May 24, 2024 9:30 AM

The Best Mattresses for Side Sleepers

The stats say most people prefer to snooze on their sides. If that’s you, then you might want to check out these WIRED-tested beds.

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Featured in this article

Bear Elite Hybrid Mattress on a bed frame

Closeup of the front of a mattress with two plush layers

Plush rectangular mattress on a blue bedframe with pillows and sheets on top

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There’s no such thing as the best mattress for everyone. Not when there are so many different sleeping positions. However, most people are side sleepers. The numbers vary by study and how rigidly you define a side sleeper, but between half and three-quarters of people sleep on their side. (The older and heavier you are, the more likely you are to be a side sleeper, and it's recommended that pregnant women sleep on their side.)

Firm mattresses are nice for back sleepers, but side and stomach sleepers may typically prefer a softer bed with some give for hips and knees. I am mostly a side sleeper. If you had asked me about my firmness preferences before I started reviewing bed-in-a-box mattresses, testing dozens for weeks over the year, I would've told you the softer the better. Indeed, if you’re a side sleeper you’re likely to gravitate toward cushy memory foam mattresses. But, as I’ve sampled more styles and religiously tracked my sleep on my Apple Watch, I’ve found that the best mattresses for side sleepers offer both cushion and support. The recommendations below have enough give to let your hips sink in for a natural spinal alignment without making you feel like rolling over is an uphill battle. Everything I recommend was put through at least a week of real-life testing. All of the prices shown are for queen-size models.

Be sure to check out our other sleep guides, including the Best Mattresses, Best Organic Mattresses, Best Cooling Mattresses, Best Bed Frames, Best Sleep Trackers, and our how-to on setting up a mattress in a box.

Updated May 2023: We've added the Casper One and Leesa Sapira Chill Hybrid.

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Photograph: Bear
Best Overall
Bear Elite Hybrid Mattress
Having tested the original Bear mattress, which is a budget-friendly all-foam offering, I was unprepared for the Bear Elite Hybrid—it’s not just a different animal, but a whole new species. This five-layer hybrid mattress is a full 14 inches thick and firmer than most other side-sleeper mattresses. The top layer is a quilted pillowtop that gives the Bear Elite a luxury feel that’s surprising at this price. The layer of copper-infused foam that keeps you cool during the night and the spring coils for support are also a nice touch.
After a short break-in period—noticeable on all mattresses but especially important with hybrids—I found the Bear Elite in medium firmness gave just the right sag to my hips and elbows while supporting me on my side. Since it’s a hybrid, there’s airflow in the innerspring layer that makes it breathable. It’s among the sturdiest mattresses in this guide, and the outer pillow top gets cooling benefits from Celliant fiber, a proprietary blend that has been studied for its benefits in athletic wear. I have periodic lower back pain, and I seek out medium-firm mattresses that offer the right amount of pressure relief without being so soft that I sink to a spot where my spine is out of alignment—the Bear Elite strikes the perfect balance.
I've been using the Bear Elite for the last four months anytime I'm not testing a different mattress—I test mattresses for a week at a time for review and usually test one or two a month—and I've only come to enjoy it more in that time.
$1,499 at Bear
Photograph: Nectar
Best for Pressure Relief
Nectar Sleep Nectar Premier Hybrid Mattress
The regular mattress from Nectar has been our top pick for side sleepers in our Best Mattresses guide for years. That mattress is all foam, but we’re finding ourselves moving more toward hybrids that have a layer of coils for support. Enter the Nectar Premium. For anyone who likes a softer mattress to slowly sink into, this is a great option given its excellent contouring and pressure relief. It has five layers of foam and gel and is softer than the original. This mattress is 13 inches thick with a satisfying squishiness and a cooling layer that’s a must for anyone who sleeps hot. All this foam does give the Nectar Premier unmatched motion isolation—your partner could tap dance next to you and you're unlikely to notice.
This mattress is best for true side sleepers. If you are a combo sleeper who often rolls over to your stomach or back, it may be too soft for comfort, given the deep cushion that could turn your arms or knees into new pressure points. Two nice things about Nectar are that the company offers a full year of trial and a forever warranty, so if you feel like you made the wrong choice, you can ask for a do-over.
$1,099 at Nectar Sleep

Photograph: Martin Cizmar
Best Cooling Side-Sleeper Mattress
Leesa Sapira Chill
Most mattresses aiming to solve sleeping problems target one issue—back problems, say, or motion isolation to stop disturbances from a partner who tosses and turns. The Leesa Sapira Chill Hybrid is special for solving two big problems by offering excellent spinal alignment for side sleepers and using cooling fibers that work to maintain a surface temperature of 88 degrees.
The Sapira Chill has an attractive European-style quilted top with nice deep divots from the stitching, which also seems to help hot air escape. The cooling cover is made from polyethylene and polyester with a dash of Lycra, and while it's not icy to the touch, it did keep me comfortable during two weeks of testing. What I really liked, though, was the way two layers of springs separated by one of three layers of foam added up to a medium-firm feel, with my hips sinking deep but not too deep. There's a 100-night trial period, so you can see for yourself.
$1,511 at Leesa
Photograph: Casper
Best All-Foam Mattress for Side Sleepers
Casper One
Casper was one of the first big mattress-in-a-box sellers to make inroads in the US (roll-packing mattresses has a longer history in Europe), and the brand's marketing may well have been your introduction to the concept. Casper relaunched its entire line this spring, including this modestly priced entry-level all-foam model. To be honest, my expectations weren't high—all-foam mattresses don't have springy coils to soften specific zones, so they tend to be either overly stiff or overly soft, which is why we usually recommend hybrids (see below). But after a week of sleeping on the One, I was very impressed at how well it cradled my hips and brought my spine into alignment without the help of springs.
The One is the successor to the Casper and the Original from the line, and it has a medium-firm feel with three levels of foam, which increase in density as you move down. It's 11 inches tall, and the queen weighs just 66 pounds, meaning you can lug it around with relative ease. It does sleep a little hotter than the hybrids on this list, which is another issue with all-foam mattresses. I started out skeptical, but I ended up swapping this mattress for the expensive organic latex one in my 9-year-old daughter's room at her request. If you're in the market for a relatively inexpensive but well-made foam mattress, Casper remains at the top of the game.
$870 at Casper

Photograph: Cole Slutzky/Birch
Best Organic Side-Sleeper Mattress
Birch Luxe Natural Mattress
The standard model from Birch has long been our pick for side sleepers who want an organic mattress, but Birch's new higher-end Luxe model impressed me over my month of testing, thanks to its medium-firm feel and structured support. The Luxe is GOTS-certified organic and uses natural latex with no polyurethane-based foams.
Like the standard Birch, the Luxe has multiple layers of wool plus a layer of individually wrapped coils for support and cushioning. It adds a pillowy Euro top for firmer edges. For side sleepers, the coils offer full lumbar support and are arranged to effectively cradle you after a break-in period of two weeks. I enjoyed my time with this mattress, but not as much as my 8-year-old daughter, who fell in love with the soft organic cotton top and slight springiness. She would not let me take the Birch Luxe out of the house after testing, and instead used it as an auxiliary couch in our living room.
$2,099 at Birch
$2,599 at Raymour & Flanigan
Photograph: Saatva
Best for Anyone Battling Back Pain
Saatva Classic Mattress (11.5 Inch)
Unlike others on this list, the Saatva Classic is not a mattress in a box. This will be delivered to your home by someone in a moving truck. I was sent a queen-size mattress for testing and elected to leave it in my living room for a week rather than lug it up the stairs myself. (You should get someone to help if you need to move it to a different room in your home.)
It was still a great week of sleep, as the Saatva classic (in the “luxury” firmness level) is comfortable, with features designed specifically to help those who struggle with back pain. There’s a pillow top made from organic cotton that’s quilted in zones to promote lumbar support. Below that, there’s a well-positioned high-density foam layer in the middle of the mattress for lumbar support. There’s a layer of pocketed coils made with 14.5-gauge steel that are zoned to support your back and are separate from the base layer made with heavier 13-gauge steel coils. All those springs do make it a bit more bouncy than others on this list, but in a good way. The entire mattress is lined with high-density foam, meaning you get peerless edge support. The company says it's built to last 15 years, and the build quality sure seems to back that claim up. Time will tell. Just don’t throw out your back trying to move it yourself.
$1,795 at Saatva

Photograph: Nolah
Best for Spine Alignment
Nolah Evolution 15-Inch
We test mattresses over a number of weeks for a reason. Rarely is the break-in period as pronounced as it was with the Nolah Evolution 15 in the “Luxury Firm” option. This thick and tightly structured hybrid felt like an overstuffed balloon out of the box and took two full weeks to break in. By the end of the month, I was sad to send it away.
The Nolah Evolution has seven layers, notably a full inch of high-density foam and a layer of heavy-duty 13.75-gauge coils. Both take some time to soften up. After the break-in though, they provided just the right support and brought my spine into perfect alignment. The top three layers of this mattress promise cooling via thermal conductivity and air circulation, but it ultimately slept neither warm nor cool. This is a big, heavy mattress (the queen weighs 115 pounds!), but it feels super durable. Just be warned that your initial impression may be that it’s a little too stiff. Nolah has a 120-night trial, but you'll have to pay a $99 fee for mattress pickup.
$1,624 at Nolah
$1,624 at Amazon
Photograph: Amazon
Best Budget Mattress
Linenspa 10-Inch Hybrid Mattress
The Linenspa hybrid mattress did not inspire immediate confidence. This is one of those Amazon products with more than 100,000 reviews of questionable provenance. I was unable to make contact with the company directly, so I bought it, and it arrived the next day. When I cracked the heavy (75-pound) box open to let the springs and foam breathe, my impressions didn’t improve. The Linenspa’s outer shell fits like one of those baggy sweaters your kindergarten teacher wore, with the fabric bunching in weird places. The memory foam layer is uneven and in one corner seems to disappear. The edge support is uneven too.
Ultimately, these are minor issues if you're looking for a cheap mattress. I got a great night’s sleep right from the first. After extensive testing, it continued to impress. Side sleepers will surely notice the springs are creakier than the more expensive offerings on this list. Sometimes those springs make you feel like you’re floating on an uneven cloud—pricier mattresses avoid this by varying the size of springs in different zones—but the overall feel is supportive and comfortable. It's just hard to beat the value at $300. I’ve tested some nice mattresses over the past year, and I do have to say that you get what you pay for to a certain extent. You spend a third of your life in bed, and if you've got the money to invest in a more expensive mattress, it's well worth it. But if you're on a tight budget and need a comfortable night of side sleeping, the Linenspa is a solid pick.
$280 at Amazon
$300 at Wayfair

Photograph: Bear
Why We Like Hybrid Mattresses for Side Sleepers
For most side sleepers, you might initially think that memory foam is nicer than a hybrid mattress that has a layer of springs (often called coils). On memory foam, you sink into a fluffy little cloud and get support on the sides. The problem is that when you’re sleeping well and not moving much, over the course of a night, that foam will slowly but surely compress under you. If it’s just one layer of cheap foam, after a while it will feel like you're sleeping on a yoga mat. That's why mattresses with multiple layers of foam of different weights are better, and why we like hybrids better yet. That layer of springs means the the foam doesn't compact nearly as much in my experience. A good hybrid gives you a chance to sleep for a solid six hours without needing to change position, which isn't necessarily the case for me on an all-foam mattress.
What's the ideal firmness for side sleepers?
Most side sleepers gravitate toward softer mattresses, which usually means memory foam instead of innerspring mattresses. Over the course of a night, though, you want to be sure you have a mattress with enough support. All types of mattresses can offer that, but be sure to pay close attention to the firmness scale the company advertises and the firmness options within it. Also take your body type into account, as the more body weight you have, the firmer the mattress you’ll want.

Martin Cizmar is the tech category director for the WIRED Reviews team. He specializes in testing mattresses, grills, terrestrial TV antennas, and other large, cumbersome items. Previously he was the editor in chief of Kansas City magazine, a senior editor at Raw Story, an editor at alternative weeklies in Portland... Read more

Commerce Category Director, Tech

TopicsSleep buying guides Shopping mattresses Bedroom household home

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