All the Best Foam Mattresses We’ve Ever Written About

If you don’t want to overthink it, go with this mattress. The original Leesa mattress is constructed with three layers of foam, but it feels substantial and offers excellent pressure relief. It’s suitable for all types of sleepers or couples with different sleep styles — like former Strategist editor Maxine Builder, a side-sleeper who prefers a plush bed, and her partner, a back-sleeper who is content with napping on a yoga mat on a hardwood floor. Builder used a sleep tracker for five nights while testing this mattress, and according to the data, she fell into a deep sleep quickly and stayed there every night. Her husband noted that the foam filling provided comfort and pressure relief in his lower back without the sinking feeling that’s commonly associated with too-soft, all-foam mattresses. This Leesa mattress is one of the more expensive all-foam mattresses that we’ve tested, but it’s worth it, especially if you don’t want to spend too much time thinking about your choice.

Similar to the Leesa mattress, the Tuft & Needle is a crowd-pleaser. Both Strategist writer Lauren Ro, a back-slash-side sleeper who prefers a firmer mattress with coils, and her husband, a back-slash-stomach sleeper who runs hot, found it supportive. “Lying on the Tuft & Needle for the first time, I immediately felt embraced. Sleeping on my back, I felt supported and cocooned at the same time, and when I turned to my side, the transition felt natural,” Ro said. Really, the biggest difference between our pick for best all-around foam mattress and the Tuft & Needle is the price: It’s a couple hundred dollars less than other all-foam options, likely because it’s only made with two layers of foam (unlike Leesa, which has three layers). But that lower price point is what makes the Tuft & Needle “a solid introduction to a compressed mattress-in-a-box” for several different types of sleepers.

If even firm mattresses still feel a bit too plush, the Plank is the mattress for you. It’s specifically designed for those seeking a supportive mattress to reduce back pain, and it has a two-sided construction wherein one side is considered “traditional firm” while the other is “ultra firm” — meaning you can flip the mattress depending on your needs. Strategist senior editor Simone Kitchens prefers a very firm mattress, so when she tested this one, she “wasn’t even interested in trying the less-firm side,” she says. It’s the firmest memory-foam mattresses she’s ever laid down on, but it still has the slightest give, which makes it comfortable for rolling over onto one side or the other during the night. “The foam doesn’t just fill in around the contours of your body, it puffs you up on top of it with your weight evenly dispersed,” Kitchens says. After a year of testing, she says the firmness is still intact.

Our best cooling foam mattress (which is also our favorite overall) goes to Tuft & Needle, whose Mint model has two layers of adaptive foam (as opposed to the above Original that only has one) that are infused with ceramic gel and graphite to draw excess heat away from the body. Strategist writer Arielle Avila, a combination sleeper who runs hot, says it works so effectively there were “a couple nights [she and her boyfriend] forgot to turn our fan on, and we didn’t wake up drenched.” Plus, the foam accommodates both their preferences: Her boyfriend prefers firm support, but Avila (who likes plush) says it didn’t feel too hard on her hips or shoulders when rolling on her side. “I’d describe the feeling as being cradled, something I also felt when sleeping on my stomach,” she says.

We recently crowned the Casper One as our favorite mattress for side sleepers, largely because it doesn’t contain fiberglass, as Casper’s Original mattress (our former best mattress for side sleepers) does. Beyond that change, there are no major differences between the two mattresses, and Casper is in the process of phasing out the Original altogether. 

Strategist senior editor Kiki Aranita has slept on the Casper One and the Original and says that while she’s equally comfortable on both mattresses, she prefers the One because “it’s encased in soft gray microfiber so if it were to stain, the staining wouldn’t show.” Aranita and her husband — both side sleepers sharing the mattress — have found the mattress to have something of a Goldilocks effect: “The One is firm enough to be supportive but still soft enough to relieve pressure on my joints,” she says, adding, “I also like how the mattress has give but not really bounce — I don’t like mattresses with springs; I just want to sleep on a firm sponge.” To Aranita, this looks like having enough edge support that she won’t roll off the bed, with enough give that she can sleep unbothered while her dog walks around on the bed. The Casper One satisfies both.

For back sleepers, we recommend the Cocoon Chill mattress from Sealy, which is our favorite mattress for back sleepers overall. Kitchens — who prefers a firm mattress — also tested this mattress, specifically hoping to alleviate her chronic back, spine, and neck soreness. Even though the construction of the Cocoon Chill is all-foam, Kitchens said it was “every bit as firm as the innerspring coil mattress I’ve slept on for years, but the memory foam hugs me in a way that makes my lower back feel particularly supported. Weird visual for you: Imagine two open palms gently lifting up your sacrum area.” The result of this combination of memory foam on top of high-density foam is a sensation that Kitchens described as “full-body relaxing” — so much so that sleeping on it even helped to alleviate some of her very specific back pain. She adds, “Although memory foam can cause you to heat up, it was never an issue here.”

When people talk about foam mattresses, they’re typically referring to a mattress made from polyurethane foam, which is a type of plastic. But if you’re seeking the benefits of a foam mattress — plushness, support, and comfort, to name a few — and prefer natural materials, a latex mattress is your solution. It’s one of the newest bedding trends on our radar, and fans rave about the material’s bouncy, cooling feel, plus its eco-friendliness. PlushBeds’s Natural Bliss Vegan Mattress is our favorite plush latex mattress and made Strategist editor Hilary Reid think of “the sort of mattress you’d find in a spare room at your grandmother’s house — something well made that she held on to for that reason” when she slept on it. Given the mattress company’s use of centuries-old methods of European mattress-makers, she says this impression makes sense. As a combination side and stomach sleeper, Reid adds, “I felt both supported and like I was sinking into the bed a bit, which had a pleasantly coddling effect that I think helped me sleep more deeply.”

According to the brand, Bear’s original, all-foam mattress is designed for athletes, with foam layers that are designed to relieve pressure, keep you cool, and restore strength. All of those benefits are thanks to a mattress cover made of Celliant, a synthetic fiber that’s “designed to direct body heat back into the muscles as restorative infrared heat,” according to some studies. It sounds like science-fiction, but Adelson, who tested this mattress with her husband, said that “it may be totally psychological — [but] my legs did feel fresher and less fatigued than they normally would on days after doing sprints and thigh-punishing barre workouts.” Given that anecdotal experience, and some of the early studies on Celliant, if you’re an athlete or on a rigorous gym schedule, the Bear mattress may be worth the try — but if nothing else, it’s a nice option for stomach- or back-sleepers who want a touch more support from an all-foam mattress. (And Bear’s 365-night trial allows for hassle-free returns.)

For an (on-sale) child-friendly option, we’d recommend Nest’s Puffin mattress to young ones graduating to their first big-kid bed. Constructed with seven inches of nontoxic memory foam and a cooling cover, the Puffin is designed to promote healthy alignment in children and pull heat away from the body, according to the brand. Strategist senior editor Jen Trolio tried it with her daughters when they were 4- and 7-year-olds, and she says they all found it to be very comfortable. That being said, if you and your child are looking for a firm mattress, Trolio says it feels much softer to her than the brand lists it to be. When we asked Trolio for a two-year update, she said while she prefers the Helix Kids mattress (which has a hybrid construction) for children, her Puffin’s shape and support have held up if you’re looking for a less expensive, all-foam option. One thing to note: If your kids regularly require extra snuggles, it’s worth taking into consideration the mattress’s recommended 110-pound maximum weight capacity. Trolio is a 140-pound adult and found the mattress to be very comfortable, but, she says, “definitely consider the weight limit and your family’s sleep habits before you add it to your cart.”