The best treadmills of 2023, tried and tested

Best overall treadmill: Peloton Tread

Best budget treadmill: Horizon 7.0 AT Treadmill

Running is a great way to stay in shape, regardless of geography, age or your fitness journey. But bad weather, busy schedules and pricey gym memberships can often disrupt your regular workout routine. That’s why investing in your own treadmill has become such an attractive option for recreational and marathon runners alike.

Over the course of several months, we tested a wide range of machines that can help round out your home gym. We hiked up virtual mountains, streamed dozens of fitness classes and jogged on repeat to our favorite tunes. Finally, after countless hours of sweat, (occasional) tears and sore leg muscles, we settled on these standouts. Here is what you need to know before you invest in a treadmill for your home.

The Peloton Tread is a sleek, smart, space-saving treadmill offering a groundbreaking design with swipeable controls to easily change your pace without breaking your stride. You also get access to live classes with leaderboard standings as well as Peloton’s huge library of on-demand classes and stable of beloved instructors. It’s not cheap, but we think it’s well worth the price.

The Horizon 7.0 is perfect for anyone looking to purchase a solid treadmill for less. You get many upscale features, like a hydraulic folding deck, Bluetooth speakers and a built-in fan — but it doesn’t come with a built-in touchscreen if you’re interested in interactive fitness classes. You can sync to popular fitness apps like Peloton, Apple Fitness+ and Nike Run Club, but you’ll have to use your own device to view them.

Peloton is one of the most recognized brands in fitness, thanks to its well-designed products, interactive ecosystem and fun, world-class instructors. In fact, many people credit the company for helping them stay in shape through the Covid-19 lockdown. So it should come as no surprise that the compact Peloton Tread is yet another winner in the company’s impressive lineup.

Most treadmills tend to take up a lot of space and detract from decor when they’re set up in your living room, bedroom or home office. But the Peloton Tread is definitely the exception to this rule and one of the reasons it gets our top honors. Not only do you get a sleek design that blends easily into just about any room but you also get a smart treadmill that is comfortable for runners of all shapes and sizes — thanks to the 59-inch belt tucked into the 68-inch-by-33-inch-by-62-inch footprint.

Along with its roomy 23.8-inch built-in touchscreen, another Peloton-specific feature is its easy-to-use controls tucked into each side of the machine. Unlike most standard treadmills, which put their control buttons on the top of the machine, the Tread offers simple incline and speed controls, which can be easily swiped instead of poked with moving fingertips. This lets you change your pace — without breaking your stride — with one quick swipe. This groundbreaking design is one of the treadmill’s most exciting features and makes interval runs, where you’re constantly increasing and decreasing your speed, so much easier.

And though most home workout machines offer some type of software for taking classes, we also loved the wide variety of workout classes Peloton offers — on and off the Tread. For $44 a month, we got access to over 50 personal trainers and literally thousands of live and on-demand classes. Not limited to hikes, walks and runs, we had access to boxing, yoga, pilates, strength training, meditation, boot camps and more. All these classes could be stacked to create a custom workout program, similar to a music playlist, which made planning our daily workouts a breeze.

Other nifty interactive features allow you to virtually high-five other runners on the leaderboard, as well as sign up for monthly challenges to help you stay motivated to exercise. There’s even a built-in webcam, which allows you to take classes with real-life friends whenever you choose. Again, this gives Peloton that extra push as our No. 1 pick. Every Tread comes with free delivery and a three-year warranty too, so you can rest assured that Peloton has you covered if anything goes wrong.

Although the Tread doesn’t fold u, have a built-in fan or tote a rotating touchscreen like some other machines we tested, its interactive platform, attractive, space-saving design and extensive metrics — which allow you to track your progress for every single muscle group — more than make up for these missing features.

So, if you’re in the market for a new treadmill and want something that looks every bit as good as it feels, you can’t go wrong with the Peloton Tread. It may not be the cheapest option available, but if you ask us, it’s worth every penny.

The Horizon 7.0 may not have all the bells and whistles of pricier machines, but you’ll still get plenty of helpful features for a fraction of the price of most competitors. At just under $1000, this wallet-friendly treadmill includes a hydraulic folding deck, Bluetooth speakers, a built-in fan and compatibility to sync with popular fitness apps like Peloton, Apple Fitness+ and Nike Run Club.

Surprised? So were we. Like the Peloton Tread, the 76-inch-by-35-inch-by-66-inch deck and roomy 60-inch-by-20-inch belt is spacious enough for runners of all sizes. The Horizon 7.0 is also easy to fold up and hide away, thanks to the treadmill’s hydraulic assist feature. But perhaps the most impressive option of all is the Horizon 7.0’s QuickDial controls.

These handy dials quickly allow you to change your speed and incline simply by rolling the dial by your sides up or down as you run. Though not as precise as the Peloton Tread’s ultra-sensitive knobs — which are easier to control and adjust in small increments — they are similar in the sense that you can swipe them back and forth to increase and decrease your speed, albeit at a much lower price. We also loved the Horizon’s jump buttons, located under the 7-inch screen, that gave us the option to quickly go from one speed or incline to the next during interval runs.

That said, there are a few drawbacks. Although there is a built-in screen to track metrics like calories, speed, distance, time, speed and heart rate, you can’t actually stream any classes through the small black-and-white monitor. So, if you like to exercise with an instructor, you’ll need to use a personal device like an iPhone or iPad to stream your favorite workouts instead.

On the plus side, you won’t have to deal with an expensive monthly subscription fee or being tied to just one fitness platform. But this can add up quickly if you get carried away downloading all your favorite fitness apps. Despite the two docking stations located at the top of the treadmill, there is also something to be said for an immersive experience of streaming classes to a large, built-in touchscreen.

However, despite the lack of a big screen and subscription-based content, we were ultimately impressed by all that the Horizon 7.0 had to offer. Not only do you get plenty of high-end features for a budget price tag but you also have the flexibility to sync multiple fitness apps to the treadmill and access a comprehensive three-year warranty if anything doesn’t live up to your expectations.

For this price, we think the Horizon 7.0 is undeniably the best value on the market. And although there may be some truth to the saying “you get what you pay for,” in this case, we think what you’re actually getting is a real steal.

We spent several weeks testing each treadmill we reviewed, carefully inspecting each one for the overall quality of the machine, streaming subscriptions (if they were included), ease of use and how well we liked their design features.

Every treadmill we reviewed was delivered, set up and put together by a professional service. We created a profile, took a variety of streaming classes (if available) or downloaded our own fitness apps if there was no subscription. Then we tested each machine to see how well it fared for running, hiking and walking. We took at least half a dozen classes on every treadmill to see if they could reach high speeds and inclines during instructor-led sweat sessions. We also tested how noisy they got during use and if the jump buttons or dials responded quickly when pressed. In addition, we checked the warranties and search functions and made sure each treadmill was comfortable for runners of all different shapes and sizes by asking family members of various heights to do test runs.

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We checked the overall quality of every machine as well. First, we noted the size of the footprint when the treadmill was set up in our living space, as well as the belt size (which were varying). We took note of features like docking stations to make sure they were comfortably placed to view workouts on our iPads or smartphones. We also checked to see whether or not the treadmill could be folded up and tucked away when it wasn’t in use. Then we checked to see how much effort it took to lift up and put the deck back down on the floor when you were ready to work out again.

For the treadmills that came equipped with built-in fans, we checked to see how well they fared during sweaty runs. Then we took note of how much air they circulated, how loud they were and whether or not they worked as well as an inexpensive standing fan. It was also important to us to make sure that the design was intuitive and easy to use. So we tested every treadmill to make sure that you didn’t need an engineering degree to figure out how to use AI features, search functions or personalized workout options.

Not every treadmill we tested came with streaming fitness classes. But for those that did, we walked, hiked and ran with a wide variety of instructors to see whether or not they improved our physique. We also noted if there were any live classes or if we could only access an on-demand library whenever we wanted a virtual training session.

And of course, we evaluated the individual instructors, as well as the entire platform, to see how easy the classes were to follow and if they offered extra motivation with interactive features, challenges and online rewards. Price was also a factor, so we paid close attention to the subscription cost if classes weren’t free, as well as if we could stream other content like Netflix or Hulu if there was a built-in screen that came with the treadmill.

Finally, after many months, we determined which machines scored the highest in every category. Although there were plenty of great choices available, a few stood out as exceeding our expectations.

This NordicTrack treadmill was a close contender in the best overall category. It comes with a huge 22-inch swivel touchscreen, a spacious 7-foot belt and cool AI features that automatically adjust the speed and incline to your fitness ability while you’re taking NordicTrack’s streaming iFit classes ($39 a month or $324.96 per year).

• Read our review: The NordicTrack 2450 Commercial Treadmill is a home gym beast for any runner

We also loved the wide variety of classes available on iFit, especially the scenic hikes and runs in far-flung locations like Kaui and Iceland. That said, we weren’t huge fans of the instructors, who paled in comparison to Peloton’s more polished and enthusiastic personalities. We were also sometimes frustrated by iFit’s disorganized library and inability to stack classes.

However, if you have the money to splurge, the NordicTrack 2450 is a great investment for anybody who wants to purchase a commercial-grade machine with high-tech features to round out their home gym.

If you’re on a budget and don’t have tons of cash to spend, the Pro-Form Carbon T7 is a great choice to keep you running year-round. This compact treadmill has a 55-inch-by-20-inch belt, which is a tad cramped for tall runners, but makes it easy to fit the Carbon T7 into small homes and apartments.

• Read our review: The foldable ProForm Carbon T7 is perfect for running in smaller spaces

It also boasts a folding deck with a unique SpaceSaver design so you can tuck your treadmill up and out of sight whenever you’re tight on space. You’ll also get access to the same iFit library and AI features as the NordicTrack 2450, which features over 9,500 streaming workouts ($39 a month or $324.96 per year), including scenic runs, hikes and walks in exotic locations around the world.

Although we were disappointed by the small 7-inch touchscreen and the 2.6 CHP motor — which made sprinting practically non-existent — we still think that the Carbon T7 is a good option for anybody who wants an alternative to running outdoors.

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