Best 55-inch TVs of 2024
I’ve been reviewing TVs for a decade now, and 55-inch TVs are one of my favorite sizes. Although some might love the larger screen size that 65-inch TVs offer, 55-inch TVs usually offer a similar (if not identical) performance for hundreds less.
Right now, there are a few great options out there at 55 inches and right now, my top recommendation is the Hisense U8N. Even though it just launched, it’s on sale at most retailers for under $800 and easily competes with TVs that are twice its price. Another QLED worth considering is the Samsung QN90C that offers better out-of-the-box color accuracy. For OLED, you definitely need to check out the LG C3 OLED which, despite being a step down from the LG G3 OLED, remains a very strong contender for the best OLED TV and comes at a more reasonable price.
Whether you’re looking for a premium smart 55-inch TV with incredible picture quality or a budget set that will save you a bundle, we’ve got advice backed up by hundreds of hours of in-house lab testing and in-depth evaluation.
Editor’s Note: Be sure to scroll down to our “Test Data” and “How we test” sections to see a visual breakdown between all the top sets.
The quick list
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Value ★★★★★
If you simply want the best 55-inch TV without over-paying for it, the brand-new Hisense U8N is the screen to go for. It uses Mini-LED backlighting for better contrast and higher brightness than older TVs, and its Google TV smart platform is excellent across the board.
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Value ★★★★★
The LG C3 proves that OLED TVs don’t have to cost $2,000+. At right around a grand, the LG C3 OLED delivers the inky black levels you’ve heard so much about for a fraction of the cost of the competition.
Picture ★★★★☆
Features ★★★★☆
Value ★★★★★
In addition to delivering a ton of screen and content for its starting price of $499, the Roku Plus TVs also give you surprisingly good picture quality and sound, two things that are usually the first to go with budget sets.
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★☆
Value ★★★★☆
If you have a hard time seeing key details during the day, the Samsung QN90C can fix things.
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Value ★★★☆☆
If the absolute best picture performance is your goal, you’ll find no better option than the Sony Bravia A95L OLED outfitted with Sony’s best picture processing tech.
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★☆
Value ★★★☆☆
Specifically looking for a 55-inch gaming TV? This OLED comes with HDMI 2.1 ports with VRR, ALLM, and up to 144Hz refresh rates. Trust us, it will make your consoles look better than ever.
About the author
Nick Pino
My name’s Nick and I look after our guides to the best TVs, best OLED TVs and best 4K TVs. Most of my day is spent watching and evaluating new screens from LG, Samsung, Sony, Hisense, TCL and Vizio. I have 10 years of experience in AV and have a THX Home Theater Level 1 Certification. Before I joined Tom’s Guide I was formerly the Senior Editor, TV and AV at TechRadar.
The full list: Best 55-inch TVs in detail
Hisense U8K Star Breakdown
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Value ★★★★★
Design ★★★★
Sound ★★★★★
Remote ★★★★
For two years straight, the Hisense U8 Series has held the top spot on our list. It’s here because it delivers outstanding performance for its price. Yes, OLED TVs are going to offer better black levels, but this Mini-LED can get twice as bright while still giving you beautiful colors and a truly fantastic smart platform.
So why didn’t it score a perfect 5 out of 5 in our review? Well, two main reasons. We love that it offers a 144Hz refresh rate when connected to a gaming PC (120Hz for sports and movies), we measured its input lag at 13.1ms. That’s a few milliseconds higher than the LG OLED TVs below. Also its color accuracy does require a bit of fine-tuning, as some scenes can look a bit oversaturated right out of the box.
For under $800, however, these aren’t deal-breakers. For the price, this is the best TV in the world, and getting anything else close will cost twice as much.
The best value TV
LG C3 OLED Star Breakdown
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Value ★★★★★
Design ★★★★
Sound ★★★
Remote ★★★
Keeping with the theme of great TVs that are relatively affordable, the LG C3 OLED is a great pick at 55 inches. It comes with all the features and performance of its larger brethren, but at a price that doesn’t make your eyes water.
I like recommending it to friends who want an OLED but don’t necessarily need the one that costs $3,000. You’re still getting all the inky blacks and killer contrast, without overpaying for some features that you might not see. Under the hood it’s running LG’s new a9 AI Processor Gen6 processor that makes upscaled content look better and motion look sleeker (once you turn off TruMotion, that is).
It’s slightly dimmer than the Hisense U8K you’ll find above — so don’t buy it if you’re putting it next to a window or in a brightly lit room — but you’ll find that it delivers its best picture in a darkened room during a movie night. All you need to do is bring the popcorn.
Read the full LG C3 OLED review.
The best budget TV
Roku Plus Star Breakdown
Picture ★★★★
Features ★★★★
Value ★★★★★
Design ★★★
Sound ★★★★
Remote ★★★★
When I picture a TV that costs $500, I’m expecting to see a name like Insignia or Onn. But the Roku Plus Series 4K QLED TV is so much better than those historically bad TV brands. It offers surprisingly good picture quality and sound, two things that are usually the first to go with budget sets.
There are some sacrifices to make here (a full array of HDMI 2.1 ports just aren’t in the cards here and you are limited to a 60Hz panel), but you don’t have to make many more compromises. In our tests we were blown away by its high-quality HDR color and unusually good sound, plus its quick and efficient Roku TV smart platform.
If you’re dead set against spending more than $500 on a new 55-inch TV (and we don’t blame you), the Roku Plus Series 4K QLED TV is an outstanding bargain that won’t let you down.
Read our full Roku Plus Series TV review.
The best QLED TV
Samsung QN90C Star Breakdown
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★
Value ★★★★
Design ★★★★
Sound ★★★
Remote ★★★★
If brightness is your biggest issue, then you should definitely consider this 55-inch QLED TV from Samsung. The Samsung QN90C Neo QLED TV delivers outstanding HDR brightness, placing it easily in the top five brightest TVs we’ve tested in the last 12 months. Powered by Samsung’s high octane Mini-LED panel, the QN90C promises excellent performance across the top genres.
Why is it better than the competition when it comes to brightness? Basically Mini-LED backlighting puts thousands of LEDs into more compact clusters that can deliver high levels of brightness while maintaining realistic color and gradations of luminance. With better control means less light bleeding and haloing, too.
Yes, there are more premium Samsung TVs out there (like the Samsung QN900C 8K QLED TV) but the QN90C is our favorite for its reasonable price tag.
Read our full Samsung QN90C QLED review or browse our Samsung promo codes
The best OLED TV
Sony A95L Star Breakdown
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★★
Value ★★
Design ★★★★★
Sound ★★★★★
Remote ★★★★
If you have a fully loaded bank account and you just want the best possible 55-inch TV without worrying about sticker price, then the Sony Bravia A95L OLED is going to absolutely blow you away. It’s one of Sony’s first QD-OLED TVs (the A95K from 2023 was technically the first) and its panel makes it both brighter than other OLED TVs and more colorful.
As it’s built on OLED technology, the A95L has perfect blacks, infinite contrast, and intense colors, and its post-picture processing tech is second to none. If you watch SD/HDR content a lot, the A95L uses its Cognitive Processor XR to intelligently and accurately upscale the image, and its motion processing is the best in the industry.
In terms of extras, it also comes with the polarizing (but optional) Sony Bravia Cam that can be used for at-home video conferencing, and some credits to Sony’s BRAVIA CORE streaming service that streams content at up to 80Mbps.
It’s the reference standard in Hollywood for a reason.
Read our full Sony Bravia A95L OLED review.
The best TV for gaming
Samsung S90C Star Breakdown
Picture ★★★★★
Features ★★★★
Value ★★★
Design ★★★★
Sound ★★★★
Remote ★★★★
Shopping for the gamer in your life? As far as gaming TVs go, you can’t do much better than the 55-inch Samsung S90C OLED. It’s technically a QD-OLED screen, which simply means that it combines a quantum dot filter for better color saturation with an OLED panel for better contrast. Though most manufacturers have explored this partnership, few have gone as far as Samsung — and even Samsung has never made as good a case for it as it has with the S90C.
For gamers, features like a low input lag (9.2ms), HDMI 2.1 allowing for VRR, ALLM, and up to 144Hz refresh rates are all crucial. The fact that you can actually stream games to the TV using a number of game streaming services is just icing on the cake.
While we couldn’t resist trying Starfield on it when we reviewed it, it’s also a great TV for streaming movies from Netflix and Max. In all of the above scenarios, the S90C demonstrated outstanding color reproduction, wide color gamut coverage and above-average brightness. It’s all-around awesome, but gamers are going to love it even more than the rest of us.
Read our full Samsung S90C OLED review.
Also tested…
At Tom’s Guide, we test a lot of TVs and not all of them make it onto our guides. They’re not here because we don’t feel that they beat out the top picks, and should only be considered after you’ve read about the picks above. Still, we want to make sure that you know we’ve tested more TVs than the ones here, and we want to make those reviews available to you in case you want to check them out. Here are the other 55-inch TVs we’ve reviewed that didn’t make the list:
LG UR9000: Scoring just a 2.5 out of 5 in our review, the LG UR9000 doesn’t reach the same level of performance that other models on our guide hit. It’s fine in certain specific circumstances, but we recommend the models you see above more.
Samsung Q70C QLED: Samsung’s mid-range Q70C tries to be the jack of all trades but ends up the master of none. At $849, it’s a bit too pricey to count as a budget pick and lacks many of the premium features you can find on the Hisense.
LG B3 OLED: The LG B3 OLED is a solid lower mid-tier OLED TV that offers a lot of what makes the LG C3 OLED so great at a lower price tag. Unfortunately, though, it’s not cheap enough to make this list, as it’s still around $1,300 for a 65-inch model. The C3 is still the stronger TV, because although it’s more expensive, we feel the performance uptick is worth the extra cash.
Hisense U7K: The Hisense U7K is a lot like the U8K listed above and comes very close to unseating its slightly pricier sibling. Our tests showed that the U7K couldn’t quite reach the 1,000+ nits of HDR peak brightness that the U8K can, and it scored relatively low when it came to color accuracy right out of the box. It’s a great budget pick, but not among the best 55-inch TVs money can buy.
How to choose the best 55-inch TV for you
How to choose the best 55-inch TVs for you
Our TV buying guide breaks down the key factors that should go into purchasing a new set, as getting a TV is an investment. It’s a piece of tech you’re likely to own for several years, which is why you want to make sure you’re picking the best 55-inch TV for you.
Size: First figure out whether you’re locked into a 55-inch set. Just because it’s the biggest size that fits on your wall or TV stand doesn’t mean that it’s right for the room. Similarly, consider if a 65-inch TV would better suit your space.
Price: Expect to pay about $500 for a good 55-inch 4K TV. The Insignia 55-inch 4K Fire TV Edition above is the absolute cheapest we’d recommend based on our catalog of TV testing. But if you have a tighter budget, check out our best TV deals for some alternatives. Keep in mind performance will take a hit in lower price ranges, though.
HDR: If you want the most colors, get one of the HDR sets with Dolby Vision compatibility above. This technology is able to deliver more colors, more contrast levels and increased brightness. It could make a set a bit more costly, but it guarantees you’ll still be satisfied with TV as the Dolby Vision format seems to be gaining momentum.
Ports: Another thing to consider is port offerings. Some of the sets above sport 3 HDMI ports, while some have 4. In general, more ports is better, especially if you have a collection of input devices like soundbars or game consoles.
If you’ve narrowed down your TV shopping by brand, price range or screen size, check out our picks for the best TVs in each.
Best TVs | Best 4K TVs | Best smart TVs for streaming | Best TVs for gaming
The best TVs under $1000 | The best TVs under $500
Best TV brands | Best Samsung TVs | Best TCL TVs | Best LG TVs | Best Roku TVs | Best Google TVs | Best OLED TVs | Best QLED TVs | Best 8K TVs | Best HDMI 2.1 TV | Best TVs with ATSC 3.0 | Best TVs with Chromecast
The smallest smart TVs | Best 43-inch TVs | Best 50-inch TVs | Best 55-inch TVs | Best 65-inch TVs | Best 70-inch TVs | Best 75-inch TVs | Best 85-inch TVs
And don’t forget to watch out for the latest TV reviews.
Best 55-inch TV test results
| TV | Peak Brightness (tested) | Delta-E (tested) | DCI-P3 Color Volume (tested) | Input Lag (tested) |
| Hisense U8K ULED TV | 2004.59 nits | 4.4614 | 97.82% | 13.2ms |
| LG C3 OLED | 824.950 nits | 1.3908 | 98.72% | 9.1ms |
| Roku Plus Series | 648.104 nits | 2.6011 | 95.8% | 11.5ms |
| Samsung QN90C QLED TV | 1987.344 nits | 2.2404 | 95.81% | 9.7ms |
| LG G3 OLED | 1397.44 nits | 1.8611 | 96.73% | 9.2ms |
| Samsung S90C OLED | 1069.60 nits | 1.3184 | 99.76% | 9.2ms |
What are we looking for in our testing?
Peak Brightness: The highest level of brightness (measured in nits) that a TV can sustainably put out in a 10% window.
Delta E: A measurement of how accurate colors are right out the box in its Calibrated or ISF Modes. The lower the number, the more accurate the colors are.
DCI-P3 Color Volume: This metric measures the total coverage area of a TV’s color output. A higher percentage means better color expression. We also measure a TV’s color output against the Rec2020 color space as well.
Input lag: An important metric for gamers, input lag measures the total time it takes for a signal that passes through the HDMI port to appear on the screen.
How we test the best 55-inch TVs
How we test the best 55-inch TVs
Testing the best 55-inch TVs is a thorough process. We put every TV through our custom lab test, measuring color gamut, color accuracy and brightness to objectively see which sets are the best for these key indicators. We also test for lag time, measuring to the millisecond how long it takes for content to travel from the original source to the screen. We use these results to make numbers-based comparisons about color and display quality.
To do this, we run all of these TVs through a series of technical tests designed to determine their performance on a quantitative level. We perform these with an X-Rite i1 Pro spectrophotometer, a SpectraCal VideoForge Pro pattern generator, and Portrait Displays’ Calman calibration software that measure and charts the TVs’ performances.
In addition, we spend hours with each set to see how our lab results translate into anecdotal performance. We also compare competing sets using a range of content across several sources. With that information, we can tell you which TVs look best, sound best and offer the best viewing experience.
Of course, we also consider the smart TV functions and apps for each TV, looking at everything from the remote control design to the voice interaction.
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