Best Mattress for Couples

Finding a mattress that works for two different people is one of the most common headaches of mattress shopping. Entire mattress brands are built around the idea that couples with wildly different sleep preferences can share the same mattress, as long as that mattress is versatile and offers the consumer a way to adjust the mattress to their preferences.

Amerisleep AS3 – Editors’ Choice

Our recommendation is the Amerisleep AS3. Amerisleep makes five different mattresses to suit a variety of sleeping styles and their most popular model, the AS3 happens to be the most versatile. It’s specifically engineered for side and combo sleepers since these are the most common sleeping positions, but some reviews from back and stomach sleepers show they might prefer this mattress as well.

The soft but responsive foam in the AS3 offers zoned support for all weights, heights, and shapes. The Celliant® cover helps improve local blood flow and circulation, meaning it can be especially useful for muscle recovery and easing muscle tension. The mattress, like all Amerisleep beds, comes with a 100-night sleep trial, allowing you to try out the bed in the comfort of your own home. This way you can conduct an exhaustive examination of the bed to see if it’s right for you and your partner. 

Research & Resources

In writing this article, we…

• Scoured hundreds of mattress reviews
• Reviewed over 30 leading brands
• Spent 12+ hours writing, editing, and revising to produce the most quality content possible

Best Mattresses for Couples 

Finding the Right Mattress

So what do you do when your sleep preference is the complete opposite of your partner’s? A side sleeper usually prefers a plusher mattress, while stomach and back sleepers like more firmness. Is there a middle ground? In cases like these, it’s important to consider other factors in your mattress search–is the mattress flippable? Will it absorb your partner’s restless movements in the middle of the night so you don’t wake up? Obviously, there are quite a few things to consider, so you’ll want to prioritize your individual needs and start from there.

1. Amerisleep AS3 – Our Editors’ Choice

The Amerisleep AS3 is our top pick for couples because of its versatile features. On their website, Amerisleep markets the AS3 as their bestseller. All of their mattresses are named with a number, and these numbers correspond with the softness level of each mattress. For example, the AS1 is their firmest model built especially for stomach and back sleepers. The AS5, on the other hand, is their softest model best suited for side sleepers. Healthy Sleep recommends you choose a medium feel mattress if you sleep with a partner, especially if each of you has different sleep styles, and the AS3 falls right in the middle of the softness scale. 

Let’s break down the individual layers of this mattress and hold a magnifying glass up to its excellence.

• Top layer: Cover made with Celliant®, an FDA-determined technology which increases local circulation and blood flow.
• Second layer: 3 inches of Bio-Pur® foam is 5x more breathable than traditional foam so it won’t trap heat. Its open-cell structure allows air to travel through freely, keeping it bouncy and light.
• Third layer: Affinity transition layer with HIVE® technology relieves pressure in all the right spots while giving support in others.
• Bottom layer: Bio-Core® support layer won’t sag even after years of use.

2. Nolah Original 10″

Nolah is an interesting company in that they adopt an endangered American wildlife through Defenders of Wildlife for every mattress purchased. So you can feel good about saving the planet while simultaneously getting a good night’s rest! 

Now, let’s talk about the mattress. When you’re sharing a bed with a partner, you’re most likely sharing a budget with them too. Sometimes it’s difficult to find a nice, good-quality mattress for a reasonable price. Of course, you don’t want to spend too little if it gets you a cheaply-made bed, but you also don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a bed that ends up being a flop. 

In terms of value, pay attention to a mattress’ warranty, return policy, and the materials used to construct it. The Nolah Air Foam™ mattress is not made with viscoelastic chemicals like many other foam mattresses. In performance tests, it showed 4x less pressure on the sleeper’s hips and back when compared with traditional memory foam mattresses. 

It also comes with a 15-year warranty and a 120-night sleep trial. A queen-size runs at $894, which is lower than the average price for a foam queen-size mattress.

3. Loom & Leaf by Saatva

The Loom & Leaf mattress comes with all the bells and whistles of a luxury bed, but at a much more affordable price point ($1499 for a Queen). You can pair the mattress with an adjustable bed for a more elevated sleep experience. This mattress does not come in a box like others on our list–Loom & Leaf believes a luxury bed shouldn’t come folded up in a cardboard box. 

It’s made with cooling Spinal Zone Gel and eco-friendly premium memory foam without the off-gassing smell, and you can choose from two different firmness levels (Relaxed Firm and Firm). The relaxed firm is their bestseller and the one we recommend for couples. 

4. Brooklyn Aurora 

The Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Mattress is their hybrid model with cooling technology. The top layer is made up of 1.5” of CopperFlex™ foam and the surface is infused with TitanCool™ which maintains the skin’s temperature at 88 degrees. Because it’s a hybrid, it also has 1,189 individually wrapped Quantum Edge™ coils for great motion isolation. A hybrid is a wonderful choice for couples because of these features–softness and support along with the coolness and motion isolation of coils.

The Brooklyn Bedding Aurora comes with three firmness options: soft, medium, and firm. BB recommends couples choose their medium firm mattress for the best results. 

5. Helix Dual Extra

A dual-firmness bed is a quick solution to the problem of sharing a bed with someone who has different sleep preferences from you. The soft side is great for combo sleepers and side sleepers while the firm side of the bed offers the same benefits for back and stomach sleepers. The Helix Dynamic foam on either side reacts to your body shape, letting you get some much-needed rest without worrying about feeling stiff and sore when you wake up.

If you’re not sure what type of bed will be best for your needs, Helix offers a Sleep Quiz to help you fully customize your mattress. This is invaluable when faced with all the overwhelming options and decisions attached to mattress-shopping. 

Both sides of the Helix Dual Extra are layered with the Helix Soft Touch Design cover, optimized for airflow. 

6. GhostBed Flex

GhostBed makes their mattresses without ozone depleters, mercury, lead, and other heavy metals. Additionally, they exclude low VOC emissions in their manufacturing processes. As far as foam mattresses go, the GhostBed is one of the safest options you can pick. The GhostBed Flex model is made with seven hybrid layers, including gel memory foam, Ghost Flex transition foam, and individually wrapped support coils. 

If you’re one of the 50 million Americans suffering from chronic pain, a foam mattress with support coils could alleviate that pain while you sleep. 

7. WinkBeds

WinkBeds offer quite a bit of customization with four firmness levels and six size options. Their Luxury Firm model is the most popular and it falls at a 6.5 on the firmness scale. It has excellent pushback support, a Euro-pillow top, and 7-zone support coils. Overweight sleepers will appreciate the ample support from the coils and the extra height (13”). Healthy Sleep recommends heavier sleepers use a mattress that’s at least 12” tall. 

Heavy sleepers will also want to look for a bed with a robust support system built into the core or base. So how can you tell a base will really be supportive? Look for generous height, reinforced support with coils and/or foam, and pay attention to the warranty terms. Most warranties cover sagging from .75-1.5” (varying with different companies). 

8. All-New Purple Mattress (Standard) 

Purple is fairly new in the mattress industry, but they’ve become quite popular with their innovative Smart Comfort Grid™ foam, a wholly unique design that looks just like a grid. They claim this grid design adapts to the human body and stays cool. In their newer model, which we recommend here for couples, you can customize the thickness of the Smart Comfort Grid™ for even more support. It also has a base layer with wrapped responsive coils if you’re concerned about durability.

A common problem faced by couples is noise–if your partner moves around in the night, rustling the sheets and making the mattress squeak, your sleep quality is probably less than stellar, especially if you’re a light sleeper. Or maybe you’re that restless person keeping your partner up! Either way, a noiseless mattress is deal for any couple to ensure they both get a full night of sleep. A mattress with innerspring coils probably doesn’t evoke silence in your imagination, but thanks to individually-wrapped coils, most mattress companies have solved this problem.

Because the all-new Purple Mattress is a hybrid, it’s made with foam and innerspring coils–and foam is known for being virtually noiseless. You can choose three different comfort options with the All-New Purple–standard, deluxe, and ultimate.

What should couples look for in a mattress?

Finding a mattress for one person is not the most fun way to spend your time–let alone finding one that suits two different people. It can be overwhelming to sift through all the different mattress features to find The One. Well, if you and your partner happen to be in the market for a new mattress, we want to examine a few factors that can help you narrow down your options.

• Motion Transfer and Isolation
• Sleep Trials and Warranties
• Mattress Types
• Sleeping Positions

Motion Transfer and Isolation

Motion transfer describes the feeling you get when somebody is moving around in the bed and you feel every move they make. The mattress does not absorb movement very well, and as a result, sleep quality is diminished.

Typically, the bouncier the bed, the higher the risk of motion transfer. Memory foam is the preferred option for motion isolation simply because it naturally bounces back quickly and absorbs movement. 

However, memory foam is also more prone to sinking in, making the sleeper feel like they’re falling into the bed instead of sleeping on top of it. The type of mattress you choose will depend on a few things: your weight, sleeping position, and other preferences, but finding a bed with little to no motion transfer will definitely make your and your partner’s sleeping experience more enjoyable.

Sleep Trials and Warranties

We’ve discussed sleep trials and warranties in other posts, but they’re a pivotal part of the mattress buying process. We highly recommend choosing a mattress with a sleep trial especially because you’re dealing with two different sleep positions and preferences if you’re sleeping with a partner. Here’s a rundown of the warranties and sleep trials for the brands we recommended:

*see the website for more details on each warranty’s conditions

Considering Mattress Types for Couples

Of course, not all mattresses are created equal. A long time ago, a mattress was almost always an innerspring coil. Now, especially with the rise of bed-in-a-box companies, there are plenty of options to choose from: memory foam, hybrid (a 50/50 coil-foam mix), pocketed coils, latex, and more. We’ll go over the four you’ll see most often and their pros and cons, especially for couples.

Innerspring

Innerspring mattresses are, well…springy (hence the springs)! Early innerspring models would be made with Bonnel coils, which are prone to bursting out the sides of the mattress. They also dig into your back or side. Talk about uncomfortable! 

Now, innerspring mattresses come with pillow tops or other comfort layers, and higher-end models have individually-wrapped coils. A specific concern for couples is the issue of motion transfer–if you have a partner that squirms and shifts around all night (or maybe you are that partner), your sleep is most likely getting disrupted. With individually-wrapped coils in the mattress, motion transfer is significantly reduced. Couples no longer need to worry about feeling or hearing their partner move all night. 

Hybrid

Hybrid mattresses were born from the consumers’ desire to have all the benefits of memory foam and innerspring mattresses without their respective drawbacks. In a sense, a hybrid mattress is the joining of two different preferences to create one ideal bed–much like you would merge you and your partner’s different sleep preferences into the perfect bed. 

Hybrids utilize memory foam in their top comfort layer for a soft, responsive feel and pressure point relief. Then they usually use innerspring coils (often individually-wrapped) in the bottom support layer. If you’re wary about the feel of a hybrid, you may want to try one out (with your partner in tow) before buying. 

Memory foam

Arguably, memory foam beds are one of the highest-rated for couples due to their softness, responsiveness, and the fact that they’re virtually noiseless. While it used to be that foam beds deteriorated much quicker than innerspring or hybrid models, most manufacturers have added multiple layers of different foam types to combat this issue. For example, you will usually see the softest foam on the top layer, and the densest and least pliable foam as the bottom, or support layer. 

Latex

Although you may think latex beds are a new novelty, the first latex mattress was introduced way back in 1931. Made from the sap of a rubber tree, latex is bouncy, durable, and resists deterioration for much longer than coils or foam. This staying power is what makes latex a little more expensive than other mattress types. If you and your partner are on the heavier side, or you find yourself replacing your mattresses often, you may like what you find in latex. It’s responsive and noiseless, which is great when you’re sharing sleeping space. It’s also common to see latex foam blends in many mattresses.

What if couples have differing sleep positions?

Knowing your sleep style can be key in finding a mattress you and your partner love. After all, if you each have different preferences, getting a mattress that only suits one of you is a recipe for disaster. Let’s go over the most common sleeping styles and how to find a mattress that works for one (or two!) of them.

Side Sleepers

A good side sleeper mattress will have a sturdy support system built in with the soft upper cushioning layer. Side sleepers may have a harder time finding the perfect mattress because one firmness level may not fit for all of them. This is when trying out the mattresses in person comes into play, and we highly recommend doing this if you live close to a showroom. If that’s not an option, be sure to look for mattresses that come with a sleep trial. Most online companies offer sleep trials now, but a few do not–the average sleep trial is 90-120 days. 

Back Sleepers

A back sleeper will be on the lookout for a medium-firm or firm mattress. They’ll most likely want a bed that doesn’t “eat” them–in other words, they should feel like they’re floating on top of the mattress and not drowning inside of it. To achieve this, mattress-makers have engineered beds with special support layers that relieve pressure, support the back, hips, and spine, and don’t wear down after years of use. 

Stomach Sleepers

Stomach sleepers will want a firmer mattress to support their back and spine. Because of their position, stomach sleepers are more prone to throwing things out of alignment, risking injury, pain, or sleepless nights. Healthy Sleep does not recommend stomach sleeping for our readers, but if you’re already in the habit, choosing a good, firm mattress will probably help you avoid most issues associated with that sleeping position. Stomach sleepers should also consider a good pillow that will support their neck properly.

Combo Sleepers

Combo sleepers may need a little bit more room on the mattress than the others because they’re shifting around so much. In that regard, a king or California king would be best for couples where one or both are combo sleepers. Beyond the size of the mattress, the feel should probably be medium or medium-firm, since combo sleepers can end up on their backs, sides, or stomachs throughout the night. Many companies market their medium mattress as the bestseller due to its versatility.

Did you find the right mattress?

When you’re struggling to find a mattress, all of the bells and whistles can seem like gimmicks more than anything. It’s hard to know if what you’re reading is a marketing tactic or a real benefit. With that said, the best mattresses for couples are not impossible to find, and we hope with this guide you’ve been able to snag one that best suits your needs.