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Finding the best mattress involves combining the right factors: support and feel, price, trial period, and personal preference. A hybrid mattress can be a winning part of this equation. Hybrid mattresses feature foam and innerspring coils, combining the best qualities of memory and spring mattresses.
“Memory foam is known for its pressure-relieving ability due to its slow response time,” said Craig Zettergren, a physical therapist and regional vice president of company-owned clinics FYZICAL Therapy & Balance Centers. “Latex foam offers a firm yet supportive sensation. Pocket coils move independently of each other to provide resilient support. This unique combination of foams and coils helps to provide the most effective lumbar support while suffering from back pain.”
A mattress feels differently for each sleeper, depending on weight, sleeping position, and preferences. The best mattress for some sleepers may not be right for you, and Zettergren recommends sleeping on a mattress for at least two weeks to determine whether you’re getting the right support.
Use our best hybrid mattress review to compare and narrow down your choices. Our top picks offer trial periods of at least 100 nights.
We chose the Helix Midnight Luxe as the best hybrid mattress. It has a cushioned, comfortable feel with reinforced innerspring coils designed to support the lumbar area. We think this mattress works well for all sleeping positions, making it an easy pick for the “Best Hybrid Mattress Overall”.
| Queen cost before discounts | $2,373.80 | $1,799 | $1,319 | $1,499 | $2,305 | $1,249 | $2,123 | $1,799 |
| Firmness | Medium | Medium | Medium-firm | Medium | Soft, medium, or firm | Firm | Medium | Softer, luxury firm, firmer, plus |
| Trial period | 100 nights | 365 nights | 365 nights | 100 nights | 120 nights | 120 nights | 100 nights | 120 nights |
| Mattress type | 15 years | Limited lifetime | 10 years | 10 years | Limited lifetime | 10 years | 25 years | Limited lifetime |
| White-glove delivery option* | No | Yes ($199) | No | Yes ($159–$199) | Yes ($100–$200) | No | Yes, ($119–$398) | No |
* White-glove delivery: Free shipping and installation of new mattress, free removal of old mattress
Generally, testers felt more “in” than “on” the mattress because of the cushioned pillow top and foam layers. When testers pressed down on the surface, the deeper layers rebounded quickly due to the innersprings, but the top memory foam layers took longer to rebound. We think the Helix Midnight Luxe strikes a good balance between soft and firm.
When lying on the mattress, testers felt embraced in a deep hug. The pillowtop and memory foam layers give this mattress more sinkage than other hybrid mattresses, but testers still felt reinforced support from the innerspring coil layer.
Our testers were comfortable lying on their back, side, and stomach—it’s impressive that the Helix Midnight Luxe can support multiple sleeping positions, but this may not be the case for every sleeper based on their weight and personal preference.
Higher-weight sleepers (weighing more than 250 pounds) may sink too deeply into the mattress when on their back or side, but the responsive, firmer surface below the pillowtop may be the right amount of support for stomach sleeping.
While we like that this mattress does not limit you to one “best” sleeping position, the plush top may make it harder to switch positions. Our testers said they felt stuck in the mattress, and changing sleeping positions took a lot of effort. Sleepers with mobility issues may need a more responsive mattress that helps support their movement.
Our Reviews Team was impressed with how strong and stable the edge of the mattress was. Good edge support allows you to sleep near the edge of the bed without feeling like you’re falling off, especially if you like to spread out on your mattress. Our testers also felt stable when sitting on the edge, and they were able to stand easily.
The Helix Midnight Luxe combines our favorite hybrid mattress features: a plush, cushioned surface with reinforced support from innerspring coils. Our testers loved how the soft pillow top, contouring memory foam, and supportive innerspring coils worked well with all sleeping positions.
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Credit card payment options are Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover. Other options are Shop Pay, Amazon Pay, PayPal, and Google Pay. Helix offers financing through Affirm and Katapult.
The company currently offers 30% off for military members, first responders, students, and teachers. The discount code can’t be combined with other promotional codes.
The Nectar Premier Hybrid has seven total layers, with four foam layers above the innerspring coils. Our testers gently sunk into the top foam layers without sinking as deeply as they did on the Helix Luxe Midnight. The soft but not-too-plush surface and supportive coils are a great combination for side sleepers.
Lower-weight sleepers (weighing less than 130 pounds) and average-weight sleepers (weighing 130–250 pounds) should get the ideal cushion and support to sleep on their sides. The reinforcement from the innerspring layer helps make this mattress supportive for higher-weight back sleepers, but it’s probably not firm enough to support higher-weight sleepers on their sides or stomachs.
If side sleeping is your go-to position, you’re not alone. Almost 49% of our survey respondents are side sleepers, while 17% are back sleepers and 14% are stomach sleepers.
The Nectar Premier Hybrid has excellent motion isolation for a hybrid mattress. The top foam layers help absorb movement and bounce so sleepers won’t be disturbed by their partner or pet’s movement.
We like that the innerspring coils are designed for extra edge support, giving the mattress edge an angled lip. The lip acts as a barrier when lying close to the edge, helping our testers feel secure in this position. We recommend the Nectar Premier Hybrid if you like to spread out on your mattress.
When choosing the best mattress for side sleepers, we focus on how the mattress cushions the hip and shoulder areas. Our testers immediately felt comfortable lying on their sides on the Nectar Premier Hybrid. Their shoulders and hips softly sunk into the top foam layers, helping distribute their body weight evenly and relieve pressure.
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Payment options for Nectar are American Express, MasterCard, Visa, Discover, PayPal, and Amazon Pay. Nectar offers financing through Affirm and Splitit and a lease-to-own option through Acima.
Military members, first responders, and health care professionals can get an extra 5% discount.
The Emma Hybrid Comfort is a firmer hybrid mattress. When lying on their backs on the mattress, testers felt like they stayed on the top of the mattress instead of sinking in. The top foam layers gently cradled testers, but they barely felt any hug or sinkage. Our Reviews Team rated its firmness as 7.5 out of 10.
Firm mattresses are excellent for stomach sleepers since they generally keep your hips and lower back from sinking into the mattress and out of alignment with the spine. Our testers felt the most comfortable and supported in this position since the Emma Hybrid Comfort is so firm.
While the mattress is probably too firm for lower- and average-weight side sleepers, we think higher-weight sleepers will feel supported. By sinking deeper into the mattress, higher-weight sleepers may get the right amount of pressure relief and support without the mattress feeling too firm.
The mattress was responsive and supported our testers’ movements whenever they switched positions. The responsive, bouncy surface is great for helping sleepers change positions throughout the night, but it may be too firm once they settle into the position.
Surprisingly, the mattress has good motion isolation despite how firm and bouncy it is. Testers reported feeling some movement but nothing majorly disruptive. If you need a firmer, responsive mattress, you don’t have to sacrifice motion isolation with the Emma Hybrid Comfort.
We consider the Emma Hybrid Comfort an affordable hybrid mattress. It’s the lowest-priced queen mattress from our top picks and has a generous one-year trial period. Our testers noticed the mattress stitching and materials are lower quality compared to other mattresses we tested, but overall, we think this mattress is a good deal.
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You can reach Emma customer service by:
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover are credit card payment options. Other options are Shop Pay, Diners Club, Apple Pay, Meta Pay, PayPal, Google Pay, and ZipPay. Emma offers financing through Klarna.
We like that you can choose from three firmness levels: soft, medium, and firm. Our testers tried the medium Bear Elite Hybrid, a true medium-firm mattress (6.5 out of 10) with proper support and pressure relief combination. When our testers lay on their backs, the mattress contoured to their lower backs and comfortably filled in the gap between their back and the mattress.
This mattress has zoned support, meaning the innerspring coils are explicitly designed to support different areas of the body. The coils near the center of the mattress are more flexible and responsive to support the lumbar area. The Bear Elite Hybrid is great for most sleeping positions but excels for back sleepers.
We think higher-weight sleepers will feel supported and get the right amount of pressure relief on their back and side. But, the medium option may not be firm enough for higher-weight stomach sleepers. If you’re looking for a firmer mattress, we recommend choosing the firmest Bear Elite Hybrid option or a different mattress like the Titan Plus.
Testers never felt stuck on the surface, and the bouncy, responsive mattress helped them change positions. The quilted cover creates a comfortable, plush surface, but it may be harder for some to grip to stand up from a seated position on the mattress.
The Bear Elite Hybrid looks and feels like a high-quality, luxurious mattress. Its surface is beautifully designed with plush grooves and patterns resembling clouds. The mattress cover contains Celliant, a material that was shown to increase blood flow and oxygen levels in the skin during a clinical trial involving participants who wore clothing containing Celliant.
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You can reach Bear customer service by:
Bear accepts MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, PayPal, Google Pay, and Venmo. Financing is available through Affirm and ShopPay.
The brand currently offers a 40% discount for military members, first responders, law enforcement, health care workers, and teachers. This discount can’t be combined with other promotional codes.
We think higher-weight stomach sleepers will feel supported sleeping on their back, side, or stomach on the Titan Plus. The firm foam combined with the responsive innerspring coils makes switching between positions easy. The Titan Plus is probably too firm for lighter-weight sleepers, but it may accommodate the firmness preferences of average-weight to higher-weight sleepers.
The best way to know whether a mattress supports your sleeping position, body weight, and personal preferences is to try it out yourself. Our Reviews Team offers recommendations based on firsthand testing and research, but we can’t guarantee what will support every sleeper.
For such a firm mattress, we like its soft and quilted surface. Our testers were gently cradled by the soft surface, but the quilted material made it somewhat difficult to move around. Fortunately, the strong innerspring coils give the mattress a nice bounce to help support movement. This bounce made it easy for testers to adjust to a seated position and stand up from the mattress edge.
The mattress is too firm to absorb movement, which may be a deal-breaker for sleepers easily disturbed by their partner getting in and out of bed or switching positions.
The Titan Plus is a firm hybrid mattress designed to support higher-weight sleepers. Its dense memory foam and innerspring coils offer extra support without sagging. The top layer also contains gel memory foam designed to help sleepers stay cool.
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Titan is a Brooklyn Bedding brand. You can reach Brooklyn Bedding customer service by:
Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover are credit card payment options. Shop Pay, PayPal, Amazon Pay, and Google Pay are other options. Titan offers financing through Affirm.
The company currently offers 30% off for military members, first responders, medical providers, students, and teachers. The discount code can’t be combined with other promotional codes.
Now that we know what’s in the Birch Natural mattress, let’s discuss how it performed during our tests. We immediately noticed the cool, smooth surface. When our testers lay on their backs, they were cradled by the mattress and felt more on top than sinking into it. The mattress conformed to the tester’s lower back while keeping it supported. We think most back sleepers will feel comfortable and supported on the Birch Natural mattress.
While this medium firmness is ideal for back sleepers, it may be too firm for lower- and average-weight side sleepers who need a mattress that sinks more deeply in the hip and shoulder area.
The mattress is responsive and has a nice bounce to help you switch positions. It also has a stable, strong edge that doesn’t make you feel like you’ll fall off when you’re lying close to the edge. When a tester rolled close to the edge, it pushed them back to the center.
We liked how easy it was to stand up from a seated position on the edge. Unlike other mattresses, our hands didn’t sink into the surface, which made it easier for us to get a strong grip.
Birch offers a variety of mattress removal and setup options. You can choose to remove your old mattress, adjustable base, and foundation. In-home setup is also available for a new mattress, adjustable base, and foundation. Removal and set-up costs depend on the services you choose.
The Birch Natural hybrid mattress contains 100% natural latex. All Birch mattresses are made from natural materials, such as wool and Talalay latex. Natural latex can help prevent microbe buildup and repels dust mites, making it a great hypoallergenic mattress material. Talalay latex is a breathable material, which helps prevent the Birch mattress from trapping body heat.
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You can reach Birch customer service by:
Accepted payments are MasterCard, Visa, American Express, Discover, Google Pay, Shop Pay, Amazon Pay, and PayPal. Financing through Birch is available through Affirm.
The mattress surface felt cool to the touch and didn’t warm up when multiple testers lay on the mattress to mimic a couple sharing the bed. The mattress cover and pillow top are made with cooling materials designed to absorb moisture and repel body heat. This breathable, cooling design may help hot sleepers and couples stay cool and comfortable throughout the night.
When lying on their backs, our testers felt gently cradled. They sunk into the mattress slightly, and the firmness of the innerspring coils supported their backs. The mattress supported our testers in most sleeping positions.
The Luxury Firm option may not be supportive enough for higher-weight sleepers who primarily sleep on their stomachs. The WinkBed offers a firm or plush firmness option if you’re looking for a firmer, even more supportive mattress. We recommend using The WinkBed firmness guide to help you choose the right firmness option. If you don’t like the mattress firmness you initially chose, you can exchange it for a different The WinkBed firmness option for $49.
Our Reviews Team was impressed with this mattress’s support and pressure relief. It evenly distributed our tester Alfreda’s weight when she lay on her back (pictured below). The pressure map showed no areas of pressure buildup on their back. A little pressure built up when they switched to their side, but it was nothing significant.
We were worried that the plush pillowtop would make changing positions and moving around difficult, but our tester, Alfreda, could easily switch positions with the help of the mattress’s supportive bounce.
“I thought it was less stressful to switch positions on The WinkBed mattress compared to other mattresses. I didn’t feel stuck in the mattress at all, and it was easy to flip over to one side.”
The WinkBed is another hybrid mattress with responsive bounce and good motion isolation. Testers could easily push up to a seated position and felt stable when sitting near the mattress edge.
The WinkBed hybrid mattress has four firmness options, allowing shoppers to choose the best firmness level according to their sleeping position and personal preferences. We like this customization for couples looking for a mattress that accommodates the preferences of both sleepers. Our Reviews Team tested the Luxury Firm option (6.5 out of 10 firmness), which is the most popular firmness option according to the brand.
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Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover are credit card payment options. Shop Pay and Google Pay are other options. WinkBeds offers financing through Bread Pay and Katapult.
The company currently offers $50 off for military members and their families, as well as first responders, law enforcement, and health care workers.
When choosing the best hybrid mattress, consider your sleeping position, firmness and support preferences, budget, and the length of the trial period you need. We recommend using the entire trial period to allow your body to adjust to the mattress.
The Helix Midnight Luxe is our top hybrid mattress, followed by the Nectar Premier Hybrid for side sleepers and the Emma Hybrid Comfort if you want a lower-priced hybrid mattress. Remember, what is best for our testers may not be best for you, which is why we’ve tested and rated a variety of hybrid mattresses to help you choose.
Hybrid mattresses offer the benefits of both innerspring and foam mattresses. The top foam layers cushion and contour your body, which can help relieve pressure and pain. The innerspring coils near the bottom layer make the mattress slightly bouncier and more responsive than an all-foam mattress, while the foam layers above the innerspring help absorb movement so sleepers won’t be disturbed by their partner. Generally, hybrid mattresses last longer than innerspring mattresses.
Hybrid mattresses are usually higher-priced compared to innerspring mattresses and often have poor motion isolation from the innerspring coil layer. Some sleepers may find hybrid mattresses too firm compared to all-foam mattresses.
Yes, hybrid mattresses may help relieve back pain. The foam layers help relieve pressure by contouring your body, while the innerspring layer adds a strong, firm foundation to support your back and keep your spine in alignment.
Our Reviews Team recommends the Leesa Original Hybrid as the “Best Hybrid Mattress for Back Pain.” Still, the right mattress for you depends on your sleeping position, weight, and personal preferences. Always consult your doctor about the right mattress for chronic back pain or other medical conditions.
You can put a hybrid mattress on a box spring, but we don’t recommend it. Consider using a platform bed frame, solid foundation, or slatted base for your hybrid mattress.
Box springs are specifically designed for innerspring mattresses, but hybrid mattresses don’t need the extra coils from a box spring. Once you’ve narrowed your choices, check the brand’s manufacturer guidelines and warranty to see if the hybrid mattress has specific base requirements.
Have questions about this review? Email us at reviewsteam@ncoa.org.
