Flexispot vs Varidesk: Battle For The Best Standing Desk Converter [M2B 35″ and Pro plus 26″]

Flexispot and Varidesk enjoy a spot on the list of the most sought-after standing desk converters on the market today.

The two brands are synonymous with top-rated standing desk risers—evidenced by the massive positive ratings their products enjoy.

If you’re finding it hard to decide between a Varidesk and Flexispot desk, you’ll find this guide helpful.

We have done this in-depth side-by-side comparison of these two top companies to help you easily decide which one makes the most suitable standing desk for your needs.

Flexispot vs Varidesk Standing Desks: Overview

As we have just mentioned above, Flexispot and Varidesk are household names in the standing desk market. They make reliable standing desk converters that help your instantly transform your regular desk into a standing desk.

Vari is a Texas-based manufacturer that has been producing standing desktop risers since 2013. And they offer you a variety of models to choose from with varying sizes and capabilities. Currently, their most popular standing desk model is the Varidesk Pro Plus 36″.

Flexispot is an upcoming brand based in California that has positioned itself as a rival to Varidesk and other top brands in the standing desks market. The company, too, has several converters available for you to compare and choose from. One of their most popular standing desk models is the Flexispot M2B 35″.

For this Flexispot and Varidesk comparison, we’ll focus on the two companies top standing desk models—the Flexispot M2B 35″ and Varidesk Pro Plus 36″.

While these top picks serve the same purpose and may look quite similar, they have a handful of distinct differences that you need to know to make a wiser decision on which one to get.

Flexispot M2B 35″ vs Vari Pro Plus 36″ comparison table:

Assembly

The Varidesk standing desk converter is ready to use out of the box and requires no assembly. It comes fully assembled and you just need to unbox and set it on your desk. That’s all!

Flexispot, on the other hand, requires some minimal assembly. But this is nothing complicated as all you have to do is attach the keyboard tray, put some plastic covers on the metal rail in the bottom as well as optional decorative plastic covers on the joints.

This should take you roughly 5 minutes.

Lifting mechanism

The type of lift mechanism offered by a desktop riser is an important consideration for desk converters because it affects the overall ease of setting up your desk riser to your desired sit/stand height.

That said, the two companies employ completely different lifting mechanisms for their popular desk risers. Varidesk utilizes a spring assist mechanism while Flexispot uses a gas spring assist system.

The spring action in Varidesk has received a high number of complaints about being a challenge to raise or lower. The short and average height office workers, in particular, confessed to having a hard time trying to raise the Varidesk to their desired height setting.

Pushing the desk to its lowest height setting is a problem too.

Operating the Flexispot converter is pretty easy, thanks to its super-smooth gas spring assist with quality hydraulic struts. It features a lever just below the main worktop, on the right-hand side, which you can operate with only one hand.

Lowering the standing desk converter may require you to exert some extra force but it’s not hard. You’ll have an easy time locking this desk converter into various height settings.

Ergonomics

However, we believe that these desk converters would offer even better ergonomics if the manufacturers made the keyboard trays tiltable to enable you to adjust them at an angle you’re more comfortable typing on your keyboard.

Making the foot adjustable would also be a nice touch to enable you to set your desk converter to sit steadily on desks with an uneven tabletop surface.

Quick TIP: If you think that these converters don’t bring up your monitor(s) to a comfortable level, you can invest in a monitor arm(s) that are adjustable to enable you to raise the monitors to an even higher position that feels most comfortable for you.

Also read: Flexispot Gaming Desk Review

Height adjustment settings

Flexispot also grants you the ability to scale its height from the lowest setting of 5.9″ all the way up to a maximum of 19.7″. This is a total of around 12 height settings (slightly higher than Vari) and will enable you to set it to the best fit for you.

This means you can quickly switch between sitting and standing positions with this desk riser and avoid hurting your butt and back by sitting in your office chair all day.

Multiple height settings offered by both converters means that whether you’re a short 5’1” user or a tall 6’1”, you’ll still find the stand desks accommodating for you.

Flexispot wins over Varidesk Pro Plus since it offers you more height settings and will cater to a wider variety of users, especially tall office workers. Nonetheless, the difference is only one height setting and pretty minimal.

Amount of workspace

When it comes to the main worktop, the Varidesk offers you a real estate measuring 36″ W x 12.25″ D. The surface space area is large enough for a dual monitor setup, a laptop, and even a notebook.

The workspace offered by the Flexispot M2B model’s main desktop surface is 35″ W x 23.2″ D. This ranks it above the Varidesk Pro Plus 36″ model.

In other words, Flexispot has more surface space which translates to a vast amount of real estate for holding your dual monitor setup, laptops, paperwork, and still leaves extra room for smaller office accessories.

Flexispot, therefore, takes the crown for the most spacious desktop riser. If you’re looking for a standing desk that offers you a spacious work area for your monitors and other office equipment, it is the go-to option for you.

Weight limit

The two standing desks converters even out on weight limit as they both have a maximum weight capacity of Varidesk Pro Plus 36″ is 35lbs.

This proves that they can safely hold up to the weight of your monitor(s), laptop, keyboard, and other small accessories you place on your office table.

For instance, if you have two 23-inch monitors in your office, each weighing around 7.7lbs, a laptop weighing 9.9lbs, and a standard keyboard weighing 1-2lbs, their total weight is still under 35lbs and you can safely add smaller items to the converters without compromising on the weight limit.

Keyboard tray

Flexispot, too, offers you a large keyboard area that fits a full-sized keyboard. However, it doesn’t feature the cutout so your keyboard might keep moving back and forth as you use it which can be pretty annoying.

Varidesk brand also offers you a writing area on their keyboard try—a big enough area to fit a full-size notepad. Unfortunately, this helpful feature for writers is missing on the Flexispot.

This isn’t a big deal if you only plan to use the tray to hold your keyboard for typing. But if you plan to use it as writing as well, Varidesk Pro Plus 36″ is the way to go.

The keyboard on the Flexispot standing desk detaches pretty easily and without any tool, if you want to use your standing desk riser without a keyboard. The tray on Varidesk is mainly designed to stay in place, though you can use a screwdriver to take it out.

But it won’t come out as quickly.

One more thing that sets the two desks’ trays apart is the mouse area. While both trays have room for your mouse, the Flexispot M2B is more generous with mouse space whereas Varidesk Pro Plus 36″ has limited space for your mouse.

Materials and build quality

Varidesk features a Z-design frame made from painted steel for maximum sturdiness and durability. Its primary desktop and keyboard platforms are made using particleboard covered with laminate plastic material.

The entire desk converter feels extremely solid and weighty. Thanks to this hefty feel, this desk riser feels quite stable and won’t easily wobble or stoop when packed to capacity.

As for the Flexispot, it is also made using a thick, heavy-duty stainless steel frame that makes it extremely sturdy and long-lasting. However, the frame here is X-shaped, unlike in Varidesk. Its main work surface and keyboard tray are made using particleboard, just like Varidesk.

You’ll also be pleased to discover that the Flexispot comes with nicely padded legs to prevent it from scratching or damaging your existing office desk.

Both standing desks have a great build quality featuring solid steel—which is considered the standard frame material for high-quality standing desk risers. Both desks are heavy-duty and pretty solid and will last long with some good care.

Whichever model you choose, you can rest assured that you have added office furniture that’s built to last and will serve you for a long period of time.

Design

Another area where the two standing desks seem to follow different paths is how they’re built to rise up whenever you extend them to a standing position.

Flexispot employs a straight mechanism, where the converter goes straight up. This is a great design if you’re short on space in your home workspace.

This is because it doesn’t extend forward but goes all up without taking any extra space.

An added benefit of using this type of lifting system is that it’s highly stable since it rises in place, even at maximum standing desk height.

As for the Varidesk Pro Plus 36″, it employs a completely different mechanism usually referred to as a forward-arcing pattern. As you lift the converter up, it will not only go up but also extend forward, forcing you to step backward around 1.5 to 2ft. from your existing desk.

This is beneficial if you want to move away from your primary desk a bit. But it has some downsides.

Firstly, it takes up a lot of space, which isn’t good for folks with a small home office.

Secondly, it is less stable compared to the rise-in-place mechanism of Flexispot. As the converter extends in a forward-arcing pattern, it’s likely to become top-heavy and compromise stability.

It is also likely to form a tee totter effect where a simple pressing of the keyboard undermines the converter stability. This is highly likely to occur when using the desk converter at upper height settings.

Overall, if you have a small work area and every inch of space means a lot to you, then the Flexispot is the perfect model for you. If space isn’t a problem, however, you can go with either mechanism you prefer.

Color options

Flexispot comes in a handful of color alternatives including white, river walnut, mahogany, and black.

You’ll also get many color options with Varidesk Pro Plus 36″ including white, butcher block, dark wood, and black.

It is safe to say that both converters offer you a variety of colors to choose from and none is dominant over the other.

Pricing

The price difference between the Varidesk pro plus 36 and Flexispot M2B 35 desk converter is quite huge—over $100 bucks!

The Varidesk sits way high on the price spectrum, meaning it will cost you more than the Flexispot.

Most previous users agree that Varidesk price is exaggerated and not worth the extra cost. Though the two converters exhibit several differences, they’re still made of quality and offer you a reliable converter to instantly convert your existing office table to a standing desk.

If you’re on a tight budget, deciding between the two is then easier as Flexispot is $100 cheaper than Varidesk and is the more affordable option here.

Flexispot & Varidesk standing desk converters: User reviews

Before we close our Flexispot m2b 35 vs Vari pro plus 36 covert desks, we’d like to give you a sneak peek into what the previous users who have already used these converters are saying about them.

To make this part for you to comprehend, we’ll categorize the user reviews into good and bad sides of each model.

Flexispot M2B 35″

Varidesk Pro Plus 36″

Final Verdict

From this in-depth comparison, Flexispot comes out as more spacious, easier to use, has a space-saving design, and way more affordable than the Varidesk.

The Varidesk comes 100% fully assembled, well-made, and offers a sufficient worktop for your monitor and other office equipment. But it is pricey and its design encourages consumption of more space in your work area.

Flexispot is clearly the winner in this battle for the best standing desk converter.

Despite these differences that exist between the two, they are sturdy desk risers built to last, and will instantly transform your office desk into a sit-stand desk.

Overall, the choice between Varidesk and Flexispot will come down to your specific workspace needs, how much you’re willing to spend, and your personal preferences.