What’s the most important thing when you’re spending hours sitting in front of a computer? Is it having the fastest internet? The sharpest screen? The perfect keyboard? No. When you’re spending most of your day sitting on your bottom, the most crucial element is what’s directly underneath.
With a good office chair, you can handle a long working day without any feelings of discomfort. With a bad one, you can expect backache, neck ache, tender glutes and assorted nagging pains. Who wants to return to work when the last day left you feeling achy and decrepit?
Many decent chairs are available, and while you don’t want to go cheap, you also don’t have to spend a fortune. I’ve spent the past three months trying six of the best office chairs – including some lower-cost alternatives – to help you make a better choice.
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At a glance
Best office chair overall:
Slouch Task One
Best budget office chair:
Habitat Beck
Best for all-day comfort:
Herman Miller Aeron
Best for style:
Ikea Hattefjäll
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Why you should trust me
I’m a hard-working writer who spends long days (and often nights) sitting at a desk. I’m prone to spending even more time at my desk after working hours, playing video games and working on personal projects. Basically, I’m a world-class endurance sitter, and I demand a lot from my office chair.
I’m also an experienced reviewer, covering consumer technology, PC hardware, ergonomic office accessories and a wide range of home and garden products. I’ve got a strong idea of what works, what is going to drive you crazy, and what you need to think about before you buy.
How I tested
I’d like to say I spent hours running automated pressure and wear simulations, but in truth, I simply spent a lot of time sitting on each chair. I assembled each model where assembly was required, noting any issues with the process, the supplied instructions and the fixtures and fittings provided. I then spent up to a fortnight using each as my everyday office chair, sitting in blocks of up to five hours, two or three times a day.
I also roped in my wife for further testing. She’s a freelance illustrator and similarly inclined to spending long days at her desk. We rotated the chairs between us, occasionally bickering over who got to sit in the most comfortable option and who would be hit with the chair with the immovable backrest and less cushioning.
I also put each office chair’s adjustments through their paces to see what could and couldn’t be moved, checked for safety issues and noted any mechanisms that didn’t feel built to last. When we’d finished with a chair, it was dispatched back to the manufacturer, or a branch of Devon charity Hospiscare, so that it could go on living a useful life at someone else’s desk.
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The best office chairs in 2025
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Best office chair overall:
Slouch Task One
From £289 (with arms) at Slouch
The Slouch Task One may not have the wow factor of the Herman Miller Aeron featured below, but it still gives you everything you’d want from an office chair. It comes unassembled, but can be put together in 20 minutes because of clear instructions, complete with videos to help. Once assembled, it feels solid, with none of the cheap plastics or creaky fittings found on the budget chairs.
It looks good, too, in a choice of black or light grey for the frame and seats in beige, charcoal, pink, light grey and blue. Most importantly, it’s hugely comfortable, making light work of even the most epic working days.
Why we love it
Slouch has got the seat spot on, with enough padding to keep your posterior from encountering any hard surfaces, and a moulded shape that holds up well under pressure. The mesh backrest keeps the spine upright while allowing for a degree of tilt, with a four-stage lock and synchronised mechanism to keep you balanced.
Just about everything is adjustable, from the seat height and depth to the tension of the backrest, the height and position of the arms and the placement of the lumbar support. The gas lift has a smooth action that makes it easy to get the height right. Slouch also offers the chair with a choice of casters, covering soft and hard floors (though there is an additional cost of £19 for the hard floor option).
It’s a shame that … you have to pay £39 extra if you want a forward seat-tilt mechanism, although it’s still a bargain compared with most other chairs. Some may hanker for more padding on the soft-feel armrests or find the colour options bland.
Dimensions: 70 x 65 x 108cm
Seat depth and height: 42-48cm; 42-54cm
Adjustments: seat depth, seat height, arm height and position, back-tilt tension, lumbar support
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Best budget office chair:
Habitat Beck
£95 at Argos
Habitat’s chair does a good job of fitting into your average home-office setup. It’s compact and attractive, with a white frame, a pink mesh backrest and a sunny light orange seat. Clear instructions make it easy to assemble – I had it ready within 15 minutes – and it feels solid once that’s done. There are, sadly, no adjustments for the back or arm rests, but the seat height can rise from 44cm to 52cm, and it tilts backwards and forwards as you move.
Why we love it
It’s less than £100, but the Beck looks and feels like a more expensive chair. The seat has better cushioning than you’ll find on other budget options, and it’s neither too soft nor too firm. You may want more support from below for all-day working, but it’s fine for a few hours here and there. The tilt mechanism is also more responsive than on some cheap models, though the fixed back means you don’t get the same flexibility as on the Slouch, Herman Miller and Ikea chairs.
The Beck is a great chair for slouching at your desk while you’re engaged in deep thought or otherwise procrastinating, but not so great when you’re sitting up and trying to get work done. The backrest feels slanted backwards, suggesting a relaxed posture rather than the more ergonomic vertical stance.
It’s a shame that … the back isn’t adjustable, and neither is the seat depth or the height of the armrests, so you’re stuck with what you’ve got. If it were my own money, I’d really try to find the extra to get the Slouch.
Dimensions: 65 x 60x 92cm
Seat depth and height: 48cm; 44-52cm
Adjustments: seat height, back-tilt tension, tilt lock
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Best for all-day comfort:
Herman Miller Aeron
From £1,385 at Herman Miller
£1,399 at John Lewis
The Aeron is a high-end office design classic, and you only need to sit on one for an hour or two to understand why. Counterintuitively, the mesh seat is gentler on the glutes than any conventional padded effort, sloping down and curving off to support your thighs at just the right angle without digging in behind the knee. You can’t even feel the hard plastic edge at the front, which is where so many copycats fall down. It looks and feels like the seating equivalent of an executive saloon car, mixing tough plastics with the occasional bit of chrome.
Why we love it
It comes already built, so there’s no pain there, and it’s incredibly adjustable. It’s the only chair where I needed to refer to the instructions to figure out all the controls. However, once you spend an hour or so tweaking all the heights, depths and angles, it fits the body like a glove, effortlessly tilting forwards and backwards in perfect synchronisation as you move.
If you absolutely have to spend long days and nights beavering away to hit a deadline, this is the chair to do it in. While getting up to move and stretch is recommended, your back and neck won’t be accusing you of torture when you do finally get away. Make sure you buy it in the right size, with smaller and larger A and C options as well as the standard B fit.
It’s a shame that … it’s big and heavy, so best for an established office space; you don’t want to lug this big galoot around. Really, though, the only reason not to buy it is the price. It’s arguably worth it even so, but it is a serious investment.
Dimensions (size B): 66 x 60 x 109cm
Seat depth and height: 46cm; 45-58cm
Adjustments: seat height, arm height and position, back-tilt tension, tilt limiter, lumbar support
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Best for style:
Ikea Hattefjäll
From £199 at Ikea
With its elegant frame, sleek seat and backrest and choice of tasteful fabrics, the Hattefjäll brings a touch of Scandinavian style into the office. You’ll feel like you’re working at an upmarket consultancy, even when you’re sitting in your faded T-shirt and jogging bottoms because you haven’t got a video call that day.
Why we love it
As with pricier chairs, it has a synchronised tilt mechanism, so you can shift backwards and forwards to keep the body moving, and the casters lock in place when there’s no weight on the chair, so it won’t skid around when you sit down or stand up.
The Hattefjäll is more than just a great-looking chair; it also has a strong set of features for the price. The backrest is adjustable to five different heights, and you can tweak the seat depth and the lumbar support. The armrests are height- and width-adjustable, reducing strain on the shoulders, and you can lock the tilt to avoid excessive slouching. It’s among the most ergonomic options at this price.
It’s a shame that … the levers to adjust the height and tilt are a bit too small for comfort, making these adjustments tricky. I also had a serious problem with assembly. The arms attach with bolts that screw into a slit in the fabric of the seat, but these were a nightmare to align, and one bolt refused to screw cleanly into place.
Yet the long-term issue here is a seat that’s thin and firm, which I found uncomfortable as I neared the end of every day. Do our Swedish friends have something against cushioning?
Dimensions: 68 x 68 x 114cm
Seat depth and height: 40cm; 46-56cm
Adjustments: seat height, seat depth, arm height and position, backrest height, back-tilt tension, tilt lock, lumbar support
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The best of the rest
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Dunelm Archie
£48.30 at DunelmBest for: a very low budget
The Archie is affordable for a mesh-backed office chair, but you lose a lot in terms of flexibility. The backrest bolts on to the arms, meaning neither can be adjusted, and there’s no way to move the lumbar support up and down. I found the backrest solid and supportive, but if you’re taller or shorter than average, you may find the lumbar support in the wrong place.
On the plus side, I found this chair easy to assemble with straightforward instructions, and it’s relatively comfortable if you’re sitting for only an hour or two. You can tilt backwards and forwards to shift your spine around, with an adjustable tension knob and a handy lock on the height adjustment lever.
It didn’t make the final cut because … there’s just not enough padding on the seat, and the foam used doesn’t do a great job of holding its shape under pressure. After a few hours, you can feel the stiff board underneath the seat from your bottom to your lower thigh. I managed to spend more than a week with the Archie as my main office chair, but only because I had a memory foam cushion I could stick on top.
Dimensions: 61 x 60 x 102cm; seat depth and height: 46cm; 44-56cm adjustments: seat height, back-tilt tension, tilt lock.
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T-Three office chair
£38.99 at AmazonBest for: a cheap desk chair for occasional use
It’s no mystery how this chair can be found at such an astoundingly low price. Everything inside the box needs to be assembled, including the base, involving 30 slightly agonising minutes of Allen-key action before you get a chance to sit down. The arms and backrest are fixed in place, as is the lumbar support, and while you can tilt forwards and backwards, the chair creaks and groans if you push it too far.
Despite this, I found the chair surprisingly comfortable for short periods. The arms felt too low to keep my shoulders level while typing, though – a problem when there’s no way to shift them up or down.
It didn’t make the final cut because … of its insufficient padding, with the seat feeling brutally hard and unforgiving within the space of three or four hours. I might consider it as a desk chair for lightweight offspring or for occasional evening use, but you need to spend more if you work from home.
Dimensions: 59 x 46 x 100cm; seat depth and height: 46cm, 45-55cm; adjustments: seat height, back-tilt tension, tilt lock
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What you need to know
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How to choose the right office chair
Looks are important, but what’s vital is that an office chair is comfortable. And that’s not just what you feel when you first sit down, but how it supports your body and posture over longer periods. Ideally, you should be able to adjust the chair so that you can sit with your feet flat close to the desk, with your thighs close to horizontal and your back vertical and straight. Your arms should be able to sit parallel to the desk and be supported by the armrests.
Chairs that help you achieve this working posture will be more comfortable when you’re sitting in them for most of the day. This is what makes adjustments so important. The more you can move the backrest, the arms, the seat and any lumbar support, the better chance you have of finding the right fit.
Design
Beyond that, the design and structure of the seat and backrest make a difference. Foam backrests can be solid and supportive, but they can affect your posture if they’re too soft. Mesh backrests are usually cooler in the summer, while still providing plenty of support. The seat will always be subjective, but you want enough cushioning to relieve pressure on your thighs and buttocks, without it being so soft that your posture suffers or you can feel any hard surfaces below. Look out for hard surfaces near the front or edges that might end up digging in an inch or two behind the knees.
Tilt
Some degree of tilt is great. It means you can push back in your seat and rest for a minute, and that the chair will support you as you shift around. However, there needs to be control if you want to adopt a better posture while you’re working. The best office chairs offer a synchronised tilt, where the seat and backrest tilt independently, but still move in unison to support you as you move. A degree of forward tilt can also be useful if you want to avoid pressure behind the knees.
Safety
Watch out for safety aspects of the design. Office chairs have to conform to British standards for fire resistance, but it’s also worth checking for rough edges or sharp points that may poke you as you move around your workspace, and for any mechanisms that might trap a finger while you’re leaning back. Don’t go cheap on a chair you’re going to spend a lot of time in; you’ll regret it later on.
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Stuart Andrews is a journalist with more than three decades of experience in computing and consumer tech. When he’s not messing around with PCs, laptops and projectors, he’s trying to tame his post-apocalyptic garden with the latest cordless gadgets. Likes arty movies, walking and devices that just work; hates things that won’t connect to his home network
