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A standing desk provides flexibility to sit or stand throughout the workday, which experts say can ease aches and pains and may even make you more productive. The best standing desks are customizable, comfortable, and accommodate different heights — allowing you to feel better and work more efficiently. Call Centre Office Furniture
For this guide, we tested dozens of standing desks and converters and considered factors like height range, noise and speed, desktop size and design customizations, and more. Our best overall pick is the Fully Jarvis Standing Desk. Its height and style customizations make it a great desk for multipurpose use. If you are looking for an option that won't break the bank, Flexispot makes a great budget pick that also accommodates various heights.
During the workday, you should be doing a mixture of standing, sitting, and moving, if possible, said Alan Hedge, a certified ergonomist and professor emeritus in the Department of Design and Environmental Analysis at Cornell University. "Mixing things up reduces any negative effects [of sitting or standing] in terms of musculoskeletal discomfort, your level of alertness, or productivity," Hedge said.
Read more about how Insider Reviews tests home products.
Best overall: Fully Jarvis Standing Desk - See at Herman Miller
Best budget: Flexispot Standing Desk - See at Amazon
Best smart: Autonomous SmartDesk Connect - See at Autonomous
Best with drawer: Burrow Copilot Standing Desk - See at Burrow
Best for cable management: Secretlab Magnus Pro - See at Secretlab
Best converter: Vivo K Series - See at Amazon
Best for small spaces: Ergotron Mobile Desk - See at Amazon
Best for tall people: Autonomous SmartDesk Pro - See at Autonomous
The Fully Jarvis Standing Desk provides the right amount of customizations for style, height, and accessories to create an ideal desk for many people.
The Fully Jarvis Standing Desk is a great desk with a good height adjustment range, an easy-to-use mechanism, and the ability to accommodate different setups. It's reasonably priced and has a strong warranty.
The Jarvis has excellent stability. I have two 27-inch monitors on dual gas-powered monitor arms attached to my desk. It moves easily, and I can lean on the desk without fear. There is a wobble at higher levels, and the monitors sway slightly when bumped. The adjustment is quick but has a high-pitched noise as the motor works. It's not terribly loud, but you won't want to adjust it during a call.
The desktop is available in varying sizes and rectangular or curved options. You can use your own accessories but Fully has some as well. These options cost extra, and some require additional assembly. The most essential is the programmable memory panel, which saves four height presets; a useful add-on if you share a desk. Fully also offers an extended range for an extra $20, enabling the desk to go from 24.5 to 50 inches for shorter and taller heights. The Fully Jarvis is cheaper than most alternatives, even with a couple of custom options and extras.
I've been using the Fully Jarvis for a few years, and the mechanism still works smoothly. I have the older control panel with physical buttons; the newer version is a touch-sensitive OLED, which may not be quite as responsive, according to some reviews. — Simon Hill, contributor
The no-frills Flexispot Standing Desk moves quickly, smoothly, and quietly to reach your desired height. It's an affordable option for people who need a basic standing desk.
Flexispot's budget-friendly offering is spacious and sturdy, and assembly shouldn't take any longer than an hour. While it lacks the customizations of the other two true standing desks in our guide, it's more than appropriate for anyone who just wants a straightforward standing desk.
It lifts to your desired height at a smooth and quiet rate of one inch per second with a simple two-button push system. The desktop has enough space for two monitors, plus other items like supplies. And the overall desk quality is great.
The biggest drawback of the desk is that the assembly instructions aren't clear and some parts don't fit together as well as they should. Our advice is to take it slow and enlist a friend to help. Once you get past the assembly process, you'll be able to enjoy the standing desk with little to no problem.
Read our full Flexispot standing desk review.
If you think you'll struggle with remembering to use the standing features, the Autonomous SmartDesk Connect pairs with an app to automatically adjust the desk's height on a schedule of your choosing.
If you're someone who won't work up the motivation to adjust your desk on your own, the Autonomous SmartDesk connects via WiFi to an app on your phone so you can set your desk to adjust on a schedule. I set my desk to adjust to standing for most of my meetings, which I find helps me focus better during them.
The app integration is pretty basic. I set all my schedules manually, but I hope a future update will include integration with Google Calendar so I don't have to add a new event to the app every time there's a new meeting on my calendar. Onboard controls allow you to still raise or lower the desk on demand. The desk moves smoothly and quietly, and as a tall person, I really appreciate the wide adjustment range of 23.6 to 49.2 inches, which gives me plenty of room while both sitting and standing.
Aside from the app integration, the desk itself is very simple and clean in its design. You can choose a range of top and leg colors, but the overall feel is industrial minimalist. The desk is pretty large; the smallest size is about 4.5 feet long. I don't use a monitor or any external accessories, so my desk looks comically bare with just my laptop on it. It was also a beast to put together; it took me about two hours on my own and required a power drill, and I had to consult various assembly videos and online guides to get it right. — Lauren Savoie, deputy editor
Burrow’s attractive CoPilot Standing Desk features a hardwood top with a drawer compartment that’s roomy enough to fit a 17” laptop and easily adjusts to your desired height, up to 48” whether sitting or standing.
Burrow is perhaps most notably known for its modular and easy-to-assemble sofas. The brand recently ventured into the home office category with the Copilot Standing Desk, which was designed based on the results of a customer survey about the ideal aesthetics, interior storage, and cord management for a home office setup and a particular interest in standing desks. As a result, the Burrow Copilot Standing Desk features a stylish hardwood tabletop (available in oak or walnut), adjustable and stable steel legs, and, most notably, a built-in drawer with a luxe soft-close mechanism and amply sized to hide away a 17" laptop, extra papers, or small office supplies.
Beyond being incredibly functional, the Copilot caters to my need for something beautiful too. Very few standing desk brands offer any sort of built-in storage, let alone one that blends into a home office setting. Other design considerations include a hidden monitor mount and a cord organization compartment.
The desk incrementally adjusts from 28.5" to 48" inches. The control panel displays the exact height and has buttons to program three pre-set options. It is situated on the right side, which is convenient for right-hand users, but perhaps less so for lefties. When I'm ready to shift between sitting and standing, the desk smoothly lifts with a low hum to my desired height. I'm comfortable leaning into the desk with my weight at taller heights, but it may wobble if you try to force it. Unlike the other desks in this guide, Burrow does not list the maximum support weight it can lift.
The Burrow Copilot desk shipped as two packages, and included all the necessary tools and instructions for assembly. It took me about 40 minutes, with the help of another person, to attach the legs, add the motor components, and flip it right side up.
Burrow also sent me a power block that tucks into the cord storage compartment to limit the number of wires I had stemming from the desk, but I found its boxy design kept my laptop brick charger from letting the lid sit flush. I had better luck turning a traditional surge protector on its side. — Jaclyn Turner, senior home editor
The Magnus Pro has incredibly thoughtful cable management and supportive add-ons that make it a great choice for gamers, streamers, and anyone who uses multiple monitors and accessories.
The Secretlab Magnus Pro is a desk designed for gamers, but you don't need to be one to love it. Packed with features, it offers tons of customization options so you can make your setup perfect. The metal desktop comes in two spacious sizes, with over a dozen different leather Magpad Desk Mats to choose from. These magnetic leatherwork surfaces sturdily roll out over the metal surface to provide a matte, non-skid workspace that didn't budge during hours of testing. From there, you can add additional accessories like cable management sheaths, monitor arms, RGB lighting, and PC mounts.
Though its smooth motor, stable desktop, and vast customization options are huge selling points for the Magnus Pro, where this desk shines is its cable management. Pesky cables are the standing desk user's worst enemy, and this desk tames them with a hidden channel at the back of the tabletop for extension cords, chargers, and power cables. The desk itself acts as a power hub of sorts by plugging into your power socket from the leg's base, then rerouting power to an outlet at the top of the desk for you to plug all of your electronics into. It means that all of your cords are connected to the top of the desk, so when you raise or lower it, nothing gets tugged or tangled with the movement.
During testing, I found this to be a flawless solution in motion. After days of usage, I was blown away by how freely I could move my desk without fretting about yanked cables. Really, the Magnus Pro is everything it promises to be: a stable base with unrivaled cable management and premium add-ons that just make it better.
Rather than suffering from typical standing desk fallbacks, the Magnus Pro's main setback is just how difficult it is to assemble. Like Ikea furniture on hard mode, this desk arrives in pieces, all of them flat-packed in separate boxes. Though the instructions are detailed, it's a real project to put together that involves a fair amount of crawling around and heavy lifting. It's an incredible desk that I highly recommend to everyone, but you need to be ready for some difficult assembly. —Sarah Saril, associate editor
The Vivo K Series balances comfort, stability and portability for an all-around great work setup.
If you already have a desk that you like, a standing desk converter gives you the option to adjust your workspace to a height of your liking without buying a whole new desk. The Vivo K Series is the best overall pick from our guide to the best standing desk converter and offers a full range of customization both in height and width. The series has converters in six different widths, from 26 to 42 inches. Our tester used the 32-inch model, which boasted plenty of space for a laptop and an additional monitor.
Additionally, the series offers customization vertically. Unlike other converters, the Vivo K Series has an x-shaped frame (similar to an ironing board), so the height adjustment goes straight up and down. This is ideal for small desks and workspaces. Our tester noted that the converter fit on her own desk with a width of only 16 inches and that it was easy to tuck away when she wanted a more traditional workspace.
Further options for the Vivo K Series include six color options to match your workspace. This converter was comfortable to use and visually pleasing, with rounded edges and a curved keyboard level.
The only issue our tester faced was in the assembly. She noted that it took around 15 minutes, including tool gathering time. Though the process was intuitive, the instructions were not entirely clear. —Eli Long, contributor
Ergotron's Desk is great for people who want a sleek desk that they can wheel from room to room.
Ergotron's Mobile Desk is perfect for people who like to work from various areas in their homes or live in small spaces that don't have room for a large, static desk. The wheels on this desk make transitioning from working in your kitchen to your bedroom a breeze. Our reporter loved the portability of this desk and how easy the wheels were to move across floors and even carpets. The Scandinavian design and simple finishes make this desk blend seamlessly into your home.
Putting this desk together took roughly three minutes — about a minute per part. The assembly didn't require any additional tools; you only had to snap each part in place. At its lowest setting, the desk was fully functional at the average couch height. In the 45" setting, some taller individuals may find it too short for comfort.
This small desk is best suited for laptop users who don't need additional monitors and keyboards. We also thought the included cup holder was an unnecessary use of a small space and didn't fit many cup sizes.
Read our full Ergotron Mobile Desk review.
If you think you'll struggle with remembering to use the standing features, the Autonomous SmartDesk Connect pairs with an app to automatically adjust the desk's height on a schedule of your choosing.
The Autonomous SmartDesk Pro has the fastest height adjustment speed, at 2.3 inches per second, and the lowest noise at 45 decibels. In comparison, our top pick, the Fully Jarvis, moves at 1.3 inches per second, with a noise level of 50 decibels. These factors are important if you adjust often.
The frame is sturdy, and the XL table length can accommodate two 32-inch monitors and two office chairs comfortably. It's not as customizable as the Fully. There are seven top-and-frame combinations. Further customization includes a selection of two top lengths, five top materials, and three frame colors.
Each Autonomous standing desk comes with one or two grommets (holes for passing cables through) for a standard or XL top. There's a programmable control panel to adjust preset heights for different users easily. You can adjust using the up and down arrows. The panel comes with the base price, which other brands charge extra for. There are other add-on accessories that cost more, including monitor arms and trays.
Setup took about an hour and a half and required two people. The instructions are clear, but watching a video was easier and more efficient. Testing this over six months and adjusting the height several times a day, I never worried my monitors would fall off, though they wobbled at the highest height. That's on par with the other standing desks in our guide, though. — Jada Wong, contributor
Height range: Consider your own height and the measurements of the chair you typically sit in when deciding on a standing desk. Most sit-stand desks have a range that fits many heights. Some go as low as 23.6 inches or as high as over 50 inches (which should accommodate users up to 6'8"). Pricier desks will let you adjust fairly precisely to about 0.1 inches. If you're using a standing desk converter, make sure to factor in the height of the table you'll be using it on.
Maximum weight supported: If your desk is laden with heavy monitors and other equipment, it's important to get a sturdier desk. Our top pick, the Fully Jarvis, has a 350-pound weight limit.
Length and depth: While your desk should comfortably support your laptop and monitor, you also need to ensure it fits within your office space. Several of our picks offer a few choices for tabletop dimensions.
Electric vs manual: Electric standing desks are faster and sleeker but are much more expensive. Some manual options are laborious to adjust, so it's unlikely you'll want to do so every day.
Noise and speed: If you're working around other people, you want a desk that quietly adjusts. Motorized desks offer decibel ratings as part of their specs so you know what to expect. For those who frequently change from sitting to standing, a quicker adjustment is a good feature to look for.
There are a lot of things to consider when looking for the best standing desks. We tested each standing desk in everyday use, changing from standing to sitting positions several times throughout the day.
Here are the main criteria we consider for the best standing desks:
Height adjustment: We're interested in the full range of height adjustment for each standing desk, how well the mechanism works to raise and lower, how quickly and easily you can adjust it, and how noisy it is. A good standing desk will offer presets for different heights and an easy mechanism for adjustment.
Customization: Any piece of furniture must fit in with its environment, so the materials and desktop finishes are important. It's also important to look at how big each standing desk is in terms of the overall footprint and the available desktop space. We also consider the availability of customization options and add-ons, like cable management, drawers, and monitor arms.
Stability and durability: A wobbly desk can be very distracting, and stability is often a problem when standing desks are adjusted to their height limits. We look at how the desk copes with bumps or being leaned upon and how being fully loaded impacts stability. Other important factors include the weight limit and the return policy.
Setup: Some assembly is usually required, but you don't want to spend all day building your standing desk. We look at how quickly you can have it set up out of the box, if you need help to build it, and whether there are any potential issues with setup.
Benefits of using a standing desk include reduced neck and upper back pain, burning more calories than sitting, and potentially lowering blood sugar levels, according to experts.
A standing desk alone isn't going to improve your occupational health. According to ergonomist Alan Hedge at Cornell University, people tend to hunch over their standing desks after just 10 minutes. For the biggest impact, mix sitting, standing, and moving throughout the day.
Hedge suggests a 20-8-2 pattern based on his research and real-world testing: Sit for 20 minutes, stand for 8, stretch or walk around for 2, and repeat. These numbers aren't absolute, but what's most important is not to stay in one position for too long, Hedge said.
In general, you know you're at the right standing desk height when your elbows are bent at a 90-degree angle and your shoulders feel relaxed when working at the desk. These charts from BTOD and Autonomous provide specific settings to try for your height if you need a starting place.
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