Best Soft Mattress of 2023

Doctors used to prescribe an extra firm mattress for those suffering from low back pain, but it’s no longer the common thinking. In fact, a recent survey of 268 people with low back pain found dormers who had a very firm mattress had the poorest sleep quality.

On the other hand, a mattress that is too soft and lacks sufficient support can lead to an achy back in the morning. This is because with your hips sinking in, you may feel increased pressure on your lower back.

To help you find the best soft mattress, this article will cover several factors such as sleeping position, weight, and lifestyle. Plus, we will go over ten popular mattress brands and see what features they offer.

Our Top Mattress Recommendation

View on Amerisleep
Read AS5 customer reviews

AS5 Highlights

• 100-night sleep trial
• 20-Year Warranty
• Designed to reduce pain points
• Heat reducing mattress cover
• Comes in King, Queen, Twin, Full, and Splits

Our Runner-Up

View on Zoma
Read Zoma customer reviews

Zoma Highlights

• 100-night sleep trial
• 10-Year Warranty
• Designed for faster recovery
• Triangulex™ technology promotes healthy posture
• Comes in King, Queen, Twin, Full, and Splits

With multiple firmness levels, the Amerisleep AS5 is the softest mattress Amerisleep offers. But it isn’t all fluff—reviewers say this bed is surprisingly supportive. It is made up of five layers of absorbing foam to measure more than a foot deep.

This bed is also ideal for hot sleepers, who typically may avoid memory foam beds. It’s cooler than your average mattress-in-a-box thanks to the cooling design of the Bio-Pur® foam. Countless customers have commended the AS5 for helping them wake up cool and refreshed in the mornings, not hot and uncomfortable.

Amerisleep offers a 100-night sleep trial with all of their mattresses so you can test out the bed and be sure it is right for you. The quality of the mattress is also backed by a 20-year warranty.

Inside the Mattress

At the top is a soft, breathable cover designed to keep you cool throughout the night. Next comes a layer of Amerisleep’s advanced Bio-Pur® foam. This foam features an open-cell structure that is more breathable and has a quicker response time than traditional memory foam.

Below this foam is the Active Flex layer, the brand’s most responsive comfort foam. It only comes in the AS5 to increase softness without making you feel stuck in the bed. Active Flex foam has zones to provide pressure relief. This is especially important to support problem areas like the shoulders and lower back.

At the base is the Bio-Core® foam support layer. This is intended to hold its shape and resist sagging even after decades of use. Plus, it is eco-friendly as it’s partially made from plant-based oils instead of petroleum.

If you don’t want a bed made entirely of foam, the AS5 also comes in a hybrid model called the AS5 Hybrid.

The Zoma Mattress is the perfect mattress for athletes and those with an active lifestyle. However, anyone looking for pain relief will find comfort with the Zoma Mattress, backed by hundreds of customer reviews. It provides your body with the perfect combination of comfort and support so it can recover quickly.

The Zoma Mattress comes with a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year warranty. It is delivered right to your door and is easy to set up. The CertiPUR-US certification ensures that it will have little to no off-gassing.

How Lying Down Feels

The Zoma Mattress has a balanced, medium feel and is the most popular mattress amongst Zoma Sleep’s line-up. Compared to other Zoma beds, the Zoma Hybrid offers more cushioning and bounce than the Zoma Mattress, while the Zoma Start is firm and stable.

Inside the Mattress

The cover features a soft, knit fabric that wicks moisture and heat away from the body. Beneath this breathable cover is three foam layers, each designed to target a specific area of the body.

The first foam layer features Triangulex™ technology, a foam that is segmented with hundreds of triangular cutouts. These cutouts give sensitive areas, such as the hips and shoulders, more compression and cushioning.

The second layer features Reactiv™ technology, this layer contours to the body and provides pressure-free support, so your muscles and joints can repair themselves.

The last layer of the Zoma mattress is the Support+ base. This base is higher density foam than the other layers in the bed and helps prevent sinking so your spine always stays in a neutral position.

The Vaya Mattress offers a high-quality, plush mattress at an affordable price. It features two foam layers to give you 12 inches of soft, breathable comfort.

This mattress is also great since it works well with most bed frames and foundations. You can place the Vaya Mattress on a box spring, solid foundation, slatted foundation, or on an adjustable bed.

You can purchase the Vaya Mattress on their website and have it delivered right to your door. It also comes with a 100-night sleep trial and a 10-year manufacturing warranty.

How Lying Down Feels

The original Vaya Mattress is technically rated as a medium, but many consumer reviewers noted how surprised they were by just how soft the surface feels. The thick top is quick to enfold a person’s curves and ease pressure, limiting the tension that can build up in the body.

Vaya Sleep also offers another type of bed for people wanting some bounce and breathability at night, the Vaya Hybrid. It has a similar feel to the Vaya Mattress but contains pocketed coils instead of support foam. See our Vaya mattress review for a more thorough overview of that option and the brand overall.

Inside the Mattress

The top layer of Vaya Comfort Foam contours to the body to give pressure-free support that won’t trap heat. This layer provides cushioning to sensitive areas such as the shoulders and hips, but it also has a slight bounce to prevent you from sinking too far into the mattress.

The second layer of foam supports your body weight and keeps your spine in a neutral position. This layer is durable and helps the mattress maintain its shape. Both layers of the foam come with a CertiPUR-US certification, ensuring they are low in VOCs and safe to bring indoors.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattress for Adjustable Beds

Those who want an incredible cooling hybrid designed to maximize airflow and thermal conductivity all at once should check out the Nolah Evolution 15. This luxurious hybrid combines many different cooling technologies to create a pleasantly chilly feel and regulate its temperature all night.

Nolah’s mattresses come with a lifetime warranty and a 120-night sleep trial.

How Lying Down Feels

This mattress is built for cooling, and that’s what it delivers. You’ll notice its cool-touch feel even by just putting a hand on its surface.

Once you lie down, however, you’ll notice that cool feel doesn’t go away. This is because the Evolution works hard to push hot air out and pull cool air in to prevent overheating for extended periods.

Inside the Mattress

The first layer of the Evolution is its premium HTCTM cooling quilted Euro-top wrapped in an ArcticTexTM cover to get that cool-touch feel that hot sleepers love. The AirBreathTM heat escape gusset rests underneath the cooling cover and topper to ensure that cool-touch feeling doesn’t dissipate as the night wears on.

The AirFoamICETM comfort layer helps pull body heat down into the mattress and away from you, thanks to its highly thermoconductive graphite infusions.

Next up, you have two layers of high-density and high-resilience transition foam that help protect you from the supportive coils below as well as increase the buoyancy of the layers above.

Finally, the HDMaxTM Tri-ZoneTM coils offer 25 percent more lift than regular coil systems to help keep you from sinking into the bed. These coils are also arranged into three different zones to ensure each zone of your body gets the ideal balance of support and pressure relief for its specific needs.

SEE ALSO: Hot Sleepers vs Cold Sleepers

Sleepers who want an all-foam mattress that won’t leave them sweating it out all night should consider the GhostBed Luxe. This is one of the most cooling mattresses on the market because it’s stuffed with temperature regulating technology. It can keep you cool as a cucumber for hours on end, even without coils!

How Lying Down Feels

Lying down on this cooling memory foam mattress offers an immediate pleasant chilliness thanks to the multiple cooling technologies present in its cover. And thanks to the cooling technologies present underneath, that cool feeling will last throughout your entire sleep cycle, night after night!

This memory foam mattress is also ultra-contouring. So it relieves pressure in all your most sensitive areas. But due to the ultra-high-density support core, you don’t have to worry about sinkage or sagging at all.

Inside the Mattress

The first layer of the GhostBed Luxe is the cooling cover. This cover features three layers of its own. The Ghost Ice fabric comes first, and it offers an instant cool-touch feel. The layers of gel memory foam and cool burst fibers sewn directly into the cover help ensure this cool-touch feel lasts all night.

The next layer is the Ghost Ice layer. Developed by sleep scientists, this layer helps transfer heat to the next layer to keep it moving away from your body. The gel memory foam layer directly underneath the Ghost Ice layer helps push the heat even further down and away from you. It also offers superior contouring for fantastic pressure relief.

Underneath these cooling layers, you’ll find the Ghost Bounce layer. This layer helps increase responsiveness in the mattress, so it can fight body impressions and slow response time.

Finally, the high-density support layer offers lots of lift to ensure you don’t sink into all the plush layers above. It also ensures the Luxe will resist aging and sagging for a full 25 years.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattress That Won’t Sag

The Saatva Classic puts a new spin on the classic innerspring design to create an innerspring hybrid that fixes many of the problems sleepers complain about with traditional innerspring mattresses, like their inability to contour and their lack of pressure relief.

How Lying Down Feels

When you lie down on the Saatva Classic, you’ll notice it does indeed retain the bounciness of a traditional innerspring bed. This is thanks to the open coil support layer at the bottom of the mattress. This layer ensures you don’t have to sacrifice bounce to get contouring.

However, you’ll notice that the Classic doesn’t transfer motion like a traditional innerspring. This is due to the top support layer of pocketed coils that absorb motion so that the bed only bounces back underneath you without sending waves of motion all over the bed.

Another wonderful thing about the Saatva Classic is its enhanced lumbar support. This support goes all the way through the mattress to ensure the heavier parts of your body don’t sink. That can help relieve all kinds of back pain by keeping the spine aligned.

Inside the Mattress

The first layer of the Classic is the luxurious quilted Euro top. This three-inch-thick topper offers tons of pressure relief as well as quilting to offer more support to the middle of your body where you need it most.

The memory foam layer underneath the cushioning topper offers tons of extra back support to keep you lifted onto the bed.

The first support layer is made of pocketed coils. This layer offers the adaptability and motion control of a hybrid. The second support layer consists of open coils. This is the layer that preserves the bounce and breathability of the traditional innerspring mattress.

SEE ALSO: Pillow Top vs. Innerspring Mattress

Those looking for an unbelievably soft mattress that can still stand up to sinkage should consider the Helix Sunset Luxe. This mattress feels like sleeping on plush cotton candy. But it won’t sag or let your body sink into the sleep surface. It can also fight overheating even though it has a soft feel.

How Lying Down Feels

You’ll notice the plush feel of this mattress as soon as you lie down. The soft layers cradle your pressure points and relieve pain all over your body. This is perfect for sleepers who need extra cushioning (like side sleepers and lightweight sleepers).

Don’t let the soft feel fool you, though. The Sunset Luxe can still keep you lifted onto the surface of the bed, thanks to its high-density comfort layer. It also fights the overheating common in softer mattresses using a combination of breathable coils and cooling cover options.

Inside the Mattress

The first layer of the Sunset Luxe is the cooling cover. For this, you have two options: breathable TENCEL or thermoconductive GlacioTex fabric.

Next comes the layer of Memory Plus Foam. This high-density comfort foam offers tons of contoured pressure relief without sacrificing buoyancy and lift. So you can get a soft mattress that doesn’t let you sink.

Underneath the comfort layer is a layer of Helix Dynamic Foam that helps enhance responsiveness even over springs alone. And the high-grade polyfoam transition layer provides seamless progression to the coils below.

Finally, the supportive pocketed coil core offers dynamic lift and support. It also features reinforced coils around the perimeter and in the middle. This offers center and edge support to keep you lifted in the middle and on the sides of the bed.

SEE ALSO: Tencel VS. Cotton

Those looking for a mattress that can fight allergies as well as overheating should take a look at the Aurora Hybrid by Brooklyn Bedding. It’s available in three firmnesses, including a soft option.

This mattress features copper infusions to fight heat buildup. The copper also creates a hostile environment for many common microbes that trigger allergy symptoms.

How Lying Down Feels

The copper infusions in the comfort layer make this soft bed feel cool to the touch. You can expect it to stay that way all night due to the copper’s thermal conductivity.

The soft feel is also one of the best features of this mattress. The Aurora’s multiple foam layers work with its highly adaptive AscensionTM coils to contour to your body like just about no other mattress can.

Inside the Mattress

The first layer of this luxurious mattress is CopperFlexTM foam with TitanCoolTM infusions. This comfort layer fights everything from mold to bacteria to dust mites. This can help sleepers with allergies stay symptom-free.

The next layer is soft TitanFlexTM foam that helps offer the ultimate contoured pressure relief without losing responsiveness. Underneath, a layer of gel swirl memory foam increases pressure relief and helps pull body heat further into the mattress.

Finally, the AscensionTM coil support layer offers enhanced adaptability over many other coil systems. This means pressure relief and contouring run through the whole mattress, from cover to base layer.

SEE ALSO:Best Mattresses for Allergies

If you want a hypoallergenic mattress made to the highest quality standards so that it will last a lifetime, check out the Puffy Lux Hybrid. This mattress offers fantastic quality, multiple layers of foam, and pocketed coils that bounce back underneath your body as soon as you move.

How Lying Down Feels

The Puffy Lux’s six-layer hybrid system was developed to deliver the optimal mix of airflow and pressure relief. That means it’ll keep you cradled and pain-free without sacrificing temperature control.

This medium-feel mattress also offers an equal balance between pressure relief and support. This balance provides the most versatile sleep surface. So it can accommodate the highest number of sleep positions and body types. This makes the Puffy Lux a solid option for couples looking for a compromise.

Inside the Mattress

The Puffy Lux starts off with the hypoallergenic and stain-resistant top cover that keeps your mattress fresh and clean for a lifetime.

Next, a layer of gel-infused Cooling CloudTM foam helps pull your body heat away and keep the mattress breathing underneath you. Then, layers of plush Dual Cloud and Climate ComfortTM foams ensure your mattress can relieve pressure and fight moisture buildup all at once.

After the foam layers, you’ll find a support core of contour-adapt pocketed coils that help keep your spine supported and in healthy alignment all night. These coils are surrounded by advanced edge support rails to increase durability – which is why the Puffy Lux comes with a lifetime warranty!

SEE ALSO: Best Mattresses With A Warranty

If you want an amazing plush mattress that offers tons of pressure relief and support at an even more amazing price, consider the soft side of the Layla Mattress. This mattress boasts flippable firmness with fantastic pressure relief on its soft side, not to mention its copper infusions that fight microbes as well as heat buildup.

How Lying Down Feels

The Layla is a pure memory foam mattress, so it provides unbeatable contouring. This ultra-soft mattress feels like sleeping on a fluffy cloud. It hugs your body to offer relief for tired joints and protect sensitive pressure points from pain.

However, despite its soft feel, the Layla doesn’t allow heat buildup. This is thanks to its copper infusions. The copper particles in the foam help pull heat away from your body and fight microbes to boot.

Inside the Mattress

The Layla starts off with a cooling cover that offers reactive cooling that works with your body temperature. The hotter you get, the harder it works. It’s also zippered for easy removal and washing.

Next, you’ll find a layer of soft copper-gel memory foam. This foam offers variable support for deeper compression in areas that need it. And its copper infusions pull heat away from your body and create a hostile environment that keeps microbe growth to a minimum.

Underneath the comfort layer, you’ll find a layer of Max Airflow support foam. This foam offers deep channels for maximum cooling. It also helps increase buoyancy on the surface of the mattress.

The support core foam comes next. This foam creates maximum motion transfer control. It also minimizes bounce and ensures this mattress fights sagging and soft spot development for a lifetime. If it sags more than an inch the whole time you have the mattress, you’re covered.

SEE ALSO: Best Mattress for Guest Room

Nest Bedding’s Sparrow Signature Hybrid is one of the few hybrid mattress-in-a-box options on the market. The mattress comes in three firmness options, plush (soft), medium, or firm. If you’re nervous about ordering, the company offers a 365-night trial.

How Lying Down Feels

The plush option is ultra-cozy and loved by soft mattresses, as backed by countless reviewers. The plush is the bounciest option available. It’s still supportive but is ultra cushiony for side sleepers.

Inside the Mattress

Nest Bedding designed the Sparrow Signature Hybrid with a zippered top so if you decide you want a different firmness or your current comfort layer is worn down, you can easily replace it.

The top layer is an inch of 4-pound gel-infused memory foam and super soft thermic phase-change fabric. Then there are 3 pounds of SmartFlow support foam followed by 3 inches of Energex™ foam, which provides coolness and comfort.

Next, there are 6 inches of quantum edge pocketed support coils. At the base, find 3 pounds of support foam.

SEE ALSO: Best Mail Order Mattresses of 2023

Types of Soft Mattresses

The most popular mattress types on the market today are innerspring and memory foam. There are also choices like latex and hybrid beds. There are benefits and drawbacks to each of these types.

Innerspring Mattresses

Innerspring mattresses use multiple coils to offer support, which are topped with an array of materials for added comfort.

For soft mattress lovers, this is typically a pillow-top cover.

Experts warn to steer clear of the cheapest innerspring mattresses, which lack enough coils for support.

Memory Foam Mattresses

Memory foam mattresses have been exploding in popularity in recent years. They are designed to mold to your body throughout the night to reduce pressure points. They also absorb movement so co-sleepers don’t notice their partners shifting throughout the night. If you have a hard time getting comfortable or suffer from chronic pain, a memory foam mattress might be the solution. Memory foam is also great if you love a cozy, cradled feeling during sleep.

One of the concerns about memory foam is they can have off-gassing, which is the chemical, new-mattress smell when you unload the box. With inexpensive foam, the smell may not dissipate. Keep an eye on brands that offer greener varieties of memory foam as they won’t have this stinky issue.

Another complaint is that memory foam can trap heat. Newer mattresses are introducing open-cell and plant-based technology to combat this problem.

Latex Mattresses

Latex mattresses are an eco-friendly option since it is made from an entirely natural material. To enjoy the all-natural aspect, you’ll want to make sure the mattress is 100% latex, and not mixed with other fillers. The feeling is similar to memory foam and its body-conforming properties. Latex mattresses are a great option for anyone with allergy and asthma issues.

On the other hand, latex mattresses are one of the more expensive options. The material is also very heavy, so make sure you have someone around to unload it. To prolong its life, your latex mattress should be rotated or flipped every six months.

Hybrid Mattresses

Hybrid mattresses are somewhere in between innerspring and foam. The foam layers can be made up of memory foam or latex. They are designed to offer the best of both worlds when it comes to bounce-back and support.

Hybrid mattresses may not be the best if you share a bed, however. Due to this extra bounce, they aren’t great at motion isolation, and you might feel more movement throughout the night. Hybrids too are one of the pricier options on the market.

Difference Between a Firm and Soft Mattress

It may seem obvious, but the difference between soft and firm mattresses is a little more complicated than you think. Most mattress companies have a firmness scale between 1 and 10. Soft mattresses are typically between 3 and 5, with firm mattresses coming in above 7. Meaning, a 1/10 firmness is too soft for even the squishiest mattress lover. Pillow top mattresses, for example, are too soft and don’t offer ample support.

A firm mattress will be rigid to the touch with less give, while a soft mattress will compress easier when weight is applied. But even the softest mattress shouldn’t swallow you up or make you feel like you’re stuck. You’ll want bounce-back because when you move around in the night, the bed should still support you. Be sure to read reviews about support and pressure relief before buying the softest mattress you can find.

See Also: Best Mattress of 2023

Who Should Use a Soft Mattress

The best mattress firmness varies by each person’s body type, lifestyle, sleeping position, and personal preference. Soft mattresses are best for people under 230 pounds. They may not be supportive enough for people over 230 pounds.

If you have back pain, a firm mattress can actually make you feel worse. Soft mattresses are recommended for sleepers with pre-existing spinal issues.

Do you run cold? Soft mattresses offer more warmth, so they’re great for cold sleepers or older people who tend to have lower body temperatures. Side sleepers will also be most comfortable on a softer mattress. More cushion will better contour to hips, shoulders, and neck if you sleep on your side. Because those who suffer from sleep apnea should sleep on their side, a soft mattress can be beneficial.

Who Should Avoid a Soft Mattress

Stomach and back sleepers will find firm mattresses offer improved support. Co-sleepers may also want more firmness. If one sleeper is heavier than the other and the mattress is too soft, it may cause the bed to be uneven and affect one or both of the sleeper’s comfort.

Your soft mattress may not last as long as a firmer model, so avoid this choice if you’re looking for the longest possible amount of time out of a mattress. While all mattresses become softer overtime, softer mattresses tend to show the effects sooner.

Choosing the Right Mattress Size

Saving on Soft Mattresses

Because of their thick, cushioning materials, soft mattresses can cost a not-insignificant amount. Interested shoppers can save by considering the best times to buy a mattress:

• Best Presidents Day Mattress Sales
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• Best Labor Day Mattress Sales
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Mattress sales are also good times to buy other high-ticket items, like adjustable beds.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a soft plush mattress or firm mattress best for me?

Choosing between a soft and plush mattress or a firm mattress comes down to your sleeping position and body type.

Soft and plush mattresses are suitable for side sleepers, some combination sleepers, and petite sleepers since the thick comfort layers relieve pressure. Conversely, firm mattresses work best for back sleepers, stomach sleepers, and plus-sized sleepers as they all benefit from the extra support.

Who are soft mattresses good for?

Softer mattresses are typically loved by side sleepers because they can alleviate pressure and pain in the shoulders and hips. Some back sleepers also enjoy the feel of a cushioning bed, but stomach sleepers need very firm mattresses to feel comfortable.

What’s the softest mattress type?

All mattress types are made in a variety of firmness options, but memory foam beds are typically considered the softest for their cradling feel. Latex mattresses are more responsive, so they tend to have a firmer feel than memory foam, and beds with coils are very bouncy.

How do I know if my mattress is too soft?

Your mattress should be firm enough to keep you lifted and maintain neutral spinal alignment. You can tell if your bed is too soft if you feel your hips sinking below your torso, you wake up with lower back pain or stiffness, or you struggle to get comfortable at night. Soft mattresses with zoned support technologies can prevent this kind of discomfort and facilitate neutral spinal alignment.

Are soft beds good for your back?

Not necessarily, many of the best mattresses for back pain have a medium-firm or medium feel because these beds can maintain proper sleeping postures and prevent aches and pains from forming as a result of sinking too far in the bed. That’s not to say soft mattresses are bad for your back, though—petite sleepers often find soft mattresses very comfortable and don’t experience any back pain with them.

Sweet Dreams, Soft Mattress Lovers

There’s a common misconception that anyone with lower back pain should pick a firm mattress. But if you love the sinking feeling of a soft mattress, don’t worry. The best options on the market offer impressive contouring and pressure relief.

If you’re shopping for budget mattresses, the type of mattress you choose will also have an effect. All-foam mattresses can offer impressive support and spinal alignment, making them a great option for those looking for affordable yet comfortable sleep. Many budget mattresses combine several support layers so you can still have a plush, cozy feeling you like without getting stuck in your mattress.

It can be tempting to choose a pillow top for a cloud-like feeling like you would find in a hotel mattress, but it may not be supportive enough for larger people. Do your research to find the right combination for your body weight and sleep style.