The Smartish Magnetic Cord Holder (Amazon link) is the first desktop cord organizer I’ve used that actually works.
This is a relatively heavy 4.9″ x 3.24″ faux leather base that sits on a desk or table. The bottom has a grip pattern but none of the sticky or 3M adhesives that a lot of other similar solutions rely on.
The top of the cord holder is magnetic, which keeps the cords in place until you need them.
Smartish’s marketing copy claims that most cables will work with it out of the box, but my experience is that none of my cables did. Fortunately, it ships with several magnetic cable collars–small wraparound cables that easily attach to any cable and allow the cable to stick to the cord holder.
From my testing, this worked like a charm. I have a number of USB-C and other cables that typically plug into a computer or charger under my desk. Those cables tend to occasionally fall back behind the desk, requiring me to duck under the desk and get them back up to where they need to be.
This totally removes that necessity.
The only real drawback is the price. The larger model, which IMO is the only one really worth getting, is $40. For me, that was a small price to pay to solve this problem once and for all, but obviously, that is a significant amount of money just for this sort of cable management.
