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Your laptop never has enough ports—especially if it's the Macbook Air this guide was written on. You can carry around an array of dongles to plug everything in, or you can nab one of these USB hubs. Hubs expand the number and kind of ports available from one device so you can cut down on the clutter. After testing dozens over the years, these are the best USB hubs I've found for different needs.
Hunting for more home-office gizmos and gadgets? Check out our other guides, including the Ultimate Work-From-Home Gear, the Best Office Chairs, the Best USB Flash Drives, and the Best Portable External Storage Drives.
Update May 2024: Added the Monoprice 5-in-1 USB-C Hub, Satechi USB-C Multiport 8K Hub, and Ugreen Revodok Pro 211 Docking Station.
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Do You Need a Hub or a Docking Station?
USB hubs are small, portable devices you can plug directly into a port on your laptop to get extra USB ports, SD card readers, headphone jacks, and other extra connections. However, if you plan on regularly connecting your laptop to a full-blown workstation—with a keyboard, mouse, monitors, the whole shebang—then you might want to consider a docking station instead.
USB docking stations are larger, more expensive, and are designed to spend most of their time on your desk. They typically have a power supply to charge other devices and offer multiple monitor outputs, plus Ethernet connections. If you frequently use your laptop at a desk, we'll have a new guide soon on the best docking stations, so stay tuned.
Best Overall
Photograph: Eric Ravenscraft
Satechi
USB-C Multiport 8K
Satechi makes some of the nicest accessories I've held, and this hub is no exception. It's built from the same aluminum as the rest of Satechi's gear with a short, braided cable leading to a USB-C connector. It's designed to feel at home next to a Macbook Pro or Surface Laptop and nails that vibe.
This hub has several USB-C ports and conveniently labels them by their maximum speed. In my testing, I consistently got speeds of 850 to 900 megabytes per second on its fastest USB-C ports, and there's a fourth that can reach over 400 MB/s. Even if you're like me and regularly need to transfer hundreds of gigabytes of 6K footage, it can handle those hefty tasks in minutes. It also has an HDMI port that supports up to 8K video at 30 frames per second (fps), though this is overkill. The real benefit of this capable port is that it's capable of 4K video at up to 120 fps or 1080p at up to a whopping 240 fps. I test gaming laptops, and this is one of the few hubs that can keep up with the frame-rate demands for powerful games when I connect them to an external monitor.
The downside is that it lacks USB-A ports. It's quite future-facing in that way, and there are enough USB-C accessories and peripherals these days that it might not be an issue, but we have more options below if the older USB-A port is a must-have.
Connects via USB-C. Ports include:
- 3 USB-C (10 Gbps)
- 1 USB-C (5 Gbps)
- 1 USB-C PD (85-watt pass-through charging)
- 1 HDMI (8K at 30 Hz or 4K at 120 Hz)
- 1 Ethernet (1 Gigabit)
- 1 SD Card slot (UHS-II)
Best Budget Hub
Monoprice
5-in-1 USB-C Hub
If all you need is a couple of extra USB ports, specifically USB-A, this Monoprice 5-in-1 model does the trick for a super low price. It connects via USB-C and adds three USB-A ports to your machine, each of which reached about 400 MB/s in my testing. That was more than enough for most typical work tasks, and even worked for moving around video files. You can use the USB-C port on the end to pass-through charge your laptop—the hub supports up to 100 watts, which is plenty to keep the most power-hungry laptops charged (with the right wall adapter).
It's one of the cheapest hubs I've tested, and if you're traveling with it, you might want to keep it in a padded pocket. The plastic case feels smooth and lightweight in a way that borders on flimsy.
Connects via USB-C. Ports include:
- 3 USB-A 3.0 (5 Gbps)
- 1 USB-C PD (100-watt pass-through charging)
- 1 HDMI (4K at 30 Hz)
English (US) ·