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Whether you’re working from home or in an office, it may be time to upgrade your workspace with one of the best standing desks. Standing desks give you additional flexibility as you can sit or stand while working and they could even help with your health too.
Read on for all our top picks for the best standing desks.
1. Vari Electric Standing Desk
Surface size: 60 x 30 inches
Min/Max height: 25 – 50.5 inches
Max supported weight: 200 pounds
Electric: Yes
- Attractive
- Very easy to assemble
- Comes with useful accessories
- Not as many configuration options as other models
The Vari Electric Standing Desk stood out immediately for its gorgeous work surface, which not only looked better than the rest, but was thicker, too. We especially liked its chamfered edges, and the fact that Vari throws in two hooks — so you can hang your purse or a set of headphones — as well as a coaster to protect its surface. What’s more, the company also offers a range of accessories, from power strips to cable-management trays to monitor arms, to fully outfit your desk.
If you’re not particularly enamored with the reclaimed wood of our review model, the company offers a variety of other materials, including white, butcher block, black, and darkwood. While not as varied as other standing desks on this page, each option was very attractive. Our model also came with a programmable control panel that let you set four preset heights for the desk, and had a small LCD readout that displayed its height. It’s a feature you can get with most standing desks, and it’s one worth picking up.
What especially impressed us about the Vari desk was the ease with which we were able to put it together. It took about 15 minutes total to get everything assembled, about half the time as other standing desks we tested. If you’re not particularly handy, this is definitely the standing desk for you.
2. Flexispot EC1 Standing desk
Surface size: 55 x 28 inches
Min/Max height: 28 – 47.6 inches
Max supported weight: 154 pounds
Electric: Yes
- Less expensive than other standing desks
- Very customizable
- Motor and other parts exposed
- Can’t support as much weight as other standing desks
The Flexispot is the best standing desk for those who are on a budget but still want an electric standing desk. While it’s not as attractive as the Vari desk, we do like its bamboo work surface and clean lines. We also like the fact that its starting price is around $300 — half that of our favorite model overall.
However, there are a few compromises to be made: If you look on the underside of the Flexispot, you can see its motor and turning mechanism — things that are concealed on the other standing desks we reviewed. Also, the Flexispot can’t support as much weight as other standing desks, so if you’re planning to load it down with a lot of heavy items, you’ll want to look elsewhere.
3. Ikea Trotten
Desktop size: 47.25 x 27.5 inches
Min/max height: 27.5 to 47.25 inches
Max supported weight: 110 pounds
Electric: No
- Simple, clean design
- Smooth crank mechanism
- Fewer customization options than other standing desks
- Can’t support as much weight as other standing desks
If you want to save even more money when buying a standing desk, you could consider a model like the Ikea Trotten. While it lacks a motor — you’re going to build up your forearm muscles cranking this thing up and down — it costs about $250, making the Trotten the least expensive standing desk on this list.
As mentioned, though, it lacks a motor, and, unlike the other standing desks on this page, has very little in the way of customization options: You can choose from two desktop colors and two leg colors. Also, it only comes in one size (47.25 x 27.5 inches), and supports just 110 pounds, the least amount among the standing desks we’ve tested. While it was easy to assemble — no surprise given that it’s made by Ikea — it wasn’t as simple as the Vari desk, and took about as much time to put together as the Flexispot, Fully Jarvis, and Uplift models.
4. Fully Jarvis Bamboo standing desk
Desktop size: 30 x 24 inches
Min/max height: 30 to 49.3 inches
Max supported weight: 350 pounds
Electric: Yes
- Attractive
- Can hold heavy loads
- Lots of customization options
- Takes longer to assemble than Vari desk
Fully’s Jarvis Bamboo standing desk is an attractive, if unspectacular model that performed well in our tests and offers a lot of customization options when it comes to the desk material, sizes, colors and more. The Jarvis was fairly easy to assemble, but it was more complex, and took twice as long as the Vari desk.
With a minimum and maximum height of 30 to 49.3 inches, respectively, the Fully Jarvis doesn’t have as big a range as the Vari Electric Desk, which can raise and lower from 25 to 50.5 inches. However, the Jarvis can support up to 350 pounds, 150 more than the Vari, and 200 pounds more than the Flexispot EC1, our favorite budget electric standing desk.
5. Uplift V2
Desktop size: 42 x 30 inches
Min/max height: 25.3 to 50.9 inches
Max supported weight: 355 pounds
- Lots of customization options
- Supports a lot of weight
- Takes longer to assemble than Vari desk
We’ll admit, we weren’t the biggest fans of the walnut veneer that came with our Uplift V2 standing desk. Fortunately, Uplift offers its desk in a variety of surfaces, from laminate to bamboo to solid mahogany; there’s even a whiteboard option, in case you like the idea of writing on the desk itself.
Like the Fully Jarvis, the Uplift can support up to 350 pounds, the most among the standing desks we tested. It also took roughly the same amount of time to assemble as the Jarvis — while not overly long (about half an hour), it was still more involved than the Vari standing desk. Ultimately, the Uplift is a very good standing desk, but not our favorite model.