6 Best Desk Fans: Increase Office Air Flow & Comfort (2023)

Are you dealing with stifling summer heat or are you just stuck working at a stuffy desk? There’s a lot of reasons to get a desk fan.

Desk fans have come a long way from the loud rotating fans that blow your papers and hair everywhere.

Get the air circulating and cool off with a desktop fan designed to fit your needs.

What’s the fan’s footprint? If you have a large desk, this might be less of an issue but if you are working on a small desk, make sure you get a desk fan that doesn’t take over the entire workspace.

What noise level are you comfortable with? A cheap fan is often friendly on your budget, but after a few days of listening to it chug along, you mind find yourself regretting not splurging for a quieter model.

Do you need directional or oscillating air flow? If you’re working from home during the summer, directional air might be all you need. If you’re looking to increase general air circulation in the room, oscillating will work better.

What’s your budget? The best desk fans come in a wide range of prices and so you can definitely find one that fits yours.

Does it fit the aesthetics of your office? If you’re a visual type, having an ugly plastic fan in the middle of your carefully curated desk can be a distracting eyesore. The good news is fans come in a variety of styles from retro-chic to ultra-modern minimalist.

Do you need any extras? Do you travel or move workspaces a lot? Get a fan that plugs into your USB port. Need to be able to turn your fan on via remote control? There are some of the best desk fans for that. Love aromatherapy? There’s a fan for that too!

Here are our top picks for the best desk fan.

To pick our overall favorite, we looked for a combination of features most people want in an office: variable speed, good cooling power, option to oscillate, reasonable price, and very, very quiet.

The Rowenta Turbo Silence desk fan has noise ranked from 38 to 55 dB — roughly the noise levels recorded in a library but with airflow up to 1695 Cu. Ft./min. If you’re looking for a solid desk fan that has all the basics and won’t interrupt your concentration with noise, give this one a try.

Don’t feel like you have to sacrifice style to get a fan that’ll fit your budget. This mini fan has 4-inch blades, a tilt-head for angling direction, and a USB plug.

What we like most though is the cute antique look and metallic finish which will complement most interiors. One downside, it’s a single-speed fan so it’s on or off, but if you just need something simple that works well and looks great, it’s perfect.

If you’re wanting to use a desk fan to cool your whole room, you’ll need to balance power with size. Most room fans are large, and often quite noisy. Honeywell strikes a balance of small footprint with powerful airflow.

It comes with a wide range of functionality to keep your room cooled off. It can oscillate vertically (up and down) or horizontally (left and right) and has 4 speeds including a turbo mode. It also has a built-in timer, perfect if you tend to forget to turn things off. Not that we’d know anything about that.

If you’re looking for something ultra-small that won’t take over your entire desk, check out Vorado’s Flippi. Will it cool your entire room with powerful airflow? Probably not. However, it creates good personal airflow and or a little white noise. It’s got a cute modern design and comes in 7 colors. Plus when you don’t need to use it, you can fold it away tidily in a drawer.

If you’re looking for a fan that does more than just circulate air around, check out Dyson Pure Cool Link Desk Air Purifier. It claims to remove 99.97% of allergens and pollutants as small as 0.3 microns from your home including pollen, bacteria, and pet dander. That makes it a great choice for allergy sufferers, office places with bad smells, or anyone working in less than ideal air quality. It also comes with an app to monitor your air quality.

With all this functionality, be warned that it does come with a hefty price tag. It also uses HEPA filters which you’ll need to replace periodically so there are some on-going expenses involved. However cleaner air and see what’s been filtered out of your air, make it feel like money well-spent.

Looking for a USB powered personal fan? This mini fan is just slightly larger than a can of pineapples (but looks a lot better on your desk). It’s sleek and modern design can tilt for a directional air stream.

Don’t be fooled by its size – this fan is powerful for its size. It has a touch feature to turn it on and adjust low or high speed. Quiet and simple to use. One note: it does NOT plug into a wall socket, USB only.