The M5 Apple Vision Pro is here, and while it brings the welcome improvements to performance we've been looking for, it's still $3,499. For me and (maybe) most of you reading this, that's a bank account destroyer of a price tag!
So what are the alternatives? Well it's not just another VR headset — if that's what you're looking for, I regularly test and rank the best VR headsets you can buy.
The quick list
Best overall Apple Vision Pro alternative
Quest 3 is easily one of the best VR headsets you can buy today — a comfortable, slick setup with impressive graphics performance, a ton of apps and games to play, and a supreme mixed reality experience. And now Meta is releasing a less expensive version — Quest 3s — with that device shipping in October.
Best AR glasses alternative to Apple Vision Pro
AR glasses have been steadily closing the gap with VR headsets, and the Xreal One Pro paired with the Beam Pro feels like the moment AR really takes the lead. You’re getting sharp OLED visuals, full-on spatial computing powered by the Beam Pro, and built-in Google Services so you can even watch your favorite shows offline. It’s a complete AR setup — and it costs just a fraction of what Apple’s charging.
Best gaming alternative to Apple Vision Pro
The ultimate combo breaker when it comes to gaming VR — a high-end headset with delicious display tech and great controllers, which is super simple to setup and play.
The best Apple Vision Pro alternatives you can buy today
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The best overall Apple Vision Pro alternative
There's a reason why the Meta Quest 3 is considered the best VR headset (with Apple Vision Pro coming in a close second place). The Quest 3 offers a lot of what Cupertino's headset offers at a fraction of the price.
It all starts with the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor and a 2K resolution per eye in the twin LCD lenses, which means a full 4K picture that is crisp, vivid and smooth thanks to the 90Hz refresh rate. Plus, based on user opinion (as Apple has not confirmed the specifics), but according to Nilay Patel at The Verge, the Quest 3 has a perceptibly wider field of view at 110 degrees.
There are some unsurprising shortcomings, such as the battery life coming in at under two hours, and the lack of mixed reality apps (at the time of writing) to make the most of that full-color passthrough.
But this continues to be a top headset choice that anyone will be happy they bought. Meta's years in this market means it has the biggest, broadest catalogue of apps, the Link cable opens up a world of PC VR games, and the $499 price tag gives you a huge saving of three bags over the Vision Pro.
If the Quest 3's $499 price is still too expensive, Meta just announced the Quest 3s, a lower-cost version of the headset. It runs on the same processor as the Quest 3, with less sophisticated lenses to cut the starting price down to $299. Quest 3s preorders start now, with the device going on sale October 15.
See our full Meta Quest 3 review.
The best AR glasses alternative to Apple Vision Pro
AR glasses are quickly becoming my favorite way to work and play on-the-go, and the Xreal One Pro are the best for a top quality display and spatial computing opportunities (courtesy of the Xreal Beam Pro).
Combine these two together and you've got an all-in-one entertainment and productivity powerhouse. Even the UI looks very much like VisionOS 26 in terms of the floating icons forming a home screen in front of you.
And the Beam Pro is packed with Google Play services — running on Android and customized for multi-screen usage within augmented reality space around you. What this means is two fold: you can take all of your content with your for full-screen viewing, and if you connect a bluetooth keyboard, you can work to your heart's content on any Google Docs you have.
Now, why the glasses? There are cheaper options for sure (given these are $649). But as of right now, these are the specs with the widest field of view, courtesy of those new screen prisms. Throw in the X1 chip built in, and you could connect these to your laptop and simulate a full 200-inch 32:9 ultrawide display in front of you.
Mirroring a MacBook screen is one of the biggest use cases of the Apple Vision Pro, and with One Pro, not only can you get more screen options, but they can do so in a package that's smaller and cheaper too!
See our full Xreal One Pro and Xreal Beam Pro review.
The best gaming VR headset
When it comes to gaming, there are some fun experiences on the Apple Vision Pro like Fruit Ninja, and the Meta Quest 3 has a deep library of titles too. But let's be honest, if your sole focus is going to be playing in immersive worlds, Sony's PSVR 2 is the clear choice for you.
From its drop dead gorgeous OLED display tech and fantastic controllers with the same haptic feedback in DualSense, to that ever-expanding ecosystem of PlayStation experiences and 3D audio support, you'd be hard pushed to find a better AAA gaming headset than this.
The PSVR 2's main obstacles come in the form of requiring a PS5 to work (that means you're spending over $1,000 to get this experience), and the Quest 3's game library is far more vast (with the option to play PC VR games through it too). But with the likes of Horizon Call of the Mountain and Gran Turismo 7's VR mode legitimately blowing me away, this is the ultimate alternative for gaming purists.
See our full PlayStation VR2 review.
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