The Best Standing Desks of 2023
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What’s Important To Know When Shopping For An Electric Adjustable-Height Standing Desk?
By definition, an electric adjustable-height standing desk is typically powered by one or two precision linear motor drives that easily move the desk up and down with the press of a button. They have a distinct advantage over most manually-operated desks in speed, convenience, and performance, but tend to cost slightly more than their crank-operated cousins. Driven by volume economics, electric standing desks at this point have well overtaken the few remaining manual crank models left in the market. Many electric desks now also have built-in Bluetooth, to sync with smartphone apps that have some cool features to help you get the maximum health and productivity benefit from your new “active workstation.”
With hundreds of adjustable standing desks spanning a wide range of capabilities, feature sets, and price tags, you can be sure to find a model that works for your unique workspace. And if you want to get the most ergonomic adjustability, make sure to check our in-depth reviews of the best monitor arms, best keyboard trays and best anti-fatigue mats to go with your new workstation.
Our Comprehensive Standing Desk Review Process
With the sheer number of height-adjustable standing desks available, it can be pretty daunting to find the right desk. That’s why we’ve done the leg work and compiled the specifications of every standing desk we’ve reviewed. This page provides an apples-to-apples comparison of the different products in the market today and is a great place to start your search.
As we explain in our Standing Desk Review Criteria, we look at a number of qualities and attributes when creating our product reviews. These include weight capacity, lift speed, stability, noise, ergonomics, customizable options, and assembly. To learn more about our review process in general, visit our Anatomy of a Review primer.
With well over a hundred lab-tested standing desk reviews published we’ve had to create subcategories to organize them all in a useful way. In the sidebar on the right you’ll see those individual review round-ups that might help you narrow down what you’re looking for. But the most common filter our readers will likely use is a budgetary one, and so on this page we sort all the models out by price, as follows:
Standing Desk Price Tiers
Since there are now hundreds of competing models and the market, and price is often the first qualifier that most prospective adjustable height desk shoppers think of when desk hunting, we divided electric adjustable standing desks into five tiers, based on their price tag:
- Executive (over $2,200) standing desks offer even more surface area, built-in storage, the very best heirloom-quality finishes and other bespoke features.
- Ultra Premium (under $2,200) standing desks should offer the best desk you can buy. In this price range you should expect stunning finishes and premium quality components. Jump below
- Premium (under $1,100) standing desks require a bigger investment, but are feature-loaded, usually feature better build quality and warranties, and are sure to match the décor of the executive suite. Jump below
- Value (under $800) standing desks offer good feature sets and specifications without costing as much as the premium adjustable height desk offerings. This tier is typically where you find your best value for the dollar. Jump below
- Budget (under $400) standing desks have been optimized for cost-savings. They have generally lower, though not necessarily poor, performance specs, and come with the smallest price points and shortest warranties. Jump below
In response to reader demand, we’ve also created a separate round-up of reviews just for Adjustable Standing Desks Made in America—worth checking out if you’re looking for the very best-engineered and best-produced standing desks with the longest warranties and optimal customer support. And for the 8% of our readers who live north of the border we even have a round-up of the best Canadian-made standing desks.
As you might be wondering, yes there are also standing desks available for corner and cubicle denizens. We have grouped these separately in our comprehensive round-ups of Corner Standing Desk Reviews and L-Shaped Adjustable-Height Standing Desk Reviews. Click here to learn the difference between corner desks and L-desks. And, more recently, we’ve added the new round-up category of Top Quick-Install Standing Desk Reviews.
Make sure to read What to Expect When You’re Expecting Your First Standing Desk, our detailed guide on the many things you’ll want to be aware of when shopping for and first using your ergonomic workstation.
No matter which type of adjustable sitting standing desk you settle on, make sure you look carefully at the warranty and exclusions. Be sure to read our primer on How to Compare Warranties on Standing Desks.
Below, you’ll find abstracts of each product review by category, with links to our full lab test results.
Executive Standing Desks
With prices starting at $2,200 and above, these executive standing desks are the Crème de la Crème. While there are some notable exceptions, most of these desks will feature domestic solid wood desktops finished to an heirloom quality, the very latest in lifting base technology, larger sizes including L-shaped desks, built-in storage drawers, advanced cable management options, the convenience of desktop power modules, and very long warranties.
Note that while all executive standing desks are made with solid wood surfaces, not all solid wood standing desks meet the criteria to be considered proper executive standing desks.
1. iMovR Lander Executive Solid Wood Standing Desk
If you’re looking for the most elegant and sophisticated standing desk available in the market today, you’ve found it. But be prepared to pay what it costs for this kind of quality workmanship and materials as this desk is made 100% of solid wood, and the most premium select cuts of wood at that. This is a truly bespoke product, with 6-8 weeks of artisan woodwork labor to produce it. Even the delivery experience is exceptional. The lifting base is the strongest we’ve ever seen on any standing desk at 540 lbs, as it needs to support the weight of three drawers, the full-length concealed electronics cabinet, and all the desktop equipment and drawer contents that an executive user might add to their desk. The full-length concealed electronics cabinet is a major innovation, as is the optional 1800W Executive Power Bus that goes in it. Like test driving a Bentley (which we actually did in preparation for this review), when we got to test out the very first Lander Executive units, we were blown away by all the little touches that make it a true luxury product.
Price: $5,630
2. iMovR Lander Solid Wood Standing Desk
Our favorite adjective for these exceptionally beautiful, versatile and reliable solid wood standing desks from iMovR is “bespoke,” as they are not only the most elegant standing desks you can find in the market today, each is made-to-order to fit the customer’s space and décor as precisely as possible. Entirely American made, their construction combines a state-of-the-art, precision robotics-built lifting base with an exquisitely handcrafted tabletop, resulting in a true heirloom-quality piece of practical furniture. Industry-leading warranty. and a 3-minute, no tools assembly set it apart from any other standing desk you can find on the market today. The range of shapes, sizes and finish options are mind-boggling, because the customer basically designs their desk online and each is then made to order in Michigan.
Price: $2,390
3. Best Solid Wood Desks From iMovR, Fully, Uplift and Ergonofis
This round-up of reviews is currently in one long article but is in the process of being broken out into individual reviews for each of these four leading solid wood standing desk manufacturers.
4. iMovR Lander L-Shaped Desk
Literally the most advanced standing desk on the market. Comes 98-percent factory pre-assembled and tested, the impressively-engineered Lander L-desk can be installed by one person in just eight minutes, instead of the usual two-man, 90-minute affair required to assemble all other sit-stand L-desks. All the high-tech features you can expect to find in a premium standing desk, including Bluetooth sync to smartphone app. Literally thousands of customization options in 3D-laminate and solid-wood desktop colors and sizes. Outstanding quality and industry-leading warranty.
Price: $2,148
5. iMovR Lander U-Shaped Standing Desk
Yet another incremental extension of the most advanced standing desk on the market, the iMovR Lander, this 4-legged U-desk comes 90 percent factory pre-assembled and can be installed by one person in just 13 minutes. This is not only much faster than most 2-legged standing desks, it stands in stark contrast to the usual two-hour, two-man installation job a “console” desk like this would ordinarily require. All the tech-forward features you’d expect to find in a premium standing desk, including Bluetooth sync to a smartphone app, are built-in. There are a mind-boggling 15,000 customization options available, yet this is the first “off-the-shelf” product in the category at a fraction of the cost.
Price: $3,270
6. iMovR Captain's Desk
If you’re tired of the typical “two legs and a slab of wood” standing desk design, the Captain’s Desk is a breath of fresh air. Packaging that design with the technological features of the Lander Lite base makes for an exceptional desk. You get the warranty, assembly, stability, height range and quality you would expect from a premium, American-made iMovR desk, plus a stunning design and the strong Baltic or Red River birch desktop.
Price: $2,450
7. Bush Furniture U-Shaped Standing Desk
The Bush Furniture U-Desk has a few positive aspects. With only a single portion of the whole desk that can go from sitting to standing, it’s cheaper than full U-shaped standing desks. Also, the three drawers can be a great storage option. That configuration also makes it seem a little awkward at times. This is beside the issue of lack of information on the website. We would normally expect to see more technical specification, and options in size or color are very lacking.
Price: $2,215.99
8. James+James Solid Wood L-Shaped Standing Desk
The Knotty Alder Hardwood desktop is handcraft in the USA but is oddly paired with a cheap Chinese-made base that’s dramatically underperforming for this kind of price tag. The dual-stage base has a minimal weight rating even though it has three motors. The desktop edging is all right-angles, offering no ergo-contouring as you’d expect in a solid wood standing desk priced this high. Six different stains are offered, but James+James is known for customizations, so if you need something other than the two standard sizes or want other modifications you can call them for a quote.
Price: $4,723
9. Fully Jarvis Albright Solid Wood Standing Desk
The minimal design of the Albright solid wood standing desk is certainly attractive. But when you really look at it, Fully could have thought it through a bit more. With two drawers top-side, not attached underneath the desktop, you need to clear the space in front of them if you want them to open up. Another issue is compatibility with monitor arms because they would have to mount on the shelf, which creates some ergonomic problems. The solid wood quality of the woodwork is on par with UpLift’s, but nowhere near the quality of American solid wood tops like iMovR’s. At the end of the day, it’s a decent handcrafted solid wood product on a cheap Chinese-made Jiecang lifting base with an annoying assembly. So, unlike other designer desks that marry high-quality American constructed tops with reliable American-made bases (and better warranties all around), we don’t get the reasoning for this mish-mash.
Price: $2,349
10. Fully Jarvis Evolve Standing Desk
The Evolve falls into several premium categories that occupy the rarified air of designer standing desks. It’s priced at $2,300, so that puts it in the most expensive “executive standing desk” tier. And of course it’s made of solid wood, as is to be expected of any desk in this price tier. And it has not just one, but three drawers. Artisan handcrafted in Michigan, it’s certainly beautiful to look at. That’s the good news. The bad news starts with the fact that the drawers are so thick that you can’t actually bring this desk down to sitting height without crushing your lap. It is strictly a “standing desk,” not a “sit-stand desk,” from an ergonomic point of view. The design also disallows the addition of any ergonomic accessories like monitor arms or keyboard trays, so it’s pretty much a laptop desk. We’ve never understood Fully’s (and some of their other competitors’) choice of pairing an expensive, American-made desktop with a commodity-grade lifting base from China (Jiecang, like on all the Jarvis desks). While Vincent Leman has risen to the top of the field in designer standing desks nowadays, the Evolve was his very first creation. That was quite a few years ago now, and sadly the Evolve lacks any ergonomic sense whatsoever. Like the other Fully solid wood desks, it’s finished to a minimal level to minimize cost, and lacks some things you’d expect at this price tier, like high-quality drawer slides, ergo-contoured edges, more precisely aligned drawers, and at least a full sealing of the bottom of the desk, if not staining.
Price: $2,299
Ultra Premium Standing Desks ($1,100 to $2,200)
Uncompromising in its features and capabilities, an ultra premium standing desk should offer the best that money can buy. Not just the most functional, these stand up desks tend to have the best aesthetic as well. Thicker tabletops with beautiful finishes abound in this space, and you can also find hardwood and bamboo tops here. Of course, even among the high-tier desks, there is a wide range of quality and price. But beware—high price and high quality don’t always go hand in hand. Follow the links below to read our full reviews on each model.
1. iMovR Lander Standing Desk
The Lander is clearly more future-proof than any other standing desk we’ve had the pleasure of testing. There have been some gimmicky predecessors that had an iPod built into the desktop (e.g. the Stir Desk) or a smartphone app (e.g. the Autonomous SmartDesk 3, from a bottom-bracket Chinese manufacturer with extraordinarily bad reliability and customer service record). And there have been multiple attempts at building in standing reminder notifications, but the results have been clunky, at best. The Lander is the first desk we’ve seen to put it all together in a clean way, with true ease-of-use, and on a top-tier mechanical platform.
All this comes at somewhat of a premium price, naturally. While the Lander isn’t the cheapest desk on the market, given its premium components, the value is clearly there. Desks built this well tend to last longer and easily justify their higher price by promising lower cost of ownership (purchase price divided by years of use) than cheaper models from China.
Price: $1,330
2. iMovR Lander Adjustable Height L-Desk
Literally the most advanced standing desk on the market. Comes 98-percent factory pre-assembled and tested, the impressively-engineered Lander L-desk can be installed by one person in just eight minutes, instead of the usual two-man, 90-minute affair required to assemble all other sit-stand L-desks. All the high-tech features you can expect to find in a premium standing desk, including Bluetooth sync to smartphone app. Literally thousands of customization options in 3D-laminate and solid-wood desktop colors and sizes. Outstanding quality and industry-leading warranty.
Price: $2,148
3. iMovR Lander U-Shaped Standing Desk
Yet another incremental extension of the most advanced standing desk on the market, the iMovR Lander, this 4-legged U-desk comes 90 percent factory pre-assembled and can be installed by one person in just 13 minutes. This is not only much faster than most 2-legged standing desks, it stands in stark contrast to the usual two-hour, two-man installation job a “console” desk like this would ordinarily require. All the tech-forward features you’d expect to find in a premium standing desk, including Bluetooth sync to a smartphone app, are built-in. There are a mind-boggling 15,000 customization options available, yet this is the first “off-the-shelf” product in the category at a fraction of the cost.
Price: $3,270
4. iMovR Ensign's Standing Desk
Perfected ergonomics and designer furniture panache combined? This desk brings it all together like no other we’ve seen because it allows you to pick the configuration that best fits both your sense of style and your ergonomic needs at the same time. The Scandanavian-styled Red River or Baltic birch top, curved edge option and optional Fly Deck monitor stand together to form one of the most beautiful standing desks we’ve seen. Plus, it has the trusty Lander Lite base beneath it. It’s a desk that forces you to make very few compromises.
Price: $1,720
5. iMovR Captain's Desk
If you’re tired of the typical “two legs and a slab of wood” standing desk design, the Captain’s Desk is a breath of fresh air. Packaging that design with the technological features of the Lander Lite base makes for an exceptional desk. You get the warranty, assembly, stability, height range and quality you would expect from a premium, American-made iMovR desk, plus a stunning design and the strong Baltic or Red River birch desktop.
Price: $2,450
6. Ergonofis Sway Solid Wood Standing Desk
The bottom line is that the Ergonofis Sway solid wood standing desk is a quality product with one of the best bases money can buy and Canadian-sourced wood that will add a touch of class to any upscale office space. They don’t have a ton of options, opting for a more curated listing typical of many businesses trying to streamline the purchasing process. The desktop quality isn’t quite up to the standard of our favorite American-made standing desks from iMovR, but is better than all the other commodity-grade desks coming out of China. While the price is a bit higher than those more common desks, it is meant for shoppers wanting a superior product, and they will learn that the cost is worth it.
Price: $1,395
7. Humanscale Float Adjustable Height Desk
There’s something almost seductive about a Float table. Innovative counterbalance technology makes these desks fast, easy adjusters.
Price: $1,635
8. UpLift L-Desk
The naming convention on UpLift’s three L-desks can be a bit confusing but we’re going to go with the labels that UpLift uses on their own website to keep things as simple as possible. The difference between these three versions all comes down to the sources and materials used for their desktops.
Price: $1,688
9. UPDESK Pro SquaredUp Corner Standing Desk
An overpriced option in a field of many better options, the SquaredUp Corner Desk comes in only one size and two desktop colors. For a lot less money you could get a similar quality corner standing desk or l-shaped standup desk in a stunning array of sizes and colors to match your decor, and your budget. And it will arrive a lot faster.
Price: $1,695
10. EffyDesk Wildwood Solid Wood Standing Desk
Overall, the Wildwood Standing Desk from Vancouver, BC-based Effydesk is a pretty good desk for its price, especially if you are looking for the attractive aesthetic of real wood. In truth, however, the desktop is faux solid wood, not the real thing. It is a lot cheaper than the real thing, and pretty, but not a one-for-one substitute from classic hand-crafted solid wood. EffyDesk has taken significant measures to improve the quality of the desktop and frame over the typical standing desks we see come out of Asian factories. Only time will tell if those measures are enough to keep the desk alive as long as its warranties, which are better than what other Canadian brands offer. Hopefully you won’t have to go through the hassle of a warranty return, but if someday you do, Effydesk has friendly and easy customer service for its Canadian customers.
Price: $1,200 CAD
11. Burotic Solid Wood Standing Desk
The solid wood standing desks by Burotic feature premium quality solid-wood maple, walnut, or cherrywood desktops mated with not-so-premium basic electric lifting base made in China. The company promotes its five business-day ship time (limited to the Quebec area) as its main differentiator from long-established competitor Ergonofis, who also provides very aesthetically pleasing solid wood tops out of Canada paired with a premium-grade, American-made lifting base. A more impressive differentiator, however, is the option of easily configuring and pricing out a custom-sized solid wood standing desk, albeit with a 4-7 week wait. This is not something we’ve seen from any other desk maker anywhere.
Price: $1,745 CAD
12. Herman Miller Motia Sit Stand Desk
With the collapse of office furniture sales as a result of the pandemic, Herman Miller and its peers are scrambling to re-position, re-price and re-box a tiny subset of their commercial office furniture products to market through retail and e-commerce channels to the new Work From Home (WFH) army of consumers. In alien territory that is dominated by online brands like UpLift, Fully, iMovR and countless Chinese brands on Amazon, these multi-billion dollar companies are like elephants in the duck pond, trying to figure out how to float and fly. Despite their resources, they cannot have too much channel conflict with their decades-old, protected dealer network, so they took only a very limited number of products, severely cut back the options selections, and started selling direct-to-consumer, working around their costly dealer channel. As with offerings from Steelcase, Knoll, and other commercial office behemoths, what Herman Miller has delivered here is a vastly overpriced, severely limited offering with a sketchy delivery and installation experience for users at best. It is so overly limited in desktop shapes, sizes and finishes that you’d have to be pretty lucky to get a good match with your home office space. And you better not be too short or too tall because this hacked-back Motia standing desk doesn’t even meet ANSI/BIFMA G1 standards for ergonomic height adjustment range.
Price: $1,205
13. Herman Miller Renew Standing Desk
With the collapse of office furniture sales as a result of the pandemic, Herman Miller and its peers are scrambling to re-position, re-price and re-box a tiny subset of their commercial office furniture products to market through retail and e-commerce channels to the new Work From Home (WFH) army of consumers. In alien territory that is dominated by online brands like UpLift, Fully, iMovR and countless Chinese brands on Amazon, these multi-billion dollar companies are like elephants in the duck pond, trying to figure out how to float and fly. Despite their resources, they cannot have too much channel conflict with their decades-old, protected dealer network, so they took only a very limited number of products, severely cut back the options selections, and started selling direct-to-consumer, working around their costly dealer channel. As with offerings from Steelcase, Knoll, and other commercial office behemoths, what Herman Miller has delivered here is a vastly overpriced, severely limited offering with a sketchy delivery and installation experience for users at best. It is so overly limited in desktop shapes, sizes and finishes that you’d have to be pretty lucky to get a good match with your home office space. And you better not be too short or too tall because this hacked-back Renew standing desk doesn’t even meet ANSI/BIFMA G1 standards for ergonomic height adjustment range.
Price: $1,575
14. Bush Furniture U-Shaped Standing Desk
The Bush Furniture U-Desk has a few positive aspects. With only a single portion of the whole desk that can go from sitting to standing, it’s cheaper than full U-shaped standing desks. Also, the three drawers can be a great storage option. That configuration also makes it seem a little awkward at times. This is beside the issue of lack of information on the website. We would normally expect to see more technical specification, and options in size or color are very lacking.
Price: $2,215.99
15. OfficeSource U-Shaped Standing Desk
The OfficeSource U-shaped standing desk looks nice but the complete lack of details and high price are very unfortunate issues when an average user faces with this standing desk from a manufacturer without e-commerce roots. We recommend going with a seller with a more user-friendly website that provides product details, reviews, etc. The OpenSource Standing U-Desk is a bit misleading, since it is really a sit-stand L-desk sitting next to a fixed-height credenza, offering very limited configurations as compared to other, more modern designs on the market.
Price: $5,567
16. AFC Industries U-Shaped Standing Desk
You could say the AFC Industries Semi-Circle standing desk is a solid piece of office furniture, but if you are looking for an individual user that wants a workstation customized to them, it may not be quite right. With very limited configurations, there are other manufacturers that offer better options in size, color and other customizations. The website provides too few details and you can’t even see the price without calling or emailing the sales team. On the positive side, the entire surface rises as one piece, and the semi-circle design should help provide a slight ergonomic benefit.
Price: Contact AFC Industries for pricing
17. MultiTable Mod-E Pro Electric L-Desk
A slap-dash entry to fill out Multitable’s line of Asian-made standing desks, the Mod-E Pro L-Desk is as minimal an offering as you can find. Very limited desktop colors, only one base color, and ostensibly only four standard sizes (albeit you can only order the smallest size online), with weak motors and challenging assembly make this one a very questionable candidate for any serious L-shaped standing desk buyer.
Price: $1,398
18. James+James Solid Wood Standing Desk
The Knotty Alder Hardwood desktop is handcraft in the USA but is oddly paired with a cheap Chinese-made base that’s dramatically underpowered and slow for this kind of price tag. The single-stage base has a limited height adjustment range and has a short warranty not even mentioned by James+James. The desktop is all right-angles, offering no ergo-contoured edges as you’d expect in a solid wood standing desk priced this high. Six different stains are offered, but James+James is known for customizations, so if you need something other than the two standard sizes or want other modifications you can call them for a quote.
Price: $3,235
19. Fully Jarvis Reclaimed Wood Standing Desk
These reclaimed wood desktops are meant to exude oohs and aahs from office guests but come with a raft of durability concerns. Fully has switched vendors multiple times trying to find a reliable source of reclaimed tops that wouldn’t crack or warp after being used on an adjustable-height base for a while, but ultimately appears to have given up. Better alternatives exist.
Price: Discontinued
20. Fully Jarvis Albright Standing Desk
The minimal design of the Albright solid wood standing desk is certainly attractive. But when you really look at it, Fully could have thought it through a bit more. With two drawers top-side, not attached underneath the desktop, you need to clear the space in front of them if you want them to open up. Another issue is compatibility with monitor arms because they would have to mount on the shelf, which creates some ergonomic problems. The solid wood quality of the woodwork is on par with UpLift’s, but nowhere near the quality of American solid wood tops like iMovR’s. At the end of the day, it’s a decent handcrafted solid wood product on a cheap Chinese-made Jiecang lifting base with an annoying assembly. So, unlike other designer desks that marry high-quality American constructed tops with reliable American-made bases (and better warranties all around), we don’t get the reasoning for this mish-mash.
Price: $2,349
21. Fully Jarvis Sthanding L-Desk
Fully used to make two different L-desk models — one with the lowest price point of any L-shaped sit-stand desk on the market ($1,145) using very inexpensive powder-coated desktops, which was recently discontinued — and this remaining desk that we review here, which utilizes slightly more expensive bamboo and high-pressure laminated (HPL) desktops.
Price: $1,399
22. Ergonofis Alive Standing Desk
The most luxurious desk from Ergonofis, the Alive is highlighted by a live-edge solid wood desktop that’s 1.75″ thick. Paired with an American-made lifting base that features an inlaid handset in the corner of the desktop.
Price: $2,995.00 CAD
23. Effydesk Terradesk Standing Desk
The Terradesk by Effydesk is an environmentally-friendly standing desk featuring a desktop made from 10,854 recycled chopsticks. This environmentally-sustainable product has a beautiful butcher-block tabletop look and offers “20,020 gram carbon storage.”
Price: $1,749 CAD
24. RiseDesk Live Edge Epoxy Standing Desk
The Live Edge Epoxy desk developed and sold by RiseDesk out of Toronto is one of the three premium standing desks made in Canada today (the Ergonofis Sway and Alive desks being the other two). This 60″ by 30″ tabletop is locally sourced from the forests of Canada, shaped and finished using epoxy resin inside a local Toronto woodworking shop and offered in two unique finishes — black and beach wave. You have to see this desk in person to truly appreciate the solid, natural wood surface and the quality craftsmanship. We personally can’t wait to get our hands on one.
Price: $2,995.00 CAD
25. Progressive Desk V Ryzer Standing Desk
The V Ryzer Standing Desk by Progressive Desk is a unique corner desk offering that provides ample workspace with its dual 55″-length tabletop pieces. Though, the 120-degree angled design is somewhat unique for the adjustable-height desk industry, the design elements of the V Ryzer are not. As with the rest of the Progressive Desk line of standing desks, it is manufactured in China with the bare minimum design features. The desktop is available in only one size and shape, one material and two color finishes. The adjustable-height range of 49.1″ is not remotely suitable for users 6-feet and taller.
Price: $1,724 CAD
26. Progressive Desk Corner Ryzer Standing Desk
The Corner Ryzer standing desk manufactured by Progressive Desk boasts a triple-motor, three-column lift operation and 10 unique size combinations. In comparison to the V Ryzer, another corner desk offering from Progressive Desk, the Corner Ryzer features much more variety in configuration. Sadly, that is the lone differentiation between the two desks. Each comes in the lone, commodity-grade desktop material (laminate-coated particle board) and poor maximum height range. This desk – especially with the larger size combinations – is exceptionally difficult to assemble as well.
Price: $1,260 CAD
27. Vorii ElementDesk Super V3.0 Standing Desk
All easily visible signs point to the Vorii ElementDesk Super V3.0 Standing Desk being a pretty quality piece of furniture. Dual stage lifting bases, large surface area, a 15-year warranty, and a few color options will help it fit pretty well in many offices. The price might be a little high for many users, but if the quality is high enough, it could be worth it.
Price: $1,350
28. StandUpDeskStore L-Shaped Standing Desk
You can see that the Stand Up Desk Store L-Shaped Standing Desk has a few problems. With a super slow transit speed and surprisingly low weight capacity. Sadly, it even only comes in one size and a pretty lacking warranty. On the customizability front, this Stand Up Desk Store desk does offer solid wood options, but they’re low quality. For a positive look, the desk has dual-stage legs, meaning its height range and stability will be better than any that are only single stage. In the end, it’s probably a little too expensive for what it provides.
Price: $1,079
29. Steelcase Airtouch Sit-to-Stand Table
The Airtouch from Steelcase is another in their growing selection of standing desks they design for more ergonomic office environments. A single pneumatic lifting certainly makes it unique among sit-to-stand table options on the market.
Price: $2,451
Premium Standing Desks ($800-$1,100)
In this price tier you’ll find a lot of the premium-grade standing desks, including made-in-USA models like iMovR’s Lander Lite and Jaxson, Herman Miller’s Nevi and Floyds’ birch desk. Nearly every adjustable height desk in this price category includes a digital hand controller and many come equipped with advanced safety and reliability features that give them longer warranties than the average.
1. iMovR Lander Lite Standing Desk
iMovR has managed to take the industry’s No. 1-rated, premium-technology standing desk, the original Lander, keep 90 percent of the technology features and significantly lower the entry price with this new Lander Lite offering. It’s a winner because of features like factory pre-assembly, Bluetooth-enabled height control paddle and smartphone app, built-in health coach, and the choice of over 50 colors of Surf(x) 3D-laminated or solid wood desktops resulting in superior value to consumers.
Price: $900
2. iMovR Cascade Standing Desk
iMovR’s Freedom desks, an American-made standing desk line to compete with the barrage of cheaply-made imports on the market. The Cascade model features iMovR’s innovative SteadyType™ technology – a built-in tilting keyboard tray for unparalleled typing ergonomics.
Price: $1,093
3. UPDESK Pro Commercial-Grade Electric Adjustable Standing Desk
Ironically, while UpDesk calls its higher-end model “commercial grade,” it’s the corporate buyers that demand the greatest stability, need the greatest range in decor options, and have the desire to eliminate installation costs on new standing desks, which is the Pro model’s exact shortfalls. With its limited size and color offerings and involved installation the UpDesk Pro seems to be more of a “premium home” unit than a true commercial-grade standing desk offering.
Price: $895
4. Ergonofis Shift Standing Desk
Coming from the longest established standing desk company based in Canada, Ergonofis, the Shift is their more pedestrian desk model, as compared to their Sway and Alive desks that feature solid wood tops. It does offer a unique laminate surface that feels nice to the touch, though it doesn’t have some of the features that the highest-quality, price-comparable desktops made in the US have, like ergo-contouring and fully laminated grommet holes. The base has some high precision robotic welding that we don’t often see coming from a Chinese manufacturer, but there are some design issues that lead to excessive instability at taller height settings. The assembly isn’t overly complex, but will be much easier with two people, as there are some heavy and awkward parts to move around. The unique features and positive points bring the price up a bit, but they help ensure a positive experience with the desk.
Price: $1,195 CAD
5. Eureka E60 Standing Desk
If this 30″ x 60″ size is right for you and you don’t mind being limited to only the two color schemes, the E-60 is a high quality desk. But for $899 you could do much better—including having all the size and color options you can desire and double the warranty with a top-rated American-made standing desk—so it feels highly overpriced for what you’re going to get.
Price: $899
6. GeekDesk Max Standing Desk
A pioneer in electric adjustable height desks GeekDesk has not kept pace with the innovations and sheer spectrum of choices that newer manufacturers are bringing to the fore. Judging by site traffic readings, the lack of a phone number for customer service or sales, and the lack of availability through trusted channels like Amazon, it appears that GeekDesk is getting ready to sunset its offerings.
Price: $849
7. FlexiSpot E4L L-Shaped Standing Desk
If you want to spend less than a grand on an adjustable-height L-desk then the Flexispot E4L is definitely worthy of your consideration. You’d just need to be OK with the significant effort required for installation, and with the very limited choice in configurations. The FlexiSpot L-Shaped standing desk starts at $959.99, comes in one size, has a weight capacity of 330 pounds and features a bamboo top. But that’s it for choices. Other height adjustable L-desks come in thousands of configurations, assembly with a fraction of the effort and use far nicer components and more recent technology – but cost substantially more.
Price: $959.99
8. Herman Miller Nevi Standing Desk
Like the other two standing desks in the Herman Miller work-from-home line-up, the Nevi is severely overpriced, barely configurable, and of poor quality. With a weak warranty and the most spartan of features, it tries to compete with standing desks that cost half as much and pack a lot more value. The $199-$299 delivery and install cost seems incongruous with a bottom-end standing desk, where most consumers would rather make a DIY project out of assembling it, but apparently that would entail too much of a redesign job for a desk meant to be put together by professional furniture installers. The one user review of the Nevi on the Herman Miller website is a 1-star where the customer wished they could leave “negative stars,” which kind of says it all.
Price: $995
9. Stand Up Desk Store Solid Wood Standing Desk
Stand Up Desk Store falsely claims that this desk is made with “genuine” solid wood. The bamboo version is not a real wood, it’s an engineered wood made from grass strands in an environmentally hideous process. The fir version is made using reclaimed wood, hideously ugly and likely to warp or crack in no time. The birch tops are made by gluing together small staves of wood into larger desktops. Some of the desktops are made of thin veneer over plywood, again not “genuine” solid wood. Photos don’t match descriptions, and the Amazon listing photos don’t match the company’s own website photos. Squared-off edges offer no ergo-contouring as you’d find on higher-quality desks, with sharp edges only sanded down to 2-4mm instead of 1/4″-3/4″ are we usually see on real solid wood tops. Poor instructions which lack English, a total lack of pre-drilled pilot holes, desk instability, grease leakage on the lifting columns, problems with the digital controller, and non-responsive customer service frustrate a lot of customers. We include this product in our solid wood standing desks category only because of the label that the manufacturer has given it, but none of these desktops technically qualify. To top it all off, this desk comes with NO WARRANTY and if you try to return it the restocking fees and reverse shipping charge could run you in the hundreds of dollars. Red alert!
Price: $899
10. Lifespan Fitness Standing Desk
Lifespan’s “classic” standing desks, for many years known as the DT5 (height set manually with pins) and DT7 (electric) were notoriously limited to one size, one color, and a deep cushion strip and control console that positioned the user into an atrocious ergonomic position. That’s how much this distributor of Asian-made gym equipment knew about the proper ergonomics of computer workstations when it first jumped into the office fitness industry a decade ago. To address these shortcomings Lifespan eventually introduced a more conventional standing desk that stood independently over the treadmill, but their lack of experience in standing desk furniture is once again glaring with this offering. Extremely limited in sizes and colors, it’s a commodity standing desk at a premium price, with an extremely short warranty reflective of its poor manufacturing quality. If you really wanted to buy a Lifespan treadmill base (presumably for its low price point) you’d be far better off pairing it with a desk designed specifically for walking desk ergonomics made by iMovR, and have far more decor choices as well.
Price: $949
11. EffyDesk Executive L-Shaped Standing Desk
Overall, the “Executive” L-Shaped Standing Desk from Vancouver, BC-based Effydesk is a pretty good desk for its price, considering that it provides a decent amount of desktop space. The top is made from the high density particleboard that commonly comes from cheaper manufacturing facilities in Asia. But this also helps keep the cost down for the consumer. The tops come in only one size and fewer than a handful of color selections, whereas some other standing L-desks come in a great number of size combinations and as many as 62 finishes. EffyDesk has taken significant measures to improve the quality of the frame over the typical standing desks we see come out of Asian factories. Only time will tell if those measures are enough to keep the desk alive as long as its warranties, which are better than what other Canadian brands offer. Hopefully you won’t have to go through the hassle of a warranty return, but if someday you do, Effydesk has friendly and easy customer service for its Canadian customers.
Price: $1,425 CAD
12. Autonomous SmartDesk L-Shaped Standing Desk
At $999, the Autonomous SmartDesk L-Shaped Standing Desk only offers tops in two sizes and one color, with super basic MDF construction. They claim the base has a weight capacity of 400 lbs, but only single-stage (two segments) legs that limit the range. The transit speed of 2.3 inches per second is pretty good. Unfortunately, there’s no anti-collision or anti-tilt feature, so safe use might be an issue. When they provide only a 5-year warranty for the frame and 1-year warranty on the top, the durability does come into question.
Price: $999
13. StandUpDeskStore Corner Standing Desk
This Stand Up Desk Store Corner Standing Desk offers a curved front edge that enhances the style but can also give a slight ergonomic boost. With a dual-motor and dual-stage frame design, it disappointing that it can only lift up to 220 lbs. The controller only allows for two programmable height presets and also has a home button that returns the desk to 28.3″ in height, which is weird that they program that in automatically, no matter the user’s height. Since the legs come already attached to the crossbars, it does help quicken the assembly process.
Price: $869
14. Stand Up Desk Store Dual Motor Standing Desk
The Stand Up Desk Store Dual Frame Standing Desk solid wood desktops suffer from low quality and difficult assembly. The laminate versions don’t have those same issues but are unremarkable and aren’t worth picking over top competitors due to a lack of strong warranty, lack of Bluetooth connectivity and limited options.
Price: $899
Value Standing Desks ($500-$800)
Mid-tier adjustable standing desks offer the best combination of features and value. More function than form, these desks may lack some of the bells and whistles of the fancier desks on the market: their table tops may be thinner and less exotic, and their electronic controllers may be simpler two-button devices. But make no mistake, these adjustable height desks give you the most bang for your buck and can handle nearly anything your workday can dish out. They come in a variety of sizes to fit any office environment, and most come with hefty lifting capacities upwards of 200 lbs.
This price tier is where the meat of the market is in dollar volume, and where many of the popular ecommerce standing desk brands like Uplift, Fully, Flexispot, Autonomous and Vari generally focus. These products are more likely to be purchased off the brand’s website than through Amazon. Many are actually American companies, but note that most of them make their products in China. The quality is going to be better than the sub-$500 tier, but never as good as actual American-made adjustable standing desks. By and large we still consider the majority of desks in this tier to be “commodity grade,” even though they may come with longer warranties. We say virtually all because there are just a handful of American-made standing desks in this category now, for example the iMovR Jaxson Compact Desk, iMovR Energize, and ZipDesk are all near the top end of the $800 range.
There are a lot of desks in this tier of price and quality, which might not interest all readers, so we will keep it at our top selection in this overall roundup. But if you are focused on this category, read all the reviews in the roundup specifically for standing desks from $400-$800.
1. iMovR Jaxson Standing Desk
It’s hard to say what we like the most about the Jaxson desk, it has so many distinguishing features over the dozens of “ordinary” commodity-grade standing desks we’ve lab tested over the years. The ultra-reliable brushless motor technology in the base is obviously a standout, the Jaxson being the first standing desk in 24 years not to be built with brushed motors. The unobtrusive yet sleekly contoured handset is as “space age” as it gets in standing desk controls, with built-in Bluetooth, an infrared presence sensor and NFC. But it’s the overall styling that really grabs us, from the chamfered square columns to the ergo-contoured 3D-laminated tops, there are no hard edges to this desk. Where many standing desks have an industrial equipment aesthetic, the Jaxson with its warm colors and softened edges just looks nicer in any home or commercial office environment. And the industry-leading 15 year “top to bottom” warranty and 100-day satisfaction guarantee is classic iMovR. At only a slight premium in price to the most popular standing desks out there today (all of which are made in China), this American beauty is likely to massively disrupt the competitive landscape and finally give consumers the impetus to ditch the cheaply-made foreign goods.
Price: $760
2. ZipDesk Standing Desk
When you need a desk as fast as possible, and are willing to pay a little bit more to not have to worry about product quality, reliability, durability or lack of cutting edge features. What you trade off is size and color personalization, but those desks take longer to built-to-order and ship.
Price: $656
3. iMovR Energize Standing Desk
iMovR’s Freedom Standing Desk Line takes cheaply-made imports to task (when it was still in production), combining American-made quality with an impressively low price point. The Energize model (reviewed here) features iMovR’s standard ergo-contoured, 3D-laminated tabletop while the Cascade model includes iMovR’s built-in SteadyType™ keyboard tray.
Price: $718
4. FlexiSpot Esben Standing Desk
Another entrant in the category of standing desks with drawers, the FlexiSpot Esben distinguishes itself from the similarly priced and similarly featured FlexiSpot Theodore with an extra drawer and more utilitarian looks.
Price: $500
5. FlexiSpot Theodore Standing Desk
The FlexiSpot Theodore is very specifically designed for the person who wants a drawer in their standing desk, and doesn’t intend to install any ergonomic accessories like a keyboard tray or monitor arm. It’s minimalist in performance specs, easy to assemble, and if it matches your traditional office decor, it may be one of the best values out there.
Price: $499
6. Steelcase Solo Standing Desk
($3.5B+) Steelcase is the biggest brand in commercial office furniture but this new Solo standing desk is targeting the home office user, and the jury is still out on whether the company can eventually learn how to sell to and support the residential customer. The Solo desk aims to hit a $600-$700 price point with stripped-down basics and limited size and color offerings, but a much easier assembly process than their other desk lines that they’ve repositioned and repriced for the home office. Based on a new Linak base made in a new Thai factory, it circumvents the higher cost of American-made or Danish-made Linak bases while avoiding Chinese tariffs and quality issues. The desktop, however, is very basic, not of the highest quality, and at 55 dB it may be one of the noisiest electric frames out there.
Price: $679
7. UpLift V2 Standing Desk
It’s popular. Really popular. Not necessarily because it’s an awesome product but because it’s very heavily advertised, with hyperbolic marketing claims that don’t hold up to close inspection. The UpLift is probably the top-selling, Chinese-made commodity standing desk on the market in the sub-$800 price tier, now on its third generation design (the “V2”). The improvements over the last generation appear to be more behind-the-scenes in cost reduction moves than in tangible, valuable features that can benefit most users. After weeks of testing in our labs our reviewers detail the pros and cons of the new design.
Price: $599
8. Ergoprise Uprise Standing Desk
Ergoprise’s Uprise Standing Desk is a solid, mid-tier desk that stands at the crossroads of function and affordability. A quiet, sturdy base and a variety of table tops – including premium bamboo and hardwood – make this an attractive option for both standing-desk and treadmill-desk users.
Price: $788
9. UpLift V2-Commercial Standing Desk
The V2-Commercial carries over the standard V2’s negatives and adds a couple of its own—a crossbar, plus limited maximum height for taller and treadmill users. Outside of a few very specific scenarios, there’s no reason to pick the V2-Commercial over the standard V2.
Price: $679
10. Fully Jarvis Standing Desk
An exclusive private-label desk offered only through a single ergonomics products retailer, Fully, the Jarvis is built on a commodity base frame made by Jiecang of China (see our separate lab test review of the Jiecang base). A minor modification of a heavier foot distinguishes it slightly from direct competitor UpLift Desk. Fully offers many choices for its desktops, including very cheap Chinese-made options and very pricey American-made alternatives. The standalone Jarvis base gets high review marks on Amazon from DIYers who use their own tabletops. Compares favorably against other Chinese-sourced bases like Uplift, S2S and Conset. For slightly more you can get an American-made base, if not an entirely made-in-America desk from makers like iMovR.
Price: $484
Budget Standing Desks Under $400
Bargain desk hunters will find the cheapest deals for their sit-to-stand offices here. Budget adjustable standing desks come with small price tags, sometimes cheaper even than the better standing desk converters. In this price tier is where you’ll find 95% of the standing desks that are sold primarily on Amazon. These are, to a one, made in China, and truly “commodity grade.” Even if the maker has an American-looking website it’s a Chinese company behind it, and often completely without any physical presence in the US. This is the stuff where if it breaks you just toss it and buy a new one because the warranties are generally worthless; these desks generally have a low useful life expectancy, high rates of out-of-the-box failure and shipping damage, and put the greatest amount of assembly burden on the consumer.
There are a lot of desks in this tier of price and quality, which might not interest all readers, so we will keep it at our top selection in this overall roundup. But if you are focused on this category, read all the reviews in the roundup specifically for standing desks under $400.
1. Eureka i1 Standing Desk
The first standing desk to ship in one box, the Eureka i1 is actually brimming with features for a desk that costs only $399. It’s single size option, limited color options, limited height adjustment range and low lifting capacity will not be for everyone, but if you’re looking for a budget standing desk you won’t have to replace within a year of buying it, this is a solid product backed by a solid engineering-focused company.
Price: $339
2. FlexiSpot Comhar Standing Desk
This desk is made for a laptop user who doesn’t have specific ergonomic needs like a keyboard tray or monitor arm. Options and weight capacity are minimal, and it, unfortunately, comes with a crossbar running between the legs right where your feet want to be. It’s a good value for those who don’t mind the drawbacks because of its price, easy assembly and built-in drawer and USB ports.
Price: $340
3. ApexDesk Lumi Glass Top Standing Desk
The glass top on the ApexDesk Lumi Standing Desk may sound like it will give your office a stylish upgrade, and on the surface, an undamaged version of the desk could do that, at least until you start using it. The glass easily picks up highly visible prints. The controller can be annoying to use before you get the presets established. Lack of safety features in the controller can be dangerous. And that isn’t mentioning the flaws that are overlooked by quality control or damage that happens in transit. But the USB port is a nice addition, and controller being in the glass desktop will protect it from bumps from office chair arms. It is also pretty easy to assemble, if not the fastest we have seen. But those perks are probably not enough to make up for something that is supposed to look stylish but likely won’t arrive that way, even at its low price point.
Price: $399
4. Northread Electric Standing Desk
This Northread adjustable-height desk is a low-cost addition to the available compact standing desk and those with quick installations (relative to other commodity-grade standing desks in this price range). It does have some nice features, like the extra power ports built into the controller and pencil drawer. On the other hand, the manufacturing quality is quite low, resulting in short warranties, open gaps to the inner mechanics, misaligned parts, and shaky stability. However, that is basically what you will get when paying that little for a product you are going to use almost every day.
Price: $349
5. Northread Glass Top Electric Standing Desk
This Northread electric standing desk is a cheap option for basic functionality of a standing desk. It has a glass top and comes in either black or white, to fit various décor. Glass tops might be difficult to keep clean, but are pretty when they are spotless. It isn’t ideal for the tallest or shortest users because the height range is limited with a single-stage design. Having a power strip, pencil drawer, and USB ports are nice bonuses, but if you want to mount anything with a clamp, the frame will get in the way. In general, this Northread glass top standing desk is a low-cost addition to the available compact standing desk and those with quick installations (relative to other commodity-grade standing desks in this price range).
Price: $349
6. mopio Sterling "Solid Wood" Standing Desk
This standing desk from mopio uses a rubberwood desktop. This doesn’t really meet the expectation of a solid wood standing desk buyer, as rubberwood is about as cheap a wood as you can find in China to make furniture from, basically being scrap wood from trees that no longer produce latex (be sure to read our detailed article on rubberwood desktops). Overall this is a very cheap standing desk posing as a high-end solid wood desk. The one year warranty should be another red flag for consumers. If you do buy this desk be sure not to overload it, as it is extremely underpowered and likely not to last much longer than its warranty.
Price: $339
7. FlexiSpot Vici Quick Assembling Standing Desk (EC9)
FlexiSpot uses the very use cheapest actuator mechanisms and a single-drive motor to make the Vici a bottom-dollar offering, and they only use only a single-stage base that won’t go low enough for very short people or high enough for very tall people. The Vici’s warranty is not great either (5 years for the frame, motor and other mechanisms, 2 years for the electronics, and zero on the desktop), which tells you about how much confidence they have in their own product. As for the promise of being “quick assembled” that is perhaps the most specious claim of all of FlexiSpot’s hyperbolic marketing copy (they literally put this in the product name).
Price: $299
8. Autonomous SmartDesk 2 Standing Desk
The company makes over-the-top marketing claims like “the highest-rated desk in the world” and maintains its bases are of “unparalleled technology.” As far as we can tell, the only things this company is “best in the world” at is their gift for marketing hyperbole, and finding the cheapest possible components to make a standing desk. Customer complaints on public forums number in the hundreds.
Price: $399
9. IKEA Knotten Standing Desk
The IKEA Knotten is great at what it is: A piece of furniture designed for storage in a foyer. The issue is when IKEA calls it a standing desk. It comes in one size and can’t handle either monitor arm or keyboard tray installation, so it’s in an ergonomic barren space. The desktop surface is very small. It is still an IKEA product, so installation is going to be a chore.
Price: $159
10. Stand Steady Tranzendesk Standing Desk
One of the few standing desks we’ve seen that includes a clamp-attached monitor riser, The Stand Steady Tranzendesk is pretty unique in that it includes its own monitor riser (for a little extra cost). Customizability for the desk is incredibly lacking, with only one option for color and size. However that size is pretty decent for the amount of money you are putting into it. The height range is lacking on the short end, which isn’t great for shorter users. The low-quality top might not last all that long. It doesn’t really have the conveniences that most standing desks have, which is why it costs so little. One of the many “you get what you pay for” situations.
Price: $399.99
Completing Your Ergonomic Workstation
Acquiring the best adjustable standing desk for your decor, budget and performance requirements is Step One. But making it a true ergonomic workstation involves adding the appropriate accessories you’ll need to keep your body in a correct posture, and have a neat and tidy setup. Check out our comprehensive guides to monitor arms, keyboard trays, anti-fatigue mats, ergonomic seats, cable management kits, power management modules, foot rests and under-desk treadmills for both expert advice and lab-tested product reviews of options in each of these categories.
Need more help? Read how to find your correct desk height, then check out 10 ways to improve your office ergonomics and answers to the most common standing desk questions.
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