The 8 Best Rowing Machines of 2023

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Rowing machines seamlessly blend calorie-burning with low-impact cardio to deliver a unique experience almost anyone can enjoy, regardless of age or fitness level.

It's because of that effectiveness that rowers are becoming increasingly popular in folks' home gyms. They can be more effective than running on a treadmill and are a better full-body workout than a stationary bike.

Though most rowers deliver similar benefits, they vary enough in design that some differences are key in determining which is best for certain folks. Below are eight of the best rowing machines I've tested. You'll also find answers to some FAQs, and a rundown of how I test rowers, at the bottom of this guide.

Learn more about how Insider Reviews tests fitness products.

Best overall: Concept2 Model D - See at AmazonThe Concept2 Model D Indoor Rowing Machine brings the gym to your home with its sturdy build, smooth gliding action, comfortable design, and superb quality.

Best budget: Stamina Body Trac Glider - See at AmazonThe Stamina BodyTrac Glider 1050 Rowing Machine offers a versatile workout with its independently moving arms and smooth hydraulic resistance for continuous rowing action.

Best interactive: The Ergatta Rower - See at ErgattaThe Ergatta Connected Rower combines the rush of video game racing with the fitness benefits of a full-body exercise to deliver one of the most interactive rowing machines available.

Best smart: Hydrow - See at HydrowThe Hydrow Rowing Machine aims to be the Peloton of at-home rowers with an immersive content experience that delivers a complete, full-body workout.

Best budget smart: Hydrow Wave - See at HydrowThe Hydrow Wave replicates the on-water experience better than the original Hydrow, is the smoothest rower we've ever tested, and is one of the most affordable smart machines on the market.

Best digital resistance: NordicTrack RW900 - See at NordicTrackNordicTrack's RW900 combines the stimulation of instructor-led courses with the versatility of both air and digital resistance to offer one of the best at-home rowing experiences.

Best water resistance: WaterRower Natural Rowing Machine - See at AmazonThe elegant WaterRower Natural Rowing Machine uses water resistance to make you feel like you're truly sculling on the open water.

Best for beginners: Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic Rower - See at AmazonQuiet, smooth, and stable, the Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic Rowing Machine provides varying magnetic resistance levels for a wide range of workouts.

Pros: Smooth gliding operation, ease of assembly, large size to accommodate tall people

Cons: Pricey, requires a bit of space (9 feet by 4 feet)

The Concept2 Model D Indoor Rowing Machine features solid aluminum front legs, steel rear legs, a flywheel with air resistance, and a maximum user weight capacity of 500 pounds, making it our top pick.

Essential for executing powerful and uninterrupted strokes, the Model D's flywheel has a damper for adjusting its air resistance, granting you complete control of the resistance yourself. The harder and faster you row, the more wind the flywheel generates and the more drag you'll feel.

With an air-resistance rowing machine, you'd expect a bit of noise, however, the Model D runs quiet enough for rowers to listen to music or watch television at a normal volume during workouts. Its performance monitor tracks stroke rate, calories burned, distance, pace, and watts, and has several built-in workouts.

Pros: Inexpensive for a rower, independent arms for a full range of movement, easy to assemble

Cons: Resistance declines as the piston heats up during long rowing sessions, short warranty (90 days for parts, one year for frame)

The Stamina BodyTrac Glider 1050 Rowing Machine offers excellent value at $120. Although it's compact and quiet, this hydraulic resistance rowing machine provides a great workout with a smooth-gliding padded seat and separate, movable arms.

What makes the BodyTrac Glider so special is its versatility in arm movements. You can row forward or backward, move your arms in circular directions, pull the handles close together for a conventional stroke, or hold the grips apart to exercise different arm, shoulder, and upper back muscles.

The machine is able to maintain a variety of consistent levels of resistance for roughly 30 minutes of hard rowing but like most hydraulic rowers, fluid in the hydraulic piston heats up, which decreases resistance. When this happens, you'll need to pause and increase the resistance setting manually.

Pros: Motivating video game-inspired workout platform, beautiful design, features a folding design for easy stowing

Cons: Expensive

The Ergatta Connected Rower uses a giant onboard screen to display its on-demand workouts and exercises that are mostly comprised of a series of video game-inspired routines. you against the machine itself for goal-based routines and interval workouts, while also allowing you to compete against other Ergatta users in simulated races.

The actual rower itself is a beauty, too. Made of Cherry wood and featuring a traditional water rowing mechanism, it achieves a premium look and feel while the soothing swoosh of the water reservoir adds to an already enjoyable experience.

Its lone downside, however, is that it isn't cheap (plus there's a recurring $27 per month for its streaming classes). Still, the Ergatta Connected Rower delivers a full-body workout disguised as an interactive gaming experience — and it's one of the most enjoyable we've tested.

Read our full review of the Ergatta Rower

Exclusive Promo: $150 off the Hydrow Wave with code INSIDERMAY150

Pros: Extensive library of motivating classes and rowing events, delivers a full-body workout, features quiet, electromagnetic resistance

Cons: Expensive

One of the best rowers we've tested that delivers the same kind of connected content fans of NordicTrack and Peloton have come to love is Hydrow and its aptly named rower, the Hydrow Rowing Machine.

Built with an aluminum and steel frame on a flat, anthracite polymer body, the Hydrow is a durable and sturdy rower. Attached to the front of the machine is an HD touchscreen where you're able to access its library of interactive workouts. These workouts include everything from on-demand routines, open swim-style free rows, whole body-specific workouts, and live classes.

The machine also comes with the ability to read your heart rate via an included monitor and features whisper-quiet electromagnetic resistance. Hydrow does well to not only provide classes that highly motivate you to finish a row but it also creates a competitive environment where you can see how you rank with other global users or anyone else using your machine.

It has a steep sticker price plus a recurring monthly fee of $38 for access to the classes, but it's well worth the investment.

Read our full review of the Hydrow

Exclusive Promo: $300 off the Hydrow Rower with code INSIDERMAY300

Pros: Extensive library of streaming classes, incredibly smooth rowing, closely simulates the on-water experience, very quiet when in use, tons of helpful safety features

Cons: Smaller screen than the regular Hydrow and it's not adjustable

While the original Hydrow is a quality rower in its own right, the brand's follow-up, called the Hydrow Wave, is an impressive improvement in two areas: its ability to replicate the on-water experience and its cheaper price tag.

Of the rowers we've tested, none came as close to what it feels like to actually row on water as the Hydrow Wave. This is due in large part to its ultra-smooth rowing operation that allows for a quite pleasant and rhythmic experience. It's also incredibly quiet when in use, something that we found to be calming and, at times, a bit hypnotic (in a good way).

What makes the Wave even better is that it carries a price tag of $1,895, which is $600 cheaper than the original Hydrow. Now, it is still a hefty investment, no doubt, but it's impressive for a smart machine of this caliber to cost less than $2,000.

There are a few big differences, however. First, it has an unadjustable 16-inch built-in touchscreen display, compared to the original Hydrow's moveable 22-inch display. It also has smaller dimensions, though this isn't necessarily a drawback as it still supports the same amount of weight and takes up less space.

Read our full review of the Hydrow Wave

Pros: Interactive workouts, easily folds up, utilizes a dual-resistance design

Cons: Expensive, iFit membership costs $47 per month (after the first free year)

Though NordicTrack may be more well-known for its stationary bikes and treadmills, the company also sells high-quality row machines — and its RW900 is its crown jewel. Featuring a 22-inch HD touchscreen display, a library of interactive workout classes led by real trainers, and a fold-up design, this rower is a standout.

What makes the rower particularly impressive is its dual resistance. While rowing away during a class, an instructor has the ability to digitally adjust the resistance based on how they want you to row. But if it's too hard or you want to kick your workout up a few notches, there's the ability to manually adjust this resistance on the fly.

The RW900 also shines with what it offers in terms of workouts via its iFit interactive platform. Be it studio routines from its roster of iFit trainers or more calming sessions in real locations around the world, the options are diverse. There are even yoga and cross-training courses to mix things up a bit.

All new purchases also come with a free year of iFit (which costs $564 per year or $47 per month), so you won't have to worry about a monthly recurring charge for access to the library of content for at least the first year.

Pros: Gorgeous appearance, meditative whooshing sounds, simulation of open-water rowing sensations

Cons: Expensive, included monitor is fine but limited

If the WaterRower Natural Rowing Machine looks familiar, that's because it's the base unit used by Ergatta for its Connected Rower (our pick of the best interactive rowing machine).

For an indoor rower, the WaterRower comes closest to recreating the sensation of actual outdoor rowing as it features a flywheel that pushes through water in a heavy-duty tank. It even delivers soft and soothing swooshing sounds of water as you work out, too.

In addition to controlling resistance through your strokes — the harder and faster you row, the greater drag the flywheel encounters — you can increase resistance by adding water to the tank. In essence, the more water there is, the heavier the drag on the flywheel, and the harder your workout.

Maintenance of the machine is easy, too. Just fill the tank using the included siphon pump and drop in a chlorine tablet every six months.

With a comfortable, stable seat that rolls smoothly along dual rails, you'll experience an excellent workout where you can keep track of distance, time, and calories burned as displayed on the S4 monitor. The rower comes with a three-year warranty on its parts, as well as a five-year warranty on the frame.

Pros: Economical with eight levels of resistance, easy to fold and store

Cons: Not the best cord quality, rail might be too short for tall people

The reasonably priced Sunny Health & Fitness Magnetic Rowing Machine offers quite a few convenient features: a comfortable, cushioned seat; anti-grip handles; an LCD monitor that tracks stroke counts, time, and calories burned; and eight levels of knob-adjusted magnetic resistance for various intensities.

Level two is good for warming up before progressing to levels three and four for a more vigorous workout. Levels five and higher are more intense and perfect for long cardio-building rowing sessions. Level seven is for endurance and all-out sprints while level eight offers the greatest resistance (and hardest workout).

Able to support up to 250 pounds, Sunny's Magnetic Rowing Machine has a 48-inch-long rail in which the padded seat rolls smoothly and quietly. The rower is able to easily fold up for convenient storage and even has built-in wheels. It's easy to assemble and relatively compact, taking up minimal space when folded up and very little square footage when open.

Each rower featured in this guide went through a testing process to gauge how well it performed across these four categories: Ease of use, experience, reliability, and value. Here's how each category specifically factored into which rowers ultimately made this guide.

Ease of use: Row machines have a naturally low learning curve — the general idea is to just sit down and row. But we know there's more to it than that. Ease of use also refers to the process of setting up the machine set up in your home, how easy it is to get started, whether there's a companion app, and if that learning curve (however steep) dramatically impacts the following category: your experience.

Experience: Working out for fun may seem like an oxymoron but it is important to at least somewhat enjoy the sweat your breaking. Since a row machine delivers a full-body workout, you want one that won't feel like some sort of grueling game of tug of war. Ideally, a proper row machine offers smooth operation, an engaging platform (whether that means it offers digital feedback or is just fluid to use), and is comfortable to use.

Reliability: If the rowing machine you invest in doesn't last longer than a few months, you'll likely be cursing whatever inclination you had to want to buy it. Put plainly, at-home workout machines aren't cheap and the one you ultimately end up spending a large chunk of money on should work and work often.

Value: Value is a mixture of the categories that came before it, as well as some attention to its actual sticker price — but this doesn't mean that more expensive models should be ignored. It's better to spend more money once on a machine that's reliable, easy to use, and delivers a fun workout than to struggle with a different cumbersome budget model every few months.

Proper rowing form consists of an initial drive phase followed by a recovery phase, and it's the best way to get the most out of your workouts and avoid injury. Here's how to execute it:

For the drive, start first with your legs and once those are extended and your back is vertical, use your arms to pull the handle into your body. Your finished position should be your legs fully extended, the rower's handle pulled into your body with your wrists in line with your forearms. From here, you'll move on to recovery.

The first step of recovery is to straighten your arms and pivot your body from your hips, making sure to avoid hunching forward or bending backward. This fluid motion will then have your legs flexing in until your shins are completely vertical.

Finally, don't think of this exercise as a race. Focus on perfecting your form, not on how fast you can row.

Rowing activates more muscle groups than just running, according to a study by Dr. Cameron Nichol, a former Olympic rower. In addition to activating roughly 85% of your body's muscles and upwards of nine different muscle groups, rowing also helps strengthen your back, tone your arms, and benefit both your upper and lower body.

In short, yes. But like any workout routine, it's important to not overdo it or consistently push yourself over your limit. Personal trainer, Irving Hyppolite, told Insider that people tend to try to do too much and that there's an actual limit on how much your body can handle. Hyppolite says three to five days a week of exercising from 45 minutes to an hour (including warm-up and cooldown) is a good standard.

Consistent exercise is just one component of being able to manage your weight, so it's irresponsible to say that a rower can be singularly able to help you lose weight. Caley Crawford, NASM CPT and Director of Education for Row House told Insider that "it's crucial that you partner a strong and healthy diet with your exercise routine."

The best rowing machine for home use depends on the amount of space you have to use a machine as big as a rower. Some rowers do fold up, making them easier to store against a wall or even stash in a garage, but many others do not and will take up a large footprint. Measure the amount of available space you have in your home and compare the sizes of each rower you're considering to get an idea of what fits best.

Yes, using a rowing machine is a great, beginner-friendly way to build muscle. Plus, it works your entire body, allowing you to strengthen a variety of muscles and it's a much more low-impact workout than something like running or lifting weights.

With so many different kinds of rowers, it's important to examine each model to choose one that best fits your needs and keeps you motivated and injury-free. You'll want to consider features like:

Type: At-home rowers are available in a variety of types, including folding options, those that come with a water reservoir, and others that have independently moving handles. There are also a number of resistance types (more below) that differentiate rowers.

Resistance: Different types of resistance include magnetic (electromagnets slow the erg's metal flywheel), air (wind from the spinning flywheel creates drag), hydraulic (resistance is created by hydraulic fluid in a piston or two connected to the erg's handles), and water (the flywheel pushes against water in a tank).

Price: Price for rowers can cost anywhere from $150 for a basic, entry-level option on up to $2,000+ for a smart rower that comes with a built-in screen and that offers streamable workouts.

Maintenance: Most rowers need to simply be wiped down after it's used to preserve its durability. This includes wiping off any sweat and cleaning any grime that appears. Rowers that feature a water reservoir also need to have their water treated occasionally and it's also smart to clean out the reservoir every six months.

Maximum user weight capacity: Models vary in how much they support but many accommodate 220 to 265 pounds or more.

Size: The machine should be large enough for you to straighten your legs and maintain proper rowing form, yet small enough to fit into your workout space.

Foldability: Some machines (usually magnetic and hydraulic resistance) fold up for easy storage, while others (often air and water resistance) don't.

Monitor: A monitor or computer tracks information like distance, duration, speed, and/or calories burned while rowing.

Seat: It should be contoured and large enough to keep your backside comfortable while allowing you to maintain proper form.

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