The best full-foam (Gen 4) pickleball paddles
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In the past 2 years, full-foam pickleball paddles have taken over a huge share of the market.
Paddles that are constructed using a foam core are commonly referred to as “Gen 4” paddles, as opposed to “Gen 3” paddles that use a polypropylene honeycomb core (typically with a foam ring around the edge).
But not all foam paddles are created equal — far from it, in fact.
Companies have used a wide variety of foam types — EPP, MPP, EMA, EVA, etc. — and various combinations of those materials. We’re not engineers, so we’re not going to pretend to know all the differences between those different foam types.
But we do know this: EPP foam paddles feel and perform quite a bit different than MPP foam paddles, and so on.
In this article we’re breaking down what we think are the top foam paddles on the market — and what makes them stand out from the pack.
This page will be updated regularly as new paddles hit the market. In many cases, using code “KITCHEN” at checkout will get you a discount — using our code also helps us continue to produce this type of content.
Last updated: October 2026
OUR “BEST OF” LISTS
Best overall
– Our Top 13 paddles on the market + in-depth reviews for each oneBest by category
– Best power paddles
– Best control paddles
– Best all-court paddles
– Best full-foam paddlesBest by shot type
– Best paddles for dinks and drops
– Best paddles for drives and serves
– Best paddles for pop
– Best paddles for resets
– Best paddles for spinBest by price
– Best paddles under $200
– Best paddles under $150Best by skill level
– Best paddles for beginners
– Best paddles for intermediate players
– Best paddles for advanced playersGear
– Best pickleball bags
– Best pickleball shoes
– Best shoes for men
– Best shoes for women
– Best pickleball accessories
– Best pickleball training aids
– Best nets for every setting/price point
The best full-foam pickleball paddles
The Jade is RPM’s first paddle built with an MPP floating foam core. It delivers elite spin thanks to the brand’s new SICmatrix silicon carbide surface, a durable grit that is touted to hold up even after several months of heavy play. The predictable response off the face lets you be extremely precise with the pace and shape of your shots, and in our early time with it we’ve been extremely impressed.
This paddle features an intricate core design with multiple layers and cutouts that allows the paddle to absorb and transfer energy to the ball in a more controlled way.
It has more of a “pocketing” effect on contact compared to many other foam paddles, which makes it a breeze to shape the ball on shots from the baseline and flicks out of the air at the kitchen line. It also maintains the top-end power that full foam paddles have become known for over the past year.
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The Jelly Bean 2 features a softer, denser EMA foam core with sneaky power, wrapped in the brand’s popular “HexGrit” surface. It’s a great all-court option — drops, dinks, drives, resets, elite spin … whatever you need, this paddle can do it.
The Jelly Bean 2 comes in four shapes and three incredible colorways that set this paddle apart from almost everything else on the market.
Check out our full review of the 11SIX24 Jelly Bean 2 Series here.
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The original Bread & Butter Loco was one of the most popular paddles of the past several years, and the Loco 2 keeps the same full-foam core platform while adding the brand’s durable Space Dust Grit for serious spin that lasts. If you were a fan of the original, we think you’ll like this one even more.
The Six Zero Coral Pro took everything that made the original Six Zero Coral an extremely popular paddle and made it even better. The Coral Pro features Six Zero’s new “Double Diamond Tough” surface, a texture that delivers exceptional spin and long-lasting durability. It also maintains the plush feel, stability and all-court control that made the Coral a favorite for many players.
Volair took a unique approach with the CMD HYB. Instead of trying to develop its own durable grit solution, it licensed 11SIX24’s proven HexGrit and paired it with its own foam core. The result is a paddle that delivers the exceptional spin HexGrit is known for with an all-court playing profile. It’s currently Dylan Frazier’s signature paddle.
The Aura Pro is a full-foam paddle that delivers great pop in hands battles and big power on full swings like drives and overheads. It features a rubber ring around the core that gives the paddle a slightly more plush/less harsh feel than a lot of other full-foam paddles, which helped us get a good feel for the ball on shots that require more touch. In that sense it is an upgrade from a lot of the foam options we saw in 2025.
With the release of the Power 2 Series, 11SIX24 introduced a new grit technology called “HexGrit.” The paddle face is very gritty to the touch, and the brand claims the HexGrit is more durable than raw carbon fiber and other grit technologies on the market.
So if you’re a player who wants a full-foam power paddle and want something with longer lasting grit (why wouldn’t you want that?), then this is a great option.
Check out our in-depth review of the new Ultre Power 2 here.
Buy any JOOLA paddle, get a FREE Kitchen hat (under $30).
JOOLA’s first full-foam paddle surprised us. The POWER FX has a stiff, crisp, hollow feel on contact with an incredibly quick response off the face, quite different from the plush feel of the Pro V. It still uses JOOLA’s patented Propulsion Core design, but the core itself is EPP foam rather than polypropylene honeycomb, and the exterior foam extends slightly further down into the throat.
The Ignite is Thrive’s first full-foam paddle, built with an EPP foam core, a TPE foam perimeter ring and strategically placed tungsten perimeter weighting so it performs at a high level straight out of the box. Thrive’s new Clear Fusion Grit delivers big spin with durability that won’t wear down after extended play, and every paddle is hand-weighed so you can pick your exact swing weight when you order.
Our testing process
Team Kitchen is our team of expert paddle reviewers, all 5.0+ players. They test every paddle with other high-level players in their area, on every kind of shot, in drills and real games, to see how it performs in real-world play.
Every paddle is also measured on the same scale: power, spin, swing weight and twist weight, so any two paddles compare fairly.
We use the Life Time LT Pro 48 pickleball for our testing.
