Best Cheap Mattresses

Our Expert’s Take

Bear is known for its more affordable yet still comfortable and durable mattresses. The original Bear is a memory foam mattress that fits the bill with its cooling features, great pressure relief, and back sleeping benefits where lumbar support come in handy.

The Bear also has an optional cover woven with Celliant, which helps keep sleepers cool. Its balance of comfort and pressure relief should help many types of sleepers feel supported, but back sleepers will likely enjoy the feel even more.

What We Love About the Bear

• Most back sleepers should find the medium-firmness of the Bear does a fantastic job of keeping them comfortable and supported. Heavyweight back sleepers might find the Bear comfortable, though there’s a chance it will be too soft for this group. 
• Regardless of preferred sleeping position, the Bear does a good job for all lightweight sleepers (under 130 lb), particularly lightweight back sleepers. The top comfort layer of the Bear is soft enough to provide lighter people sufficient pressure relief.

What to Keep in Mind About the Bear

• Those who want a bouncier feel may want to look elsewhere. Being an all-foam mattress, the Bear has a doughy feel that many will find comfortable, but that also can make it difficult to move around on. Combination sleepers especially may find this to be a problem, and should consider the Brooklyn Essential instead.
• The Bear scored a 3.5/5 on our edge support test, in which we measure how much the perimeter of the mattress sinks when one of our testers sits on it. The Bear sank close to four inches, which could lead to discomfort if you tend to sleep towards the edge of the bed.

Other User Reviews

The Bear mattress has an average rating of 4.7 out of 5, based on 10,595 customer reviews on the company website. Many 5-star reviews call out the affordability of the Bear, stating that the mattress has great value.

Bear Mattress Specs

Read our full Bear mattress review. Or for other options, check out more of our Best Medium-Firm Mattresses.

Our Expert’s Take

When it comes to value, Brooklyn Bedding is always a good place to start because the company owns its factory. They sell their mattresses direct-to-consumer and can price them particularly low. Out of their ever-growing line of products, the Essential is one of their most affordable, with a streamlined construction with foam woven into the cover, a transition foam layer, and a support layer of Ascension X coils. The top layer of foam is especially soft, but the coils add support and responsiveness, allowing sleepers to easily move around at night.

What We Love About the Brooklyn Bedding Essential

• This is the second hybrid mattress on our list, and like the Emma Hybrid Comfort it has a great blend of comfort and support. However, the Brooklyn Bedding Essential is not as firm as the Emma Hybrid Comfort. It’s more on the medium-firm side, which is great news for back sleepers.
• The hybrid construction of the Brooklyn Bedding Essential gives it a good amount of bounce. This is an important factor for combination sleepers, who tend to have an easier time switching sleeping positions on a springy mattress.

What to Keep in Mind About the Brooklyn Bedding Essential

• If you want a firm mattress, this isn’t for you. We rated this mattress a 6.5/10 on our firmness scale, which lands it in the medium-firm zone. Since the Essential is fairly soft, it may not be supportive for heavier sleepers or stomach sleepers. Consider the firmer hybrid on this list, the Emma Hybrid Comfort, instead.

Other User Reviews

Based on 548 customer reviews on the Brooklyn Bedding website, this mattress has an average rating of 4.8 out of 5. Users rave about the quality of the hybrid construction and the great night of sleep that the Brooklyn Bedding Essential provides.

Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Specs

For more information, read our full Brooklyn Bedding Essential Mattress Review. For more hybrid options, see our roundup of the Best Hybrid Mattresses.

Our Expert’s Take

There are a few factors to consider when looking for a good mattress for sex. The first and most important consideration is responsiveness. The DreamCloud has great responsiveness, meaning it’s easy to move around on and you won’t likely feel stifled by the mattress. The next factor, temperature regulation, is more important to some people than others. Basically, if you overheat easily, you may want a mattress that helps keep you cool during sex. We tested the DreamCloud with our thermal camera and found that it rose by 8.5 degrees after our tester had rested on it for several minutes. This is a bit on the high side, but it didn’t affect the feel of the mattress too much, so we scored it a 4/5 on our cooling test.

What We Love About the DreamCloud

• A queen-sized DreamCloud mattress comes in at well under $1,000. Plus, purchase of this mattress comes with a lifetime warranty, which we think is a huge value add. 
• Most of our mattress testers felt good to excellent when they rested on their stomachs on the DreamCloud. Since it’s on the firmer side, it does a good job of keeping lightweight and average-weight sleepers from sinking below the mattress surface. However, it’s not quite firm enough to support heavyweight stomach sleepers. 

What to Keep in Mind About the DreamCloud

• While we think it’s a great option for sex, the DreamCloud doesn’t do the best job of accommodating couples who are trying to sleep. Specifically, it doesn’t do a good job of isolating motion. So, if your partner tosses and turns you are more likely to feel it on your side of the bed. If this is a concern of yours, we suggest you consider the Nectar instead.

Other User Reviews

Based on 5,059 reviews on the DreamCloud website, this mattress has an average rating of 4.5 out of 5. Many customers rave about the DreamCloud’s comfort, including some who describe sleeping well with a partner on the mattress. The only 1-star review on the website describes the mattress as being too heavy and difficult to move.

DreamCloud Mattress Specs

Read our full DreamCloud Mattress review. Or for other options, check out more of our Best Mattresses for Sex.

Our Expert’s Take

A medium-firm mattress is likely to have a good balance of comfort and support that should appeal to a lot of different sleepers. The Nectar embodies this beautifully with its flagship bed — an all-foam mattress with a thick layer of gel-infused memory foam up top. After that, the mattress gets progressively firmer toward the bottom with a transition layer of soft conventional foam and a support layer of high-density foam. This construction should bode well for side sleepers and back sleepers, who should get some decent pressure relief from the gel memory foam without feeling like they’re getting swallowed up by the bed.

What We Love About the Nectar

• Nectar offers a 365-night sleep trial, so you have plenty of time to decide if this mattress is a good fit for you.
• The Nectar has plush foam layers that provide great pressure relief. This can help those with joint pain rest more comfortably. 
• Like several mattresses on this list, the Nectar has a medium-firm construction that works very well for back sleepers. It allows their hips to sink below the surface, but not so much that their spines are thrown out of alignment.
• The edge support on the Nectar is fairly robust. Under the weight of our heaviest tester (weighing in at a little over 250 lbs), the edge sank 3.5″. That’s solid for an all-foam bed, and testers acknowledged as much by giving Nectar a 4/5 edge support score.
• Another area where the Nectar excels for an all-foam mattress is in the cooling category (4.5/5). The bed’s surface only heated up 1.9 degrees F after a tester rested on the Nectar, according to our heat gun analysis.

What to Keep in Mind About the Nectar

• We don’t recommend the Nectar for most stomach sleepers, as it’s not firm enough to provide adequate support. That said, if you’re a lightweight stomach sleeper then you might find that this mattress works quite well for you.
• If you like a bed with a lot of bounce, consider a bed with coils, like the Brooklyn Bedding Essential. The Nectar’s middling responsiveness score (3/5) is to be expected, given that the bed is catered toward lovers of slow-moving memory foam.

Other User Reviews

The Nectar mattress has over 50,000 reviews on the company website, and their average rating comes out to 4.7 out of 5. One of the most enthusiastic review headlines reads, “[This mattress] SAVED MY LIFE!” However, there are some negative reviews that state the mattress traps heat and begins to sag after a short period of time.

Nectar Mattress Specs

Read our full Nectar mattress review. Or for other options, check out our Best Medium-Firm Mattresses.

Our Expert’s Take

We rated the Silk & Snow at a 6.5/10 which is a medium-firm feel. It’s got a great balance of comfort and support for many sleeper types, but side sleepers may especially enjoy its pressure relief. It may not be quite supportive enough to suit stomach sleepers who sometimes need more firmness to get the support they need. Our best firm mattresses is a good list if that’s more your taste.

The Silk & Snow has a classic memory foam feel. You’ll sink into its foam layers and feel good body contouring on your joints. This is ideal for most side sleepers.

What We Love About the Silk & Snow

• The Silk & Snow earned a perfect score of 5 out of 5 on our motion isolation test. If you sleep with a partner then this is an important factor for you to consider. A mattress with great motion isolation, like the Silk & Snow, will help keep your partner’s movements from disturbing your side of the bed and disrupting your sleep. 
• The comfort layer of the Silk & Snow is made with cooling memory foam, which is infused with gel. While the temperature regulating technology that mattress companies advertise doesn’t always work, we found the Silk & Snow to keep us pretty cool as we tested it.

What to Keep in Mind About the Silk & Snow

• Due to its slow-moving and cushioned memory foam feel, the Silk & Snow is not as bouncy and responsive as the Brooklyn Bedding Essential. If you like to switch sleeping positions throughout the night or you want a mattress that’s great for sex, this one might not be for you.

Other User Reviews

Based on 1,560 reviews on the Silk & Snow website, this mattress has an average rating of 4.6 out of 5. One user describes it as, “firm and yet soft at the same time”, which we believe to be an apt description, as we consider it very comfortable and supportive.

Silk & Snow Mattress Specs

Read our full Silk & Snow review. Or for other options, check out more of our Best Medium-Firm Mattresses.

Our Expert’s Take

We love the convenience of purchasing mattresses online. For a great deal, take a look at the Siena mattress. A discounted queen runs just under $500.

It’s an all-foam bed providing plush pressure relief for your hip and shoulder if you sleep on your side. Lightweight back sleepers should feel a good amount of body contouring, too. This mattress has a great trial period (180 nights). This means you have plenty of time to decide if this mattress works for your needs. If you keep it, it has a 10-year warranty.

What We Love About the Siena Original 

• The Siena is softer than medium-firm, and sleepers should experience lots of pressure relief around their shoulders and hips.
• This mattress has a classic slow-moving foam feel. You might find yourself sleeping “inside” the mattress rather than on top of it.
• If you decide the Siena mattress is not a good fit for you while in its 180-night sleep trial, you can return your mattress for a full refund. 

What to Keep in Mind About the Siena Original 

•  We don’t recommend the Siena mattress for heavyweight sleepers. Heavier people may “bottom out” and feel the support foam layer against their shoulders and hips, causing uncomfortable pressure. 
• The Siena may absorb some heat in its memory foam layers. Particularly hot sleepers should consider burying a mattress with advanced cooling features. 

Other User Reviews

On Siena’s website, the Siena Original mattress has a 4.5/5 star rating based on 1,851 customer ratings. Many customers are impressed with its value and its ability to relieve pressure on their joints. However, heavier sleepers mentioned that the Siena mattress was too soft to provide them with adequate support. 

Siena Mattress Specs

Read our full Siena Mattress review for more information.

Our Expert’s Take

The Cocoon Chill is a memory foam mattress that boasts excellent cooling features like Phase Change Material. This makes the top of the mattress feel cool to the touch! While it does have memory foam in its construction, it has more of a responsive foam feel instead of a soft foam feel.

What We Love About the Cocoon Chill

• The Cocoon Chill impressed us with its ability to keep us cool. This is especially notable because it’s an all-foam bed, and all-foam beds tend to trap heat and do a so-so job of regulating temperature. The cover of the Cocoon Chill is made with phase change material, which is legitimately cool to the touch. 
• Another surprising quality, considering the all-foam nature of the Cocoon Chill, is its great edge support. As we sat and lied on the perimeter of the mattress it barely sank under our weight, even when our larger staff members tested it. This is great news for those who like to utilize every inch of their bed’s surface.

What to Keep in Mind About the Cocoon Chill

• This mattress doesn’t allow you to sink into the mattress as other foam mattresses do, instead you’ll feel like you’re sleeping on top of it instead. While not necessarily a bad thing, it might be an issue for memory-foam lovers who enjoy feeling like they’re being hugged by their mattress.

Other User Reviews

The Cocoon Chill has an average rating of 4.7 out of 5, based on 8,444 on the company website. Only 51 of the over 8,000 reviewers gave the mattress 1 star, but these customers claim that the mattress is uncomfortable and breaks down after some time. That said, the vast majority of shoppers have nothing but good things to say about the Cocoon.

Cocoon Chill Mattress Specs

Read our full Cocoon Chill mattress review. Or for other recommendations, see our list of the Best Cooling Mattresses. 

Our Expert’s Take

The Emma is an online mattress brand hailing from Canada. The Emma Hybrid Comfort builds on their original model by offering multiple layers of foam, supportive innerspring coils, and cooling technologies that helped keep me from overheating. I tested the mattress and, while it wasn’t comfortable in every position, it definitely didn’t lack support and durability. These features also don’t inflate the price and keeps it well on the affordable end compared to most mattress brands.

What We Love About the Emma Hybrid Comfort

• The Emma Hybrid Comfort is supportive for most body weights, including heavier people. It has zoned coils that offer support to the back and prevent sagging after years of use.
• It sleeps cool. The Emma Hybrid’s materials, especially its innerspring coils, are designed to help dissipate heat and promote good airflow. I felt nice and cool, even after extended testing.
• Fans of a more firm mattress will appreciate the 8/10 firmness score we gave the Emma Hybrid Comfort. Both back and stomach sleepers can benefit from a more firm mattress.

What to Keep in Mind About the Emma Hybrid Comfort

• Side sleepers may not get the necessary contouring needed to prevent pressure in the hips and shoulders, as the Emma Hybrid Comfort is quite firm.
• It will likely be too firm for most lightweight people. Unless you only sleep on your stomachs, lightweight people who weigh less than 130 pounds will want to find a softer mattress.

Other User Reviews

The Emma Hybrid Comfort has 32 reviews on the company website, with an average score of 4.8 out of 5. The majority of customers praise the product’s excellent quality, however, one reviewer claims that the mattress has begun to sag after just a few months.

Emma Hybrid Comfort Mattress Specs

Read our full Emma Hybrid Comfort mattress review. Or for other options, check out more of our Best Firm Mattresses.