Best Hybrid Mattresses

Hybrid mattresses, which combine two or more support systems and incorporate a wide variety of materials, are becoming increasingly popular among consumers. These mattresses typically marry an innerspring system and specialty foams.

Hybrid beds are designed to offer the best features of other mattresses while mitigating downsides. However, there are so many hybrid choices available that consumers can run into analysis paralysis. If hybrid mattresses have piqued your interest but you aren’t sure where to start in your search, this guide is perfect for you. 

In this article, we outline the best hybrid mattresses for certain needs and sleeping types, and then we cover what to look for in a hybrid, the pros, and cons of this mattress type, and the types of sleepers hybrids serve best.

The Best Hybrid Mattresses

MATTRESS NERD’S TOP 9 PICKS

• Leesa
• Brooklyn Bedding
• Casper
• DreamCloud
• Brentwood Home Cedar
• Purple
• Awara

The Leesa Hybrid is a bed-in-a-box that has a soft, neutral foam feel and is excellent for sleepers of all positions and sizes. It has a five-layer construction with 6” pocketed coils at the base followed by support foam, memory foam, and a premium foam top. 

All in all, we love this mattress’ design and the fact that its features cater to a wide variety of sleepers without feeling like a low-quality, one-size-fits-all. It’s soft to the touch but is a slightly firmer bed, thanks to the support from the coils. It isn’t necessarily like an all-foam mattress or a pillow-top style where you’ll sink far into the top layers, but the top two layers of foam make it very comfortable nonetheless. It’s a medium-firm on the firmness scale and will suit back sleepers, stomach sleepers, and average to lightweight side sleepers. Another thing we love about this bed is that, while soft, there isn’t much sinkage, which means you’ll keep cool throughout the night. The Leesa Hybrid comes with free shipping, a 100 night trial period, free returns, is easy to unbox. 

Brooklyn Bedding is known for making high-quality products. The Aurora is their hybrid with an 8” pocketed coil base that’s topped with layers of memory foam and the company’s proprietary foam. It’s our choice for hybrid shoppers who sleep hot, as the top layer has exceptional cooling properties.

If you tend to wake in the middle of the night in a hot sweat, the Brooklyn Aurora will solve that issue. The top layer of Energex foam on this mattress is a polyurethane foam that’s infused with copper. Copper, a natural heat conductor, draws heat away from the body. If you want cool sleep, you’ll get it in this hybrid. Not to mention, Brooklyn Bedding offers a 10-year warranty, free delivery, and a 120 night trial with a full refund and return shipping included. 

Casper recently updated its flagship all-foam model and introduced equally as comfortable, mildly softer Casper Wave Hybrid. In this mattress, you’ll find almost all of the components of the original Casper with an added a 7” pocketed coil system.

The Casper Wave Hybrid features the four memory foam layers found in the original Casper Wave but adds pocketed innerspring coils. The mattress is 13” thick and a little softer than average, coming in at about a medium on the firmness scale. The top comfort layer is open-cell foam, and it’s similar to latex in that it provides more bounce than memory foam. The transitional layer of this mattress, a high-density polyfoam, provides zoned support at the hips and shoulders, translating to greater overall comfort. Finally, the base of pocketed coils provides some buoyancy. All of these elements together create a comfortable sleeping surface that feels cozy to the touch.

The DreamCloud is a hybrid bed-in-a-box that contains coils and multiple layers of memory and latex foam. This luxury mattress is thick, durable and made with high-quality materials that can handle petite, medium, and heavy sleepers at an affordable price relative to other luxury mattress options.

We recommend the DreamCloud for people seeking a luxury option that doesn’t break the bank. With prices starting as low as $999, you can get the quality materials and durability of a luxury brand without emptying your savings account. This bed is on the firm end of the scale, which means you’ll sleep cooler naturally as a result of sleeping “on” the mattress rather than “in” it. Overall, this is an elegant bed that offers high-end features like a cashmere blend cover and a tufted design. It also comes with the company’s tiered Everlong Warranty (lifetime) and a uniquely long trial period at 365 nights. 

Brentwood Home makes several different mattress models and is known for using healthy and natural materials. The five-layer Cedar mattress is no exception, with an organic cotton quilted cover, 100% natural New Zealand wool, two layers of Dunlop latex, and 8” pocketed coils.

Eco-friendly mattress shoppers will love this bed. Brentwood Home emphasizes the use of natural materials, from latex foam to organic cotton and coconut husks. The Cedar is also made with no toxins or harmful chemicals, and it has targeted zones in the second layer of Dunlop latex that helps create incredible pressure relief. As an added bonus, Brentwood offers a one year trial, free shipping and returns, and a 25-year warranty.

This mattress caters to a niche audience, designed to “deliver an extreme recovery for the extreme athlete in all of us,” according to Brooklyn Bedding’s website. It combines proprietary foams, memory foams, and an 8” base of pocketed coils to deliver superior recovery to marathoners, cross-fitters, and fitness enthusiasts alike. 

We love this hybrid bed for people who enjoy living a healthy lifestyle and want to focus on the active recovery aspect of their sleep. It comes in three firmness levels, which is great because it allows the mattress to cater to athletes of all sizes (think tall basketball players versus petite cross-country runners). The top layer utilizes Far Infrared Rays technology that helps contribute to the active recovery process by recycling your body’s heat into waves of energy that are transferred back to you as you sleep.

Purple is a mattress company attempting to tread new ground in the market with its unique Hyper-Elastic Polymer™ Smart Comfort Grid™. The material is used in all of their mattress designs and contours closely to the body as you move around, which is why it’s our favorite hybrid for side sleepers. 

Purple’s hybrid design comes in three versions, the Purple 2, 3, and 4, which all use the Hyper-Elastic Polymer grid technology in varying amounts. This proprietary material gives the beds a gel-like feel and makes them comfortable and responsive. We love Purple hybrids for side sleepers because their design caters to this sleeper type’s needs, with enough support to allow the spine to rest in a straight position and targeted contouring in the hips and shoulders. The grid structure also creates a lot of room for airflow throughout the mattress, which means it sleeps cool. Additionally, Purple offers free shipping and returns, a 100 night trial period, in-home setup, and a 10-year warranty.

Awara has been slowly climbing the list of the best all-natural mattresses, and it’s our favorite hybrid mattress that incorporates latex. It’s made with 9” pocketed coils, four inches of latex comfort foam, and a quilted, organic cotton cover. 

The Awara takes naturally-derived latex and combines it with individually wrapped coils to give sleepers the best of both worlds. The organic Dunlop latex has soft support with a little bounce and a cooling, contouring surface, while the individually wrapped coils ensure support and spinal alignment. The latex used in this mattress is Gols-Certified organic, making the mattress better for your wellness as it’s made without chemicals. The Awara is a bed-in-the-box mattress and the company offers free shipping, a 365 night trial period, and their Forever Warranty. 

The Big Fig is designed to be a big, burly mattress that can support people who weigh up to 500 pounds. It’s our favorite hybrid for heavy sleepers and combines latex foam, coils, and high-density polyfoam. 

The company’s slogan is “The Mattress for a Bigger Figure,” so it’s no wonder we love this hybrid for heavy sleepers. Its 13” profile is much thicker than the average mattress and helps prevent sagging. Inside the mattress, you’ll find foams that create softness, extra-thick gauge coils for durability and support, and a temperature regulating top layer. Included in every Big Fig purchase is a base that’s made for the mattress. We love this add-on, as bases for thick, heavy mattresses can be very difficult to find. The Big Fig is also backed by a 120-night sleep trial period and a 20-year warranty.

 What to Look for in a Hybrid Mattress

Creating a shortlist of suggestions for a hybrid mattress is like trying to predict a stranger’s coffee order. Do they prefer hot or cold? Decaf or caffeinated? Cow’s milk or nut milk? Do they like bitter roasts or a smooth, mellow taste? Are they an espresso enthusiast or a drip-coffee devotee? Similarly, the hybrid mattress market offers an option for just about every sleeper size, type, and preference, so it’s more helpful for us to provide general recommendations about what to look for with regard to quality.

The materials in a hybrid mattress can vary greatly depending on the type of sleeper the manufacturer is targeting. In general, they’ll include a mix of coils, comfort layers, and cooling materials, with some mattresses including a pillow top for additional cushioning. The most important thing, however, is to make sure the mattress feels comfortable to you and meets your sleeping needs.

Beyond this, the quality of the materials used is significant. For example, natural varieties of latex will last longer than synthetic ones. In addition to examining the quality of the individual materials, consider the combination of materials. Some materials break down more quickly than others, which may shorten the mattress’ longevity, even if the manufacturer claims it will last a certain number of years. 

Benefits of Hybrid Mattresses

Among the greatest benefits of buying a hybrid mattress is the selection. Whether you like a soft or firm feel, latex or memory foam, a bouncy bed or one with slower response time, there’s bound to be something out there you’ll love.

Hybrids are also known for providing a nice blend of comfort and support, with these qualities coming from the foam layers and the innerspring systems, respectively. They also tend to provide a bouncy feel that customers who don’t love the hugging, sinking in feel of an all-foam mattress may prefer. 

Lastly, hybrid mattresses tend to sleep much cooler. The space between the coils tends to create more airflow throughout the mattress, and manufacturers incorporate a wide variety of materials, like open-cell and copper-infused foam, that further promote airflow throughout the top layers of the mattress. 

Cons of Hybrid Mattresses

While the added bounce is sometimes a favorite feature of hybrid mattresses, people who sleep with a partner that moves throughout the night might feel their movements due to the increased motion transfer. Hybrid mattresses can also be more expensive. This is due to the combination of materials used. These mattresses also aren’t the most lightweight out there, as the foams, coils, and other layers tend to create a relatively thick and heavy end result, making them challenging to install and move around without another person or two to assist. 

Who is a Hybrid Mattress Best For?

While it’s nearly impossible to say whether a hybrid mattress will be right or wrong for you, hybrids are generally suitable for people with certain characteristics. 

• If you like a combination of the hug of foams and the bounciness of coils, you can find that in a hybrid. 
• The innerspring component of hybrids tends to offer more support than all-foam mattresses, making sleeping, reading, watching television, and, well, other bedroom activities more enjoyable.
• If you tend to sleep hot, hybrids offer great airflow and cooling properties. Even those that use memory foam in the top layer, which is known to trap heat, usually have other features in the bed that offset it.

If you still need guidance in your mattress buying journey, check out our ultimate mattress buying guide here.