When you spend so much time building PCs and picking out the best gaming monitor, gaming keyboard and gaming mouse, it’s easy to overlook the importance of the chair you use to navigate that setup. For PC gamers, sitting in the best gaming chair can add some personality to your gaming den and, more importantly, provide support to key areas like your back and shoulders, which are often neglected by cheaper furniture. When you’re sitting for large chunks of the day, your body needs just as much attention as your CPU, so you can focus on gaming and working rather than scheduling your next chiropractor visit.
But the best gaming chair may not necessarily be one that’s marketed as a gaming chair. When you’re using your computer to work or study, you need to ensure that you’re sitting on something that’s comfortable and right for you, even when you’re not fragging with your friends or listening to Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077. Whether that means a bright gamer aesthetic, a more subdued look fit for conference calls, or a range of adjustments for when you need to lay back and regroup is all up to you.
Below, we break down the best gaming chairs we’ve tested, whether they’re explicitly targeted at gamers or not. Before we get to the listings, here are some things to consider when shopping for a new gaming chair.
Shopping Tips to Help You Find the Best Gaming Chair
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- Check the height and weight specs: If you don’t fit the chair’s recommendations or if you’re a smaller person and notice the chair is geared toward the big and tall crowd, look elsewhere. Many gaming chairs and task chairs come in sizes to suit a range of heights and weights.
- Watch shoulder and lumbar support: Chairs without enough backrest height and width to support your shoulders and lumbar region via a dedicated mechanism or pillow may leave you with soreness after a long day’s work or play.
- Mind your measurements: Some chairs provide measurements for the whole seat, which may be smaller than the measurement for the actual sittable area of the seat. Make sure the seat’s point of contact is wide enough for your hips and how you like to sit.
- Which adjustments do you need: Height adjustment is pretty standard, but you may also want to recline forward and/or backward, move the armrests in multiple directions or have the ability to rock. Recline may not seem as important for mouse-and-keyboard gamers, but if you ever plan to use a game controller you may find that you’d prefer a less upright, active position.
- What material and look do you want? There are a lot of gaming chairs that look like racecar bucket seats and use faux leather (which won’t necessarily last a long time). Real leather will be pricier, and mesh chairs can be harder to clean. If you want something that looks more subdued, consider chairs that may not claim “gaming” in their title.
- Can it fit under your desk? If pairing your chair with a certain desk, make sure the chair’s height and armrests will be able to fit under the desk, so you can push it in when not in use.
Best Gaming Chairs 2023
With a complete range of adjustment options, including a backrest that can sit from 85-165 degrees, premium-feeling faux leather, and some of the coziest extra pillows we’ve ever laid our heads and lower backs on, the Secretlab Omega is the best gaming chair we’ve tested. Secretlab’s in-house take on memory foam has just the right amount of hardness to support the whole body for hours without being overly rigid and stiff.
One of the Omega’s most standout features is the foam neck and lumbar foam pillows that use cooling gel to fight heat and are covered in a deliciously soft fabric. They’re not just decoration; the pillows conform to your body when in use and revert back to their original shape after. Plus, the armrests move up/down, in/out and toward/away the body. You can also push them forward/back. It’s not perfect: these armrests could be softer, and the recline lever’s quality has room for improvement. However, with all of these advantages and a helpful tilt function, the Secret Labs Omega offers a comfortable position for most body types.
Note that the Omega also comes in different upholsteries and finishes. We tested the fabric upholstery in our Secretlab Titan SoftWeave review, as well as one of the more colorful design options, the Secretlab League of Legends K/DA Edition.
More: Secretlab Omega review
AndaSeat’s Kaiser 3 is our pick for the best gaming chair alternate, although if you look closely you’ll see that it’s extremely similar the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 — the chair it dethrones (and also the chair that will eventually replace Secretlab’s Omega as the company’s flagship gaming chair. They’re not identical — the Kaiser 3 has a sportier profile, with racing-inspired shoulder vent passthroughs, and more exaggerated bucket-seat styling.
The AndaSeat Kaiser 3 comes in two sizes: Large, for people up to 6’2” and 260 pounds, and XL, for people up to 6’9” and 395 pounds. But it’s so adjustable — and easy to adjust — that both our 5’2” reviewer and her 6’4” husband found it extremely comfortable. It’s padded with dense, supportive foam covered in soft leatherette (also available in linen fabric), which is easy to clean and comfortable against bare skin.
Similar to the Titan Evo 2022, the Kaiser 3 has an internal lumbar support system adjustable for both location and amount of support, as well as an almost-identical magnetic memory foam/cooling gel neck pillow. The Kaiser 3’s 4D arm rests have magnetic tops that can be removed to accommodate an upcoming desktop attachment (sold separately). The chair has a tilt limiter and reclines to any angle between 90 and 165 degrees.
The Kaiser 3 comes in nine colors (seven in leatherette and two in linen fabric); it has a better baseline variety of colors than the Titan Evo 2022, but Secretlab’s chair comes in about 30 different special edition collab varieties featuring games and eSports teams. The Kaiser 3 retails for about $50 less than the Titan Evo 2022.
More: AndaSeat Kaiser 3 review
At under $300, the AndaSeat Jungle is the best gaming chair we tested for gamers who don’t want to break their back or the bank. A 1.5-inch-thick layer of memory foam prevents your body from sagging into the chair, and the foam lumbar support and neck pillows make it even harder to slouch.
Despite its more budget pricing, the Jungle offers breathable vinyl faux leather and the necessary adjustments for gaming and work. You get height adjustment, a rocking feature, recline from 90-160 degrees and height-adjustable armrests.
Those with wider hips or who just like to spread out, however, will lament the seat’s narrowness. Make sure the 14.2-inch width is enough room for you, otherwise you won’t last very long in this chair.
More: AndaSeat Jungle review
Supporting gamers up to 441 pounds — or 330.7 pounds if you want to use the rocking feature — and 6 feet 10.7 inches, the AndaSeat T-Pro 2 is the best gaming chair for big and tall gamers who need a little extra room. It has a firm backrest with very little give combined with a seat (22.7 inches wide with the side bumpers, 16.5 inches without) that lets you sink in, making for a durable supportive chair that feels cozy while promoting good posture.
While many gaming chairs opt for faux leather, the Pro 2’s linen upholstery feels a little rough but will fight off sweat better. You also get a foam lumbar pillow, plus a neck one that you can strap to the chair’s head, but it’s best for gamers at least 6-feet-tall.
Adjustments include the ability to rock, set the backrest at a 90-160-degree angle and a 2.8-inch height range. The armrests can also move up/down, forward/back, left/right and turn in 45 degrees. But they’re a hard plastic that your elbows won’t want to spend much time on.
If you’re the right height to make the most of this chair, the T-Pro 2 will easily slide into your gaming room or even office, thanks to a range of color options (grey with black accents, steel blue with black accents or all black).
More: AndaSeat T-Pro 2 review
A lot of gaming chairs look very similar (if not basically identical), but not Thermaltake’s Argent E700. Designed by Studio F. A. Porsche, the Argent E700 features real leather upholstery with contrast stitching and a shiny, curvy ABS shell that comes in nine colors, including the striking ‘ocean blue’ we reviewed. If you’re looking for a statement piece, this is it. Not only is the Argent E700 beautiful, its glossy shell is highly reflective — guaranteed to distract the eye from any extra clutter on your desk.
This chair looks fantastic, but looks aren’t everything. The Argent E700 is definitely less adjustable than many of its competitors (to be fair, gaming chairs often go a little over the top when it comes to adjustments — I don’t necessarily think you need a chair that reclines to a lying-flat position). It reclines, but only locks at four positions: 107, 113, 119, and 126 degrees. It has a headrest that slides vertically, and 4d armrests that don’t lock in position — and so end up moving around and clacking pretty often. It doesn’t have built-in lumbar support, though not many do (many come with pillow, which can be bought separately). The chair also has relatively firm padding, and a seat that, while not overly narrow, has rigid measurements.
The Argent E700’s $1300 retail price is very steep, even for the high end of the gaming chair market. This chair is priced more in line with high-end task chairs, which is exactly what describes the other chairs we’ve reviewed in this price range. But while chairs like the Herman Miller X Logitech G Embody Gaming Chair are zeroed in on ergonomics, the Argent E700 really is mostly about looks — and it looks amazing.
More: Thermaltake Argent E700 Review
Yes, the X-Chair X3 ATR Mgmt is expensive, but with configurable options that let you build a chair that fits your body type, it’s an investment in comfort. Primarily, the X3 ATR Mgmt blows most other gaming chairs’ approaches to lumbar support away by ditching the clunky pillow or adjustable firmness with a tension mechanism that properly adjusts to your size and lower back shape.
The X3 ATR Mgmt comes with a lot of optional features that can add to its price, from the massage/heat features we tested to the headrest and your choice of foam. The configuration we tested lets us work and play for hours without any back or body aches; although, the armrests could be a little softer. Those armrests can move up/down, forward/back and twist in/out. The seat’s also movable, as is the height, and the backrest and recline from 90-130 degrees.
Most people don’t need the $100 heat and massage feature add-on, which you can power via your PC or a battery pack. It feels nice on the lower back but isn’t very strong. You can also consider the X-Chair Elemax, which packs heat, massage and active cooling.
For another splurge-worthy gaming chair with impressive arm rests and office chair ergonomics, check out the Mavix M9.
More: X-Chair X3 ATR Mgmt review
Razer’s first gaming chair, the Razer Iskur, puts most of its eggs in the lumbar support basket. It’s got an extremely unique form factor among gaming chairs, with a hanging pillow attached to the backrest that’s supposed to help support you better than other options. It’s great for the company, then, that this gamble has mostly paid off.
While the lumbar support pillow can be highly sensitive to screw tightness, it’s adjustable, robust and versatile. More than a simple memory foam pillow, it’s wide and has the same comfortable yet firm pleather cushioning as the rest of the chair. It also hangs off the backrest so that it can conform to your spine, and you can control the angle it hangs from with a lever.
The lever can be hard to reach, but the mechanism itself works great. Our reviewer appreciated how it helped enforce proper posture over long gaming sessions, something that a lot of gaming chairs, especially those based on bucket seat style racer chairs, don’t focus on.
Even in those chairs that do focus on ergonomics, lumbar support is often either an afterthought or an add-on. If you want a chair that puts your spinal health front and center, the Razer Iskur is for you.
More: Razer Iskur review
The Razer Iskur has maybe the strongest lumbar support on this list — at the cost of the aesthetics Razer is known for. The Razer Enki, meanwhile, moves that lumbar support inside the chair for a more traditional (if less adjustable) experience. The result still works quite well, although the chair can be stiff from time to time as you get used to it correcting your posture.
Since the lumbar arch sits inside the chair, it can’t be adjusted — but everything else is fair game. From the backseat to the height to the seat tilt to the armrests, the Enki is still a customizable experience. Furthermore, the chair’s assembly is simple and doesn’t require many pieces or any tools not already included in the box.
Perhaps the Enki’s biggest draw, though, is its looks. Unlike the Iskur, this is a sleek (faux) leather throne that is as much fashion statement as it is furniture. Should you opt for the Enki, you’ll still get plenty of the Iskur’s functionality, even if you can’t access the internal lumbar arch. If you’re ok with the out-of-the-box setting, the Enki offers you the best of both form and function.
More: Razer Enki Review
Savings on the Best Gaming Chairs
Whether you’re shopping for one of the best gaming chairs on our list above or a similar model, you may find savings by checking out our lists of Razer promo codes, Newegg promo codes or Best Buy promo codes.
