Best mattress: 9 top-rated memory foam, hybrid, pocket-sprung

A new mattress can be a huge boon for the quality of your sleep, but it’s important to find the best mattress for you. Of course, that’s easier said than done.

If you’ve spent any amount of time shopping for a new mattress, you’ll know there’s an overwhelming number of brands, materials, mattress types, and reviews to sort through. It’s enough to make you need a lie-down. But don’t worry, we’ve done the hard graft for you.

In this guide, we’ve rounded up the best mattresses in the UK today, with options from some of the most popular « Bed In A Box » brands like SIMBA and Eve Sleep, as well as a wide selection of mattress types, including memory foam and pocket-sprung mattresses. We’ve covered a range of price points, so all budgets will be catered for …although it’s also worth keeping an eye on the best mattress deals for limited-time promotions that can seriously slash the price of your next mattress.

If you want more information, you’ll be able to read our in-depth reviews on our best mattress picks. Of course, even with our seal of approval, you might be dubious about buying a new mattress based solely on our tried-and-tested recommendation. That’s completely understandable. 

To help, we’ve picked a number of mattress brands with very generous trial periods, between 100 nights to an entire year. That way, you’ll be able to thoroughly test your new mattress in all seasons before parting with your hard-earned cash.

The best mattresses included in this guide are available in a wide range of sizes, from a UK single to Queen and King sizes, as well as EU size variants too. Since these sizes are standard, your new mattress will fit with any existing bedding or mattress protectors that you have at home.

We’ve also included a range of firmness options, for those who prefer to sink into their bed and those who want a firmer fit. And some of the best mattresses included in this guide allow you to customise the firmness of your mattress at checkout too, so you won’t have to pick the same setup as us.

Before you start shopping, there are some important questions you should ask to ensure you find the perfect mattress for your sleeping style and preferences. Scroll down for more information about memory foam mattress, hybrid mattresses and shopping online.

Click on any of the links on the right-hand to jump to the relevant section, or find some of the latest deals on the best mattresses below…

There’s no single « best » kind of mattress as it depends on your personal tastes and needs. In order to determine what type of mattress would be best suited to you, we’ve rounded up the different types of mattresses. Here, you can read about the options on the market and decide which best fits your needs.

• Memory Foam: A memory foam mattress is designed to mould to the shape of your body over time, providing a personalised level of comfort and support. Memory foam is the best mattress for side sleepers as it cushions the pressure points – the hips and shoulders – in this position, while keeping the spine aligned. Sleep experts often recommend memory foam for those who suffer from neck, shoulder and back pain.

• Pocket Sprung: A pocket-sprung mattress relies on springs to provide its cushion and support. However, these aren’t the traditional steel springs you remember from your childhood, each individual spring is sewn into its own fabric compartment. This designs means the spring will only depress when pressure is applied directly above it – preventing the springs moving as one unit, and lowering the motion transfer. Pocket sprung mattresses can be a little cooler than memory foam, which makes them a good choice for those who overheat at night.

• Hybrid: A hybrid mattress combines the two approaches into a single design. As such, hybrid mattresses tend to be a little pricier than both of the above options. However, if you’ve got the budget, a hybrid mattress offers the unmatched pressure relief from the top layer of memory foam with the sturdiness of a spring mattress – so you’ll get the best of both worlds and won’t be jealous after a night sleeping at a friend’s place or top-end hotel.

Sleep experts recommend switching to a new mattress every six to eight years, so you should only set aside an amount of money for a new mattress that you wouldn’t mind parting with again in less than a decade. That said, you can unlock huge savings if you find the best mattress deals in the UK.

Fortunately, regardless of your budget, some of the best mattress brands on the market offer brilliant deals, including SIMBA, Eve Sleep, Nectar, and Brook + Wilde. As such, you’ll be able to get your hands on a luxurious mattress with a generous trial period and guarantee without breaking the bank.

Just like fictional bear-botherer Goldilocks, most sleep experts agree that you should find a mattress that’s not too soft or too firm. In general, medium-firm mattresses – roughly around 5 to 7 on the scale of firmness – are the best fit for most people.

While the thought of sinking deep into a marshmallow-like mattress might sound amazing (and in the first few minutes after climbing into bed, it’ll likely feel amazing too) it’s really not a good idea for your spine or muscles in the long term.

A small study published in 2010 suggested that sleeping on a medium-firm mattress could help to relieve aches and pains. Not only that, but the support offered by firmer mattresses has been shown to improve sleep quality overall. Of course, firmness is subjective …and your perception of firmness will depend largely on the mattress that you’re upgrading from.

Since firm mattresses are designed to prevent sleepers from sinking into the mattress, there is some evidence that these reinforcements and materials last longer than softer mattresses that already arrive with plenty of give in them. That’s another important factor when deciding on the best mattress for you.

Below, you’ll find our picks of the best mattresses in the UK today.

We’ve tried-and-tested a number of the mattresses included in this ranking, with links to our standalone reviews for those who want more information on a specific mattress. We’ve also ensured we cover a range of price points, so shoppers with different budgets will be able to find the best mattress for them.

As well as a breakdown of why we’ve picked each mattress, we’ve also rounded up the latest money-saving deals and discounts on these mattress models, which are typically available with free trial sleep periods and money-back guarantees so you can add a new mattress to your online shopping basket with confidence.

Our top 3 best mattresses in the UK are…

1. SIMBA Hybrid Pro
2. Brook + Wilde Elite
3. Nectar Memory Foam

Find all of the details on these mattresses, as well as the rest of our tried-and-tested mattresses below –

This second-generation Hybrid Pro mattress design from SIMBA should appeal to all sleepers, thanks to its winning combination of comfortable memory foam, breathable wool for temperature control, and generous 5,000 Aerocoil springs for support. The seven-layer design from SIMBA Sleep ensures low motion transfer, so those who sleep alongside partners who toss and turn throughout the night will not be bounced awake. It also means you’ll be able to put a bowl of cereal on the bed and clamber into bed without spilling anything.

The luxurious hybrid mattress taps into the benefits of memory foam and pocket-spring designs, while cleverly swerving some of the pitfalls of both materials, like overheating.

The team at SIMBA worked hard to ensure sleepers wouldn’t overheat during the night, using breathable hypoallergenic wool and a total of 5,000 pocket springs with its custom-designed SIMBAtex graphite-infused memory foam. As a result of all of that wizardry, you’ll never get too hot during sweltering summer evenings, or too cold in the depths of winter …even if you sleep with a radiator-like partner beside you.

SIMBA has built a seriously impressive premium hybrid mattress, which earned the full five stars in our in-depth SIMBA Hybrid Pro mattress review.

But you don’t have to just take our word for it.

SIMBA Sleep is one of the most popular Bed In A Box brands – a term for companies that operate solely online. Since there’s no showroom to visit to test the mattress on a rainy Saturday afternoon, Bed In A Box brands tend to offer some very generous trial periods. And SIMBA is no exception. It currently offers a 200-night trial period. At any point during the first year with your Hybrid Pro mattress, you can send it back to SIMBA for free for a full refund if you’re unhappy.

This is true regardless of whether you’ve paid for the mattress outright, or whether you’ve spread out the cost in more affordable monthly repayments.

That means you’ll be able to test out SIMBA Hybrid Pro in every season – from the sweltering heights of summer to the chilliest December evenings – to ensure this mattress is the right choice for you. To make the Hybrid Pro more affordable, SIMBA offers a number of interest-free payment plans and a 10-year guarantee.

The Elite mattress from Brook + Wilde is just that. Elite.

Just like our top-pick mattress from SIMBA, this is a hybrid mattress design that combines luxurious foam with thousands of pocket springs into a complex eight-layer design that makes for a dreamy mattress, which is perfect for anyone who has suffered from neck, hip, or back pain.

The Elite mattress arrives with a removable, washable top cover – something we complained was missing from its rival in our SIMBA Hybrid Pro review. For anyone who overheats during the night, or likes to treat themselves to breakfast in bed, this is a must-have feature that promises to ensure your new mattress stays looking box-fresh for the duration of its lifespan. And given that Brook + Wilde offers a 10-year guarantee, you could be sleeping on this mattress for a long time.

Unlike many of the other brands in this guide, Brook + Wilde lets customers tailor the exact level of firmness they would like from their mattress during the checkout process. If you’re particularly fussy about the amount of support from your mattress, the Elite is the perfect choice – with a pick of soft, medium, or firm from the eight luxurious layers.

We could delivery of a medium-firm Elite mattress to test the popular brand, you can find our in-depth thoughts in the Brook and Wilde Elite mattress review.

Of course, building each mattress to order does mean that it’ll take a little longer to get your hands on your brand-new mattress from Brook + Wilde. Most orders take around two weeks to build from scratch, so if you’re in a rush to get a new mattress – you might want to look at another brand in this guide.

However, as most experts suggest keeping a mattress for around 6-8 years, that fortnight delay is a very small price to pay for a mattress that is perfectly suited to your tastes.

Brook + Wilde offers free delivery on all orders. And as you’d expect from a Bed In A Box brand, there’s a 100-night trial period available with the Elite Mattress, so you can test this brilliant hybrid mattress for a few months before you decide whether to keep it or send it back.

This is the first all-memory foam mattress in the guide, although Nectar does allow customers to upgrade to a hybrid design for a small fee during the checkout process. There’s probably no need for you to plump for the optional 1,600 pocket springs as the standard Nectar Memory Foam Mattress offers widely-praised weight distribution and pressure relief with its multiple layers of luxurious foam.

That makes this mattress a brilliant choice for heavy sleepers or those who prefer to sleep on their side.

The 25cm of pure memory foam means you can expect infinitesimally low motion transfer. That refers to the amount of disturbance that’ll reverberate over the entire mattress when you move. And the Nectar Memory Foam passes with flying colours, making it a superb choice for anyone who sleeps with a particularly figety partner.

It also means breakfast-in-bed fans can place a bowl of cereal on the mattress and clamber into bed without worrying about spilling it everywhere.

Nectar offers one of the most generous trial periods of any brand in this guide – allowing you to sleep on the Memory Foam Mattress for an entire year before deciding whether to send it back for a full refund or not. That ludicrously long trial period means you’ll be able to test for yourself whether the mattress suits you during every season of the year.

Given that overheating can be an issue with some memory foam mattresses, the fact that you can road-test this mattress during the hottest summer months and chilliest winter evenings 

Better yet, Nectar offers a « forever warranty » that lasts for the lifetime of the mattress and, for an extra fee, will responsibly take and dispose of your old mattress during the delivery of your new one.

For those on a tight budget, Emma offers supreme value for money. The « Bed In A Box » company is always offering ludicrous discounts on its best-selling memory foam mattresses, so you’ll be able to pick up a bargain. The Emma Original Mattress uses three layers of pressure-relieving foam to ensure support and spinal alignment.

Emma has worked hard to avoid one of the potential pitfalls of memory foam – overheating. It has incorporated an open-pored design that enables better airflow through the layers to stay cool in summer. And if you do get a little sweaty, the cover is designed to moisture-wicking to ensure the mattress lasts longer.

That cover is easy to remove and wash too, which boosts the longevity of your new mattress (especially if you’re partial to breakfast or takeaway in bed every so often…).

Emma makes buying a mattress online a breeze too, thanks to the free delivery and generous 200 night trial. So, you’ll be able to test the Emma Original Mattress during winter and summer months before deciding whether you want to hold onto it forever. All Emma-branded mattresses ship with a 10-year manufacturer warranty too.

Based in Leeds, British Bed In A Box brand OTTY has earned itself an impressive collection of awards, thanks in no small part to its brilliant Original Hybrid mattress.

Since this is a hybrid design, OTTY has combined thousands of encapsulated pocket springs with its unique Cool Blue Gel-infused memory foam, which is designed to keep sleepers at the optimum temperature – whether that’s in the depths of winter, or a roasting summer night. It’s an impressive combo that should appeal to all sleepers.

The springs offer an extra layer of support, while the foam provides extra cushioning. The latter is especially important when sleeping on your side, a position that produces more pressure points, like shoulders and hips.

Unlike some of the mattresses in this guide, OTTY has ensured the top cover can be detached and washed. That means you’ll be able to keep the hybrid mattress looking box-fresh for years to come, no matter how hot and sweaty you get at night, or who many accidental spills happen during a weekly breakfast-in-bed, as pictured below.

OTTY regularly offers stellar discounts, ensuring its mattresses are considerably cheaper than some hybrid alternatives in this guide. That could make it the perfect choice for you.

As if the deals weren’t enough, OTTY also offers 0% interest payment plans too. That means you’ll be able to spread out the cost of your new mattress over a year or more, making it much more affordable than some of the options in this guide. 

The British brand offers a 10-year warranty on its mattresses, which is longer than most sleep experts recommend keeping the same mattress. There’s also a 100-night trial, so you can put the pocket springs and cooling foam to the test in winter and summer before you decide to commit to the Original Hybrid Mattress.

Ergoflex is often nicknamed an « affordable alternative to Tempur », which leverages NASA memory foam technology to create award-winning mattresses …that often command pretty hefty price tags. The same cannot be said for Ergoflex – one of the popular new « Bed In A Box » brands – that often offers generous discounts and deals on its mattresses.

The Ergoflex 5G boasts a luxurious 90mm foam layer designed to offer supportive, body-shaping performance. The so-called 5G memory foam offers incredibly low motion transfer, so tossing-and-turning throughout the night should have no chance of waking a partner’s slumber beside you.

Ergoflex has created its own visco-elastic foams for its mattresses. This type of foam is used in hospitals across mainland Europe.

For those who sleep on their side, memory foam offers superior cushioning for pressure points – like shoulders and hip bones. The high-density orthopaedic mattress is « ideal for sufferers of back pain, fibromyalgia, circulation problems or joint complaints, » Ergoflex claims. 

Overheating can be an issue with all-foam mattresses, but it’s something that engineers at Ergoflex have worked hard to eliminate. The specially-designed Cool Sleep airflow layer is designed to maintain sleepers’ temperature throughout the night by boosting airflow through the layers of foam.

Ergoflex has an at-home trial of 30-days, which is much shorter than many of the other Bed In A Box brands in this guide. Of course, one month of sleeping on a mattress in your own bedroom will still give you a much, much better impression of a mattress than a few minutes in a showroom.

That said, other brands can offer up to 365-nights to test a new memory foam mattress, so those looking for the longest free trial should consider another option. Either way, those who want to try the 5G mattress will be able to sleep on the all-memory foam mattress for one month and get all of their money back if they’re not happy.

If you want the ultimate mattress from SIMBA, this is it. The Hybrid Luxe uses a heavenly combination of pocket springs and memory foam to give a supportive sleeping surface. Memory foam offers low motion transfer, which means that movement in one area of the mattress is unlikely to cause the entire surface to move.

That makes the Hybrid Luxe ideal for anyone who shares a mattress with someone else.

SIMBA has used 100% recycled materials for its Hybrid Luxe, which means this mattress has a smaller impact on the planet than some rivals. That extends to the delivery too, which SIMBA says is carbon neutral. The British brand will remove an old mattress and dispose of it responsibly too, which saves you a trip to the dump.

For those worried about overheating, SIMBA has added a breathable, bamboo-infused wool layer to control moisture and temperature. Unfortunately, that cover is not removable.

SIMBA is so confident in its stellar mattress that it offers a ludicrous 200-night trial. At any point during that period, you can return the mattress for a full refund. There’s also a 10-year warranty, so you can be confident this top-tier hybrid mattress will last you.

Emma’s Premium Mattress combines 300 pocket springs and memory foam to create a supportive mattress for almost all sleeping styles. Emma has designed seven zones of ergonomic support to cushion pressure points, especially when sleeping on your side, and ensure that your spine is aligned at all times.

Emma includes a detachable cover that can be washed at 40º on a regular basis to boost the longevity of your mattress. According to the company, the layers of memory foam will eliminate all motion transfer, so you can bounce on the bed and have a bowl of cereal on the other side – and not spill anything.

Like the Emma Original Mattress, the Premium model includes the open-pored foam design to promote airflow – regulating your temperature in winter and summer.

As we’ve come to expect from « Bed In A Box » brands, Emma offers a generous 200 night trial. At any point during that period, you can return the mattress for a full refund. There’s also a number of interest-free finance options for new customers and a 10-year warranty.

Silentnight is one of the best-known brands in this guide – and for good reason. The manufacturer has a long history of well-built, comfortable mattresses. The Just Breathe Eco Comfort model is no exception to the rule.

If you can’t wait to get your hands on a brand-new mattress, Silentnight offers delivery within 48-hours between Monday to Friday, so you’ll be able to sleep on your new Just Breathe Eco Comfort mattress – available in single, double, and king sizes – within days of placing your order. Silentnight offers 0% payment plans, so you can break the cost into smaller affordable payments. Perfect for those who need a new mattress, but can’t take on the entire cost upfront.

The Eco Comfort is a hybrid design, which combines memory foam and pocket springs. Hybrid mattresses combine the best parts of both approaches, with the self-contained pocket springs providing a solid base of support while foam offers layers of comfort. Silentnight says it has worked hard to ensure airflow through the mattress to keep temperatures regulated throughout the night – even on the warmest summer evenings. 

Silentnight Eco Comfort is a medium-firm mattress, which should be about right for most people.

But of course, you don’t need to take our word for it, like the best Bed In A Box brands, Silentnight offers a mind-boggling 365-night trial to test its mattresses. So you can sleep on the Eco Comfort mattress in your own bedroom for an entire year before deciding whether or not to keep the mattress. After sleeping on the Silentnight mattress in every season and deciding it’s not quite right for you, you can get a full refund.

Thinking of buying a new mattress, but unsure whether it’s the right time?

Unless your current mattress has been damaged, there’s no reason to switch to a new mattress if the one you’re sleeping on is less than five years old. In fact, most sleep experts agree that you should only upgrade to a new mattress every six to eight years. 

Of course, this is a general rule of thumb and there are some other indicators to keep an eye out for if you think it might be time to upgrade. These include a dip in your sleep quality, finding it tough to share the bed with your partner, noisy springs, or regularly waking up with muscle pain, joint pain, or stiffness.

If your current mattress doesn’t have a detachable cover, you might notice some staining, or wear and tear to the cover. That could indicate that you should upgrade to a new mattress.

If you’re unsure, medium-firm is a good bet as it suits most people. If you are a heavier person, it is advised to avoid soft mattresses as they are unlikely to provide sufficient support. If your body sinks too deeply into the mattress, your spine might not be aligned, which could lead to soreness or stiffness in the morning.

Conversely, lighter people should steer away from overly firm mattresses as they may cause pain in the hip and shoulders. These pressure points need to be cushioned – especially if you sleep on your side – so you’ll need a mattress that’s soft enough that your shoulders and hips can sink into the top layer of foam.

In order to avoid any time-consuming mishaps, make sure to measure your existing bed frame (or add a new one to your online shopping basket as part of the checkout process) so you’re sure that you’re ordering the correct size mattress. With so many different size variations, including ones that sound similar like small double and double, it can be all too easy to order the wrong one.

If you’re ordering a new mattress for an IKEA bed frame, be warned that the Swedish manufacturer uses EU sizing for its mattress so a standard UK single, double, or King will be too short. Thankfully, a number of the brands included in this guide offer UK and EU mattress sizes during the checkout process. Again, just make sure to measure twice before you place your order – although, if you do get it wrong, most of the « Bed In A Box » mattress brands featured in this article offer hassle-free returns.

Most mattresses should last between 7 and 10 years. However, there are a number of factors that impact the lifespan of a mattress, including the type of mattress (memory foam, hybrid, pocket spring, and coil spring), the materials used, and the build quality. Other variables – like the weight and sleeping styles of the people using the mattress – can also impact how long you can expect your mattress to endure.

Fortunately, many of the best mattresses included in this list offer 10-year or even limitless warranties. That shows the quality of the materials used in these models and should reassure those concerned they won’t get value for money when buying a brand-new mattress. It also means that, should anything go awry with the materials or design of the mattress within the first decade of sleep, you’ll be able to get a replacement or repair at no extra cost to you.

As we’ve already stated, most sleep experts suggest replacing your mattress before the warranty periods of many of the best mattresses in this guide expire!

As stated above, there are a mind-boggling number of factors that can impact how long a mattress lasts. However, some mattress types do have a reputation for endurance over others. Latex mattresses typically last the longest, followed by mattresses built using high-density memory foam or polyfoams.

As such, the firmness level that you select for your new mattress could have a direct impact on how that memory foam mattress survives over the coming years. Lower-density foam beds – which allow the sleeper to sink into the mattress a little more – tend to wear out a bit faster. Hybrid models, which combine layers of foam with thousands of springs stacked in a complex sandwich inside the bed, also tend to wear out faster than dense foams.

The price of mattresses varies greatly depending on what you’re looking for and the size you’re after. If you’re looking for a top-tier super king mattress, you could be looking at well over £1,500, but if you’re only looking for a smaller, budget-friendly single mattress you can find some closer to the £150 mark.

There are frequently deals running for many of the UK’s top mattress brands, the best of which we have highlighted in this comprehensive best mattress guide – so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for a sale if you’re on the market.

While a few years ago, the easiest way to find (and buy) the best mattress for you would’ve been to head in-store, lie on a dozen samples in your clothes for a few minutes, then decide which feels best – things have really moved on. While buying a mattress online might seem counterintuitive, the best brands on the market have developed sure-fire ways to ensure you end up with the best mattress for you.

With the extra-long sleep trials on offer – some of the companies in this guide allow most brands offer these days, you’ll be able to test your new mattress for up to a year before you decide if it’s the right one. Many brands also offer free mattress disposal of your old mattress, so there’s one less thing to worry about.

Shopping online also makes it far easier to compare the prices and features of different mattresses, so you can be sure you find the best possible deal.

There’s really no bad time to buy a new mattress since the biggest Bed In A Box brands regularly offer discounts and deals on their best-selling products. Likewise, some of the most popular high street stores also slash prices throughout the year.

However, November and January are probably the best times to seek out a new mattress deal. The former is when the annual Black Friday sales are held. For those who don’t know, this blockbuster sales event sees thousands of retailers discount their most popular items for a limited time at the tail-end of November.

Black Friday started as an American tradition, with the sale and its trademark « doorbuster » discounts (so-called because these deals were designed to increase footfall in stores) falling on the first Friday after the Thanksgiving holidays. In the last decade or so, Black Friday has become a worldwide phenomenon – with UK shops offering discounts over a four-day weekend that starts with Black Friday.

Black Friday 2022 was held on Friday November 25, 2022.

January is a good time to start shopping for a mattress discount because of the January sales. Following the Christmas shopping spree, these sales allow retailers to sell-off remaining stock at a reduced price. If you received any money or vouchers from Saint Nick, the January sales are a brilliant time to treat yourself to something you really need at a discounted price.