The 20 Best Standing Desks for Home & Office

The ubiquity and dare I say, the trendiness of standing desks didn’t fully kick into high gear until sometime around 2011. That’s when the collective world discovered that sitting for prolonged periods is bad for you. The mighty standing desk, or as some people call it, the sit stand desk, had arrived to rescue you from heart disease, premature death and even make you more attractive. Okay, that last claim is patently not true, and while the health benefits of standing desks have yet to be entirely proven, some claims are fully substantiated.

So when exactly did the standing desk become popular amidst those that work from home and the office? As so many trends have in the past, the wild popularity of stand-up desks first began to infiltrate Silicon Valley technology companies’ offices in California. 2011 was the pivotal year that everyone was suddenly clamouring to find the best standing desk they could get their hands on. That’s fairly clear from this Google Trends chart.

And then, something happened in early 2020.

In no clear mistake about causation vs. correlation, the desire for standing desks of all shapes, sizes, brands, and stripes rocketed into the stratosphere. I’m obviously speaking of the COVID-19 pandemic, which suddenly forced hundreds of millions of people to work from home. This calamitous worldwide event precipitated a massive spike in the popularity of standing desks. Suddenly those that had one and loved using one at the office didn’t have one to use at home. 

If you’ve arrived here, I probably don’t have to spend too much time convincing you why standing desks are awesome and of their many benefits. You’re here because you want to discover the best standing desks and where you can buy them. 

Oh, and if you still have some questions about standing desks, I’ve written up a short guide to answer some of the most common questions about them below this list. There you’ll find answers to questions such as:

• What is the best height for a standing desk?
• How to stand at a standing desk?
• How to make a standing desk?
• What are the benefits of a standing desk?
• Are standing desks good for you?

Okay, let’s get to it. Here are the best standing desks available for purchase. And if you’re looking for the best standing desk chair, we’ll have an article about those soon, so don’t fret.  You can also check out the best minimalist home office chairs.

1. Uplift Standing Desk V2

Version two of this supremely amazing standing desk is what I would call the customizer’s dream. This company has figured out that when it comes to deciding on a stand-up desk, the choice is a highly personal one. After all, this is a home or office desk you’re going to be standing at for thousands of hours. You might as well inject some personality into it. And the level of customization available on this desk is what makes it truly one of the best sit-stand desks on the market.

First, you’ll get to pick from a massive variety of desktop styles. While various retailers that carry the Uplift standing desk V2 will have different customization options, the Uplift website currently offers 21 different desktop styles to choose from. Everything from a finely crafted Walnut finish to Carbonized Bamboo, Black or White Laminate, or even a Whiteboard finish you can write on. There’s truly a desktop finish for everyone.

Next, the desk comes in five sizes. It ranges from 42″ x 30″ at the small end, all the way up to an 80″ x 30″ desk. The frame colour is also customizable along with the grommets. (Grommets are the little plastic circles you see on high-end electric standing desks that can be customized to offer either wire pass-throughs, in-desk storage, or AC power supply). Finally, the desk even lets you customize from various keypads to control your desk, some more advanced than others with various memory settings. But that’s not all. You can also pick from a variety of accessories, including a free, standing desk mat or motion board as well as an organizer set, desk shelves, desk pad, wire management system, and a hammock. Yes, a goddamn hammock.

Whoever had the genius idea of offering an integrated hammock simply needs to win every furniture design award ever made. That’s part of how you know this desk is of extraordinary quality. It can easily take the weight of a full-grown adult, swinging from the bottom in a freaking hammock! There’s plenty more to love about this desk; just check out all the features below.

2. Jarvis Standing Desk

The Jarvis standing desk is another award-winning desk that is widely considered to be one of the best affordable standing desks available. So what makes it distinct? While perhaps not quite as customizable as the Uplift desk I boasted about above; the Jarvis still has plenty of desktop options to choose from, including Bamboo, Hardwood, Laminate, Reclaimed Wood, Whiteboard, and Designer ply in a variety of colours. I prefer the Hardwood or Reclaimed wood desktop look, but once again, this choice is highly subjective.

Like the Uplift, the Jarvis sit stand electric desk has a lift capacity of 350 lbs. It also features height adjustability of 25.5″ and a top height of 51″. The desk frame is made of steel, which gives it the heft and stability you want in a high-quality standing desk. Featuring an OLED programmable push-button controller with four memory settings and manual controls, this desk also features wire management grommets to keep your desk nice and tidy. Is it the best standing desk you can find? I’m not sure, but it’s pretty close. Oh, and as far as standing desks go, it’s pretty darn cheap. So go ahead, create yourself a better workspace with one of the best adjustable standing desks there is.

3. Steelcase Height Adjustable Standing Desk

Steelcase is a well-known and long-lived furniture maker specializing in high-quality office furniture, perhaps best known for its terrific office chairs. Now they’ve brought their 100+ years of manufacturing expertise to the development of this incredible standing desk. Truly unique in its shape and design and the mechanism to lift and lower the desktop space, the Steelcase is not an electrical desk. Somehow, Steelcase has figured out how to create a height-adjustable desk that can go from a sitting to a standing position in about one second. This incredible speed makes it perhaps the fastest standing desk on the market. Using what they call a patented Airtouch technology, the desk can adjust quickly and smoothly to nearly any height.

Available in four desktop finishes including arctic white, chocolate walnut, natural cherry and winter on maple, the base material is made of a combination of aluminum and steel.

4. Upper Square – Dozier Height Adjustable Electric Standing Desk

The Upper Square brand is becoming more familiar to me as I keep running across their products as I continue my search for the web’s best modern and fashionable products. I suppose that must now include this standing office desk. This simple and sleek adjustable sit-stand desk features a sculpted manufactured wood surface atop a beautiful and slim steel base available. It’s available in three colours, including the above-pictured snow-white. While it’s designed mostly for commercial spaces, there’s no reason this 60″ x 30″ desk can’t be a perfect fit for your home office space. It’s particularly suited for those looking for standing desks with a minimalist and cultured aesthetic.

5. iMovr Lander Desk

Constructed in the USA, the Lander Desk is another unique adjustable sit-stand desk that features various technological advancements not found on conventional standing desks. First, don’t you hate when you get a piece of furniture and have to spend hours assembling it? Not so with the Lander Desk. It apparently comes together in minutes and requires no tools. In other words, it comes 98% factory pre-assembled. Now that’s what I call innovation in packaging!

Like some of the desks mentioned on this list, the Lander Desk is replete with desktop finish and colour options. So many that I won’t bother to list them all here, but suffice to say, there’s plenty of aesthetic and colour options to make. Those colour and finish customizations on both the desktop and base are complemented by a wide array of size options. This desk runs from as small as 30″ x 41″ up to 30″ x 95″. So no matter whether you’re looking for a small standing desk or a large one, the Lander Desk has you covered.

As I mentioned at the top, this desk uses some other unique features to convince potential customers that it’s one of the top automatic standing desks. The height-control paddle enables smooth, double-tap height changes. It’s probably the only standing desk I’ve seen that features a Bluetooth enabled app that allows you to control this desk’s height. And if you’re not one of the lucky ones to wear a fitness tracker or Apple watch with built-in standing reminders, this desk has you covered also. The high-res LCD control paddle features a built-in coach that will gently remind you to stand at intervals you can set.

6. Latitude Run – Oneonta Standing Desk

Not every standing desk has to be of the minimalist variety. Sometimes we want a bit more utility in our lives, and that’s where this wood electric sit-stand desk comes into the picture. This desk is made from manufactured wood with a gorgeous inlaid black drawer that matches the base and legs’ colour. It’s a modern-looking and multi-purpose desk that has anti-collision technology built-in. The lifting mechanism is whisper quiet with an equally silent drawer that glides on ball-bearing glides along with a programmable memory controller.

7. Progressive Desk – Corner Ryzer Standing Desk

Sometimes your life doesn’t fit neatly into a rectangular area. That’s also true of home or office desks. That’s what the corner desk was invented for. This popular desk shape is ubiquitous, but manufacturers of standing desks overlooked it to some degree until recently. Luckily, for fans of L-shaped standing desks, there are now plenty of options on the market.

The Corner Ryzer is one of the best options for an electric standing desk in an L shape. It’s also highly customizable and is available in ten tabletop colours. The base is available in either a black, white or gray finish. And of course, it also comes in varying sizes. Other customizations include various grommets with varying colour finishes along with functionality like power outlets and USB ports.

With three powerful electric motors and an anti-collision feature, this desk rises and lowers quickly and smoothly and combines for a total lifting capacity of 330 lbs. To top it all off, no matter which tabletop colour or finish you choose, you’ll be getting a durable and water-resistant surface. If this desk doesn’t satisfy your corner shaped standing desk, I honestly don’t know what will.

8. XDesk – Air 2

I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This is an expensive standing desk. But if money isn’t all that important (it’s all fake anyway, right? – stupid Fiat money systems), then I can assure you, you should give the XDesk Air 2 a good look. This is probably the desk you’d expect to find in Jeff Bezos’ office. Virtually silent, the Air 2 lifts and lowers at an incredible 1.7 inches per second, along with the capacity to lift an incredible 630 lbs. That’s no typo. This thing can lift about 2/3rds the weight of your average horse. However, good luck getting that horse to cooperate getting on this desk. But I digress.

There’s plenty of other awesome features such as a maximum height of 50.5″ which is generally higher than the average standing desk. The tabletop is constructed out of solid bamboo or aluminum, depending on your preference and is nicely bevelled and rounded for comfort on all edges.

9. iMovr – Lander Lite Desk

I am loathed to describe any product with the “cheap” moniker. That’s because it often has a negative connotation associated with it. So I generally try to avoid it like the plague. But there are sometimes products like this standing desk that the word must be applied. Not because of any defect or poor workmanship or choice of materials. This desk deserves that prefix attached to it because of its remarkable affordability.

Dare I say it. The Lander Lite Desk may be the best cheap, excuse me, “budget” standing desk that doesn’t require a hand crank to raise or lift. Available in a myriad of desktop colours and wood grains, and yeah, even a carbon fiber finish, this desk features a 225 lbs lifting capacity. But that’s just the beginning of what you should expect from this fine standing desk. It’s the perfect mix of affordable price and features.

10. Autonomous – SmartDesk 2 – Home Office

This fully adjustable standing desk is a high-quality, simple and effective sit-to-stand desk with four programmable height settings. The dual-motor system can handle a lift capacity of 300 lbs and comes in a decent number of tabletop finish options, including white, white oak, bamboo, walnut and black. Simple, affordable and even easy to assemble. There are no extra frills here, just a quiet and highly affordable standing desk with dual electric motors.

11. IKEA – Skarsta

This desk from the world’s largest furniture company is a bare-bones, budget standing desk that is perfect for those looking to spend as little as possible but still get a good quality simple desk. And while it’s not an electric desk, meaning you change the height of a desk with a manual crank that slides in and out of view, it’s still a good choice for anyone just getting their feet wet in the standing desk world. In other words, if you’re not quite sure if a standing desk is for you, and you want to buy something relatively cheap before you commit to a higher-priced desk, this option from Ikea is a good start.

12. Bush Business – Move 60 Series Adjustable Standing Desk

Sometimes you can get lucky and get a little extra value with your purchase. That’s what you’re looking at here with this highly capable adjustable standing desk that also happens to come with a matching filing cabinet and drawers. Available in four different colour combinations, the Move 60 Series desk is available in four sizes and features a gorgeous scratch-resistant desktop surface. It has a controller with four programmable memory presets and lets you quickly move from sitting to standing with the push of a button.

13. Django Height Adjustable Standing Desk

In most cases, standing desks all look very modern and sleek. And that’s awesome for people like me who prefer clean, minimalist and futuristic aesthetics. But some people are tied to the vintage look, and until recently, they haven’t had many options for electric standing desks that meet those design criteria. Bucking the trend is this Django height adjustable standing desk that combines vintage looks with the modernity of an electric standing desk with many of the high-end features you want.

Impressive in any room, this desk features three inset utility drawers and an adjustable top with three programmable memory settings and what is probably my favourite feature of this desk, a hidden charging shelf for phones and tablets. Available in two colour finishes, this desk is made of a combination of manufactured and solid wood along with a metal base. It also features a built-in outlet. The Django is a truly fantastic standing desk with storage.

14. SHW Electric Height Adjustable Computer Desk

Here’s another versatile and affordable standing desk that comes with plenty of smart features and options. Available in three colour finishes including Walnut, Black, and Oak. Included niceties with this relatively small electric sit-stand desk are two grommets for wire management, along with a cable management basket and solid steel legs.

15. Uplift Curved Corner Standing Desk V2

Are you looking for a spacious and capable corner standing desk for your home office? This model from Uplift features an award-winning design. Available in three desktop styles, two frame styles (regular and commercial), along with a choice of grommets and keypads. With a nice smooth and spacious corner edge, the Uplift V2 has a single piece top with no unsightly middle seam, which you often see on competing corner standing desks. Additionally, the curved part you sit at has a slightly shaved edge, which provides more ergonomic comfort for your wrists. The 3-leg design provides plenty of stability, and the three electric motors power the lifting mechanism to a 1.57″ per second speed. But the fun doesn’t stop here. There are a ton of other features.

16. Bastien Height Adjustable Standing Desk

With an ergonomic groove designed to get you closer to your monitor along with the rest of the work on your desk, this thin-profile standing desk is designed to fit in seamlessly into your existing office decor. This sit-stand desk is available in six different desktop and leg finishes and quickly adjusts from sitting to standing in seconds. Beautifully made and gorgeously finished, this a high-quality desk with a metal frame and desktop capacity can handle a massive 500 lbs of weight.

17. iMovr ZipDesK

This reasonably priced standing desk is designed for speed in every respect. Even the setup only takes 8 minutes, and there’s no toolbox required. Made with gorgeously rounded edges all around, this is the standing desk you want if you’re tired of getting indentations in your arms and wrist from prolonged exposure to sharp desk edges. There’s a ton of advanced features this product can boast about that you won’t often find in competing standing desks at this price level. Intelligent anti-collision and anti-tipping detection? Yup, it’s got that. Ergo-contoured desktop with no hard edges? Yup, that’s this desks defining feature. And if you’re even remotely unsure of this desk, don’t worry, it’s got both a 10-year warranty on all parts as well as a 100-day satisfaction guarantee. Pretty good for a “cheap” standing desk.

18. Invigo Height Adjustable Standing Desk

We’re going to move now to what can only be classified as a luxury standing desk. The Invigo desk from Copeland Furniture is a beast of brawn and beauty. Engineered for utility, luxury and plain old awesomeness, it comes with gorgeous wood legs that hide the usually exposed metal legs, a massive modesty/privacy panel and a pencil drawer. Built on top of a three-stage dual lift motor, this desk can be fitted with various wire management and computer accessories. A smooth varnish is applied to all wood surfaces, and each piece of lumber that goes into this desk is hand-picked to ensure a continuous aesthetic appeal. This is a truly high-end standing desk.

19. Uplift L-Shaped Standing Desk V2

Like its non-L-shaped brothers, this desk from Uplift has a ridiculous amount of customization options, and that’s perhaps why I like it so much. With five different desktop finish options and three different desktop sizes, you’re already going to be pondering what the right choice for you is. Then you have to think about your preferences pertaining to frame colour, grommet functionality, and what kind of programmable keypad to choose. But don’t let the myriad of choices spook you. This outstanding L-shaped standing desk is just what you need if you want to have a bit more space in your life. And the features list is nearly a mile long. Check it out for yourself.

20. Babin Height Adjustable Standing Desk

I’m going to conclude this list by offering up a desk that should be considered more of a technical wonder than a piece of furniture. Not only will you improve your health by standing at this desk, but you’ll also be the talk of the office. Or well, if you work from home, you can brag about it to your wife or cat. With a gorgeous glass white finish, this small desk features a smooth motorized function to set this desk to any height from 29.5″ up to 47″ in tiny increments of one-tenth of an inch. This means you can get your desk to be at the exact height you want it to be.

Out of all the best standing desks I’ve featured here, this one has the most beautiful digital controls. They’re integrated right into the desktop! Three programmable settings let you set the exact height you want. The side of the desktop also features three USB-A ports for power. And if that wasn’t enough, this desk also features a clean and integrated drawer.

Before you consider one of the desks above, you might have some additional questions about standing desks. Here is our handy standing desk FAQ:

What is the best height for a standing desk

This is entirely dependent on your height. The general rule of thumb is to set your standing desk at elbow height. For example, someone who is 5’11” (180cm) would position their desk at about 44 inches. This simply means that your elbows should be at a 90-degree angle from the floor when standing or sitting. Consider of-course the additional height of your shoes if you’re wearing them while working. Also consider what kind of an impact an anti-fatigue mat will have on your overall height. Precision matters. Here is a table that will help you decide what height you should position your standing desk both in standing and sitting modes. 

YOUR HEIGHT	SITTING DESK HEIGHT	STANDING DESK HEIGHT
5’0″	22.5″	36.5″
5’1″	23″	37″
5’2′”	23″	37.5″
5’3″	23.5″	38″
5’4″	24″	39″
5’5″	24.5″	39.5″
5’6″	25″	40.5″
5’7″	25″	41″
5’8″	25.5″	41.5″
5’9″	26″	42.5″
5’10”	26.5″	43″
5’11”	27″	43.5″
6’0″	27″	44″
6’1″	27.5″	44.5″
6’2″	28″	44.5″
6’3″	28.5″	46″
6’4″	28.5″	47″
6’5″	29″	47.5″
6’6″	29″	48″
6’7″	29.5″	49″
6’8″	30″	49.5″

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How to stand at a standing desk?

There are a few important considerations for properly standing at a standing desk with an ideal ergonomic position. 

Buy an anti-fatigue standing mat.

These mats will help you combat standing fatigue by encouraging small movements throughout your legs. These movements improve blood flow also. 

Keep your mouse/trackpad and keyboard at the same level as your wrists.

This is the ideal ergonomic position for your wrists and hands. It will help you avoid RSI (repetitive stress injuries) issues. 

Arm Supports

If you find that your arms and wrists are getting tired throughout the day, you may want to move your keyboard and mouse deeper on the desktop to allow your arms to rest on the desk.

Alternate between sitting and standing

Finally, don’t forget that while the goal is to stand as much as possible while working at your desk, it’s important to give your body a break and alternate between the two positions.  

Keep the center of your monitor at eye level

Positioning your monitor at this height, regardless of whether you are sitting or standing at your standing desk, will prevent your neck from getting tired or strained.

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