Best USB Oscilloscopes for Laptop Use

USB oscilloscopes use your computer as the display and processing unit. You plug them into a USB port, run the software, and your laptop screen becomes the oscilloscope display. This approach has real advantages: your laptop's large, high-resolution screen is better than most scope displays. The software can offer advanced analysis, data export, and automation features that standalone scopes can't match. And the scope hardware itself is tiny and portable — you can carry a full-featured instrument in a laptop bag. The downsides are equally real: you need a computer to operate (no standalone use), software launch time adds friction for quick measurements, and analog performance (sample rate, bandwidth) tends to be lower than comparably-priced benchtop scopes. USB scopes excel as secondary instruments alongside a benchtop scope — or as the only instrument when portability is the priority.

The Analog Discovery 3 isn't just a USB oscilloscope — it's a 14-instrument lab in a device smaller than a smartphone. You get a 2-channel scope (50MHz bandwidth, 125MSa/s), a 16-channel logic analyzer, a 2-channel function generator, programmable power supplies, a spectrum analyzer, a network analyzer, and more. The WaveForms software is genuinely excellent. It's well-designed, regularly updated, and includes built-in protocol decoders, FFT analysis, data logging, and scripting support. It's one of the best oscilloscope software experiences available at any price. At $379, it's expensive for a USB scope, but you're getting 14 instruments. If you need a logic analyzer alongside a scope — and for microcontroller work, you probably do — this is the most cost-effective way to get both. I use one alongside my benchtop scope for any project that involves many digital signals simultaneously.

The Hantek 6022BE is the cheapest USB scope that actually works. At ~$65, you get 2 channels and 20MHz bandwidth. That's enough to see basic signals, verify PWM, and learn scope fundamentals without spending much. Skip the official Hantek software and use the open-source OpenHantek project instead — it's cross-platform (Linux, macOS, Windows), actively maintained, and dramatically better than the bundled application. The 20MHz bandwidth and 48MSa/s sample rate are genuinely limiting. Waveform quality degrades rapidly above about 5-10MHz. For audio work and slow digital signals, it's adequate. For anything beyond basic Arduino signal verification, it's frustrating. At $65, it's worth owning as a supplementary tool even if you have a benchtop scope. Throw it in a laptop bag for field checks.

If a USB scope is your ONLY oscilloscope, I generally recommend a benchtop scope instead. Here's why: **A standalone scope is always ready.** Turn it on, connect probes, start measuring. No software to launch, no computer to boot, no drivers to install. This reduced friction means you'll actually use it more. **Benchtop scopes have better analog performance per dollar.** The Rigol DS1054Z at $349 gives you 4 channels, 1GSa/s sample rate, and 50MHz bandwidth. The Analog Discovery 3 at $379 gives you 2 analog channels, 125MSa/s, and 50MHz. The raw scope performance isn't close. **Physical controls matter.** Turning a physical knob to adjust timebase and voltage is faster and more intuitive than clicking menus. You develop muscle memory that transfers to any scope you encounter. That said, USB scopes shine as SECONDARY instruments. The Analog Discovery 3's logic analyzer is invaluable alongside a benchtop scope. And the portability of any USB scope is unmatched — you can't take a DS1054Z to a client site or a friend's garage.

I focused on the Analog Discovery 3 and Hantek 6022BE because they represent the best value at their price points, but other options exist: **PicoScope (PicoTech):** The professional standard for USB oscilloscopes. PicoScope 2000 series starts around $200-$400, offering excellent software (PicoScope 7) and solid performance. PicoScope's software is arguably better than WaveForms for pure oscilloscope work — it has more advanced triggering and analysis options. At prices where benchtop scopes are competitive, PicoScope earns its premium with software quality. **Hantek 6022BL:** Adds basic logic analyzer channels to the 6022BE for about $10 more. If you want both scope and logic analyzer on a minimal budget, it's worth the small premium — though the logic analyzer is very basic compared to the Analog Discovery 3. **BitScope Micro:** An interesting budget option popular in the Raspberry Pi community, around $150. Mixed-signal capability (scope + logic), but software development has slowed. Worth investigating if the community aspect appeals to you. For most hobbyists, the choice is between the Analog Discovery 3 (best overall capability) or a PicoScope (best pure oscilloscope experience in USB form) depending on whether you need the multi-instrument breadth or prefer a more focused scope-first product.