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15 Best Office Chairs of 2026— We Tested 70 to Pick Them
There Are Three things you don't skimp on if you want a happy life: a good mattress, a good pair of shoes, and the best office chair you can find. Each one is key to a world free of unnecessary pain. Finding the right ergonomic chair can be the difference between a satisfying and focused home office life and a squirmy day filled with cricks and small dissatisfactions.
The best desk chair is almost always an adjustable chair—one that can be tailored to your body’s unique shape and that offers enough lumbar support to avoid back problems even after long hours at the grind. Many chairs also utilize materials that can dissipate body heat, so you’re not stuck in Zoom meetings with a sweaty back. But the chair options out there can be bewildering. Luckily, the WIRED Reviews team has spent more than seven years sorting them out. WIRED gear editor Julian Chokkattu has tested more than 60 chairs at his last tally. Reviewer Mathew Korfhage and other staffers have tried a dozen more, and most of our top picks have been tested by multiple people with different heights and body types.
WIRED’s favorite office chair for most people is the Branch Ergonomic Chair Pro ($499) because of its balance between value, features, comfort, and adjustability. That chair, and its lower-budget Ergonomic Chair ($359) cousin, have been tested and attested to by multiple WIRED reviewers. But we also offer chairs for every budget, from the preternaturally comfortable Steelcase Gesture ($1,510) to a $169 chair from Staples that leaves cheap Amazon brands in the dust.
We all have differing body types and needs, which is why we’ve put together a broad collection of recommendations—and why we enlist people of all sizes to keep testing our top picks for comfort and durability. Hopefully, we have a home office chair for you here.
For more home office buying guides, check out our Best Standing Desks, Best Laptop Stands, Best Home Office Gear, Best Mechanical Keyboards, and Best Webcams guides.
Updated August 2026: We've added the LiberNovo Omni Pro to our top picks, changed the Staples Essentials task chair into an honorable mention, and updated multiple listings including WIRED’s top-pick Branch Ergonomic Chair Pro. We also updated links and pricing throughout, removed discontinued items, and added context on lumbar support.
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The price of a good office chair often inspires actual gasps, easily cresting $1,000. This is typically justified. Most cheaper chairs reveal their shortcomings quickly and uncomfortably. Branch’s Ergonomic Chair Pro is WIRED’s top pick for most people in part because it’s available at an attainable price while still offering comfort, ergonomics, and build quality. At $499, it’s not egregiously expensive and it has a decent warranty period.
One of the main markers of a good office chair is how well it can be adjusted to fit your particular shape and size. This is where Branch’s Ergonomic Chair Pro excels. The armrests can move up and down, forward and back, and angle inward or outward. But unlike most comparable chairs, the arms of the armrests can also move in and out to accommodate wider or narrower bodies, and lock into place.
The seat depth can also be pushed out if you’re tall, or pulled in if you're short. The Pro can lock into the upright position, or at a few different reclining angles. This seat tilt allows for a more active seating position when you’re grinding away—a vanishingly rare feature. The high-density foam cushion is decently soft, noted tester Julian Chokkattu, who appreciated how the mesh backrest was able to follow the curve of his back. The lumbar support can also be adjusted deeper or shallower. (I and Chokkattu both tend to like more aggressive lumbar support, but it can take getting used to for a lot of people.)