This phone beat Google and Samsung as the best Moto G Power alternative in our survey

The Moto G Power (2026) gets plenty right for a $400 phone, including excellent battery life, solid durability, and some increasingly rare extras like expandable storage and a headphone jack. It also comes with the usual budget-phone compromises, though, and factors like the Dimensity 6300 chipset may well have you looking elsewhere. We recently laid out some of the best alternatives from our point of view, but we were keen to find out which one of those (or another handset) you preferred.

Our original article about the alternatives picked out five possible replacements, each with assorted arguments in its favor. The Google Pixel 10a and Samsung Galaxy A27 offered stronger software support, the Nothing Phone 4a Pro brought more ambitious hardware, and an older flagship promised more premium specs for similar money. The Moto G Stylus (2026) was the option for anyone who liked Motorola’s general approach but wanted a bit more phone for a little more outlay. We ran a poll in that article to find out which you found most persuasive, so let’s check out the results.

The Moto G Stylus (2026) came out on top with 28.9% of the vote, but it hardly ran away with this one. The Samsung Galaxy A27 was close behind on 23.9%, while the Pixel 10a took 19.7%. That left the top three separated by fewer than 10 percentage points. So, while there is a favorite, the Moto G Power’s stablemate didn’t win by any huge consensus.

Some may be surprised that the Moto G Stylus (2026) came out ahead of the likes of Google and Samsung, but you could just as easily argue that it should have won by more. If you already like Motorola phones and the Moto G Power doesn’t quite work for you, the most natural next step is to look at another Moto in a similar price bracket. The Stylus offers the familiar software experience while feeling like a more ambitious device, so its appeal is easy to understand. The fact that over 70% of the vote went elsewhere just shows how different buyers’ priorities are when it comes to finding value. It seems plenty are willing to trade Motorola’s practical extras for longer support, a better display, or simply a different take on the budget-to-mid-range formula.

Some of you were keen to expand on your vote in the comments section of our original article, and a couple of those additions focused on why someone might still prefer the Moto G Power over the alternatives. Ingnatov argued that battery life was the whole point of buying the phone, while Loremaster72 highlighted practical features such as expandable storage and a headphone jack. Those are fair points, and they underline why this was never meant to be a list of five phones that beat the G Power in every category. Different buyers care about different things, and Motorola’s appeal often lies in exactly those unfashionable extras that other brands have left behind.

A few readers used the “Other” poll option to throw in alternatives of their own. Jsumer10 said they had moved from Motorola to a POCO M8 Pro 5G because of its longer update policy, Mikeadamson001 suggested the Moto G84 5G, and David B went more retro than us with the Pixel 7 Pro. That variety shows how broad this price bracket becomes once discounted older flagships and import models enter the conversation.

I was a big Motorola fan but their OS and security updates are short. I ended up getting a POCO M8 Pro 5g. Great specs and compatible with T-Mobile. — comment from reader Jsumera10

A few readers also said they had paid much less than $400 for the Moto G Power, with reported prices ranging from $200 down to around $100. That is perfectly possible, but our comparison was based mainly on retail pricing for unlocked phones. Carrier promotions and temporary sales can make almost any handset look dramatically cheaper, and they don’t always make for a clean like-for-like comparison.

The same goes for readers who pointed out that some alternatives cost a little more. We noted this where applicable, and while a list restricted to phones priced exactly at $400 would be impressively precise, it wouldn’t be quite as useful. The idea was to compare devices in roughly the same price band and explain when spending a bit more might be justified, and certain devices are on sale fairly regularly anyway.

Everyone’s entitled to their view, though, and we always know what we’re getting ourselves into when we ask the whole internet a question — at least no one suggested the Trump Phone as a viable alternative.

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.