Beautyrest Silver 12-inch Plush Innerspring Mattress
Best budget innerspring mattress
As popular as they’ve gotten in recent years, memory foam mattresses and bed-in-a-box models aren’t for everyone. If this statement rings true for you, it’s time to start looking at innerspring mattresses. Traditionally, mattresses with coils are known for having a bit more bounce, but thanks to advanced technology, the best innerspring mattresses can isolate motion almost as well as memory foam — or at least a lot better than the old spring mattress in the spare bedroom of your grandparents’ house.
The Beautyrest Black is a fan-favorite and the best innerspring mattress overall. There are different models, but with its plush pillow top, 16-inch profile and advanced cooling technology, the C-Class is one of the most luxurious. Technically a hybrid, it’s made with a couple layers of pressure-relieving cooling and gel memory foams. This pocketed coil mattress has a base layer with an 850 pocket coil count.
Beautyrest Black C-Class 16-inch Plush Pillow Top Mattress
The Saatva Classic hybrid mattress is where the traditional innerspring mattress meets the modern need for increased comfort. It has two layers of springs. The first is a dual coil base layer that provides advanced support, prevents sagging, allows for increased airflow so the mattress doesn’t trap heat, and is recommended for hot sleepers.
Saatva Classic
Type Hybrid mattressFirmness Plush: Medium or 5 | Firm: Firm or 9/10Trial 90 nightsWarranty 10-year warranty Price $$$
Type Organic latex hybrid mattressFirmness 2 firmness levels | Standard: medium or 5 | Plush: medium-soft or 3Trial 365 nightsWarranty 25-year warranty Price $$$
Sealy may be one of the most recognizable names in the world of innerspring mattresses. Over the past 65 years, the company has been working on perfecting its mattresses and the Posturepedic Silver Pine 15-inch Medium Euro Top Mattress is one of the most recent, and high-quality, models. It has heavy-duty coils that are designed to reduce movement and provide extra reinforcement to the mattress’ edges, so there’s no sinking or sagging no matter where you’re positioned on the mattress.
Sealy Posturepedic Silver Pine 15-inch Medium Euro Top Mattress
Type Hybrid mattressFirmness 4 or Medium to Medium-SoftTrial 100 nightsWarranty 10-year limited warranty Price $$
Factors to consider when choosing an innerspring mattress
Shopping for a mattress is an extremely subjective process. What works for one person may not suit your preferences and needs. There are key factors that you should keep in mind when comparing innerspring mattresses. They include your sleeping position, body type, health conditions and budget.
Sleeping position
Your sleeping position is one of the most important factors in deciding what mattress will be best for you. It will determine how firm or soft your mattress needs to be to keep you comfortable at night.
- Side sleepers need a softer mattress to ensure they don’t develop pressure points on their shoulders, hips and knees.
- Strict back sleepers should get a medium firm or firm mattress so their spine is in a neutral alignment all night. This level of firmness will prevent back pain.
- Combination sleepers have the most flexibility in choosing their firmness level. You have two options, choose a bed based on the position you spend the most time in or opt for a medium firmness that works for any sleeper type.
Body type
Your body type will determine how much pressure you put on the mattress and which mattress you should choose. People who weigh over 230 pounds should generally choose hybrid mattresses for their support and durability.
Your weight also influences the firmness level of a bed. The more you weigh, the more pressure you put on your mattress, meaning it will feel softer. Petite body types will experience mattresses firmer because they put less pressure on the bed.
Health conditions
When shopping for mattresses, your health conditions also affect your decision-making process. For example, if you have joint pain, you would want to choose a soft mattress with plenty of pressure relief. If you have back pain, stick with a firmer mattress to keep your spine aligned.
Budget
Mattresses are big investments; there’s no way around that. Thankfully, there are mattresses at every budget level. Hotel luxury mattresses are going to be more expensive than the average mattress. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a nice mattress for a fair price. Most brands run big sales around holidays and events. If you time it right, you can get a couple hundred dollars off the price tag.
How we test the best innerspring mattresses
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. We tested each of the mattresses on this best innerspring mattress list. Our team has tested over 100 mattresses to establish a baseline for firmness, feel and performance.
Firmness and feel
When we start mattress testing, we first determine the firmness and feel of the mattress. Think about firmness as how hard or soft a mattress is. We rate each mattress on a ten-point scale for firmness.
The feel of the mattress describes how the mattress reacts. Is it slow responding like traditional memory foam? Or does it snap back like latex foam? This will translate to how it will feel rolling around on the bed at night.
Durability
The durability, or how long a mattress will last, is based on what it’s made from. Mattresses with pocketed coils as the base are more durable than all-foam options. They also tend to be more expensive.
Mattress performance
The key performance criteria we assess for mattresses include motion isolation, edge support and temperature.
We test how the mattresses isolate movement by placing a glass of water on the edge of the bed and rolling around to see how much it moves. Motion isolation is a big deal if you have a partner who rolls around and wakes you up.
Edge support is how strong the perimeter of the bed is. The test for this is simple, we sit and lay on the edge to see if it gives way under the pressure. When assessing temperature, we examine the materials and construction of the mattress. Materials like latex and gel memory foam can keep a mattress from retaining body heat.
Read more on how we test mattresses.
Other innerspring mattresses we’ve tested
Our CNET Sleep editors collectively write our best mattress lists based on their experience with over 100 different mattresses. The beds listed above are all top picks, but with so many to choose from, there are a few great beds that deserve an honorable mention.
Leesa Legend mattress
The Leesa Legend mattress is a thick, premium bed with two layers of coils. One layer is made with pocketed coils, while a microcoil layer in the top layers offers a ton of back support. As far as comfort goes, it has a medium firmness level and a fluffy, soft foam feel that is more responsive than traditional memory foam.
Brooklyn Bedding Signature mattress
Value shoppers should keep Brooklyn Bedding Signature on their list of ideal options. It’s a premium hybrid mattress that costs the same price as popular foam mattresses like Casper or Purple. It also is available in three different firmness levels so that any sleeping position can find a comfortable option.
Best innerspring mattress FAQs
