Best Soft Mattress - Which One To Buy
Last Updated: May, 2023
Please Note: This Post Contains Affiliate Links
Finding the perfect soft mattress can feel a lot like trying to find a unicorn. There are myths and rumors about them, but do they exist? We made it our mission to find out if the perfect soft mattress does exist, so we went through a ton of mattresses to test them out. We found some great mattresses along the way, but we only included the best mattresses on our mattress reviews list. According to our tests, the overall best soft mattress is the Amerisleep AS5. It's an ultra soft mattress that's built to last, and keep you cooler than traditional memory foam.
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8 Best Soft Mattresses We Recommend
What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
Amerisleep is a brand that's been around longer than most other competitors. They've earned a reputation for producing high quality products while providing next level customer service. The Amerisleep AS line of mattresses cover all ranges of firmness, with the AS1 being the firmest, and the AS5 being the softest.
The Amerisleep AS5 mattress is the softest option available from Amerisleep, but still provides the support they've come to be known for. If you like to sink into a mattress, this one is the obvious choice. It's ideal for back and side sleepers, as well as combo sleepers.
Another great thing about the AS5 is its cooling properties. The mattress is made with an open cell design that helps wick away warm air and is noticeably cooler than traditional memory foam.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
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There really aren't enough great things we can say about GhostBed as a company, and the Luxe is one of our favorite mattress models they offer. The GhostBed Luxe is one of the softest and coolest mattresses out there, and is great for all sleep styles, but especially side sleepers.
The Luxe is also very durable and long lasting for an all foam mattress, making it a great longterm investment. For the quality that GhostBed delivers, you'd expect to easily pay twice as much, if not more. GhostBed also has an awesome financing plan that allows you to take advantage of this deal, with interest rates as low as 0%!
All the GhostBed Luxe’s seven layers work to cool for the ultimate sleep experience. The Ghost Ice Fabric cover, made from cooling fibers, works along with the Ghost Ice layer and other gel memory foam layers. The Ghost Ice is a new phase change technology used in the Luxe foam for core cooling to keep the mattress from heating up during sleep.
If you're on the fence about buying from GhostBed, you can rest easy (pun intended) knowing they back their products with an industry leading 25 year warranty and 101 night trial period.
GhostBed is a fifth generation family business that is truly committed to providing you with a better mattress at a more affordable price. It all started over a 100 years ago when the Werner family’s first invented the famous Werner Ladder.
Marc Werner started Nature’s Sleep over 20 years ago… after undergoing three neck surgeries and needed a solution to avoid sleeping in constant pain. GhostBed was launched over 5 years ago to provide everyone with affordable luxury sleep wellness.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
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The best soft mattress provides sufficient support for sleepers, and that's what you get with the Puffy Lux mattress. It comes with just enough decadence of softness and firmness. If you want a bed that maintains optimal softness while offering adequate pressure relief and body contouring, Puffy Lux fits these criteria quite well.
Puffy Lux includes six foam layers designed for comfort, cooling, and spinal alignment. This increases your bed's airflow, giving it a plush yet responsive feel. Meanwhile, the Cloud Air Technology foam provides zoned full-body support, thus keeping your hips aligned with your shoulder for maximum comfort.
Searching for a soft mattress that's comfy for two people can be pretty challenging. However, the Puffy Lux mattress ranks among the best soft beds for couples. Featuring multiple layers of body contouring and cushioning foam, this mattress will give you and your spouse the comfort and pressure relief you deserve. If your partner tends to toss and turn during the night, Puffy Lux offers motion isolation, so you'll sleep soundly.
In addition to being hypoallergenic and stain-resistant, Puffy Lux's mattress cover has a soft, cozy feel. Unlike other soft all-foam mattresses, this one sleeps pretty cool. Its comfort layer has a gel infusion, which helps regulate your bed's temperature. If you sleep hot, you won't find yourself overheating and sweating on the soft Puffy Lux.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
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When it comes to soft beds, Nolah should be one of your top choices you're considering. All of their mattresses are designed for side sleepers, which generally need a softer mattress that provides excellent pressure relief. With this being said, their 12" signature mattress provides just that, but with increased durability over some of the thinner models, making it a solid choice if you're looking for a good quality soft mattress.
Since this mattress is all-foam, it has great motion isolation. This means that you won't feel your sleep partner moving around, or if they get in and out of bed. This bed isolates motion well, but at the same time, it doesn't make you feel stuck.
If you're hesitant about buying online, you should be happy to know that Nolah provides a generous 100 night trial period, free shipping and returns, and a lifetime warranty. All of these combined should give you confidence buying from Nolah.
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What We Like
What We Don't Like
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This is an innovative hybrid mattress, from the materials it’s made with, to how the firmness is designed. Since it’s infused with copper, hot sleepers can get more relief than ever, which was a pleasant surprise. The feature that will get your attention is its dual-sided design.
To put it simply, one side is medium soft, and the other is firmer. So if you want to switch up the firmness levels you’re getting, just flip the mattress over for your perfect fit. No matter what position you sleep in, this mattress ensures you can do it comfortably while having all the support you need.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
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Sometimes when you need a softer mattress, you don’t want to give up the support layer that a firmer mattress gives you. That’s why this Purple Queen mattress is such a gem. It offers next level sleep experience.
You still get that wonderful cradling feeling that comes with a soft mattress because of the comfort layer, but with the support you need to keep your back and shoulders and hips well supported. This is one of the overall best luxury mattresses and is a great overall investment. This mattress offers a great combination of soft support and quality materials that ensure the mattress will last for years.
You’ll keep good spinal alignment, and prevent those aches from coming up in the morning. You’ll find great support for your pressure points, and it’s especially ideal for side sleepers. It’s hypoallergenic too, so if you suffer from allergies, you may want to check this mattress out.
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What We Like
What We Don't Like
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Tuft Needle has been a growing brand, and for good reason. This mattress uses an innovative foam that outperforms the other foam in mattresses you’ve seen before. It keeps a nice even temperature, but it’s more on the cool side which is a bonus for hot sleepers. Another nice thing about it is that while it is soft, it’s also supportive.
The Tuft Needle mattress is supportive enough to accommodate all types of sleepers, whether you sleep on your side, back, are stomach sleepers, or just roll around a lot during the night. If you move a lot, it has just the right amount of bounce to allow it and make it easier to get out of bed in the morning.
This mattress also includes a 100-night sleep trial, so if you don't love the mattress, just send it back.
What We Like
What We Don't Like
Overall Thoughts:
This is a hybrid mattress that gives you that perfect cradling feels, without making it difficult to move when you need to. On the topic of movement, the other nice thing about this mattress is how well the motion isolation works for minimizes motion transfer. Someone can get up and off of the mattress without any other part of the mattress moving. So whether it’s a partner or pet moving around through the night, it’ll never wake you up again.
It’s ideal for providing back support, no matter how you sleep, but it does a little something extra too: it’s flippable, so you can customize the way your mattress supports you. One side is medium-firm, and the other side is soft, meaning you practically get two mattresses for the price of one!
Who Needs to Sleep on a Soft Mattress?
Because our weight affects how deeply we push into a mattress, our weight also affects the kinds of mattresses we prefer (especially the firmness). Since lighter people don’t sink as much, they often prefer softer mattresses for good spinal alignment. For instance, many people that weigh around 150 pounds, or somewhere under that, will feel more comfortable on a soft bed.
However, sometimes sleeping position also affects how comfortable we are on a mattress because of things like spinal alignment and joint support. When it comes to a softer mattress, side sleepers and combination sleepers are often the most comfortable. With all that said, sometimes the firmness levels of mattress simply comes down to preference, and there’s nothing wrong with that either.
Qualities of the Best Soft Mattress
Materials
Materials will affect not only how a mattress feels and supports you, but also how much body heat stays in the mattress while you sleep. If you sleep hot, you know how important this can be.
If you sleep hot and need relief, you have a variety of materials, ranging from an innerspring mattress, to full memory foam or hybrid mattresses to choose from. A lot of softer mattresses are constructed with foam, and hot sleepers may find the amount of body heat there uncomfortable so opting for a cooling mattress is recommended. If you’re a hot sleeper, but need a soft mattress, consider finding the best hybrid mattress or latex mattress that won’t get as hot. Latex mattresses and hybrid mattresses better disperses body heat.
Support
Just because a mattress is on the soft side, doesn’t mean it should skimp on support. While you want that soft, cushy feel (especially stomach sleepers!), you still need proper support for your back and pressure points. Of course, you don’t want to feel the fluffy top layer ‘bottom out’ on the more supportive foam layers underneath either.
If possible, try out the mattress in person. Always look at the edges. Even the best mattress should still have good edge support. Otherwise, it’ll seem like the bed leans when you side on the sides of it.
Height and Layers
These two factors go hand in hand, most of the time. The more layers of padding or foam your mattress have, the more likely it’ll be taller too. A lot of people that prefer soft bed also like a fairly tall mattress, since there’s more cushioning as they lay on it.
However, there’s still a limit to how many layers will keep improving the feel of the bed. After a handful of layers, there’s only so much you can add without stacking thinner, less soft layers one upon the other. So when looking at the layers, up to a handful or less is usually ideal to get the cushiest feel.
When you’re looking at height, you’re also looking at the result of the different layers on the mattress. However, if you’re looking at a mattress with 8 inches of height and five layers, don’t expect it to be on the soft side. Ideally, you want the mattress to be at least 10 inches thick if you like a soft feel. If you like a plush feel mattress though, it’s worth trying to find a mattress at least 12 inches thick (or as close to it as you can find).
Warranty and Guarantees Come With The Best Mattresses
A mattress is a big purchase, and it’s worth knowing you’ve made a good investment. When shopping for the best mattresses, always consider a warranty. Any time you can find a mattress with a good warranty, you know it’s a product the company will stand behind. Likewise, if you can try it risk-free for a month (or longer!), then it’s worth a shot to see if it’s the one for you.
Maintenance
Get the Right Pillows
One way to make the most out of a soft mattress is by making sure you have the right pillows. Soft mattresses have a lot more cushion and padding, so you can skip the super thick pillow. A thinner pillow will allow you more enjoyment of your cushy mattress.
Thickness Changes
The best mattresses get a lot of use, and it can be hard to understand exactly what the warranty covers. It’s worth measuring your mattress when you first get it, so you can see when sagging is a problem. Often, manufacturers will honor a warranty for sagging, but you need to measure how low it’s gotten.
Look for a Multitasker
Couples don’t always agree on firmness, and that can mean one person sleeps poorly. Some people are back sleepers, others are side sleepers, and some are side sleepers. Everyone has different needs. Now there are mattresses than can be flipped to change the firm mattresses to be softer mattress. Usually, that means one side is fairly firm, while the other is between soft and medium soft. Firmer mattresses are great for back sleepers, but not for everyone. So, go for a mattress that works best for everyone that's going to be sleeping on it.
>>Related Content: Best Extra Firm Mattress
If needed, you can also opt for mattress toppers. These can help make firmer mattresses softer. You can a get firm support layer, while the mattress toppers provide a soft top layer.
Check the Directions
Aside from warranty information, you need to read the manual that comes with your mattress. For instance, some memory foam mattresses will be ruined if you remove the cover, or can’t be flipped over. In short: even if it’s boring, read it anyway.
Conclusion
While finding the perfect soft mattress can seem difficult, we’ve proved it isn’t impossible. Of course, with a list of every contender for the best soft mattress out there, you should be able to find your perfect fit in no time.
Gabe is the newest member of The Sleep Shop team. If you like the design of The Sleep Shop, give Gabe a thumbs up. He’s a digital marketing and design guru and the brains behind the design and SEO of The Sleep Shop. He also won’t say no to testing a ton of mattresses either, and helps on almost every mattress review.
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My mother wants to buy a new mattress for her room soon. She wants to buy a super single sized mattress. I found it interesting when you mentioned the best soft mattress. Thanks for the mattress buying tips and I will show this article to her so that she can get the best mattress for herself.