After years of testing mattresses, we’ve come up with a list of the top soft mattress options. We know what it takes for a mattress to be really soft and what materials you should look for if you want to sleep on a cloud. Here are our top picks for the best soft mattresses you can buy.
What’s the best soft mattress?
The GravityLux is a luxury mattress from WinkBeds. It has three firmness options, allowing you to customize the mattress. The soft or medium option is good for people who want a bed with pressure relief. It’s the kind of mattress that could work for anyone. That’s why we think it’s the best soft mattress you can buy.
This soft mattress also has a “progressive support” design for all the layers, which is firm and soft where your body needs it most. The layers are thick, proprietary foam with cooling technology and extra durability.
Best soft mattresses video review
Watch CNET video producer Owen Poole review the best soft mattresses for 2024.
Best soft mattresses of 2024
Mattress price scale:
$ = Budget: $799 and below
$$ = Average: $800 to $1,699
$$$ = Premium: $1,700 and up
These reflect MSRP or list prices. Sales might make a mattress less expensive, but are always changing.
Puffy Lux
Type Memory foam hybridFirmness 4 or medium to medium-softTrial 101 nightsWarranty Lifetime warrantyPrice$$$
Like
Ultrasoft, marshmallowy feel
Hybrid mattress is good for any body type
Machine washable cover
Hypoallergenic and made in the US
Don’t like
Expensive
Too soft for back and stomach sleepers
Why we chose the Puffy Lux Hybrid mattress: The Puffy Lux Hybrid offers just enough decadent softness with a spritz of firmness and pressure relief sprinkled in. This bed provides a comfy, airy memory foam feel that I find extremely cozy. Puffy describes the Lux Hybrid as their most popular mattress, at 12 inches thick with six full foam layers and pocketed coils.
First, there’s 1.5 inches of gel-infused cooling foam, followed by another 1.5 inches of plush pressure-relieving foam and 2 inches of moisture-resistant foam. At the bottom of this Puffy mattress, there’s a final 7 inches of high-density foam with a coil base to keep things sufficiently supportive and provide edge support.
All the Puffy Lux mattress foams are CertiPUR certified, meaning the mattress brand creates this mattress type without ozone depleters, formaldehyde, toxic flame retardants or other toxic ingredients.
Type Hybrid mattressFirmness 3 firmness levels | Soft: 3 or Medium-soft | Medium: 5 or Medium | Firm: Medium-firm or 7Trial 120 nightsWarranty 10-year limited warrantyPrice$$$
Like
Cool to the touch
Multiple firmness options
Strong coils make it very durable
Neutral foam feel
Don’t like
Not needed for cool sleepers
Not a budget choice
Why we chose the Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Hybrid mattress: The soft version of the Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Hybrid mattress is a pillowy-soft bed with innovative cooling features that bring the body’s skin temperature down to the ideal 88 degrees recommended for a full peaceful night’s sleep.
The 1.5-inch layer of the company’s proprietary CopperFlex foam contours to the body as you lay on the bed. The second layer of proprietary soft foam called TitanFlex instantly responds whenever your body moves. The third layer is a gel memory foam with additional pressure point relief as well as over 1,000 individually wrapped coils for maximum support and excellent motion transfer. The base consists of even more foam, this time a 0.75-inch layer, making the foam mattress bed more durable with support for the shifting coils.
Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe
Casper
Holiday Deal
Type Hybrid mattressFirmness Medium-soft or 3Trial 100 nightsWarranty 10-year warrantyPrice$$$
Like
Zoned support design
Super soft but still supportive
Good for people with back pain
Regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission to be free of harmful chemicals
Don’t like
Expensive
Too soft for stomach sleepers
Why we chose the Casper Nova Hybrid mattress: The Casper Nova Hybrid mattress combines the sumptuous experience of a super soft mattress with proper support. Its cutting-edge ergonomic support system consists of seven zones strategically placed to keep the spine aligned, topped with the softest foam the company uses.
There are two additional layers of soft polyurethane foam, each perforated to promote airflow, followed by the zoned support system, then a base of polyurethane foam on the bottom with supportive springs and a reinforced border for edge support. The foam mattress zoned support provided in each Nova Hybrid has two layers, one to reinforce the one above it, which are designed to work together to relax the sleeper’s back muscles and align the spine.
Casper Nova
Layla Sleep
Holiday Deal
Type Flippable hybrid mattressFirmness Firm: 5 or medium | Soft: 3 or medium-softTrial 120 nightsWarranty 10-year limited warrantyPrice$$
Like
Two firmness levels in flippable design
Airy memory foam feel
Good temperature regulation
Don’t like
Not people who want a bouncy mattress
Why we chose the Layla mattress: The Layla mattress is a flippable mattress with two firmnesses in one. One side is around a medium to medium firm, while the other is a medium-soft. Soft bed lovers are going to love the plush side of the Layla mattress. It’s a light and airy memory foam with copper-infused material to help draw heat away from your body.
The original Layla mattress is made with just foam, so it’s going to be better for people who weigh under 230 pounds. If you’re looking for more support, however, the Layla Hybrid mattress is also an option. It has the same flippable design, but it’s made with strong pocketed coils to add more support and durability.
Soft beds are best for side sleepers. If you sleep on your back or stomach, a firm bed helps prevent your back from sagging.
Zooey Liao/CNET
Besides being ultra comfortable to snuggle up in, the best soft mattresses are ideal for side sleepers and petite individuals who seek more pressure relief.
Soft mattresses allow the hips and shoulders to press into the bed’s comfort layers, providing pressure relief to those joints.
For side sleepers, a soft mattress will help promote proper spinal alignment because they are more contouring around the shoulders and hips and have more give.
The lighter you are, the firmer a bed feels. Petite sleepers under around 150 pounds may want a softer mattress because the average “medium” firmness mattress will feel more like a medium-firm.
If you strictly sleep on your side, a soft mattress will cradle your curves and give under your hips and shoulders to promote a neutral spinal alignment. However, when you’re sleeping on your back or stomach, a soft mattress allows your spine to sag into the bed. Beds that offer more support have proven to be more beneficial for people with back pain. So, if you want a bed that offers plushness and support, go for a medium firmness level.
