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If you dream of sinking into a supersoft hotel bed every night but don’t want to spend Ritz-Carlton money to buy a whole new mattress, you could do with a plush mattress topper. Mattress toppers in general are a great tool for tweaking the firmness and feel of your mattress, and plush mattress toppers in particular can add a lot more softness and cushion. They can be especially helpful for side sleepers, who need more pressure relief around their joints, and for anyone who wants a little extra padding around their hips, shoulders, or lower back.
While “plush” is admittedly a bit hard to define, I think of a plush mattress topper as one that is both ultrasoft and thick: something you can sink deeply into, that will cradle your body’s pressure points, and that mimics the feel of a pillow-top mattress or featherbed. So for the purposes of this guide, I primarily considered toppers that add at least three inches of cushioning to your mattress, with some of the toppers on this list adding as much as five inches of extra fluff. I focused mostly on toppers made of down and down-alternatives, which tend to be the softest materials, though I’ve also included a few toppers that contain memory foam — including my top pick — that I would say are “as cushy as foam gets.” (Most memory foam offers some cushioning, but not all memory foam is necessarily plush.) The list below includes the plushest toppers I’ve tested, as well as recommendations from other sleep-product experts and Strategist staffers. And if you want even more options, take a look at our guides to the best mattress toppers of any type and the best cooling mattress toppers.
Update on December 20, 2024: Named the Quince Premium Down-Alternative topper our new Best (Less Expensive) Down-Alternative Plush Topper; added the Quince Luxe Downtop Featherbed as the Best (Less Expensive) Down Plush Topper; added the ViscoSoft Hybrid Lux as the Best Hybrid Plush Topper; removed a few toppers; updated prices and checked stock for all products.
What we’re looking for
Material
The material your mattress topper is made of will determine how soft or firm it feels. For a plush mattress topper, I’m looking for materials that are soft and give you something to sink into. There are lots of different materials that’ll get you there, and they each have pros and cons. Down and down alternatives will feel more fluffy and yielding — like a pillow top. Memory foam is better for those seeking pressure relief and support; while it can sometimes feel firm at first and doesn’t always seem especially plush, I included a couple memory-foam toppers that soften as they mold around your body.
Thickness
Mattress toppers are typically between one and five inches thick. Toppers closer to the three- to five-inch range will feel more cushioning and plush, so I primarily looked for toppers in this height range. Thinner mattress toppers can still make your mattress feel softer, but don’t allow as much room for you to sink into the material.
Trial period and warranty
It might take several nights to know if your plush mattress topper will work for you (and anyone you share your bed with) in the long-term. Since many companies welcome trying after you buy, I’ve noted the length of each trial period and any warranty details I could find. Be sure to read the fine print, though: Return policies often vary if you buy the topper directly from a brand versus a retailer like Amazon, and toppers may have different trial periods than mattresses sold by the same companies.
Best plush mattress topper overall
Material: Cross-cut memory-foam and microfiber blend | Thickness: Five inches | Trial and Warranty: 100-day free return window, 5-year warranty
From the makers of some of our favorite bed pillows and body pillows, Coop Sleep Goods, this topper is filled with the brand’s well-loved crosscut memory-foam and microfiber blend (which you’ll also find in its pillows). That makes it a good option for anyone with an allergy or aversion to down. At an extra-cushy five inches thick, this topper has the highest loft on this list and is designed to add a pillow-top-like feel to your mattress — and I would say it succeeds. I have tried the Retreat topper myself, and I found it creates a tufted feel on the surface of the bed due to the gridded stitching used to parcel out the filling so that each square in the grid is a pocket of foam-and-fiber fill. The result is like rows of mini pillows spread across the mattress, adding a lot of extra oomph and plushness that you can really sink into. This design makes the Retreat like a hybrid of a memory-foam mattress topper (the rectangular slab of foam) and a down topper. It has the support of memory foam with the fluffiness of down. I like how it adds a comfortable top layer without making the mattress too sinky or soft.
At about $300 for a queen size, this mattress topper isn’t cheap, but I think Coop does enough to earn a higher price. The topper feels well made, uses high-quality materials (the foam is both CertiPUR-US and GREENGUARD Gold certified), and has straps to secure it in place. My biggest complaint is that it’s spot-clean only; I usually prefer to see toppers that are washable or at least have a removable cover. But of all of the plush mattress toppers on this list, this one best strikes the balance of softness and support.
Best down plush mattress topper
Material: Down | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and Warranty: Free returns within 60 days, 3-year warranty
This three-inch topper from bedding-and-bath retailer Parachute is made with two chambers: The top chamber is filled with a mix of 85 percent down and 15 percent down and feather fibers, while the bottom chamber is filled with 100 feather fill. The result is a sturdier base layer with an ultra-fluffy upper layer for you to sink into, and it’s all held together with a cotton sateen shell that has baffle-box grid stitching to keep the filling evenly distributed and prevent it from bunching up. (This construction does mean there’s a right-side up with this topper, so make sure you’re not flip-flopping it on your mattress.)
The feel of this mattress topper is very enveloping. When I tested it, I sank into the cushy down and felt like I was cocooned in a fluffy featherbed. However, the topper doesn’t cradle and support pressure points the way memory-foam can. It also means that if your mattress is ultra-firm, you might sink into the down and feathers of the topper and land on the firm surface of your bed; I could still feel a mattress underneath the feathers of this topper. This makes the Parachute Down topper a better pick for people who want to give their bed a featherbed-style feel without changing the overall firmness, rather than those who are looking to cushion the impact of a super-firm mattress. One drawback is that this topper does not have straps to keep it in place on your mattress, and it’s also worth noting that the topper is dry-clean only. You could add a mattress pad or protector over it to keep it clean, but that may reduce how fluffy it feels.
Best (less expensive) down plush topper
Material: Top chamber is filled with down; bottom chamber is filled with feathers | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and Warranty: 365-day return policy
No doubt, my top pick for a down topper is pricey. For a more affordable option, Quince’s Luxe Downtop Featherbed is a nice alternative. The Parachute and Quince toppers are very similar — both have the two-chamber construction with down on top and feathers below, both are wrapped in cotton and have a baffle-box construction, and both are about three inches tall. The main difference is the fill power; Quince’s down topper has a 650 fill power and Parachute’s has a 750 fill power. It’s a slight difference in the grand scheme of things, but that higher fill power on the Parachute topper makes the down fluffier. From my experience sleeping on the two, I’d say the Parachute topper did feel a bit softer than the Quince one. But to be frank, they are quite similar and I don’t think most people would necessarily feel a huge difference. Additionally, like the Parachute down topper, this one does not have straps.
I tested the Quince topper by sleeping on it for a little over a week. I used it on the Saatva Classic, an innerspring mattress that is somewhat firm and doesn’t have much give. Adding the Quince topper certainly made the bed feel more plush and pillowlike, but as with the Parachute topper, I wouldn’t rely on the Quince for lots of pressure relief on joints. It’s better suited for adding fluff and that “enveloped in softness” feel, which is quite pleasant.
Best down-alternative plush mattress topper
Material: Microfiber | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and Warranty: Free returns within 60 days, 3-year warranty
For a more allergy-friendly and animal-product-free option from Parachute, the brand’s down-alternative topper has been a favorite among our staff since 2016. Former writer Lauren Levy learned about this topper from an informal survey of her interior-designer friends and bedding experts. The topper acted like memory foam — it shaped to her body and “followed her every move” throughout the night — but still felt light and airy instead of thick. She liked how she felt herself melt into the topper, saying, “I woke up feeling lightly sandwiched between layers of plushness.”
Like the down version, Parachute’s down-alternative topper is baffle-box stitched to keep the filling evenly distributed. It is also three inches thick with a cotton sateen shell. And like its down-counterpart, the topper is dry-clean only and lacks straps to secure it to the mattress.
Best (less expensive) down-alternative plush mattress topper
Material: Microfiber | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and Warranty: 365-day return policy
Quince also makes a solid down-alternative topper that’s less expensive than Parachute’s. I slept on the Quince down-alternative topper for a little over a week on the Saatva Classic mattress — just as I did with the Quince down topper, above — and it had a similar effect, making the surface of the bed more plush while still retaining some of the firmness from the mattress below. Like the Parachute down-alternative topper, Quince’s is filled with fluffy microfiber that mimics the feeling of down. It also has a baffle-box construction for even fill distribution and is three inches thick. The shell is cotton twill, a slight difference from Parachute’s cotton sateen shell; twill is a slightly thicker, coarser, and heavier weave than sateen (it’s the weave used to make denim), so that’s one area where Parachute has a slightly higher-quality material, but as with the Parachute and Quince down toppers, it’s not likely to make a huge difference to most people.
One detail I like about the Quince topper over the Parachute, though, is that it has elastic straps. I actually tested an older version that didn’t have straps, but Quince has since updated this topper to include straps on all four corners, which is handy for securing a topper in place on the mattress.
Best memory-foam plush mattress topper
Material: Memory foam | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and Warranty: Not returnable, 10-year warranty
The Adapt topper is three inches thick and made of the same dense, contouring, and slow-moving proprietary foam found in Tempur-Pedic’s mattresses, called Tempur Material. This signature foam is what makes Tempur-Pedic products so pliant and conforming, truly molding itself around the contours of your body. The moisture-wicking polyester-blend cover is designed to keep dust mites and allergens away from the core of the topper and is removable and machine washable. The extra-stretchy mattress straps prevent the four corners of the topper from slipping and sliding while you sleep — always a plus in my book for toppers.
I’m generally a fan of Tempur-Pedic’s products, and I love this topper. When I tested it, the foam truly cradled my every pressure point. It is about as “plush” as a slab of memory foam gets, in my experience; you shouldn’t expect the airiness of a down or down-alternative topper. But a key difference between this topper and most of the ones above is how much support it provides, along with its plushness. While it’s about as thick as most of the other toppers, the material is far denser and heavier — the queen-size topper weighs about 30 pounds — which can make the foam feel firm initially but allowed for me to sink in deeply for some serious pressure relief, especially around sensitive areas like shoulders or hips. Putting this topper on a firm mattress will actually “change” the mattress to make it feel softer, whereas a down or down-alternative topper on that same mattress will still leave the bed feeling fairly firm, just “fluffier.” If you’re looking to solve a pain issue with a plush topper, I’d go with this one.
It’s important to note that this topper sleeps fairly warm — the foam easily traps heat and there isn’t much way to counteract that. You can upgrade to a cooling cover for an additional $60, but that’s on top of an already expensive starting price.
Best hybrid plush mattress topper
Material: Gel-infused memory-foam and down-alternative pillow-top | Thickness: 3-inch or 4-inch thickness | Trial and Warranty: 90-day money-back guarantee, 5-year warranty
The Tempur-Pedic topper above is one of the plushest memory-foam toppers I’ve ever tried, but it doesn’t have any of the “fluffiness” of the other toppers on this list. If that’s something you’re looking for, but you still want some foam to provide support and pressure relief, ViscoSoft’s hybrid topper gives you a little bit of both. It has two pieces: a slab of gel-infused memory foam that you place on top of your mattress, then a quilted cover stuffed with down-alternative fiberfill (made from recycled ocean plastic) that attaches to the foam with straps, then goes over the rest of the mattress like a fitted sheet. The cover’s pockets are 18 inches deep, so it will easily fit on most mattresses and keep the topper securely in place.
When I tested this topper, I liked how the fiberfill cover gave the surface of my bed a soft, pillowlike feel (much like the down and down-alternative toppers on this list), while the thick piece of memory foam cushioned and supported my joints. The foam in this topper isn’t quite as dense as in the Tempur-Pedic topper above, but it still gets the job done in terms of supporting the body. And compared to the non-foam toppers on this list, it has a much more “cradling and contouring” feel.
This topper is also a decent option if you’re looking for one with cooling properties: The cover is made of Tencel, which is good for temperature regulation and moisture wicking, and the foam is gel-infused, which can reduce the heat-trapping effects of foam. Additionally, the cover is machine washable.
Some more mattress toppers we’ve written about
Our experts:
• Latifah Miles, former Strategist writer
• Lauren Levy, former Strategist writer
Additional reporting by Latifah Miles and Ambar Pardilla.
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