Quick answer: Fiberglass pickleball paddles have a reputation as the cheap, poppy, low-control option that raw carbon fiber made obsolete. We checked that against our own catalog of 728 paddles, and it does not hold up. The 50 paddles with fiberglass in the face average slightly less power than raw carbon, slightly more spin, and cost about twelve dollars less. The real story is not that fiberglass is bad. It is that fiberglass is quietly disappearing.
The 30-second version
- 50 of our 728 paddles use fiberglass in the face — only 14 of those are pure fiberglass, the other 36 blend it with carbon.
- The power myth is wrong. Fiberglass averages 5.58 power versus 5.69 for raw carbon. Marginally softer, not hotter.
- Spin is actually a touch better. 6.31 versus 6.17 for raw carbon.
- It is cheaper. Average MSRP 188 dollars versus 200 for raw carbon.
- Two brands own the category. PaddleTek and 11six24 account for 28 of the 50.
- The real finding: of the 32 fiberglass paddles we can date, not one is a 2026 release — in a year that added 97 paddles to the catalog.
If you have shopped for a paddle in the last two years, you have been told the same thing over and over: raw carbon fiber is the grown-up choice and fiberglass is what came in the starter set. I hear it constantly at open play in Leominster, usually from somebody who has never actually hit with a modern fiberglass face. So rather than repeat the received wisdom, I went and counted. We keep specs and independent ratings on 728 paddles, and 50 of them have fiberglass in the face. Here is what those 50 actually say.
What do fiberglass pickleball paddles actually measure?
Here is the head-to-head against raw carbon fiber, which is by far the biggest group in our catalog at 375 paddles. Power and spin are on a 0 to 10 scale, aggregated from independent testing by Pickleball Studio and John Kew.
- Power — fiberglass 5.58, raw carbon 5.69. Fiberglass is slightly lower. The whole reputation is backwards.
- Spin — fiberglass 6.31, raw carbon 6.17. A small but consistent edge to fiberglass.
- Price — fiberglass 188 dollars, raw carbon 200 dollars. The cheap-material reputation is the one thing that survives, and even then it is a twelve dollar gap, not a tier.
- Weight — fiberglass 225.6g, raw carbon 226.9g. Effectively identical.
- Reviewer scores — fiberglass grades marginally higher on both. John Kew 5.85 versus 5.76; Pickleball Studio 5.69 versus 5.57.
Coverage caveat, stated up front: not every paddle has every field. The fiberglass power average draws on 49 of 50 paddles and spin on 46, but the John Kew score is only present for 21 of them and the Pickleball Studio score for 35. The reviewer-score gap is the softest number here and I would not hang a purchase on it. The power, spin and price numbers are well covered and I would.
So why does fiberglass have a bad reputation?
Two reasons, and one of them is legitimate.
The legitimate one is history. Fiberglass was the face material on a generation of genuinely cheap department-store paddles — thin cores, no edge protection, painted faces with no texture. Those paddles really were poppy and hard to control, but that was the core and the build, not the fiberglass. People correctly remember the paddles and incorrectly blame the material.
The less legitimate one is marketing. Raw carbon became the premium story around 2022 and every brand needed to be on the right side of it. Calling the older material poppy and uncontrolled was a convenient way to sell the new one. Our numbers suggest the two materials are much closer than the copy implies.
There is also a genuine difference worth naming: fiberglass flexes more than carbon. That is why it gets described as poppy. But flex is not the same as power — a flexier face can also dwell on the ball slightly longer, which is a plausible reason the spin numbers come out a touch higher. If you want the fundamentals, our paddle buying guide covers how face, core and shape interact.
Is fiberglass actually disappearing?
This is the finding I did not expect, and it is the one that would change what I tell somebody at the net.
Of the 50 fiberglass paddles in the catalog, 32 have a release year recorded. They break down like this: three from 2022, five from 2023, eleven from 2024, thirteen from 2025 — and zero from 2026.
For context, our catalog holds 97 paddles released in 2026. So in the year that produced the single largest crop of new paddles we track, not one of them came to us with fiberglass in the face.
The honest caveats: 18 of the 50 fiberglass paddles have no year recorded at all, and those skew toward older Selkirk and PaddleTek lines rather than new releases. Our catalog is also not a census of everything on the market. But a clean run of growth through 2025 followed by an abrupt zero in a 97-paddle year is a strong enough signal to say out loud: fiberglass is not being designed into new paddles anymore.
That reframes the buying decision. The question is not whether fiberglass is good — the numbers say it is fine. The question is whether you mind buying into a face material that brands have stopped developing. It fits the broader pattern we covered in the 2026 paddle shakeout.
Who actually still makes fiberglass paddles?
The category is remarkably concentrated. Of the 50 paddles:
- PaddleTek — 15. Almost entirely the Bantam and Tempest lines, most of them Toray carbon blended with fiberglass.
- 11six24 — 13. The All Court, Power, Jelly Bean and Alpha Pro families, mostly fiberglass over raw carbon.
- Selkirk — 9 across Selkirk and Selkirk Labs.
- Everyone else — 13, spread thinly across CRBN, Six Zero, Engage, Volair, Honolulu, Neonic and Rokne.
Two brands account for 56 percent of the entire category. That is worth knowing, because it means the fiberglass experience is largely the PaddleTek experience and the 11six24 experience, not some general property of the material.
Which fiberglass pickleball paddles are worth a look?
Six picks across the price range, chosen on the numbers we hold rather than on marketing copy. Ratings are the independent 0 to 10 scores described above.
1. PaddleTek Tempest TKO-C — 188.99 dollars, widebody. Power 7.7, spin 7.1, John Kew 6.1. This is the highest power score in the entire fiberglass group and it comes with genuinely good spin, on a Toray carbon and fiberglass blend. If you came here believing fiberglass cannot hit hard, this is the paddle that argues back.
2. CRBN Genesis 2 — 279.99 dollars, widebody, 2025. Spin 7.4, power 5.5, John Kew 6.2, Pickleball Studio 6.2. The best-reviewed paddle in the group on both independent scales, and the only pick here with a foam core. Soft off the face with real spin — the modern control build. It is also the most expensive thing on this list by a distance.
3. Selkirk Amped Pro Air Invikta — 180 dollars, elongated. Power 7.1, spin 6.5, John Kew 5.5. Pure fiberglass, no carbon in the face, and the elongated shape adds reach. The closest thing here to the classic fiberglass feel done properly.
4. 11six24 All Court Vapor 16mm — 139.90 dollars, hybrid, 2025. Power 6.3, spin 6.2, Pickleball Studio 5.9. The value pick, and a genuinely balanced set of numbers for the money. 11six24 is one of our community-discount brands — code RFP takes 10 percent off, which brings this one under 130 dollars.
5. Six Zero Black Diamond 16mm — 180 dollars, hybrid, 2023. Power 5.2, spin 6.6, John Kew 5.7, Pickleball Studio 5.7. Pure fiberglass, softer off the face, and the pick if you live at the kitchen line and want the ball to stay down.
6. Volair Corto — 89.99 dollars, widebody. Power 3.8, spin 5.6, John Kew 5.7. The lowest power number on this list by some way, which is the point — this is a soft-hands paddle at a genuinely low price. A reasonable landing spot if you are stepping up from a starter paddle without spending two hundred dollars. See also our budget paddle guide.
One number we deliberately do not quote anywhere on this site: a control rating. Ours is derived arithmetically from power rather than independently measured, so presenting it as a test result would be misleading. Power and spin are measured. Control is not.
Should a New England player buy one?
A few things that actually matter around here rather than in a lab.
- Cold weather suits a flexier face. Our outdoor season runs into stiff, cold-ball conditions in April and October. A face with a bit more give does you more good on a fifty-degree morning than a stiff one does.
- Price matters when the season is short. A twelve dollar average saving is not decisive, but the sub-140 dollar end of this list genuinely is, especially for a second paddle you leave in the car.
- Check the noise rules before you buy anywhere. A growing number of New England towns now specify quiet-certified paddles at particular courts — we wrote about what happened in Salem, New Hampshire. No paddle on this list is quiet-certified, so confirm your home court has no restriction.
- Tournament legality is a separate list. If you plan to enter anything sanctioned, check the paddle against the USA Pickleball approved equipment list before you buy, not after.
If you want to sort by numbers instead of by material, the paddle finder filters all 728, and the full catalog has a page per paddle.
Frequently asked questions
Are fiberglass pickleball paddles good for beginners?
They can be, but material is the wrong thing to shop on at that stage. Shape, weight and price matter far more. Several of the paddles above would suit a newer player and several would not — the Volair Corto would, the PaddleTek Tempest TKO-C is a lot of power to handle. Start with our beginner paddle guide instead.
Is fiberglass or carbon fiber better for spin?
On our numbers fiberglass has a small edge — 6.31 against 6.17 for raw carbon. That gap is narrow enough that the specific paddle matters much more than the material. Our spin paddle guide ranks by the actual scores rather than by face type.
Do fiberglass paddles wear out faster than carbon?
We do not hold durability data, so I am not going to claim a number. What I will say is that face texture on any material wears with use and that grit-based texture dulls faster than the surface of a raw carbon face. Our guide to when to replace a paddle covers the signs to watch for.
Why are there so few pure fiberglass paddles left?
Only 14 of the 50 in our catalog are pure fiberglass; the other 36 blend it with carbon. Blending lets a brand keep the flex and spin characteristics while marketing the carbon. Combined with zero recorded 2026 releases, that suggests the industry is phasing the material out rather than developing it.
Is it worth buying a fiberglass paddle in 2026?
On performance, yes — the numbers are competitive and the price is slightly lower. On longevity of the line, be aware that you are buying into a category brands appear to have stopped adding to, which can mean fewer replacements in the same model when yours wears out.
Data note: figures above come from our own catalog of 728 paddles. Power and spin ratings are aggregated from independent testing published by Pickleball Studio and John Kew; we did not test these paddles ourselves. Coverage varies by field and is stated in the text. Prices are manufacturer MSRP and change often — check before you buy.
Disclosure: Jason is a Selkirk Advocate and receives discounted product. Selkirk has no input into our ratings, which come from independent testing by Pickleball Studio and John Kew. Code RFP is a community discount with 11six24.
Written by Jason Regan, who runs Regan Family Pickleball out of Leominster, Massachusetts, and maintains the 728-paddle database behind these numbers.
Related reading: the best pickleball paddles · foam-core paddles · how to choose a paddle · gear and discount codes