We compared carry-on travel backpacks from 35 to 45 liters on what decides a carry-on only trip: whether the bag fits the sizer, how it opens, how it carries when full, and how much of a cabin weight allowance it uses up empty.
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Best overall
Suits Week-long trips with light to medium loads
Best budget
Suits A few light trips a year on a tight budget
Best premium
Suits One bag for trips of every length, laptop and camera
Best for all-day carrying
Suits Long walks between stations, hostels and trailheads
From spec sheets and independent tests. The best result in a row is tagged.
| Feature | Cotopaxi AllpaBest overall | Amazon Basics Carry-On TravelBest budget | Peak Design Travel BackpackBest premium | Osprey Farpoint 40Best for all-day carrying |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capacitymanufacturer | 35 L | About 40 L, +10% expansion | 30, 35 or 45 L Best | 40 L |
| Empty weightmeasured | 2.96 lb Best | 3.6 lb | 4.5 lb | 3.27 lb (Osprey figure) |
| Maker's sizeinches; US limit is 22 x 14 x 9 | 22 x 12 x 10 | 21.5 x 13.8 x 9.5 | 22 x 13 x 9.5 at 35 L | 21.7 x 13.8 x 9.1 Best |
| Clamshell opening | Yes: Full-wrap, mesh compartments Best | Yes: Side-hinged clamshell | Yes: Back panel, plus top and side | Yes: Large front panel |
| Laptop sleeve | Partly: 15 in, side entry | Yes: Up to 17 in (Pack Hacker) | Yes: 16 in plus 10 in tablet Best | Yes: 16 in, direct-zip |
| Hip belt | Yes: Padded, tucks away | Partly: Thin webbing | Partly: Slim, tucks away | Yes: Padded, framed harness Best |
| Straps stow away | Yes: Behind back panel | Yes: Into back pocket | Yes: Magnetic back panels Best | Yes: Zip-away cover |
| Load lifters | No: None (Switchback Travel) | No: None listed | No: None listed | Not published |
| OutdoorGearLab scoreout of 100, 17 packs tested | 83, 1st Best | 61, 13th | 75, 8th | Not published |
| On Amazon | Check price on Amazon(paid link) for Cotopaxi Allpa 35L Travel Pack (opens in a new tab) | Check price on Amazon(paid link) for Amazon Basics Carry-On Travel Backpack (opens in a new tab) | Check price on Amazon(paid link) for Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L (opens in a new tab) | Check price on Amazon(paid link) for Osprey Farpoint 40 Travel Pack (2026) (opens in a new tab) |
Who each one is for, and what to know before you buy.
01Best overall
The travel backpack to buy if you pack for a week and want the bag to do the organizing: it opens like a suitcase, has mesh compartments that work as built-in packing cubes, and weighs under 3 lb. Its depth runs past the strict 9 in US limit when stuffed, and the side-entry laptop sleeve is awkward.
Pick it ifTravelers on 3 to 7 day carry-on trips who want suitcase-style packing, a light empty bag and a hip belt for walking between stations and hotels
Skip it ifPeople who carry more than about 25 lb, or who want lots of small pockets for cables and work gear
Why it made the list. A 35 L clamshell that weighs under 3 lb, with zippered mesh compartments that work as built-in packing cubes and a padded hip belt that tucks away. OutdoorGearLab ranks it first of 17; the side-entry laptop sleeve and a depth that runs past 9 in when stuffed are the compromises.
02Best budget
The budget fallback: a 40 L clamshell pack with a big laptop sleeve, compression straps and straps that stow for shoulder carry, in the lowest price class on our list. Reviewers agree it is fine for a few trips a year and not built for heavy loads or hard use.
Pick it ifStudents and occasional travelers who fly a few times a year with light loads and want a carry-on-only bag without spending much
Skip it ifFrequent travelers, anyone who walks far with a full pack, and anyone who expects the zippers to last years
Why it made the list. A 40 L clamshell with a large laptop sleeve, compression straps and straps that stow, in the lowest price class. Switchback Travel calls it the best budget travel pack; Pack Hacker and OutdoorGearLab rate it fine for occasional trips and weak on comfort and zippers.
03Best premium
The premium one-bag pick: a weatherproof, very well organized pack that shrinks to 30 L, carries on at 35 L and expands to 45 L once you land. It is the heaviest bag on our list at 4.5 lb, and at its 35 L carry-on size it is still half an inch deeper than the US limit.
Pick it ifFrequent flyers, photographers and remote workers who want one bag that adapts to the trip, with protected laptop, tablet and camera storage
Skip it ifTravelers on airlines that weigh cabin bags at 7 or 8 kg, or anyone who wants a padded hip belt for long walks
Why it made the list. Flies at 35 L, compresses to 30 L and expands to 45 L, with a back-panel clamshell, padded 16 in laptop and 10 in tablet sleeves and a coated recycled 400D nylon shell. GearJunkie's best overall travel backpack; at 4.5 lb it is also the heaviest here.
04Best for all-day carrying
The travel backpack for people who carry their bag for hours: the 2026 Farpoint 40 keeps the LightWire frame, adjustable torso and padded hip belt that made the name GearJunkie's best carrying travel pack, and weighs less. Inside it is still mostly one open space, and no independent test of this version is out yet.
Pick it ifBackpackers and rail travelers who walk long distances with a full bag and want real hip support in a carry-on size; the Fairview 40 is the women's fit
Skip it ifTravelers who want built-in pockets for cables, chargers and work gear, or who want an independent test of the exact bag before buying
Why it made the list. The 2026 version of the pack GearJunkie named its best carrying travel backpack: a LightWire frame, adjustable torso and padded hip belt in a 40 L clamshell that Osprey sizes for US carry-on limits, now 3.27 lb by Osprey's figure. The expert tests so far cover the previous version, and inside there is little organization, so bring packing cubes.
A carry-on only trip succeeds or fails at the gate, so look up your airline's limit before you look at bags. Delta, like the other big US carriers, publishes 22 x 14 x 9 in (56 x 35 x 23 cm) including handles, and on a full domestic flight the depth is what gets checked. Europe's low-cost carriers are stricter. Ryanair's free bag grew to 40 x 30 x 20 cm in 2025, and its paid Priority bag is 55 x 40 x 20 cm up to 10 kg. Wizz Air allows a free 40 x 30 x 20 cm bag and, with Priority, a 55 x 40 x 23 cm trolley bag up to 10 kg. easyJet includes a 45 x 36 x 20 cm under-seat bag and sells a large cabin bag of up to 56 x 45 x 25 cm.
Here is how the makers' own dimensions line up, before any squeezing:
| Pack (maker's size) | US majors, 22 x 14 x 9 in | easyJet large bag, 56 x 45 x 25 cm | Wizz Air Priority, 55 x 40 x 23 cm | Ryanair Priority, 55 x 40 x 20 cm |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cotopaxi Allpa 35L, 56 x 30.5 x 25.4 cm | 1 in too deep | On the line | About 1 cm tall, 2.4 cm deep | 5.4 cm too deep |
| Osprey Farpoint 40 (2026), 55 x 35 x 23 cm | 0.1 in too deep | Fits | On the line | 3 cm too deep |
| Peak Design 45L at 35 L, 56 x 33 x 24 cm | 0.5 in too deep | Fits | 1 cm over on height and depth | 4 cm too deep |
| Amazon Basics, 54.6 x 35.1 x 24.1 cm | 0.5 in too deep | Fits | 1.1 cm too deep | 4.1 cm too deep |
Soft packs give, which is their main advantage over a hard suitcase. A bag packed to about 80 percent with its compression straps cinched usually slides into a sizer its label says it misses; a stuffed one does not. None of these is small enough for the free under-seat bag on Ryanair, Wizz Air or easyJet, which calls for a 20 to 25 liter daypack.
For carry-on only travel, 35 to 40 liters covers a week of clothes if you plan one laundry stop. Forty-five liters is only useful if your airline allows the depth, and the Peak Design shows the trade: it is designed to fly at 35 L and expand after landing. Remember the empty weight too. Ryanair and Wizz Air cap their Priority bags at 10 kg, and full-service carriers such as Lufthansa publish 8 kg for the cabin bag. The Allpa at 2.96 lb (1.34 kg) leaves about 700 grams more for clothes than the Peak Design at 2.05 kg. For heavier or longer trips, a suitcase from our checked luggage list may simply be the better tool.
Every pick here opens like a suitcase, and that is deliberate. A top-loading hiking pack forces you to dig; a clamshell lets you see everything, pack in layers and close the lid over packing cubes. The layouts differ. The Allpa's zippered mesh sections do the job of packing cubes, the Peak Design splits its main compartment with a mesh divider and adds top and side access, and the Farpoint 40 and the Amazon Basics are mostly one open space, so budget for a set of cubes.
A laptop sleeve against your back keeps weight close to your spine, and a separate opening means you can pull the laptop without unpacking. The Peak Design has padded sleeves for a 16 in laptop and a 10 in tablet, and the Farpoint's sleeve takes a 16 in machine. The Allpa's 15 in sleeve opens from the side, which Pack Hacker and OutdoorGearLab both found awkward: lay the bag down before opening it. GearJunkie's advice is to favor sleeves suspended off the bottom of the bag, so the laptop is not the first thing to hit the floor.
If the bag goes from a taxi to a hotel lobby, the harness hardly matters. If you walk between stations, ferries and hostels, it matters most. A padded hip belt moves weight off your shoulders; OutdoorGearLab found the no-belt tomtoc T66 uncomfortable above about 20 lb and the Allpa less stable above about 25 lb. The Farpoint 40 goes further with a LightWire frame, a framesheet and torso adjustment. GearJunkie rated the previous version the best carry of any travel pack it tried, and the 2026 version keeps the LightWire frame and adjustable torso. Stowable straps help on the plane: all four picks can hide their shoulder straps so they do not snag in a bin or on a baggage belt.
If you would rather roll than carry, our carry-on luggage list compares four 21-inch suitcases on the same sizer arithmetic.
Models we considered, and why each one did not make the list.
OutdoorGearLab scored it 82, fourth of 17, and named it best for work travel. But it tested the first version, and Tortuga replaced it with the Pro V2 during the test period, with a deeper main compartment, a redesigned hip belt and a thicker framesheet. At 22 x 14 x 8 in by Tortuga's figure, the V2 could suit budget airlines well; we will add it once an independent test of the V2 is published.
It tied the Allpa at 83 points in OutdoorGearLab's test, with excellent organization, but the hip belt costs extra, and Pack Hacker's current pick is the newer Travel Pack 4, which OutdoorGearLab has not yet tested.
OutdoorGearLab's value award winner, and at 2.43 lb lighter than any pick here. But it has no hip belt, OutdoorGearLab found it saggy under load and its fabric less durable than pricier packs, and the only other expert test we found, Pack Hacker's, dates from 2024.
OutdoorGearLab placed it 15th of 17, with a score of 57.
A useful hybrid for mostly rolling, but OutdoorGearLab weighed it at 5.77 lb and it has no laptop compartment.
The generation that GearJunkie, Pack Hacker and OutdoorGearLab tested. Osprey replaced it in 2026 with the version on our list, and the old model's page on osprey.com now returns an error.
GearJunkie and OutdoorGearLab both like it, but OutdoorGearLab measured it 58.4 cm tall and warns it can be a tight fit for carry-on limits.
On US carriers, usually yes, if it is built around 22 x 14 x 9 in and not overstuffed. The 2026 Osprey Farpoint 40 comes within a tenth of an inch of that size on paper. On Ryanair's and Wizz Air's paid Priority bags, depth is the problem: every pick here is deeper than 20 cm by its maker's figure, so pack to about 80 percent and cinch the compression straps.
Not these. The free under-seat bag is 40 x 30 x 20 cm on Ryanair and Wizz Air and 45 x 36 x 20 cm on easyJet, the size of a 20 to 25 liter daypack. A 35 to 45 liter travel pack goes in the overhead bin as your main cabin bag.
For airport-to-hotel trips, no. For long walks with a full pack, a padded hip belt makes a clear difference: OutdoorGearLab's testers valued the Allpa's belt most on walking days, and GearJunkie credited the previous Farpoint's harness for the best carry it tried. The Farpoint 40 and the Allpa have one; the Peak Design and Amazon Basics have slimmer straps.
Travel bags are often discounted during Prime Big Deal Days on October 6 to 7 and around Black Friday on November 27. If your trip is after those dates, waiting is reasonable. Choose the bag for its size and harness first, then let a sale decide when to buy.
We compared carry-on travel backpacks from 35 to 45 liters on what decides a carry-on only trip: whether the bag fits the sizer, how it opens, how it carries when full, and how much of a cabin weight allowance it uses up empty. The Cotopaxi Allpa 35L is the best all-round pack, the Amazon Basics Carry-On Travel Backpack the budget fallback, the Peak Design Travel Backpack 45L the premium pick, and the Osprey Farpoint 40 the one for carrying a full load a long way.
The shortlist started with the 17 packs OutdoorGearLab tested side by side (August 2026 update) and the 2026 guides from GearJunkie, Pack Hacker and Switchback Travel. We kept packs that at least two of those publications name, that open clamshell style, that are built around the 22 x 14 x 9 in US sizer, and that the brand or Amazon sells on amazon.com; specs come from the makers and measurements and findings from those reviewers, since we have not carried these packs ourselves. Bags over 5 lb, packs with only one current expert test and bags in the middle of a model change were left out, with one exception: Osprey replaced the Farpoint 40 with a 2026 version that keeps its LightWire frame and adjustable torso, so we list that version and say where the expert tests cover its predecessor. Every pick was checked against CPSC recall notices.
