The Best Made-in-USA Standing Desks
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When it comes to standing desks and standing desk converters, nothing beats made-in-America for component quality, precise machining tolerances, technology features, customer support and overall value over the lifetime of the product. In our comparison reviews in various office fitness categories—be they of standing desks, under-desk cycles or anti-fatigue mats—we always look for a way to stratify the many available options so that readers can quickly zero in on a short list of candidates for consideration. Sometimes we stratify simply on price (e.g. Premium vs. Value vs. Budget models in our main Electric Standing Desks Comparison Review) and sometimes we stratify on architecture (e.g. post-and-base, z-lift, x-lift, hover, corner and fixed-height models in our Sit-Stand Converters Comparison Review). But increasingly over the past few years we’ve had readers ask us to break out products that are specifically made in America, and this is our round-up of just those products.
Not that we’re addicted to stratification but we did break this round-up review into two main sections—Full Standing Desks and Standing Desk Converters—because online searchers often use the same term “standing desk” interchangeably between the two. So if you got to this page through a Google search, we’ve got you covered. But first, let’s talk about some generalizations when it comes to Made-in-America versus Made-in-China.
The case for buying an American-made standing desk
The obvious needn’t be belabored, buying American is good for our economy and it’s a patriotic thing to do. And we also recognize for some customers in government, aerospace, etc., it’s a requirement to buy American whenever possible. But, generally speaking, there are many other benefits to buying American, such as:
- The product is likely to last you much longer. As evidenced by their warranties, American-made products are going to serve you longer as a rule. What does that mean in terms of a standing desk? The delicate, precision manufactured components that allow the telescoping leg segments to glide up and down continue to work in good order much longer. Cheaply-made plastic “glides” will wear down faster, one molecule at a time, every time you cycle your desk up and down, compared to the more advanced, albeit costlier alloys (e.g. Teflon plastic) that American manufacturers will use in their leg systems. Like any high-wear part on an automobile, this is where your focus should be as a consumer. More precisely laser-machined, American-made legs will also give you a more stable desk. And not just out-of-the-box, but over time. Going cheap on this componentry will lead to your desk becoming shakier, if not squeaky, much sooner.
- It’s better for the environment. Many components used in office fitness products involve toxic chemicals somewhere along the supply chain. While American companies must spend more money to produce products within EPA guidelines, Chinese companies have much more lax requirements and have historically put economic growth ahead of clean air and water. Even if you don’t live there it affects our global atmosphere. A great example of this is the highly popular “bamboo desktop.” They are touted by online marketers as being better for the environment because bamboo stocks replace themselves very quickly, but the reality is there’s a huge amount of chemicals (namely formaldehyde), water and energy required to reform essentially grass into a laminated wood product, not to mention the energy expended to ship it here from Asia. Don’t be fooled by the slick “greenwash” marketing, a bamboo desktop is an extraordinarily non-environmental choice, at least with today’s technology (bamboo farms have been planted in the southeast US that should start producing more responsible wood products here in the next few years) and the lack of FSC and Fair Trade Certifications. You’ll also notice very short warranties, if any, on Asian-sourced tabletops, because their cheaper lamination technologies can start degrading the moment the desk is exposed to air and humidity. Definitely pay attention to the tabletop warranty, not just the electric base, if you don’t want to be replacing it after a year or two because it delaminated, got easily scratched, or the “powder coat” (spray paint) dissolved when you spilled your cola on it. Part of being environmentally sensitive is buying products that last longer and don’t head to the landfill as quickly. For more information on warranties, be sure to read our primer on How to Compare Warranties on Standing Desks.
- Every customer matters more. We’ll be blunt. Anything coming out of China is by definition a commodity product, and Chinese factories have a much higher acceptable rate of defect than American factories do. It’s not uncommon for Chinese plants to run as high as 8% defect rate. That’s one thing if you’re talking about a cheap throwaway cat toy, but when the product is a heavy hard-to-remove actuator leg, you’re going to be facing a huge hassle factor and shipping expense getting replacement parts, while your desk will be out of commission. American companies count on their reputation and word-of-mouth advertising from one customer to another, and they tend to do 100% quality checks on their product lines instead of a 10% sampling.
- Customer support is better. If a part in your standing desk breaks and the factory that made the failed component is in China, you’re just a lot less likely to get your desk back in action quickly. And if the shorter warranties associated with imported standing desks runs out on you, once you find out what it costs to service, you’re going to be buying a new desk and junking the broken one. Speaking of warranties, some online sellers offer their own insurance product in the form of an “Extended Warranty” package. These are highly-profitable add-ons for these sellers, who are basically betting on “breakage model economics,” i.e. that most customers will forget where they even bought the product by the time it fails, much less remember they had purchased an extended warranty. Better to take the money you would have spent on an extended warranty and just upgrade to an American-made desk that was designed to last longer, as reflected in its longer (typically ten year) warranty.
- Rewarding innovation. This has real value to society. Chinese companies are very good at copying existing products and finding ways to make them cheaper. They’re not generally known for their innovation. American companies innovate with better technology as their primary defense against cheap imitation products from overseas. Granted, there are many products that are made in China or Taiwan but designed by American, Canadian or European engineers, and built in Asian factories that have to meet their higher quality standards.
The legal standard for claiming a product is made-in-America
Because it is virtually impossible to find any product more sophisticated than a toothpick to be made 100.00% entirely in the USA the Federal Trade Commission does establish some guidelines for when manufacturers can assert the claim that their product is made in America. It comes down to the percentage of the processing and components that are made overseas, and how far downstream those processes and components are. For example, a Danish-owned company can make the actuator legs of a standing desk in Kentucky, incorporating some electronics components from China, motors from Italy, and some bracket parts from Denmark, but if the metal-forming, assembly, painting, testing and packaging of the product all take place in America, that would be considered a made-in-USA final product. If sold as a desk system together with a tabletop that was fabricated from American lumber, and then laminated and packaged in the USA then the entire desk clearly meets the requirement for being American-made.
By the same token, there are numerous online sellers of standing desks who make only their tabletops in America, building desk systems using entirely Chinese-made bases. They will claim that they do their final assembly in the US by virtue of shipping both the tops and bases out of the same US warehouse, but most often this does not reach the threshold for advertising the product as being Made in America. Just inserting an American-printed instruction manual in the box and resealing it does not meet the threshold for definition of “final assembly in the USA.” Yes, these sellers get away with the claim because they will be careful to mention it only in copy describing their tabletops, and not expressly claim that the entire product is made in America. None that we’ve ever come across go so far as to disclose their Chinese-made bases. This is, quite candidly, a consumer dupe. Small online sellers get away with this, though, because they are not large enough to attract the attention of the resource-constrained FTC. And this has been going on for years.
There are few truly honest manufacturers out there who fully disclose the percentages of US versus foreign componentry in all of their products that they claim to be made in the USA. (e.g. iMovR’s made-in-USA disclosure statement).
In our product reviews we try to get to the truth for our readers, often interviewing company executives and asking for documentation to substantiate their claims. Because we see so many of these products come through our test labs, and having personally toured factories both here and overseas that make components for standing desks, we know what to look for. For example, we’ve yet to see a height controller or power supply that doesn’t say Made in China or Made in Austria, but these components are relatively trivial to the overall cost of producing a standing desk, and reasonably-priced equivalent components aren’t going to be found in the US.
Made-in-America Adjustable Height Desks
If you’re searching the internet for American-made standing desks you’re going to find very few makes and models—namely the ones listed below—but there are hundreds of thousands of American-made desks sold every year by “contract furniture dealers, ” entirely to large enterprise customers. You just won’t find those models with a Google search because they are typically made-to-order in large quantities, such as when a new building is ready for employees to move in, or a campus undergoes a massive remodel. These sales often involve interior designers, architects, year-long bidding processes, a month or two for production, and professional installation crews. Not the standard fare. And because there are all those extra mouths to feed prices can be double to triple what you can buy directly from a company that sells primarily through their own website or through Amazon.
Our focus here is on American-made standing desks that the consumer can purchase through e-commerce and receive in a couple of weeks or less. It’s a pretty short roster dominated by iMovR, which currently manufactures numerous lines of electric standing desks (Lander, Lander Lite, Jaxson, ZipDesk), as well as their Synapse sit-stand meeting tables and EMMA electric monitor arms, plus an array of other ergonomic and furniture accessories entirely in the USA. In fact back in 2017 iMovR discontinued several older desk lines that employed Chinese or Taiwanese bases paired with American-made tops—as Fully (Jarvis), Uplift, Autonomous, StandDesk and other competitors still produce—based on their customers’ increasing preference for their American-made models. The good news is that because iMovR uniquely manufactures all their desks on-demand they’re able to offer thousands of size, shape and color combinations, from compact to super-wide, rectangular to corner and L-shaped desks, in both 3D laminate and solid natural wood versions, and in 65 standard colors. If you can’t find an iMovR desk to fit your space and decor it probably doesn’t exist.
We’re including the Humanscale Float Table in this list even though it is a counterbalance desk, not an electric. According to the company, they do offer an electric desk as well, but only to bulk corporate buyers, and they don’t publish any specifications on it and you can’t buy it online.
If you’ve been shopping American-made standing desks you may be surprised that certain popular models such as the Fully Jarvis Standing Desk, Multitable FlexTable and Uplift Standing Desk are not listed here. That’s because their “made-in-America” models consist of American-made desktops bolted to Chinese Jiecang bases, so they don’t fit our criteria for inclusion here, nor do they comply with the FTC’s definition of American-made. Focal Upright is another whose products we’d love to include here because they are top-drawer quality but they obtain their bases from Germany, and they’re really leaning desks, not standing desks. Retail franchise chain Relax The Back offers several standing desk models that they claim on their website to be made-in-America, but we’ve checked them out and every one of them uses a Chinese base. There was a California based manufacturer called HealthyDesk that we encountered at several trade shows but their review samples never arrived at our testing lab, and the company appears to now have relocated to Bulgaria and no longer making or selling its products in the US. Another manufacturer that used to make their standing desks in the USA was UpDesk, though sadly their factory was wiped out in a tornado and is out of business.
So, let’s move on to the bona fide American made options that you can actually buy today…
Made-in-USA Standing Desks
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 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
3. 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
4. iMovR Jaxson Corner Standing Desk
As stand up corner standing desks go (and L-shaped standing desks, for that matter), iMovR now offers more size and shape options than any other desk manufacturer. Featuring the same seamless, ergo-contoured 3D lamination as all their other desks, these new sizes are sure to add elegance and productivity to any corner space. Less costly and easier to install than a 3-legged L desk, these 2-legged beasts can also be arranged in an array of different configurations to bring vitality and collaborative energy into any open workspace plan or call center.
Price: $1,360
5. 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
6. 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
7. iMovR Captain's Standing 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
8. iMovR Lander L-Shaped Standing Desk Review
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
9. 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
10. 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
11. The Standing Desk Kloud Height-Adjustable Workstation
If a pneumatic standing desk is ideal for your work environment, we have yet to see any that measure up to the level as those from The Standing Desk, and the Kloud is perfect for those that need more than just a place to put their laptop. With the net lifting capacity of 90 lbs (150 lbs of max counterbalance minus the 60lb desktop) you’ll have plenty of load capacity even without having to be plugged into a power outlet. With quick and smooth movement between sitting and standing heights, you can find your next working position in a fraction of the time it takes an electric lifting base to move, and with whisper-quiet operation. You won’t get some of the possible conveniences of electric height-adjustable desks, like saved heights, standing reminders, and more, but pneumatics might fit your working situation much more, especially if your desk needs to be more mobilized on caster wheels. Compared to other premium grade standing desks, the only real downside to the Kloud is the desktop, which is the standard HPL as is used on many cheaper desks, without any ergo contouring and only 5 color options. But if you want a non-electric standing desk that still has the size and power for a normal workstation, the Kloud is the way to go.
Price: $999
12. HumanScale Float Table 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
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. Herman Miller Motia 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 Motia standing desk doesn’t even meet ANSI/BIFMA G1 standards for ergonomic height adjustment range.
Price: $1,205
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
Made-in-USA DIY Standing Desk Lifting Bases
There are dozens of standing desk lifting bases available in the market today, with all but a rare few being made in China. The following are the highest-rated, highest-quality bases we’ve ever reviewed, and as you made have expected they are made in the USA.
1. iMovR Lander DIY Standing Desk Lifting Base Kit
While iMovR’s Lander Desk may never have been designed for the DIY market, its overwhelming success has led to increased demand, and the creation of this DIY kit. The Lander base is simply the best DIY standing desk base available, with all of the features that set the Lander Desk apart: smartphone compatibility, an easy-to-use paddle controller, incredible stability, and ease of assembly (yes, even for the DIY version).
Price: $799
2. iMovR Lander Lite DIY Standing Desk Lifting Base Kit
While iMovR’s Lander Desk may never have been designed for the DIY market, its overwhelming success has led to increased demand, and the creation of this DIY kit. The Lander base is simply the best DIY standing desk base available, with all of the features that set the Lander Desk apart: smartphone compatibility, an easy-to-use paddle controller, incredible stability, and ease of assembly (yes, even for the DIY version).
Price: $799
Made-in-USA Standing Desk Converters
Unlike the full standing desk category there are many more choices in American-made when it comes to standing desk converters (a.k.a. “desktop risers”, “desktop converters” or “desktop workstations”). And once again, we see a dramatic difference in product quality across the spectrum. Converters that are designed and made in Asia tend to be cheap, poor quality, the least ergonomic, least stable, and most likely to pinch your fingers. There are dozens and dozens of copycat products in the category, emanating from the fact that Varidesk advertises so heavily and sells so many (Chinese-made) converters that they’ve hung a huge target on their back. Since Varidesk only sells direct and has created such immense market demand through its massive TV, print and online media promotion, this has generated over 75 competitors riding their coattails at our last count. With an archaic, non-ergonomic design platform that relies on a patent that Varidesk actively defends by suing as many of its competitors as possible, it’s not a hard product to improve upon with even the slightest dose of design innovation. A couple of years ago Asian competitors just went after Varidesk with even more cheaply made copycat designs; today they are more apt to create different mechanisms to avoid getting sued, though these workarounds have had their drawbacks. Most of the units we’ve tested have been unable to earn more than a 2-star or 3-star review at best, due to their design inadequacies.
In sharp contrast, when you look at the American-made, as well as American-designed and Chinese-made products you see innovation, quality machining and componentry, better stability and ergonomics, longer warranties and vastly better customer support, as a general rule.
1. iMovR ZipLift Patriot Standing Desk Converter
iMovR’s newest addition to the ZipLift family is updated with their signature 3D-laminated wood grain tops. It’s also made in America, which opens it up for bulk buyers that have a mandate to buy American-made whenever possible and for individuals who prefer to buy American in general, whether cars or standing desks. Aside from that, it’s the same ZipLift that we reviewed highly in the past for its stability, ease of adjustment, and ergonomics.
Price: $489
2. Winston Sit Stand Workstation
The Winston’s biggest advantage is its locking air cylinder, which prevents the work surface from moving out of place and lets you switch from sitting to standing with a hand lever embedded in the underside of the work surface. This quick adjustment method, coupled with an impressive weight capacity and the ability to hold as many as four monitors, gives it an edge in usability. One sour note is its lack of an independently adjustable monitor-height setting, which prevents the Winston from being a perfect ergonomic workstation.
Price: $679
3. Winston-E Electric Standing Desk Converter
The original Winston is already a favorite among desktop riser users. Add a swift electric lift mechanism, innovative ergonomics, and a polished aesthetic to boot, and the “Winston-E” lands itself comfortably in territory no riser has been before: the executive suite.
Price: $968
4. Kangaroo Sit Stand Workstation
The Kangaroo sit stand workstation can’t be beat for convenience. A wide range of style and price options round out this product line. It’s easy to set up, has precision monitor and worksurface adjustment, features a variety of optional upgrades, and is the most stable workstation we’ve reviewed. We’d fully recommend going down under if you’re after a sit stand workstation.
Price: $ 499
5. ErgoDesktop Electric Kangaroo Desktop Converter
The strong and stalwart Kangaroo Desktop Riser has been upgraded for the new electric riser category. A heavy-duty motor with 150 lbs. lift capacity guarantees a standing workstation, no matter the workload. As always, stability is key, and the ‘Roo is more stable than any other riser we’ve tested, thanks to the extra support from the stabilization leg.
Price: $699
7. ErgoDesktop Wallaby Standing Desk Converter
The Wallaby is Ergo Desktop’s budget-class alternative to their successful Kangaroo sit stand workstation. It’s based on the same design, sporting the same free-standing steel base, impressive weight capacity, and peerless stability, but without the gas-assisted monitor lift mechanism that made the Kangaroo such an ergonomic hit. Despite this, the Wallaby still features a robust set of capabilities that make it a great value for any office.
Price: $348
8. ErgoTech One-Touch Free Standing Sit Stand Workstation
Ergotech’s new desktop riser, the One-Touch Free Stand, represents a step in the right direction for electric-powered risers. Its main competitor, the tankish Taskmate Executive, seems like an anachronistic behemoth next to the comparably sleek and customizable new riser.
Price: $1,069
9. HealthPostures Taskmate Executive Electric Desktop Riser
One small rise for HealthPostures, one giant leap in riser design. The Taskmate Executive riser is the first entrant into what we hope will become a much more populous category. A satisfyingly “clicky” switch and a highly responsive electric motor don’t disappoint – the Executive is downright enjoyable to adjust. While it is an expensive option, and requires some tricky assembly, we’re extremely pleased with our first electric desktop riser.
Price: $850
10. HealthPostures Taskmate Go 6300 Desktop Riser
A decent desktop riser when evaluated on its own, but severely under-featured and overpriced when compared to other items in the category.
Price: $ 598.43
Discontinued Standing Desks
At WorkWhileWalking we’ve been lab testing and writing reviews of ergonomic office furniture and accessories for over a decade. In that time, we have seen many of the products we reviewed fall by the wayside. This is inevitable due to the cycle of continuous improvement, with new models supplanting their predecessors. Of course in some cases products weren’t as competitive as they needed to be, or their manufacturers ran into financial challenges (which very much accelerated as a result of the post-pandemic economy).
For whatever reason, these products now fall into the discontinued category, but we will still keep their reviews published and available to read. Whether you want to know more about the desk, monitor arm, etc. that you bought years ago, need more info because someone is selling one second hand, or just want to compare current offerings with what was available in the past, these reviews will remain here for your reference.
1. 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
2. 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
3. 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
4. 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
Completing Your Ergonomic Workstation
Acquiring the best 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.
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