The 4 Best Standing Desks in 2023

May 28, 2023

We’ve added several desks we plan to test later this year to What to look forward to.

No matter how great your office chair is, sitting in it all day isn't doing your body any favors.

But being on your feet constantly isn't good for your comfort or health, either.

An electric, height-adjustable standing desk gives you the best of both worlds.

Want a productivity and energy boost? Push a button to raise the desk so you can move a little while working.

Feel like leaning back in your chair for some deep focus time? Push another button to lower the desk.

After reevaluating our top picks and testing three new models, we’ve reconfirmed that the Uplift V2 is the best standing desk for most people. It accommodates a wide range of heights, it's stable at even its tallest setting, and it features a greater variety of attractive customization options than you’ll find on any competitor.

We selected desks with frames that fit people under 5-foot-4 (average female height), as well as ones suited to taller people.

Since good desks are a big investment, we think they should come with quick customer service and at least a five-year warranty.

Your workspace is highly personal, and that includes your desk, so we looked for desks that offered lots of customization options.

We favored desks with at least 30-day refunds, free return shipping, and assembly that's no more challenging than IKEA furniture.

The Uplift V2 is the most customizable desk we’ve ever tested, and its wide height range works for people between 5-foot-4 and 7 feet.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

The Uplift V2 Standing Desk offers the best mix of performance and features of the desks we tested. It responds quickly to control-pad input (from your choice of four keypad designs) and produces minimal wobble even at tall heights. It should accommodate people of the average female and average male seated and standing heights, but if you’re shorter than 5-foot-4—something that applies to a wide swath of the population—the desk likely wouldn't work for you without a footrest. In that case, we recommend the Fully Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk or the Fully Jarvis Laminate Standing Desk with a three-stage low-range frame. We found the walnut laminate on the Uplift we tested to be attractive and realistic, and in previous tests, panelists loved the look of the 1-inch-thick curved bamboo desktop. But if you’d prefer a different style, Uplift offers nearly 30 desktop options, including several unusual but expensive wood tops such as acacia and pheasantwood. The company also has four frame colors, three grommet colors, and three keypad colors to choose from, as well as multiple add-on accessories, so you can truly make this desk your own.

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The Jarvis with a bamboo top is attractive and pleasant to work on, has a lower base price than many competitors, and is available in desk sizes as small as 30 inches wide. The low-range frame accommodates most people 4-foot-9 to 5-foot-11.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

The laminate-desktop version of the Jarvis is made largely from recycled wood and available in seven finishes. It has the same frame as the other Jarvis desks.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

The Fully Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk and the Fully Jarvis Laminate Standing Desk have the same frame, just different top options to suit your preference. They offer everything we look for in a good adjustable-height standing desk: a wide range of heights to accommodate most people, a long warranty, and stability in line with that of most other desks we tested. The Jarvis was our top pick for more than four years, and it's still a great desk—one that Fully has made even better in the past year with improvements to the frame that reduce wobbling at all heights. It doesn't have as many customization options as the Uplift V2, but when equipped with its three-stage low-range frame, it works for people as short as 4-foot-9. The laminate tops we tested look great but are prone to smudging, so if you can spend a bit more, we recommend the bamboo top.

The Uplift V2 is the most customizable desk we’ve ever tested, and its wide height range works for people between 5-foot-4 and 7 feet.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

The Jarvis with a bamboo top is attractive and pleasant to work on, has a lower base price than many competitors, and is available in desk sizes as small as 30 inches wide. The low-range frame accommodates most people 4-foot-9 to 5-foot-11.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

The laminate-desktop version of the Jarvis is made largely from recycled wood and available in seven finishes. It has the same frame as the other Jarvis desks.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

Wirecutter writers have been covering height-adjustable standing desks since 2013, when we conducted the first head-to-head standing desks test. Across four authors (and multiple testing panels), we’ve reviewed and tested more than 30 full-size standing desks.

Kaitlyn Wells is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter covering the intersection of home office, productivity, and technology. Previously, she wrote about pets and personal style, including guides that required extensive research—like guides to dog DNA tests, GPS dog collars and pet trackers, and blue light–blocking glasses, to name a few. She's also been working from home in some capacity for over a decade and understands the value of a great home-office setup.

This guide builds on extensive work by former Wirecutter staffer Melanie Pinola, who's also written about working from home for sites such as Lifehacker, PCWorld, and Laptop Mag.

We’ve consulted the work of experts in the field of standing, ergonomics, and productivity, including the work of James Levine at the Mayo Clinic (an early advocate for varying work positions during the day) and Shane Harris (a journalist who started writing about modern-day standing desks in 2011). For this guide, we interviewed April Chambers, assistant professor in the Department of Health and Physical Activity at the University of Pittsburgh, whose research work has included a scoping analysis of studies of sit-stand desks.

Many people spend a majority of their workdays sitting at their desks—while they work from home (especially during the pandemic) or at the office. They also sit while driving or taking public transportation, on the couch while watching TV, and at meals. As you’ve probably heard, all that sitting could be dangerous for your health: Research has associated prolonged sitting (aka "Sitting Disease") with a higher risk of a host of problems, including heart disease and diabetes, certain cancers, and premature death. If you’re concerned about being too sedentary or if you feel pain after sitting for long periods, you should consider switching to a standing desk.

But that doesn't mean you should stand all day, either. "Repeated, long-term exposure to standing also has been implicated in the development of serious health problems," Chambers told us over email. She said that standing for the majority of your workday—as people in retail, manufacturing, and health care do—could lead to degenerative joint damage, muscle injury, and circulatory diseases such as venous disorders, increased stroke risk, and carotid atherosclerosis. So fixed-height standing desk setups—like many DIY kinds—aren't ideal either if you’re spending long hours working at them.

That's where a height-adjustable standing desk (also known as a sit-stand desk) comes in. You can quickly raise or lower your desk to alternate between sitting and standing throughout your workday, as our experts recommend. Researchers from the University of Waterloo who studied lower-back pain in people who both sat and stood at their desks recommend a sit-to-stand ratio between 1:1 and 1:3. In other words, you should sit and stand for equal periods of time each day, or, at the highest ratio, sit for 15 minutes and stand for 45 minutes every hour.

Using a sit-stand desk can significantly reduce lower-back pain, according to Chambers's analysis of 53 studies on sit-stand desks. However, the jury is still out on many potential benefits, and as with all science, researchers say more investigation is needed. If you’re looking to add more physical activity to your day, to lose weight, or to improve your brain power—supposed advantages that some desk manufacturers might try to sell you on—there's no proof that a standing desk can do any of that for you. As a professor of pediatrics writes in an article for The New York Times, standing at a desk is not a substitute for exercise.

Beyond the potential health benefits of switching between sitting and standing, a great standing desk offers other advantages, primarily thanks to its customizability. An adjustable standing desk is also an adjustable sitting desk: If you find the average-height desk (29 to 30 inches) too high or too low, you can lower it or raise it so that you can sit more comfortably and ergonomically. You can program two different heights tailored to whether you’re wearing shoes or not. And as your energy and focus wax and wane throughout the day, you can choose to sit or stand according to whatever makes you feel more productive.

The electric height-adjustable standing desks we’re recommending here represent the easiest way to alternate between sitting and standing—but they’re a significant investment. An alternative is a standing desk converter, which sits atop a standard desk and can raise your keyboard and monitor for standing or lower them for sitting. Converters typically cost less than full-size standing desks, but they don't give you the ease of adjusting height with the push of a button, height memory presets, or much space to work with. If price is more important to you than those features, a converter is a more affordable option.

We built and worked on 17 standing desk converters, and we found that the Ergo Desktop Kangaroo Pro Junior remains the best way to stand at a stationary desk.

If you haven't tried a standing desk before and you’re not sure you want to invest in one, you can create a makeshift version by using a cardboard box or several reams of paper to raise your monitor and keyboard. Make sure the setup is just high enough so your wrists are at or below the level of your elbows when you’re typing and your eyes are aligned 2 to 3 inches below the top of your monitor, as recommended by Cornell University's Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Group. Switch regularly between this standing setup and a normal-height surface, such as a dining room table, if you can.

After years of using and testing standing desks, as well as getting feedback from readers, we’ve focused our criteria on the following features:

Other considerations that are nice extras but not must-haves:

For our 2022 update, we considered a mix of 13 budget, moderate, and high-end standing desk models for testing. However, we dismissed most of them since they fell short of our core criteria and because we place a strong emphasis on long-term reliability. (We elaborate on those determinations in our Why don't we have a budget standing desk pick? section.) That left us testing our current pick, the Uplift V2 Standing Desk, against the Ergonofis Sway Desk, FlexiSpot E7 Pro Plus Standing Desk, and Flexispot Comhar Pro Standing Desk Q8.

In the previous round of testing, in 2020, we also tested and dismissed the Vari Electric Standing Desk and the FlexiSpot E5 (formerly EC4).

For our 2022 update, we assembled the Uplift V2 Standing Desk, Ergonofis Sway Desk, FlexiSpot E7 Pro Plus Standing Desk, and Flexispot Comhar Pro Standing Desk Q8 at our testing facility in Long Island City, New York.

All desks were 55 inches or 60 inches wide and configured with solid wood or bamboo desktops and programmable keypads. (We went with these natural materials because, unlike in previous rounds, half of these models weren't available with cheaper laminate tops at the time of testing.) Each desk was outfitted with our picks for a laptop stand, Bluetooth keyboard, wireless mouse, standing desk mat, and office chair.

Over two weeks, more than a dozen Wirecutter staffers (measuring from 5 feet tall to 5-foot-11) rotated through shifts working at each desk. They used each desk in both sitting and standing positions, and they noted the overall quality, stability, adjustability, and noise level of each desk in feedback surveys.

To figure out how tall a desk should be when you’re sitting, furniture retailer Wayfair recommends dividing your height in inches by 2.5. After testing this formula ourselves and asking seven owners of adjustable-height standing desks for their measurements, we found that this guideline is fairly accurate, within a half-inch to an inch. The Fully Jarvis with a low-range frame can accommodate people who are 4-foot-9 and above; the Uplift V2 can accommodate those 5-foot-4 and above. Of course, people have different torso and leg lengths, so your mileage may vary.

For standing height, you can multiply your height in inches by 0.6 to get a close approximation of how high you would need your standing desk to go. These desks should accommodate people who are over 6 feet tall (as tall as 7 feet for the Uplift V2 and the Vari; 6 feet for the Jarvis with a low-range frame).

Here's how our picks’ features compare. Because these desks are highly configurable, we’ve included the lowest starting price for each, the price as tested with a 48-inch laminate top, and the price for a desk with a 60-inch bamboo desktop. Prices are rounded and were current as of November 2022, and they do not include any discounts or sale prices.

1 The 48-inch Jarvis’ desktop measures 27 inches deep, while those of the Uplift V2 and the Vari measure 30 inches deep.2 The Jarvis natural bamboo top, which measures 0.75 inch thick, would subtract $35 from the price shown above, which is for the dark bamboo top.

The Uplift V2 is the most customizable desk we’ve ever tested, and its wide height range works for people between 5-foot-4 and 7 feet.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

For people 5-foot-4 and taller, the Uplift V2 Standing Desk, shown with a 72-inch bamboo desktop above, has the best combination of features and build quality for the price. It's stable at all heights for normal work use—unless you tend to pound heavily on your keyboard or your walls tend to shake due to passing trains. If you can't tolerate any wobble at all, the Vari Electric Standing Desk would be a better option. But otherwise, the V2 moves quickly and relatively quietly between positions, offers hundreds of configurations of desk materials and colors, and is backed by a 15-year warranty. We found Uplift's customer service responsive and thorough, as well.

In a previous round of testing the Uplift V2 against other desks in the Wirecutter office, we found the V2 to be more wobbly from front to back than our other picks, especially at heights of 40 inches and above. That has held true in our most recent round of testing. However, several Wirecutter staffers have used this desk for years without complaint, even when using it at its top height settings. And the difference in stability between the V2 and most of the other desks in our test group—when you’re typing heavily on a keyboard, say, and even pushing into the desk—is slight, perhaps noticeable only when you’re a tech journalist assigned to shake desks side by side. (If you’re looking for the utmost stability, the company says its three-legged L-shaped desks are the most stable models it sells. But because we wanted to make a true apples-to-apples comparison and because those types of desks are more expensive, we stuck with the two-legged desk.)

The Uplift V2 adjusts its height smoothly and quietly, albeit with a whistling sound that's more high-pitched than the other desks’ lower, more bass-y rumbles. It was a second or two faster than the other desks when we raised it from its lowest height setting to its highest. In real-world usage, though, what mattered most to our testers was that the V2 felt easier to reliably raise and lower to a precise height than competing desks, which often overshot the mark.

Uplift's control keypad was the best of the bunch. We tested the advanced comfort keypad, which adds four memory positions and a velvety touch to the keys for an extra $40. We recommend that everyone upgrade to this more flexible keypad over the standard basic keypad, which goes up and down only and doesn't store favorite heights. The four memory presets match the number you get on Fully's keypad, as does its child-lock feature, which keeps little ones from changing your desk height even when they’re tempted by the buttons. (Our testers have accidentally raised or lowered the desk before, so the lock comes in handy even if you don't have children.)

We also thought Uplift's desktops were more attractive than others. In previous testing, panelists preferred the Uplift desk's inch-thick bamboo desktop over the other desks’ similar tops, particularly when it was configured with a curved front (a $10 add-on). For this round, we tested the walnut laminate, which we found to be less prone to unsightly smudging than the Fully Jarvis's walnut laminate top. Wirecutter staffer Rozette Rago evaluated desktop samples for the desks we tested and said Uplift's were the best looking, particularly the natural rubberwood and pheasantwood.

Besides the vast array of desktop options—29 at this writing, including stunning and expensive solid wood—the V2 has many frame and accessory options to customize your desk when you order. We’re talking multiple frame colors, grommet colors, keypad colors, types of casters, and various keyboard trays. Desks come with a cable-management tray and your choice of four free accessories, such as a motion standing desk mat, under-desk hooks, and desk organizer kits. You can even have a desktop made to order for your size specifications, and buy a matching side table (starting at $380). No other standing desk we looked at offered this level of customization.

If you order a desk 72 inches or wider, you can even choose a free hammock (video) as one of your four add-ons. Yes, a hammock. It attaches with carabiners to the frame of the desk, so you can lie or sit (cross-legged) underneath your desk while it's raised. The hammock held previous guide writer Kevin Purdy, at 200 pounds, for as long as he could stand the self-conscious weirdness of it all. Other testers found the hammock surprisingly comfortable. This is the only desk we’ve seen advertised as being able to support a 200-plus-pound person hanging in a hammock. (Note that the max total weight for the desk, including a person on it, is 355 pounds.) The feature is obviously completely unnecessary, and it should go without saying that we don't recommend you buy this desk solely to sleep or recline under. It sure is fun, though.

We tested eight standing desk mats and found the Ergodriven Topo offered the best comfort and support while encouraging movement.

The Uplift V2 isn't quite as stable as the Vari Electric Standing Desk—the most stable standing desk we’ve tested—at its highest settings, but it is more than stable enough for most people. That said, if you’re a particularly aggressive typist, if you tend to move forcefully, or if you can't tolerate a bit of monitor wobble or coffee rippling in a cup, consider the Vari.

The Uplift V2's height range, designed for people about 5-foot-4 to 7 feet, leaves out the 44% to 70% of adult females and 4% to 6% of adult males, based on survey data, who would likely need a footrest to sit properly at this desk. If you’re under 5-foot-4, the Fully Jarvis with its new low-range frame is a better fit for you.

In early 2022 a few readers told us about their Uplift bamboo desktops cracking. We checked with Uplift to see what customers with this issue can do. A representative confirmed to us that any desktop cracks, including hairline cracks, are covered by the 15-year warranty. The representative noted that some cracks can be caused by customers repeatedly putting wet and hot dishes or coffee pots directly on the same location of the desk. This can cause the upper layer of bamboo reeds in the desktop to warp and be susceptible to cracking. For any wooden desktop, we advise using coasters or a desk pad to keep moisture and heat from causing damage.

We previously heard from readers about problems with their Uplift orders, but many of the complaints stemmed from pandemic-related stock shortages and delivery delays. Since our previous update in 2021, we haven't heard of any further stock issues, but we’ll continue to listen to any feedback that readers have regarding their experience with Uplift's desks or service.

The Jarvis with a bamboo top is attractive and pleasant to work on, has a lower base price than many competitors, and is available in desk sizes as small as 30 inches wide. The low-range frame accommodates most people 4-foot-9 to 5-foot-11.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

The laminate-desktop version of the Jarvis is made largely from recycled wood and available in seven finishes. It has the same frame as the other Jarvis desks.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $0.

The Fully Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk, shown with a 60-inch dark bamboo desktop above, is similar in many ways to the Uplift V2 Standing Desk. The main differences lie in the available desktop options, add-ons, and other customizations. Most of the Jarvis desk sizes are 24 or 27 inches deep, in contrast to the 30-inches-deep tops of competing desks, a design that could save space but might also feel a little more cramped. Though the Jarvis doesn't offer as many customization options as the Uplift desks do, its base price, warranty, and looks are in the same ballpark. We recommend the Jarvis primarily for people who are under 5-foot-4, because the new three-stage low-range frame is less expensive than Uplift's similar V2-Commercial extended frame.

The bamboo Jarvis with the three-stage low frame goes from 22.9 inches to 43.2 inches with a 1-inch desktop—a range that accommodates those between 4-foot-9 and 6 feet. Fully also sells a taller three-stage frame that goes from 25.5 inches to 51 inches—but we prefer the Uplift V2 for people taller than 5-foot-4 because of its customizability at around the same price.

More than a half-dozen Wirecutter staffers have worked at Jarvis desks over the years, and most have no complaints about their functionality. But Wirecutter's Leilani Han noted the motor on her desk has stopped working three times over a two-year period. She said a customer service representative suggested the outages were caused by power surges since she doesn't use a surge protector. Han reports Fully recommended resetting the desk using these steps:

Wirecutter staffers who own a Jarvis and have it plugged into a surge protector haven't experienced this issue—even after a major storm. Still, the company offers a competitive 15-year warranty for all mechanical parts and motors in the event that anything breaks down

More than a half-dozen Wirecutter staffers have worked at Jarvis desks over the years with no complaints about their functionality. In our 2020 testing, the Jarvis slightly edged out the V2 in stability, particularly with front-to-back motion. (Like almost all desks, both the Jarvis and the V2 at their tallest heights wobble some, especially side to side, but most people will be perfectly satisfied with either desk's stability.)

We still have mixed feelings about the Jarvis's OLED keypad. You have to tap it to turn it on and then tap it again to adjust the desk's height (much like waking a smartphone before using it), and in our tests, the panel was often unresponsive, requiring several taps or extremely precise taps to get the desk moving. This might be good for preventing accidental button presses, but we prefer other desks’ tactile, physical buttons. However, if you dig into the Jarvis's setup manual, you’ll find the keypad to be highly customizable, with options to set a max and minimum height, to change the height-display units between inches and centimeters, to lock the desk height, and more. There's even a setting to change the desk's anti-collision sensitivity, which we’ve never seen on any other desk before, but we couldn't figure out what the levels meant, and customer service was unable to clarify.

Like Uplift, Fully offers a range of desktop materials, colors, and sizes. You also get a choice between a contoured front (as a $20 add-on) or a flat front for the natural bamboo top, which is elegant but a quarter-inch thinner than the Uplift desk's 1-inch-thick natural bamboo option—that difference in thickness may help explain the added vibration transfer we found in previous years’ testing. In our previous panel, testers liked the 1-inch dark bamboo desktop (a $35 add-on). Ours came with a dent due to shipping damage, but the company was quick to offer either a replacement desktop or a partial refund. (Note that the Jarvis's desktop options are listed as separate products online, in case you’re looking for hardwood, for example, instead of bamboo or laminate.)

We tested two of Fully's laminate desktops when we tested the Remi. Both were attractive, and the walnut finish looked realistic, but they were also prone to smudging. One Wirecutter staffer had his walnut desktop replaced (for free) due to the smudging and is now happy with his techwood desktop.

If you need the most stable standing desk possible, and you don't mind having fewer options for customization, the Vari Electric Standing Desk is the sturdiest we’ve tested. Even at its tallest height of 50.5 inches, it barely budged when forcefully shoved in all directions. Vari's desks come with thicker desktops than our picks (1.25 inches, versus Uplift and Fully's typical 1-inch thicknesses) and the crossbar running across the bottom of the frame is pre-mounted. A thicker desktop leads to a sturdier desk, and a pre-mounted crossbar reduces the number of steps to assemble the desk and eliminates any potential user-assembly errors that could cause wobbling. The memory pad for adjusting the height worked smoothly but the desk responded a second or two slower than our picks. The Vari desk has the same height range as the Uplift V2, so it's also best suited to people about 5-foot-4 to 7 feet. But despite its stability, the Vari desk has a few other downsides beyond its lack of customization and slower response. It only comes with a five-year warranty (a third of what Uplift and Fully offer) and its cheapest configuration is both smaller and pricier than the least expensive desks from Uplift and Fully.

We don't recommend that anyone spend their hard-earned money on a cheap standing desk. We’ve researched more than a dozen of these desks, and we found that their seemingly reasonable price tags of $200 to $500 were accompanied by major flaws. Namely, budget-priced standing desks are made with lower-quality materials and are harder to assemble than the slightly spendier models we recommend. They also offer low weight limits, narrow height ranges, and short warranties. After using a budget model, you’ll probably wish you’d saved a bit more for a more stable, longer-lasting desk.

Of the desks we found under $500, several lacked predrilled holes to ensure accurate assembly and long-term stability. Additionally, most tabletops in this price range are made of split particle board—rather than a solid bamboo, laminate, or wood desktop piece like our picks—because it's easier for manufacturers to ship the entire desk in a single box this way. And on average, these budget desks can only hold up to 150 pounds (sometimes including the tabletop's weight), compared with the 300-pound-average weight limits found in our picks. For reference, a desk setup with multiple monitors, a tower PC, large speakers, and typical computer accessories add up to about 100 pounds. Combined, the split tops and low weight limits make budget standing desks less stable than our picks when loaded with heavy computer gear.

If you’re on a strict budget and aren't ready to commit to one of our picks, you’re better off opting for a standing desk converter.

Budget standing desks often feature narrower adjustable height ranges compared to our pricier picks. These cheaper models aren't built for people who are, on average, under 5-foot-7 or over 6-foot-4. (The average American woman is 5-foot-4, and the average American man is 5-foot-9, according to the CDC/National Center for Health Statistics.) For example, the $300 SHW Memory Preset Electric Height Adjustable Standing Desk has a desk height range of 28 to 45 inches, meaning it's ideal for people who are approximately from 5-foot-7 to 6-foot-2. Similarly, the $500 Vari Essential Electric Standing Desk Split Top adjusts from 27.5 to 47.2 inches, and only accommodates people who are approximately 5-foot-7 to 6-foot-5.

These budget desks also offer subpar warranties ranging from 1 to 3 years, making them a bigger risk for the buyer, and more expensive on a year-by-year basis compared with our picks with 15-year warranties.

Lastly, many of the cheapest standing desks aren't motorized like our picks; they need someone to manually adjust the desk's height with a hand crank, making them inaccessible to people with mobility issues or limb differences.

If you’re on a strict budget and aren't ready to commit to one of our picks, you’re better off opting for a standing desk converter. These table-top desks offer more stability and a better height adjustment range than any budget standing desk we found.

We are planning to test the Autonomous SmartDesk Pro (formerly known as the SmartDesk 2) and SmartDesk Connect later this year. The former is a direct competitor to our picks, while the latter integrates a smartphone app that allows you to control the desk height, reminds you to stand, and includes exercise routines designed around the desk.

We also plan to test the Branch Standing Desk and Branch Duo. While the Standing Desk offers fewer sizes and customizations than our picks, it's backed by a 10-year warranty and covers a useful range of heights. The Duo has a lower price point and covers a smaller height range, but shares the same long warranty.

The Uplift V2-Commercial was our previous top pick due to a wide height range that accommodates people from 4-foot-9 to 6-foot-1 and a plethora of customization options (the same options that are available with the standard V2 frame). In our previous test, we concluded that it was slightly more stable than the Fully Jarvis and the standard Uplift V2 at tall heights. But after reevaluating all the options with an eye toward both price and features, we determined that the Jarvis is a better overall value for those who don't fall into the height range (5-foot-4 to 7 feet) for Uplift's standard V2 frame.

Starting at under $450 (with the bamboo top), the FlexiSpot E5 (formerly EC4) was a potential budget standing desk pick. It comes in nine laminate desktop options and several desktop size options. But when we compared it against the Vari, the Uplift V2, and the Fully Jarvis, we found the E5 to be the least stable desk of the group, both from front to back and side to side. Because of the E5's wobbling, we think you’re better off investing in a more expensive Uplift V2 or Fully Jarvis or $100 more for the Vari's superior stability.

Juniper Think Desks also start at attractive prices, but we dismissed them from testing because of their more limited height range (26.5 inches to 45.5 inches) in comparison with our picks. Juniper's desks also have fewer memory presets than the other desks and are available in only four laminate desktop finishes.

We decided to skip testing the Autonomous SmartDesk Core because it lacks anti-collision, offers limited customization, and has a poor warranty.

The Monoprice Workstream frame with the company's 5-foot desktop is the least expensive standing desk we’ve tested—$380 at this writing. Unfortunately, we ran into too many issues with the desk to recommend it. The desktop's predrilled holes didn't align with the frame, so we had to drill more holes ourselves and cross our fingers that the desk would be stable. A Monoprice customer support specialist told us that this is a common issue with these desks. In addition, the keypad and control box we got were defective, so we couldn't raise the desk. Finally, it has a short, one-year warranty and only four desktop options.

The IKEA Bekant is a seemingly promising, fairly inexpensive height-adjustable standing desk, but two Wirecutter readers have mentioned returning theirs due to stability problems, and we’ve come across more problems and negative customer reviews for this model than for any other standing desk. In addition, it has the fewest desktop-customization options of the desks we researched, and unlike the major standing desk manufacturers, IKEA charges you eyeball-wateringly high delivery fees if you don't live close enough to an IKEA store to make pickup a reasonable option.

The IKEA Idåsen is priced similarly to the Uplift V2 and Fully Jarvis desks, and if you have an IKEA near you, it's easy to try the desk out for yourself. Although you can remotely control the height of your Idåsen desk with your phone, the desk's keypad lacks the customizable height-preset buttons found on our picks. It also comes in only four laminate desktop options.

The VertDesk v3, sold by BTOD.com (Beyond the Office Door), is one of the most stable two-leg standing desks we’ve ever tested, similar to the Vari. In previous tests, panelists voted its desktop the best of the laminate options thanks to its lightly textured feel and realistic wood look. We didn't pick the VertDesk v3 for most people because its assembly process is more involved than that of most desks we tested, and it has a more limited height range, from 27 inches to 47.5 inches.

The StandDesk we tested is quite similar to the Fully Jarvis in terms of stability, with decent typing and movement transfer, fair-to-okay front-to-back stability, better side-to-side stability (with a crossbar attached), and the best instructions and labeling we’ve seen for building a typical standing desk (excluding the Vari desk). Unfortunately, the StandDesk's motor didn't respond as quickly, and its control pad wasn't as precise or easy to use as those of the Uplift and Fully desks.

The Xdesk Terra 2s is a beautiful desk, with one of the nicest bamboo finishes we’ve tested, painted legs that show almost no marks from assembly, and a wide central grommet that works well for monitors and other accessories. The desk comes partially assembled, sparing you a good 20 minutes of work compared with most desks. However, it costs more than twice as much as our picks (starting at $2,000), it's louder than any of them, and it's significantly less stable, particularly in front-to-back wobble.

The Xdesk Terra (originally sold under the NextDesk brand) is also attractive, and it was the first standing desk we ever recommended. Since then, the Uplift and its near competitors have gotten better-looking and sturdier, and the average price of a nice standing desk is now about half that of the Terra.

The EvoDesk we tested in 2016 came with predrilled holes that were alternately tight or loose, making assembly a pain, and ultimately the desk didn't feel properly seated on the frame. We saw more front-to-back wobble and typing wobble than with the Uplift and Fully desks. Given that this model costs more than our picks when similarly configured, we recommend passing.

The Right Angle Elegante comes from one of the first standing desk companies we discovered. The Elegante is a huge step in the right direction, but you’re paying a lot (over $1,200) for a desk that isn't as sturdy as it could be, with a cluttered wire-management system and an inspired but imperfect control panel.

The FEZIBO Electric Standing Desk looked appealing for its $250 price tag, but we didn't test it because of its 2-year limited warranty on electronic components and motor, and paltry weight limit of 155 to 175 pounds.

Several readers have asked us about the $730 ApexDesk Elite Series Standing Desk but we skipped testing because it only offers a 2-year warranty—a no-go for such a pricey desk.

We considered testing the Vari Essential Electric Standing Desk as a possible new budget pick for this guide. But it fell short of our criteria because of its short 3-year warranty and 150-pound weight limit.

The Vortex 48" Series M Edition Standing Desk features narrow height adjustments that are only ideal for people averaging 6 feet tall, and has a 2-year warranty.

The SHW Memory Preset Electric Height Adjustable Standing Desk features an unsatisfactory 1-year-limited warranty and a weight limit of 110 pounds, inclusive of the desktop.

The FAMISKY Dual Motors Standing Desk and MONOMI Electric Height Adjustable Standing Desk offer inconsistencies in their product descriptions, feature narrow height adjustments that are only ideal for people averaging 6 feet tall, and have poor warranties.

The FlexiSpot E7 Pro Plus Standing Desk didn't impress our testers. Most thought the desktop and keypad looked cheaper than those that came with the other models we tested. Panelists also noted that its motor was marginally louder compared with those on other models, including the Flexispot Comhar Pro.

Our panelists had divided opinions about the Flexispot Comhar Pro Standing Desk Q8. While they universally liked its built-in wireless charging station and slim drawer, many disliked the non-customizable bamboo top because it was rough and had sharper edges compared with other models we tested. It also wasn't as stable as our picks.

Starting at $1,400, the Ergonofis Sway Desk is one of the most expensive standing desks we’ve tested. Our panelists valued the quality of this desk's materials but said the recessed keypad wasn't intuitive to use, and many gave up trying to adjust it to their preferred heights. This desk was also harder to assemble than half of the models we’ve tested. While Ergonofis's spokeswoman Marie Pelletier-Matte estimates installation takes 15 to 30 minutes, we needed 50 minutes to set it up. Our assembly team had trouble following the printed and video instructions, and we worried readers at home would struggle too. Overall, we found this desk's assembly method—which uses snap clamps, rather than screws—to be less secure than that of our picks. While the company assured us it's safe when done properly, we worry about the desk falling if improperly secured. Lastly, the Sway's 10-year warranty is shorter than the Uplift V2's 15-year warranty, despite this desk costing roughly twice as much.

This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.

Kaitlyn Wells

Kaitlyn Wells is a senior staff writer who advocates for greater work flexibility by showing you how to work smarter remotely without losing yourself. Previously, she covered pets and style for Wirecutter. She's never met a pet she didn't like, although she can't say the same thing about productivity apps. Her first picture book, A Family Looks Like Love, follows a pup who learns that love, rather than how you look, is what makes a family.

Melanie Pinola

Melanie Pinola previously covered all things home office as a senior staff writer at Wirecutter. She has contributed to print and online publications such as The New York Times, Lifehacker, and PCWorld, specializing in tech, productivity, and lifestyle/family topics. She's thrilled when those topics intersect—and when she gets to write about them in her PJs.

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