A boom arm is the cheapest part of a recording chain and the one most people buy wrong. The six arms here run from $21.07 to $149.99, and the weight of the microphone on the end decides between them more than the price does. A USB mic is 300 to 600 g. A Shure SM7B with a Cloudlifter inline is close to 1 kg, and an arm rated below that load sinks during a recording and takes the level with it.
After load, the arm has to reach from the clamp to a hand’s width from your mouth on a desk of your depth, and on a desk with a camera it has to get there without crossing the frame. How it attaches comes next, because a clamp needs a free edge and a through-desk insert needs a hole.
This guide is arms only. The microphones are in our best USB microphone and best XLR microphone guides, and the whole desk, arm included, is costed out in the podcast starter kit.
Last updated: November 2026. Some links below are affiliate links. Buy through them and it helps keep the site running, at no extra cost to you. Every price here was read on the live Amazon listing on October 26, 2026. The Rode and the three Elgato arms were sold by Amazon itself that day; the Tonor and the Neewer came from third-party sellers.
TLDR
If you just want the answer: the Rode PSA1+ at $139.99 is the best boom arm for most desks: rated to 1.2 kg, 37 inches of reach, internal springs, and both a clamp and a through-desk insert in the box. The best value is the Tonor T20 at $38.99, a 4 lb scissor arm with the pop filter and the thread adapter included. Anyone on camera should look at the Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP at $99.99 first, and anyone hanging a 1 kg broadcast mic should look at the Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro at $149.99. The floor is the Neewer NW-35 at $21.07.
The picks
Best overall: Rode PSA1+
1.2 kg of load, 37 inches of reach, and two ways to mount it. The PSA1+ is a parallelogram arm with the springs inside the tubes, so it moves without the twang of an exposed scissor arm and holds a position once it is set. The clamp takes a desktop up to 2.2 inches thick; the through-desk insert, in the box rather than sold separately, takes a top up to 2.7 inches and leaves the desk edge free. The listing we link bundles an XLR cable.
$139.99 from Amazon itself on October 26. A plain listing without the cable was a few dollars cheaper that day with a resale unit in the buy box, so it is not linked. The PSA1+ is a standard-height arm: it comes in over the top of the monitor, which cuts across the frame on a webcam shot. The 1.2 kg rating also leaves little margin over an SM7B with a Cloudlifter attached. For a 400 g USB mic on a desk with no camera, the Tonor T20 at $38.99 does the same job for $100 less.
Best low profile: Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP
2 kg, the highest stated load rating on this page, on the arm that stays out of the shot. The Wave Mic Arm LP approaches the mic from below the shoulder line instead of over the monitor, so on a camera framed at the chest the mic is the only hardware visible. The build is all metal, the base rotates a full 360 degrees, and the cable runs through magnetic channels along the arm. The 2 kg rating covers an SM7B and a Cloudlifter with room to spare.
$99.99 from Amazon itself on October 26. Low profile has a cost: the arm travels across the desk at keyboard height, so it needs a clear lane past the keyboard and the monitor stand, and it cannot park up above the monitor between sessions. The cheaper low-profile options are the Thronmax Twist S6 at $79.90, which also routes the cable internally, and the FIFINE BM88 at $56.99.
Best standard-height arm: Elgato Wave Mic Arm MK.2
$99.99 for the arm that does both heights. The Wave Mic Arm MK.2 is new this year, the second version of Elgato’s full-size arm. It rises over a monitor like the PSA1+ or drops low like the LP, which makes it the pick for a desk that records audio some days and films on others. The joints are silent, the profile is slimmer than the Rode’s, and the padded clamp fits the tight gap behind a monitor arm.
Sold by Amazon itself on October 26. Elgato’s listing did not give us a load figure we could print, so for a mic at the 1 kg mark the Pro below and the LP above are the arms with a stated margin; for a USB mic the MK.2 is fine. Cheaper, the Tonor T20 is also a standard-height arm, at $38.99, with the springs on the outside.
Best for heavy mics: Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro
The Wave Mic Arm Pro swaps the coil springs every other arm here uses for a gas spring, the mechanism in a monitor arm. A gas spring holds whatever position you leave it in, moves without a sound mid-recording, and does not sag over a long session the way a coil spring at the top of its range does. Elgato rates it for heavier mics than the MK.2, which puts it where a broadcast dynamic with a shock mount and an inline preamp belongs. Cable channels are hidden inside the arm and the clamp is padded.
$149.99 from Amazon itself on October 26, the most money on this page. For a 300 to 600 g USB mic it is more arm than the job needs. The cheaper route for an SM7B-class load is the Wave Mic Arm LP at $99.99, whose 2 kg rating handles the same mic on coil springs, or the PSA1+ at $139.99 if the mic and its preamp come in under 1.2 kg.
Best value: Tonor T20
4 lb (1.8 kg) of rated load for $38.99, with the two accessories a first arm needs in the box. The T20 is a scissor arm with exposed springs, a mic clip, a pop filter on its own gooseneck, and the 3/8 to 5/8 inch thread adapter that lets a US-threaded shock mount screw onto a European-threaded arm. Tonor sells the clamp as an upgraded heavy-duty part. On the rating alone it holds more than the Rode.
Sold by Tonor’s own storefront and shipped by Amazon on October 26. The springs are on the outside, so every reposition rings for a second and the arm is the most visible object on the desk after the monitor. The rating is a maximum: exposed coil springs near the top of their range drift, so a 1 kg broadcast mic belongs on an arm with more margin. For a USB mic from the box, it is the arm to buy. Cheaper, the Neewer below is $21.07.
Best budget: Neewer NW-35
$21.07 and rated to 1.5 kg (3.3 lb). The NW-35 is the scissor arm in every budget kit, including our podcast starter kit, because of the price. It clamps to a desk edge, ships with the 3/8 to 5/8 screw adapter and a set of cable ties, and lifts a Samson Q2U or a Blue Yeti off the desk and up to the mouth, which is the improvement a first arm makes.
The listing we link is a third-party seller and stock on it ran thin when we checked; Neewer’s MS006 at $19.99 is the same arm under a newer name if the NW-35 is gone. The springs are the budget part: a 1.5 kg rating on paper does not make this the arm for a 1 kg broadcast mic, and there is no pop filter in the box. For $17.92 more the Tonor T20 adds the filter and the margin.
How the picks compare
| Arm | Price (Oct 26, 2026) | Design | Load rating | Height | Mount | In the box |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rode PSA1+ | $139.99 | Parallelogram, internal springs | 1.2 kg | Standard, 37 in reach | Clamp (to 2.2 in) and through-desk insert (to 2.7 in) | XLR cable |
| Elgato Wave Mic Arm LP | $99.99 | Low profile, all metal, coil springs | 2 kg | Low profile | Clamp | Magnetic cable channels |
| Elgato Wave Mic Arm MK.2 | $99.99 | Standard studio arm, all metal | Not printed on the listing | Standard or low | Padded clamp | None listed |
| Elgato Wave Mic Arm Pro | $149.99 | Gas spring | Rated for heavier mics than the MK.2 | Standard | Padded clamp | Hidden cable channels |
| Tonor T20 | $38.99 | Scissor, exposed springs | 4 lb (1.8 kg) | Standard | Clamp | Pop filter, mic clip, 3/8 to 5/8 adapter |
| Neewer NW-35 | $21.07 | Scissor, exposed springs | 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) | Standard | Clamp | 3/8 to 5/8 screw, cable ties |
What matters
Load rating against the mic you own
Weigh the whole assembly: the mic, its mount and anything clipped behind it. A USB mic from the box is 300 to 600 g and any arm on this page carries it. An SM7B with a Cloudlifter behind it is close to 1 kg before the cable, and a shock mount adds more. A coil-spring arm at its ceiling holds, then creeps, and the mic that started at the mouth ends the session at the chin.
Reach against desk depth
The mic sits a hand’s width from your mouth and the clamp sits at a desk edge, so measure between those two points before reading reach figures. On a 24 inch deep desk with the clamp at the back edge, every arm here reaches. On a corner desk, or behind a monitor that pushes the clamp point back, the 37 inches on the PSA1+ matter and a short scissor arm runs out.
Low profile or standard height
Decide this one with the camera on. A standard arm comes over the top of the monitor and down to the mic, and on a webcam framed at the chest that path crosses the frame as a black diagonal. A low-profile arm crosses the desk below the shoulder line and reaches the mic from underneath, so the mic is the only hardware in the shot. A standard arm is fine for audio only or a wide frame. A talking-head frame wants the Wave Mic Arm LP, or the MK.2 for a desk that switches between the two.
Coil springs or gas spring
Every arm under $100 here uses coil springs, exposed on the scissor arms and inside the tubes on the Rode and the Elgatos. Exposed springs are the cheapest way to hold a mic in the air and the noisiest way to move one: touch a scissor arm during a take and the springs ring into the recording through the mic body. Internal springs fix the ring and most of the sag. A gas spring, on the Wave Mic Arm Pro alone on this page, moves without a sound and stays where it is put. For a mic set once and left alone, coil springs are fine; for a streamer who moves the mic on camera, the gas spring is the upgrade that shows.
Clamp or through-desk mount
A clamp needs a free desk edge with a flat underside, and a lip, a drawer or a cable tray along the back edge defeats it. Clamps are also rated for a maximum thickness, 2.2 inches on the PSA1+, and a thick butcher-block top can exceed them. A through-desk insert is a sleeve that drops into a drilled hole or a cable grommet with the arm standing in it; it holds steadier than a clamp, leaves every edge free and does not mark the desk. The PSA1+ ships with both, which makes it the pick for a permanent install; the other five are clamp only.
Threads, adapters and cable routing
Two thread standards meet at the end of a boom arm: Shure, Blue and most US shock mounts take 5/8 inch 27 thread, Rode and most arms sold in Europe use 3/8 inch 16. Mismatched, they need a small brass adapter, and the Tonor T20 and the Neewer NW-35 include it in the box. Check the thread on the mic’s mount before the arm arrives.
Cable routing is a tidiness feature on a USB mic and a reliability feature on an XLR one, because a cable tied to the outside of an arm catches on the monitor and the chair, and a yanked XLR connector is the crackle you hear a week later. The Wave Mic Arm LP runs the cable through magnetic channels, the Pro hides it inside the arm, and the two scissor arms ship with ties, which are fine at $21.
FAQ
Can a boom arm hold a Shure SM7B?
Yes, with the right rating. An SM7B with a Cloudlifter attached is close to 1 kg, so the arm needs a stated load above that with margin: the Wave Mic Arm LP at 2 kg and the gas-spring Wave Mic Arm Pro are the two built for it, and the PSA1+ at 1.2 kg holds it with less to spare. A $21 scissor arm rated 1.5 kg carries it on paper and sags in practice. The mics are in the best XLR microphone guide.
Do I need a boom arm for a USB microphone?
The desk stand in the box puts a mic 12 to 18 inches from the mouth, aimed at the chin, on the same slab of wood as the keyboard. An arm brings it to a hand’s width and lifts it clear of desk thumps. The $38.99 Tonor T20 improves a $79.99 mic more than the next $100 of microphone would. The best USB microphone guide covers which mics ship with no stand and assume an arm.
Will a mic arm fit any microphone?
Mechanically, yes, with an adapter between the arm’s 3/8 inch thread and a US mount’s 5/8 inch thread; the Tonor T20 and Neewer NW-35 include one. Weight is the fit that fails, and the load-rating section above covers it.
The rest of the audio desk
The microphone guides are where the money goes: best USB microphone for a desk with no interface, best podcast microphone for a show, and best XLR microphone for the broadcast dynamics that make the load rating matter. The podcast starter kit costs out the arm, mic, headphones and interface at three budgets, and the live streaming setup guide covers the capture, encoding and lighting around the mic.
