Best Pillow-Top Mattresses for 2024

Our expert, award-winning staff selects the products we cover and rigorously researches and tests our top picks. If you buy through our links, we may get a commission.

McKenzie Dillon Writer

McKenzie, a Certified Sleep Science Coach and proclaimed mattress expert, has been writing sleep content in the wellness space for over four years. After earning her certification from the Spencer Institute and dedicating hundreds of hours to sleep research, she has extensive knowledge on the topic and how to improve your quality of rest. Having more experience with lying on mattresses than most, McKenzie has reviewed over 150 beds and a variety of different sleep products including pillows, mattress toppers and sheets. McKenzie has also been a guest on multiple radio shows including WGN Chicago as a sleep expert and contributed sleep advice to over 50 different websites.

Expertise Certified Sleep Science Coach, Certified Stress Management Coach, Bachelor of English.

How we sort our mattresses

$2,095 at Saatva

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$487 at Walmart

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$2,374 at Helix Sleep

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Warranty

lifetime warranty

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lifetime warranty

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10-year warranty

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Our take - Couples typically want a bed that accommodates both of their sleeping styles and body types and has exceptional edge support and motion isolation. The Helix Midnight Luxe bed does this, making it our pick for the best pillow-top mattress for couples.
Looking for a new mattress? With this CNET-exclusive deal, you can take 27% off Helix sitewide and get two free pillows with any mattress purchase. This is the biggest discount available -- you won’t find it anywhere else. Use code CNET27

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Sleeping position

How you sleep will largely determine how firm a mattress you should buy. Stomach and back sleepers need firmer pillow-top mattresses that offer enough support to keep their spine aligned. Stomach sleepers tend to fall on the softer side of the scale because of the pressure relief offered to the shoulders, hips and knees. 

Your body type also plays a role in this. The lighter you are, the harder a mattress will seem. The heavier you are, the softer it will feel. 

Construction

What the bed is made from is another factor you must consider when shopping for a pillow-top mattress. The construction of the mattress will determine how supportive it is. Foam mattresses will generally always be less supportive than hybrid mattresses with layers of pocketed coils. 

Price

Mattresses are a big purchase. It's important to know your budget when shopping for your next mattress. There are several pillow-top bed choices at every budget level. The good news is that most brands do huge discounts around the holidays, so you can get a couple hundred off the price tag of your next bed if you time it right. 

Our mattress testing experts have tested over 200 mattresses and counting. We're really good at testing beds and assessing them for what the average person needs and values. Testing, we consider a few key factors that help us assess each mattress. 

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. Read more on how we test mattresses.

Firmness and feel

We start with the two most important factors regarding mattresses: firmness and feel. You can think about firmness as how hard or soft the mattress is. I know what you're thinking, who wants a hard mattress? A lot of pressure relief isn't always the best option for everyone, but some people, like stomach and back sleepers, need a firmer mattress with more support to keep their spine aligned at night. Side sleepers, on the other hand, do benefit from a softer mattress that offers pressure relief for their shoulders, hips and knees. We rate firmness on a 1 to 10 scale, corresponding with terms like "medium" or "medium-firm."

The feel is the other big one we note right away. What does the pillow-top mattress feel like when you're lying on it? Does it have the sinking memory foam feel or a more neutral foam that bounces back quickly? Specifically for pillow tops, we take into account how thick they are and what feel they give the mattress. How firm and what the mattress feels like is noted in every review. 

Performance

We consider several performance factors when testing the best pillow-top mattresses. The first is edge support, or how structured the perimeter of the mattress is. Testing this is as simple as sitting on the edge of the bed and assessing how supportive it is. If we feel like we're going to fall off the mattress by sitting on the edge, then it doesn't have great edge support. 

Motion isolation is important if you sleep with a partner who tosses and turns or has a different sleeping schedule than you. We test this by placing a glass of water on the mattress and rolling across the bed to see if it will tip over. We also know how well the mattress distributes heat and regulates temperature. 

This best pillow-top mattress list was curated by our CNET Sleep editors, who've had their fair share of laying on beds. They've tested over 200 different beds and have hours of experience under their belts. The picks shown above proved to be some of their favorites, but the beds we've tested below are also in the running for consideration. 

DreamCloud mattress: The DreamCloud mattress is a thick hybrid bed made with new-age memory foam. It's rated around a 5 on the firmness spectrum or around a medium, making it ideal for just about any sleeping position. 

Loom & Leaf mattress: The Loom & Leaf bed is from the luxury online mattress brand Saatva. It's a conforming memory foam mattress made without coils, and it has a cooling gel layer that does a good job of keeping your temperature neutral. The pillow top is made with different comfort foams and it even features its Lumbar Zone Quilting, which provides targeted support to your lumbar region. It comes in two different firmness levels, but they both lean toward the firm side (medium-firm and firm). 

Avocado Green mattress: The Avocado bed is a green bed made with environmentally friendly materials sourced from nature that are non-toxic, hypoallergenic and antimicrobial. You can add a pillow top made with organic latex foam and organic cotton for additional comfort. With the pillow top, Avocado is rated around a medium firmness. 

Yes, pillow-top mattresses add a plush and fluffy layer of cushioning to a mattress. It can also make a mattress look more premium and inviting, like jumping into a pile of pillows. Pillow-top mattresses usually have inner springs or coils in the bottom layer for support, and the pillow top is meant to add more coziness to the top layer. 

The best pillow-top mattress will come with thick and supportive coils. Some of our favorite options include:

• Saatva Classic mattress
• WinkBed mattress
• Helix Luxe mattresses 
• Star Hybrid 

It depends on the firmness level of the particular pillow-top mattress and how much pressure relief it offers. The best types of pillow-top mattresses for side sleepers range from a medium firmness to a soft firmness level. Side sleepers under 250 pounds should avoid a firm mattress with a pillow top, like the Avocado Green mattress.