Best OBD readers 2026
Which reader is the best for analysing your car’s health?
Nobody likes seeing a warning light on their dashboard, and it’s even worse if you don’t know what it means. But most cars keep a record of any malfunction in their onboard computer, and you can interrogate the system if you have a neat bit of equipment known as an OBD reader.
OBD stands for On Board Diagnostic, and an OBD reader plugs into a standardised socket to help you find out what fault codes have been raised. DIY readers are more limited than the equivalent professional kit, but they can pay for themselves by pinpointing an engine fault.
Most readers can also check the VIN number etched into the car’s electronics – useful for cross-checking a car you’re thinking of buying – and some have the ability to clear service reminders or modify certain vehicle settings.
How we tested them
We assessed eight OBD readers, five of which were wired and three that were wireless – and plugged them into a couple of cars of different ages, including a 2012 Alfa Romeo and a 2008 Audi A4, both with known faults and active warning lights. Wireless readers were connected via Bluetooth to an Android phone running the manufacturer’s recommended app.
Verdict
The Carly Universal Scanner and app are far pricier than the other units here, but go above and beyond with features. If you have a fleet of old cars, it’s worth it.
Used - available now
2020 BMW
5 Series Touring
71,000 milesAutomaticDiesel3.0L
Cash £22,500
2020 BMW
M2
36,380 milesAutomaticPetrol3.0L
Cash £31,995
2019 BMW
X6
65,650 milesAutomaticDiesel3.0L
Cash £20,500
2021 BMW
M240i
81,700 milesAutomaticPetrol3.0L
Cash £16,995If your needs are more modest and you’re happy with a wired unit, the Topdon Artilink400 is full-featured and works superbly, while the Motopower MP69033 is inexpensive and easy to use.
Carly Universal Scanner
- Price: From £75 per year (single brand)
- Rating: 5 stars
- Contact: mycarly.com
Carly’s subscription model includes an easy-to-use app and more features than any scanner here – you can check the VIN, automatically scan for mileage discrepancies, and even get help diagnosing what each fault code might mean.
Scanning takes a little while, and the pricing is brand-determined, too – although if you’re a car collector or simply using it across a whole family’s worth of vehicles, you can get a multi-brand subscription. The unit is much pricier than others here, but the features make it worth it.
Topdon Artilink400
- Price: around £39
- Rating: 5 stars
- Contact: topdon.com
The Topdon makes the other wired units here look rather old-fashioned. It’s nice to have thoughtful touches such as the extra-long cable and the LED in the plug to help find the OBD port, but the real draw is the full set of buttons and large, clear, colour screen.
The Artilink400 gives as much detail as some of the smartphone apps, but does so without the fuss of a Bluetooth connection. It feels solid and the interface is easy to navigate – it’s definitely the best of the wired units here.
Motopower MP69033
- Price: around £22
- Rating: 4 stars
- Contact: motopowers.com
Simpler than the Topdon but still fully featured, the unit from Motopower has more buttons than the cheaper options, which makes it easier to navigate menus. Shortcut buttons to check a VIN or view codes without having to dive through lists of functions are a nice touch, and the screen is clear, albeit monochrome.
The long cable means you shouldn’t haveto stoop in the footwell, but it’s a chunkier unit, which makes it not as easy to sling into a glovebox or toolkit.
Sarini OBD2 Scanner
- Price: around £12
- Rating: 4 stars
- Contact: amazon.co.uk
A very basic unit, but it does the trick, and at this price, you can’t really moan. Its display is larger than those of the other cheap readers here, although it’s still awkward to navigate the interface when you have just two buttons to do it with.
The cable is very short and the plug very bulky, so it’s quite awkward for ports in tight locations. But it’s so compact and so cheap that it’s almost a no-brainer to just go ahead and buy one, storing it away in your toolbox as a handy back-up if the need arises.
OBDEleven
- Price: around £50
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: obdeleven.com
The OBDEleven dongle allows for the same basic functions as the rest of the units here, with the ability to read and diagnose engine faults, as well as offering other basic tools from within the easy-to-use OBDEleven app.
If you own a VW Group car, however, you can purchase either individual ‘credits’, or a rolling subscription plan that allows you to dive deep into the code and customise things such as the car’s lighting. Fantastic if you’re a modding enthusiast, though a bit overkill if you just want a diagnostic dongle.
AutoXS OBDII Tool
- Price: Around £13
- Rating: 3.5 stars
- Contact: aldi.co.uk
Aldi’s own brand unit is dirt-cheap and as simple as they come. With just two buttons to work it, you probably won’t want to use this for anything more than the basics. But it’s so cheap that it could well be an impulse purchase – it’ll certainly pay for itself more than once if you avoid even the most basic diagnostic fee from a garage.
The cable is very short, so you will probably need to hunch over in the car’s footwell to read the small screen. But on the flip side, the unit itself is very compact, so storageshould be pretty painless.
MMOBIEL Scanner Bluetooth Mini
- Price: around £9
- Rating: 3 stars
- Contact: mmobiel.com
This was the cheapest wireless dongle we could find online – and it’s not half bad. Finding a third-party app to pair with it can be frustrating because MMobiel doesn’t recommend a specific one, and many we selected only had US car models listed. But the Faslink X app we settled on worked well.
We found the Bluetooth connection a bit spotty and we had to be sitting in the car, with the app up on our screens for it to work. Scanning can take a while, which is tedious.
Laser 7728
- Price: around £54
- Rating: 2 stars
- Contact: lasertools.co.uk
This scanner works just as well as the AutoXS one - in fact, they feature the same bodies, software and interface.
But while the Laser version has an attractive finish, it also happens to be four times more expensive than the AutoXS. This makes it very difficult to recommend.
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