The days of LEGO®'s monopoly over the brick-building space are long gone, but one thing that's here to stay is the company's standard size of bricks.
Thankfully, there are plenty of LEGO® alternative brands making great sets that are 100% compatible with the Danish brand. Often, the quality of the pieces is nearly indistinguishable, at a much lower price.
With that in mind, here are the best LEGO® compatible brands to build out your collection without emptying your wallet.
CaDA
CaDA is a relative newcomer to LEGO® compatible bricks, but it's made some huge strides in the past few years, especially when it comes to car sets. Some of its technic-style sets are even better than what the Danish brand offers, and at a much more accessible price.
The standard of brick quality is very high, mostly due to in-house production of CaDA bricks. Look for the CaDA stamp on the studs to be sure it's a genuine product.
CaDA has also worked closely with the brick building community to license sets designed by some of the top MOCers in the world. In fact, the brand is preferred by many technic MOCers due to its superior motorization and variety of parts.
We highly recommend trying one of CaDA's remote control car sets to get a feel for the company's offerings.
If you're in Europe, check out our full catalog of CaDA sets to learn more. If you're in the US, the best place to shop is the official CADA website.
Cobi
Cobi is another LEGO® compatible brand that makes its own bricks, but this time from its factories in Poland. It's also been in business for more than 35 years, so there's some serious pedigree behind each design.
While it's mostly known for military sets (a category which LEGO® doesn't touch), Cobi also makes great licensed car sets for classic European models, as well as a few historical models like the Titanic.
Regardless of which set you buy, the quality is superb. Although the bricks are fully LEGO® compatible, they use unique techniques like double sided plates that make certain building techniques much easier and more satisfying to achieve. Learn more in our LEGO® vs Cobi comparison.
The company also uses printed pieces rather than stickers for most sets, leading to a more high-quality finished product. Check out our collection of Cobi sets to learn more.
Sluban
Sluban is a more budget-oriented company, but it's made big improvements over the past few years. Like the brands above, Sluban makes its own LEGO® compatible bricks, stamped with M38 on the studs.
Most of Sluban's sets are kid-friendly affairs, but the newer sets in the Model Brick series are more complex and aimed at older builders. Like Cobi, it makes excellent military sets, from tanks to battleships.
Check out our selection of Sluban sets to find one that appeals to you!
Pantasy
Pantasy doesn't manufacture its own bricks, instead using generic bricks made by Gobricks. If you're not familiar with the world of alt bricks, just know that Gobricks are easily among the best when it comes to quality, rivalling LEGO® itself.
But what really sets Pantasy apart is its licensed sets for popular IP like Astro Boy, Popeye, The Little Prince, Sherlock Holmes, and more. Each offers a great experience with lots of easter eggs to discover as you build.
Browse our catalog of Pantasy sets for quick shipping in Europe, or head over to the official Pantasy website for shipping to the US.
Mould King
Mould King is one of the largest LEGO® compatible brands out there, and although it came from the copyright fiasco that was Lepin, it's made huge strides toward legitimacy. It now licenses builds from MOCers and avoids direct copies of existing LEGO® sets.
Like Pantasy, Mould King uses high-quality Gobricks, so you can expect a great building experience and pieces that will stand the test of time.
As far as topics go, Mould King has an enormous catalog, with everything from small cars to huge modular buildings. No matter what you're looking for, there's probably a Mould King set that fits the bill.
Head over to the official Mould King website to browse the full catalog.
Mork
Mork isn't as well-known as most LEGO® compatible brands, mostly because it provides white label products to resellers around the globe.
Don't let that fool you though, the company has some serious pedigree, manufacturing its own bricks and licensing sets from well-known MOCers.
Mork makes everything from technic cars to large structures, but its building sets are our favorites here at Latericius. They run the range of prices, although on average they'll cost less than half the price of similarly sized LEGO® sets.
MEGA
MEGA Brands is best known for its toddler-friendly MEGA BLOKS sets, but you might not know that it also makes LEGO® compatible sets in its MEGA CONSTRUX line.
There aren't too many products in the lineup, but it's worth highlighting the licensed Pokémon and Halo sets. Builds aren't particularly complex, but they're great for both display and play.
Sembo
Sembo Blocks is another Chinese LEGO® alternative, producing standard-sized blocks and designs for all ages.
Although they are more difficult to buy outside of China, Sembo has scored licensing deals with major IP like Digimon and SpongeBob SquarePants. It also has several sister brands, such as Wekki, that also make LEGO® compatible building sets.
Enlighten/Qman/Keeppley
Enlighten has been around for years, producing LEGO® compatible sets that haven't always been the most legitimate. However, nowadays its sub-brands Qman and Keeppley produce excellent smaller sets.
Qman is mostly focused on original sets, but Keeppley has scored licensing deals for big names like Pokemon and Naruto in Asia. However, they aren't licensed outside of Asia, so they can be difficult to find for Western audiences.
FunWhole
FunWhole is a very young brick-building brand that's much easier to find in Western markets. It got its start making LEGO® compatible light blocks, but now it makes a wide variety of entirely original sets, still with lighting included.
The company sources its bricks from Gobricks, which is the leading supplier of generic bricks. Quality is on par with LEGO® itself, although FunWhole builds tend to be more challenging.
Check out the full catalog over at the official website.