The Best USB Hubs
It’s an ugly truth of using modern computers: The rush toward thinner and lighter designs has meant sacrificing the number and types of ports on everything from MacBooks to all-in-one desktops. If you want to plug in anything with a connection other than a USB-C cable, the most efficient option is a USB-C hub, which provides multiple types of ports in a relatively compact package. Our favorite hub is Anker’s PowerExpand 8-in-1 USB-C PD 10Gbps Data Hub . In addition to having all the right ports, it’s one of the very few hubs with an HDMI port that supports a proper 60 Hz refresh rate on 4K monitors so that animations and movements on screen are nice and smooth—almost every other hub maxes out at 30 Hz, which results in a frustratingly laggy experience.
We measured each hub’s temperature with an infrared thermometer after 15 minutes of continuous data and Ethernet use.
We connected each of the docks via HDMI to the latest monitors and cut any that couldn’t keep up in 4K.
Ports and features
- Two USB-A 3.2 Gen 2
- One USB-C 3.2 Gen 2
- One USB-C PD port
- SD card slot
- One HDMI
- 85-watt charging pass-through
- Ethernet
- microSD card slot
Plenty of USB-C hubs have a port selection similar to that of the Anker PowerExpand 8-in-1 USB-C PD 10Gbps Data Hub, but almost none of them support the 4K video signal at 60 Hz that more modern monitors are capable of. That refresh rate guarantees smooth scrolling on supported displays, addressing a major, longtime drawback of this category. In addition to its HDMI port, the PowerExpand 8-in-1 offers the connectors most people need most of the time, and in our tests they worked just as well as expected. This hub is powerful enough to leave at your desk full-time as a docking station but small enough to slip into a laptop bag and use on the go. Although this hub’s price has shot up during 2021’s chip shortage, it’s still the best hub you can get.
Advertisement
Ports and features
- Two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1
- One USB-C 3.2 Gen 1
- One USB-C PD port
- SD card slot
- One HDMI
- 85-watt charging pass-through
- microSD card slot
If you don’t have a 4K monitor, get the Anker PowerExpand+ 7-in-1 USB-C PD Media Hub instead. It’s the little sibling of our top pick, offering a similar port selection at a much lower price. Its USB data-transfer speeds are a little slower than those of the 8-in-1 model but still fast enough for most people. The 7-in-1 model lacks an Ethernet port, and if you do try to use it with a 4K monitor, it produces only a 30 Hz refresh rate, not the superior, smoother movements of the 60 Hz refresh rate of our top pick.
Ports and features
- Four USB-C 3.2 Gen 1
Unlike most of the hubs we’ve tested, the Satechi 4-Port USB-C Hub doesn’t add different kinds of ports. Instead, it turns one USB-C or Thunderbolt port into four USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 connectors. None of the hub’s ports are capable of carrying a video signal or charging in either direction, but the 5 Gbps speed is plenty for connecting input devices or a backup drive.
Ports and features
- Seven USB-A 3.2 Gen 1
- Three 12-watt USB-A
If you’re mainly concerned about connecting to your computer as many devices as you can, choose the Anker 10-Port 60W USB 3.0 Hub. It has seven upward-facing USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 data ports with a helpful LED activity indicator for each; it also has three 12-watt (2.4-amp) power ports just for charging. As a bonus, it’s aesthetically inoffensive—it doesn’t look like it belongs with the greatest hits of ugly ’90s technology, unlike some of the other hubs we’ve tested. Note that the Anker 10-Port 60W USB 3.0 Hub ships with only a USB-A–to–USB-B cable, so you’ll have to buy a separate USB-B–to–USB-C cable to connect it to many modern computers.
