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The Best Action Cameras for All Your Craziest Adventures (2026)
Choosing the best action camera used to be simple: Go with GoPro. That's still good advice, as the GoPro Mission 1 Pro is our top pick, but there are also some competitors worth considering, especially if your needs don't require the more expensive Mission 1 Pro.
The decision is not easy, especially since so many of them look alike, have similar features, and do the same thing—at least, on paper. So, to figure out what exactly makes the best action camera, we dove with them, climbed with them, surfed with them, and handed them to reckless 14-year-olds on bikes. We found several great options that will survive your adventures on the ski slope, at the beach, or at the skate park.
Be sure to also read our guide to the Best 360 Cameras, as there's considerable overlap these days with action cameras. In some cases, a 360 camera might be the better option; most can shoot in a single-lens “action camera mode." We've also got guides to the Best Travel Cameras, Best Mirrorless Cameras, and Best Instax Cameras.
Updated August 2026: I've updated our top pick to GoPro's new Mission 1 Camera. I've also removed the GoPro Hero 12 Black because it's no longer a good value, and I've updated prices and links throughout.
It costs more, but it also does more. GoPro's Mission 1 Pro is the best action camera on the market, thanks to the large 1-inch sensor and advanced GP3 imaging processor. But specs are not what set the Mission 1 apart so much as the quality of video, which has great natural color and looks more cinematic than any other action camera I've tried.
There are actually three Mission 1 cameras: the entry-level Mission 1, the slightly better Mission 1 Pro, and the Mission 1 Pro ILS, which uses interchangeable lenses based on the Micro Four Thirds mount (as of this guide update, the ILS isn't available yet). The main difference between the Mission 1 and the Pro model is the higher frame rates available in the Pro. I have not tested the non-Pro model, but if you don't need super-slow-motion footage, you can save $100 by getting the base Mission 1.
The Mission 1 Pro's video capabilities run up to 8K/60 frames per second, with 4K/240-fps slow motion possible (you can even shoot 1080p at the slightly insane frame rate of 960 fps). Curiously, there is no 5.3K video like the Hero 13 Black has; the 8K fills that role here, albeit at the expense of much larger video files. But even if you have no plans to ever export anything as 8K, the ability to crop when you're editing makes the Mission 1 Pro a more powerful camera than most. Perpetual GoPro haters will be disappointed to learn that Mission 1 Pro also has excellent low-light performance, on par with and sometimes exceeding the competition.
This was our overall pick before the Mission 1 cameras showed up, but if those are more than you need (or want to spend), DJI's Osmo Action 6 is the next-best action camera. It can shoot 8K video, though it's not nearly as nice as the 8K coming out of the Mission 1 Pro. While not the best quality available, 8K lets you crop in on details, and you can output a great-looking video when you downscale to 4K or 1080p. You can do that with either the 2X zoom in-camera, or after the fact when you're editing, and you'll still have usable 4K footage when exporting your movies. The high-speed capture is quite good, shooting 4K/120 fps (when shooting in 4:3 mode).
DJI really improved the default color rendering and contrast in the Action 6, to the point that I find its default color profiles to be fine most of the time. It also supports log recording, should you want to color-grade your footage in an editor. Low-light performance is quite good, as good as the Mission 1 Pro, in fact. That's true whether you use SuperNight mode (designed to optimize low-light footage) or not. I should note, though, that there are no manual controls, but the automatic modes were pretty smart most of the time in my testing.
DJI has followed GoPro's lead, adding some extra lenses