Using a standing desk can be a great way to help improve your posture and back health — and I should know. But don’t just take my word for it. A growing body of research that suggests sitting all day is really bad for you. A standing desk is a fantastic way to change that.
But there are a lot of excellent sit and stand computer desks out there to pick from. Do you opt for an expensive model with quieter motors, greater weight tolerance, and a fancy hardwood surface, or a cheaper desk converter or perhaps just a frame? We’re here to take some of the indecision out of choosing your next great office upgrade. Here are the best standing desks you can buy in 2024.
Uplift Desk
Best standing desk overall
Pros
- Fantastic build quality
- Quiet dual-motor design
- Handles a lot of weight and is very sturdy
- Incredible range of options and accessories
Uplift has been making fantastic standing desks for a number of years, but its latest generation Uplift Desk is a real standout. It’s won numerous awards from various organizations and has always reviewed well. We checked out its predecessor around a decade ago and fell in love with it, and anecdotally, the writer of this roundup, Jon Martindale, has used the Uplift for a couple of years now and is a huge fan.
It’s incredibly sturdy, with quiet motors that lift the desk up and down quickly and without wobble. The surfaces are beautiful, with options for a range of woods in hardwood and butcher block, for a unique look. There are also more affordable laminate versions and various size options to choose from, as well as a range of shapes and designs.
They are expensive, especially once you start considering hardwoods, but you can always upgrade the desk later. Indeed, Uplift offers a range of accessories, from balance boards and PC tower holders, to desk extensions, built-in LED lighting and USB power — whatever you want. This is the ultimate standing desk for comfort, ease of use, and accessories. But you will need to pay for it.
Uplift Desk
Best standing desk overall
Secretlab Magnus Pro
Best standing desk for gaming
Pros
- Sturdy metal construction
- Unique magnetic accessory system
- Comes with large deskpad as standard
- Lots of customization options
- Built-in LED lighting and cable management
Cons
- Metal frame can be cold to the touch
- Heavy to put together
The Secretlab Magnus Pro is the most impressive gaming desk out there. It is entirely metal, making it super sturdy and able to support an impressive amount of weight. That also adds to its stability, so it doesn’t wobble when you change its height. It can extend its legs a long way, making this a great standing desk for anyone who’s on the taller side.
For gaming features, it has built-in RGB backlighting to make it match your gaming peripherals and PC, and it has its own cable tidies cut into the desk itself, so you can hide away all those wires for a flush look. The magnetic rail system means you can easily attach accessories like headphone hooks, monitor arms, and additional cable tidies. It also has a deskpad that comes as standard, with a range of customizable designs.
The desk comes in a couple of size options to help it fit into your home or home office, and it has fine controls for raising and lowering the height, with an intuitive control system that can store a handful of heights for quickly switching to them later.
Secretlab Magnus Pro
Best standing desk for gaming
Flexispot Frame
Best affordable standing desk frame
Pros
- Affordably priced
- Quiet motor
- Intuitive control system with multi-height memory
- Compatible with a range of desk surface sizes
Cons
- You have to provide your own desk surface
One of the most affordable ways to get a standing desk is to simply buy the frame. You’ll need your own desk surface to mount on it, but it can be anything from a piece of spare wood you have lying around to a gorgeous antique desk — whatever you have on hand. That way you can upgrade the surface later when you can afford it, while enjoying the benefits of a sit/stand desk immediately.
This model is on the affordable end, with a simple control box with some memory for height settings. It’s a single-motor design, so not as fast or as smooth as some, but it’s perfectly functional. The writer of this article, Jon Martindale, used the Flexispot frame for years before upgrading to an Uplift, and it was 90% as good as that far-more-expensive option.
This frame works with a range of sizes and can carry over 170 pounds, so you can mount whatever you like on there. If you want a sturdier frame, there are more advanced options available, but they do come at an increased cost.
Flexispot Frame
Best affordable standing desk frame
Seville Classics Airlift
Best premium-feel standing desk
Pros
- Smart glass tabletop
- Built-in USB ports
- Smart touchscreen controls
- Adjustable feet for easy leveling
Cons
- Glass surface is susceptible to fingerprints
The Seville Classics Airlift standing desk is an affordable standing desk with a premium feel. Its glass surface looks and feels luxurious, and though it is a bit of a fingerprint magnet, it makes this desk look much more expensive than its price tag would suggest. It’s also great for note taking — just grab a liquid chalk pen and scrawl away. You can easily wipe it off later.
Its control system is intuitive and flush with the desk surface, so you can easily tuck a chair under it when using it seated. It has USB ports (USB-C and USB-A) for easy device charging, which are also flush with the frame for a neat look.
The desk is quite sturdy and able to hold large monitors and other hardware with ease. It also has a deep height range, so it’s well suited for shorter and taller users.
Seville Classics Airlift
Best premium-feel standing desk
Flexispot EN2
Best budget standing desk
Pros
- Very affordable price
- Sturdy construction
- Available in a range of desk sizes and color schemes
- Built-in drawer
Cons
- Not as strong as more expensive standing desks
- Lacks accessories and customizations
Flexispot are one of the best brands for low-cost standing desks, and though it does have some slightly cheaper models — and you can save even more by buying a frame and adding your own desk surface — the Flexispot EN2 is a fantastic value standing desk. This model measures 48 by 24 inches, but you can get it a in a range of smaller and larger sizes, with a range of color scheme options to pick from.
All of them have a strong, vinyl-coated surface, however, with an intuitive control box that can remember a few distinct heights for easy return. It has built-in cable management, and a drawer under the front for easy access. The feet are adjustable too, so you can make it completely level.
It’s not quite as sturdy as the top models, and it lacks the accessories of an Uplift of Secretlab desk, but for a standard sit/stand desk for a low price, you’ll find it hard to beat the EN2.
Flexispot EN2
Best budget standing desk
Vivo 32 Desk Converter
Best desk converter
Pros
- Converts your existing desk into a standing desk
- Adjustable height supports sit and stand
- Strong enough for multiple monitors
- Built-in keyboard and mouse tray
Cons
- Has to be manually adjusted
If you have a great desk already and don’t want to give it up, why not convert it into a sit/stand desk with a desk converter from Vivo? It’s affordable, available in a range of sizes and with different wood grain effects, and it’s surprisingly sturdy. This model can handle up to 33 pounds of weight (and probably a bit more in reality), which is plenty for multiple monitors, a keyboard, and mouse.
It’s manually adjustable, so there’s no electronic assistance, but the pneumatics mean that you don’t have to lift that weight yourself and it won’t collapse down too fast when lowering it. It comes with a three-year warranty, too, so if something goes wrong, you have that to fall back on.
Vivo 32 Desk Converter
Best desk converter
Frequently Asked Questions
What should you look for in a standing desk?
Make sure that any desk you buy is strong enough to handle the weight of whatever you put on it. Remember, many of them aren’t strong enough to handle the weight of a person, like a standard desk might, so be wary climbing on them.
If you want accessories like keyboard trays, desk mats, cable tidies, or USB-power, be sure that your desk supports that, or has the option of adding it down the line. Also consider if it can reach the right height for you, especially if you’re particularly tall.
You should also get a desk the right size for your needs. They come in a wide range of widths and depths, so buy appropriately.
What are the best standing desk brands?
There are a lot of standing desk manufacturers out there. We trust, and like, the desks from Flexispot, Uplift, Secretlab, Seville, Vari, Jarvis, Herman Miller/Jarvis, and Vivo. There may be other great brands out there, but these are ones we trust.
