The best USB-C hubs for your laptop or tablet

This is a great way to add back all the main extra ports that laptops used to have to your notebook or tablet, giving you an HDMI port to connect to a display and the card readers that you'll need to transfer photos and videos from a camera. It's especially great if you have a newer MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, as it returns all the ports you're missing and more.

We like that it supports passthrough charging, but it's a shame that there's only one additional USB-C connector as it'll be in use if you're on charge. The only other downside is that it's a bit pricey compared to some rivals, but we've found it a reliable top performer.

If you’re keen to keep the price low and don’t need too many ports, this little Anker is the one we’d go for. It’s super light at just under 40g, while still offering a pair of USB-A ports both delivering 5Gbps data transfer, an HDMI port to get connected to a display and a USB-C port that supports 100W passthrough charging.

For most people, this will be all the ports needed to grab a few files off external storage devices while staying connected to a monitor and not sacrificing the one port needed to refuel your laptop or tablet.

This UGreen model proves just how affordable these hubs can be, costing around the same as dongles that only add one USB-A port. Instead, it includes three old-fashioned USB ports, HDMI and passthrough charging so that your laptop's USB-C port isn't wasted.

If you need to connect to wired peripherals like a mouse, keyboard, printer or external hard drive, this solution is ideal and offers more USB-A ports than most hubs on our list. It's also affordable and light for portability.

Not fussed about passthrough charging, connecting to external displays, audio or memory card slots? You're probably just looking to add a load of extra USB-A slots to your setup, and that's what this cheap and lightweight UGreen model delivers. You'll get four ports for connecting external storage, SSDs, flash drives, keyboards, mice and more.

It also supports 5Gbps data transfer, so you'll find it speedy to move large files across to your laptop and over to drives. We reckon this is a perfect solution if your work depends on using drives that don't connect straight to USB-C and if you need to manage a large number of files from several data drives connected at once.

If you edit photos from Lightroom on your iPad, want to connect to a bigger screen, or need to view files from an external flash drive via the Files app, we'd recommend looking at a small USB-C hub like this one that delivers all the main ports in a form factor that sits flush with your iPad and doesn't create extra bulk.

We also really like the Twelve South StayGo Mini, an ultra-compact USB-C hub that adds a handful of useful ports to your setup – it is ideal for use with an iPad or a MacBook Air via its included cable extension.

Tablets can often now replace more than 90% of the functions of your laptop. We're quite confident that many people could use an iPad instead of a laptop if they have basic computing needs.

These devices lack connectivity, though, so we'd recommend this hub dock for anyone working or drawing on an iPad Pro or iPad Air, and to anyone needing to add more functions to a more basic iPad.

It's an excellent way to raise up the display and to add a comprehensive range of extra ports that allow you to use the slate for your photo and video editing, proper typing and research (with the addition of a wireless keyboard and mouse) and connection to an external display.

If you need a high-power solution and are prepared to pay extra for it, this is a serious hub to add to a setup with a powerful laptop. This is a hub that you can use to get your laptop up on dual displays via its 4K HDMI and DisplayPort. When it comes to data transfer, you've got speedy 10Gbps USB-A and USB-C slots, in addition to two regular 2.0 USB-A ports.

This also works for passthrough charging and dual charging if you connect your smartphone and laptop to its USB-C ports. We're not quite done with features, too. This also offers Gigabit Ethernet for fast wired internet, memory card readers, and 3.5mm audio for wired headphones.

We like this slim option for travellers who need to upload photos and videos to a laptop or tablet while on the go, as it adds those key extra ports you need in a portable design that'll easily slip into your laptop bag or pocket. It offers fast data transfer via its USB-A and USB-C ports, a 4K HDMI slot and 100W passthrough charging.

It's also affordable and reasonably lightweight, so we'd say the only significant downside is the lack of a headphone audio port. If you primarily use wireless headphones, though, this won't matter to you.

There are a lot of similarities between this and the UGreen 7-in-1, in that they both offer the exact same ports with the same specs. This has USB-C and USB-A data ports that deliver file transfer speeds at up to 5Gbps, an HDMI port for 4K quality, and 100W passthrough charging. Like the UGreen, it also has memory card slots but lacks any audio interface.

The main difference between these models is the form factor and that this one is a little lighter. We think they're both terrific value for money and are excellent options for any hybrid workers using it on a laptop or tablet on the go.