As computing accessories go, picking up the best cable organiser to make your system look neat is often forgotten. You may have already spent a serious amount of cash on one of the best PCs your desk has ever seen, but having a Spaghetti Junction of cables is going to kill the whole vibe. Taming those errant wires is easier than ever, with some pretty innovative solutions to be found. But it’s not all about looks.
Cables also become horrendously complicated to deal with in a very short space of time. You unpack your LED-laden beast of a gaming PC and it looks amazing. Then comes the monitor, mouse, printer, speakers and more. Before you know it, you’re fighting a nest of snaking wires more tangled than Medusa’s hair-do. So, with the best cable organiser at hand, could this unholy mess possibly have met its match?
Best cable organiser in 2023 at a glance
• Best overall cable organiser: NATURE SUPPLIES - Cable Tidy Box Set Of 2 - View at Amazon
• Best budget cable organiser: SYNCWIRE Cable Clips, Cord Organizer - View at Amazon
• Best under-desk cable organiser: REFLYING Under Desk Cable Management - View at Amazon
• Best cable organiser trunking: Stageek Cable Trunking - View at Amazon
However, just because the best cable organiser has a singular job to do doesn’t mean that choosing one is easy. If you’re a tidy freak then you’ll probably want to hide everything as efficiently as possible - and that includes the organiser itself. Whereas, if you have relatively few cables on an office PC and don’t mind having them organised and in sight, there are a lot more options. And let’s not forget those with monster-PC setups and multiple monitors and peripherals. They’ll likely have numerous cables of various widths and types. So, which of our picks of the best cable organisers is right for you?
We’ve put together an expert guide to help you choose, including options for various kinds of cable management. So, whether you’re a gamer with a huge multi-device rig or a home PC user who’s fed up with detangling the mouse from the keyboard, we have you covered. Get ready to bring order to your chaos, with our best cable organiser lineup.
Best cable organiser in 2023
Best overall cable organiser
Sometimes the best solution to cable-madness is a good old-fashioned box. But this organiser from NATURE SUPPLIES has provided a neat and attractive solution that features a real wood lid. Coming as a set of two, plus handy clips and ties, this Cable Tidy Box Set will be one of the easiest and faster solutions to declutter your desk. It will work best for unsightly adapters and plugs, but of course, you'll still have wires coming out of it. So, you'll definitely need to put those included ties, clips and sleeves to good use for the neatest look possible.
Pros
- Real wood lid with a handy bevel to keep your gadgets on top while charging
- Available in four colour schemes to fit with your setup
- Plenty of space for multiple sockets, adapters and wires
- Included cable clips, ties and sleeve
Cons
- Lids do not clip on, so make sure your cables are well-contained
Best budget cable organiser
If you just want something that can quickly and easily solve those daily cable annoyances, these Cable Clips from SYNCWIRE are the best economic option. With five different lengths included, and 3M adhesive to keep them in place, you can instantly manage up to 15 cables. One of the things we like about this, other than the price, is the flexible installation options. They're not too unsightly to have on the surface of your desk, but can equally be mounted on any clean flat surface out of sight. A simply perfect solution.
Pros
- Robust and flexible build
- Self-adhesive for easy placement on or behind desks
- Suitable for cable widths up to 5mm
- Five different sizes of clips and 15 Slots mean plenty of cable organisation options
Cons
- Can only stick to smooth, flat and unpainted/untextured surfaces
- Not suitable for cables over 5mm in diameter
Best under-desk cable organiser
If you have a lot of cable mess to deal with, out of sight out of mind is the way to go. This Under Desk solution from REFLYING solves a couple of common problems in one go. Firstly, you won't have to drill and screw into the underside of your desk, as this has clamps with rubber feet for a tight, non-slip fit. Secondly, there's plenty of room here for extension strips and bundles of cables - the wire construction and included clips make it easy to tame and tuck away those wires. Fitting can be a little tricky, thanks to crawling under the desk (or pulling the desk away from a wall) but as long as you don't need regular access to anything you put into it, you're all set.
Pros
- A great way of keeping wires and adapters out of sight
- Wire tray design means you can tuck bundled cables into place easily
- Clamps onto the desk, so no drilling is needed
- Extra clips to keep trailing cables attached
Cons
- If you need regular access to any plugs, you'll need to move or crawl under the desk
Best cable organiser trunking
The average study or gaming room setup will often have more than one workstation or system to hook up to various screens and peripherals. When you have an extra-long cable run or just an excess of cabling that you regularly tangle your feet in, this Cable Trunking from Stageek is right on the money. Not designed for adapters and extension blocks, it will however contain a lot of wires and enable you to contain neat bundles beneath it's cover. Then, you have a ton of routing options, thanks to multiple holes in the side. The kit comes with junctions to get around corners, and if you do load this up you have the option of screws instead of adhesive.
Pros
- Extremely simple to install and use
- Ideal for long cable runs to and from your desk and other devices
- Can be affixed with screws or included adhesive strip
- A very neat result
Cons
- Does not manage plugs or adapters
Best multi-cable clips
There's only one reason these self-adhesive cable management clips didn't take our top spot for a budget solution, and that's simply down to being a tad industrial to look at. But then again, these are really designed to be out of sight, behind desks and on walls. The beauty of these clips is that you get fifty of them - which means you can arrange your cables however you like - in circles or around corners - with minimum fuss. The clip design also means you can easily remove or replace any as you need to, and they will hold multiple wires at once.
Pros
- 50 clips mean a lot of flexible routing options
- Very simple to use and install
- Each clip can handle multiple cables
Cons
- If your cables are heavy or under tension, the adhesive may need some help
Best simple cable organiser
Keeping things simple, but not necessarily out of sight, is the name of the game here. We all know how to use these velcro-style cable straps from Armiz, but the real benefit here is that you get 100 of them. That means that you can really go to work on those trailing mouse, keyboard and charger cables. Not to mention those bunches of straggling wires at the back of your desk or monitor. Just be aware that if you're looking to strap several thick bundles together, these are probably not going to do the job at 15cm long. But, as long as you're not planning on overloading them with too many wires at once, these are a strong and not unsightly solution.
Pros
- The simplest and easiest solution to keep bundles together
- The reusable hook-and-loop design makes for easy fitting and adjustment
- 100 ties mean great value and lots of cable management for your money
Cons
- Not long enough for larger wire bundles
Best cable organiser for power cables
AGPTEK's Cable Tidy Sleeve is definitely a must-have for those of us who really dislike the mass of chunky mains cabling that has to find its way to monitors, PCs and the like. The main feature here is that this is easy to fit and expandable - from 19mm to a very practical 29mm. That means you can really manage and disguise several power leads at once. You could use this for other wide cabling too though of course, such as HDMI and USB cables for monitors. The only downside here is that you do, of course, end up with one very chunky cable at the end - so you'll still need to use some ties and careful routing to make it look neat.
Pros
- An attractive solution to hide and route multiple power cables and similar
- Fireproof, breathable and abrasion-resistant for extra safety and protection
- Flexible and expandable for a neat finish
Cons
- Makes several cables into one giant cable
Best cable organiser for huge setups
So, you have a home office that's got a little out of hand. Now you just need to blitz it in one fell swoop. That's where SOULWIT come in again, with this kit containing 200 pieces. While this isn't going to hide many cable runs unless you're using these clips under or behind a desk, it is going to cope with a lot of wires. That said, you do get sleeving with this, so you can at least tidy up those cables that need to emerge to feed monitors, peripherals and the like. All in all, this kit will handle pretty much any complex cable management needs. Just make sure you do your planning first, as self-adhesive clips aren't built to be removed and reused.
Pros
- With over 200 pieces, this kit does an awful lot of cable management for the money
- Includes sleeving to manage longer cable runs
- Cable clip nails are ideal for those who have a single long power cable to manage
- Surface-mount self-adhesive clips are not unattractive to look at on a desktop
Cons
- If you have this much cable management to do, you will have a lot of planning to do too
- Lots of surface-mount clips means this isn't a fast or hidden solution for complex wiring
Best cable organiser in 2023: Buyer’s guide
Assess the battleground
Make no mistake, the war against wires is real. And every situation is unique. Whether you have a relatively simple budget PC setup with less than a dozen cables or a gaming setup that looks like something from The Matrix, you should take a moment to survey the scene.
Identify every cable, including any special cables that are wider than normal or have a flat profile. Choosing the best cable organiser is all about making less of a mess, so ensuring your solution can handle every wire efficiently is essential. After all, the last thing you want is a lovely cable management accessory sitting next to a rat’s nest of cables that didn’t fit into it.
Slim down your setup before you buy
Your next step should be to see if any of your wires and cables are actually redundant. Many of us hook things up in a hurry or upgrade peripherals and forget to take out the old connections. Sometimes there’s just a more efficient way to wire things up - for instance, daisy-chaining the USB connections of your monitors, if you have more than one, can immediately clean things up. And then there’s upgrading to wireless keyboards and other wireless tech. If you can afford to, it’s the best way to remove the headache of wires once and for all.
Consider where to fit your cable management solution
If you’re having to go with a large and conspicuous cable organiser, you’ll probably want it out of sight. So, look at your desk and see if you can hide the cable management. Many solutions, like cable cages, are made to be mounted underneath the desk. Other, more simple solutions, can sit on the desk - such as mouse and keyboard wire managers.
But sometimes you’ll have no choice but to have part of the cable organiser itself in view. For instance, the plastic tubular wraparounds for monitor cables will need to find their way around the stand or mount. Typically, the best PCs for video editing and the like will have multi-monitor setups, making planning your route even more important. Not all monitor stands have adequate cable management built-in, so planning where to route any cable management conduit is essential.
Stay safe
As with any electrical cabling, there are some safety issues to keep in mind. Don’t over-tighten any plastic ties or clips to your cables. You may damage the insulation or break the wires inside. Worse, if you then need to cut the tie off you risk snipping through the cable itself.
Lastly, and this is especially true of mains electrical cabling, never be tempted to coil up a long run of wire to make it neat. Heat can build up in coiled wire, so always bundle the wire loosely or swap it out with a shorter one.
Best cable organiser in 2023: FAQs
What’s the best cable management for desks?
As we mentioned above, there are a lot of different solutions that are suitable for desks. But, not all of them will actually use your desk to full advantage when it comes to hiding the cable organiser itself. That’s why we’re a fan of the REFLYING Under Desk Cable Management baskets. They're designed to keep as much of the cable organisation out of sight underneath, with only essential monitor cables and so on coming into view.
And, for any cables that do need to find their way out from underneath, we recommend pairing your cable cage with other solutions on our list - like trunking. This is an absolutely essential strategy if you’re using a standing desk converter or multiple wall-mounted monitors.
What is a cable organiser bag?
In our rundown of the best cable organiser solutions, we’ve focussed on taming the wires on a working computer system. But what if you need to organise and store your mammoth collection of cables, keeping them tangle-free and accessible for future use? Well, there’s a huge array of bags out there that have perfected the art of cable storage. One of our favourites is the TOPSEFU Extra Large Cable Organiser Bag, as it has a decent capacity and some clever design to keep things neat.
Is it safe to use cable management boxes?
As long as you’ve studied the specs to ensure that the box is insulated against electric shock and is heat resistant, there’s no problem at all. Remember to follow all of the manufacturer’s instructions and don’t over-stuff the box. Also, watch out for any snagged cables before you close it up. Lastly, as is the case with an airflow PC case, if your management box is vented don’t inadvertently block the openings.
Chris Duffill is a Tech Product Writer for What's The Best. He specialises in audiovisual, computing, and gadgets. He also writes for Yours.
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