You may remember my article from earlier this year when I explored how much weight lawn chairs could hold. Similar to then, I’ve recently been wondering how much weight a porch swing can hold. They’re much sturdier than their lawn chair cousins and (when installed properly) can offer a load of support.
But if you’re on the heavier side (like I used to be), you may still be worried about using one or sharing it with a friend. Have no fear! I’ve done a load of research and I’m here to inform you exactly how much weight a porch swing can hold.
Despite what some manufacturers say, porch swings can generally hold more than 1000 pounds of weight. This changes somewhat from model to model, but it boils down to the quality of the porch swing material and the strength of the mounting hardware.
While some porch swings are rated for less total weight capacity, upgrading the mounting hardware is usually all you need to increase the weight limit.
First, let’s explore different porch swing seats and how they may impact the weight limit of your setup.
Porch Swing Weight Limits
You can easily find mountable porch swings rated for 800+ pounds (363+ kg). This is quite a bit of weight and many folks’ needs are served by this kind of numbers. Before we go shopping for mounting hardware, let’s first look at a couple of heavy-duty porch swing options.
800 pounds for a porch swing is definitely encouraging. However, the quality of that piece of patio furniture is reflected 100% in its price. If you go down in price, does the weight limit suffer? Let’s look at another model.
Finally, let’s look at the weight limit of a budget porch swing. This is the least expensive but highest-reviewed porch swing option I could find that still had a decent weight rating.
These examples should show two things:
- The weight limit of porch swings doesn’t change very much from $80-$150 or so.
- There’s a noticeable increase in quality the nearer you get to $200.
But like I said at the beginning of the article, the porch swing itself is only one piece of the puzzle. Your mounting hardware also plays a major role in porch swing weight capacity.
Mounting Hardware Weight Limits
Most porch swing mounting hardware can handle 1000 lbs with ease. Even taking the weight of the swing into account, this should be more than enough for most situations. However, you might have noticed there’s a big piece of hardware I haven’t mentioned yet: the chain!
What’s the weight limit for a standard porch swing chain? Using a pair of standard double loop chains during installation, you can expect the following ratings based on the trade size.
| Trade Size | Weight Limit (2 chains) |
| 1/0 | 400 lbs (181 kg) |
| 2/0 | 510 lbs (231 kg) |
| 3/0 | 610 lbs (276 kg) |
| 4/0 | 730 lbs (331 kg) |
| 5/0 | 870 lbs (395 kg) |
| 6/0 | 1020 lbs (463 kg) |
| 8/0 | 1410 lbs (640 kg) |
As you can see, the weight limit of standard porch swing changes can vary between 400 and 1400 lbs depending on the trade size that you pick. When picking out your heavy duty hardware, keep this in mind.
Weight Capacity For Free Standing Porch Swings
Perhaps you’re interested in a detached porch swing with a mount? I used to have one of these myself, so they get my full endorsement. However, how much weight does a free-standing porch swing hold? As with most things, it depends on the kind of free-standing porch swing.
Let’s look through some examples so we can find the average weight capacity.
It’s unsurprising that a free-standing, solid wood porch swing would have decent weight capacity (although not quite as much as the mounted porch swings above). Let’s take a look at one of the highest-rated steel free-standing porch swings and see how it compares.
With those data points, we can say that free-standing porch swings have an average weight capacity of between 500 and 750 pounds. As you can see, this is significantly less than the mounted options we presented above.
There’s one final type of product that I’d like to cover. There’s a new trend of folks putting up porch swing beds instead of regular porch swings!
Porch Swing Beds Weight Capacity
I originally assumed that porch swing beds’ weight capacity would reflect the fact that folks were laying down on them (completely suspended). However, the models that I looked at were disappointing.
Not only were they more expensive, but I found that the weight capacity of porch swing beds averaged around 450 pounds. If you’re interested in seeing one of these, here’s a link to one of the better models I found.
What About Porch Swing Springs?
Porch swing springs definitely help soften the swinging motion of your porch swing, but what kind of effect do they have on weight capacity? Unfortunately, they can significantly reduce the rated weight limit of your mounted porch swing. Most sets of springs are only rated for 600-700 lbs (here’s a particularly heavy duty option).
For many folks, this weight limit works fine. For others, you may have to skip the porch swing springs and simply attach the chain directly to the mounting hardware.
Final Thoughts
The weight isn’t the only thing to keep in mind when mounting a porch swing. We wrote about this and more as part of our collection of articles on porch swings, found here. Find out about the kind of hardware to use and common pitfalls when hanging your swing.