Herman Miller Mirra Chair vs Aeron Review 2025

Are you in the market for a high-end office chair built to last? Are you interested in a model offered by a great company that sports tons of cutting-edge ergonomic technology? If you answered yes to either of those questions, then you’ll love what you read in this—our Herman Miller Mirra vs Aeron review.

We’ll say right up front that this was a tough review because these chairs are incredibly evenly matched in capability and performance. Still, after taking an in-depth look at both models, we ultimately have to give the top honors to the mighty Aeron.

We will note, however, that given how close the overall scores are and the importance of personal taste and preference, it could easily go the other way. So, if you read this review and reach a different conclusion, that’s completely fair.

In the following sections, we’ll explain what these chairs offer so you can decide for yourself. Do you agree with our conclusion, or is Mirra better for you? Read on, and let’s take a closer look!

Herman Miller Mirra vs Aeron Review — Basic Overview

This section is tough to judge immediately because tastes and preferences vary. The bottom line is that aesthetics matter; both chairs make a great first impression.

Herman Miller has over a century of experience designing furniture, and it shows. These are two well-thought-out and well-executed designs. Click here to read more about Herman Miller’s other office chairs.

The best way to summarize is that the Aeron offers a classic, iconic office chair look, while the Mirra offers a sleeker, more modern look.

If you want an office chair that will blend seamlessly into whatever room you put it in and tend to fade politely into the background, then the Aeron is the chair for you. You will gravitate to the Mirra if you’re looking for a bolder design that makes more of a statement.

It’s also worth mentioning that both chairs are highly customizable, though the Mirra does win in this category. A prospective buyer can make more decisions on the front end, such as adding or changing more individual features, and the Mirra offers more color selection.

The Aeron takes a modular approach. This model is offered in three variants (A, B, and C), which primarily define the size of the chair and its supported weight limit—model A only supports 300 pounds and is designed with smaller, lighter folk in mind, while B and C both support up to 350 pounds and are built for progressively larger folk.

While the Aeron’s color selection is more modest, that’s not a surprise, given its more classic/iconic appearance.

Overall, Aeron’s approach works better if a single individual uses the chair, and Mirra’s works better if multiple family members or people share the chair in the same office.

Although we like the sleek, modern look of the Mirra, our sense of the market is that slightly more people in the market for a great office chair prefer the classic/iconic look. So we give this section of the comparison review to the Aeron, but only by a nose, and again, with the understanding that it very much depends on what you’re looking for in a chair.

Herman Miller Mirra vs Aeron Review — By The Numbers

However, aesthetics and color selection will only take us so far. We need numbers to understand what these chairs offer, so that’s next.

Note that both chairs have stool variants, which are outside this review’s bounds. Here, we’ll be focusing exclusively on each chair’s chassis. With that in mind, here are the raw numbers that drive and define the Mirra chair and the Aeron:

These numbers are really close, and we regard them as excellent across the board in both cases. Both chairs offer three variations on seat height, with the Aeron sitting slightly higher on its maximum height setting, which is a nod to taller people with longer legs. Note, too, that the Aeron’s seat is an inch wider, which serves as a nod to folk with slightly wider hips.

The Aeron is the heavier chair, so it will feel more substantial, but the Mirra, being lighter, is easier to move around. There’s no good way to judge this section because each person’s needs will be different. We rate the two chairs as tied, going strictly by the numbers.

Adjustability and Ergonomic Features

This is another incredibly tough section to judge because few companies in the office chair furniture business know more about ergonomic design than Herman Miller. The design teams behind these two great models put a ton of high-value ergonomic tech into these chairs.

In terms of the armrests, the Mirra comes out slightly ahead for overall adjustability because the Mirra’s armrests are truly 4D adjustable. You can raise or lower them. You can make them wider or narrower or move them backward and forward, and you can even change the angle at which they’re sitting relative to the seat.

That’s incredible. It gives you more customization and personalization options than the Aeron, but not by much.

Where the Mirra’s armrests are 4D adjustable, the Aeron’s are “only” 3D. You still have many options; you don’t wind up with as many as you’ve got on the Mirra.

Regarding lumbar support, the Mirra offers two options: the TriFlex back or the Butterfly back, while the Aeron only offers the PostureFit SL technology.

While both of the Mirra’s back options were inspired by PostureFit technology, they were engineered as lower-cost alternatives by design. This is why, in most configurations, the Aeron is slightly—and sometimes significantly—more expensive than the Mirra. 

Yes, it is possible to get a stripped-down Aeron that’s cheaper, but overall, the Aeron is the more expensive chair, and we feel that its ergonomic features are slightly more robust and better implemented. That’s not to say that the Mirra is a slouch regarding ergonomics—it isn’t! 

The Butterfly back, in particular, is amazing and wraps you in a cocoon of ergonomic support you’ll love. Overall, though, unless you’re specifically looking for a chair with the most adjustable armrests you can imagine, the Aeron is the slightly better choice here, in our view.

It’s close, though, so close that it could easily go the other way, depending on exactly what you’re looking for in your next and possibly last—since these chairs are built to go the distance—office chair.

Herman Miller Mirra Chair vs Aeron — The Ordering Process

This will be a relatively short section, but for the sake of completeness, when comparing the Herman Miller Aeron chair vs Mirra 2, we want to at least touch on this, and once more, we give the ease of ordering to the Aeron by a nose.

This is based almost entirely on the fact that the Aeron has three different model variants—A, B, and C. You pick the one that’s the best fit for you based on your measurements compared to those of the chair, and most of your ordering work is done.

Sure, you’ve got a couple of other decisions to make, but the key decision is embedded in your choice of the A, B, or C variant.

The ordering experience is very different where the Mirra is concerned.

Your first decision there is the type of back you want. That choice does influence some other factors in the chair, but even saying that you’ve still got several individual feature decisions to make as you work your way closer to checking out.

Note that this only applies if you order directly from the manufacturer’s website. If you order on Amazon, it’s about the same for both chairs because most vendors sell pre-configured chairs. You pick from the variants and features they offer, and you proceed to checkout.

Once more, though, it comes down to what you’re looking for in an office chair. The big strength of the Mirra (reflected in the ordering process) is greater choice and flexibility. You get more color options, and this chair is designed to serve multiple users better. When you buy an Aeron, you buy it with one user in mind and make your selections accordingly.

Pros and Cons of Herman Miller Mirra Chair vs Aeron

If you’ve read to this point, you may still be deciding which of these chairs is better.

We understand that because, in truth, they’re both so exceptional that it’s hard to pick.

If we had to summarize, we’d say this:

Neither chair has any weaknesses when you look at them from a technical point of view. Whichever model you get, it’s going to serve you well, and it’s going to last for years. The biggest drawback is the price. These chairs are expensive, though the price varies depending on exactly which features you order.

On the plus side, part of the reason it’s hard to make a head-to-head comparison between Herman Miller Mirra 2 and Aeron is that they’re built using two different design paradigms.

It’s like comparing a Chow Chow and a Boxer regarding dog breeds. They’re both excellent dogs, but the Chow is a different sort of animal. It’s a one-owner dog. If you have kids or other pets, the Chow is a poor choice for you because the Chow wants to be your everything. It wants to be the center of your world.

On the other hand, if you have kids or several people in your house who love dogs, the Boxer is an amazing choice because Boxers love people. They’ll happily play with just about anyone.

The Chow is like the Aeron chair, and the Boxer is like the Mirra. If you’re buying an office chair for your personal use, the Aeron will probably serve you (slightly) better in the long run. If you live in a busy household with several people using your chair, the Mirra will probably serve you (slightly) better.

Herman Miller Mirra vs Aeron Review Conclusion

The simple truth is that there’s no easy way to compare the Herman Miller Aeron remastered to the Mirra 2. Both are great chairs, and both can easily be the perfect office chair for the right user.

The “right user” varies a bit depending on which model you’re talking about, but overall, we understand that if we have to pick one over the other, we feel the Aeron is the better chair, but not by much.

The real question isn’t which one we like better, though; it is which is the best fit for you. Do you agree with our assessment, or does your heart belong to the Mirra?

Other Options To Consider

If you’ve read to this point and you’re not sure that either of these is the right chair for you, here are a couple of other options you may want to consider:

Steelcase Leap

Steelcase is the only other office furniture vendor we’ve given a perfect five-star rating to, and in many ways, the Steelcase Leap is the final word in office chairs. It is the chair that every other company tries to beat. It is, simply put, the gold standard.

If you like the chairs we just talked about but are looking for even more, then you want a Leap, even if you don’t know it yet. It’s expensive but, in our view, worth every penny and probably the closest thing to the perfect office chair you’ll ever find.

Herman Miller Embody

At some point, we may do a three-way review comparing the Aeron, Mirra 2, and Embody. Like this one, though, that would be a tough review indeed because just as the Aeron and the Mirra are very different in terms of design philosophy, the Embody brings an even different design perspective to the table.

Without giving too much away, this is a great chair for gamers or anybody who spends extended periods in their chair. As with all of Herman Miller’s top-end products, this one features an assortment of cutting-edge ergonomic features, and one of the many things that sets the Embody apart is that this chair has its spine.

Yes, you read that correctly, and it’s one of the things that gives the chair a distinctive look that you’ll either love or despise. Either way, though, it’s worth a look!

Official Manufacturer Support

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES:

• Herman Miller, Official Brand Website.
• Office Ergonomics: Deficiencies in Computer Workstation Design, National Center for Biotechnology Information.
• The Home Office: Ergonomic Lessons From the “New Normal”, Sage Journals.
• How to Improve Posture For a Healthy Back, Cleveland Clinic.