Best High Weight Capacity Porch Swings Review 2024

*While aesthetics is a matter of taste, aesthetic flexibility measures how easily a given design would fit into a wide range of home décor schemes.

**Brand Reliability is a measure of the strength and longevity of the brand, which by extension, is a measure of the level of support you can expect.

Our Selection Criteria

As the name of this review indicates, our primary consideration was to find high weight capacity porch swings. Unfortunately, the phrase “high weight capacity” is too non-specific to be useful. To that end, we arbitrarily decided that since most of the furniture on the market today is capable of supporting around 300 pounds of user weight, we’d set our minimum threshold at 400 pounds.

Naturally, the more weight a product can support, the better, but we considered 400 pounds the minimum acceptable limit even to be considered for inclusion here.

Beyond that, we looked at each product’s value proposition, overall quality, and aesthetic. Finally, we were interested in porch swings that had extra finishing touches or flourishes that different segments of the potential market would find appealing. These kinds of things were given less weight than the rest but definitely factored into our thinking.

Our Pick: Porchgate Amish Heavy Duty Porch Swing

In the world of high-weight capacity porch swings, there’s Amish Casual, and then there’s everyone else. That one company absolutely dominates this category of the best high weight capacity porch swings, having captured three of the top five slots and one more besides, which we’ll be telling you about in a bit.

In fact, Amish Casual, through its vendors CAF and Porchgate, is utterly dominant in the high-weight capacity outdoor furniture market in general, offering a wide range of furniture types that boast an impressive supported weight capacity. Before we take a deeper look at this particular model, let’s begin with a review of the core stats that define the model. Here are the basics:

As you can see, this is a big, burly porch swing. We love the seat depth and the crazy amount of weight that Amish Casual furniture is capable of supporting. This is the kind of chair you can curl up on the porch in and swing your troubles away.

The numbers, however, don’t tell the whole story. This is a great-looking piece of furniture, handcrafted from pressure-treated pine. Even better, it’s got a fun surprise in the form of a pull-down console that’s hidden in the seatback. The console measures 13.5” W x 15” D and has a pair of cup holders built-in.

When you’re ready to enjoy a cold drink, pull the console down, and you’ll have a convenient place to put your glass when it’s not in your hand. When you don’t need it, it tucks away in the back of the seat, giving you the full width of the swing to enjoy.

Comfort-wise, it’s about what you’d expect from a piece of wooden furniture, though there’s sufficient space between the planks of wood that it gives the swing breathability, which will help keep you cool. If you want to make it more comfortable, you can easily do that by incorporating a seat pad or a seatback pad of whatever thickness you desire.

Doing so has two consequences to be mindful of, however. First, if you add a pad to the seatback, you’ll be covering the built-in drink console, and you won’t be able to use it. Second, it’s a beautiful piece of all-wood furniture. Adding padding to it will hide the glorious natural look of the piece. Even so, if comfort matters more to you, it’s certainly an option to consider.

If you decide you want one of these, just know that you’ll have some work to do before you can start enjoying it. While the swing is mostly assembled, you will have to finish it out and, of course, mount it.

In addition to that, though, this is an unfinished piece of furniture. If you want it to last in the long term, you’ll need to apply a couple of coats of polyurethane at the very least. Unless you want to enjoy it in its unfinished state, you’ll also need to paint or stain it.

In other words, this isn’t an instant gratification piece of furniture. You’ll have to spend a few days getting it ready for service. Once it is, though, with proper care, you’ll have something that you and your family will be able to enjoy for years to come.

We don’t see any weak spots in the design of this swing. In our view, it’s the Gold Standard that every other product tries to live up to (including other products offered by Amish Casual). It’s simply superb, and we can’t recommend it highly enough.

Runner-Up: Porchgate Amish Heavy Duty Porch Swing With Ropes

Our second-place winner in this roundup of the best high weight capacity front porch swings is also made by Amish Casual and offered for sale by Porchgate. It is highly similar to our top pick and is very nearly its equal in terms of the overall score. We’ll tell you why it missed claiming top honors by a hair, but before we do that, let’s take a moment to review the swing’s stats:

The first point of differentiation between this swing and our top pick is that this one is offered in two different sizes. In our view, the five-foot variant is the more useful and versatile of the two. Still, if you’re cramped for space or prefer a cozier swing, then your opinion may differ from ours.

Both variants are capable of supporting an impressive 800-pounds of user weight, and even better, you can get yours either unfinished or pre-stained with a walnut finish.

We prefer the unfinished piece. If this model has one point of weakness, it lies in the fact that the folks at Amish Casual only used a single coat of stain and topcoat on the pre-stained variant. It looks good, but a single coat won’t hold up well over time.

Our opinion is that you’re better off taking the time to sand and stain it yourself. You’ll have unlimited color options and can apply a second coat, which will help it weather the elements better.

We also love the use of ropes here instead of chains, which most porch swings rely on. It gives the chair a distinctive if somewhat rustic look. Unfortunately, that also works against it a bit as not everyone is a fan of the rustic aesthetic. If you are, this model could easily become your top pick.

In addition to the good use of ropes in the design, this model features a pair of cupholders, but instead of placing them in a hidden console, you’ll find one attached to each arm.

Note that Amish Casual took the time to build them out and away from the arms rather than simply incorporating them into the arms themselves. That’s a nice touch that makes the arms more useful and is just the kind of attention to detail we’ve come to expect from Amish Casual.

As with our top pick, there is some minor assembly required here, over and above actually hanging the chair.

We’re fine with that, and we suspect that most people who buy this swing will be too. The production quality is amazing, and the assembly instructions are clear. Besides, if you’re sanding and staining the swing yourself, you’ll want to do all that when it’s in pieces, so it’s just as well that the swing comes only partially assembled.

Overall, we regard this one as being every bit the equal of our first-place winner, if a bit more narrowly targeted, which is why this one wound up in second place. Given its rustic look, we provisionally recommend it.

Budget Pick: CAF Amish Heavy Duty Porch Swing

Amish Casual sweeps the top three spots in this roundup review with this high-weight capacity porch swing, sold via CAF, one of the company’s distributors. While it shares many features in common with our top picks, it has one important difference as well. We’ll get to that, but let’s begin as we have been, with a quick stats review:

Unlike Amish Casual’s more rustic offering, the swing hung with ropes, this one sticks to the convention of a five-foot length. It’s big, sturdy, and durable, capable of supporting the company’s standard, impressive 800-pound weight capacity.

It’s also offered solely as an unfinished piece. We’re fine with that because we were honestly a bit underwhelmed by the company’s pre-stained offerings.

This swing is gorgeous without any stain, though if you want to leave it unstained, at the very least, you’ll want to apply a couple of coats of protectant to help it stand up better to the elements. And of course, if you want to stain it to match your outdoor décor scheme better, then the sky’s the limit on that front.

As with Amish Casual’s other swings, if you decide you want one of these, it will arrive at your door partially assembled, so you’ll have a bit of work to do before you can actually start enjoying it.

That’s certainly not a deal-breaker, but if you’re ordering one in advance of a family gathering or something, be sure to give yourself enough time to stain or protect it, let everything dry completely, then assemble and hang.

The big difference between this model and our top two picks here in our best high weight capacity porch swing review is that there are no extras or design flourishes on offer here. This is a basic, bare-bones porch swing. Since there’s nothing complicated about the design, it costs a bit less, making it a great budget option in the Amish Casual collection.

If all you’re looking for is a no-frills porch swing, or if money’s tight, this is the swing you want. Even if you’ve got the money to spring for one of the top picks, this model belongs on your shortlist before spending extra on the more expensive models. It’s pure, simple porch swing goodness, and we recommend it.

Also Great

Backyard Discovery’s Farmhouse Porch Swing

Backyard Discovery is a brand that parents with small children are likely to be familiar with. The company has a long history of making exceptional outdoor playsets. If you’ve driven past a neighbor’s house that sported an awesome-looking wooden child’s fort, complete with slides and swings, there’s a good chance that Backyard Discovery designed it.

What fewer people are aware of, though, is the fact that the company also has a small selection of outdoor furniture in their product lineup, and the Farmhouse Porch Swing is an excellent example of their work.

For review and ease of reference without scrolling, here are the stats of this particular swing:

As you can see, while the dimensions are generally in line with the Amish Casual swings we’ve talked about to this point, the chair is more lightly built. It weighs substantially less than the Amish Casual offerings, and it doesn’t support quite as much user weight.

Six hundred pounds is still pretty impressive, but if you’re on the heavy side and plan to enjoy this swing in the company of another, it pays to at least keep this figure in mind to compare against the amount of weight you plan to have sitting on the swing at one time. In most cases, you’ll be fine. But with two hundred pounds less in supported weight, this model doesn’t offer you nearly as much wiggle room as the Amish Casual products.

Aesthetically, this design has a rustic, homespun feel to it, which we love. We understand, however, that everyone’s tastes and preference is different, and not everyone will appreciate the aesthetic. Give that, we judge this chair to be somewhat more narrowly targeted than the designs we’ve talked about to this point.

Like our third-place entry here in our best high weight capacity outdoor porch swing review, this is a basic, no-frills design with no cup holders or other design flourishes on offer.

Like our third-place pick, the simplicity of the design translates into a somewhat lower price, making this another good budget option, so if you don’t like the conventional styling of the Amish Casual offering in third place, this one is a good alternative.

The swing is pre-stained, which has the advantage of allowing you to start enjoying it without a big investment in time. But as with Amish Casual chairs, there’s only a single coat applied, which means that the finish is unlikely to hold up well over time. Enjoy it for a year or two as-is, then plan to sand and re-stain when the finish starts showing its age.

One minor drawback with this model is the fact that it comes completely disassembled, so it will take slightly longer to put it together compared to the Amish Casual offerings, which arrive at your door partially assembled. That’s not a huge deal because the production quality is high, and the instructions are easy to follow, but it is something to be mindful of.

Overall, it’s a solid product offering. The only reason it didn’t claim a higher spot in our rankings is that Amish Casual’s offerings are so insanely good that they overshadow this one a bit. Even so, it’s well worth taking a closer look at. Given its rustic aesthetic and lower supported weight limit, we give this one a provisional recommendation.

Kilmer Creek Cedar Porch Swing

We didn’t feel our roundup review of products in this section would be complete without giving a brief shout-out to Kilmer Creek’s porch swing. While it has a couple of issues that kept it from earning a higher ranking, it’s a good swing and is well worth taking a closer look at.

We’ll begin by following the convention we’ve established in this review, and take a quick look at the basic stats. Here they are:

Two things jump out at us about these numbers right off the bat. It’s more lightly built than the products offered by Amish Casual, and it doesn’t support as much weight. In fact, it’s fair to say that it doesn’t support nearly as much weight.

Even so, it’s well about the 400-pound minimum we established at the start, so it certainly deserves a spot here. Bear in mind, though, that if you’re a heavier individual, you may have to enjoy this swing on your own because it may not be rugged enough to support you and the person you were planning to swing with.

If you don’t mind swinging solo, then this is a great option to consider. Still, if you’ve got your heart set on curling up next to your special someone in the swing, you’re going to want to gravitate to one of Amish Casual’s swings with their impressive 800-pound weight limit.

The thing we like best about this model is the fact that it’s constructed from cedar. The other products we’ve talked about have all been made with pine wood. While there’s certainly nothing wrong with pine, cedar is an amazing choice. It not only smells great, but it’s naturally pest-resistant, which gives it impressive longevity, even if you don’t do anything to protect it.

This model comes partially assembled, but you will need to spend a little bit of time finishing it out before you can hang it and then have a seat. The production quality is quite good, though, and the instructions are clear, which makes this a mostly painless process.

Other than the lowish maximum supported weight limit, the only real issue we have with this chair is that it’s rather pricey given that there are no fun extras on offer here. This is a well-designed, if somewhat lightly built basic porch swing. As such, we were surprised to see that it was being offered for sale at a price significantly higher than our third-place winner, which is a similarly designed, no-frills chair offered by Amish Casual.

Granted that the chair is built with pine wood versus cedar here, but the price difference between the two species of wood isn’t so extreme as to warrant that kind of price increase. Those two factors combined are what resulted in this model’s spot on the tail end of our chart of finalists.

Make no mistake, it’s a very good chair. But compared to our other finalists, it’s relatively more expensive while supporting less user weight. Given that, we can only give this one a provisional recommendation, but if you’ve simply got to have a cedar porch swing, or if the other designs leave you wanting, this is a good option to consider.

CAF Amish Heavy Duty Mission Porch Glider

If you want a porch swing but you don’t have a porch, or the one you’ve got is too small to leave you enough room to use it effectively, a great alternative that provides a similar seating experience is the porch glider, also offered by Amish Casual and sold by CAF. Let’s start by taking a look at the core stats that define it. Here they are:

It’s made from pressure-treated pine and offered in two different length configurations. If you decide you want one, you can get yours either unfinished or in a modest selection of finishing options.

In addition to that, it’s got a spectacular seat height and depth that defines it as a bench designed for bigger and taller folk, and of course, comes with glider hardware that provides smooth gliding/rocking action. It’s not quite the same as enjoying a porch swing, but it’s also not a bad substitute and has the added advantage that you don’t have to have a place to mount it on the ceiling.

As with the porch swings we’ve talked about, it’s easy enough to make this piece of furniture as comfortable as you’d like by adding a seat or seatback pad of whatever thickness you desire.

If you decide you want one, you can get it either unfinished or with a light or dark stain already applied. The drawback here is that the folks at Amish Casual only apply one coat and a single topcoat, which is a bit of a disappointment, especially given how amazing the bench itself is.

In our view, you’re better off getting the unfinished version and taking the time to sand and stain it yourself. It takes longer, but you’ll wind up with a product you’ll be happier with. If you decide to get one of the pre-finished variants anyway, just know going in that in a couple of years, you’ll have to sand and re-stain it.

Despite that singular shortcoming, this is an awesome piece of furniture capable of supporting an impressive amount of user weight. It makes a worthy substitute for a porch swing if you just don’t have a place to put one. We highly recommend it.

Final Thoughts: Best High-Weight Capacity Porch Swing Review 2024

What is the best high-weight capacity porch swing on the market today? We absolutely stand by the Porchgate Amish Heavy Duty as our top pick. But we recognize that tastes and preferences vary, and you may have reached a different conclusion than we did. Here then, are some of the reasons that one of the other swings mentioned here might be a better fit for you:

Finally, if you’d love to have a porch swing, but you either don’t have a porch to put it on, or you lack the space for something like that, then you may want to consider the Amish Heavy Duty Mission Porch Glider. It’s yet another Amish Casual product, offered by CAF, and it is a superb piece of furniture by any reckoning.

There are no right answers here. At the end of the day, it comes down to which of these best meets your needs at a price you can afford, and which sports a design style that makes you smile. That’s the swing you want. One thing we’re fairly certain of though is this: Somewhere in this roundup review, we believe you’ll find the porch swing you’ve always wanted!

Recommended Reading

High Weight Capacity Outdoor Lounge Chairs

Exploring outdoor lounge chairs built to endure heavier weights while offering relaxation and comfort for leisurely outdoor activities and gatherings.

High Weight Capacity Outdoor Barstools

Evaluating outdoor barstools with sturdy construction and supportive features, providing comfort and stability for heavier individuals in outdoor bar settings.

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REFERENCES & RESOURCES

• Types of Wood for Outdoor Furniture, Gardenerdy.
• How to Choose Outdoor Wood Furniture, The Spruce.
• Choosing the Best Wood for Outdoor Furniture, Hayneedle.
• 8 Different Types of Materials for Outdoor Furniture, Home Design By Dave.
• 3 Steps to Deciding on Your Best Wood for Outdoor Furniture, Popular Hardworking.