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We reveal our pick of the best mattresses available to buy, based on the results of our impartial rigorous lab tests.
Ben Slater
In this article
With the quality of your sleep and the support of your spine at stake, do you really want to risk spending a fortune on an unsupportive mattress that won't stand the test of time?
Well, fortunately you don't have to. Our independent and rigorous lab tests have uncovered the best mattresses – and exposed the worst. With more than £100 separating our cheapest Best Buy mattress from our most expensive Don't Buy, a good night's sleep might cost less than you expect.
Whether you’re looking for a pocket sprung or memory foam mattress, you'll want to take a look at our recommendations below. We’ve picked out the highest- and lowest-scoring mattresses that are available to buy in 2021, so you can be sure of buying the best and avoiding the worst.
All of our top 10 mattresses below performed well in our tough body-support and durability tests. But you should always try out the mattress in a shop if you can, because that’s the only way to know whether you will personally find it comfortable
Only logged-in Which? members can view our recommendations in the table below. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access.
The 10 best mattresses in our tests
81%
£769.00
Reviewed
This impressive mattress aced our tough tests. It's supportive, stable, breathable and long-lasting. It's one of our highest-scoring mattresses from this bed-in-a-box brand.
As far as we’re concerned, this pocket sprung and memory foam hybrid is the best mattress money can buy right now. It provides good support whatever position you sleep in; it’s excellent at preventing the transfer of movement from one side of the bed to the other; and you can sleep safe in the knowledge that it will stand the test of time without sagging, softening or becoming less supportive.
If you’re looking for a foam bed, you can’t go far wrong with this
reasonably-priced mattress. It didn’t do poorly in a single one of our tests
- it’s supportive, breathable and suitable for light sleepers and it will
stay that way for years to come.
This mattress is a trendy, bed-in-a-box that’s only available online.
But don’t let that put you off - there’s a 100-night trial period, during
which you can send it back for a full refund if you don’t find it
comfortable. If you do like the feel of it, though, you can sleep safe in
the knowledge that you’ve bought an exceptional mattress. It's supportive,
won’t sag or soften with time and, unlike some foam mattresses, this one
doesn’t restrict your movement at all. That's why it's one of the best
mattresses we've tested.
This mattress is a great all-rounder with no major flaws, but it's particularly well-suited to light sleepers and people who usually sleep on their back. It's also extremely durable and exceptionally stable, meaning you shouldn’t be disturbed when your partner rolls over or gets up during the night. It's not the easiest to turn on though so if you like to move around while getting comfortable then you may want to choose another option.
This pocket sprung and foam combination mattress really impressed in our tests. It's supportive, stable, breathable and easy to turn on. It also gets five stars across the board in our durability testing, so you can be confident that even after years of use, it will be just as supportive as when you first unwrapped it and that it won't sag or soften.
This simple memory foam mattress is affordable and a great Best Buy option if you usually sleep on your front or your back. It has a 7.5cm foam core and another 10cm layer of viscos foam on top. This top layer of memory foam will envelope your body, while this will help stop the transfer of movement across the bed (great news for your bed fellow) it does make it harder to turn over on.
This popular bed-in-a-box mattress is a Best Best because it’s durable, won’t sag or soften over time, and it provides good support, especially if you’re a fan of sleeping on your back or front. Turning over on this mattress isn’t a problem and this mattress is good for stability, which means if you fidget in your sleep you won’t disturb anyone next to you.
We first tested this mattress in 2015, and it was one of the best we had seen in years. Several years on, we’re still yet to test a pocket sprung mattress that can match this Best Buy. This mattress contains several layers of foam, which may not be to everyone’s liking, but you’re in luck if you like the feel of it in the shop. You can sleep well in the knowledge that this mattress will support your spine for years to come without sagging or softening. It’s also a good bet for both restless and light sleepers because, while it’s very easy to turn on, it also does a great job at absorbing bounces.
If you’re after a good night’s sleep, this mattress will give your spine excellent support if you sleep on your back and good support if you prefer to snooze on your front or side. It won’t sag over time, either. This great mattress scores highly across the board.
This memory foam and mini pocket springs mattress is delivered vacuum-packed in a box, direct from the manufacturer to your door. It's incredibly durable and most people will get good support when sleeping on it. It's really easy to turn on this mattress and it's breathable too, so it shouldn't get damp with sweat on muggy nights. It's worth noting that it is on the softer side and was rated as an eight on our softness scale (with one being the firmest and 10 the softest).
Not found the mattress for you? See all ourBest Buy mattressesrecommendations.
The worst mattresses to avoid
Even if you find these mattresses fantastically comfortable when you try them in the shop, we would advise against adding them to your short list. Comfort doesn't guarantee support or durability, and all three mattresses have serious flaws in at least one of these areas.
44%
£199.00
Reviewed
Despite coming from a well-respected brand, you'll want to think twice
before buying this mattress. It provides poor support for people sleeping on
their back and, over time, the support for back-sleepers becomes even worse
while the mattress also sags dramatically.
Not only does no one else test mattresses like us, but we’re also totally independent, so you can have complete confidence in our results.
If you tend to sleep on your back, a good mattress will keep your spine in the same shape as when you’re standing. So, we measure the shape of a person's body at 36 different points when standing, and then again when lying on their back on the mattresses, to see how well they compare. If you’re a side-sleeper, your spine should be parallel to the mattress, so we use a laser to measure the angle of a person's spine relative to the bed. Are you a front sleeper? We also measure the spine a third time to assess how supportive each mattress is for people who prefer to lie on their front.
After simulating several years of use by rolling a heavy barrel over the mattress thousands of times, we then repeat the body-support tests to see whether the mattress becomes less supportive over time.
That’s not all. With our results, you can see how breathable a mattress is, how easy it is for you to turn over on and how stable it is. If you’re a light sleeper, you should try and buy a mattress with five stars for stability. These are the best at absorbing bounces, so you’ll be less likely to be disturbed when your partner rolls over or gets up in the night.
If you’re not yet a Which? member and want access to all these results and more, join Which? now.