The Best Soft Mattresses On The Market: Our In-Depth Review

There’s no way to explain why you like a certain level of firmness in a mattress, it’s something that you can’t change, and cant help – you like it how you like it, and that’s that.

However, there’s a zone of firmness that seems to be the most agreeable to most people – we call it medium firm. The vast majority of products on the market are going to be somewhere in the medium firm spectrum, as it’s the most popular, and therefore the most profitable for manufacturers.

However, there are a huge number of people out there who prefer their mattress on the softer side and while there are several soft products available, the choice is much more limited.

With that in mind, today we’re going to be looking at what we think are the best soft mattresses on the market. We’re going to provide recommendations based on firmness, price, and construction methods, and we’re going to tell you which product we think is best in each category in our soft mattress reviews.

Let’s get started.

Benefits of Sleeping on a Soft Mattress

The unfortunate truth is that for most people a soft mattress isn’t an optimal choice in terms of spinal health. We need a certain amount of firmness and support to promote proper spinal alignment, and softer mattresses don’t provide this in most cases.

Some sleeping positions are more suited to soft mattresses than others (which we’ll discuss in the next section) and the only real “benefit” a soft mattress provides is exclusive to lighter people.

The firmness of medium firm and firm products has been specifically designed to be suitable for people who fit somewhere in the “average” body weight spectrum. To provide the support required for proper spinal alignment you need to sink into the mattress a certain amount.

If you’re much lighter or smaller than average, you’re not going to be able to sink in enough to a standard mattress, and you’re not going to be getting an optimal spinal alignment.

It’s in this situation that a softer mattress can be beneficial as they require less weight to sink in by their very nature, thus solving the problem.

Which Type of Sleepers Are Soft Mattresses for?

Side sleepers should avoid softer mattresses if possible. When sleeping on your side much of your body weight is being applied to the mattress in two pressure points (your hips and shoulders). As softer mattresses are less supportive, these two areas will sink in much more than they ideally should and it causes improper spinal alignment.

Stomach and back sleepers will have a better time on a softer mattress, as the pressure from your bodyweight is more evenly distributed across your entire body instead of being focused on pressure points.

Best Overall Soft Mattress – The Layla

We’ve searched high and low to find what we think are the best soft mattresses on the market right now. There are plenty of good products we’ve come across (and we’ll list some of the others later in this article) but in our opinion, the Layla mattress is your best bet.

It’s a 10.5-inch thick mattress which provides a luxurious feel, and it’s a hybrid product that has 4 individual layers that work in perfect harmony with one another.

Thermogel Cover

The covering of the Layla is super soft and durable, but most notably it contains thermogel. Thermogel is a special kind of soft cooling gel that Layla have developed themselves. It provides a sleeping surface that feels cool to the touch and makes it one of the most comfortable soft mattresses. Normally this would be a talking point, but the layer below is much more interesting…

Copper Infused Memory Foam

We know that this might sound a little bit like a marketing gimmick, but trust us – it’s not.

Let’s take a quick science class to fully understand the benefits of infusing copper into memory foam.

Memory foam was not designed to be used in mattresses, it was developed by NASA to create safer airplane seats for pilots. As such, the thermal regulation properties of the material didn’t matter all that much.

When NASA released memory foam to the public, it was immediately used in mattress design and changed the industry forever – it was here the overheating became an issue.

The difficult thing about solving the overheating issue is that the reason memory foam overheats is the very same reason that it has the excellent contouring properties that make it so supportive. It’s made of lots of little cells of air that squash when the material contours to your body. The cells are completely enclosed, and when body heat enters them it cannot ventilate out into the bedroom and escape.

Cooling gel memory foam is one of the ways engineers came up with to mitigate the issue.

When a cooling gel is added to the memory foam mix the gel absorbs the heat before it has the chance to get inside the cells. Cooling gel is a naturally excellent thermal conductor, and as such, it transfers the heat it absorbs around the entire surface of the mattress.

While this doesn’t reduce the amount of heat in the mattress directly, it does result in a cooler sensation for the sleeper – as hotspots no longer form.

But this mattress doesn’t have cooling gel, it has copper.

As you will probably remember from school, metals are one of the best conductors of heat on the planet. The copper has been added to this mattress to provide the same effect as cooling gel – it’s just much more efficient. It’s one of the coolest sleeping surfaces in this price bracket.

The copper has added secondary benefits that are nice, but they’re not worth the time, hassle, and expense it must cost to infuse their products with the material. The most notable additional benefit comes from copper’s antimicrobial agents that will attack bacteria that make it into the mattress. This helps keep things fresher for longer in one of the softest memory foam mattresses on the market.

Support Foam

This layer is made from a standard medium firm reasonably high-density support foam. It’s not got contouring properties like memory foam, and there’s no clever technology inside the material itself…

But the way it has been shaped is genius.

Look at most other mattresses on the market and you’ll probably see a layer by layer breakdown in a fancy graphic that shows you what’s inside the product. You’ll probably notice that usually, all the layers are flat slabs of foam – but this one isn’t.

This layer is shaped kind of like the inside of an egg carton with many peaks and valleys on the bottom side of it. This design pattern creates a network of connected channels that air can flow and ventilate through freely. When hot air gets down into this layer it can escape through the breathable covering almost entirely free of restriction – keeping things super cool.

High-Density Foam

This is a layer of high-density foam that provides a strong and stable surface for the rest of the mattress. It’s a high-quality foam that’s reasonably supportive too, in most other mattresses this layer is usually just a base, but in this product, it actually provides some of the support too.

Copper Infused Memory Foam

This mattress has a final layer of copper-infused memory foam on the bottom. It’s a firmer version of the memory foam that’s on the top layer of this product. The reason it has been added is because this is a flippable mattress. One side is medium soft, and the other side is medium firm (this side up gives you the medium firm feel).

Verdict

This is one of the softest and coolest sleeping surfaces on the market right now and it’s reasonably priced too considering the amount of technology you’re getting.

In our opinion, you’re not going to find many other products that can compete with it when all things are considered (including price) and it’s more than worthy of your consideration.

Pros And Cons

Pro

• Copper-infused memory foam
• Sleeps very cool
• Very supportive
• Soft sleeping surface
• Comfortable gel cover

Con

• Could be a little cheaper (if we were being fussy)

Softest Mattress on Amazon – Zinus

Amazon has one of the biggest selections of mattresses in the world, but it’s lacking some of the big name brands who prefer to go it alone and sell directly to the public. We’ve looked at the offerings on Amazon, and the softest mattress on the market you’ll find there is this excellent product from Zinus.

Microfiber Foam

This layer is 2 inches thick and is made from a super soft microfiber jacquard foam. Considering how inexpensive this product is, the amount of softness it provides is quite astonishing really. It gives the mattress a kind of luxury that is far beyond many other products in this price bracket.

Infused Memory Foam

This super soft memory foam is also reasonably supportive, it’s a high-quality foam that’s going to stand the test of time without sagging and dipping like some lower quality foams can.

The most interesting thing about this layer is the two infusions it has.

Creating memory foam is an incredibly unnatural process that requires the use of many nasty chemicals and compounds. When memory foam is freshly made these chemicals release gasses that aren’t ideal to inhale (and they also smell pretty bad).

Zinus have infused this layer with charcoal and green tea to solve this issue. The odors are eliminated by the materials leaving you with a product that smells great from the moment you put it on your bed frame. As an added bonus these two infusions will also work throughout the lifetime of your mattress to combat smells that can form from sweat and bacteria that find their way into the mattress.

Comfort Foam

This is a reasonably standard layer of comfort foam, which is what you’d expect to see in a mattress in this price bracket. It’s a supportive yet soft foam that’s of a high quality and is reasonably durable, but there’s nothing special about it.

High-Density Foam

The final layer of this product is made from a high-density foam that provides a strong and firm base to the product (without making the mattress itself firm). Again it’s of a high quality, but it’s pretty standard stuff.

Verdict

This is one of the cheapest soft mattresses on the market, we really like the infused memory foam and how luxurious the microfiber foam feels. It’s more than worthy of your consideration if you’re shopping around for a soft mattress online at this price point.

Pros And Cons

Pro

• Infused with green tea and charcoal
• Quality memory foam
• Very good value for money
• Long lasting materials
• Soft yet supportive

Con

• It’s a budget option and provides less performance than some other products

Softest Hybrid Mattress – The Solay

While all the products we’ve mentioned here today are hybrid mattresses, this is one of the softest products with a decent amount of layers and thickness that also uses coil technology. It’s got 6 different layers of different materials inside of it that combine to make a product that has all of their strengths and none of their weaknesses.

Tencel Cover

This covering is made from one of the most advanced materials that mattress covers can be made from. Tencel is derived from wood cellulose, yet despite this, it’s super soft. Tencel is better than other more traditional materials in a variety of ways. It’s great at wicking moisture away from you while you sleep (sweat) and is also super breathable too.

Bonus: Tencel is also a very eco-friendly material made from renewable resources, and it’s got natural antimicrobial properties too to keep things fresh.

Cooling Gel Memory Foam

The next layer down is made from cooling gel memory foam. We’ve already explained above the principles behind cooling gel and why it’s important – and the gel in this layer works in exactly the same way. It’s going to keep you cool throughout the night, and hotspots are going to be almost nonexistent.

Motion Reducing Foam

This is a thick layer of motion reducing foam, which is pretty standard stuff. It adds a little bit of firmness to the mattress, but it’s still quite soft. This layer’s main job is to prevent motion transfer when you’ve got one sleeping partner who’s much larger than the other.

Support Layer

This is a medium firm layer of support foam that manages to provide support without making the overall product too firm for the tastes of people who like a soft mattress. It’s also a gradient layer to soften the transition between the foam above and the coils below.

Individually Wrapped Coils

This is a super soft and super advanced layer of independently wrapped coils. These coils only compress when you apply pressure directly to them as they are completely independent of one another (as the name suggests).

This means that the coils in this layer form a shape that resembles your body shape when you lie down on them instead of creating a general dip. It’s super supportive and is part of what allows this product to provide adequate levels of support despite being a soft sleeping surface.

High-Density Support Foam

The final layer of this product is made from high-density support foam. It’s a reasonably standard and boring layer that as usual does nothing more than provide a stable base for the stuff above.

Verdict

A great product from a reputable brand that manages to provide great amounts of support (thanks to the coils) while remaining soft. It’s more than worthy of being added to the top of your shortlist.

Pros And Cons

Pro

• Independent coil system
• Supportive yet soft
• Quality cooling gel memory foam
• Good value for money
• Reputable brand
• Very well received by customers

Con

• None really

Softest Under $500 – DynastyMattress

The final product we’re recommending today is also one of the cheapest. It’s a hybrid product that’s medium soft and provides you with a decent amount of support. You’re getting a whole lot of mattress for your money here considering the price point.

Cooling Gel Memory Foam

Again this is a layer of cooling gel memory foam that works like all the other layers of cooling gel memory foam we have talked about today. It’s a high-quality durable foam that provides a little bit of support, but it’s mainly here for soft comfort at the top of the mattress.

Comfort Memory Foam

This is a little bit firmer than the layer above, but it’s still well within a medium soft territory. It has no cooling gel in it, which is a little bit of a shame as it’s still quite high up in the mattress. However, it’s not the end of the world and due to the layer below this isn’t a product that suffers from overheating anyway.

Airflow Comfort Foam

This is a standard comfort foam that has been aerated. This allows for huge amounts of ventilation within the layer and it also makes the layer super soft. It’s another quality yet reasonably standard foam that helps compensate for the lack of cooling gel in the layer above.

Soft Support Foam

This is a support foam that’s reasonably soft (considering it’s support foam). Despite this, it’s still reasonably firm, and its main job is to be as soft as possible while being firm enough to be a strong and stable base for the layers above.

Verdict

There are some shortcomings to this product compared to some of the more expensive mattresses we’ve talked about today – but none of them are deal breakers. Considering the price point it’s an excellent product. We really like the medium-soft firmness of it as it represents a middle ground for two sleeping partners who may like different levels of firmness.

Pros And Cons

Pro

• Medium soft firmness
• Cooling gel memory foam
• Aerated foam
• Great value for money
• High-quality materials

Con

• Could benefit from a second layer of cooling gel

3 more Really Soft Mattresses

So that ends the section of our overall recommendations. Below we’re going to quickly mention 3 other products that we came across during the research for this article that are worthy of a special mention. If none of the products above caught your eye, these 3 below are possible alternatives.

Muse

This mattress is available in three different firmness levels, one of which is 5 out of 10, which is medium soft. It’s a pure foam mattress that has a few layers of cooling technology in it that keep things from getting too warm throughout the night. We especially like the innovative wire mesh that has been threaded into the cover to give you a “cool to the touch” feel.

Nolah

This is one mattress with two different firmness levels. One side of it is firm, and if you flip it over, the other side is soft (they don’t give a precise firmness measurement). We particularly like the “cooling Nolah air foam” that the company has developed – it has got contouring properties like memory foam but also has excellent airflow and thermal regulation properties too.

Lucid

The final product we came across is the Lucid. It’s another hybrid mattress that uses independently wrapped coils alongside memory foam and comfort foam. The memory foam is infused with aloe vera for the same kind of effect as the green tea and charcoal we’ve already seen in other products today. Again no specific firmness rating is given, but it’s described as medium plush.

Conclusion

So there you have it, that’s what we think are some of the best soft mattresses on the market right now.

It can be hard to find a soft mattress that’s of a high enough quality (while being great value at the same time) and possibly too much focus is given to the medium firm “Goldilocks zone” by the big brands these days.

But as we hope you will agree, there are still several great products on the market for those of us who like a softer sleeping surface, and we’re sure that any of the products we’ve mentioned today will meet (and exceed) your expectations.

Sweet dreams.