm

I have reviewed too many pen displays in 2025 and listed below is a quick overview of my personal recommendations. The pen displays are grouped by price, which also affects the size you can get.

My recommendations only covers pen displays, not portable drawing tablets such as iPads, Samsung tablets, etc.

What's a pen display?
A pen display is a monitor has to be connected to a computer so that you can use desktop drawing software.

A pen display is not a portable tablet even though some are really thin. There's no built-in battery and there's no OS. Many do not have touchscreens.

General recommendation
My general recommendation is to get a pen display that's at least 13-inches or larger, preferably a 15-inch. My recommendations is not exclusive to pen displays released in 2025 but older models too, which can provide very good value for money since prices have come down.

Pen displays are used with desktop software which are designed for larger displays. UI for desktop software aren't optimised for smaller displays, so the user experience won't be as good, more specifically productivity may be affected. E.g. You can show more tools on a larger display but if you do so on a smaller display, you're left with an even smaller drawing area.

Prices listed below are the most recent, and are often lower than the official retail or launch price.

Do me a favour: If you have intention to buy any product, consider making your purchase through my affiliate links (from the full reviews) to support my blog and help me put out more reviews. I get to earn some commission but at no extra cost to you.

USD 100 to 200

Here's the rare gem that I always recommend to people with limited budget.


The UGEE UE16 (review) was released in 2024 and is one of the best no-frills budget pen display. Official retail price is USD 200 but at the time of writing this, it's just USD 160 on Amazon USA.

The display is reasonably colour accurate (after calibration) and bright enough. Pen performance is good. The main thing to know is the matte screen protector may develop scratches with usage over time. The matte screen protector can be replaced though but there's the hassle of finding a replacement.

UGEE may not be a popular brand compared to other companies, but it's actually the parent company of the more popular XPPen. Some UGEE pen displays can also be used with XPPen drivers.


XPPen Artist 12 3rd with X4 Smart Chip Stylus is an 11.9-inch pen display released in late 2025 priced at USD 239, but usually can be found at a lower price, e.g. USD 190 on Amazon USA.

The build quality feels plasticky but the display looks good and pen performance is fantastic. The display uses matte glass so you don't have to worry about scratches developing with usage.

The main downside or limitation is just the small size.

USD 200 to 300


In this price category, we are looking at mid-range 12 to 16-inch pen displays. Pen displays have gotten much better over the years so even mid-range pen displays are really good nowadays.

Options to consider are

My recommendation goes to the Huion Kamvas 13 (gen 3) because it has great pen performance, display is brighter than the other and has good colour accuracy, and there are hotkeys and even two dials, and the pricing is quite affordable. The display uses matte glass so you don't have to worry about scratches.

If you want something bigger, consider the XPPen Artist 16 (gen 2).

I've not tested the Wacom One 14 yet, but you can read more reviews on Amazon.

USD 300 to 400

Options are

I recommend the XPPen Artist Pro 14 (gen 2). I'm a big fan of the 16:10 aspect ratio. Pen performance is good and the display uses matte glass.

If you want something larger, consider the XPPen Artist 22 (gen 2) which is probably the best value large pen display. Only downside is it uses a matte screen protector instead of matte glass.

USD 400 to 600

There are many good options here.

If you want the best pen performance, go with the Huion Kamvas 16 (gen 3) which is probably one of the best 16-inch pen displays for 2025. I kinda prefer the XPPen Artist Pro 16 (gen 2) though because of its 16:10 aspect ratio.

If you want something larger, go with the XPPen Artist Pro 22 (gen 2) which is better than the XPPen Artist 22 (gen 2) because the more expensive model has higher 1440P resolution and uses a matte glass display. But if you don't want to spend that much, just go with the Huion.

USD 600 to 800


We can see some premium options now.

The XPPen Artist Ultra 16 has almost all the features any artist can ask for. The display is a 16-inch 4K OLED touchscreen with matte glass. Official retail price is USD 899 but this can be found selling at USD 699 occasionally and that to me is good value.

If you want something larger, consider the XPPen Artist Pro 19 (gen 2). I like this pen display a lot. It's big but not too big.

I've not tested the Wacom Cintiq 16 (2025) but I've heard very good things about but.

USD 800 to 1000

The Huion Kamvas Pro 24 (4K) from 2021 and XPPen Artist Pro 24 (gen 2) 4K from 2025 are actually comparable so it's difficult to say which one is better.

USD 1000 to 1500

This is between Huion and Wacom. They are very comparable so it's difficult to say which is better conclusively. Both companies offer touchscreen options but touch works better with Windows than with MacOS. Huion has 4K resolution while Wacom has 1440P but that's still considered high resolution enough for me.

It's a tough choice here.

USD 1500 and above

The Wacom Cintiq Pros with 10-bit 4K 120Hz touchscreen IPS LCDs and Wacom Pro Pen 3 are really expensive, but they also are top of the line products with almost everything. Some may argue that Wacom should have included OLED displays at those prices, but a good LCD can still look great, and you don't have to worry about PWM flickering with OLED displays.

If you want value for money, the Huion Kamvas Pro 27 (144Hz) is selling at USD 2199 vs Wacom's USD 3599. You can expect fantastic pen performance and amazing display quality from Huion too, at touchscreen.

Conclusion

If someone were to ask me what are the pen displays I would recommend, these are the ones I'll recommend off the top of my head:

The best value for money option will be the UGEE UE16 and XPPen Artist Pro 22 (gen 2).

Tags
pen display
xp pen
huion
wacom
xencelabs
tech reviews

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