Buying the best gaming mouse your budget can stretch to can make a huge impact on your gaming in general. After all, these specially-designed mice come with gaming-specific features, such as fast polling rates (which ensures they are incredibly responsive) and additional buttons, which can really give you the competitive edge.
The best gaming mice should also be comfortable to use, so you don't risk getting repetitive strain injury (RSI) after long gaming sessions, and they should ideally be ambidextrous, so you can use them no matter if you're right- or left-handed.
In this guide, we've gathered together a range of gaming mice that cover all kind of budgets. We also include both wired and wireless mice as well, so no matter what kind of gaming mouse you're after, we'll have a great suggestion for you.
Of course, no one wants to have to plug and unplug different mice when you switch from gaming to working, so each of the mice on this page will also be ideal for using for your creative work as well.
If you're after more specific mice buying guides, make sure to check out our best USB-C mouse and best mouse for Mac articles as well. Want to shop for consoles? Try our best games consoles roundup.
The best gaming mouse of 2021
Why you can trust Creative Bloq Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test.
In our view the Razer Viper 8K is currently the best gaming mouse you can buy in 2021, mainly due to just how fast and responsive it is. As any gamer will know, having lightning-fast reflexes can be the difference between life and death in a game, which is why the incredibly speedy Razer Viper 8K should be considered by every one.
It's easily one of the fastest and most responsive gaming mice out there, with an 8,000Hz polling rate. The polling rate of a mouse is the amount of times the mouse tells the PC it's connected to where it is. The higher the number, the more times its position - and changes to that position - is reported, and this leads to fast and accurate performance. Razer's Viper line of mice have long been some of the best gaming peripherals money can buy, and this new version continues that legacy. It won't be for everyone - it's pricey and the incredibly high speeds will need a suitably fast gaming monitor as well, but if you want the very best gaming mouse, this is it.
If you're after the best budget gaming mouse in 2021, then the Logitech G203 Lightsync is it. Logitech is one of the most dependable names when it comes to peripherals, and even though this mouse has a low price point, it doesn't mean it's cheap and nasty.
In fact, it has a solid, yet lightweight, build that means it's comfortable to move around, yet doesn't feel like it'll break at any moment. Its RGB lighting will also be a plus for many gamers who want a mouse that will glow along with the rest of their rig. It also features five buttons, which can be programmed depending on the game you're playing, and it's impressively fast for the price.
If you're after a mid-range gaming mouse, which offers better performance and more features than a budget mouse, but isn't as expensive as many other gaming mice, then the MSI GM30 Clutch is a great choice.
It's lightweight, which means it's comfortable to use for long periods of time, and it allows you to quickly move it across your desk or mousepad, so it's perfect for hectic, fast-paced games.
It's got RGB lighting, which can be configured via the MSI DragonCenter app, along with five buttons which can also be configured. You can save three profiles and switch between them depending on the game or app that you're using, which is handy. However, there's no way to switch profiles on the mouse itself, so you need to do it via the app, which isn't the most convenient way of doing things - more expensive mice have a dedicated button on their body for quick profile switching. Still, for the price, this is a great gaming mouse.
The Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro Wireless is by far the best wireless gaming mouse you can buy right now. Sure, it's very expensive, but it's worth the extra cost. Despite their convenience, wireless mice are often avoided by professional gamers. This is because the wireless connection adds latency - basically a small delay between you moving the mouse and it registering on your PC. Usually this latency is so small that you'll never notice it, but in highly competitive games, every second counts, and even the slightest delay could put you at a disadvantage.
This is why we recommend the Corsair Dark Core RGB Pro Wireless, as it has an incredibly low latency of less than 1ms, which means it's not far off a wired mouse. The connection is also rock-solid, so you don't have to worry about it disconnecting at the wrong moment, and it has loads of customisation options as well - and, of course, RGB lighting.
The best Logitech gaming mouse is, in our opinion, the Logitech G502 Lightspeed Wireless. Logitech is a formidable name when it comes to making excellent peripherals, especially gaming ones, and this wireless mouse shows why. It sports and excellent design that's comfortable to use, 11 programmable buttons that give you loads of options for keeping important weapons, spells and more within easy reach, and a fast and responsive Hero sensor.
It also has swappable weights, which allows you to tweak how the mouse feels. This gives it a level of customisation that many other mice lack. Overall it's a fantastic gaming mouse, but it is expensive, and left-handed gamers will feel left out.
The SteelSeries Rival 710 is one of the most unique gaming mice on this best gaming mouse list. While it looks like a rather standard gaming mouse, it's got some really cool tricks up its sleeve. Fist, it's got an OLED display built-in, which can be customised to display images and even animations on it.
It's also modular. You can swap out weights to change how the mouse feels, and you can also swap out the sensor, cables and body. This means you can tweak the mouse to best suit your playstyle and preferences, and it also allows you to easy fix the mouse if something goes wrong - something other gaming mice simply don't do.
Less impressive is the haptic feedback, which gives the mouse a rumble-like feature. While it can have its uses in gaming, many people may find it simply distracting.
If you're after a gaming mouse that offers an incredible amount of buttons, then the Razer Naga Pro will be for you. It comes with three side plates that can easily be swapped out (they attach via magnets), and each side plate offers a different amount of buttons and layouts.
There's a side plate that offers two additional buttons, one that offers six, and another that adds 12 buttons. This means for complex games you can have pretty much any weapon or move assigned to a button for easy access. And, if you don't need all the buttons for a certain game (or app), then you can use a different side plate. It's also wireless, responsive, and very comfortable to use.
The Razer Deathadder V2 is an iconic gaming mouse - it's one of the most popular mice in the world thanks to its solid and dependable design, so it's no wonder that so many gamers pick it to play with. Along with the lightweight yet solid design, it is fast and responsive, and features 8 programmable buttons.
Its design also means it won't look out of place in an office or studio, which makes it the ideal gaming mouse for people who also need a mouse to work with when they're not playing. For a brilliant all-round gaming mouse, the Razer Deathadder V2 is definitely worth considering.
Related articles:
- The 8 best retro gaming consoles
- Best gaming tablets
- The best monitors for PS5 you can buy
