The 3 Best Folding Tables of 2025

At a glance, many folding tables seem the same. Look a little closer, and you’ll find a number of small details that make or break a table:

Price: Most 6-foot, solid-top tables are around $90. 4-foot tables usually cost $40 to $50. When you pay less, you end up with cheap hardware or a weak tabletop. If you pay more, you’re entering commercial-grade territory, where tables are made to withstand more abuse than most people will put them through.

Size: We looked for tables that had enough surface area and seating but wouldn’t take up too much storage space. 8-foot folding tables are available, but 6-foot tables were most popular with our staffers — they should seat six to eight adults. The 4-foot tables we tested were narrower, so they were less comfortable for adult seating but perfect for kids.

Hardware: Regardless of the style of table you buy, the folding hardware — hinges, locks, and latches — should move smoothly and easily. The best tables feature automatic locks to hold the open table secure and, for tables that fold in half, exterior latches to keep the table shut while in transport.

Stability: Folding tables should feel sturdy and not wobbly. If the table is jostled, drinks shouldn’t fall over. It also shouldn’t flip over if you lean on it, and if it folds in half, bumping into it shouldn’t cause the middle to bow.

Portability: A good table should be light enough for one person of average strength to move and set up. Most 6-foot tables weigh between 30 and 40 pounds, while 4-foot tables weigh 20 to 25 pounds. We were especially interested in tables with comfortable, easy-to-grip handles. Solid tabletops are much more cumbersome to move around than tabletops that fold in half; they also usually don’t have a handle.

Weight limit: The vast majority of the tables we tested have weight limits that vary from 300 to 1,000 pounds. These limits are for distributed weight, though, which means heavy objects, like a bulky sewing machine, may still dent the tabletop. Increased weight limits don’t seem to affect price in a meaningful way, but not all table makers list a limit. If you’re storing a lot of heavy objects, like power tools or computer monitors on the table, factor in the weight limit. Otherwise, you probably won’t notice the difference between a table rated for 300 pounds and one rated for 1,000 pounds.

Durable top: The tabletop should stand up to heavy use and be easy to clean. Some folding tables have a textured top, and others are smooth. In our tests, we discovered that smooth tables show more scratches. We left grape juice on all of the tables overnight, but neither type of surface was particularly prone to staining.

Warranty: Warranties on folding tables vary, sometimes even within a manufacturer’s own line. Every table we looked at offers at least a one-year warranty and some offer two or even 10-year warranties.

Leg design: The design of the legs determines a table’s stability. In our tests, the tables that used a wishbone-shaped leg design tended to be the most stable. The gravity locks — the metal rings that secure the open leg hinges and prevent the table from folding back up accidentally — should descend automatically (but sometimes, even with our picks, you will still need to manually slide them into place). For height-adjustable models, we looked for legs that adjust smoothly and lock securely at each height. All legs should also have plastic caps on the bottom so they don’t scratch up hardwood floors.

We’ve been testing folding tables since 2017 and have continued assessing additional models over the years. We considered tables sold at Amazon, Walmart, Target, Office Depot, Staples, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Sears, and IKEA. We are currently testing a couple of smaller folding tables from REI and Muji for a forthcoming update.

To create a testing plan for folding tables, we spoke with Christy Bareijsza, event planner and founder of Events by Red Carpet, who gave us a list of the variety of ways folding tables tend to break, annoy, and wear over time.

For the initial round of tests, we set up and broke down each table several times, keeping an eye out for any issues with the hinges, locks, latches, or other hardware. We leaned on each one to see if the ends bent or if the whole thing was likely to flip.

We made sure each table was level and checked if the gravity locks slid into place automatically or required finagling. With our adjustable options, we also raised and lowered the tabletop to see how the legs worked.

Then we set cups on the tables and bumped into the tables to test for wobbling. We paid close attention to the feet of each table to make sure the plastic caps on the ends stayed in place and didn’t scratch the floor, and we threw keys and utensils on each tabletop to test for scratching.

We stacked each model with weights close to the maximum capacity advertised (in most cases, by placing other tables, averaging a total of 200 pounds, on top) and left the weight on overnight. We then spilled grape juice on the contenders and left it overnight to determine if it tended to stain and how easy it was to clean. Finally, we took a rubber mallet to each tabletop to test for denting.