You don’t have to break the bank to start getting serious with playing tennis. There are several cheap tennis ball machines that do the job well and are great for those who are just starting out and seeing if tennis is for them. In this we’ll break down the best cheap tennis ball machines in the market today and maybe you’ll find one that fits your needs.
What To Look for in When Choosing a Tennis Ball Machine
We’ve talked about this in our best tennis ball machines article, but basically you’d want a tennis ball machine that is easy to use, transportable, durable, and reliable. Of course because we are talking about the cheaper end of the spectrum of tennis ball machines, you’d also need to manage your expectations and factor in that this price point will really offer a fairly limited feature set compared to their more expensive counterparts.
That said, most of the tennis ball machines in this list will really just offer a straightforward feature set of throwing balls at various speeds, heights, and feed rates. These are all great for beginners but any player level can benefit with these in the tennis court to help them practice their game.
Our Top Cheap Tennis Ball Machine Picks
Here are our top tennis ball machine picks for the budget-conscious:
- Spinshot Lite
- Sports Tutor Tennis Twist
- Sports Tutor Tennis Cube
- Slinger Slam Pack
- AnBT Tennis Machine
- Sports Tutor Multi-Twist
- Lobster Elite Liberty
- Scifanta Portable Tennis Ball Tosser
- Sports Tutor ProLite
Spinshot Lite
Spinshot Lite
$$$- Very lightweight and portable
- Easy to use
- Longer battery life
- No drills configurations, or oscillation – program to shoot balls in one place at a time
- No remote control or mobile app
- Smaller ball capacity
The Spinshot Lite takes our top pick for a budget tennis ball machine. As a Spinshot offering, you get the benefits of their signature durable green metal construction and the relatively reliable on-court performance as a budget machine.
Because it has the least features in Spinshot’s lineup, this comes at an advantage as this makes it very easy to use. It also has a relatively long battery life that’s great for beginners and intermediate players to practice their swings and build muscle memory.
Sports Tutor Tennis Twist
- Very compact and light
- Can be set up and used in any open area
- Great for kids and beginners
- Can be used for baseball toss practice and dog ball fetching
- Lacks any advanced features
- Relatively low ball capacity
The Tennis Twist is Sports Tutor’s budget entry that’s great for beginners. With a fixed oscillation feed rate, and speed settings, you can set this up on the same side of your court as it makes a more effective ball tosser to feed balls. It can also be used for baseball tossing practice and dog ball fetching exercises.
Its lightweight build makes it very easy to set up anywhere and anytime. You can use this in garages, and adequately open sized areas. You can even set this up in a relatively large open basement space.
Again, for its price point, it offers very limited features; it lacks any programmed drills and it doesn’t have any other special features like oscillation, elevation adjustments and the likes. But it does have its unique charms which might be exactly what you’re looking for.
The Tennis Twist is also available in OnCourt OffCourt.
Sports Tutor Tennis Cube
- Start time delay
- Comes with a Smart battery charger
- Lightweight build for easy transport
- Horizontal oscillator optional
- Relatively short playtime of 2 hours
Sports Tutor makes its way in the list again with the Tennis Cube. Much like its Tennis Twist sibling, it features a lightweight design which makes it very easy to transport. This does boast a bit more advanced feature set with an adjustable elevation level and an oscillator plate (that’s sold separately) which can help you get coverage on the court in your practice sessions.
The Sports Tutor Tennis Cube is also available in OnCourt Offcourt.
Slinger Grand Slam Pack
- High-quality durable plastic and textile build
- Doubles as a bag to hold racquets and personal stuff
- Relatively short charge time compared to other ball machines
- Has a USB port to charge phones and personal devices
- No programmed drills
- Oscillator platform is a detachable accessory that might be a hassle to bring
The Slinger Bag or Slinger Launcher (as part of the Slinger Slam Pack product bundle) is the flagship offering of up-and-coming tennis equipment brand Slinger. It’s a tennis ball machine that doubles as a bag to hold your personal belongings and tennis gear all in one bag.
It also features a USB Type-A port so you can charge your phone and gadgets (so long as the battery has extra juice) and a phone holder where you can place your phone and set it to record a video for when you want to monitor your practice sessions.
Check out this article for a more in-depth review.
Honorable Mentions
We’re also including other cheap tennis ball machines that we haven’t previously mentioned before so you can have more budget options.
AnBT Tennis Machine
- 4 throwing distances setting
- Has 2 power supply methods: plug-in and battery
- Fixed ball rate and height settings
The AnBT Tennis Machine features 4 adjustable throwing distances at which can feed you balls every 4 seconds. Like the Twist, it functions better as a feeding partner where you can set this up on the same side of your court rather than setting this up on the opposite side.
It comes in a AC-battery hybrid where you can plug this in for use or insert 4 Type D batteries that can easily last you a few hours of practice.
Sports Tutor Multi-Twist
- Basically like the tennis twist but can accommodate other ball types
- Can hold and throw 29 regular, green, orange Quick Start balls; 24 red QS balls, and pickleballs
The Multi-Twist is basically the younger sibling of the Sports Tutor Tennis Twist that basically can just handle more ball types. While the Tennis Twist can handle 29 regular tennis balls, the Multi-Twist can accommodate the number of green, orange Quick Start balls, 24 red Quick Start balls and pickleballs.
The Multi-Twist is also available in OnCourt OffCourt.
Lobster Elite Liberty
- Lightweight and easy to store
- Great for beginners
- Relatively long charge time
- No programmable drills
The Elite Liberty is our top budget pick for the Lobster tennis ball machine line. It’s their most basic product offering and can throw at most a 70 mph topspin and backspin ball. It comes with a random horizontal oscillation feature that most of the tennis ball machines in this price range don’t really offer.
The Elite Liberty is also available in the OnCourt OffCourt store.
Scifanta Portable Tennis Ball Tosser
- Holds up to 10 balls; extendable to 30 with additional ball stackers
- 4 seconds ball rate
- 4 different ball feeding adjustments
- Lightweight at 1.9 kg (4 lbs)
- Lightweight, portable, and easy to set up
- Can be used more effectively as a ball feeder
- Holds very little balls; additional stackers sold separately
The Scifanta Portable Tennis Ball Tosser is practically the cheapest tennis ball machine in this list. As the name suggests, it’s more of a tosser than a thrower; it can toss balls in a variable 5-10 feet which can be manually set. The default machine can only hold just 10 balls but you can get at most 12 additional ball stackers to increase the ball capacity it can hold.
Sports Tutor ProLite
- Relatively has a lot of features for the price point
- Holds a lot of balls for longer, consistent practice sessions
- Oscillator and remote sold separately
- A bit bulky and heavy
Sports Tutor’s ProLite is in the list as one of our top picks for budget tennis ball machines. It features a 125 ball capacity–the most any ball machine of this price point can hold. The base variant comes around just under $1000 in OnCourt OffCourt but the price can jack up a bit with the oscillator and the Air Pedal foot-operated remote that are sold separately.
Final Thoughts
Getting a cheap tennis ball machine can be pretty helpful especially when you’re trying out and when you have to play or practice alone. For beginner to intermediate players, you can get away with just investing in a cheap machine to help you build muscle memory and only consider investing in a more expensive tennis ball machine when you feel you’re ready to move up.
The Scifanta Portable Tennis Ball Tosser is the cheapest in the list you can really get started with it as a feed partner. The Lobster Elite Liberty and the Spinshot Lite offer more for this price point while the Sports Tutor ProLite relatively has the most features for a budget tennis ball machine option.
Post last updated on January 13, 2023