DJI is the market leader in the drone world with drones suitable for absolute beginners to high-end professionals and everyone between. Known for ease-of-use and excellent performance, features and camera functionality, you're likely find the drone for you in this guide.
In this guide we cover all drone types including selfie, vlogging, mini models and prosumer drones. All offer excellent performance and no matter what budget you're working with, you'll find something to suit your requirements.
As always, when shopping for a drone, bear in mind its weight and make sure you do your research on any drone flying regulations in your country. Typically, if your drone weighs more than 250g, you'll need to register it with your local authority.
If you want to cast your net a little wider in your hunt for the perfect drone, take a look at our guide to the best drones, best camera drones or the best FPV drones.
The quick list
Best drone overall
The DJI Mavic 3 Pro's camera quality is amongst the best in the world when it comes to consume drones. This is also the first model to offer three cameras.
Best mid-range drone
This is an impressive drone with a dual-camera set up and a range of features and functionality that rival pro models.
Best affordable drone
For an entry-level drone, the Mini 4K offers some impressive features, including 4K video. It's a great choice for beginners or those on a budget.
Best drone for children
Thanks to how easy it is to use and its budget-friendly price, we think this is a great option for beginners and children alike.
Best entry-level drone
Reasonably priced and lightweight, we think the DJI Mini 3 is a great choice for a first drone.
Best single-camera drone
The Four Thirds Hasselblad camera on the DJI Mavic 3 Classic is seriously impressive, making this our favorite single-camera drone.
Best for simplicity
The DJI Neo is a cost-effective, small and lightweight drone that can be flown in four different ways so you can choose the option that's best for you.
Best for versatility
With the ability to use this drone for selfies, vlogging and as a camera drone, the DJI Flip can cover the creative needs of many drone pilots.
The best DJI drones we recommend in 2025
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Best drone overall
✅ You want to shoot high-quality: The DJI Mavic 3 Pro shoots up to 5.1K resolution, with framerates of 75fps. Phew. It's great for slo-mo, too, shooting up to 200fps at 1080p.
❌ You're a beginner: While this drone is easy to learn to use, it's very expensive. There are much better drones for newcomers offering great features for a lower price.
🔎 DJI Mavic 3 Pro: Undoubtedly the best DJI drone on the market, the camera quality here is second to none, and it offers the most professional experience for a consumer drone. ★★★★★
If you want the best of the best, you won't be disappointed with the DJI Mavic 3 Pro. It packs in a fantastic camera, professional functionality and a large suite of features that will suit almost all drone users.
In our DJI Mavic 3 Pro review, we sung the praises of the drone's camera capabilities. There are three cameras here: a 24mm Four Thirds Hasselblad, a 70mm medium telephoto camera and a 166mm telephoto. There's a great range of focal lengths covered, allowing you to get really creative when shooting. The Hasselblad is particularly impressive, with an adjustable aperture between f/2.8 and f/11.
The Mavic 3 Pro sports the standard folding design of the series making it more compact for storage and transportation. Also, being a flagship model, there are two smart controller options available in the kits so you can choose the controller that fits your needs and budget while enjoying a luxurious 5.5-inch touchscreen.
You'll get around 30 minutes of flying time per battery on a full charge, and we've found it incredibly intuitive and easy to fly despite its high-end credentials. There are a number of flight assistance functions that make flying a joy, like Advanced Return to Home, AirSense ADS-B, obstacle sensing and geofencing.
- Read our full DJi Mavic 3 Pro review.
Best mid-range drone
✅ You want excellent images: The cameras on this drone are excellent, particularly the main wide-angle camera.
❌ You don't want to have to register with the authorities: Since this drone weighs more than 250g, you'll need to register it the FAA or your local equivalent.
🔎 DJI Air 3S: This dual-camera drone offers fantastic image quality, and it's also a joy to fly thanks to its advanced features like collision avoidance. ★★★★½
Combing pro-spec features and two fantastic cameras, the DJI Air 3S sits snugly between the DJI Mini 4 Pro and the DJI Mavic 3 Pro. It also sits between the two drones in terms of price and power, so if you're looking for a mid-range drone with high-end features and functionality the Air 3S could be exactly what you're looking for.
In our DJI Air 3S review, we praised how versatile the drone's cameras are. There are two cameras on board: a 50MP 1-inch 24mm CMOS camera, and a a 48MP 1/1.3-inch 70mm telephoto camera. These allow you to take in a wider view with the wide-angle camera and safely capture more distant subjects with the telephoto.
It's a great choice for video, too. You can capture 4K up to 120fps and 1080p up to 240fps, so it's great for slow-motion videos. You can also capture with flat color profiles if you like to get more advanced with color grading in post processing. The same goes for stills: You can choose between Raw and JPEG formats.
Away from its camera functionalities, the DJI Air 3S is a joy to fly thanks to its wealth of advanced features. You'll find a forward-facing LiDAR to aid with night flying, advanced collision avoidance and impressive subject tracking capabilities.
- Read our full DJI Air 3S review.
Best affordable drone
✅ You only need a basic drone: This is a great budget drone that packs in all the features you need to record videos and capture photos, so if you don't need advanced features it's a great choice.
❌ You're pro level: This is an entry level drone, so it lacks the features of more expensive, advanced models that pro users will expect.
🔎 DJI Mini 4K: This is a fantastic drone for the price. It's one of the best budget options out there, with excellent image quality and flight performance. ★★★★★
If you're a beginner on a tight budget, look no further than DJI's best low-cost mini drone to date, the DJI Mini 4K. In our full DJI Mini 4K review, we were hugely impressed by this simple drone that combines ease of use and great performance with a highly affordable price.
But that's not to say this entry level drone is lacking: it's still capable of recording video up to 4K at 30FPS (and 1080p at 60FPS). It takes great photos, too, and you can shoot in RAW or JPEG formats. Considering the drone has a small sensor (12MP 1/2.3-inch CMOS) its photos are impressive and more than adequate for beginners and enthusiasts.
Flight performance is fantastic and is exactly what you'd expect from DJI. What's more, this great little drone offers Level 5 wind resistance, which is equal to 24mph, while flight times clock in at around 21 minutes per battery. For this reason, we'd recommend opting for the Fly More Combo that comes with three batteries.
Importantly, the DJI Mini 4K drone weighs 249g (8.7oz), which puts it under the 250g limit for needing to register with the FAA if you're flying for recreational purposes. If you're in the UK, though, you'll still need to register with the CAA, and we recommend checking your local requirements elsewhere in the world.
- Read our full DJI Mini 4K review
Best drone for children
✅ You're buying for kids: This easy to use and inexpensive drone is a great place for kids to start — and it's safe to fly indoors as well as in the back garden.
❌ You want high image quality: The DJI Ryze Tello only offers 5MP still images and 720p video, so you'll struggle to get truly impressive captures here.
🔎 DJI Ryze Tello: This is the cheapest drone in our guide, making it great for children or complete beginners. More experienced users will undoubtedly want more features, but for learning the ropes, it's a good place to start. ★★★★
The DJI Ryze Tello is an inexpensive and basic drone that's ideal for children and can be flown indoors, although you will need to take care. It's also a great option for adult beginners on a tight budget. The Ryze Tello can be controlled with a smartphone, via the accompanying app or a physical controller that can be purchased separately.
In our DJI Ryze Tello review we praised the drone's ease of use and said it was an absolute must for any beginner. It may be rather basic, but given its price point, it's a fantastic place to start — and it's a joy to fly with a few flying tricks up its sleeve to enhance your flying experience.
You can pick up this drone for around $100, and for that, you'll get a camera capable of taking 5MP stills and recording 720p video. That's very basic compared to more expensive drones on the market, but that's what helps keep the cost down. To learn the ropes, it's a great place to start — particularly considering there's no gimbal on the camera so you'll need to learn how to combine flight and image capture.
You'll only get around 13 minutes of flight time on a full charge of the Ryze Tello, but that's enough to maneuver around a small area and capture some video. What's particularly neat is that you can combine your flight with programming using Scratch, providing an extra learning opportunity for kids.
- Read our full DJI Ryze Tello review
Best entry-level drone
✅ You want an affordable beginner option: If you want something a little more advanced than the Ryze Tello but don't want to break the bank, the DJI Mini 3 is a great option.
❌ You want advanced flight features: This drone doesn't come with features like obstacle avoidance or subject tracking.
🔎 DJI Mini 3: The camera on the DJI Mini 3 is excellent, allowing you to capture some brilliant stills and video. But since it lacks some advanced flight features, it's not as smooth in the air as more expensive models. ★★★★
The DJI Mini 3 may be a basic beginner model, but it features the same impressive camera as the more advanced DJI Mini 4 Pro. It's a lot less expensive as you'd expect making it much more affordable for beginners, and the features on offer combined with impressive image quality will meet your requirements for years to come.
We love the camera on this drone. It provides an equivalent focal length of 24mm, with a 1/1.3-inch 12MP sensor and a f/1.7 aperture. It's capable of capturing some great images, especially considering it can rotate 90 degrees to capture in both landscape and portrait formats.
Video can be captured up to 4K 30 FPS in the Normal Color profile for straight out of camera footage. Quickshots automated flight patterns allow you to capture professional looking video at the touch of a button, while the 3-axis gimbal ensures videos are stabilized.
There's no collision avoidance, for example, and it doesn't feature subject tracking, which means that keeping sight of your target isn't easy. But these types of features come with a higher price tag, and keeping the DJI Mini 3 more basic is what keeps its price lower.
- Read our full DJI Mini 3 review
Best single-camera drone
✅ You want excellent image quality: This sports a fantastic Hasselblad 20MP camera, but with no additional cameras it keeps the cost down.
❌ You're a beginner: While this is a very easy drone to use, its price tag is prohibitive to beginners and those on a budget.
🔎 DJI Mavic 3 Classic: If you want the excellent image quality of DJI's top of the range drones but don't want to spend quite as much, this is a great option. It's still not cheap, but it's very capable and it's a pleasure to fly. ★★★★½
In previous generations, the Mavic line of drones featured a single camera, and with the DJI Mavic 3 Classic, that's exactly where we find ourselves again. Not every pilot requires three cameras, so the Mavic 3 Classic sports only a 24mm Hasselblad camera with a Four Thirds sensor. This high-quality camera is capable of capturing 20MP photos and videos up to 5.1K.
You can shoot either in JPEG or RAW, adjust the aperture between f/2.8 and f/11, and you can use a 3x digital zoom if you'd like too get closer to distant subjects. The resulting images are fantastic, although you have to be frugal with the digital zoom and as we discussed in more detail in our DJI Mavic 3 Classic review, we found the video capture to be second to none too.
You can shoot at up to 5.1K resolution at 50fps, and if you want to shoot slow-motion video you'll find you can shoot in 1080p at an impressive 200fps. If you want to be able to work with your videos in post-processing, you can shoot in Normal, HLG and 10-bit D-Log profiles, giving you plenty of options.
When it comes to controlling the DJI Mavic 3 Classic, you have two options. There's an included controller with a phone holder, or you can pay a little extra to get a smart controller with a built-in touchscreen. It improves the flight experience somewhat, but the basic controller does a decent job too.
While we wouldn't necessarily recommend this drone to beginners thanks to its price tag, it is a great place to start if you have the budget. It has plenty of advanced features like obstacle avoidance, ActiveTrack 5.0 subject tracking and Advanced Return to Home. All of those go a long way to make flying the drone an easy and pleasurable experience.
- Read our full DJI Mavic 3 Classic review.
Best for simplicity
✅ You're on a budget: The DJI Neo is available at an incredibly low price if you choose the base kit that relies on app control. You can also buy a kit with a controller for greater control.
❌ You'd like better image quality: You require a more stable drone: The Neo is a great subject tracking drone but it's not the most stable when used as a camera drone, so a dedicated camera drone would be a better option.
🔎 DJI Neo: The DJI Neo can be flown autonomously, with the DJI Fly app, as a camera drone and as an FPV drone. The automated subject tracking modes are excellent and the drone is a lot of fun as a result of the multiple control options. ★★★★
The DJI Neo is a beginner drone with a difference in that it can be flown in multiple ways, including autonomously. Use it as a selfie drone, a camera drone or an FPV drone using one of four control methods that are compatible with the drone including using just the drone itself.
Other controller options include the DJI RC-N3 Controller or it can be flown as an FPV drone when connected to DJI's FPV controllers and goggles. You can also fly the Neo manually using the on-screen controls in the DJI Fly app. Discover more about this impressive drone in our DJI Neo review.
The drone features a fairly basic camera that provides hybrid Image Stabilization thanks to the single-axis gimbal alongside Rocksteady and HorizonBalancing electronic stabilization. The results of this system are impressive and help to capture smooth video up to 4K 30 FPS. Photos can also be captured in JPEG format in either 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios, but it's video capture where the Neo excels.
The Neo features intelligent subject tracking modes that are highly effective and fun in equal measure. The drone features built-in propeller guards and 22GB of onboard storage.
- Read our full DJI Neo review.
Best for versatility
✅ You want a selfie/vlogging drone: With a host of intelligent subject tracking modes the DJI Flip can track you in several different ways. You can also record noise-cancelled audio when vlogging.
❌ You'd like better image quality: Image quality is good, but it's not as good as drones including the DJI Mini 3 and the Mavic 3 models.
🔎 DJI Flip: The DJI Flip is an interesting new type of drone from DJI that covers a range of different uses. It sits within the regulator-friendly sub 250 g category and features built-in propeller guards for the subject tracking side of its capabilities.. ★★★★
The DJI Flip is a unique drone and one that will appeal to beginners, enthusiasts and content creators. It can be flown independently without an app or controller, with the DJI Fly app or one of two controllers that are available in the kits. Learn more about what this versatile drone is capable of in our full DJI Flip review.
With its folding design, the Flip becomes a medium-sized drone when unfolded but manages to weight in at less than 250 g. This means it's less restricted than larger drones and can be flown for leisure without the need to register with the FAA.
The drone features built-in propeller guards for safety when the drone is being flown using its intelligent subject tracking modes. Plus, audio recording with the DJI Fly app when enabled, so you can record your voice while capturing video, or with the DJI Mic connected to your smartphone.
The Flip has a 3-axis gimbal for Image Stabilization while the camera can capture up to 4K 60 FPS video, alongside slow motion and vertical video. Video can be captured in Normal and D-Log M color profiles, while photos can be captured in JPEG and Raw formats.
- Read our full DJI Flip review.
The best DJI drones: Frequently asked questions
Which DJI drone models are best for beginners?
Sub-250g drones are a great option for beginners because they're small, lightweight and are less restricted than larger drones in most regions. This ultimately makes them easier to fly, and some models provide advanced features and professional camera functionality. We think the DJI Mini 3 or the Mini 4K are the best choices for beginners.
Are larger DJI drones unsuitable for beginners?
Sub-250g models may be recommended for beginners, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't buy a larger model if you have the budget. The Air 3 and Mavic 3 Pro models are just as easy to fly as the Mini models, but just remember that larger drones are subject to more rules and regulations. These can be checked for all drones on the FAA website in the US and the CAA website in the UK.
Do DJI drone kits include everything I need?
Most DJI drone kits, except for drone-only options, include everything you need to get started with flight, but Fly More Bundles offer additional useful accessories. You may need to register your drone or register yourself as a drone pilot with your country's aviation authority depending on the model you buy and the region where you live.
Should I buy a Fly More Bundle?
Fly More Bundles typically include an extra two batteries, additional spare propellers, a battery charging hub and a carry bag for the drone. So, for many people what's included is extremely useful. The Fly More Bundle is also usually less expensive than buying the included items separately.
Will I require any additional accessories?
You can fly perfectly well with just a drone, controller and smartphone if you don't have a smart controller, but there are accessories, such as landing mats, that are extremely useful. Check out our drones accessories gift guide for some handy recommendations.
How we test
All of our drones reviews are either done by expert staff or freelancers who have hundreds if not thousands of hours of flying time behind them. The drones you see in this guide have either been reviewed and selected by an expert who believes it should make the cut, or, by an expert who hasn't yet reviewed a model for us, but recommends it.
Here at space.com we have complete journalistic independence and we have a wide catalogue of drone reviews so you can rely on the recommendations and our judgement on the best DJI drones on the market.
Recent updates
February 25, 2025: This guide has been completely reworked to include six current DJI drones. All information has been rewritten and a 'quick list' has been added.
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