Compared to full-sized treadmills, desk treadmills have slower speeds, shorter tracks, and fewer settings. They aren’t designed for intense pounding strides, so you typically can’t use them in place of full-sized treadmills—though we do recommend thisThe average walking speed for adults is about three miles per hour. Most walking treadmills run at a range of 0.5 to four miles per hour, whereas running treadmills cap out around 15 miles per hour .
Designed so they won’t trip anyone walking in your workspace , most under-desk treadmills are around 39 inches long. If you’re especially tall or have a very long stride, you might want to look for a desk treadmill with an especially long track—the longest we recommend is 47 inches. Alternatively, you can opt for a purpose-built running treadmill with the option to fold down the side bars to make room for your desk. We recommend a few of these—they have a full suite of settings, sometimes including inclines, and they go up to 12 miles per hour for running purposes.As compact as under-desk treadmills are, there’s some variation in how well they pack down.
Folding treadmills often have poorer shock and noise absorption compared to stationary options—making a treadmill sleek enough to fold into a smaller package usually means it’ll be much thinner and have more small, noisy parts. Stationary treadmills often have much sturdier builds, with room to let your feet compress the track surface.
This leads to a comfier ride as well as a quieter one, but it does also mean that you’ll have a lot more material to pack away if you don’t want it at your desk all the time.To find the best options among the many under-desk treadmills out there, we used our decades of experience using treadmills at the gym and at home, our deep familiarity with the most trusted treadmill brands, and our understanding of what you should look for—and avoid—when making a purchase.