Best Ergonomic Office Chair Under $300 Review 2024

Our Pick: Tempur-Pedic TP9000 Ergonomic Executive Chair

Like Serta, which we talked about earlier in this review, Tempur-Pedic is best known for its presence in the bedding market. However, the company has recently made forays into the realm of office furniture. The results have been spectacular, and the company has proved that the skills it’s gained in making world-class bedding translate well into this new market.

A company can take two basic approaches when designing an office chair. They can either load it with features, often lowering the overall product quality to keep the price reasonable, or they can focus on the fundamentals, offering a chair with a few key, well-implemented features that provide exceptional value.

Tempur-Pedic has opted to take this second approach, and we heartily approve. The chair is designed along wholly conventional lines and seems almost out of its way to look perfectly ordinary. Lurking beneath its understated appearance, however, are some powerful ergonomic features.

The chair has a trio of ergonomic features, all uniformly well-implemented. You’ll find:

Although none of these are adjustable, they’re about as well implemented as we’ve seen and will provide you with years of reliable support.

The chair only offers two items we’d classify as extras. Still, they’re both excellent, too: The armrests flip up for those times when you don’t need them, and the seat is padded with the same material Tempur-Pedic uses in its mattresses, making it delightfully comfortable even after spending several consecutive hours in it.

On top of that, while the seatback is mesh, the seat itself is upholstered in durable fabric and offered in a modest variety of colors, including:

This, combined with its under-the-radar appearance, makes it incredibly easy for this chair to blend into just about any home or office décor scheme.

The only serious quibble we have with the design is that the weight limit is too modest for our tastes. The height adjustment range is just under the standard range commonly found on big and tall chairs, but the weight limit won’t support that, which limits the chair’s market range to smaller and average-sized folks. That’s a pity because there are a lot of big and tall people who’d love this chair.

Highly recommended, especially for power users.

Runner-Up: AmazonBasics Big and Tall Mesh Swivel Chair

While our top pick focuses on a broad swath of the market and is an excellent choice for small to average-sized people, Amazon’s mesh chair focuses more on the other end. Most shorter users will find this chair too big to use effectively, but long-legged, average-sized folks and big and tall people will find it to be just about perfect.

Amazon is perhaps the perfect generalist company. They’re not experts in the furniture market, but they study the experts and replicate their creations, generally doing a good job and often producing outstanding products that are very well-priced.

This chair is one of their most robust models. Being mesh, it suffers a bit aesthetically, but just as Tempur-Pedic did with their offering, Amazon took a hybrid approach here, which helps improve both the look and the comfort of the chair.

While the seatback is pure mesh, the seat is upholstered in a more tightly woven mesh fabric stretched over conventional block foam. It’s not as comfortable as the Tempur-Pedic chair, but you certainly won’t mind sitting in it, even for extended periods.

This chair sticks to the basics, offering two ergonomic features: lumbar support and an ergonomic seat. The lumbar support is well-implemented and height-adjustable, allowing you to customize it so it provides support exactly where you need it. 

Most people consider lumbar support to be the most powerful and important ergonomic feature, and the fact that Amazon did such a great job with it makes this chair worth buying for that feature alone.

The ergonomic seat is good but not on the same level as the lumbar support. It tries gamely to be a true waterfall-edge-style seat but doesn’t quite manage to get there. It still provides ergonomic value, but again, it’s just not as strong a feature as the lumbar mechanism.

We regard the armrests as a bit of a missed opportunity. They’re not ergonomically sculpted and honestly a bit on the stubby side for our tastes, but they are height adjustable, which is valuable in its own right.

While a few users might be disappointed that there aren’t more ergonomic features on offer, we think you’ll be impressed. We’d much rather see one or two very well-implemented features than several that are lackluster, and we think a majority of the market feels the same way.

Amazon does that with this design. It’s a great chair, offered for a song. We love it and recommend it without reservation to average-sized or bigger folks who are looking for a chair that can withstand the rigors of heavy daily use.

Third Pick: Nouhaus Ergo 3D Ergonomic Office Chair

While our first and second-place winners are offered by companies that almost everyone will recognize, our third-place finalist is provided by a company you’ve probably never heard of. Nouhaus is a tiny off-brand. They don’t have a big national footprint, so their products tend to get overlooked, making this chair a hidden gem.

At first glance, some people might be put off by the chair. It’s not outright ugly, but mesh chairs tend to take a hit on the aesthetics front, and this one makes matters worse by featuring a segmented seatback design. It definitely won’t win any beauty contests, but most people in the market for a mesh chair care more about function and form, and this chair has all kinds of functionality.

Before we focus on its ergonomic features, though, let’s review the stats from the summary table to see exactly what this chair is:

Most big and tall chairs have a seat height adjustment range of 18″ to 22″, so on the face of it, it looks like this chair should be geared to that segment of the market, but check out the seat depth. Check out the maximum supported user weight. 

Neither of those elements supports the idea that this is a big, tall chair. While it’s useful for taller people with lean builds and long legs, big-boned folks will find it too small. 

Granted, big and tall people represent a minority of the total market, so this chair still appeals to quite a broad swath. However, in our view, it would be a mistake to classify this as a big and tall chair. We’d estimate this one would be useful to people up to about 6’2″ in height, just to give you a general guide.

While the other mesh chairs we’ve discussed so far took a hybrid approach, using tightly woven mesh or fabric to cover the seat padding, this model is mesh through and through, so there’s no padding in the seat.

If you’ve owned mesh chairs before, you know that doesn’t mean they’re uncomfortable; they are! It just approaches comfort from a different direction, relying on the inherent breathability of the mesh itself, combined with well-implemented ergonomic features to make it a joy to sit in.

This chair offers three such features:

While the seat design falls short of greatness, we can’t decide which of the chair’s other two ergonomic features is better. They’re both incredibly well done.

The company uses a proprietary technology called DVL, which stands for “Dynamic Variable Lumbar” support, for lumbar support. The implementation of this feature explains why the company opted for a segmented seatback design. 

The lower portion of the seat back is designed exclusively to accommodate this technology. Any time you move or shift your position in the chair, the lumbar support segment shifts with you, providing you with precisely the support you need, no matter how you’re using the chair.

We were stunned to see proprietary technology being used by an off-brand and were blown away at how great a job they did on this feature. Nouhaus’ lumbar support shines even when compared to ergonomic office chairs that cost twice this chair’s asking price.

The chair’s armrests are equally impressive. While they’re not ergonomically sculpted, they are highly mobile, providing a certain amount of ergonomic benefit. You can move the armrests forward toward the edge of the seat, backward toward the seat back, and scoot them closer together or farther apart as you like.

This allows you to customize your seating experience for maximum comfort and performance. Again, this is not something we expected to see from an off-brand, and certainly not at this price. That’s amazing.

While Nouhaus may be relatively unknown, we don’t expect it to stay that way—not when it can produce chairs like this. It’s just a matter of time before it nips at the heels of the bigger, more established brands in the same way that Flash Furniture is. 

We fully expect to see Nouhaus products win spots in roundup reviews in the future. This great chair is made by a fantastic, if relatively unknown, company. We recommend it for smaller to average-sized power users who need a chair that can withstand the challenges of heavy use.

Also Great

Hbada Ergonomic High Back Office Chair

If you’ve spent time in Europe, you’re probably familiar with the Hbada brand. It’s quite popular there, but they’re not very well known here in the United States. That’s slowly changing thanks to the wonders of online shopping, which makes it easier than ever for someone living in the States to get one of these chairs. There are several reasons why you should consider doing so:

First, check out this chair’s score if you remove the Brand Reliability dimension. This chair scores just above a 4, which is outstanding. Second, check out how consistent the numbers are. The only thing dragging this model’s overall score down is that the brand is relatively unknown in this country. The chair itself, though, is pretty amazing.

Third is the aesthetic. While mesh chairs aren’t exactly known for their stellar looks, Hbada takes a different approach to design than most American companies, giving this chair a delightful and refreshing aesthetic. It’s just different enough to be distinctive and interesting, which is very good. 

Before we proceed, though, let’s review the basic stats that define this model so we know what we’re dealing with.

This chair differs from the Nouhaus we discussed before getting to this model. 

It’s aimed at the big and tall market segment, with the seat depth, width, height adjustment range, and maximum supported user weight all working together to support that conclusion. In fact, given the lowest seat height setting of 19.6,” shorter people probably won’t be able to use this chair effectively.

Like our top picks in this category, the Hbada chair utilizes a hybrid approach. Its seat features mesh fabric stretched over a modest amount of padding. 

The padding isn’t as plush or plentiful as on most other padded office chairs, but it’s enough to provide a comfortable seating experience. As with other mesh chairs, this one relies on the strength of its ergonomic features to further enhance comfort, making up for its relative lack of padding.

Although the seat isn’t waterfall-edge, its ergonomically sculpted design provides impressive ergonomic benefits. This means you won’t have to worry about getting that annoying pins-and-dents sensation in your legs, even if you spend several hours in the chair.

In addition to being delightfully breathable mesh, the seatback is curved to follow the shape of your spine and is further augmented by a well-implemented lumbar support system. 

This ties in beautifully with the articulated headrest, which provides good head and neck support. The Hbada ergonomic office chair gives the person sitting in it stellar support that begins at the head and runs all the way to the backs of the user’s thighs.

The chair’s armrests are a mixed bag. On the plus side, they’re height adjustable through a total of seven different settings, which is a good thing that adds versatility to the design. On the minus side, though, they’re not very long and covered in low-quality PU, which won’t stand up well to the rigors of heavy daily use. 

Another interesting thing to note is that the chair’s recline angle starts at 90 degrees and extends to 150 degrees. Most office chairs recline to about 120 degrees, with a few reclining to 135 degrees, so this model gives you more of an ability to lounge back and relax. Unfortunately, the chair doesn’t include an ottoman, but it’s easy enough to engineer one, giving you a passably good makeshift recliner when you’re ready to take a break.

The Hbada chair has more strengths than weaknesses, but two things keep it from being a great model for heavy daily use. First, the padding. It’s decent but falls short of greatness, and after spending more than four hours in the chair, it’ll start getting progressively more uncomfortable. Second, those stubby little armrests will begin to show their age relatively quickly.

Based on that, we’d rate this an excellent choice for bigger, taller users looking for a chair for light to moderate daily use.

Smugdesk High Back Mesh Recliner

It was agonizing to select the final model for our mesh chair list because there were so many interesting options. Still, ultimately, the Smugdesk mesh recliner won us over. We’ll be quick to say that this chair won’t be for everyone, but it’s so interesting that we didn’t feel this portion of the roundup review would be complete without mentioning it.

Smugdesk is another one of those little companies you may not have heard of, but if you look at the breakdown of the chair’s score, you’ll see that it’s competent and well-rounded, with the only thing dragging its final score down being the lack of brand heft and recognition. Functionally, this is a great little chair. 

Let’s start by reviewing the core statistics that define the model:

As we’ve been doing, when focusing on the seat depth, the height adjustment range, and the maximum supported range, we can conclude that this chair isn’t targeted at the big and tall market, nor is it an especially good fit for shorter users. It’s aimed squarely at the middle of the market—average-sized people. You’ll find a lot to like if you fall into that market segment.

It’s got all the features you’d expect in an office chair: Tilt and lock, recline to a maximum of 135 degrees, and 360 degrees of swivel, but you also get a little something extra in the form of a pull-out ottoman!

There aren’t many office chairs that pull double-duty as recliners, but this is one of them. Its ability to be used in that way makes it an excellent choice for power users who spend a lot of time in their office chairs. It enables you to stretch out and take a break when you need to, getting far more comfortable than most office chairs allow.

As cool as that is, though, this roundup review is focused on finding great ergonomic chairs, so the rest of our notes about this model will be focused squarely on that, and there’s quite a lot to discuss. The Smugdesk mesh recliner features all four of the major ergonomic features commonly found in the office furniture environment:

Early on, we mentioned two basic approaches furniture companies take when designing office furniture: Focus on a few features and implement them very well or offer everything and the kitchen sink in hopes of dazzling prospective buyers with a rich, diverse feature set.

While our top picks took a more focused approach, Smugdesk is at the other end of the spectrum. While none of its ergonomic features are as well-implemented as those offered by our top contenders, it’s certainly good enough to provide genuine value.

Of the four, the chair’s lumbar support is the best, offering decent but less-than-stark support. While you cannot adjust the tension, you can height-adjust the lumbar support mechanism, which is a nice bit of customization you won’t find on many chairs on the market today.

The head and neck support is the weakest of the bunch. The headrest is height adjustable, which is reasonable but not articulated, so the amount and flexibility of the support you get are limited.

While the armrests are ergonomically sculpted and quite comfortable, they’re not height-adjustable, which again limits their value somewhat. The seat is another clear bright spot in the design, being, in our view, the second-best ergonomic feature of the chair. 

We applaud the company’s decision to use a sculpted seat rather than trying to incorporate a waterfall-edge style into the design. Given the pull-out footrest, that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to implement well. Their decision demonstrates their knowledge of the office furniture market.

Just so we’re clear on this point, none of these features are bad; they’re just not as well or as strongly implemented as the ergonomic aspects of the other models we’ve talked about to this point. Most of the time, when an off-brand tries to implement a whole raft of features, many wind up being so poorly rendered that they’re practically useless. 

Smugdesk’s ability to handle them reasonably well proves that the company has some serious design chops. We’d love to see more of their work and see what they can do with a tighter focus. 

As it stands, though, this chair is a pleasant surprise. Unless you need superb lumbar support because you have chronic back pain, this one will almost certainly be good enough to serve you well.

In addition, it’s worth mentioning that Smugdesk incorporated oversized casters into the design of their chair. It’s a small thing, but another detail impressed us. 

Many office chairs use smallish casters that are fine for hardwood or other flat flooring surfaces but struggle on the carpet. The casters with this chair are great on just about any flooring except for the thickest and plushest carpet. Bravo. We’d love to see this become standard practice across the industry.

Finally, Smugdesk offers a surprisingly good warranty for an off-brand. With most smaller brands, you’re lucky to get a year. Smugdesk offers eighteen months and free component replacement for two years, including things like the levers and controls and the gas lift mechanism.

Based on all of this, we feel certain that we’ll see Smugdesk in some of our other roundup reviews. They’re an interesting, up-and-coming company, and this chair is an excellent example of their work.

We recommend it to any average-sized person and perhaps a few shorter folks looking for a robust, versatile, ergonomic office chair that also pinch-hits as a decent recliner.

Best Ergonomic Office Chairs Under $300 Roundup 2024 Conclusion

So, what is the best ergonomic office chair under $300 in 2024? While we stand by our top picks in the two categories we outlined initially, we understand that tastes and preferences vary. Because of that, our top picks may not align with yours, so we included the other models we compared against the ones we ultimately selected.

If you find yourself disagreeing with our top picks, here’s how we’d recommend seeing the chair that is right for you:

In any case, we feel confident that if you’re looking to spend three hundred dollars or less, your next office chair is lurking somewhere inside this roundup review!

Recommended Reading

Ergonomic Office Chairs Under 200 Dollars

If you’re looking for the best ergonomic office chair under $200, our top picks may be right on the money.

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REFERENCES & RESOURCES

• La-Z-Boy, Official Brand Website.
• Flash Furniture, Official Brand Website.
• La-Z-Boy Bellamy Executive Office Chair User Manual.
• Top Reasons Why Comfortable Office Chairs Enhance Productivity, Industry Buying.
• A Pilot Investigation into the Effects of Different Office Chairs on Spinal Angles, NCBI.