By WIRED
If you’re (hopefully) planning on relaxing this President’s Day holiday, you might be thinking about how unrelaxing your bed has been lately. Are you waking up with back pain or feeling like you get stuck inside the memory foam every morning? It might be time to upgrade. We have tested dozens of mattresses to help you find a better option.
A mattress might be one of the most expensive household purchases you make, but if you’ve followed our coverage over the years, you’ll know that you should never buy one at full price. It doesn’t help that the “sale” price most often isn’t a true sale. Don’t worry—we track prices all year and highlight when our favorite mattresses are actually discounted; no deception. All the prices below are for queen-sized mattresses unless noted.
For all our mattress recommendations, read our guides to the Best Mattresses, Best Organic Mattresses, Mattresses for Side Sleepers, and Mattresses You Can Buy on Amazon. We’ve also rounded up Bed Frames, Sheets, and Weighted Blankets.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get WIRED for just $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com, full Gear coverage, and subscriber-only newsletters. Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
Best Mattress Deals
Use code PDS25 at checkout to get 25 percent off our favorite mattress. The Helix Midnight Luxe is frequently this price, but it also does get pricier. It comes with two pillows, a mattress protector, and a sheet set. It works well for all sleeping positions—even for stomach sleepers. We tried the medium firm Midnight Luxe version, but there are a few other versions in the Luxe family for different firmness levels and sleeping positions.
Leesa’s Sapira hybrid is our runner-up pick. We’ve seen it drop to $1,392, but it’s not often discounted at all. It’s not quite as luxurious as the Helix, but we kept coming back to it during testing for its soft yet firm feel. The top layer of foam is nice and cooling.
If you want a firm mattress—and I mean firm, like sleeping on a wood floor—get the Plank. There’s little motion transfer if you sleep with someone who moves around or often have kids jumping in and out of bed. Give it a few days to harden up. We initially thought it was going to be too soft, but it wasn’t.
Use code PDS25 to get this discount. Even with 25 percent off, the Helix Elite is very expensive, but it’s a fantastic bed. It has nine layers of foam compared to the Luxe’s six, and it is 16 inches thick. Because of the size, it comes in two boxes and you’ll need to zip both pieces together and put it over a slatted bed frame. Like the Luxe, there are various options depending on what firmness level and sleep position you prefer. We tried the softest one, which cradled us to sleep.
Best Organic Mattress Deals
The Birch Luxe Natural is our runner-up organic mattress. We haven’t seen it reach its $3,249 MSRP, but this price matches what we saw on Cyber Monday. It’s medium-firm with structured support for varying sleeping positions, and the pillowy top uses a layer of blended cashmere to help with temperature regulation. It’s GOTS-certified, using natural latex with no polyurethane-based foams.
Use code SAVE15 to activate this discount. WIRED senior writer Scott Gilbertson says he initially started his research on organic mattresses so his kids could sleep on something he felt good about. Our other picks are pricey, but if your kid sleeps on a twin-size bed, this is a reasonably priced option. We’ve seen the Kiwi drop as low as $649 but its normal sale price is $719, making this a great time to grab it. It’s made using certified organic cotton, wool, and latex.
More Mattress Deals
This price is for the ultimate support level with a plush pillow top that we tried, but there are more customization options available. Most modern mattresses come folded up in a box, but this is an innerspring, so you’ll need to schedule a delivery. It comes from a reputable brand that’s been making mattresses forever, and we found it struck an excellent balance of soft and supportive.
It is tempting to go cheap when looking at how much most mattresses cost. But there aren’t a ton of good cheap mattresses, this Linenspa included. If you can, save up and get something that will last and won’t acerbate your back problems. However, if you need something right now that’s cheap, this mattress is comfortable enough. Just know that the edge support is uneven, and the springs are a little creaky.
The Nolah Evolution is great for side sleepers. It’s often discounted, but it did jump up in price on Amazon before it became unavailable there. It’s not a bad time to buy, but you’ll likely see this price again if you want to wait. We did find it needed a full two weeks to break in, as it initially felt like an overstuffed balloon. But our tester said that at the end of the month, they didn’t want to give it up. The high-density foam and heavy-duty coil help to support and align your spine.
We have a separate guide for mattresses readily available on Amazon, and this DreamCloud is our runner-up. (The Leesa Sapira above is the top pick.) It’s luxurious, with eight layers of foam, coiled springs, and a cashmere-blend quilted pillow top. It caters to side and back sleepers with its medium-firm feel. But it’s lacking in edge support.
The discount should be auto-applied to your cart during checkout. The Keetsa is another honorable mention in our guide. Our tester wasn’t blown away by it, but it was perfectly fine and soft without feeling overly so.
Discussion about this post