Best Soft Mattress of 2021

Doctors used to prescribe a very 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 AmerisleepRead 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 ZomaRead 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.

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.

This bed is also ideal for hot sleepers, who typically may avoid memory foam beds. It’s cooler than your average bed-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.

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 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.

The cover features a soft, knit fabric that wicks moisture and heat away from the body. Beneath this breathable cover is 3 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 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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Luxi’s unique pressure-relieving model features shape-matching technology designed to fill every curve with the right amount of support.

It features adjustable layers to change from soft to medium or firm. All you have to do is unzip the mattress cover and flip comfort layers to change the firmness level. If you share your bed, there’s even dual-side adjustability to satisfy both sleepers. If you don’t want to deal with adjusting your bed yourself, Luxi also offers the One Mattress, which features the same foam as the 3-in-1 Adjustable and has a medium feel.

The bed features shape-matching technology created from a pressure-releasing grid inside the mattress. At the top, breathable fabric helps to speed up heat transfer to keep you cool and a LuxiTech top layer adds comfort. Next comes high-performing foam which works like independent, pocketed coils. When weight is applied, the foam will collapse under the weight, but it springs back when the weight is lifted. The shape-matching foam is followed by a sturdy base foam.

This bed in a box arrives compressed, so you just unroll it for easy set-up. Luxi also offers a try-before-you-buy model. The bed will ship to you for 1 cent, and then you can try it out for a 100-night trial. After that, ship it back and pay nothing or purchase the mattress. Or, if you’re sure about your choice, pay upfront for a $200 discount.

Side sleepers and those who love a softer feel will enjoy the Tulo Soft Mattress. And for less than $500, your wallet will too. The plush mattress is designed to offer pressure relief on your shoulders and hips, so this design gets great mattress reviews from side sleepers. The secret, they say, is in four foam layers—a knitted cover, cooling memory foam layer, breathable foam layer, responsive foam layer, and foundation layer.

If all-foam mattresses aren’t your style, Tulo also offers the Tulo Hybrid Mattress. It contains the same gel memory foam as the Tulo Soft Mattress, only it has a coil support layer rather than a foam one. Also, the hybrid model comes in a wider range of thicknesses and firmnesses. 

If you aren’t sure, the company offers a 120-night trial. If you don’t love your new mattress, Tulo will pick it up for free for a full refund—no questions asked. If you decide you need a firmer mattress, you can also exchange it for Tulo’s medium or firm option.

The Nolah Signature 12” mattress is flippable—it features two sides of firmness. It’s Nolah’s only flippable bed as of now but has lots to offer for all types of sleepers.

Both sides are topped with an organic cotton cover designed to wick away moisture and keep you comfy while you sleep. Side and combo-sleepers will love the soft side, with customers comparing it to sleeping on a giant marshmallow. It is made from 2.5 inches of extra-thick AirFoam™ to offer pressure relief, contour to your body, and feel cool all night. AirFoam™ is different than memory foam. The technology is intended to keep you cooler, and it is quick responding so you won’t feel stuck.

Beneath the Nolah AirFoam™ is a 1.5-inch layer of deep supportive high-resistance foam. Intended to be stronger than latex, this layer offers a healthy bounce-back to offer support all night long. The third layer is the reinforced high-density core foundation. This base foam is 7 inches high to reinforce the support of the top layers. The base layer has a lifetime warranty.

At the very bottom is the firm side, offering 1 inch of AirFoam™. If you are a stomach sleeper, you can use this as the top layer instead. Sleeping on your stomach is not suggested as it puts stress on your back and neck, but if stomach sleeping is preferred, this is the layer you’ll want at the top.

The Bear Pro is a mattress designed for side sleepers. The Pro’s gel memory foam structure offers extra cushioning to reduce pressure on the shoulders and hips. Customers love the Bear Pro for its perfect combination of softness and support.

Of Bear’s mattresses, the Bear Pro is their mid-range bed. The Bear Hybrid has more of a medium feel compared to the Bear Pro but is also more luxurious. Conversely, the Bear Original is both firmer and more affordable than the Bear Pro.

Designed with athletes in mind, Bear uses different kinds of copper, gel, and open-cell foam to remove extra body heat and keep you cool. The brand also uses CertiPUR-US certified foams for a cleaner sleep. Rest assured—there won’t be metals, formaldehyde, or ozone depleters in your mattress.

The Pro features a breathable Celliant® cover, which supports muscle recovery in athletes and active individuals alike. At the top, copper-infused foam is cool and cushioning. In the center, gel memory foam removes extra body heat. Responsive transition foam for pressure relief is followed by a high-density support foam at the bottom.

Nest Bedding’s Alexander Signature Hybrid is one of the few hybrid bed-in-a-box options on the market. The mattress comes in three firmness options, plush (soft), medium, or firm. The plush option is ultra-cozy and loved by soft mattresses, as backed by countless reviewers.

Nest Bedding designed the Alexander 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. Nest Bedding also offers the Alexander Signature Flippable, but rather than having replaceable comfort layers, it features a built-in medium and firm side.

The top layer is a quarter-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 TitanChill Endurance Foam®, which uses copper for coolness and comfort. Next, there are 8 inches of quantum edge pocketed support coils. At the base, find 3 pounds of support foam.

The plush is the bounciest option available. It’s still supportive but is ultra cushiony for side sleepers. If you’re nervous about ordering, the company offers a 100-night trial.

If you’re on a budget, the Zinus 8-inch Cooling Gel Memory Foam Mattress offers impressive value. For soft mattress lovers and side sleepers, this is one of Zinus’s plushest beds from their countless foam and hybrid mattress options. Customers love this bed for being so comfortable and high-quality despite its low price tag.

The top layer of cooling gel foam contours to your shape while resisting body heat. The mattress is also eco-friendly, being made from CertiPUR-US® certified foam.

The bed is wrapped in a stretchy, cooling soft-knit fabric. The 8-inch thick mattress is topped with 2 inches of swirl foam, which has an egg-carton shape for pressure relief. Then comes 1.5 inches of comfort foam and 4.5 inches of high-density foam at the base. Since this is a more flexible mattress, Zinus recommends using a flat surface base for extra support.

The brand also offers a 10-year warranty and a 100-night trial to give your bed a test ride.

See Also: Mattress Size and Dimensions Guide

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 2021

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.

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.

The type of mattress you choose will also have an effect. All-foam mattresses can offer impressive support and spinal alignment. Many 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, 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.