The 6 Best Pool Balls: A Buyer’s Guide

You’ll find few sporty individuals that don’t enjoy pool. It’s a fun game that everyone can get involved in and is the perfect way to unwind at the end of a long day. But to enjoy pool to the fullest you need quality equipment.

The best pool balls are made of phenolic resin, perfectly round, and last for many years. Polyester resin is also used and will save you some money, but it has drawbacks.  

Below you will find the 6 best pool ball sets on the market and details regarding what to look for when researching. We’ve provided a mix of inexpensive basic sets and top-end pricier sets to ensure everyone has a little something. We hope you find it useful!

Read more: If you still don’t have your cue, check out our cue guide.

The 6 Best Pool Balls Reviews

1. Aramith Pure Phelonic Pool Balls — Best Choice

Specifications:

• Diameter size: 2-¼ inch
• Material: Phenolic resin
• Additional buying options?: Yes

Pros:

• Premium build quality
• Perfectly round
• Highly durable
• Calibrated for consistent rebounds

Cons:

• Expensive

Our rating: 9.6

Aramith is the gold standard of pool balls, so it should come as no surprise that they make our list. Despite this being their premium set, it is the cheapest of their three sets. These balls are made using phenolic resin: their trademarked resin compound. It will last up to five times greater than lower-quality balls.

The balls also feature Virotech technology. This uses a heat-curing process that gives the balls high density and superior impact resistance. Aramith claims that their balls can endure fifty times more impacts and twice as many scratches as other pool balls.

The quality of the Aramith resin also means each ball is calibrated for optimal rebound. This ensures more consistent gameplay and allows you to be far more precise with your shots. We feel that the Aramith pure phenolic balls are the best pool table balls you can currently buy.

2. Iszy Billiard Ball Set — Budget Choice

Specifications:

• Diameter size: 2-¼ inch
• Material: Polyester resin
• Additional buying options?: Yes

Pros:

• High-quality balls
• Very affordable
• Four different colored sets

Cons:

• Average durability

Our rating: 9.2

For those looking for quality pool balls at an affordable cost, the Iszy set has the best pool balls to buy. At a quarter of the cost of the Aramith set, it provides incredible value for money, which explains why it is so popular with pool players. Of course, while the quality is high, it is far from top-end. The balls are made from polyester resin which is inferior to phenolic resin, so if durability is one of your main priorities, best look elsewhere.

We also like that Iszy sells the set in four different colors. For most, the traditional color set will be what you want, but it’s nice to have options. The three other sets are marble, classic marble, and dark marble. They look pretty flashy but may hinder your ability to distinguish between spots and stripes. They also cost a little more than the traditional set.

3. JAPER BEES Pool Balls Set — Most Style Choices

Specifications:

• Diameter size: 2-¼ inch
• Material: Polyresin
• Additional buying options?: Yes

Pros:

• Perfect roundness
• Low degree of variance
• Very affordable
• Five different color sets
• 100% money back policy

Cons:

• Average durability

Our rating: 9.3

The JAPER BEES pool ball set is another choice that offers superb value for money. The balls are perfectly round and precise in terms of weight and diameter. The margin of deviance is just -0.1/0+.1 gram and -0.1/+0.1 millimeter. This ensures your balls are almost identical.

The balls are made from polyresin, which isn’t the best, but is not too bad either. JAPER BEES states that their balls last 2-3 times longer than other brands. Clearly, they are comparing with lower quality balls here. However, the balls do have some other enticing features, such as long-lasting gloss and burn spot resistance.

Long-lasting gloss helps keep the balls looking pristine and shiny, while burn spot resistance helps prevent damage to your pool table. Unknown to some, balls can get very hot when you strike them with your pool cue. This can cause burn spots on your table. Therefore having pool cues with burn spot resistance is a big advantage.

You also have a lot of choices when it comes to the design of the balls. There are five different sets:

• Deluxe standard
• Deluxe superior
• Marble dark
• Pro premium
• Pearl trick shot

Honestly, all of these sets look great. We also prefer the marble dark design on this set to the marble sets by ISZY. They look more professional. And as before, these sets all have different costs. Furthermore, they have different quality levels with the deluxe standard being the lowest.

The final feature we like about this set is the 100% money-back policy. JAPER BEES gives your money back if any quality issues arise, and they guarantee they will rectify issues within 12 hours of receiving an email. Now that is elite customer service right there.

Read more: How does your pool table compare with the best? Here’s our review of the best pool tables this year.

4. Felson Pool Ball Set

Specifications:

• Diameter size: 2-¼ inch
• Material: Resin
• Additional buying options?: No

Pros:

• Precision engineered for roundness
• Very affordable

Cons:

• Average durability
• Poor color finish

Our rating: 8.6

If you are stretched for cash, the Felson pool ball set is certainly one to consider. The balls are precision engineered for roundness, ensuring they roll consistently and do not veer to either side. Like the rest of the sets featured, they are regulation size and weight but not quite as uniform as we would like.

The quality of this product is also lacking in a few other areas. The first is the color finish. It is rather dull, and the paint is not applied all that well. We also noticed erroneous spacing on the word “size” on the packaging. While both of these are not major issues, it certainly indicates a cheaper product. For around 15 bucks extra, the Iszy pool ball set is a far better choice in our eyes.

5. Aramith Crown Pool Ball Set — Great Value for Money

Specifications:

• Diameter size: 2-¼ inch
• Material: Phenolic resin
• Additional buying options?: No

Pros:

• Premium build quality
• Perfectly round
• Highly durable
• Calibrated for consistent rebounds

Cons:

• Expensive

Our rating: 9.5

As mentioned earlier, Aramith is practically unmatched when it comes to pool ball quality, so many of you may be after their most affordable balls—presenting the Aramith Crown set. It is over 50% cheaper than their premium set and cuts a few corners to give you incredible quality at a competitive price.

The most obvious difference between this and the premium set is visual. The numbers reside outside of the stripes in the striped balls. While this looks a little strange, it doesn’t affect how they perform, so it is an effective way to cut the cost. The numbers are also not quite as bold, which again, is of little importance.

However, the main difference is in terms of composition. The balls are made using a different type of resin. It is still phenolic resin which is very high-quality, but it falls short of what they use for the premium sets and above. Yet the quality is so high that you may not even notice that the resin is different. This set certainly gets the seal of approval from us.

6. Brunswick Centennial Billiard Balls

Specifications:

• Diameter size: 2-¼ inch
• Material: Phenolic resin
• Additional buying options?: No

Pros:

• Premium build quality
• Perfectly round
• Very low degree of variance
• Highly durable

Cons:

• Expensive
• Old-school style may not be to everyone’s tastes

Our rating: 9.3

The final pool ball set to make our list is by Brunswick. It is the most expensive set featured, but it is very high quality. For starters, the balls use Aramith phenolic resin: the best resin you can use for pool balls. They are also manufactured by Saluc. This is the same Belgian company that makes the balls for Aramith. This again re-asserts that these are premium balls you are purchasing.

They, too, undergo a heat curing process that fuses the components of the ball for a strong molecular bond. They also have a very small degree of variance of just 0.001 inch, making them very precise balls. You may also notice on the listing that they provide a free-break cloth on request. This helps mitigate wear from breaking and is a nice little addition.

In terms of appearance, they vary quite a lot from Aramith balls, sporting more of an old-school look. We think it’s pretty rad, but it doesn’t suit everyone — all in all, a super billiard ball set, just a bit expensive for most people.

FAQs

What Should I Look For When Buying Pool Balls?

There are a lot of qualities to look for when purchasing the best pool ball set. When reading billiard balls reviews or studying listings yourself, make sure that the balls are:

• Regulation size and weight
• Have a low degree of size and weight variance
• Last a long time
• Are perfectly round
• Have a consistent rebound
• Are burn spot resistant
• Are well polished and pleasing to the eye

Are Some Pool Balls Better Than Others?

Certainly. Pool balls vary a lot in quality, and if you opt for cheap billiard balls, they probably won’t last that long. Given that pool balls should last for many years, it makes sense to invest in a quality set to not have to replace them as often.

What Kind of Pool Balls are Best?

Aramith pool balls are the best pool balls you can buy. This is mostly due to their phenolic resin composition, which is currently unmatched by other ball manufacturers. They are impact-resistant, scratch-resistant, burn spot resistant, and are perfectly round.

What Pool Balls Do Pros Use?

Once again, Aramith is the brand that has this honor: 85% of players use Aramith balls, and nearly all tournaments exclusively supply them. Approximately 3-4 million amateur and professional players use them every day.

Do Pool Balls Wear Out?

It’s an unfortunate reality that all pool balls wear out, even the best pool ball sets. They take a lot of damage when they are struck with the cue and rebound into one another. Even if you get a quality set, there will come a time when they need replacing either because they are damaged (cracks and chips), misshapen, or smaller than they should be. Yes, you heard that right. Pool balls reduce in size over the course of several years due to friction.

Conclusion

That summarizes our best pool balls of the year. We strongly recommend the Amarith pure phelonic pool balls for anyone serious about the sport. They are a little expensive, but they more than make up for this in terms of quality and longevity — they are the best billiard balls for the money.

If, however, you’re still a bit short in terms of cash, we recommend the Amarith Crown pool ball set. It’s the perfect way to secure Amarith level quality while having a few features stripped back.

As for our budget choice, we recommend the Iszy pool ball set. You get a lot of value for money with these balls. They are fairly high quality and are perfect for home use.

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our write-up on 5 types of pool games you need to try.