The best mattress in 2021: Nectar, Purple and more reviewed

Finding the best mattress has never been easier - and it’s never been more affordable, either, with more quality mattresses than ever being sold online. These mattresses boast the same advanced materials and premium features as their in-store rivals, but many cost less, thanks to the reduced overheads that come from being online.

We've spent hundreds of hours researching and reviewing the latest mattresses, sleeping on them ourselves as well as collating feedback from thousands of users, to help you find exactly the right mattress for your needs and budget. 

There's something here for everyone. Our top picks cover a range of different prices and materials, and every option in our best mattress guide comes with at least a 100-night risk-free trial period - so you can test it properly from the safety and comfort of your home. After all, a quick showroom test isn't enough to know whether a mattress is right: you need to sleep on it. If you don't completely love your new mattress, you'll be refunded, and it'll be donated to charity.

What is the best mattress?

We think the Saatva Classic is the best mattress you can buy overall. Starting from $799, this luxurious innerspring mattress delivers premium comfort and support for a lot less than its high-end rivals.

Alternatively, the Nectar Memory Foam mattress offers outstanding value for money. It’s exceptionally comfortable and supportive, plus right now there's a $400 discount - prices start from $499 - and you'll get $399-worth of free gifts added to your order too.

There’s plenty of choice here though, so whatever your preferences, you'll find a mattress that's right for you. We've also searched the sales to bring you today's best mattress deals for every option below, too.

The best mattress in 2021 - as reviewed by experts

The flagship Saatva Classic is a premium, hotel-quality mattress from luxury online brand Saatva. This high-end hybrid innerspring combines premium, eco-friendly foams with a super-durable dual steel coil support system, and features spinal zone technology to reduce pressure in your lower back - the mattress has been awarded a Seal of Approval from the Congress of Chiropractic State Associations. It’s also customizable: the Saatva Classic comes in soft, medium, and firm versions (Saatva calls them plush soft, luxury firm, and firm) and your choice of height: 11.5 or 14.5 inches. 

We loved sleeping on this mattress. We tested the 11.5-inch luxury firm option and found it to be exceptionally comfortable and supportive, with soft cushioning and excellent pressure relief. It’s buoyant, with a gentle bounce, and provides fantastic support all the way up to the edges. It also sleeps cool, making it a top choice for anyone who overheats at night, and is proving durable - some of our reviewers are one year in now, and their mattress is still performing well. We’re not the only ones to rate the Saatva Classic highly, either. The mattress boasts an impressive average score of 4.9 out of 5 from over 40,000 user views (Feb 2021). 

All that luxury comes at a cost, of course. This isn’t the cheapest option in our best mattress guide - but the Saatva Classic is good value, undercutting its luxury hybrid mattress rivals by up to a few hundred dollars. Plus it comes with free white glove delivery to the room of your choice. 

All Saatva’s mattresses have a generous 180-night home trial, so the Classic is easy to try for yourself. Our only qualm is that unlike some companies, exchanges and returns aren’t free. If you don’t love your mattress, Saatva will collect it and refund your money, less a $99 fee to cover gas and labor. We think that’s a risk worth taking though: this luxury mattress is superb. For pure comfort, design and all-round value for money, the Saatva Classic is one of the best mattresses there is, and an excellent choice for anyone looking to invest in their sleep. 

• Read more: Saatva Classic mattress review

The Nectar Memory Foam mattress is phenomenal value, delivering excellent 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 thought it was excellent. 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. Right now, there's up to a $400 discount on the mattress - and it comes with two free luxury pillows, a mattress protector and sheets, worth $399. That's incredible value. 

Unlike the Saatva Classic, the Nectar Memory Foam is a bed in a box (we think it's the best mattress in a box there is). That 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 also a lifetime warranty, plus free shipping and free returns.

Yes, you could spend more on a higher-end mattress. But Nectar beats them all on sheer value for money. If you’re looking to get the most bang for your buck, the Nectar Memory Foam mattress is easily the best mattress around.

• Read more: Nectar mattress review

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. There also isn't a discount on this one in Allswell's holiday sale. 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 offers a premium night’s sleep at a mid-range price. Made by one of the most innovative mattress brands in the US, it stands out thanks to its unique ‘Purple grid’ technology. This patented material is a dynamic, hyper-elastic gel-like foam that instantly adapts and flexes under your body to deliver tailored support right where you need it.

We gave the Purple mattress high marks across the board when we reviewed it. It was easy to order, and when it arrived it was fairly simple for two people to unpack and unroll, with no off gassing or plastic smell. It does feel different to other foam mattresses: the gel grid instantly responds to movement, cradling pressure points and aligning your spine, and springing back into place when you adjust your position. We felt like we were floating, cushioned by the soft, plush top, while also being supported by the surprisingly firm durable base layers.

The Purple mattress is a particularly good choice for couples - the grid does an excellent job of isolating movement, so you won’t be disturbed by tossing and turning. It’s also a great option for anyone who overheats at night. There are over 2,800 open air channels to allow cooling throughout the mattress, plus breathable foams and a soft flex cover help prevent heat from building up. Not everyone gets on with the Purple grid - some people report that the unique soft but supportive feel takes a while to get used to. We say it’s totally worth the wait.

• Read more: Purple mattress review

The Cocoon Chill is a premium memory foam mattress made by industry giant and household name Sealy. Designed to adapt to your body to provide tailored support all over, this medium-firm mattress has three different foam layers, including luxury memory foam for deep contouring, responsive comfort foam to reduce motion transfer and prevent you sinking into the mattress, and a durable support layer. 

But where the Cocoon Chill really stands out is its high-end stretch-knit cooling cover. It’s infused with phase-change material, which absorbs and dissipates heat from your body and helps you stay sweat free all night. It means this all-foam mattress is much cooler than lots of its rivals - as confirmed by many of the over 5,000 customers who have given it full five-star reviews on the Cocoon By Sealy website (it averages an excellent score of 4.7 out of 5 from over 7,000 user reviews). 

This mattress is extremely popular at the moment: it was the second most clicked-on mattress in our Black Friday mattress deals page (the Nectar Memory Foam was the most). Given that it comes with a 100-night risk-free trial and free shipping, we think it’s worth seeing what all the fuss is about. 

The Helix Midnight is the brand’s most popular mattress. Best-suited to side-sleepers and people who toss and turn at night (if you're a front or back sleeper, choose the Helix Dusk, which costs the same), the Helix Midnight is a medium-firm hybrid, with five layers that are designed to support your body’s contours and cushion your shoulders and hips. Soothing memory foam and dynamic polyfoam hug your body and relieve pressure, while hundreds of individual coils cradle your body, provide extra support, and limit motion transfer.

We particularly like Helix as a brand because aside from making brilliant mattresses, the company 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.

• Read more: Helix Midnight mattress review

If you liked the sound of the Nectar mattress but don’t want an all-foam option, we highly recommend trying the DreamCloud. This popular, luxury hybrid mattress is sold at a lower-mid-range price: it isn't quite as plush as the premium Saatva Classic, but it's a few hundred dollars cheaper and comes with free pillows (plus free sheets and a mattress protector in the current sale too). 

At 14 inches, this medium-firm mattress is one of the tallest in our guide, and it comes packed with five generous layers that offer firm, responsive support as well as deep, soft cushioning. 

The core of the mattress consists of a layer of individually wrapped coils. These provide custom relief by adapting to your body shape, and give the DreamCloud a traditional innerspring mattress feel, with more bounce than you’ll get from an all-foam option. The springs also boost airflow, helping dissipate heat during the night. Above these sit a gel memory foam layer, which is designed to contour to your body, cradling your shoulders, hips and other pressure points. There’s also a cooling, quilted cashmere cover on top. 

Existing users love it: the DreamCloud averages a full five stars from almost 3,000 reviews on the DreamCloud website, and 4.2 out of 5 on independent review site TrustPilot, from a smaller pool of 800 users. The majority of reviewers comment on how comfortable the mattress is, how much better they sleep now, and how good the customer service is at DreamCloud. A few users say that edge support could be a little better for sitting on the side of the bed. 

Bear in mind that the DreamCloud is heavier than some other mattresses (a queen size weighs 85lbs compared to Nectar’s 74lbs, while a king size weighs 107lbs) so you’ll want two people to move it. Alternatively, in non-covid times you can pay an extra $149 for white glove delivery. We love that the DreamCloud comes with a whopping 365-night trial and forever warranty. Shipping and returns are also free, which makes testing this mattress at home incredibly easy. 

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.

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. 

• Read more: Tuft & Needle mattress review

The Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam isn’t the best mattress you can buy - let’s clear that up straight away. As you’ll have seen in this guide, there are plenty of higher-end options with luxury materials and more advanced features. But if you’re on a tight budget, or looking to furnish a spare room without breaking the bank, this Amazon best-seller is very good indeed and well worth considering. 

The Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam is an all-foam mattress. As the name suggests, it features green tea-infused memory foam, plus purified charcoal particles, which aim to neutralize odors and absorb moisture. It comes in a range of different thickness options: 6, 8, 10 and 12 inches, and the price increases with depth. We tested the 10-inch version - which starts from $217 - for three months and found it to be very comfortable and supportive, with good edge support and minimal motion transfer, so you won’t be disturbed by a restless partner. (In case you’re wondering, no, it doesn’t smell of tea…)

The fantastic price is, of course, where this mattress really stands out. It isn’t often you can buy a quality king size mattress for under $300. The Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam mattress has also racked up a ridiculous amount of positive user reviews on Amazon - almost 90,000 (Feb 2021), with an impressive average score of 4.5 out of 5. 

There are a few questions about long-term durability: we don’t know how this mattress will perform after a few years of use. It’s not the best choice if you overheat at night, either - a few of our reviewers became uncomfortably warm. But all in all, we think the Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam mattress is popular for good reason. If you’re looking for affordable support and comfort, or want to give memory foam a try for the first time, it’s a top choice for the money.

How to choose the best mattress

There are two golden rules to follow when buying a new mattress. Firstly, make sure you choose the right size. How? Well, a good rule of thumb is that your mattress should be 10cm longer than the tallest person sleeping in it. 

If you're sharing a bed, you and your partner should also be able to put your hands under your head without your elbows touching. If you're not sharing a bed, you want to be able to put your hands under your head without touching the edges of the mattress. Measure that distance, and as long as you choose a mattress that's wider than that, you're good. 

Secondly, make sure it's the right firmness. The best way to do this is by sleeping on the mattress for a few weeks - which is why all the best mattresses come with a risk-free trial period.

However, if you're testing a mattress in a showroom, there's a quick trick you can use to increase your chances of choosing an option that's right for you. Lie down and place your hand in the small of your back: if there's a big gap, it's too firm; if there's no gap, the mattress is too soft. Of course, this isn't a fool-proof test - you do need to sleep on a mattress to be sure - but it's a good way to narrow down options in a showroom. 

^ Back to the top

Key considerations before buying a mattress

Bear in mind that mattresses are subjective. How firm or soft you find a mattress depends on a wide range of factors, including your weight, height, body shape, sleeping style, and body temperature. That means that every mattress's comfort level is relative, so each person (and mattress company) may gauge a firmness level differently. What feels supportive and pressure-relieving to you may feel too firm to someone else, even if you're both side sleepers and about the same height and weight. 

Keep this in mind when noting our "firmness gauge", which ranges from 1 to 10, with 10 being the firmest. (Also, be aware that firmness ratings aren't regulated and can vary across brands.) The only way to know whether a mattress is right for you is to sleep on it - which is why all our selections here come with a risk-free trial. If you don't like one, you can send it back and try another. 

^ Back to the top

Which is the best type of mattress?

There are a lot of different types of mattresses to choose between, and on first glance they can all seem a little overwhelming. But they needn't be: mattress materials have advanced dramatically over the last five years, and the differences between each are increasingly negligible. 

We've spent hours researching and reviewing the options in our best mattress guide, and have pulled together a list of outstanding options. We believe that you should be able to pick any of the options above and be extremely happy with your choice, regardless of whether it's made from copper-infused memory foam, coils, latex or a cutting-edge combination of all-natural materials.

However, it can be helpful to know what each mattress material is before you make your final choice - so here we've walked through the different options. As you'll see, each has its pros and cons...  

Memory foam is a good option for anyone who likes to feel 'hugged' by their mattress. It uses your body heat to mold to your shape, providing tailored support at pressure points and all-over cushioning. Traditionally it's not been the best choice for anyone who tends to overheat at night, but memory foam has come a long way in recent years, and the best memory foam mattresses tend to come packed with special cooling materials. 

Spring mattresses have more bounce than memory foam, and can be cheaper. Traditionally they were a good choice for anyone who sleeps hot, due to the increased airflow throughout the mattress, but advancements in materials across the board means that's not necessarily the case now.

Hybrids can bring you the best of both worlds: the tailored support of foam, with the subtle bounce and increased airflow of springs. The coils in hybrid are usually smaller, though, and you'll have less memory foam too. Meanwhile, latex is a super durable material and a good choice if you want your mattress to really last. 

However, really, these days, all the materials have improved so much that there's little to tell the difference between them in reality. Again, we advise making use of the trial periods to find the best mattress for your specific preferences. 

^ Back to the top

Mattress sizes

Most of the options listed in our best mattress guide are available in twin, twin XL, full, queen, king and California king sizes - some come in split options too, which enable you to choose a different firmness to your partner. 

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.  Hybrid mattresses and Luxe or Premier versions generally cost more than the basic/original mattress prices listed.

^ Back to the top

Read more:

• The best mattress protector to keep your bed fresh
• The best mattress toppers to upgrade your bed
• Black Friday mattress topper deals: what we expect to see
• The best Black Friday deals
• Five tips for buying a mattress in a box