Discover Your Ideal Pickleball Paddle in Under 60 Seconds

4 min readApr 10, 2024

The growing popularity of Pickleball has fueled an explosive growth in Pickleball equipment, and paddles are no exception. As a result, players in the market for a paddle are confronted with an overwhelming amount of choice.

Given the avalanche of options, how can players efficiently navigate the paddle marketplace, short of spending hours online doing research?

Search Simplified

Recently, an online tool has become available (i.e., a paddle database) that will do the heavy lifting for you.

Here’s how it works:

step 1: open tool
step 2: select features of interest
step 3: review results

To highlight its power and convenience, let’s use the tool to conduct a search, where we ask it to list all paddles in its database that have the following characteristics:

shape: elongated
thickness: 16mm
grip length: 5.5mm or longer
face material: raw carbon fiber
price: $175+

Given this criteria, the tool returns 12 paddles that fit the bill. These can be further narrowed by adding or amending filters.

Ranking Pickleball Companies

The paddle field is (over) crowded, with the number of competing brands nearing 40.

For a birds-eye view of the competitive landscape and its key players, refer to the rankings below.

For best results, leverage the search tool in conjunction with company rankings when making a buying decision.

Vatic Pro (among other brands) uses an advanced production process called thermoforming.
With thermoforming, instead of paddle layers being stacked and glued together like a sandwich, the entire paddle is made with a one piece construction. This is done by adding a thin layer of carbon fiber around the edge of the paddle that essentially welds the two facing layers together.
Benefits of thermoforming include increased power, reduced vibrations, improved sweet spot at the throat of the paddle along with improved strength at the throat, which makes it hard to break the paddle at the neck.

Company Rankings

S is the highest ranking and best position to be in
then it descends to A, B, C and lastly F

S Tier

Vatic Pro, Six Zero, Ronbus

A Tier

Electrum, Joola, Volair, Selkirk, Pickleball Apes, Pro Kennex

B Tier

Gearbox, CRBN, Adidas, Engage, Hudef, Legacy, Oya, Diadem, Spartacus, ProXR, Bison, ProDrive, Bread & Butter, GRUVN

C Tier

Head, Onix, Vulcan, XSPAK, Yonex, PaddleTek, Gamma, Ace, Revolin, PikNinja

F Tier

Wilson, Franklin, Niupipo

Paddle Features

When it comes to paddles, brand name and price are just the starting points.

In addition, there is an array of features to consider, including paddle shape, weight, grip length, grip thickness, face material, as well as core material and core thickness.

Shape

options include: wide-body, standard, elongated, and tear drop
tennis players tend to gravitate towards the elongated shape, given its geometric proximity to a tennis racquet

Weight

standard range: 7.5 — 8.5oz

Grip Length

standard range: 4.25 — 6.0in
players with a two-handed backhand should consider a longer grip (5.5 inches plus)

Grip Thickness

standard range: 4.0 — 4.75mm

Face Material

options include: fiber glass, graphite, carbon fiber, raw carbon fiber
carbon fiber is a favorite because its strong yet light

Raw carbon fiber paddles: offer a rough, textured surface, without extra coatings like heavy graphic designs, thus helping players generate more spin.
Carbon Fiber Grades (T300, T700, T800): grades show how much carbon is in the fibers. More carbon means more strength but can also mean the paddles are more likely to break (T700 typically offers the best mix of durability and performance).