Best beginner responses to e4?

Anything will help, thanks in advance.

There are a couple of options.  Personally, I play d5 against e4.  Other popular responses are e5, c5, and e6.   I believe that e5 is the best response in beginner chess.  I hope that this helps.  

e5 for beginners is solid but I would probably recommend the French Defe nse :)

e5 is good. Google italian game. A good line for beginners is Guioco Piano. It's simple and easy to understand. Just learn the first 4 to 6 moves then play opening principles.

d5, the Scandinavian defense, is quite easy to learn, and it seems to upset a lot of beginner e4 players.   Unlike many of the advanced defenses with a ton of variations and theory, it only has a couple of main lines.  The classical variation, e4 d5 exd Qxd N attacks queen, Q moves to the side of the board pointing at the enemy king and white has a very slight advantage if he knows what to do here, black has from slight to large advantage if white does not know this line and gets tangled up.   For that reason, its not as commonly played anymore with higher level opponents, who know better as white. 

the other lines are simpler ... the queen takes and returns back home for now, or black lets white keep the pawn as a sacrifice to gain development, space, and time.  White keeping the pawn, the more white defends it, the worse he tends to make his position and development esp, again, if the opponent is not well versed in the opening.   

If you go this route and try to learn this opening, beware 2 things from white: the first allowing white to build a massively strong pawn center by trying to get too clever rushing development or something.   The second is strangely innocent: d4 behind d5 (note this is not white trying to keep d5, it remains open to capture here) is much stronger than it looks and you need to study that variation if you are planning on letting white keep the pawn, this is the dangerous response line in my experience.   This opening (all varieties) tends to lead to a knock down drag out open game.  

If you want something more stable and less wild, maybe try the caro kann.  It tends to be less open but it is also fairly simple to play decently as a beginner. 

Personally, it’s fun for me to play the Traxler, (Two Knights Italian), or the Morphy Defense (Spanish).

Ahem

e6

Don't play the French or anything else yet. Play e5 and go with opening principals.

wow really gotta do me like that.

E5

That’s what I tell people that I teach to play up until1200 ish. 

E5 is very hard to not fall quickly behind as black.  White is in control of this opening, not black, and white has a tempo as well.  Its playable, but  you have around 40/30 /30  for white win/lose/draw odds. 

I've seen the Scandinavian (d5) suggested here. Don't try that. You'll probably take back with the queen and break what I think is the most dangerous opening principle to break for beginners: bringing out your queen too early.

Just stick with normal e5-Nf3-Nc6 openings like the Italian, Spanish, Scotch, etc.

It depends on what you want to do with chess. If you just play for fun, just play what you think is fun! There is no set way that you have to play, there are tons of options. If you want to choose your opening, make sure that you pick a move that prevents white from getting both his pawns on e4 and d4. 

I would not suggest 1. e4 d5, as I assume you'll recapture 2. exd5 with the queen. Bringing your queen out immediately is bad. Especially for beginners. 

I would not recommend 1. e4 e6, as this will give much more space in the center and it is quite hard to play against. In the French defense you'll have trouble with finding a nice place for all of your pieces. Especially the white squared bishop is a massive headache. There is no reason why a beginner should take on these problems willingly. 

The problem with 1. e4 - e5 is that play tends to get very symmetrical. Both sides play their pieces to the same squares. Time and time again that leads to difficult positions right after the opening. If both sides are set up almost identical, it will be difficult to decide on what to do next. 

Therefore I will always recommend 1. e4 - c5. It prevents white from getting both pawns to e4 and d4 (cause if white plays d4, you will always take it with your c-pawn) and it will lead to different placement of the pieces. And in the Sicilian none of your pieces will have real trouble of finding a nice place to develop to. Plus, if you're a real beginner, most people might not know what to do against it, so it might be a nice little practical advantage while still playing a completely sound opening.

I recommend e5

e4 e5 for beginners is the best symetrical development with basic opening principles...

Everything else than e4 e5 can be recomended only after you learn basic opening principles.

Becouse every opening choice has different reasons and it is best to start with the most natural one. 1.e4 e5 or

1. d4 d5.

Best regards Ivan

Play the French Defense. It's solid and provides good opportunites to counter-attack

Sicilian is solid

I'd strongly recommend 1...e5 for any beginner, but especially those who play 1. e4 as White, since you'll be playing against 1...e5 A LOT, so it's useful to learn the opening from both sides.

Once you have a good handle on that opening system, and a general knowledge of Opening concepts, you can start looking for an alternative black opening that suits you. (I prefer the French Defense, personally)

Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond