The 14 Best Mattresses in a Box of 2023, According to Gear Experts

Tuft & Needle's Original Mattress hits all our best marks for a Goldilocks sleeper. The mattress has a medium-firm feel with a memory foam top layer and a supportive foam stability layer. Our favorite small detail is the cooling knit top of the mattress, which helps make the memory foam mattress layer feel 10x more comfortable. But best of all about this sleeper is its price point: Tuft & Needle has found the perfect sweet spot for providing a whole lot of value for under $1000.

Read more: Best Furniture Brands

This Nectar mattress caters to those who want a plush, luxurious feel. Thanks to a cooling copper cover, the 14-inch, five-layered sleeper will prove to feel especially great for side sleepers and hot sleepers. Most of Nectar's mattresses lean firmer, but the Premiere Copper is the softest mattress the brand offers.

Dreamcloud's Hybrid Mattress has a firm base and plush top, making it great for giving a supported feel while still incorporating a solid level of comfort. To elaborate more on the base, individually wrapped innerspring coils are used to limit motion transfer and increase airflow. And to speak more on the plush top, the mattress uses a final layer of gel memory foam before finishing with a cashmere quilted fabric. Simply put, this is a mattress that brings together the best of both worlds, offering quality relief and strong edge-support.

Allswell's mattresses work especially great for those who are looking for a memory foam sleeper on a budget (think under $600). The Luxe Hybrid is a mattress that will appeal to most sleeping positions, but we found it especially nice for side sleepers due to its ability of the foam to gently contour to your body. This bed shows you don't always have to shell out big bucks for quality rest.

The Casper Wave might cost a pretty penny, but if you're wanting the best-of-the-best at helping relieve back pain then you'll want to take a hard look at this mattress. Five layers are combined on the Wave Hybrid to give you comfortable, pressure-relieving support. Around the waist and lower back area, Casper added cooling gel pods to help prevent sinking and provide temperature regulation on the spots that need attention the most. Mattresses for back pain need careful testing, so it's also nice to see Casper offers a 100-night trial period for you to decide if you like it or not.

If you're looking for a mattress that provides a medium level of firmness, then the Leesa Studio is a solid pick. The mattress is a 10-inch thick all-foam that caters to all types of sleeping positions. If you're someone who sleeps in multiple positions throughout the night, then you'll likely appreciate the versatility of the Studio. What's great is the affordability of the mattress, making it possible to get out with a new bed under $1000 and still have some leftover cash in your budget to pick up a new piece of furniture.

The Birch Luxe is one of the more expensive mattresses in a box, but when you consider how great this organic mattress feels you'll find it's a worthy investment. For starters, the natural materials used in the Luxe Natural are meant to optimize temperature regulation; we're talking an organic cotton surface and a top-layer blend of organic cashmere and wool for luxurious breathability. What's great about the Luxe Natural are the individual steel coils in the base, which help provide support to your body and limit motion transfer.

For an affordable mattress that lies medium-firm, you can't go wrong with the Bear Original. It's made with two layers: the top is made with gel-infused memory foam and polyfoam, and the bottom is made from a dense foam support core. The Bear Original is great for back sleepers and ideal for stomach sleepers—the mattress is firm enough to keep a stomach sleeper's hips from sinking down and putting pressure on the spine.

If you're looking for supported sleep, you're going to get it here with the Plank Firm Luxe. Side sleepers are going to want to probably steer clear here due to the firm design, but if you're a back sleeper or stomach sleeper then the Plank Firm could help provide your strongest sleep yet. We like the fact you can reverse the mattress to a more plush side (what Brooklyn Bedding calls more "traditionally firm") if you want to taper off on the firmness every now and then.

The Purple Plug is unique in the fact the brand uses its ultra-breathable GelFlex Grid to support and cradle your body in key areas. The GelFlex Grid has over 1,400 air channels to help optimize temperature regulation; plus the base utilizes special foams made to cater to cooling as well. The medium-firm mattress might be a little pricey for some, but if you're a hot sleeper then this is about as good of a mattress design as you can get for a good night's rest.

Designed with over 14,000 pocketed support coils that offer pinpointed comfort, the Avocado Mattress is an eco-friendly sleeper that appeals to individuals and couples looking to get responsive sleep. As far as materials go, this mattress might have the most comfortable and softest fabric combination around; we're talking 00% GOLS (Global Organic Latex Standard) certified organic latex, 100% GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified organic wool, and 100% GOTS certified organic cotton. This mattress lies medium-firm, but if you want a softer feel you can add a two-inch pillow top to be sewn on when ordering.

The Layla Hybrid uses a mix of support coils and cooling foam for a supportive, temperature-regulating sleeping experience. What makes this mattress unique is it's reversible: one side is firm while the other is plush, so you can flip this puppy over whenever you're wanting to change things up or get a new feel. These features just mentioned, plus the Layla Hybrid's adequate edge support and motion-limiting design make this a great sleeper for couples especially.

Named our "Best Plush Mattress for Sex", the Helix Moonlight is a comfortable sleeper for couples that doesn't lean too soft for, well, intimacy. Pressure-relieving foam layers, motion-limiting springs, and adequate edge support appeals to young couples looking for a premium-feel mattress that doesn't break the bank.

The Nolah Natural is made of eco-friendly, GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) materials to create a luxe mattress for those looking for a hypoallergenic sleeper. It is wonderfully supported, thanks to its Tri-Zone coil system, and will appeal to all types of sleeping positions.