5 best folding treadmills for home gyms and small spaces
The allure of a treadmill is strong. When the sky is dumping buckets of rain, you can still get your jog or workout in. But some of the best treadmills take up valuable real estate in an already crowded room or garage — we don't all have the space for one. That’s where the value of a folding treadmill proves itself. It folds up into a more compact shape for storage, so you can slide it into a corner between runs.
What to consider
Having the ability to fold should not make a treadmill any less useful. While it’s impossible for them to maintain all of the features of certain non-folding treadmills, many or most of them are every bit as good.
How we test folding treadmills
Every treadmill on this list has been thoroughly evaluated and tested by our team of editors. We research the market, speak with product managers and engineers, and use our own experience running on treadmills for extended sessions to determine the best options. We factor in key features such as running belt width and length, overall size, horsepower (HP), and weight capacity.
Our team of experienced testers spent many hours indoors assessing all the features of these machines. We’ve done easy runs in a garage, long runs in a living room watching films, and tried out all the interactive and studio class features offered. We evaluated them on price, performance, durability, value, reliability, and safety to come up with this list of folding treadmills that will suit your needs when you want to run inside.
The best folding treadmills for 2025, our full reviews
Commercial 2450
The Commercial 2450 is among the newer running treadmills in NordicTrack’s line, replacing the Commercial 2950 that we’ve loved for many years. Aside from its more modern angles and Z-shaped frame, the 22-inch touch screen now tilts and pivots. And the deck makes adjustments to speed and incline quicker than earlier generations.
Our testers love the enormous 22-inch touch-screen display on the 2950, which is the same size as you'll find on the new 2450. It offers a broad range of coaching options. 'It actually kept me engaged in the running rather than droning music and TV,' said one tester. 'The trail climb I did had a lot of speed and incline variation that felt natural.'
To accomplish that, the treadmill taps into the iFit programming platform, where you can get video lessons from coaches and elite runners. A guided run through Patagonia leads you along scenic trails, while the machine automatically adjusts the incline and speed to make the experience feel realistic. Is it? Well, no. But the large display helps you forget that you’re stuck in your garage. We just wish you could use it to stream Netflix, too.
Horizon Fitness 7.0
The Horizon 7.0AT was the easiest treadmill to get started and learn how to use, but its simplicity holds it back from being the outright best. It’s an old-school treadmill with no touchscreen display or video components, and that limits options for programming. That being said, it’s a very affordable option that gets the job done so long as you don’t need a guided workout or on-board entertainment.
The Horizon 7.0 does exactly what you expect and does a great job of it. It has a 20- by 60-inch running deck that’s plenty large enough for the majority of runners. One of our testers wished that it felt a little firmer underfoot, but other members of our team did not have the same complaint. The pre-loaded programs are easy to find if you know your way around a treadmill. The toggles for speed and incline are intuitive and easy to use.
Folding this one is nice and easy, thanks to a hydraulic assist mechanism. Moving it around is pretty easy, too: the wheels line up in a better place than the 1750. It shrinks by nearly 40 percent when folded, which is genuinely impressive when you consider its massive build and huge incline range. One thing to keep in mind, though: that steep incline lifts you fairly high, so we do not recommend it for basement gyms unless you plan on running flat.
NordicTrack Commercial 1750 Treadmill
When it comes to bang for your buck, the 1750 has always been hard to beat. The newest iteration of this folding treadmill is even better, with a faster touch-screen console and a quieter, faster incline motor. It still features all of the convenience options you find on NordicTrack machines, like quick keys to jump to a particular speed or incline with a single tap. 'They let me adjust speed instead of pounding the arrows while at times holding on for dear life,' said one tester.
But now you’re less likely to need those speed adjustment buttons thanks to a larger touch screen and the ever-growing library of trainer-led workouts. The 10-inch screen offers double the real estate of the earlier model, though testers still felt it was a tad too small. But it’s large enough to see the countryside in Germany, for example, where one tester virtually followed pro Lucy Bartholomew on a gentle trail run.
Underfoot, we found the 22-by-60-inch running surface spacious enough for high-speed intervals, and the machine’s folding deck remained stable as we cranked up the speed, with just the slightest bounce. The cushioning underfoot is adjustable, so you can make it a bit firmer, and the machine responds quickly to changes in speed and incline. The iFit training workouts are great but don’t let you adjust duration or intensity on the fly.
Echelon Stride-6 Folding Treadmill
The Stride-6’s belt features low-response cushioning that creates a ride that feels closer to outdoor road running than treadmill running, which our tester loves when they're training for road races. At full speed, with a 12 percent incline, this machine gives as good as it gets, too.
This treadmill has no touchscreen. Instead, it can sync directly to a running watch or tablet, for which it has an extra-large holder. The pre-loaded running programs are fine and dandy, but nothing to write home about when many ’mills have touchscreens. Echelon produces a paid workout video library like NordicTrack’s iFit, which you can access via an app, but it’s no different than any other virtual workout platforms without native support on the treadmill.
Let’s talk a little more about the folding mechanism, though, because that’s the reason to buy this treadmill. It is one of only a handful of treadmills that doesn’t require any assembly. Unbox this beauty, unfold it, plug it in, and you’re good. It has an 'autofold' feature that makes collapsing the treadmill feel seamless. All that you do is press the foot pedal, and the crossbar and board fold onto the surface of the treadmill. You can then store it flat on the ground or upright, which is a win for anyone who doesn’t have the permanent floor space available.
WalkingPad C2 Mini Foldable Walking Treadmill
Our testers had never met a treadmill that folds up smaller than the WalkingPad C2. In keeping with the brand, it’s only made for walking, with a top speed of 3.7 mph/6kph. And honestly? It’s so compact that you could reasonably put one of these in your home as a more portable complement to a standard, non-folding treadmill without feeling cramped. Use it as an under-desk treadmill or move it around to wherever you can find some free space.
It’s a fantastic treadmill for anyone who wants to get moving when they’d otherwise be sitting around. It features a smaller deck, super-responsive cushioning, and whisper-quiet motor. You could walk on it during a Zoom call with your microphone unmuted, and people would be hard-pressed to hear it. The cushioning means that you’re not going to wear yourself out while you work, and keeps you from bouncing around so badly that you can’t type.
One little thing our testers like about this folding treadmill is its smart 'automatic mode' which automatically detects your speed changes depending on where your feet are hitting the deck and adjusts as you go. That alone is worth the cost of the machine.
Folding this treadmill is a cinch, and so is storage, thanks to its low weight and small footprint. Even if you store it in a different room from where you use it, it’s only 25kg, so you can just haul it from space to space without any issue.
Compromises of folding treadmills
There’s a trade-off to choosing a folding treadmill. Typically the frames are lighter and the hinge mechanism introduces some extra play and instability that you don’t experience on traditional machines. In short, most of them just aren’t built to withstand as much pounding. In our testing, we found these models to be sufficiently stable and sturdy — even the most budget-friendly models can be used by runners weighing up to 100kg.
If you’re looking for a machine that you can run on every single day and put in high mileage for years to come, based on my experience testing treadmills for over a decade, I recommend you check out a machine with a rock-solid frame and larger motor. But, if space is an issue or you’re looking for a treadmill that will see occasional running and walking, the machines below will keep you on the move.
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