The Best Thunderbolt 3 and 2 Docks

Thunderbolt 3 Docks

CalDigit’s TS3 is a great option—it’s a previous former top pick. It has three USB-A ports and an otherwise standard collection of inputs, and a small body. But it’s more expensive than our pick and has fewer ports. Choose this one mainly if 85-watt charging—say, for a 15-inch MacBook Pro—is important to you, otherwise, stick with the Plugable.

Elgato’s Thunderbolt 3 Dock is more expensive than our top pick, with two fewer USB-A ports, and you can’t position it vertically so it takes up more desk space than the CalDigit dock.

Belkin’s Thunderbolt 3 Express Dock has the same inputs and outputs as the TS3 (minus the eSATA ports), but is wider and costs more. Belkin often charges a premium for its admittedly well-made products, but in this case, you don’t get any more for your money.

StarTech’s Thunderbolt 3 Dual-4K Docking Station and Iogear’s Thunderbolt 3 Quantum Docking Station have the same ports and layout as the CalDigit TS3 Lite, our budget pick. The metal housings are different textures and colors, but otherwise the bodies are the same shape and size, and the ports are all in the exact same positions. We don’t know if the three models are using the same reference design, or even the same circuitry inside, but we saw pretty much identical performance between all three. Considering the CalDigit model’s lower retail price, we recommend sticking with the TS3 Lite unless the StarTech or Iogear is available at a significantly lower price when you’re shopping.

Kensington’s SD5000T Thunderbolt 3 Docking Station has the same inputs and outputs as the TS3 Lite, Startech, and Iogear, but unlike those models, it supports 85-watt charging. It also includes a Kensington lock slot for security and can be mounted to the back of a monitor with a separate mounting plate. However, it’s more expensive than our top full-speed charging picks without providing significantly more value.

We didn’t test StarTech’s Thunderbolt 3 Dual-4K Docking Station with full Power Delivery. It was announced just as the latest update to this guide was being published, but it costs about $100 more than our top pick, and we don’t see any reason to pay that premium. This StarTech dock has the same design and ports as StarTech’s less-expensive version (mentioned a few paragraphs above), but it supports 85-watt charging instead of just 15 watts, and it comes with a USB-C–to–DisplayPort cable in addition to its Thunderbolt 3 cable, allowing you to connect to a monitor out of the box. We don’t think that extra is worth paying such a high premium.

Thunderbolt 2 Docks

Elgato’s Thunderbolt 2 Dock is a strong competitor to the OWC dock, performing similarly in our tests. It has two fewer USB ports than our top pick and no FireWire, but it ships with a short Thunderbolt cable (something you pay extra for with the OWC dock) and a software utility for both Mac and Windows that lets you eject all the connected peripherals at once. If those USB ports aren’t necessary for you, we think it’s a good buy, especially given the included cable.

CalDigit’s Thunderbolt Station 2 performed well in our tests overall. (It has the slowest average Thunderbolt write speeds, but the difference is small enough that it shouldn’t determine your buying decision.) On the other hand, it has fewer USB ports than our top pick, and though it packs eSATA, we don’t find that connection to be important for most people. We do like the size and shape of this one: Unlike most Thunderbolt 2 docks, this one stands vertically, so it takes up less space on a desk.

StarTech’s Thunderbolt 2 Docking Station originally seemed to be a great alternative for about the same price as the OWC dock, and it was our former runner-up. The StarTech dock’s port array is a little different—we’d say it was less impressive—but it has the second-most USB ports of any dock out there. To our disappointment, it exhibited the same kind of disconnection issues as the original OWC dock over long-term testing.

We ruled out AKiTiO’s Thunder2 Dock before the testing phase simply based on the ports it has—or, rather, doesn’t have. The dock has only two Thunderbolt ports, two USB 3.0 ports, two eSATA ports, and a FireWire 800 connection. Compared with the other models we tested at around the same price, it’s simply lacking.

Belkin’s Thunderbolt 2 Express HD Dock is more expensive than any Thunderbolt dock we tested, without any compelling advantages.

Iogear’s Thunderbolt 2 Docking Station is appealing at first glance, but our testing revealed some problems. It has just three USB 3.0 data ports, with a fourth USB port for high-speed charging—but only to around 1.7 amp, not 2.1 amps or 2.4 amps as we prefer. It also has no FireWire or eSATA ports, but it does include the rest of the expected connectors. We experienced no disconnections during our testing, but we did find that with this model our monitor took longer to wake up than with the OWC dock. We also heard a frequent and annoying popping sound from connected speakers; the problem persisted even after we switched to a different cable.