Best Ellipticals of 2021

FitRated Editorial Team | Aug 04 2021 - 12:32 pm

Looking for an exercise machine that won’t strain the joints? America’s most popular low-impact trainers are elliptical machines. Ellipticals are beloved by professional and amateur trainers alike, so there are an intimidating number of options to choose from. That’s where we come in. Our comparison charts and detailed elliptical reviews will help you find the best elliptical value in any price range.

Below you’ll find the five of the best ellipticals for home use in 2020. These popular cross-trainers offer extraordinary combinations of price, performance, workout programs, and special features (each elliptical carries a competitive warranty as well). Beneath our chart of the five best ellipticals, you’ll find more cross trainer options organized by review score. All price classes are included, from bargain bin cheapies to lavishly luxurious machines designed for pro athletes.

Top 5 Best Ellipticals - A Quick Comparison

	Model	Rating Our custom rating considers all of the elliptical's features, specs, warranties, and 100's of user & expert reviews, to save you time!	List Price Suggested retail price, typically higher than the price you'll pay with our recommended retailers.	Resistance Resistance is what determines calories burned per stride. The more levels, the more precisely you can control the difficulty.	Stride Length Stride Length is important for comfort and smooth strides. A stride length of 18-21 inches is ideal for most heights (5'3 - 6'7).	Programs Elliptical Programs allow you to complete a workout with changing speeds and inclines, without changing anything manually.	Flywheel The flywheel controls the smoothness and resistance of your workout. In general, the higher the better.	Pricing Since prices change daily, this link goes to our preferred retailer for the best price we've found.
1	Sole E95	Rating: 95.1%	$3,399	20 levels	20"	10	27 lbs	See Best Price
2	Bowflex M6	Rating: 94.5%	$1,699	16	n/a	n/a	n/a	See Best Price
3	NordicTrack FS7i	Rating: 94.5%	$2,699	24 Levels	0" - 32"	35	20 lbs.	See Best Price
4	Sole E98	Rating: 94.1%	$4,799	20 Levels	20"	10	30 lbs	See Best Price
5	Sole E55	Rating: 94.1%	$2,799	Multiple	20"	10	17 lbs	See Best Price

Best Elliptical Trainers by Category

To ease your search for the right trainer, we organize elliptical reviews into useful categories. Click a link to get a category overview and part-by-part reviews for the best ellipticals in the bunch.

Best Ellipticals by Price

What’s your home gym budget? On a dropdown menu up top, our elliptical reviews are divided into several price brackets. Here are quick descriptions of a few price popular price categories:

The cheapest ellipticals are in the under-$500 category. These are entry-level trainers with short warranties. We typically recommend saving up and spending $500+ on an elliptical machine because at this level, double the price is more than double the quality. See our top rated ellipticals under $500 here.
Most shoppers choose machines sale priced from $999 to $1999. These tend to be the best ellipticals for overall value. See our favorite ellipticals $1000 - $1500 range and $1500 - $2000 range.
Elite home ellipticals cost $2500 or more. Some are strong enough for light commercial use. See a list of our top rated high end ellipticals.

Best Ellipticals by Drive Type

Elliptical machines are also categorized according to where their drives (flywheels) are stored. The three categories are rear drive, front drive and center drive. The drive location can influence the machine’s noise level, your exercise posture and more.

The classic elliptical design is the rear drive. The best rear drive ellipticals are quiet and dependable partly because of their suspended pedals. (Cheaper rear drive machines have pedals that glide along rails, so they’re more prone to noisiness and wear.) A possible drawback is that rear drive ellipticals need the most floor space. Therefore some have foldable frames.
Front drive ellipticals are sometimes preferred because they cost less than rear drive ellipticals and need less floor space. A possible drawback though is that these machines could be noisy in comparison. Also, some front drive ellipticals encourage you to lean into the console, which isn’t your best possible training posture. To get an idea of how your body would be positioned on a trainer, you can see how a model uses the machine in a picture or a YouTube demo.
The third category is center drive ellipticals. Like rear drive trainers, these promote good posture -- and compared with rear drive trainers, these machines have small footprints too. When you actually use one of these machines though, your arms and legs will likely extend far beyond the base of the unit. Despite being compact these trainers tend to support long strides.

Favorite Space-Saving Ellipticals

As just mentioned above, center drive ellipticals require the least floor space. Front drive trainers take a moderate amount of space, and rear drive machines need the most room.

Special options recommended for small spaces are folding ellipticals and Bowflex Max Trainers.

Folding ellipticals might have shock-assist for very quick folding that requires little upper body strength.
Bowflex Max Trainers look similar to center drive ellipticals and support especially high intensity exercise. With a Max Trainer you can burn calories at about double the rate compared with using a more traditional elliptical cross-trainer.

Best Club-Quality Ellipticals

Fitness machines are categorized as light commercial, commercial or residential. Light commercial ellipticals are typically under warranty for up to three hours of use per day. Commercial ellipticals are designed for up to six hours of use per day.