15 Best Inflatable Paddle Boards of 2023 – Reviews, Tests, and Ratings

Updated March 1st, 2023

Are you looking for a new inflatable stand up paddleboard? We are here to help with our guide to the best inflatable paddle boards of 2023. We have spent a lot of time testing and reviewing paddleboards and researching the market to find the best iSUPs out there. We understand that there are many choices out there and no board is the perfect board for everyone. There is a wide range of prices, sizes, and different types of paddle boards available. Our testers all agreed after trying out many boards that the iRocker All Around 11 is the best all purpose, does everything well, is fun for everyone, best inflatable paddle board out there right now. If we take a group paddling, it is the board they will wall want to use by the end of the day.

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Inflatable paddle board guide.

Here are some things to look at when you are shopping for an inflatable paddleboard. Do you want the most stable boad or want the fastest board? Do you care what accessories the board comes with or how easy it is to transport? How will the SUP actually perform on the water? We are here to answer all those questions.

Stability

The question I see asked the most on any online forum or group about a paddleboard is “How Stable is it?”. Most people buying an inflatable paddle board want to know if they will be able to stand on it or if it will be a struggle. Board stability is determined by the board size (length and width) and the board stiffness.

A wider board will be more stable than a narrow boad. A board with a wider nose and tail will be more stable than a board with a heavily tapered tail.

A stiffer board will be more stable than a soft board. A really soft board will flex and bounce underneath you letting you feel every small motion in the water. A very rigid board will make a nice solid stable platform to stand on and push against.

If 2 boards are the same size and shape, the more rigid board will feel much more stable on the water than the soft board.

The most stable board we have tested is the NIXY Monterey G4. It is very wide and long with a lot of volume. It is a lot of board to paddle around. The iRocker All Around 11 is also a very stable board that has excellent overall performance. The Freein Overall 11 is a much cheaper board with similar performance to the iRocker All ARound 11 but without a lot of the extra features.

Stiffness

An inflatable paddle boards construction determines how stiff it will be. All inflatable paddleboards are made with PVC drop stitch construction. All drop stitch and PVC laminates are not created equal.

1 Layer PVC boards will all be soft. Boards are made with 1 Layer construction for one reason. To be cheap. This is the biggest problem with most cheap paddleboards. They aren’t stiff. They won’t feel stiff on the water no matter what a manufacturer claims. This doesn’t mean they are no good. People have a lot of fun on 1 layer boards. You will rarely find a 1 layer board with more than a 1 year warranty.

2 Layer PVC paddleboards are much stiffer than 1 layer and can perform well. This is the best value for the money in paddleboard construction. This is the biggest gain in stiffness. 3 layer boards at a little more but not much for the weight they add.

There are other newer construction methods such as woven. The drop stitch core is woven together giving it much more strength for the weight. 2 layer woven boards are the stiffest construction we have tested. Boards made with this are also lighter. This is our most preferred construction method.

We do a stiffness test on every board we review here. We do this by placing 120 lbs of weight in the middle of the board and measuring how much the board drops. 1 layer boards tend to drop 2.5 to 3 inches. 2 layer, 3 layer and woven boards will drop 1-1.3 inches.

See our results in the table below.

Speed

A paddle boards speed is determined by how efficiently it moves through the water. A faster board will accelerate more easily and glide farther with each paddle stroke.

The biggest factor for an inflatable SUPs speed is it’s length. A board with a longer water line will glide farther. This is due to something called “hull speed”. A 12’6″ board will glide better than a 10′ board. A board with little to no rocker or up curve in the nose will have a longer water line than a board with a lot of nose rocker.

A narrow SUP will be faster than a wide SUP. A narrow board will have less wetted surface than a wide board so it will have less drag. A narrow board will be less affected by chop.

You can make a faster board that is wider by giving it a more pointed nose and making the tail more tapered. A good example of this is the NIXY Newport G4 and Monterey G4. They are both relatively wide but have very tapered tails. They feel like much faster boards than they should for their width.

A long narrow board like the Red Paddle Co Sport 12’6″ will be a very fast board. They do some other tricks like their Speed Tail that reduces drag. The 30 inch width also makes the board very unstable and only suitable for intermediate and better paddlers. The Blackfin Model V is also a 12’6″ board and very fast. It’s 32inch width makes it feel like a much more stable board.

Tracking

Tracking is how well a board will travel in a straight line. A board with good tracking is easier to cover distance with less effort. A board that tracks very well can also be more difficult to turn. Tracking is determined by a board shape and fin arrangement.

A long narrow board will track better than a short wide board. Inflatable touring paddleboards will all have very good tracking. Short all around boards will not track as well.

Most inflatable paddleboards come with a 3 fin arrangements. 3 fins give good tracking at low and high speeds. If you look close you will notice that the 2 smaller side fins are angled towards each other. This is called bite. It improves the tracking of the board but also adds a lot of drag.

Single fin paddleboards will track well when the board is moving. They have less drag than triple fin boards. They won’t track as well until the fin has some water flowing over it. They allow the board to turn easier when it’s moving slower.

Boards that have 3 removable fins instead of 1 removeable fin and 2 fixed fins allow you to customize the board feel. A Blackfin Model V has tracking that is almost too good with all 3 fins attached. It will go straight very well but is challenging to turn. With 1 fin the board is faster and tracks well once it is moving. It is much easier to turn.

Accessories

The accessories are what the board comes with. The 3 most important things are the paddle, pump, and carry bag.

A carbon shaft paddle will be lighter and stiffer and perform better than an aluminum paddle. A fiberglass paddle somewhere in the middle.

Triple action hand pumps are better than double action pumps. They let you inflate the board better. Now all triple action pumps are created equal. The ability to deflate a board is also important and makes getting it back in the bag a lot easier.

Electric pumps make the inflation process easier. I personally prefer to save my energy for paddling and not pumping.

Carry bags with wheels, lots of handles and padded straps make transporting an inflatable SUP much easier. Bags with a handle on only 1 side are a lot harder to carry up and down steps.

Right now the NIXY G4 series boards have the best overall set of accessories for the bag, paddle, and pump. We would choose the G4 bag and pump over any other. The paddle is a close second to the iRocker/Blackfin carbon paddle.

Setup

How easy is the board to go from bag to on the water and back into the bag. Things like electric pumps make the process easier. A faster hand pump is better than a cheap single action pump. Extra steps such as RSS battens or multiple air chambers will slow setup down.

Bags that are undersized and difficult to zip up with the board and pump inside make take down more difficult. No one likes to reroll a board because they didn’t quite get it tight enough to fit in the not quite big enough bag.

Portability

How easy is an inflatable paddle board to carry around or take with you on a trip? A smaller, lighter weight bag makes a board much more portable. I love my Blackfin Model V but it is on the heavier side and the bag could use a couple more carry handles. My iRocker Cruiser Ultra is super easy to throw in the car and take anywhere.

A board that weighs 40 lbs in its bag with no wheels and only a couple handles is not easy to take anywhere. The board would have to perform great on the water to be worth the hassle of moving it anywhere.

Value

How good a bang for the buck is the board for its cost. The iRocker Cruiser is a really great value. You get stiff 3 layer construction, a carbon paddle, roller bag, and triple action pump for a very reasonable price. The boards from Red Paddle Co perform great but they are very high priced and most do not include paddles. Red Paddle Co doesn’t score well in this area. They are the luxury car of paddleboards.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Funwater boards are very very cheap. They skimp in several important areas. You only get a single action pump and the bag is a pain to load. They are cheap but spending another $50-$100 gets you a much better value.

Size

Inflatable paddle boards are not a one size fits all item. A 10’6″ all around board is good for the majority of people. If you want to get more performance from your board you can go for something that is a bit more personalized. Small paddlers can go for shorter boards such as the iRocker All Around 10′. Very large paddlers are best suited to boards such as the Nixy Monterey.

Price

Everyone has a budget when shopping for an inflatable stand up paddleboard. Paddleboards are a great example of you get what you pay for item. Board stiffness and stability are clearly better on mid to high priced boards. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a lot of fun with a cheap paddleboard. Many people do. We have included a few of the more standout cheap options like the iRocker Nautical and Chasing Blue/Outdoor Master paddleboards.

If you are looking for cheaper options, please have a look at our guides for cheap paddleboards.

• The Best Cheap Inflatable Paddleboards
• The Best Inflatable Paddle Boards Under $500

Customer service & warranty

A lot of cheap paddle board companies that sell only on Amazon have no real customer service. They might claim a 1 year warranty but good luck trying to make any kind of claim on it. This is immediately obvious if you spend some time reading the comments on some of the more popular iSUPs on Amazon.

Almost all 1 layer PVC paddleboards only have a 1 year warranty. That should tell you something about the manufacturers confidence in the product. If you buy a cheap paddleboard you should not expect much customer service to back up the product.

If you are spending $500 and up on an inflatable paddleboard you want it from a company that will back up the product. Look for US based companies such as iRocker, ISLE, BOTE and NIXY that have US based costumer service. They all offer at least 2 year warranties and have good reputation for fixing issues or sending replacement boards.

You might also like:

• The Best Inflatable Paddle Board Accessories Complete Guide
• The Best Electric Paddle Board Pumps Reviews, Tests, and Ratings