The 8 Best Mattresses in 2026, Tested by Editors

If budget is your top priority, the Tuft & Needle Original mattress is an excellent option. Priced at under $900, it’s easy to set up and still offers responsiveness, pressure relief, and body-contouring support in its three layers of foam. Plus, the mattress’s breathable cooling cover delivers, making it a great option for hot sleepers on a budget. "I like the responsiveness of the foam," our tester says. "It's firm, but you sink in just enough."

The foam mattress’s bounce-back support is suitable for all sleepers, especially those with back pain. "My back feels great, and it's a very comfortable sleeping experience," our tester says.

The PurplePlus mattress has a unique gel top layer, which won’t come as a surprise to anyone familiar with Purple. The bed’s springy, adaptable GelFlex Grid provides pressure relief and a cooling effect, making it great for hot sleepers. "You can literally feel it every time you lay down—it's like a gentle acupressure mat."

Our tester found the mattress to be very firm at first, but it’s now body-conforming and supportive after breaking it in. "I'm someone who sleeps on my stomach, which causes my back to slope in," she says. "With my previous super plush mattress, I would wake up with back pain since I would sink into it. But not with this one!"

A good hybrid mattress is both firmly supportive and comfortably body-conforming, which is just what the Helix Midnight Luxe manages to achieve. "It is supportive without being uncomfortable, which is a tough balance that many mattresses can't seem to get right," our tester says. And the Tencel-covered pillow top feels premium and plush, although it’s not as cooling as our tester had hoped.

The mattress is great for side sleepers and those with back pain because it has five layers of foam to provide pressure relief and ergonomic support. "It did take me a day or two to adjust to the firmness of the mattress, but I was transitioning from a very soft mattress," they say. "After a few days, I was waking up with little to no back pain."

According to our tester, this mattress is a suitable option for those who find themselves switching between sleeping positions throughout the night. "It's a really nice mix of foam and innerspring mattress, and it cradles my body while still letting me move around," they say. "I'm a restless sleeper, tossing and turning, but the mattress seems to absorb a lot of that motion, so the bed doesn't feel quite so reactive to my movements."

The medium-firm mattress provides a balance of memory foam cushioning with the support of the individually wrapped coils. "I really like how it's both soft and supportive—I don't sink into it like I would a foam mattress (i.e., the kind that feels nice for a second but is murder on your back and makes getting up/moving around a hassle)," they say. "But I also don't feel any springs pushing up against me and making it feel too bouncy."

This firm memory foam bed offers five layers of support to keep your spine aligned and cradle your body from head to toe. Not only has our tester’s back felt "amazing" since sleeping on the Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt, but they have also been sleeping better overall. "I'm not someone who traditionally sleeps in or even relies heavily on an alarm, and I've found myself knocking out for 9+ hours on this thing pretty regularly to the point I've had to recommit to the alarm lifestyle," they say.

They also put the bed through some daredevil motion transfer testing. "I’ve also sat on the thing with a full coffee and glass of water placed on it next to me, I moved around and shifted my body and they’ve never spilt or even shake to be honest," they say.

Our tester was very impressed by the Casper Snow’s lack of motion transfer. "When you turn over, your partner barely notices," they say. "And even when a 70-pound Bernadoodle jumps up on the bed, there's not too much movement." The bed also has a cooling cover and a layer of aluminum graphite Heat Delete Bands that keep hot sleepers cool, whether in bed with a partner, a pup, or both.

While Casper lists this mattress as a medium on the firmness scale, our tester reported it was quite firm. It has a base of responsive coils and three zones of memory foam to cradle your shoulders and feet while supporting your hips and back.