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Finding the best mattress can be an overwhelming process. Shoppers often find themselves in analysis paralysis due to the sheer number of mattress brands, styles, and price points available. Not to mention, the advent of the Internet has further broadened the selection for shoppers who don’t want to pursue the traditional route of testing beds at a brick-and-mortar mattress store. 

To help quell the overwhelm, we’re sharing the 10 top-rated mattresses for 2020. If you didn’t know already, answering the question, “What is the best mattress you can buy?”, depends on your sleeping position, age, comfort preferences, and unique needs. With this in mind, we’ve included details about who each of these top mattresses suits best.

Below our top 10 mattresses, you’ll find a guide where we cover everything you need to know about picking a mattress. We break down commonly overlooked considerations, sleeping styles, how to choose a mattress if you have a partner, sleep hot, or have arthritis, mattress sizes and materials, and more. Use this section as a guide to determine which of our top 10 mattresses of 2020 is best for you.

So, what’s the best mattress of 2020? We tested and compared countless options, so read on to learn about our favorites!

The Best Mattresses – Our Top Picks

• Puffy
• Saatva
• Nectar
• Leesa
• Casper
• Brooklyn Bedding
• T&N Mint
• DreamCloud
• Puffy Lux
• Brooklyn Aurora
• Leesa Hybrid

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Type, Construction, and Highlights: Puffy makes two memory foam mattress models: the Original Puffy and the Puffy Lux. The Original Puffy is 10” thick and comes in one firmness option that uses gel memory foam in the top layer to combat heat. The Original Puffy has a soft, neutral-foam feel and is more affordable than the Puffy Lux.

Reason to Buy: If you’re looking to spend $1,000 or less on a memory foam mattress and like the feeling of sleeping “in” a bed more than “on” it, you’ll want to check the Puffy out. While it doesn’t have the overwhelming, prototypical memory foam feel because of the blend of foams used in its construction, you’ll like the Puffy Original if you don’t want to feel swallowed by the mattress’ top layers. You can unzip the cover for easy cleaning, and the entire mattress is eco-friendly. It also comes with a 101-night risk-free sleep trial so, truly, there’s no harm in testing it out.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: The Saatva is a “classic mattress,” as in it’s construction is reminiscent of many of the mattresses you might have seen many years.  However, don’t be confused this mattress comes with plenty of bells and whistles.  This innerspring, hybrid mattress comes in multiple firmnesses and is delivered and setup right to your bedroom.  All around it’s a little taste of the high life.

Reason to Buy: Saatva brings some great optionality to find the right fit.  It’s a very high-quality mattress and that appeals to to those that like a luxury look and feel.  Couple that with a generous trial and warranty, and it’s a “no-lose” option.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: This high-density, four-layer, gel memory foam mattress is designed to provide long-term support. It’s also conforming, with a medium-firm feel that’s neither too hard nor too soft for most sleepers.

Reason to Buy: The Nectar mattress packages high-quality foam materials at a much lower price point relative to the competition. If you’re looking for an affordable memory foam bed that’s built with quality materials, you can end your search here. Plus, your satisfaction is all but guaranteed as the company says that less than 3 percent of its customers return the mattress. They also offer a lengthy sleep trial: it’s 365 nights long.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: A foam hybrid, the Leesa combines latex-like Avena foam and memory foam to provide durability, pressure relief, cooling, and bounce in a three-layer construction. It’s average in every respect, which is a great thing because it’s designed to fit almost any body size, body type, and sleeper type.

Reason to Buy: If you’re unsure of what you’re looking for in a new mattress and want to make a quick decision that you’re relatively sure to be satisfied with, go with a Leesa. It’s a well-rounded option, accommodating to the vast majority of sleepers at a reasonable price.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: This bed-in-a-box memory foam mattress is built with layers of gentle foam and has zoned support for targeted pressure relief. The zones take the spotlight in this mattress, acting differently for various body parts, such as the hips, shoulders, and back, to accommodate their unique firmness and contouring needs.

Reason to Buy: The Casper is a solid memory foam mattress with broad appeal because it accommodates a wide range of sleep positions, sleeper sizes, and aches and pains. The polyurethane foam used in its construction provides pressure relief while maintaining a soft, bouncy feel. You can’t go wrong trying this one out with the 100-night free trial Casper offers.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: The Tuft & Needle Mint is an upgrade from the wildly popular Original Tuft & Needle mattress, maintaining the reasonable price point of its predecessor with a slightly higher profile. It’s an all-polyfoam bed with a medium-firm feel whose foams are infused with cooling gel and graphite.

Reason to Buy: This mattress provides closer conforming than most polyfoam beds and has excellent motion isolation, like most foam beds. It’s especially suitable for lightweight side, back, and stomach sleepers or average weight back sleepers, but it doesn’t provide adequate support for heavyweight sleepers, in our opinion.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: This mattress is a luxury hybrid that’s complemented by a patented plush top, making it seriously thick: roughly 15”. It features eight layers of fabric, foam, and coils that are engineered to address a variety of sleeper needs, and it’s much more affordable than other luxury options thanks to the company’s direct-to-consumer approach.

Reason to Buy: If you’re interested in a luxury mattress but don’t have the budget for their traditionally sky-high prices, look into the DreamCloud. The plush top gives this bed a cushy feel, but the foam and coil combination provides support for all sleeper types. It comes with white glove delivery and all the bells and whistles of a luxury purchase without the luxury price tag.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: Puffy’s other memory foam mattress model, the Puffy Lux, has a soft, airy memory foam feel in contrast to the Original Puffy’s neutral-foam feel. It’s a premium foam mattress that’s slightly more cushy and plush than the original. 

Reason to Buy: This Puffy model is more comparable to traditional memory foam mattress in terms of how it feels and contours to the body. Because it’s softer than the Original Puffy, it will work well for back, stomach, and side sleepers, thanks to the top two layers that provide pressure relief.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: The Aurora by Brooklyn Bedding incorporates five layers of materials that include pocketed coils, proprietary foams, and Energex foam. The dedicated-to-cooling 1.5” top provides incredible temperature regulation, and the bed is covered in a silk-like fabric that actually feels cool to the touch.

Reason to Buy: While “comfort” is subjective as it encompasses many factors, the Aurora caters to many of them with multiple firmness levels, a bouncy feel, and cooling properties. If you sleep hot, this is a notably cool mattress that you’ll love. It’s also thick and durable at 13.5”, so regardless of your weight, height, or size, it should last a long time.

Type, Construction, and Highlights: This is Leesa’s luxury option, and it’s a hybrid in a five-layer design that features performance foam, memory foam, polyfoam, and pocketed coils. This combination makes it thicker and firmer than the original Leesa mattress, but it has a bouncy yet pressure-relieving structure that’s full of comfort and mobility.

Reason to Buy: If you don’t mind spending a little more and enjoy the feel of a medium-firm mattress, this is an excellent option to try. Combination sleepers who change positions throughout the night will find its bounce especially appealing, as both lying in one position and switching between positions are comfortable and easy on this bed.

How to Pick the Best Mattress for You

Much like a great pair of jeans, a flattering haircut, or a delicious meal, the best mattress is a relatively subjective choice that’s highly dependent on the individual. Whether you’re noticing aches and pains, sleep more comfortably on hotel beds, or have the cash to invest in a better night’s sleep, it’s important to have some knowledge under your belt prior to hitting mattress stores or ordering a mattress online. We encourage all mattress shoppers to brush up on mattress materials as well as how your sleeping position and other personalized factors should impact the type of mattress you’re looking for.

Mattress Shopping Considerations for Specific Preferences

Cooling

Whether you’ve moved to a location with a warmer climate, have gained weight, or are going through menopause, a variety of reasons can lead you to purchase a new mattress with the goal of achieving a cooler’s nights sleep. Luckily for you, mattress manufacturers are paying more attention to cooling features than ever before.

Different materials sleep considerably cooler than others. It’s well-known that traditional memory foam sleeps warmer than hybrids, which use a combination of materials that distribute heat and encourage airflow. However, foam products have seen improvements with regard to heat distribution in the last decade, thanks to the invention of gel layers. If temperature is a key factor in your mattress decision, look for hybrid, gel, open-cell phase change material, something aerated, or other specific properties and materials that have been proven to help the mattress sleep cool. 

Back Pain

Back pain, whether the secondary result of an underlying condition or a result of lifestyle choices, can critically affect your well-being. Many sleepers experience pain that radiates from the lower back area, and both a bed’s firmness and support will play into its ability to alleviate these issues. An adequate level of support should result in proper spinal alignment or, in other words, a straight spine. Softness or comfort, on the other hand, are subjective. You can achieve an aligned spine on a mattress that feels firm just as well as you can on a mattress that feels excessively plushy.

Couples

If one partner is a light sleeper or one is a restless sleeper, the motion transfer characteristics of the mattress should be a consideration. As a general rule of thumb, the more coils and springs a mattress has, the more you’ll feel your partner moving throughout the night. Another consideration is firmness. If you and your partner prefer drastically different firmness levels, look for split firmness mattresses if you can’t compromise on a firmness level, like a medium setting. You’ll also want to consider weight and size, especially in cases where you and your partner vary dramatically in these areas, as what feels firm to a petite individual may feel uncomfortably soft to a heavyweight person. 

Adjustable

An adjustable mattress does just what the name indicates, allowing you to prop either your head or feet up for comfort or therapeutic benefits. Want to watch TV in bed? Comfortably enjoy a meal? You can do it with an adjustable mattress. Consider an adjustable model if you have conditions like snoring, sleep apnea, or heartburn, as elevating the head can alleviate these issues. Adjustable beds are also nice for those who want more control and less restriction over the comfort of the mattress or are attracted to the special amenities that many come with, like massages, Bluetooth, and USB ports.

Athletes

Some brands create mattresses with the active individual in mind by incorporating materials and features that boost recovery, improve performance, and enhance REM sleep. For example, celliant could help turn the body’s energy into infrared light for deeper rest, and it’s been used in several mattress models to date.

Comfort and Overall Feel

Providing a guide for comfort is similar to telling you how to choose your favorite color: I can’t really tell you because it’s completely subjective. Do you enjoy a firm, flat surface, or a soft, sunk in, pillowy feel? It’s up to you to decide. Keep in mind that comfort and feel aren’t synonymous with support. You can have an ultra-soft mattress that’s very supportive. Likewise, you can have a supremely firm mattress that leaves your spine in less-than-ideal alignment. 

Firmness

While there’s no official standard scale that mattress manufacturers must abide by, we use a scale of 1-10 to communicate mattress firmness, with one being the softest and 10 being the firmest. Determining the number or at least a range of firmnesses you enjoy is important so that you can communicate that to a mattress salesperson or keep it in mind when shopping online. Depending on your size, you may need to go heavier or lighter in your firmness selection to get the feel you’re after. For example, heavier people tend to find that firm options feel softer to their bodies, and lighter sleepers find that medium-firm options feel soft and plush.

Arthritis

If you or your partner suffer from arthritis, choosing the right mattress will be especially crucial, as you’ll feel improper spinal alignment, joint pain, and back issues much more than the average individual. The mattress you select should conform to the curves of your body in a natural manner, alleviate your most bothersome or noticeable pains, and not aggravate your condition.

Snoring

Virtually anything that can cause the muscles along your airway to contract may lead to snoring, so it’s nothing to be ashamed about. In itself, it isn’t a sleep issue, but snoring can indicate sleep apnea. A mattress won’t solve this issue, but if you’re planning to make a life change to treat your snoring, such as becoming a side sleeper, you’ll want to find a mattress that caters to that style. 

Considerations for Mattress Material and Type

Understanding the components in each mattress type along with their pros and cons is essential. What’s the best mattress material and type? The answer will depend on the feel you enjoy, your sleeping style, and your subjective preferences. Here’s a little more information about mattress types and materials to help you narrow down your selection.

Material Quality

It’s worth mentioning that higher prices don’t mean higher quality. This fact makes it all the more important to be able to distinguish between durable mattress materials and those that will begin to breakdown within the first few years. Generally, lower value products will have fewer layers and higher quality mattresses will incorporate more transitional and cooling layers or elements. Having a firm understanding of a mattress’ quality will give you peace about investing in the product and help you avoid any unpleasant surprises in durability over the years.

Latex

When manufacturers reference latex, they’re talking about mattresses that incorporate or exclusively use latex foam, which is derived from the sap of rubber trees. There are two types, natural and synthetic, and two main methods for producing it, Dunlop and Talalay. Latex has a cooling effect, is naturally inhospitable to dust mites, mildew, and mold can be incredibly comfortable and is extremely durable. Keep in mind that some latex mattresses can give off a distinct aroma, though it will wear off within the first few days of ownership. 

Hybrid

Hybrid mattress constructions have become increasingly popular for their ability to leverage the best characteristics of several materials in one product. The idea is to get you all of the pros with none of the cons, and another advantage of hybrids is that there are endless combinations of materials and constructions to choose from. For example, a hybrid bed might include a pillow top, a memory foam layer, individually wrapped coils, a layer of support coils, and a memory foam base layer. A “true hybrid” will combine coils and memory or latex foam, giving you the best in durability, bounce, and cooling without sacrificing on comfort or contour.

Memory Foam

This mattress material is known for how it contours closely to the body to provide pain and pressure point relief. Some of our top picks are all memory foam or hybrid mattresses that it. The biggest downside of this material is that it tends to sleep hot. Advanced constructions have helped partially solve this problem through open cell construction and proprietary gel foams, but, generally, memory foam mattresses still don’t sleep as cool as other types.

Innerspring

Perhaps the most traditional bed of all, innerspring mattresses have coils throughout the center and foam layers on the top and bottom. If squeaky, uncomfortable mattresses come to mind when you hear the word “innerspring,” you’ll be surprised to discover that new materials have been incorporated into these beds to make them cooling, durable, and pleasant.

Waterbeds

Waterbeds use water to give the mattress structure and provide pressure relief, and they distribute sleepers’ body weights surprisingly evenly. However, they’re much less durable than other options, need to be refilled with water, and many sleepers don’t like their feel.

Airbeds

Whether you’ve gone camping, slept over at a friend’s, or gone without furniture for a couple of weeks after moving into a new home, it’s likely that you’ve slept on an airbed. These are excellent options for trips or for hosting last-minute guests when you don’t have a spare bedroom, but they’re certainly not ideal for long-term use.

Alternative and Advanced Foams

In addition to memory foam and latex foam, manufacturers have begun to develop proprietary foams. For example, Purple developed Hyper-Elastic Polymer, and Leesa developed Avena. The varying manufacturing processes these foams go through production improvements in airflow, durability, and bounce. Be sure to read the manufacturer’s description if the mattress you’re considering incorporates an alternative foam material. 

Considerations for Mattress Sizing and Price

Luxury

High-end, premium beds cost a pretty penny, but they offer improved sleep, less join paint, and better overall health. Luxury mattresses come in all types, from hybrid to latex, memory foam, and innerspring. Be sure to ask the manufacturer about the workmanship, warranty, and the product’s durability to ensure you’re really getting your money’s worth. In general, a bed will fall into the luxury category if it’s made from organic or high-quality materials that don’t aggravate allergies, sleeps comfortably cool on particularly warm nights, and has that “just right” feel with regard to firmness and comfort. 

Bedroom

The room you’re outfitting with a mattress should influence the type you select. If you’re shopping for the master bedroom, you certainly have the liberty to pick a bed that suits your unique needs and preferences, and you may have the option to spend more. If you’re furnishing a guest bedroom, consider selecting a mattress that’s somewhat of a “happy medium” and is able to suit the sleeping position, body weight, and comfort preferences of most guests.

Sizes

Mattress sizes include Single, Twin, Twin XL, Full, Queen, King, and California King. Consider the room and the sleeper when selecting size. For example, a Twin size bed is usually a child’s next step after graduating from the crib. A queen is a popular size for couples and adult singles with a moderately sized bedroom, and a King size is best for couples who truly want to maximize their space. 

Conclusion

A quick glance at all of this information should show you that there’s no such thing as the “best mattress” that will make every single sleeper happy. Rather, mattress shoppers should consider their sleeping position, budget, medical conditions, size and weight, material preferences, preferred mattress brand, and more. 

This guide should serve as a launching pad to get you started in your mattress search. Hopefully, it’s helped you narrow down your selection to a handful of brands, so research more if you have to use our reviews and comparisons, and then make your choice. 

Keep in mind that most online mattress companies have generous sleep trial and return policies, so you’ve got nothing to lose. If you don’t like it, simply ship it back and try another option.