Is the Pillow Cube Worth It for Side-Sleepers?

At Wirecutter, we’re as curious as everyone else about the things that take over our social media feeds and promise life-changing results with a tap of the screen. The latest irresistible trend to come our way is the Pillow Cube, a square foam pillow for side-sleepers. And we wanted to see how it compared to the scores of pillows we’ve tested in our bed pillow and memory-foam pillow guides. We bought two Pillow Cube Pros to try, and we reached out with questions to two physiatrists: Dr. Akhil Chhatre, director of spine rehabilitation at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and Dr. Jonathan Kirschner (who’s helped us with pillow guides before) of New York City’s Hospital for Special Surgery.

What is the Pillow Cube?

The original Classic Pillow Cube is almost exactly what it sounds like—it’s a 12-by-12-inch square, solid-foam pillow that comes in two heights: 5 inches and 6 inches. It’s designed for side-sleepers only, and it’s meant to keep your head level and fit the naturally square-ish space between your head and shoulder. To find the height of that space (video), the company suggests you lie down and place your head on a stack of books, and then add or take away volumes until your head feels level. Then measure the stack, and choose your pillow.

The Pillow Cube Pro, which is the one we tested, is a bigger (24 by 12 inches), rectangular version of the same pillow, and it’s available in three heights: 4, 5, and 6 inches.

How did the Pillow Cube stack up?

The Pillow Cube Pro didn’t turn out to be the sleep catharsis that was advertised. Editor Tim Barribeau and I tested the pillows, and after I spent 10 minutes lying on mine, I had a headache and had to swap pillows. After about 14 nights of sleeping on it, Tim noted, “I do like that the support of the pillow starts lower down my neck than it would with a traditional pillow, so I’m probably going to stick with it for a while—but it definitely hasn’t changed my life.” There are so many variables in what will make a pillow work for you, and the type of mattress you have can be a factor, too. “The combination of how soft the bed is and the size options of the pillow have meant my spine isn’t perfectly aligned,” Tim added.

When we measured ourselves, we both fell between sizes, so we each sized down when choosing a pillow height. An improper fit can cause problems, but Chhatre told me I got a headache because the joints in my neck were stressed, and he added that the wrong pillow can basically affect your whole body. “Any part of your body that touches the bed is in play,” Chhatre said. Our experts had different takes on whether you should size up or down when measuring yourself for a Pillow Cube. Kirschner recommended sizing down because you can always add another pillow for more height, and Chhatre said to size up because the foam might compress down over time. We think these are valid cases for going in either direction, but what we’d actually love to see are some half-size options. And Chhatre told us the range of thicknesses is “not enough in terms of variability.” He thought the addition of 3-inch and 7-inch sizes would cover more body types.

Kirschner told us he thinks “a square or rectangle shape could work fine to support the head and neck of a side-sleeper, assuming the pillow is the correct height.” We think it’s tough to get that correct height on the Pillow Cube without more size options, however. But if you do order the wrong-size pillow, the company allows exchanges within 30 days of purchase. But if you simply don’t like the pillow, the return policy says the item must be “unopened, unused, and in the same condition that you received it. It must also be in the original packaging.” The company’s customer support confirmed that it does not offer returns or refunds on opened or used pillows. Since the pillow arrives vacuum-sealed flat, it’s impossible to try it without violating the return rules.

What should you try instead?

Just because you sleep on your side doesn’t mean you need a special “side-sleeping” pillow, Kirschner said. In all the pillow tests we’ve conducted at Wirecutter—with dozens of people representing different body shapes and sleep positions—pillows aimed at a specific sleep position almost never performed well, even for the targeted type of sleeper. (We have a pillow guide specifically for side-sleepers, but the recommendations work for other positions, too.)

We think the most important thing is to find a pillow that can be customized to fit your body’s needs, even as those needs change from night to night (and even in the course of a single night). If you switch positions as you sleep, or you like to fluff or bunch up your pillow to make it feel just right, any solid foam pillow will probably be a challenge for you. “Everyone has a multitude of different sleep angles that amount to a fingerprint in terms of uniqueness,” Chhatre told us. He added that the ideal pillow, even for side-sleepers, allows you to adjust more than simply the height. We agree, and over years of testing, our sleep panelists have typically preferred pillows with removable filling that let you tweak the height, the density, and even the shape (something you can do with both shredded foam and down or down-alt pillows). We have plenty of recommendations in our pillows guide to help you find the right fit.