Price vs. Value
If you're looking for the lowest priced mattress at the best value, you are not alone. Mattresses are a big expense, but with better financing options and higher value mattress in a box options, there are many options available for you. However, with horror stories posted everywhere about poor quality, dipping mattresses, or mattresses with poor odour, it is important to find the right value for your money rather than just the cheapest option.
Some of the lowest priced mattresses are memory foam and all-foam mattresses because of the relatively low expense to manufacture foam. That said, there are plenty of substandard mattresses out there. How do you find out the difference between good foam and bad foam mattresses? Read on...
What Makes A Quality Mattress?
Foam has some of the widest range of manufacturing processes. Because foam is manufactured with various synthetic chemicals and processes, foam that is made faster or with cheaper ingredients can increase profit margins drastically, but not necessarily increase comfort. These questionable foams aren't always better for you either. Some foam mattresses can have toxic off-gassing and break down faster. One of the best ways to find the right foam mattress is to review their certifications. The market leader of low-emission foam is the certiPUR standard. If your mattress isn't certiPUR certified, it may be made with foam that is low quality and off-gassing toxic chemicals. Another way to protect yourself is to read customer reviews and learn about durability concerns. If customers complain about the mattress dipping or having issues with odour, this may be a sign about poor manufacturing and problem ingredients.
What Makes a Superior Cheap Mattress?
The best value isn't always the lowest priced. However, some of the best brands still offer certified foams for a low overall cost and offer financing options that can help soften the upfront expense. These brands stand by their mattresses by letting you try them. Mattresses like Nectar offer significant amounts of value for the price while still offering certified foams and a generous trial.
#1 Nectar
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Nectar offers one of the best values for mattresses available in the UK. Their mattresses focus on a universally comfortable medium-firmness and designs that offer 100% carbon neutrality, certified by ClimatePartner. With 5 mattresses offering both all-foam and pocket-spring technology, they offer benefits like added cooling with open-cell technology and spine-cradling zoned support. With a generous 365 day home trial, forever warranty, and low entry price, this brand is a must to consider.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 9.8/10
Customer Satisfaction: 9.7/10
Price Value: 9.8/10
Back Support: 9.4/10
Price: £475-£1075
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#2 Dreamcloud
DreamCloud is a high value for the money luxury pocket sprung mattress. Similar to other pillow top style mattresses available at mattress retailers, the DreamCloud's claim to fame is its fluffy top layers. However, shoppers appreciate that the design is more focused on long term support than common retail options. Overall, customers describe a well-balanced medium-firm comfort similar to the feel of a luxury hotel, but with added support.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 9.7/10
Customer Satisfaction: 9.6/10
Price Value: 9.7/10
Back Support: 9.3/10
Price: £949-£1899
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#3 Emma
Emma is a popular British mattress in a box company. They offer 4 different mattresses: the Emma Original Mattress, Emma Hybrid Mattress, Emma Premium Mattress, and their newest Emma Luxe Cooling Mattress. Their mattresses are made with quality foam (and pocket springs in the Premium, Hybrid, and Luxe Cooling mattresses). With high marks from many happy customers, these mattresses are ideal for those looking for well-balanced comfort.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 9.3/10
Customer Satisfaction: 9.3/10
Price Value: 9.2/10
Back Support: 9.2/10
Price: £311-£2398
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#4 Simba
Simba is a popular mattress company that has its roots in the thread business. Overtime, they developed mattresses based on data from over 10 million sleepers with 180 million data points. This wealth of sleeper data helped them create an extensive collection of mattresses: the Simba Hybrid®, Simba Hybrid Pro®, Simba Hybrid Luxe®, Simba Hybrid® Essential, Simbatex® Foam, Simbatex® Essential Foam, Simba GO - Green Organic, and the Simba Hybrid® Ultra mattress. Customers report loving the Hybrid Pro the most for its balanced pressure relief and support. See our Sleep Country guide for North American offerings.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 9.2/10
Customer Satisfaction: 9.4/10
Price Value: 9.2/10
Back Support: 9.2/10
Price: £399-£4499
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#5 Silentnight
Silentnight is one of Britain's most popular budget mattress brands. It has 'Superbrand' status as a nationally recognised name. In terms of mattresses, they focus on pocket sprung and all-foam mattress varieties in a selection of firmnesses, and offer eco-friendly options too. Their most popular mattresses are often slimmer pocket sprung choices, with their newest Just Sleep brand delivering high-value to customers within 48 hours.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 8.7/10
Customer Satisfaction: 8.6/10
Price Value: 8.9/10
Back Support: 8.7/10
Price: £179-£1469
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#6 Tempur
Tempur® mattresses became famous with the memory foam mattress revolution that they helped create. Over the years, their mattresses have grown to include pocket spring varieties along with their slow response foam options. They remain popular with customers and receive mostly good customer sentiment despite their higher prices, but there are recent reports of degrading support in some cases.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 8.6/10
Customer Satisfaction: 8.7/10
Price Value: 8.6/10
Back Support: 8.8/10
Price: £1249-£3399+
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#7 Hyde And Sleep
Hyde and Sleep is a subsidiary of Dreams Ltd, the well-known mattress retailer. The Hyde and Sleep mattress is the Dreams answer to the mattress in a box revolution. Rather than providing one 'universally comfortable mattress,' Hyde and Sleep has three mattress firmnesses to choose from. With layers of foam and extra support from springs, Hyde and Sleep gets good initial reception from customers.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 8.4/10
Customer Satisfaction: 8.4/10
Price Value: 8.4/10
Back Support: 8.5/10
Price: £599-£1299
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#8 Sleepeezee
Sleepeezee is a pocket sprung mattress brand that features a variety of lines sold at popular retailers across the UK. Their mattresses offer a wide array of comfort layer options, such as natural fillings, proprietary fibres, and Staycool™ gel. With a multiplicity of firmness options, most customers have good things to say with some disagreements about feel and durability in some cases.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 8.4/10
Customer Satisfaction: 8.4/10
Price Value: 8.5/10
Back Support: 8.8/10
Price: £240-£2499
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#9 Relyon
Founded in 1858 by a family of wool merchants, Relyon manufactures both luxury and budget mattresses that are sold online and across retailers in the UK and Europe. Relyon creates pocket sprung and all foam mattresses that feature both synthetic and natural fillings such as wool, silk, and cashmere. In some cases, customers have positive feedback when it comes to initial comfort, but there were some who also brought up durability concerns.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 8.4/10
Customer Satisfaction: 8.7/10
Price Value: 8.2/10
Back Support: 8.7/10
Price: £299-£3669+
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#10 Dormeo
Dormeo is a popular mattress brand in the UK and Europe with over 50 mattress models to choose from. They revolutionised the industry with their creation of the Octaspring® all-foam coil, which provides targeted support while ensuring essential cooling and pressure relief. Since then, they have added pocket sprung, traditional all-foam, and latex mattress varieties too. Customers generally like their mattresses, but there have been some complaints about durability. See our US site for North American shoppers.
Cheap Mattress Score
Overall Score for Cheap: 8.3/10
Customer Satisfaction: 8.6/10
Price Value: 8.1/10
Back Support: 8.5/10
Price: £229-£3149
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