The best monitor arms are an incredibly valuable addition to your home working setup. After all, how much of your life do you spend staring at your monitor? And if there's anything that can help save you from eye strain and back pain and all the other horrors of working at a computer, you should grab it with both hands.
Admittedly, you probably had a monitor stand included with your monitor when your bought it. But that will probably be pretty limited when it comes to positioning your screen. You'll doubtless get restricted forward/backward tilt movement, the height adjustment will be limited, and it may wobble quite a bit too.
So if you're going to invest in the best monitors for image or video editing, you'll want a monitor arm to match.
Rather than resting on your desk and requiring a large base to maintain stability, these desk-mounted monitor arms clamp securely to the back edge of your desk, maximizing your work area in front. And you can expect superior adjustability, in terms of height, pan (left/right) and tilt (up/down) movement.
360 degrees of rotation is also a common feature, allowing you to easily switch from landscape to portrait monitor orientation should you need to. Higher quality arms can also be found with a gas spring inside that can be tuned to perfectly balance a wide variety of monitor sizes and weights.
Monitor arms don't only have to be for a single display, too. Many manufacturers also offer dual, triple and even quad-arm variants of their products, allowing you to perfectly position a multi-monitor set-up.
In this article, we've rounded up the absolute best monitor arms available today. Read on to find out what each has to offer, as we bring you the facts and figures you need to choose between them.
The best monitor arms in 2022
Ergotron is a big and well established name in the field of ergonomic computing and desks, as well as monitor arms. The LX Desk Monitor Arm impresses with its polished aluminium construction which is solid enough to support a monitor weighing up to 11.3 kg and/or 34-inches screen size, plus it's guaranteed for 10 years.
The arm itself weighs in at 3.6kg and attaches via a clamp to a desk surface 10-60mm thick, and it's packed with ergonomic adjustment. You get 33cm of height adjustment, 70 degrees of backward tilt and 5 degrees forward tilt, 360-degree pan and 360-degree rotation. The arm can fold right back to sit directly above the base, maximizing desk space in front. Just be sure the monitor you'll be mounting has VESA mounting holes conforming to either a 100 x 100mm or 75 x 75mm pattern, though these are almost universally standard.
This desk-mounted monitor arm may not have quite as much wow-factor as pricier options on this list, but it can certainly match them on specs. You can mount a display up to 32 inches, it'll support up to 9kg, and there's an excellent 33cm of height adjustment. You also get all the usual range of adjustment, with up to 90 degrees of up or down tilt and 360-degree rotation. There's even a gas spring inside to balance varying monitor weights for super-simple height adjustment.
The aluminium and steel arm can be had in silver of black finishes and will attach to a desk up to 8.4cm thick. Providing your monitor has a 100 x 100mm or 75 x 75mm mounting hole pattern (highly likely), this arm is a great value buy.
Don't fancy mounting your monitor to your desk and want a more solid fixing point? A wall-mounted arm could be the answer. You'll just need a power drill, some basic tools and the right fixings to suit the construction of the wall you'll be mounting to.
Once in place, Ergotron's MX Wall Mount LCD Arm is ideal for supporting big-screen and ultrawide monitors up to 13.6kg in weight and a whopping 42-inches large. As such, the mounting plate is larger than average, accommodating typical 100 x 100mm & 75 x 75mm VESA hole patterns, along with large panel 200 x 200mm and 200 x 100mm hole patterns.
The arm itself is easy on the eye with its polished aluminium finish and it features internal cable routing to maintain the sleek look. Monitor manoeuvrability isn't quite as extensive as with some desk-mounted arms, but it's still respectable, offering 12.7cm height adjustment, 90 degrees rotation and 360 degrees of pan movement.
It's far from the sexiest option on this list, but this back-to-basics arm will get the job done, and does so without breaking the bank. The only catch (other than the iffy looks) is you're limited to a max monitor size of 24 inches. But if that's not a problem, this arm enables a decent range of adjustability, although changing height requires you to release a clamp and to slide the arm up or down the mounting pole - no gas lift monitor balancing here. But since most of us rarely need to change the height of our display, that's not necessarily a deal-breaker.
This arm will, however, clamp to any desk from 2 to 10cm thick and it's compatible with standard 100x100mm and 75x75mm VESA hole patterns, so you should have no trouble fitting it to your desk or monitor.
If you're tall, a wall-mounted monitor arm may be for you. It allows you to position your screen at the ideal height to suit your eyeline. But if you'd rather not start drilling big holes above your desk to fit a wall-mounted arm, this desk-mounted alternative with an extended height range is worth considering.
Where the standard Ergotron LX Desk Monitor Arm 'only' offers 20cm of height adjustment, this Tall Pole version ups that range to 30cm. So even LeBron James perched on a bar stool should still be able to be able to get a comfortable viewing position. Apart from the extra lift, this arm is essentially the same as a regular Ergotron LX Desk Monitor Arm with excellent adjutsability. There's also a dual-screen Tall Pole option should you need it.
Here's a great monitor arm if you have a heavier set up. The 3M Dual-Swivel Monitor Arm is capable of supporting screens up to 30lbs/13.6kg, and can clamp to desks up to 4.25 inches thick. It offers with 18.6 inches of vertical adjustment and horizontal extension up to 19.5 inches, and allows angle tweaks for perfect positioning as well as giving you the option to rotate from landscape to portrait orientation.
This arm is hollow, allowing you to run your cables inside, and avoid lots of trailing wires getting in the way. It's a bit trickier to set up than many of the models on this list, but the extra strength and solidity it provides makes that well worth it should you have a weighty monitor.
Here's another great option if you're looking for the best monitor arm for a large display. The NB North Bayou Monitor Desk Mount Stand is made of high quality steel and aluminum alloys, with heavy duty construction to keep everything stable. Supporting monitors between 24 and 42 inches in diameter, and up to 33lbs (15kg) in weight, it's a good choice for heavy gaming monitors. It's compatible with 75 x 75mm and 100 x 100mm VESA mounts, and rotates throughout 360 degrees.
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