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Best Pillow-Top Mattresses for 2024 [CNET]
Our Experts
McKenzie, a Certified Sleep Science Coach and proclaimed mattress expert, has been writing sleep content in the wellness space for over four years. After earning her certification from the Spencer Institute and dedicating hundreds of hours to sleep research, she has extensive knowledge on the topic and how to improve your quality of rest. Having more experience with lying on mattresses than most, McKenzie has reviewed over 150 beds and a variety of different sleep products including pillows, mattress toppers and sheets. McKenzie has also been a guest on multiple radio shows including WGN Chicago as a sleep expert and contributed sleep advice to over 50 different websites.
Expertise Certified Sleep Science Coach, Certified Stress Management Coach, Bachelor of English.
With 5+ years of mattress testing experience, we use our different sleeping position and body type perspectives to offer well-rounded, honest reviews.
How we sort our mattresses
Pillow-top mattresses are soft enough to contour around your body yet firm enough to offer the support you need. An essential feature of a good pillow-top mattress is that it relieves pressure points such as your shoulders and hips, easing pain for different sleeping positions. There are a plethora of pillow-top mattresses on the market to choose from, and selecting a replacement for your current mattress can feel overwhelming.
I’ve done the hard part for you by spending hours upon hours lying on beds that have mattress topper comfort layers (it’s a rough gig, I know). I love pillow-top mattresses and have been sleeping on one for a few years. I don’t love the feel of memory foam, but I do enjoy the airy cushioning that pillow-top mattresses can provide.
In this list, I’ll describe how each mattress feels when you sleep and whether it’s worth the money. Here are the best pillow-top options based on my experience as a mattress tester.
What is the best pillow-top mattress overall?
The Star Hybrid mattress is a comfortable and accommodating memory foam bed.
My Slumber YardLet’s get right to it: The Star Hybrid from Bear earned our top spot as the best pillow-top mattress. This bed is extremely comfortable and boasts a fluffy quilted top with extra steel coil reinforcements inside. It also comes with the option to add Bear’s unique sleep-boosting, recovery-aid material called Celliant. It suits all body types and is rated around a medium on the firmness scale, accommodating most sleeping positions.
Video: Best pillow-top mattress
Watch CNET senior video producer Owen Poole review the best pillow-top mattresses.
The prices below are for queen-size models and were recently updated.
Best pillow-top mattresses of 2024
Star Hybrid
Best pillow-top mattress overall
Our take – With several layers of foam, this bed feels like a plush pillow top on a supportive coil system. It’s like a traditional innerspring bed, only ten times more comfortable. Like other pillow-top beds on this list, it’s accommodating for all body types.
8.3 /10
SCORE
Jonathan Gomez
Warranty
lifetime warranty
It’s available in two heights and three firmness levels so you can choose between 11.5 inches or 14.5 inches for the ultimate body support. The softest pillow-top option is around a medium or five on my firmness scale, and it only gets firmer from there. The queen bed has 884 individually pocketed coils, which reduce motion transfer. My favorite is the Plush Soft but heavy sleepers with back pain should consider the Firm option.
Read our full Saatva mattress review for more.
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Saatva Classic
Best pillow-top mattress for back pain
Our take – The Saatva innerspring bed is the best pillow-top mattress for back pain because it offers a ton of support without compromising pressure relief. This bed reminds me of a fancy hotel mattress you’d find on a nice vacation. The comfort layer top feels nice and fluffy but more substantial and supportive thanks to its pressure-relieving memory foam layer. The mattress topper has an eggshell-colored, organic cotton Euro pillow top.
9.3 /10
SCORE
Warranty
lifetime warranty
Read our review of the WinkBed mattress.
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WinkBed
Best hybrid pillow-top mattress
Our take – This gel foam mattress from WinkBed is the epitome of a luxury bed and deserves a top spot on our list for the best pillow-top mattress. The cover is bright white with blue and white polka dots detailing around the edge. The inside is the real star of the show. The plush Euro pillow-top mattress feels like one big airy cloud on top of a supportive and durable system of pocketed coils.
8.4 /10
SCORE
Jon Gomez – CNET
Firmness
3 firmness levels | softer: medium-soft or 3 | luxury firm: medium or 5 | firmer: medium-firm or 7
Warranty
lifetime warranty
It’s a thick 14 inches and contains five different layers. This includes pocketed coils, their special Energex foam, graphite and copper-infused memory foam and a fluffy Euro-top. This bed has a memory foam feel, more so than any of the other beds on this list. It’s not as prominent as a Nectar mattress, but you do feel the mattress topper layers hug your body as you become nestled into the mattress. It’s also more bouncy than typical memory foam, especially because of the pocketed coil layer in the foundation.
It’s only a hair firmer than a medium on the firmness scale; I’d give it a five and a half out of 10, where 10 is the most firm. Even so, it is pressure-relieving enough for side sleepers and supportive enough to keep a back and stomach sleeper’s spine in proper alignment. It’s worth noting the brand also offers a flagship Allswell mattress at an even more affordable price.
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7.6 /10
SCORE
Jon Gomez/CNET
Warranty
10-year warranty
Read our full Helix mattress review for more.
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8.3 /10
SCORE
Sleeping position
How you sleep will largely determine how firm a mattress you should buy. Stomach and back sleepers need firmer pillow-top mattresses that offer enough support to keep their spine aligned. Stomach sleepers tend to fall on the softer side of the scale because of the pressure relief offered to the shoulders, hips and knees.
Your body type also plays a role in this. The lighter you are, the harder a mattress will seem. The heavier you are, the softer it will feel.
Construction
What the bed is made from is another factor you must consider when shopping for a pillow-top mattress. The construction of the mattress will determine how supportive it is. Foam mattresses will generally always be less supportive than hybrid mattresses with layers of pocketed coils.
Price
Mattresses are a big purchase. It’s important to know your budget when shopping for your next mattress. There are several pillow-top bed choices at every budget level. The good news is that most brands do huge discounts around the holidays, so you can get a couple hundred off the price tag of your next bed if you time it right.
Our mattress testing experts have tested over 200 mattresses and counting. We’re really good at testing beds and assessing them for what the average person needs and values. Testing, we consider a few key factors that help us assess each mattress.
CNET editors pick the products and services we write about based on editorial merit. When you buy through our links, we may get a commission. Read more on how we test mattresses.
Firmness and feel
We start with the two most important factors regarding mattresses: firmness and feel. You can think about firmness as how hard or soft the mattress is. I know what you’re thinking, who wants a hard mattress? A lot of pressure relief isn’t always the best option for everyone, but some people, like stomach and back sleepers, need a firmer mattress with more support to keep their spine aligned at night. Side sleepers, on the other hand, do benefit from a softer mattress that offers pressure relief for their shoulders, hips and knees. We rate firmness on a 1 to 10 scale, corresponding with terms like “medium” or “medium-firm.”
The feel is the other big one we note right away. What does the pillow-top mattress feel like when you’re lying on it? Does it have the sinking memory foam feel or a more neutral foam that bounces back quickly? Specifically for pillow tops, we take into account how thick they are and what feel they give the mattress. How firm and what the mattress feels like is noted in every review.
Performance
We consider several performance factors when testing the best pillow-top mattresses. The first is edge support, or how structured the perimeter of the mattress is. Testing this is as simple as sitting on the edge of the bed and assessing how supportive it is. If we feel like we’re going to fall off the mattress by sitting on the edge, then it doesn’t have great edge support.
Motion isolation is important if you sleep with a partner who tosses and turns or has a different sleeping schedule than you. We test this by placing a glass of water on the mattress and rolling across the bed to see if it will tip over. We also know how well the mattress distributes heat and regulates temperature.
This best pillow-top mattress list was curated by our CNET Sleep editors, who’ve had their fair share of laying on beds. They’ve tested over 200 different beds and have hours of experience under their belts. The picks shown above proved to be some of their favorites, but the beds we’ve tested below are also in the running for consideration.
DreamCloud mattress: The DreamCloud mattress is a thick hybrid bed made with new-age memory foam. It’s rated around a 5 on the firmness spectrum or around a medium, making it ideal for just about any sleeping position.
Loom & Leaf mattress: The Loom & Leaf bed is from the luxury online mattress brand Saatva. It’s a conforming memory foam mattress made without coils, and it has a cooling gel layer that does a good job of keeping your temperature neutral. The pillow top is made with different comfort foams and it even features its Lumbar Zone Quilting, which provides targeted support to your lumbar region. It comes in two different firmness levels, but they both lean toward the firm side (medium-firm and firm).
Avocado Green mattress: The Avocado bed is a green bed made with environmentally friendly materials sourced from nature that are non-toxic, hypoallergenic and antimicrobial. You can add a pillow top made with organic latex foam and organic cotton for additional comfort. With the pillow top, Avocado is rated around a medium firmness.
Yes, pillow-top mattresses add a plush and fluffy layer of cushioning to a mattress. It can also make a mattress look more premium and inviting, like jumping into a pile of pillows. Pillow-top mattresses usually have inner springs or coils in the bottom layer for support, and the pillow top is meant to add more coziness to the top layer.
The best pillow-top mattress will come with thick and supportive coils. Some of our favorite options include:
- Saatva Classic mattress
- WinkBed mattress
- Helix Luxe mattresses
- Star Hybrid
It depends on the firmness level of the particular pillow-top mattress and how much pressure relief it offers. The best types of pillow-top mattresses for side sleepers range from a medium firmness to a soft firmness level. Side sleepers under 250 pounds should avoid a firm mattress with a pillow top, like the Avocado Green mattress.
The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.
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