Can a monitor arm improve your posture?

Absolutely. Unlike a fixed stand, a monitor arm allows you to easily adjust the height, tilt, and swivel of your monitor. This means you can position your screen at eye level, reducing the need to hunch or crane your neck to see it. This is crucial for maintaining a neutral spine and neck posture, which can help prevent pain and discomfort.

What should I check before buying a monitor arm?

The most important thing to check before buying a monitor arm is whether it will actually support your monitor. So be sure to check the weight capacity of the arm on the manufacturer or retailer's website, and make sure it matches your monitor's weight. Exceeding the limit, even a small amount, will likely lead to sagging or instability.

The best monitor arms and monitor mounts

Two of the best monitor arms on a gradient, purple background.

(Image credit: Future)

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Best monitor arms
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The best monitor arms and monitor mounts help you make the most of your office space, and allow you to work in an ergonomic way. That means work will be less physically taxing, and more productive. That's certainly what I've found from using the top pick on monitor arms in this list, the Herman Miller Ollin. I work at my desk for long periods at a time, and using a monitor arms just makes day-to-day office work easier.

I've used my personal experience as well as my journalistic nous to select the very best monitor arms and monitor mounts for this list. They're all well-designed, robust and flexible, and they also cover a range of budgets, plus monitor sizes and weight limits. Note that these all use a standard VESA mount. (If you're not sure whether your monitor supports this, check the back for a square arrangement of four screw holes. I was recently caught out by this with an import monitor, so definitely do your research before clicking 'buy'.)

Best overall

01. Herman Miller Ollin

Max monitor size: N/A
Max monitor weight: 19.8lbs / 9kg

As far as quality materials, beautiful design, and easy set up and use go, the Herman Miller Ollin is hard to beat. It can hold light-to medium-weight monitors and laptops, and is, overall, the best monitor arm that we've tested to date.

Best robust

02. Ergotron LX Desk Mount LCD

Max monitor size: 32in
Max monitor weight: 8lbs / 3.6kg

Want something robust and durable? This monitor arm offers exceptional build quality, and there's a real sturdiness to it that's comforting. Plus whether you're pulling or pushing, movement is effortless. Note there's no wall-mount option, though.

Best heavy

03. Herman Miller Flo

Max monitor size: N/A
Max monitor weight: 19.8lbs / 9kg

For a superior setup, look no further than Herman Miller desk-ware. The Flo monitor arm is a simple yet svelte device, offering portrait to landscape rotation, three point cable management, and is available in both single and dual-screen form factors. Made for heavier monitors.

Product shot of NB North Bayou Monitor Desk Mount Stand, one of the best monitor arms Best cheap

04. NB North Bayou Stand

Max monitor size: 30in
Max monitor weight: 19.8lbs / 8.9kg

Looking for something cheap? This stand is a little basic, with chunky build quality and a paucity of cable management options, and it's no good for anyone with a larger, heavier display. But overall, it does a good job of holding a standard monitor.

Product shot of 3M Dual-Swivel Monitor Arm, one of the best monitor arms Best heavy

05. 3M Dual-Swivel Arm

Max monitor size: 32in
Max monitor weight: 30lbs / 13.6kg

If you have a heavy monitor, this arm is capable of supporting screens up to 30lbs / 13.6kg. It's nicely adjustable, too, with 18.6 inches of vertical adjustment and horizontal extension up to 19.5 inches. Plus, because it's hollow, you can run cables inside it.

Best dual

06. Mount-It! Full Motion Dual

Max monitor size: 27in
Max monitor weight: 22lbs / 9.97kg

If you're looking to support more than two monitors, this is a solid choice. And we do mean solid – the steel construction is impressively sturdy. Once it's all fixed in place, you can rig up dual monitors of up to 27 inches in size and 9.97kg in weight.

Heavy dual

07. Huanuo HNDS12

Max monitor size: 35in per arm
Max monitor weight: 26lbs / 12kg per arm

Have two large and heavy monitors? This monitor arm can hold dual monitors up to 35in in diameter, and up to 26lbs / 12kg of weight. The arm reaches up to 52cm and also has two multi-use USB ports.

Product shot of Ergotron LX Dual Stacking Arm, one of the best monitor arms Flexible dual

08. Ergotron LX Dual Stacking

Max monitor size: 24in
Max monitor weight: 20lbs / 9.1kg per arm

If you have dual monitors but don't necessarily want them side-by-side, this monitor arm gives you lots of versatility. You can have them next to each other if you want, but you can also stack them vertically, or in a completely different arrangement. Note the maximum monitor size of 24in, though.

How do you set up a monitor arm?

Most monitor arms are fairly simple to setup, but make sure you check the instructions that come with them. In most cases, they'll attach to to the back of your monitor with a VESA mount, which is a square arrangement of four screw holes. Different arms have different bases and mechanisms for attaching to your desk (or a wall), but in most cases the options we've chosen attach to your desk using a clamp system that doesn't require any work on the desk itself.

There are several things we look for when choosing the best monitor arm – all factors that we've considered when making our selection above. Firstly you want a monitor arm that's going to be solid and sturdy enough to support your monitor and allow you to move it without it feeling unstable (always check the max monitor weight, which we've listed for each item). This is even more the case if you use a touchscreen monitor.

Alongside our sister sites Techradar and Tom's Guide, Creative Bloq regularly tests and reviews a wide range of tech products. In our case, we focus more specifically on hardware, software and accessories that serve for creatives. Many of our reviewers and contributors also work in the creative sectors as designers, photographers and artists and use the equipment that we review in their daily work. We also compare online reviews from the general public. For more details, see our article on How we test.

Beren has worked on creative titles at Future Publishing for over 13 years. Cutting his teeth as Staff Writer on the digital art magazine ImagineFX, he moved on to edit several creative titles, and is currently the Ecommerce Editor on the most effective creative website in the world. When he's not testing and reviewing the best ergonomic office chairs, phones, laptops, TVs, monitors and various types of storage, he can be found finding and comparing the best deals on the tech that creatives value the most.

With contributions from

Tom May

The best monitor arms and monitor mounts

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