11 Best Treadmills for Home in 2024

Regardless of your personal intentions, though, you want to make sure the tread allows you to move freely while you’re running. It should have a long enough belt to accommodate your stride (at least 55 inches), and a suitable weight capacity. Ng adds that treadmills have varying levels of cushion, so before making the investment, he recommends bringing your running shoes to a showroom or buying a day pass to a gym where you can try out the treadmill to see how it feels under your feet.

From there, you can prioritize getting a machine with specs that fit your needs.

For general use

If you’re looking to get a solid cardio workout at home, Louis Serafini, a running coach and general manager at the running app Runna, suggests looking for an easy-to-use interface and space-saving design, like a smaller footprint or foldable construction. You should be able to find one that checks these boxes without costing a small fortune, he says.

For race training

But if you’re training for a big race, you might need to get pickier. You’ll want to look for models with a higher horsepower (at least 3.0), an incline range that somewhat resembles the course you’ll be running, and a max speed that can handle your sprint workouts. And if you plan to run longer than an hour, Ng says to make sure the machine doesn’t have a 60-minute time limit before it shuts off.

Types of treadmills

If you still feel lost in a sea of options, narrow things down by deciding which type of treadmill is right for your space, budget, and workout style

Smart treadmills

These luxury treads offer high-tech features like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, with large HD touchscreens to stream workout classes and easy syncing to your Apple Watch or Android devices. “[Running on a] treadmill can be a little boring,” Felsenthal admits. If you’re concerned that a lack of motivation might keep you from actually using the machine, she suggests looking for a smart treadmill that offers pre-recorded routes or interactive workouts. Just know these machines are often priced to match their premium features.

Folding treadmills

Many of the best treadmills for home-use come with space-saving designs, like the option to fold the deck up toward the console and handlebars. Most folding treadmills also have wheels for easy portability, which comes in handy for anyone without enough room in their home to dedicate to a treadmill full-time.

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Commercial treadmills

A commercial treadmill is a high-caliber machine created for a commercial gym. Essentially, they’re designed to handle a lot of traffic. Commercial treads tend to have a larger footprint and don’t always have folding options. While you can definitely get one to use at home, Dianne Clemente, equipment and projects manager at Crunch, tells SELF that these machines sometimes need a high-voltage outlet.

Manual treadmills

With manual treadmills, the runner’s stride causes the belt to move. “You’re basically the only one that is going to be pulling that belt back,” Ng says. “There is absolutely no motor to it.” That means these machines don’t need to be plugged in and can eventually feel more natural to run on, but they also make runs harder and can be tricky to maneuver. “I would leave those for more advanced runners,” Ng says.

Under-desk treadmills

These are your work-from-home ticket to a higher step count. Also called walking pads, they typically have lower horsepower and max speeds since they’re not designed for running. That also means they’re usually more affordable than your average full-size treadmill.

How we test treadmills

It’s impossible to judge a treadmill’s quality just by how it looks or what the marketing materials “promises.” To make sure we recommend the absolute best treadmills for home, our team of testers hops on popular treadmills to try them out firsthand so that you don’t have to. For a detailed breakdown of everything we consider, check out our full fitness-testing methodology. In the meantime, here are three treadmill-specific qualities our testers keep in mind as they log mile after mile:

Durability and ergonomics

The only treads that make our cut have a strong motor and a weight capacity of at least 300 pounds. We also pay attention to how much shock absorption we feel under our feet, if the belt is long enough to feel safe when we open up our stride, and whether the frame shakes so much it causes an earthquake when we hit top speeds.

Features and programming

We get it: Using a treadmill is not always the most scintillating activity. So we check out the workout classes and other programs each machine offers, scoring how user-friendly and engaging they are. We also test to see how well tech like Bluetooth and WiFi connections and auto-adjust features actually work in practice.

Speed and incline

Waiting ages for a tread to adjust can seriously mess with a workout. So, in addition to looking for speed and incline capabilities that can accommodate a range of runners, our testers time exactly how long it takes to go from zero to full incline, and we monitor whether there’s any lag in the auto-adjustments made during classes.

Other treadmills we recommend

We believe the treadmills on this list really are best in class. However, we also get that you might want options catered to your unique fitness intentions and lifestyle. Check out the pages below for machines we recommend with more specific needs in mind.