Herman Miller remains the gold standard for office chairs, but they are pretty expensive. Happily, you no longer need to spend four figures to get an excellent alternative.
Whether you're kitting out a home studio or upgrading a company office, there are now chairs that match Herman Miller on comfort, adjustability and aesthetics at a fraction of the price. My top pick is Branch's Verve office chair: a stunning, personality-filled chair that costs roughly half what you'd pay for a comparable Herman Miller chair.
If the picks below are still outside your price range, take a look at my guide to the best budget office chairs. And if you're concerned about the physical toll of long hours at a desk, I'd also recommend checking out my guide to the best office chairs for back pain.
As well as helping creatives get the best deals on kit, I'm also CB's chief tester of office chairs, and have reviewed a lot of different chairs at a range of prices. It takes a lot for an office chair to really impress me – the chairs on this list are the ones that have managed it.
The best Herman Miller alternatives
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Best overall
30-second review: Looking for a chair that looks as stylish, refined and premium as a Herman Miller, but that's waaaaay more affordable? I think this chair ticks all those boxes, with stunning aesthetics based around a seamless, sweeping colourful design. It's also easy to assemble and delivers exceptional comfort and ergonomic support.
Pricing: Branch's Verve office chair retails around $600 / £900, which is about half the price of most Herman Miller chairs. Overall, this chair delivers excellent comfort and style aimed at creatives looking for a premium, personality-filled office chair: a great value alternative to a Herman Miller.
Design and performance: When I reviewed this chair, I found it super comfortable to sit in for long periods, with easy to adjust lumbar support helping me to find the ideal position. There's a nice recline tension that allows subtle movement, too. But on the downside, armrests have a frustrating height adjustment mechanism that I found inconsistent in use. That's pretty much my only gripe with the Verve – that and the fact that the adjustable height range probably wouldn't suit anyone who's a lot taller than me (I'm 5'10).
"The Verve is a seriously cool chair with bags of style and personality – and considerably cheaper than Herman Miller."
Best budget alternative
30-second review: When I review office chairs, I try not to give out stars like candy. For a long time, among the many chairs I had reviewed, the only one that had received a five-star rating was the $1,999 Herman Miller Embody. However, the Sihoo M18 left me with no choice but to award my second top score (there have since been one or two more, as we'll see). It's an absolutely sublime budget office chair, one that delivers supreme comfort and ergonomics at a price that has you wondering how on earth they're making a profit on these things.
Pricing: While its RRP is around $299 / £260, the Sihoo M18 is currently not difficult to find for as little $129 / £130 – you could get 15 of them for the same price as the Embody, or three for the same price as the Branch Verve. For this price, it's very difficult to fault the Sihoo M18. Is it just as sleek, cool and smoothly designed as a Herman Miller chair? No. But for the price, it's outrageously close.
Design and performance: Its design is straightforward and effective, opting for elegant simplicity rather than being overstuffed with superfluous features like plenty of mid-tier office chairs, and it's all the better for it. The foam seat is wide and comfortable, while still being firm enough that it doesn't lose its shape, and the lumbar support is effective and adjustable. It does require self-assembly, but the process is very easy and took me about 25 minutes.
"Unless modern aesthetics are most important to you, I just don't see the M18 disappointing. It's a new classic budget chair, and I love it."
Best Embody alternative
30-second review: If you've been eyeing the Herman Miller Embody but can't stomach the price, the Autonomous ErgoChair Ultra 2 is the most direct visual and functional alternative. It doesn't quite match the Embody's engineering (that skeletal back is more aesthetic statement than ergonomic breakthrough), but it's a genuinely comfortable, well-built chair with armrest adjustability that puts many pricier rivals to shame.
Pricing: At around $500 / £430, the ErgoChair Ultra 2 costs less than half the price of the Herman Miller Embody. It's worth noting that Autonomous has recently introduced a lifetime warranty on the Ultra. That's unheard of at this price point, and a meaningful differentiator.
Design and performance: I used the ErgoChair Ultra 2 as my sole home office chair for five months and found the armrests (adjustable in four directions, wide and well-padded) a genuine highlight. The breathable mesh back was supportive in both upper and lower regions, and the skeletal exoskeleton certainly turns heads. The main limitation is seat foam: there's simply not enough of it, and over longer sessions some users may notice pressure building above the knees. Also, the exoskeleton back, while visually striking, doesn't add meaningful ergonomic value over a standard mesh backrest. (It's comfortable, just not transformative.)
"The ErgoChair Ultra 2 gets a lot right: great arms, good looks, and solid comfort. The seat could use more foam, but if you like the aesthetic and catch it on sale, it's a compelling pick."
Best for gamers
30-second review: This is the only gaming chair I've ever encountered that I would seriously class as a Herman Miller alternative, and it's one of the few I've given five stars to. The Secretlab Titan Evo provides all the functionality, comfort and adjustability you'd want from a gaming chair, without the tacky aesthetics.
Pricing: Secretlab does most of its business direct-to-consumer (DTC), meaning you're best off buying directly from their site to get the full range of colorways and material options, not to mention the best prices. Currently you can buy the Titan Evo directly for the standard price of $579 – though offers and discounts are not infrequent, so it's worth keeping an eye on the site.
Design and performance: First off, I have to give props to the assembly process of the Titan Evo, which is one of the most painless and dare I say enjoyable that I have experienced in my half decade of reviewing office chairs. The instructions are clear and well-illustrated, with accompanying photos, and the process itself is nice and simple. Top marks.
The Titan Evo is available in Small, Regular, and XL sizes to accommodate a wide range of body types. Its stylish design does employ that racing-car aesthetic that gamer chairs are known for, but does it so much more elegantly and tastefully than anything else on the market. The softweave fabric is, for my money, superior to the faux leather, and while the foam feels a little firm at first, it's easy to sink into, and gives a real sense of longevity. This isn't a chair that's going to lose all its comfort and cushion-shape within a year.
Honestly, I was blown away by this chair. The arm rests are hugely adjustable and supremely comfortable. The lumbar support, with its two separate control dials, can be configured precisely the way you want it, and the best compliment I can pay it is that I set it up when I first got the chair, and then it was so comfortable that I basically forgot about it for the next few months.
Gaming chair aesthetics are never quite going to have that Herman Miller chic – but this one gets damn close. If you've been hunting for a gaming chair that isn't going to be an ugly blight on your living space, you can stop searching. You've found it.
"If you want a great quality chair that is supremely comfortable, that's a joy to have from the moment you start assembling it, I can't recommend Titan Evo enough."
Best self-adjusting
30-second review: The Humanscale Freedom Chair is one of the most distinctive ergonomic chairs ever made; a design icon used by the likes of Barack Obama and Tim Cook, and collected by institutions including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. Designed by ergonomics pioneer Niels Diffrient and launched in 1999, it dispenses entirely with manual adjustment knobs and dials in favour of a weight-sensitive self-recline system that adapts to your body automatically. It's not cheap, but it's cheaper than most Herman Miller chairs, and in some ways, it's a more elegant piece of design.
Pricing: The Humanscale Freedom is available in a wide range of configurations, from fabric options at around £1,000 to fully custom leather builds that can approach $6,000. For most buyers, a mid-spec fabric version represents solid value given the 15-year warranty and build quality.
Design and performance: The Freedom Chair's central innovation is its Gravity recline system: rather than springs and tension controls, it uses your body weight to calibrate recline resistance automatically. Synchronous armrests move in harmony with the backrest, so you're always supported; the pivoting backrest flexes with your spine throughout the day; and the dynamic headrest (on headrest models) moves forward as you recline to keep your neck aligned. In practice it feels quite different to other chairs (all those familiar knobs and levers are simply gone), but once you settle into it, the self-adjusting comfort feels natural and intuitive. Lumbar support is excellent, build quality is exceptional, and the aesthetic is timeless in a way that Herman Miller's more clinical designs sometimes aren't. The main niggle is a slight looseness in the headrest at maximum extension, and the lack of manual controls will frustrate anyone who likes to fiddle.
Most comfortable
30-second review: The Haworth Fern was chosen as the most comfortable chair in its class in a recent independent study — even when compared to high-end Herman Miller models. It offers a unique, organic design that supports movement without the rigid frame felt in many ergonomic task chairs.
Pricing: The Fern sits at the premium end of the alternative market. While you can find basic configurations for around £800, a fully-specced version with a digital knit back and 4D arms will push closer to the £1,000 mark. It is a significant investment — but it’s still a darn sight cheaper than the Herman Miller equivalents.
Design and performance: The standout feature of the Fern is its total lack of a hard outer frame. As the name suggests, Haworth designed the chair to mimic the structure of a fern leaf — the central stem supports a series of (delightful!) fronds that move with your spine. This results in a level of comfort that’s more natural and less corrective than the Herman Miller Aeron.
The design also allows you to lean, twist, and change posture without hitting a hard plastic edge; perfect for digital artists who tend to shift positions to get new angles on their work. The build quality is exceptional, and the aesthetics fit into both high-end studios and calm home environments.
"Haworth's chair boasts genuine innovation, and the fern-based design actually works, gently cradling without ever feeling too prescriptive. I love how customisable it is, too."
Most adjustable
30-second review: Steelcase is perhaps the most popular commercial office chair maker in the US, and the Leap V2 is the company’s masterwork. It is the most adjustable chair we have tested; while most offer automatic tension, Steelcase allows you to dial in your position to an infinitesimal degree.
Pricing: Buying new, the Leap V2 typically retails between £850 and £1,100 depending on the upholstery and armrest options. However, because of Steelcase's build quality, this is one of the best chairs to buy refurbished, where you can often pick up a grade-A model for under £500.
Design and performance: While Herman Miller often designs chairs that choose how you sit, Steelcase believes you should have total control. The Leap V2 features LiveBack technology, which allows you to adjust the tension and the specific curvature of the lower back support.
The 4D armrests are widely considered the best in the business — they telescope, slide, and pivot with a tactile click that ensures your elbows are supported whether you are typing, drawing on a tablet, or leaning back for a meeting. The Natural Glide system is also super impressive; when you recline, the seat glides forward so you stay oriented to your desk and monitors.
"You can absolutely see why Steelcase has earned its place on the throne of US chair makers. If you're the kind of person who loves to fiddle with things until they're just right, this is the chair for you."
FAQs
How to choose the best Herman Miller alternative
To find the right Herman Miller alternative, look for an office chair with good ergonomic design and broad adjustability. Other things to check for include lumbar support and a breathable mesh backrest. Consider chairs from reputable brands like Steelcase, Humanscale and Ergohuman that offer similar quality to Herman Miller at a lower price point. Just because they're more affordable doesn't necessarily mean they'll be lower quality.
What does Herman Miller offer that alternatives don't?
Herman Miller used to be the one and only high-end chair manufacturer, but its position has shifted recently.
Part of the company's appeal is its 12-year warranty, which goes some way in justifying the higher prices it charges: if a chair is guaranteed to last more than a decade, you might end up spending less in the long run.
With the chairs we've featured here, the warranty length scales alongside the price: the low-cost Sihoo packs a three-year parts-only warranty, mid-price Secretlab and Verve options include five to seven years, while the higher-priced options are guaranteed for 10 to 12 years.
The other thing you're getting with a Herman Miller is the name of the man himself. However, as we found with the weirdly plasticky Sayl, even this can be a hit-and-miss affair.
Who is Herman Miller's main competitor?
While many brands aim for the crown, Steelcase is Herman Miller’s primary rival. As the most popular commercial manufacturer in the US, Steelcase dominates the high-end market with a design philosophy that contrasts sharply with Herman Miller’s.
Herman Miller prioritises corrective ergonomics. Models like the Aeron use high-tension mesh and rigid frames to guide users into an ideal sitting posture, essentially training your body to stay aligned.
In contrast, Steelcase emphasises adaptive movement, operating on the principle that the "best posture is the next posture." The company's flagship chairs shift as you lean or twist, providing continuous support.
How we test office chairs
Our team at CreativeBloq takes a hands-on approach to reviewing office chairs from Herman Miller and other brands. We don't merely consider the price tag; our testing process involves assembling each chair from its disassembled state, a common scenario for office chairs. This allows us to assess the ease of assembly, an often overlooked factor.
Beyond the initial setup, we integrate these chairs into our daily work routine, closely monitoring their comfort levels over extended periods. Equally crucial is the adjustability of various chair components, as this plays a pivotal role in ensuring optimal ergonomics, comfort, and safety. Our comprehensive testing methodology ensures that our recommendations are backed by firsthand experience, providing you with informed insights to make the best choice for your needs and budget.
