Buyer's Guide: Best Concealed Carry Pistols Under $500

Concealed carry guns don't have to be expensive. Here are our picks for the best concealable handguns under $500. Price points are always a little squishy as things go on sale or get scarce during times of shortage, but these picks are all consistently around that price point. This list is not in strict order, but it lines up with my impression of sales volumes based on my time behind the gun counter.

Top Lists @ TFB:

• The Best Beginner AR-15
• The Top 5 Budget Guns at SHOT Show 2025
• The Top 5 Best Rifles & Long Guns of 2024
• The Top 10 Guns We’ve Ever Reviewed (Pt. 2) | 5 Guns That Shaped TFBTV
• Best AR-15 Charging Handles for 2025

An important note before we start is caliber. This list is mostly 9mm handguns with a few other options included. No rimfire models are on this list because carrying a rimfire is usually a bad idea. Stick with a centerfire cartridge. This list also avoids .45 ACP and .40 S&W options because inexpensive concealment-sized guns in those chamberings are not fun to shoot, and ammo is expensive. If we are keeping to a budget, 9mm is probably the right answer.

Glock 43X/48

First on the list, we have the slimline Glock 43X and 48. The slide and barrel of the 43X is shorter at 3.4 inches, while the 48 has a 4-inch barrel. The G48 is dimensionally similar to the ever-popular Glock 19, but thinner. These pistols share the same frame with a ten-round factory magazine. However, a very popular upgrade (that is almost a default setting at this point) is changing out those magazines for the 15-round Shield Arms magazines. This is so popular that Glock is offering a 15-rounder of their own.

Glock was a little late to market with the G43, and later the G43X and G48, but these are among the most popular concealed carry handguns on the market at any price point. I am admittedly a pro-Glock person and carry a G48 MOS the vast majority of the time, but these are extremely popular guns across the board. Most holster manufacturers make options for these pistols, and there is a rich aftermarket ecosystem. If you want to add a light, a red dot, grip tape, or a threaded barrel, the G43X/48 family has all of the options.

Putting this first reveals my biases, as a G48 MOS is what I carry often. The G19 was my go-to for many years, and I still shoot it better than the G48. But getting the same capacity and barrel length in a skinnier gun makes it much easier to carry in some types of clothing or in some bags. I still love a G19 and it still is my go-to, but the G48 makes a lot of appearances in my carry rotation.

MOS versions come in right at $500, but non-MOS models cost $450. The A-Cut versions with the included Aimpoint optic come in above our budget. Getting a red-dot-ready model with the MOS cut is the smarter move and saves money in the long run. Even if you don’t decide to add an optic it would be an easier gun to resell than the standard model.

Smith & Wesson J-Frame

No concealed carry list is complete without the venerable small-frame member of S&W’s revolver lineup. These compact wheelguns have been a staple for decades and continue to make a lot of sense in some circumstances. As duty revolvers were phased out and semiautomatics took over in law enforcement circles, the J-frame soldiered on as an off-duty or backup gun. The rounder shape is easier to conceal for some than the slab-sided micro 9mm pistols that are so popular. Also, the inherent simplicity of five rounds of .38 Special (or six of something exotic like .32 H&R in certain models) in a gun with no slide to cock or safety to disengage has an appeal.

That all said, this is not an endorsement of the old gun counter trope of “every little lady should carry a .38 revolver so she doesn’t get confused like with one of those fancy autoloaders.” Far from it. The snub-nose revolver is a difficult gun to shoot well and requires a lot of practice to be effective. Even with practice, a 14-pound double-action trigger and only five rounds in the cylinder impose serious constraints compared to more modern designs.

“But these guns are for bad breath distance!” some might object. Maybe. But what if that is not the situation where lethal force is needed? No one wants to shoot it out with a rifle-armed attacker using a handgun, but few would choose to take a snubbie into that situation over a 9mm with a deeper magazine.

Where the J-frame really shines is in the situation where you probably would not have even taken a gun, but it is so easy to take this one that it will actually get carried. I’ll admit to having one and carrying it in those situations. It’s a very easy gun to take while I am running, or on the late-night “diapers and milk” outing when I am wearing sweatpants and have no intention of changing.

There are a ton of these guns in circulation, and it is easy to find a used one, but new production models like the 442 or 638 can often be found below $500. Revolvers have gotten more expensive in recent years, and prices are higher than in the past. But at any but the most expensive of retailers, this should be an option. Just make sure to grab some Speed Strips or another ammo-carrying method to refill the cylinder if things get really out of hand.

Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 2

While some people will never stop arguing that the .380 ACP is not enough gun, it continues to be a popular choice in concealed carry handguns. What the .380 gives up in ballistics, it makes up for in concealability. And, as many have pointed out, the .380 you actually carry beats the 9mm or .45 that is left at home or in the truck more often than not.

Smith & Wesson’s Bodyguard 2 is one of the most popular options in this market segment regardless of price point, but it also comes in under $500. Among the .380 ACP handgun options, the Bodyguard 2 is the standout. It feels and operates like a larger gun but is tiny. It has enough of a grip to be comfortable to shoot and sights that are much better than the average pocket .380 Auto.

Glock 19

No list of concealed carry pistols is complete without a Glock 19. This has been the default answer to “what handgun should I buy” for at least twenty years. It is big enough to handle well. It is small enough to be concealable without must effort. It holds 15 rounds in the standard magazine and can accept 17, 19, 24, 33, or even 50 round magazines as well. The aftermarket is full of holster and sight options.

Not everyone loves Glocks. The comment section of this article will no doubt include several posts about how Glocks “don’t fit their hand” or complaining about the trigger. Other comments will praise the G19 as the greatest handgun ever made. The truth is, this is a Toyota Corolla in handgun form. It provides reliable service without calling attention to itself or being particularly memorable. I love the G19 and have carried one for many years because I like as little drama as possible when it comes to defensive handguns.

Base models come in right at the $500 price point as of writing, but added features like MOS for optics compatibility or night sights. There are decades worth of used ones in circulation as well.

Shield X/Shield Plus

The Shield X is the latest update to the venerable Shield series of Smith & Wesson handguns. At one time, the Shield was the unquestioned sales leader among compact 9mm handguns. In a world where the P365 and Glock 43X did not yet exist, the Shield was a unique product. I sold dozens and dozens of the original Shield in my years behind the gun counter, and even earned some freebie guns from S&W for all of those sales numbers.

The Shield evolved into the Shield Plus, which then became the Shield X. Each generation added new features and capacity and improved the gun. But, though it continued to improve, it was not enough to keep pace with the new wave of micro 9mm handguns ushered in by the P365. Sales numbers eased up, and the Shield became an afterthought for most people.

That decline in popularity strengthens its position on this list. The heart of this list is guns you can buy new, but there are a lot of Shield and Shield Plus pistols floating around still. Reduced popularity means reduced prices, and though the P365, Hellcat, and others have outcompeted the Shield family, that really brought down the price point on these guns. The Shield Plus is around $400 new, and the Shield X is around $500. Used models will offer an even better value. Most people would not recommend the Shield over the current crop of concealed 9mms, but if you are on a budget, it brings a lot to the table and it never stopped working as well as it once did.

CZ P10S

CZ is best known for double-action/single-action pistols like the CZ-75 or P07, but they got into the striker-fired game with the P10. It never achieved a huge market share but it is a well-liked gun by those who own them. Along with the full-size model are the smaller P10C and even smaller P10S versions. These scaled-down guns have a lot of the characteristics that made the larger ones so popular, but do so at very competitive price points. The P10S shows up at big box retailers for $400, and even less on sale. Models with Holosun red dots are also not much more than $500!

XD

Springfield Armory/HS Produkt’s XD has been on sale for around twenty years at this point. At one time, this was the pride of Springfield’s lineup. But since its introduction, there have been a slew of other models like the XD-S and XD-M. The base model XD has continued to soldier on as the budget option, though it has started to be phased out except for California, where it remains on the handgun roster. The XD may be on the way out of Springfield’s lineup, with the Hellcat and Echelon getting most of the glory now, but there are a ton of these on the secondary market still.

There are some polarizing features on this gun, like the grip safety. But if you like that sort of thing, then the XD is a good value if your budget is tight. It is also worth noting that this gun, in its original HS Produkt iteration, has been a military service weapon in places like Iraq. And while it never obtained Glock’s reputation for absolute unquestioned reliability, I have to give it credit for surviving as a rental gun at the range where I once worked. These guns had more than a decade of customer use and little-to-no maintenance or cleaning, and they just kept on working. You could do a lot worse than the XD at this price point.

Conclusion

There are plenty of solid pistol options even if your budget does not allow for the latest and greatest. When deciding among these options, take into account not only the price point, but future options the gun provides. Picking a gun with no optics compatibility when you know you want a red dot in the future is setting yourself up for even more expense down the road. Also look at holster options for the gun you are considering. A $300 pistol that has no holsters available for it would not be a great pick for concealed carry use.

Similarly, consider the cost of spare magazines and the availability of spare magazines, as well as the number of magazines that come with the gun. Some of these budget-oriented models only include a single magazine. If a gun includes a spare or two it is a real value-add that makes range time more enjoyable, and that is very nice to have on a defensive pistol where spare ammo could be extremely important if it is ever needed.

If at all possible, try to shoot the gun you want to buy before you buy it. Many ranges offer rental pistols, and it can be very illuminating to see what you shoot best. Most ranges will not have a wide range of cheap pistols, though because they often do not survive commercial usage. Even handling one of these guns and dry firing the trigger is helpful, and guns bought sight-unseen because they were a good deal online are often disappointing when they arrive.

So what would you choose from this list? And what options would you add? We would love to hear your perspectives in the comments. Thanks for reading.