Best Pillow-Top Mattresses for 2024
Pillow-top mattresses offer an extra layer of plush comfort and pressure relief. Our expert picks of the best pillow-top beds will make you feel like you're sleeping on a cloud.
What to consider
Our Picks
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.
Let'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
SCORE
Saatva Classic
Best pillow-top mattress for back pain
SCORE
WinkBed
Best hybrid pillow-top mattress
SCORE
Allswell Supreme
Best budget pillow-top mattress
SCORE
Helix Midnight Luxe
Best pillow-top mattress for couples
SCORE
What to consider when shopping for the best pillow-top mattress
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.
How we test pillow-top mattresses
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.
Other pillow-top mattresses we've tested
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.
Best pillow-top mattress FAQs
Are pillow-top mattresses any good?
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.
What is the best pillow-top mattress?
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
Is a pillow-top mattress good for side sleepers?
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.