Looking for the Best Mattress for Side Sleepers? Rest Easy With Our Picks

Just to be clear, for all the overachievers out there, no single sleeping position is “best” for everyone. Depending on a laundry list of health, lifestyle, and other body-specific factors, sleeping on your side, stomach, or back may be the ideal-for-you way to clock restful REM cycles. But whatever position helps you drift off, you'll need a mattress that can support you all night long. When it comes to finding the best side sleeper mattress, though, you’ll want to find one that can help relieve back and joint pain and prevent snoring once you snuggle in.

According to Naimish Baxi, MD, a physiatrist and spinal specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Paramus, New Jersey, the best mattresses for side sleepers will include a few key features to support the hips and shoulders. (Pressure-relieving top layers and zoned, or targeted, support are two helpful examples we’ll explain below.) Choosing the right one for you could take a bit of trial and error—and you likely don't have time to spend hours (days) lying on dozens of mattresses. So, we did the legwork for you. This way, you can kick up yours, relax, and doze off—on your side, as the case may be.

Our top picks: Best mattresses for side sleepers

• Best Overall Mattress for Side Sleepers: Helix Midnight
• Best Mattress for Combination Side Sleepers: Saatva Classic
• Best Cooling Mattress for Side Sleepers: WinkBed
• Best Hybrid Mattress for Side Sleepers: Leesa Sapira Chill
• Best Memory Foam Mattress for Side Sleepers: Nectar
• Best Mattress for Side Sleepers with Hip Pain: Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe
• Best Couples Mattress for Side Sleepers: DreamCloud Premier
• Best Soft Mattress for Side Sleepers: Nolah Evolution
• Best for Mattress for Side Sleepers With Back Pain: Bear Elite Hybrid
• Best Mattress for Heavy Side Sleepers: Titan Plus Luxe

In this article

• Shop the best mattresses for side sleepers
• How we tested these mattresses
• What mattress firmness level do side sleepers need?
• What materials are best in mattresses for side sleepers?
• FAQs: The TL;DR digest for fast facts

• Balanced, medium-firm feel
• Cushioned but supportive
• You won’t feel a bedmate move (a.k.a strong motion transfer)
• Sturdy edges keep you from rolling off
• Helpful customer service
• Low price, compared to similar products

• People of higher weights may need additional support (according to reviewers)
• Some squeaking from springs

Meet the Helix Midnight, a mattress so cozy, one SELF editor went so far as to call it “a side sleeper’s dream” in her review. Why’s it the gold standard? The Helix serves up a winning trifecta of comfort, support, and pressure relief for your hips and shoulders.

This hybrid mattress is made from two layers: dense memory foam and over 1,000 individually-wrapped, supportive coils. Both are great for side sleepers because of the way they cushion the hips and shoulders. “The Helix is soft enough for side sleeping but supportive and responsive enough to let me flop around easily, too,” one tester says. But, thanks to its foam top, you won’t feel evidence of a bedmate’s nighttime Cirque du Soleil show—testers gave this pick top marks (4 out of 5) in the motion isolation category.

While the Helix is a hot pick for side sleepers, it won’t make you sweat. That coiled layer means there's space within the mattress for air to flow through, which helps keep body temps down better than an all-foam bed.

Material: Hybrid | Firmness: Medium-firm (6.5 out of 10) | Trial period: 100 nights | Warranty: 10 years | Shipping: Free shipping

Best for Mattress for Combination Side Sleepers: Saatva Classic

• Multiple firmness options
• Lots of bounce makes moving around easy
• Breathable layers keep hot sleepers cool
• Great lumbar support

• You’ll feel a bedmate’s motion
• Higher-than-average price for an online mattress

The Saatva Classic is an innerspring mattress with some especially luxe features, the most notable being that you can choose how firm you want it—plush soft, luxury firm, or firm—making it a fit for many body types or sleeping styles.

Our team found that it does exactly what we’d expect from a great side-sleeper mattress: It keeps your spine happy in nice, neutral alignment thanks to its makeup of pressure-relieving foam and supportive innerspring coils. . One tester even notes, “I felt firmness where it mattered, but the mattress felt soft and plush around the rest of my body.”

What makes the Saatva especially great for combination sleepers, who switch positions at night, are the two layers of bouncy, responsive innerspring coils that make moving around easy. (None of that sinking-into-quicksand feeling you can get with memory foam here!) Also worth noting is that those aren’t just any coils—they’re zoned, meaning firmer along the middle of the mattress where most of your body weight lands, and softer at the top and bottom.

On top of the innerspring layer is a soft, organic cotton pillow top cover, which helps you sleep comfy and cozily—an important detail for folks, like one of our testers, who think they don’t like spring mattresses: “I’m generally not the biggest innerspring mattress fan, but the Saatva feels like the kind of dream bed you oversleep on at a hotel and then immediately try to justify buying for your own home,” she says.

Material: Innerspring | Firmness: Multiple available: Plush soft, luxury firm, firm (testers spent the most time on the luxury firm, a 7 out of 10) | Trial period: 365 nights | Warranty: Lifetime | Shipping: Free white glove delivery (in-home setup)

Best Cooling Mattress for Side Sleepers: The WinkBed

• Four firmness options available
• Sleeps exceptionally cool
• Zoned support keeps the spine in alignment, and shoulders and knees cushioned
• Features an extra-soft, pressure-relieving pillow top

• Not the most budget-friendly option
• You’ll feel a bedmate move

We know how annoying it is to wake up feeling clammy and sweaty, and that’s why we’ve added the WinkBed to our list. It’s a hybrid mattress with a distinctly cool feel, so there’s no need to worry about turning your fan to full blast before nodding off. Its moisture-absorbing, breathable cover, layers of cooling gel foam (which doesn’t trap heat like traditional, denser memory foam), and airy coils worked together to keep our testers' body temp down—even when they were all tucked in.

The WinkBed mattress comes in four firmness levels: softer, luxury firm, firmer, and plus (which carries an upcharge). The version you select will ultimately depend on your preferences and personal factors like body weight. “For side sleeping, the luxury firm was my match,” says one tester who weighs more than 230 pounds. “But if you weigh more and shift around at all to your back or stomach, you’ll likely appreciate the extra firmness of the Plus. My hips felt a lot more supported on that one.”

The WinkBed is made with zoned support, meaning the middle of the mattress is firmer than the ends, which helps to keep your spine aligned for a pain-free night of sleep. This, coupled with the pillow top’s cushion, provides the comfort a side sleeper needs at their pressure points in order to get a good night’s rest.

Material: Hybrid | Firmness: Multiple available: Softer, luxury firm, firmer, plus (testers spent most time on the luxury firm, a 6.5 out of 10) | Trial period: 120 nights | Warranty: Lifetime | Shipping: Free shipping

Best Hybrid Mattress for Side Sleepers: Leesa Sapira Chill

• Multiple firmness options
• Sleeps cool
• Reinforced edges to prevent falling
• Bouncy, but you won’t feel a bedmate move
• Ultra-soft pillow top

• More expensive than others
• Doesn’t give the body-hugging feel of an all-foam mattress

Hybrid mattresses blend the best of two worlds—a soft, doughy layer of foam, and a bouncy, supportive layer of coils. They’re all about marrying comfort and support, and we think the Leesa Sapira Chill nails this balance for side sleeping. “I felt cushioned, aligned, and supported, and the mattress nestled perfectly into my spine,” one tester notes.

But comfort and support aren’t the only important factors in a mattress. If you’re a side sleeper, we can bet you’re all too familiar with waking up with achy shoulders and hips in the morning, and you can blame your current mattress’s poor pressure relief for that. Our testers think the Leesa Sapira Chill is all but made to curb that problem; its quilted, plush, marshmallow-y surface has enough give for your body to sink right in, while the coils in the mattress hold up your hips for support. One tester who has lumbar lordosis—a condition where the spine curves inward above the rear end—found the quilted design to be an unexpected standout feature: “The pattern of the soft foam fit in the lower region of my spine perfectly. This helps prevent any excess pain I normally feel while lying down.”

The Leesa Sapira Chill also kept our testers cool (living up to its name…), so you’ll be free to snuggle up with your partner or pet without waking up sticky in the middle of the night. Innerspring and hybrid mattresses are inherently cooler than full-foam, which is known to trap in body heat. But the Leesa takes things a step further by infusing its foam layer with a cooling gel.

Material: Hybrid | Firmness: Multiple available: Soft, medium-firm, firm (testers spent most time on the medium firm, a 6 out of 10) | Trial period:100 nights | Warranty: 10 years | Shipping: Free shipping

Best Memory Foam Mattress for Side Sleepers: Nectar Memory Foam

• Plush memory foam feel
• Great for both back and side sleepers
• Superb motion isolation
• Affordable price point

• You may feel “stuck” in the foam
• Not the best pick for hot sleepers
• Not as much support around the edge

Remember those old-school mattress commercials, where a person jumps on one end of a bed and a glass of red wine stays perfectly upright on the other? If so, you’re already familiar with memory foam beds, and we think the original Nectar is the best of this type for side sleepers, thanks to its stellar motion isolation, meaning you won’t feel a tossing and turning bedmate (or disturb a glass of wine, if that’s more your thing). “I almost never felt my partner moving around, so sleeping through a little chaos shouldn’t be an issue,” one tester says.

The Nectar does a whole bunch more than just keep movement from transferring, though. Its 12 inches of foam consists of three different layers: one made out of cooling gel that’s meant to contour to your body; a soft mid-layer that helps relieve joint pressure; and a supportive bottom layer that keeps you lifted and prevents the mattress from swallowing you whole. Our testers noted that “side sleepers will feel like they’re being gently hugged by a large teddy bear”—and that pressure-relieving hug can help them ease pain from high-pressure areas, like the hips and shoulders.

While it still sleeps hotter than hybrid or innerspring mattresses, the Nectar’s gel-infused foam layer and cooling cover made with heat-absorbent polyethylene fibers are wins for all-foam fans.

Material: Memory foam | Firmness: Medium-firm (6.5 out of 10) | Trial period:365 nights | Warranty: Lifetime | Shipping: Free shipping

Best Mattress for Side Sleepers With Hip Pain: Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe

• High responsiveness makes moving around on it easy
• Thick, pressure-relieving foam cushions hips and shoulders
• Optional pillow top adds extra softness
• Cool feel makes sweaty nights less likely
• Customizable firmness levels work for many sleep positions

• You might feel a sleep partner toss and turn
• Might be too firm for lighter people, according to reviewers
• Not the best edge support, according to testers

The Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe is a hybrid mattress available in three firmness options: soft, medium, and firm. Its thick layers of responsive foam act as a salve for achy hips and shoulders: One tester says she loves the bed’s contouring effect, which helps her lower back pain but doesn’t restrict movement.

Testers also noted that it was essentially effortless to move around on the Aurora Luxe, making it a great choice for people who change positions in their sleep. (The spring surface also makes this a good pick for other nighttime activities, if you catch our drift.)

The Aurora Luxe features standout temperature-regulating features too, like a cover made from heat-removing fabric. “Sleeping on the Aurora Luxe is a pretty chill experience, both for temperature and for sleep,” says one tester, with another noting the bed is the most “cool-to-the-touch” she’s ever felt.

Material: Hybrid | Firmness: Multiple available: Soft, medium, firm (testers spent most time on the medium, a 6.5 out of 10) | Trial period:120 nights | Warranty: 10 years | Shipping: Free shipping

Best Couples Mattress for Side Sleepers: DreamCloud Premier

• Generous cushion for pressure-point relief
• Excellent couple’s mattress thanks to bounce and cooling properties
• Medium-firmness works well for side and back sleepers
• DreamCloud often offers steep mattress discounts (keep an eye out!)

• High price before discounts
• Not great for stomach sleepers

Couples should be able to have it all: a surface that’s both sturdy and stops one partner’s tossing and turning from waking the other; materials to help keep cuddling sweat-free; and a bed that’s bouncy enough to support their sex life. Our testers gave the DreamCloud Premier 4 out of 5 stars in cooling, responsiveness, and motion isolation, so we can confidently say it checks all of the boxes for a great couples mattress.

Our testers noticed right off the bat that this hybrid mattress’s top layer is soft, luxurious-feeling, and bouncy—so you’ll get the necessary cushioning in areas where pressure often builds for side sleepers while still having ease of movement. In her review, one SELF staffer noted that the DreamCloud Premier mattress has a “slight springiness” that made it easy to shift positions” —a great feat for combo sleepers.

The bed’s cooling materials—including coils and breathable cashmere fabric—kept our bed-sharing testers comfortably chill, which is ideal for snuggling with a toasty partner. And if you get down to business, a creaky bed won’t blow your cover: “The Premier is one of the quietest mattresses I’ve tried,” one tester says. “The wrapped coils add airflow, but also a nice, durable experience that won’t annoy you with spring noises.”

Material: Hybrid | Firmness: Medium-firm (6.5 out of 10) | Trial period:365 nights | Warranty: Lifetime | Shipping: Free shipping except in Hawaii and Alaska

Best Soft Mattress for Side Sleepers: Nolah Evolution

• Multiple firmnesses levels to choose from
• Zoned support helps keep your spine in alignment
• Easy to move around
• Doesn’t sag or lose support over time

• Plush model may not be supportive enough for heavier people
• Higher price than others

Can’t quit your super-soft mattress? The Nolah Evolution—a hybrid innerspring and foam option —is about as squishy as you get while still having enough support for side-sleepers’ lower back. This bed comes in three firmness levels (plush, luxury firm, and firm); one tester who felt best on the middle tier said she’d recommend the softest version for people who weigh less, and therefore might not sink as deeply into the bed.

The plush and luxury-firm models offer extra cushion, but without skimping on pressure-relieving support for your hips and shoulders. “While on my side, the comfort layer on top was super cushy in the best way,” one tester says. “I woke up with zero stiffness in my joints and back.” What helps to keep your pressure points from feeling jammed up is the Evolution’s zoned support—meaning the mattress is firmer in the middle where most of your body weight lands. So while it has plenty of give, particularly with extra-soft foam around the shoulders, you’ll get a lift along your hips and spine, helping to keep you neutrally aligned.

Material: Hybrid | Firmness: Multiple available: Plush, luxury firm, firm (testers spent most time on the the luxury firm, a 7 out of 10) | Trial period:120 nights | Warranty: Lifetime | Shipping: Free shipping

Best Mattress for Side Sleepers With Back Pain: Bear Elite Hybrid

• Exceptional lumbar support
• Helps keep hot sleepers cool
• Co-sleepers won’t feel bedmates move
• Offers three firmness options that all cushion pressure points

• More expensive than others

It’s not an exaggeration to say that finding the right mattress can be life-changing for people who deal with back pain—and the Bear Elite Hybrid is a pressure-relieving (a.k.a back-ache-busting) option that side sleepers will love.

People who sleep on their side tend to need a mattress that’s softer at the knees and shoulders to ease discomfort, yet firm enough along the core of the body to keep the back supported. Bear’s Elite Hybrid is constructed with five support zones at various points along the mattress, and an ample comfort layer on top—which is an especially important detail if you live with back pain.

Our mattress testers of different body sizes felt very well supported on this mattress. One tester who’s been sleeping on the Bear for three years said it’s held up with no signs of wear and provides “above-average pressure relief for [her] side-sleeping position.”

Material: Hybrid | Firmness: Multiple available: Soft, medium, firm (testers spent most time on the Medium, a 6.5 out of 10) | Trial period:120 nights | Warranty: Lifetime | Shipping: Free shipping

Best Mattress for Heavy Side Sleepers: Titan Plus Luxe

• Provides pressure relief and support for people at higher weights
• Isolates motion well for sound sleep with a pet or partner
• Sleeps cool, especially with the add-on cooling panel

• May be too firm for people who weigh less

Body weight and size are important factors to consider when picking the best mattress for you. If you are smaller, you will naturally sink less into a mattress (because, gravity), and might feel more supported by a softer option. If you weigh more, you naturally sink further into a mattress, and a firmer option might provide more support. While we understand that every person will have a unique firmness preference, our heavier testers (weighing over 230 pounds) loved the Titan Plus Luxe.

“The Titan isn’t super-firm, but it’s firm enough to let both me and my partner sink in just enough to stay supported,” one tester says. “Side sleepers—especially tall and larger folks—will likely love this. If you’re much lighter or you shift to your stomach a lot, it will most likely be too firm for you.”

It’s not just a firm box, though; the bouncy, responsive hybrid mattress features two contouring foam layers above its innerspring coils (which help it stay cool). The Titan Plus Luxe’s materials are specifically designed to be durable— it's made with high-density foams and high-grade steel coils, and those features live up to our expectations—our team gave it 5 out of 5 stars for support.

Material: Hybrid | Firmness: Medium-firm (7 out of 10) | Trial period: 120 nights | Warranty: 10 years | Shipping: Free shipping except in Hawaii and Alaska

A whole bunch happens behind the scenes to make sure the mattresses on this list really are the best of the best for side sleepers. To find the most comfortable options, SELF’s vetted team of experts, who have slept on hundreds of mattresses, considered three main qualities when testing: firmness, pressure relief, and materials.

Firmness: Is the mattress soft enough to contour to the neck, shoulders, and hips, but firm enough to support the spine and keep it in alignment? (More on the best firmness for side sleepers below!)

Pressure relief: Research connects sleeping on your side with pain in your shoulders and hips, because those areas dig into the mattress. We use a pressure-mapping mat to determine whether these sensitive body parts get enough cushion while you snooze.

Temperature: How cool does a mattress sleep? Is it made with dense materials that are apt to trap heat, or does it have unique features, like gel-infused foam or airy, breathable coils? Our team uses a thermal imaging camera to measure exactly how hot a mattress is after a tester lies on it.

Materials: We literally cut them open to see what’s inside. Memory foam or hybrid (meaning, made from both foam and coils) mattresses are generally the best for side sleepers because they can offer pressure relief.

For more intel on how, exactly, we test for these factors, along with more details about what goes into our mattress testing for all sleepers, check out our sleep products methodology page.

When it comes to firmness, the name of the game for side sleepers is balance: A too-firm mattress won’t conform to your body, which can put extra pressure on your joints that come into contact with the bed (namely your hips and shoulders) and lead to an achy, uncradled lower back . A too-soft mattress, on the other hand, may throw your spine alignment out of whack. “For side sleepers, mattresses with some amount of give can be optimal to alleviate pressure through the hip and shoulder,” Dr. Baxi says.

In other words, you don’t want to sink into your mattress like it’s a beanbag chair, but you also don’t want to feel like your body is pushing against its surface. Finding a bed that strikes that balance for you will come down to personal preference and body shape and size, but as Gerard Girasole, MD, a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, previously told SELF, a medium-firm mattress is a good place to start for side sleepers.

An all-foam or hybrid (foam and innerspring) mattress can work well for side sleepers, so long as its firmness suits you, Dr. Baxi says. Because the right choice for you comes down to your specific sleeping habits—Do you share your bed? Do you overheat at night?—it’s helpful to know the key differences between the two types.

All-foam: These tend to be softer and feel like they’re cradling your body. This can be a win for people who share their bed because the extra cushion means you’re less likely to feel rumblings if your partner tosses and turns. However, foam mattresses also often trap body heat; so if you get night sweats but love a squishy bed, we recommend you look for a mattress made with cooling-gel memory foam.

Hybrid: These are made of both foam and innersprings: The top foam layer contours to the body while the supportive coils beneath prevent you from sinking too far into the bed. Hybrid mattresses are usually a safe bet for hot sleepers because the coils allow for air to flow through the mattress, keeping things cool.

TL;DR? Listen, we get that sometimes you just want fast facts to help you make a quick choice. Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions about the best mattresses for side sleepers; if you skip everything else, read this:

The best type of mattress for side sleepers has enough cushion to ease pain and pressure, but firm enough to help your spine stay in a neutral position. Hybrid and all-foam mattresses are typically the best beds for side sleepers, thanks to foam comfort layers that cradle pressure points.

The right level of mattress firmness for side sleepers depends on body size and general comfort preferences—but you’ll want to start your search with a medium-firm option.

It sure can be. Many side-sleeping testers and online reviewers love the way foam molds to the body and cushions their joints, which research shows can ease or prevent pain caused by added pressure on the shoulders and hips in the side-sleeping position.

A hybrid or memory foam mattress is a great choice for side sleepers who need pressure relief and comfort from back pain, so we recommend the Bear Elite Hybrid if you wake up with an achy spine. Scroll up to learn more about it!

Many online mattress brands, including a number of selects in this roundup, ship their beds compressed in boxes—but that doesn’t mean they’re all thin and flimsy. Many feature thick, pressure-relieving comfort layers side sleepers love. These include the Brooklyn Bedding Aurora Luxe, Helix Midnight, Nectar, and Nolah Evolution.

With reporting from Sara Coughlin