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Anyone who’s turned their home into an office will know how easily you can end up hunched over your laptop by midday. Working from home is clearly here to stay. But doing so without the right support for your back and neck can cause serious injury. “I’ve been a chiropractor for over 25 years. Since the pandemic started, I’ve seen an explosion of back, neck, and wrist injuries,” says Dr. Steven Shoshany. “I ask patients, ‘Have you been working from home using a laptop?’ And they say: ‘How did you know?’ And it’s because their head is a full four inches forward from where it should be.”
By bringing your monitor up to eye level, a standing desk should stop you from slumping toward your screen. It may also have health benefits, preventing you from sitting down for eight or more hours a day. “Sitting is the new smoking, we say in the industry,” adds Shoshany. We’ve rounded up the best standing desks available online according to chiropractors and people who’ve invested in standing desks already.
What we’re looking for
Motorized versus manual controls
To position your desktop at the right height, whether you’re sitting or standing, your desk will have either manual or electronic/motorized controls. Motorized controls mean the desk will require a power source so that you can change the height of the desktop simply by pressing a button. Some desks with motorized controls allow you to program and save a set of preferred heights. Manually adjustable standing desks are just that — manual. You may have to turn a crank or loosen various knobs and lift the desktop to change the height.
Height range
Seems obvious, but your height will determine the height range your desk needs to have. The standard height of a seated desk is between 28 and 30 inches from the floor, which is close to the lowest height for many of the standing desks below. A 28- to 30-inch standard desk height is meant to seat most people shorter than six feet tall, though needs may vary depending on body type and proportions. Most companies that make standing desks will provide an idea of what heights their standing desk can best accommodate in standing and seated positions, whether you’re five-foot-one or six-foot-two. To figure out your optimal desk height, the rule of thumb whether you are seated or standing is that your desktop should be at elbow height so you can use a keyboard and mouse with your elbows at a 90-degree angle for a more comfortable and ergonomic experience.
Desktop size
Meanwhile, the size of your workspace will determine how large your desk can be; if you only have a small nook, a CEO-size desk is obviously not an option. Many standing desks have a fixed base size but allow you to choose from multiple options for desktop size.
Price
Standing-desk prices can rise quickly depending on the number of add-ons and custom features you select, motorized versus manual operation, and desktop size and material. For this guide, a price ranking of $ denotes desks under $300, while $$ indicates a price range of $301 to $700 and $$$ indicates a price of $701 and up.
Best overall standing desk
Controls: Motorized | Height range: 22.9 inches to 43.2 inches, 30 inches to 49.3 inches, or 25.5 inches to 51 inches tall | Desktop size: Nine choices starting at 30 inches by 24 inches | $$
The Jarvis bamboo standing desk by Fully comes in nine desktop sizes, starting at a compact 30 inches by 24 inches and going all the way up to 78 inches by 30 inches. Three of those desktop sizes are also available with a curved front edge. You also have the choice of six different frame colors and no grommet holes on the desktop, or up to two grommet holes with powered grommets, depending on desktop size.
The wide variety of options is why the Fully Jarvis desk is praised by multiple staffers at our sister site the Verge. Deputy editor Dan Seifert has one of the larger sizes, which “has served me well for about four years now,” he says. “It’s a comfortable, stable, spacious desk that has more versatility than typical desk options.” According to news editor Nick Statt, this desk is one of the best work-from-home purchases he’s made. “Just having the option to sit or stand, when you’re cooped up in your room or home office all day, makes a big difference,” he says. Plus, “assembly was far less cumbersome than I thought it would be.”
News writer Jay Peters, who also owns a Jarvis desk, embraced Fully’s upgrade options to create a more custom build five years ago: “I highly recommend spending the extra $20 for the extended-range height, which lets the desk get lower for sitting and higher for standing, and the extra $35 for the programmable height switcher, which lets you preset heights that you can switch back and forth just by pressing a button,” he says. Peters also uses his Jarvis as more than just a desk: “I also sprung for the $29 casters so that I could wheel it around my apartment, which lets my wife and I use it as a mobile entertainment system,” he says. Fully sells a range of other add-on accessories, like a clamp-mounted surge protector, a monitor stand with a drawer, magnetic hooks that hold up to 35 pounds, even a bottle opener. You can also choose between a lighter or darker bamboo color for the desktop (or, if you don’t like bamboo, the Jarvis comes in other styles as well). Fully no longer sells the desk directly, but you can customize one easily on Herman Miller’s website, Peters tells me.
Best less expensive standing desk
Controls: Manual | Height range: 26 inches to 42 inches tall (not including wheel height) | Desktop size: Four starting at 46 inches by 24 inches | $
After buying a cheap office chair and struggling with back pain while working from home early in the pandemic, Strategist contributor James Lynch decided to look into standing desks. He didn’t want to spend a ton of money on a new desk, so he found a simple workaround: this height-adjustable workbench. “A workbench may not sound like the perfect WFH solution,” wrote Lynch, “yet it is now where I do all of my work.”
Lynch has the 52-inch-wide version, which he describes as “perfect for setting up a monitor, some speakers, and whatever else you keep at your workstation.” The desk also comes in three other desktop sizes, with the option to add drawers in some configurations. And since it’s designed to be used in a garage or workshop, the surface is made of solid wood, making it more durable than inexpensive desks you might find elsewhere with plastic or particleboard desktops. “It’s designed for the bumps and bangs of hammering, drilling, and sawing, so the occasional mashing of your keyboard will hardly make it flinch,” Lynch wrote.
After about an hour and 15 minutes of assembly time, Lynch had the desk fully built with the four included casters (you also have the option to leave those off if you prefer). His favorite feature is the manual hand crank that adjusts the height of the desk. “It’s supremely easy to raise and lower the desk from its top range of 42 inches high to its lower limit of 26,” Lynch explained. “All you have to do is turn the small crank on the right front corner and it smoothly raises or lowers the desk by any incremental amount. When you get to your ideal height, there is no complicated locking procedure. Just stop cranking. The desk is ready to go.”
Best programmable standing desk
Controls: Motorized adjustment | Height range: 29.4 inches to 48 inches tall | Desktop size: Three starting at 43 inches by 24 inches | $$
Devin McGhee, founder of the beauty brand Deon Libra, recommends this standing desk from Autonomous (the maker of some of our favorite ergonomic desk chairs and stools). The SmartDesk Core comes in three different frame colors (white, black, or gray) with a choice of three desktop sizes: 43 inches by 24 inches, 53 inches by 29 inches, or 70.5 inches by 30 inches. Depending on what size you choose, the laminate top is available in up to nine colors, and all sizes come with at least one predrilled grommet hole. The default keypad on this motorized desk is programmable with up to four preferred settings — a nice touch, as adding programmable presets to other desks on this list requires spending a bit extra to upgrade the keypad. The desk height has a minimum of 29.4 inches and a maximum of 48 inches (a smaller range than some of the other desks on this list, so look closely at what measurements you’ll need if you are shorter or taller than average). “It allows me to move more and stay a bit more active with our new (more sedentary) Zoom work life,” McGhee says.
Most customizable standing desk
Controls: Motorized | Height range: 25.3 inches to 50.9 inches tall | Desktop size: Five starting at 42 inches by 30 inches | $$$
Strategist writer and home-design expert Lauren Ro told us about her husband Chang’s work-from-home setup, which includes this Uplift standing desk. He appreciates that it’s highly customizable. There are about two dozen desktop materials available, from more budget-friendly laminate or bamboo (which Chang has) to much more expensive options like solid walnut and live-edge pheasant wood. There are five desktop sizes (note that not every size is available in every material), some of which are available with a curved front edge. Configuring your desk involves choosing a desktop size and material, a base color and style, grommet covers for the desktop, and a keypad, among other things. Keypad options include a basic model with up and down buttons and an advanced model with multiple memory presets.
Depending on which frame style you choose, Uplift also sells an under-desk hammock that can attach to the frame for George Costanza–esque under-desk naps. The list of other potential add-ons and accessories is frankly longer than a diner menu, and includes everything from a bamboo desk drawer to a magnetic cable-organizing channel to power grommets that let you plug in a phone or laptop right on the desktop.
Strategist senior editors Jen Trolio and Crystal Martin each own an Uplift too. Trolio just bought the desk frame so she could attach a custom maple desktop, made by a local carpenter. “I didn’t want any pre-drilled grommet holes on the desktop, and it wasn’t an option to purchase a desktop from Uplift without them,” she says. Assembling the frame and installing the desktop took some time but was fairly straightforward and went smoothly thanks to well-written, easy-to-follow instructions. Martin’s all about the desk’s durability. “One time I tried to lower the desk with my chair underneath it, and it was stopped by the chair arms,” she says. “It very smoothly handled that little obstruction and wasn’t glitchy or anything afterward.”
Best less-expensive customizable standing desk
Controls: Motorized adjustment | Height range: 25 inches to 50.6 inches tall | Various desktop sizes | $$
The FlexiSpot is the focal point of Strategist junior writer Brenley Goertzen’s home office setup. “I can fit my laptop, a monitor, my keyboard and mouse, plus my boyfriend’s laptop and his Xbox console all on top of the desk,” she says. “And it still can move easily to a standing height and back to sitting.” Assembly took Goertzen an about-average 90 minutes — and she says she had to enlist her boyfriend’s help to lift and hold certain pieces into place. However, it wasn’t arduous as the tabletop has “pre-drilled holes, which makes it easier to line up the frame’s crossbar and tighten the provided screws.” Goertzen especially liked that the wood is “soft enough to create your own holes and the frame can be extended to fit larger tabletops up to 74.8 inches if you end up wanting a more sizable desktop someday,” she says. For those opposed to clutter, the desk also comes with a cable-management tray and a magnetic fabric cover to hide any mess if you have multiple devices.
Best small standing desk
Controls: Motorized adjustment | Hight range: 25.5 inches to 49.2 inches tall | Desktop sizes: Two | $$$
If you have a small workspace — or share a workspace with someone else — then I recommend this Secretlab desk. My flatmate and I tested this desk for eight weeks and found it to be streamlined and easily adjustable. The desktop is by no means small, but thanks to its sleek finish, it doesn’t appear bulky. That’s due to the fact that it only requires one simple, concealed wire to connect to a power source, and it has a deep tray to keep tangled wires out of sight. As my flatmate and I are widely different heights, we liked that there were no specific pre-set heights — you can pick down to the millimeter how tall you want the desk to stand. One annoyance: The desk arrived in around half a dozen packages, and we had to enlist the help of our delivery driver to get it upstairs, but once we started assembling we had the desk built in around two hours — and the instructions were clear, meaning no quarrels.
Best standing desk with storage
Controls: Motorized | Height range: 27.6 inches to 47.3 inches tall | Desktop sizes: Three starting at 24 inches by 28 inches | $$
It’s not especially common for standing desks to have any built-in storage, because their moving bases and variable heights make it difficult to incorporate drawers or shelves under the desktop. This highly rated desk is popular among Amazon reviewers and Strategist readers because it solves the problem of under-desk storage via small drawers to tuck away pens, pencils, charging cables, and other office clutter. It has motorized controls, programmable height presets, a height range of 27.6 inches to 47.3 inches tall, and comes in three desktop sizes and two colorways.
Best stylish standing desk
Controls: Manual | Height range: 28 inches to 45.2 inches tall | Desktop size: Four starting at 19.6 by 13.8 inches | $$
“This desk is absolutely perfect for my tiny London flat,” says Antonia Bentel, acting digital features writer at House & Garden. “It’s less ‘office furniture-y’ than the other standing desks I’ve seen on the market, and it adjusts in the old-school way via a pump, which I love.” Benton has the all-white medium size in her home, but there are a variety of sizes and colors available, each manually adjusted via an ergonomic pump. The medium size is just right for a laptop and keyboard as well as some other essentials like a notepad and cup of coffee. While she has her eye on a slightly larger, desktop-size table if she moves to a bigger space, Benton thinks this is a solid solution for working from somewhere where space is more limited.
Best standing desk on wheels
Controls: Manual adjustment | Height range: 27.5 inches to 43.3 inches tall | Desktop size: 23.62 inches by 15.74 inches | $
If you need a laptop desk that is especially compact and easily movable, this manually adjustable option on wheels is highly rated among Amazon reviewers for its simplicity, sturdy construction, and convenience. Though it’s advertised as a laptop cart and can also be used over a couch or a bed, many reviewers vouch for its efficacy as a standing desk, since it extends to 43 inches tall. “I was looking for a standup working desk but wouldn’t like anything big or heavy since I don’t expect myself to stand all the time,” writes one reviewer who reports that it is “light and versatile.” It’s also deceivingly roomy, according to a another reviewer who notes that, though the top is on the smaller side, they are able to comfortably fit all the things they need on the desk, including a “15-inch laptop, two big external drives, mouse and mouse pad, notepad, [and] TV remote.” Assembly is quick; it comes in two colors, espresso or white; and it has four wheels that allow you to roll it smoothly through your home, but two of the wheels are lockable to ensure it stays put when you want it to.
Best treadmill desk
Controls: Motorized | Height range: 27⅝ inches to 50.5 inches tall | Desktop sizes: Three starting at 38 inches by 29 inches | $$$
If you want to get your steps in during the workday, consider a treadmill desk. “Too often we work too many hours in a day and not enough hours exercising and moving,” says chiropractor Daniel Huang of Level Up Sports Chiropractic. “A sedentary lifestyle increases your risk of cardiovascular disease, joint pain, and other systemic issues that can be prevented if we just simply move.” The Lifespan treadmill desk combines an adjustable standing desk with a treadmill to create an “active workstation” where you can walk and Zoom at the same time at a maximum speed of four miles per hour — just be sure you have enough floor space for the treadmill element, which is about five feet long and doesn’t tuck away under the desk like a rolling desk chair might. You can choose between six desktop materials, two frame colors, and three desktop sizes. Lifespan also sells a nonmotorized, manually adjustable version of this desk, which will save you about $400 if you don’t expect to change the height very often.
Our experts
• Antonia Bentel, acting digital features writer at House & Garden
• Brenley Goertzen, Strategist junior writer
• Daniel Huang, chiropractor at Level Up Sports Chiropractic
• James Lynch, Strategist contributor
• Crystal Martin, Strategist senior editor
• Devin McGhee, the founder of beauty brand Deon Libra
• Jay Peters, Verge news writer
• Lauren Ro, Strategist writer
• Dan Seifert, Verge deputy editor
• Dr. Steven Shoshany, chiropractor and clinic director
• Nick Statt, Verge news editor
• Jen Trolio, Strategist senior editor
• Winnie Yang, Strategist senior editor
Additional reporting by Jordan Bowman.
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