Most Comfortable Foam Mattresses

We asked nearly 74,000 CR members how comfy their mattresses are. Essentia and Purple got the highest marks.

When you shop through retailer links on our site, we may earn affiliate commissions. 100% of the fees we collect are used to support our nonprofit mission. Learn more.

person waking up PhotoAlto/Frederic Cirou

Today's foam mattresses run quite the gamut. Some foam mattresses come as solid hunks of latex. Others include multiple foam layers, such as like gel-infused foam, memory foam, polyurethane, and silicone. And the marketing around different foam types doesn’t make it easy to know which is likely to be comfortable for you.

So how can you tell which foam mattress will have you sleeping on cloud nine? Our most recent mattress survey, in which we asked 73,676 CR members to rate their mattresses, is a pretty good start.

Of the foam mattresses we’ve tested, only two receive our tip-top rating for comfort from our members: Essentia and Purple. Members also gave high marks to a number of other brands, including Casper, Reverie, Sleep on Latex, and Tuft & Needle. (See our mattress ratings for the full survey scores.)

More on Mattresses
CR's Mattress Ratings & Buying Guide
Best Mattresses of 2021
Best Foam Mattresses for $500 or Less
Best Pillows from CR's Tests
Mattress Face-Off: Tuft & Needle vs. Purple

CR members rated their mattresses for two new criteria—comfort and owner satisfaction. We asked them to rate the comfort of the mattress they bought between 2017 and 2020, then used the data to generate ratings by brand and type of mattress. Owner satisfaction is based on a member’s overall judgment of such factors as firmness and softness, value, quality of sleep, and more.

At CR we buy and test queen-size mattresses from well-known brands such as Beautyrest, Sealy, Serta, Stearns & Foster, and Tempur-Pedic, and from relatively new players, including Avocado, Casper, Leesa, Reverie, and Tuft & Needle.

Using lab equipment and human subjects, we evaluate how well a mattress supports the body for both back and side sleepers, how easily sleepers can shift their weight without disturbing a partner, and how well the mattress keeps its shape over time. To simulate the typical eight- to 10-year useful life span of a mattress, we conduct a test in which a 308-pound roller is pushed over each model 30,000 times.

Below, CR members can read on for ratings and reviews of top foam mattresses in our tests from brands that our members rated the most comfortable. You can also browse our full list of ratings of more than 150 adjustable air, foam, and innerspring mattresses.

Most Comfortable Foam Mattresses

Home Content Creator Haniya Rae

Haniya Rae

I​’m interested in the intersection between design and technology​—whether for ​drywall or robotic vacuums—and how the resulting combination affects consumers. I’ve written about consumer advocacy issues for publications like The Atlantic, PC Magazine, and Popular Science, and now I’m happy to be tackling the topic for CR. For updates, feel free to follow me on Twitter (@haniyarae). 
More From Consumer Reports