The Best Screen Protectors
A thin layer of glass between you and a very expensive repair bill.
Our top picks:
Best overall: Spigen GlasTR EZ Fit — $18 for a 2-pack on Amazon
Best premium: ZAGG InvisibleShield Glass Elite — $40 on Amazon
Best budget: ESR Armorite Tempered Glass — $8 for a 3-pack on Amazon
Best for drop protection: TORRAS Diamond Shield — $16–$26 on Amazon
Best for easy installation: amFilm OneTouch — $10 for a 2-pack on Amazon
Modern smartphone screens are tougher than ever — Apple’s Ceramic Shield and Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus have come a long way — but they’re still no match for sand in a pocket, a set of keys, or a face-first drop onto concrete. And with flagship phone repairs now running $200 to $500 depending on the model, a screen protector costing $6 to $40 is the cheapest insurance policy you’ll ever buy.
Tempered glass is the most popular option, offering high durability, smooth touch response, and excellent impact protection. Higher-end versions include oleophobic coatings to reduce fingerprints and maintain smooth touch response. We focused on tempered glass protectors because they provide the best combination of clarity, feel, and protection for most people. Here are our picks.
Best overall: Spigen GlasTR EZ Fit
$18 for a 2-pack on Amazon | Available for iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel
The Spigen GlasTR EZ Fit is the screen protector that earns its place through sheer reliability. Priced at about $18 for a 2-pack, the cost per protector comes to roughly $9, despite using high-quality 9H tempered glass that feels nearly identical to a phone’s native screen. That price-to-quality ratio is what makes it our top pick.
The star feature is the EZ Fit alignment tray. It comes with an alignment tray that you place on top of your phone screen and press down on to secure the protector in place. The process takes about 30 seconds, and the result is virtually guaranteed to be bubble-free and perfectly centered. For anyone who has ever spent 20 frustrating minutes peeling and re-applying a crooked protector, this is a revelation.
Once installed, the GlasTR is essentially invisible. Clarity is excellent, touch sensitivity is unaffected, and the oleophobic coating keeps fingerprints manageable. The protector is designed with a case-friendly fit, meaning Spigen specifically designs their cutouts to leave a tiny gap around the edge, ensuring a case lip doesn’t push the glass up. It works with every major case brand, not just Spigen’s own lineup. Experts recommend Spigen as a great brand for most people — case-friendly, affordable, and durable.
Available for virtually every recent iPhone, Galaxy, and Pixel model, the GlasTR EZ Fit is the screen protector you buy when you want excellent protection without overthinking it.
Best premium: ZAGG InvisibleShield Glass Elite
$40 on Amazon | Available for iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel
The ZAGG Glass Elite costs roughly double what you’d pay for the Spigen, and whether it’s worth the premium depends on one thing: the lifetime warranty. ZAGG offers a lifetime warranty — replace as many times as needed for just shipping costs. If you tend to crack screen protectors regularly, this program can pay for itself after just one or two replacements.
But the Glass Elite isn’t just a warranty play. ZAGG uses aluminosilicate glass with Ion Exchange Technology that increases surface compression for greater strength and scratch resistance, making it five times tougher than traditional glass protectors. In practice, this means the Glass Elite tends to survive drops and impacts that would crack lesser protectors. The ClearPrint anti-fingerprint technology is also noticeably better than what you get from budget options — the screen stays cleaner throughout the day with less wiping.
The surface has a slicker, more natural feel compared to most competitors, giving it a true “naked screen” sensation. Installation uses ZAGG’s EZ Apply tray, which works well, and the glass comes with reinforced edges to prevent chipping. The XTR4 version is the brand’s strongest model, made with tempered glass reinforced with graphene for additional strength.
The Glass Elite is worth the money if you want the best glass, the best feel, and the peace of mind that comes with knowing you can get a replacement whenever you need one.
Best budget: ESR Armorite Tempered Glass
$8 for a 3-pack on Amazon | Available for iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, and Google Pixel
With tens of thousands of reviews and an average of 4.5 stars, the ESR screen protector is one of the best affordable screen guards you can buy on Amazon. At roughly $2.50 per protector in a 3-pack, it’s genuinely difficult to find a reason not to keep one on your phone at all times.
What sets ESR apart from the cheapest no-name options is the fit. ESR offers some of the best edge-to-edge coverage, going to the very edges of the display, with a 2.5D curvature that makes swiping from the screen edges feel seamless. It ships with an installation frame, cleaning wipes, and dust stickers — a complete installation kit that’s unusual at this price. The 9H tempered glass provides solid scratch resistance and reasonable drop protection, though it won’t match the impact resistance of pricier aluminosilicate options.
The trade-offs at this price are minor but real: the oleophobic coating wears off faster (expect to start noticing more fingerprint smudging after two or three months), and optical clarity is a hair below the Spigen or ZAGG. But at three protectors for $8, you can simply swap in a fresh one whenever the old one looks worn. For people who think of screen protectors as consumable items — not long-term investments — the ESR is the smart buy.
Best for drop protection: TORRAS Diamond Shield
$16–$26 on Amazon | Available for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy
TORRAS constructs the Diamond Shield from aerospace-grade 9H+ hardness tempered glass and promises up to 12 feet of drop protection. That claim is ambitious, but the Diamond Shield does stand out as a noticeably more impact-resistant option than typical tempered glass.
TORRAS puts its screen protectors through extensive durability assessments, with over 50 tests and more than 20,000 scratch evaluations. The glass is lithium aluminosilicate — the same material used in some military-grade optics — which gives it a meaningful edge in absorbing impact energy before cracking. At just 0.23mm thick, it doesn’t add noticeable bulk or interfere with touch sensitivity or in-display fingerprint sensors.
Installation is straightforward with a pull-tab frame, and TORRAS includes a 365-day warranty that covers installation failures, bubbling, and defects. The black border around the edge of the protector also does a better job of blending into the phone’s bezels compared to some competitors. The main downside is price — at $16 to $26 depending on the model, it’s more expensive than the Spigen for a 2-pack — but if you’re hard on phones or work in environments where drops are frequent, the extra durability is worth the premium.
Best for easy installation: amFilm OneTouch
$10 for a 2-pack on Amazon | Available for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy
If you’ve ever botched a screen protector installation — crooked alignment, trapped dust, stubborn air bubbles — the amFilm OneTouch was designed specifically for you. Its patented auto-alignment system gets the protector applied in about 60 seconds. The protector comes pre-mounted in a plastic frame that snaps onto your phone, and a single press activates the adhesive. No peeling, no guessing, no lining things up by eye.
The 9H hardness tempered glass protects against drops and scratches, with some reviewers reporting their displays were unharmed even under significant pressure. The glass is clear, responsive, and compatible with Face ID and most cases. At $10 for two protectors, it lands in the sweet spot between the ESR’s rock-bottom pricing and the Spigen’s mid-range quality.
The OneTouch is especially worth considering if you’re buying a screen protector for someone who isn’t particularly tech-savvy, or if you simply value a frustration-free setup above all else.
How to choose
For most people, the Spigen GlasTR EZ Fit is the right call. It balances price, quality, and installation ease better than anything else on the market. If you break screen protectors frequently, the ZAGG Glass Elite and its lifetime warranty will save you money over time. If you just want something cheap and good enough, grab the ESR 3-pack and stop thinking about it. And if your phone leads a rough life, the TORRAS Diamond Shield offers the most robust impact protection.
Even a $40 premium screen protector is still 70–90% cheaper than a single screen repair. The math is simple: pick one, put it on, and move on with your life.