Best Mattresses-in-a-Box
Our rigorous tests highlight online mattresses that are not only convenient but also supportive
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Many online mattress brands air-seal and compress their beds into a box, so you can buy and receive a mattress without ever setting foot outside your house. But what you get in exchange for convenience is the anxiety over whether the mattress you ordered ultimately delivers a good night’s sleep. Sure, you can typically return it within 100 days, but getting rid of a large item is decidedly inconvenient, and so is searching for a replacement—even if the refund is advertised as hassle-free.
That’s why Consumer Reports has tested more than 160 mattresses delivered in a box. We wrestle with the plastic wrap and watch the bed expand, just as you would at home; and then we test each model for comfort, durability, firmness, and stabilization, so you can simply refer to our ratings and find a model that’s right for you.
- Best Mattresses: Innerspring Foam
- How CR Tests Picks the Best Mattresses
Best Innerspring Mattresses-in-a-Box
Innerspring mattresses combine coils with layers of fiber padding, foam, or latex. These mattresses offer a buoyant feel. Those with thicker foam layers are sometimes marketed as hybrid mattresses. Many innerspring mattresses, including most on this list, have lower stabilization scores than those of the foam mattresses in our ratings, so there may be more motion transferred from a partner’s movements.
Best Foam Mattresses-in-a-Box
Most foam mattresses-in-a-box, like the Casper Original, are made with synthetic foams. But a few of the mattresses in our ratings consist of latex, a typically more durable material. Foam mattresses generally receive higher marks than innersprings for stabilization, so there’s little motion transfer when a partner shifts position.
How CR Tests Mattresses
We put mattresses-in-a-box through the same rigorous testing we use for all mattresses. That means assessing support for all sizes of back and side sleepers, and evaluating durability as well as stability. What we found: There’s no noticeable difference in performance between our top-rated mattress-in-a-box models and traditional models, according to Chris Regan, who oversees CR’s mattress tests. This is even the case when it comes to durability—a test that includes passing a 309-pound roller over each mattress 30,000 times to simulate use after eight to 10 years. In fact, all the mattresses featured here earn a very good or better score in that area.
We also include comfort and owner satisfaction ratings from our surveys on nearly 66,000 mattresses purchased by CR members between 2013 and 2023, based on brand and type. To learn more about how we rate and test mattresses, check our mattress buying guide.
How CR Picks the Best Mattresses-in-a-Box
The best mattresses-in-a-box in our ratings perform well in our lab tests and are also often designed by brands that earn high praise for comfort and owner satisfaction in our member surveys. They offer very good or excellent support for most, if not all, sleep positions and sizes. They’re durable and isolate motion well too (so you won’t be woken up by a sleep partner or pet shifting on the other side of the mattress).
For this roundup, we started with our comprehensive ratings and filtered those that are mattresses-in-a-box. What you see above is a selection of top performers that offer a diversity of materials, thicknesses, prices, and firmness levels.
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