Top pick
This mat’s varied terrain encourages movement, making standing less tedious and less achy. It’s also easy to move the mat when you switch between standing and sitting.
In our tests, the novel surface of the Ergodriven Topo provided the most comfort for our feet and legs. This standing-desk mat’s varied, raised terrain encourages the frequent movement that ergonomics experts recommend. And this mat is easy to slide under a desk and bring back out with one foot (on both carpet and hard floors). It’s also easy to clean and has held up over several years of testing. And because it isn’t as wide and flat as standard anti-fatigue mats, it takes up less space under your desk.
The unusual, raised design is a game changer. Practically everyone who tested the Topo mat was initially skeptical of its design. But the benefits became evident within a few minutes of standing, and they were confirmed after months of use.
The back edge and front corners of the Topo mat are higher than the sides, and the mat has a teardrop-shaped mound in the middle that’s squishier than the rest of the material—great for massaging your feet. Without even thinking about it, you may end up standing on, pressing against, and heel-digging into all of those sections.
“I didn’t know I had nervous legs, but I’m glad this mat taught me that,” one coworker said. “It’s nice because I can’t stand straight and normal to save my life, but this made my usual slouching and foot fidgeting comfortable,” said another.
The foam is thick and supportive. Even when our testers stood upright and flat-footed, the flat portion of the Topo mat provided a firm but supportive pushback that they liked.
The surface feels good with shoes on and works fine with socks or bare feet, too. Pressing into the raised sections can put some pressure on your toes and the sides of your feet, and this can get uncomfortable after a while. But the mix of firmness and softness across the mat’s varied terrain encourages you to shift away anyway, as is recommended. One Wirecutter staffer told us he appreciates that moving around on the Topo mat adds steps to his daily count, even when he’s staying in one place.
It provides plenty of room to move around. Our testers, who ranged in height from 5-foot-2 to 6-foot-2, all found that the Topo mat provided suitable space for standing-desk work. When most people are standing on this mat’s flat portions, their feet will be about shoulder-width apart.
The Topo mat is a little deeper and narrower than the flat mats we recommend—about 29 inches at its widest and 26 inches deep. Because it’s not as wide as typical floor mats, this mat can hide in a corner under your desk when you wheel your chair in, and you’ll still have room for under-desk items, such as a trash can or a tower PC.
It’s painlessly maneuverable. The Topo mat is the easiest mat to slide under your desk and back out again, because it has an indent that you can hook with your heel. Most flat mats, which are designed to stay stubbornly in one spot, require that you bend down, grab the mat from the bottom (exposing your hand to all kinds of grit and grime), and move it out of the way.
The Topo mat produces only the slightest friction when it’s being pushed or pulled, but it won’t slip under your feet when you’re standing on it. The ease of repositioning the mat is a small grace that makes it less likely you’ll give up on your good intentions of switching between standing and sitting all day.
It’s simple to clean. The Topo mat is made of polyurethane, and it’s covered with a pebbled skin, which makes wiping up spills and crumbs simple. In our previous tests, this mat emerged puncture-free when we dropped a stapler, butt-end first, from standing height. We noticed no chemical smells while unpacking or first using the Topo mat, either.
Ergodriven offers a long, seven-year warranty. That’s great, but we don’t think you’ll need it, given the mat’s highly durable material, as well as the fact that several staffers (including one of the guide’s authors) have used Topo mats for several years and report that they show no significant signs of wear and still feel supportive. One coworker’s cat clawed a notable gouge into the Topo mat on the first day they had it, but the mark had vanished by the next day.
It comes in multiple unusual colors. It’s refreshing to see that, in addition to standard black, the Topo mat comes in a much brighter gray and two bold colors: denim blue and mulberry purple. The majority of standing mats come only in black or a couple of drab, muted shades of brown and gray.
You can get a smaller version, if you like. Ergodriven also offers a mini version of the Topo, which shaves off a couple of inches in width, depth, and height. The company says the mini is a better choice if you’re under 5-foot-4 and don’t need the additional legroom that the standard version offers. (That said, our under-5-foot-4 testers found the standard Topo mat’s size to be just right for them.)
Flaws but not dealbreakers
- If you want to pace or work at different ends of your desk without raised surfaces getting in your way—or you want to use a mat for high-movement tasks, like cooking—stick with a flat mat, such as the ComfiLife Anti Fatigue Floor Mat we recommend.
- Ergodriven’s FAQ section suggests the Topo mat is ideal for people who weigh under 240 pounds. But both its FAQ section and an Ergodriven representative clarified that the Topo may still relieve pressure for people who weigh more than that. Even so, we’d suggest that anyone significantly over that weight keep the 30-day return policy in mind.
- A few testers thought the Topo mat’s central “button” was too squishy. It seems to be meant more as an occasional foot stop or a spot to press and stretch foot muscles, but it does have a different feel from the contoured, firmer edges.
- If you have a desk that’s less than 30 inches deep, you might prefer a smaller mat (like the Topo Mini) for more desk-chair clearance when your mat is under the desk.
