Finding the best mattress has never been easier. With more and more top mattress brands moving online, it's never been cheaper, or more convenient, either.
In this guide, we'll help you choose exactly the right mattress for your needs and budget. Every mattress on this page is best in class, and we've covered a range of different prices and materials so there's something for everyone.
We've also made sure that every one of our top picks comes with at least a 100-night risk-free trial period, so you can test yours properly from the safety of your home, and be completely sure you've chosen the best mattress possible.
What is the best mattress?
We think the Nectar Memory Foam mattress is the best mattress you can buy. It’s exceptionally comfortable and supportive - and it’s also incredible value. (There’s currently a $400 discount and you’ll get $399-worth of free accessories added to your order too.) Plus, Nectar's so sure you'll love the mattress, it gives you a whopping one-year trial, and a forever warranty. Impressive.
We were also impressed with the Saatva Classic - a luxury, hybrid innerspring mattress that comes with white glove delivery as standard (and has a $200 discount when you spend $1,000). However, there’s an option for everyone in our guide. Read on for the best mattresses you can buy right now, and you'll find today's best cheap mattress deals for each of our picks below, too.
The best mattress in 2020
The Nectar Memory Foam mattress is phenomenal value, delivering premium comfort and support for a lot less than its competitors. It’s a medium-firm mattress, with five layers of foam that contour to your body, relieving pressure beneath your shoulders, hips, and legs, and creating better spinal alignment for any body type.
We tested the Nectar Memory Foam mattress for two months and loved it. We slept cool, even during the hot summer months. We also found edge support to be good, which made our mattress feel wider; and noticed very little motion transfer, making it an excellent choice for couples.
However, where the Nectar Memory Foam mattress really stands out is value for money. It’s often generously discounted, making it considerably cheaper than rivals including Casper and Purple - and it’s usually sold with two free premium pillows, worth $150. Right now, there’s a whopping $400 discount on the mattress, plus a free mattress protector, sheet and pillow (worth $399).
The Nectar Memory Foam mattress is a bed in a box, which means it’ll be delivered to your door in a conveniently sized box - or you can pay extra for white glove delivery and set-up in a room of your choice. It comes with an industry-leading 360-night trial, so you get a whole year to decide whether it’s right for you. And there’s a lifetime warranty, too. Throw in free shipping and free returns, and there isn’t another mattress that can beat Nectar on value. We think it’s easily the best mattress for most people.
- Read more: Nectar mattress review
Nectar mattress: Save $400 + get $399 of FREE gifts | Nectar
Nectar's still running a huge $400 discount on the best-selling Nectar Memory Foam mattress in its extended Labor Day sale. You'll also get two free premium pillows, a mattress protector and sheet added to your order, worth $399. Deal ends: soon
View Deal
Luxury mattress brand Saatva doesn't send its mattresses out in a box. Instead, you get free white glove delivery to the room of your choice, and Saatva will remove your old mattress too, if you like.
The flagship Saatva Classic is a premium, hotel-quality mattress - and a fantastic choice for anyone with a higher budget. It combines a dual steel coil support system with luxury, eco-friendly foams, and a cushioning comfort layer. Inside, spinal zone technology provides extra pressure relief - the mattress has been awarded a Seal of Approval from the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations. Outside, a foam encasement around the edge prevents the mattress from sagging, and creates a larger sleep surface.
We like that you can choose your firmness level: the Saatva comes in soft, medium, and firm versions. (Saatva calls them plush soft, luxury firm, and firm.) And since it doesn't arrive in a box, you won't be affected by ‘off-gassing’ - which can happen with some newer memory foam mattresses for the first few days. When it comes to luxury comfort without the premium price tag, we think the Saatva Classic is the best mattress you can buy.
The Allswell is a hybrid bed-in-a-box mattress made from memory foam and coils. Backed by Walmart, it aims to deliver ‘luxury’ at a budget price - and while it doesn’t compare to mattresses that cost more, many reviewers say it does a good job for the money.
Inside, a generous layer of individually wrapped coils help reduce motion transfer, making it a good choice for couples. On top, cooling, breathable memory foam provides cushioning and extra support, while also preventing you from overheating. Allswell classifies the mattress as medium-firm.
Like the Nectar, The Allswell is a bed in a box. It'll be shipped for free and arrive at your door rolled-up in a conveniently sized box, ready to sleep on within 24-48 hours. It also comes with a 100-night trial and 10-year warranty.
Bear in mind that some premium features have been sacrificed to achieve the budget price tag. It doesn't have a removable cover, for example. Nevertheless, The Allswell mattress offers good value for money. If you're looking for a quality, budget option, it's one of the best mattresses you can buy.
The Purple mattress is an extremely popular mid-range mattress. Its maker, Purple, is well-known as one of the most innovative mattress brands in the US, thanks to a unique ‘Purple grid’ layer that’s found inside each of the company’s three mattresses.
Created from Purple’s patented Hyper-Elastic Polymer foam, the Purple grid is a dynamic, hyper-elastic gel-like material that instantly adapts and flexes underneath your body. It’s designed to provide tailored pressure relief and support right where you need it, and help align your spine while you sleep. It’s super durable, and the grid also aids airflow, with thousands of open-air channels keeping you cool at night.
The Purple mattress is the most affordable of the company's range. It’s a bed in a box, and has five layers in total, including a two-inch Purple grid, and a breathable, super-soft wave knit cover on top. Some users report that the unique soft but supportive feel of the grid does take a little while to get used to - but many say it’s worth the wait. This mattress is a particularly good choice for couples because the grid prevents motion transfer, and for anyone who tends to overheat at night.
The Helix Midnight is the brand’s best-selling mattress. It’s medium-firm, with five layers of foam, memory foam and wrapped coils, all of which combine to provide ergonomic, cushioned support.
The materials make it particularly good for side sleepers and anyone who tosses and turns at night. You’ve got two layers of Memory Plus Foam and Helix dynamic foam, which relieve pressure and contour to your body shape; while hundreds of individual coils provide extra cushioning, and limit motion transfer.
We particularly like Helix as a brand because aside from making brilliant mattresses, it also has one of the best websites for buying a mattress online. If you’re doing this for the first time, you’ll find a handy sleep quiz on the site that will help you decide whether the Helix Midnight is the best mattress for your sleeping style and preferences, or whether you (and your partner) might be better suited to another model from Helix’s excellent range.
The Avocado Green mattress is the best organic mattress you can buy. Made from non-toxic, eco-friendly materials, this high-quality hybrid mattress offers a luxurious, gentle-but-firm sleeping environment, and has outstanding green credentials.
Customers certainly love it. The Avocado Green mattress boasts an average score of 4.7 out of 5 from over 12,000 reviews on the Avocado website. Many people praise how comfortable it is - and some say their back pain has disappeared. There are two different versions to choose between: standard, which is 11 inches deep; or pillow top, which adds an extra two inches of luxury support.
Both are made from premium, natural materials, including ethically sourced GOLS organic certified latex, wool, and cotton (GOLS is a global textile processing standard for organic fibers). There are also 1,414 pocketed coils to distribute your weight more evenly. And it’s incredibly resilient: this is one of the most durable mattresses you can buy. If you're looking for a comfortable, supportive, and sustainably produced mattress with no chemicals, you won't find better.
Think of a bed-in-a-box brand, and chances are well-known mattress maker Casper will come to mind. The company makes three different mattresses, with its flagship - the Casper Original - the most popular, and the cheapest.
The Casper Original has three layers, and an eco-friendly, removable cover that's machine washable. The top layer consists of breathable foam that’s designed to cushion you, while also circulating air to keep you cool at night. In the middle, a memory foam layer delivers zoned support under your hips and shoulders to alleviate pressure, while a durable base offers further support to your whole body.
Designed to suit all types of sleeper, it's particularly good for people who like to sink into a bed and feel like their mattress is hugging them, with plenty of customers commenting on how comfortable it is. The Casper Original has an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars on the Casper website from almost 20,000 users reviews, and 4.4 out of 5 on Amazon from almost 300 reviews.
Leesa is a bed-in-a-box brand that - like the other mattresses here - also boasts its share of positive reviews. The Leesa Original is the most budget-friendly mattress in the company’s range, with three layers of breathable, responsive foam, and a soft cover on top.
It’s billed as medium-firm, and while a number of customers say they were surprised by how firm they found the Leesa Original, the majority of user reviews we’ve seen are overwhelmingly positive. The mattress has an impressive average score on the Leesa website of 4.5 out of 5, from almost 20,000 customers; and 4 out of 5 stars on Amazon too.
In addition, Leesa is another good ethical choice. Its mattresses use recycled and natural materials, and Leesa plants a tree for each mattress sold. The company also donates one mattress to charity for every 10 sold.
The Layla Memory Foam Mattress sets itself apart from other bed-in-a-box options because it's a soft and firm mattress in one: you can simply turn it over to the side you prefer. It's made from memory foam infused with cooling copper gel particles, and aims to provide support for deep compression areas, while also providing an overall "plush" feel.
This five-layered flippable mattress receives particularly good reviews from side sleepers, who tend to chose the soft side - as do back sleepers; while stomach sleepers prefer the firmer side. But the benefit of this mattress is that you can experiment to find which works best for you.
Tuft & Needle has been around since 2012, and in that time it's racked up more than 130,000 positive user reviews on Amazon, Google and Yelp. Many of these rave about the company's customer service, as well as how comfortable their mattresses are.
Tuft & Needle makes its mattresses with two layers of its proprietary foam: one layer being an adaptive cooling gel and the other a graphite foam that promises to keep you cool, wicking body heat away from you.
The Tuft & Needle Original mattress mattress has a soft, plushy feel but it's also designed to provide good pressure relief if you switch from your back to your side to your stomach throughout the night. It's a good option for couples with different sleeping styles.
What to look for when buying the best mattress
Any mattress's comfort level is relative, and each consumer (and mattress company) may gauge a firmness level differently. What feels supportive and pressure-relieving to one person may feel too firm to another, even if both are side sleepers and about the same height and weight. Keep that in mind when noting our "firmness gauge" from 1 to 10, with 10 being the firmest. (Be aware that firmness ratings aren't regulated and can vary across brands.)
As you read about each mattress's materials, know that most bed-in-a-box varieties are memory-foam mattresses. Some variations are hybrid models, which may contain memory foam, innersprings or latex. Other (conventional) mattresses are made with innersprings or coils, while some mattresses are made with latex for someone who seeks a natural material option. Each material has its pros and cons.
We list the price for queen-size basic mattresses, but the options listed here are also available in twin, twin XL, Full, king and California king. Generally speaking, the bigger the mattress, the higher the price. Most of the twin mattresses are a few hundred dollars less and the king and California king mattresses average about $200 more than the queen size. Some brands, like Purple, also offer split king sizes. Hybrid mattresses and Luxe or Premier versions cost more than the basic/original mattress prices listed.
Read more: