Best Pickleball Grips & Overgrips

A grip costs a fraction of what a paddle costs and changes more about how the paddle feels in your hand than any spec on the box. It decides how hard you have to squeeze, how much the handle turns on off-center contact, how much vibration reaches your forearm, and whether your hand is still holding on at the end of a long hot session.

Units we claim to have tested: 0. We rank on manufacturer-published construction and the consistent reviewer record, and we tell you what each option gives up. Prices move; the live Amazon price above is the only one to trust.

Overgrip or replacement grip? They are different products

This trips up more buyers than anything else in the category, so it goes first.

A replacement grip is the base layer. It is thicker, goes directly onto the bare handle, and is what your paddle shipped with. You replace it rarely — when it is genuinely worn out, or when you want to change the fundamental feel or thickness of the handle. The Hesacore is a replacement grip.

An overgrip is a thin wrap that goes on top of the existing grip. It is cheap, consumable, adds a small amount of circumference, and is designed to be changed regularly — every few weeks for a frequent player. The CRBN, GAMMA and Selkirk products here are overgrips.

Most players should be running an overgrip over the factory grip and replacing it when it stops feeling fresh. Only change the replacement grip when the base layer itself has gone hard, slippery or compressed.

Tacky versus dry: the actual decision

Every overgrip sits somewhere on a spectrum between two mechanisms, and choosing the wrong one is why people conclude that overgrips do not work for them.

Tacky grips use a slightly adhesive surface so the grip holds your hand. They feel excellent fresh — secure, connected, almost sticky — and they let you hold the paddle more loosely, which is good for the arm. Their weakness is moisture: once a tacky surface gets wet, the tack turns to slick, and in hot or humid conditions that can happen quickly.

Dry grips use a slightly absorbent, chalky-feeling surface that soaks up moisture rather than fighting it. They never feel as connected as a fresh tacky grip, but they keep working consistently through a sweaty session, which is exactly what a heavy-sweating player needs.

The rule of thumb: if your hands stay dry, buy tacky and enjoy it. If your hands sweat, buy dry and stop fighting the problem. If you are unsure, a cheap three-pack of each costs less than a set of balls and settles it in two sessions.

Grip size is the part that actually matters

Before choosing a texture, it is worth checking whether your handle is the right circumference, because that decision outranks everything else in this category.

A grip that is too small forces you to squeeze harder to stop the paddle turning in your hand. A permanently tense forearm is tiring and is one of the conditions associated with aggravating tennis elbow. A grip that is too large restricts wrist movement, which costs you spin — the brushing motion that puts rotation on the ball needs a free wrist.

Most paddles ship on the thin side, which means adding an overgrip or two is the single most common and most useful adjustment players make. Our grip size guide covers how to work out what you need and how much circumference each wrap adds.

This matters doubly if you hit a two-handed backhand, where two hands have to share one handle — our paddles for a two-handed backhand page covers the interaction.

How we picked

Four picks, each covering a distinct problem: sweaty hands, arm comfort, value, and tacky feel. Every product had to be a real, currently-listed item with a first-party Amazon listing, and we prioritized products from brands with an identifiable presence in the sport over generic unbranded wraps, of which there are hundreds.

We do not claim to have worn these through a season, and we will not publish invented longevity figures. What we can say honestly is what each product is built to do and what it costs you. Our full approach is on the methodology page.

Who should buy which

• Your hands sweat and grips go slick: the CRBN Drytec four-pack.
• Your arm or elbow is the problem: the Hesacore replacement grip — and read our paddles for tennis elbow page, because the paddle and the grip both matter.
• You just want a fresh wrap and do not want to think about it: the GAMMA Supreme three-pack.
• You want maximum tack and minimum spend: the Selkirk non-slip grip tape.
• You want to build up a thin handle: any of the overgrips, applied in two or three wraps — check our grip size guide first.

Wrapping a grip properly

A badly applied overgrip feels worse than no overgrip, and the mistakes are consistent.

Start at the butt, not the throat. Wrapping upward from the bottom means each layer overlaps in the direction your hand slides, so the edges do not peel. Wrapping downward guarantees a lifted edge within a week.

Keep tension even and overlap consistently. Roughly a sixteenth of an inch of overlap per turn is the usual guidance; more overlap means a thicker, softer handle, less means a thinner, firmer one. Uneven tension produces lumps you will feel on every shot.

Finish with the tape provided, not electrical tape. The finishing tape in the pack is designed to sit flush. Electrical tape creates a hard ridge exactly where your index finger sits.

Replace it before it is obviously dead. Grips degrade gradually, so most players are running a grip well past its useful life without noticing. If you cannot remember when you last changed it, it is time.

What to avoid

Cheap unbranded bulk wraps. The category is flooded with twenty-packs at prices that make no sense, and the common failure is a grip that peels or turns to plastic in the sun. A three or four-pack from a brand with a reputation to protect costs a couple of dollars more.

Over-building the handle without checking spin. Adding four wraps to fix a slippery grip also adds circumference, which restricts the wrist. If your rolls stop dipping after a grip change, the handle got too fat — our how paddle spin works guide explains why wrist freedom matters for brushed contact.

Treating a grip as a fix for a worn-out paddle. If the face has polished smooth or the core feels dead, a new grip changes nothing that matters. Our guide to when a paddle is done covers the difference.

The bottom line

Buy a multi-pack of whichever texture matches your hands, wrap it properly, and replace it more often than you think you need to. If your hands sweat, that is the CRBN Drytec; if they do not, the Selkirk tacky tape or the GAMMA Supreme. If your arm is the problem rather than your hand, the Hesacore is the one product here that is genuinely trying to solve something different.

Then check the circumference. Most paddles ship thin, most players never adjust it, and it is the cheapest meaningful change available. After that, the next-cheapest way to change how a paddle plays is weight — our paddle weights and tuning tape page covers it, and together the two cost less than a set of balls and a coffee.