I've spent the last two years testing the best budget mattresses under £500 – these are my top picks for an affordable but comfortable sleep
If you're looking for a cheaper mattress, these are the ones to shop
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If you're looking for the best budget mattress, you're in the right place. As Ideal Home's Sleep Editor, I've spent the last two years testing out the most affordable mattresses on the market.
Myself and our mattress testing experts, Jenny, Rachel, and Annie have slept on multiple low-cost mattresses in our homes to find our top recommendations for a double mattress that costs under £500.
That includes £150 mattresses from Zinus, sleep surfaces for under £250 from IKEA, Bensons for Beds, and Dreams, and bestselling entry-level mattresses from DreamCloud, REM-Fit, Emma, and Simba that stretched our £500 budget to its maximum.
Whilst none of the budget mattresses we tested could compete with the best mattress on the market (sadly, spending upwards of £800 will result in better support), we found that some cheaper mattresses are most definitely better than others.
In this guide, I share our four top recommendations if you're on the hunt for the best budget mattress.
The quick list
Three of the best affordable mattresses we've tested are listed below. You'll find more information on each mattress and why I recommend it if you keep on scrolling.
RRP: £499 for a double
At £499 for a double, this hybrid mattress combines a memory foam top layer and pocket spring support to offer a cushioned yet supportive sleep surface that impressed side and back sleeper, Rachel, during testing. Combined with good motion isolation, decent breathability, a long sleep trial, and good edge support, I think it's the best budget mattress on the market.
RRP: £399 for a double
If you want to save a little more money, this medium-firm Simba mattress comes in at under £399 for a double, and despite being foam-only with no springs in sight, it still offers a lot of the features we've come to know and love from Simba. It is only available to buy via Amazon, but Simba still honours its usual 200-night sleep trial.
RRP: £219.99 for a double
If your budget for a double mattress is under £250, then this affordable pocket-spring mattress offered the best support of all the lowest price point options we tested. We tried the firm tension (which wasn't quite as firm as we would have liked), but it also comes in a medium feel, and we loved the fact that it features recycled materials.
Best budget mattresses
Best budget mattress overall
At £499 for a double, this mattress pushed our 'under £500' budget to its max, but, overall, I still think the DreamCloud Hybrid mattress is very good value for money.
This is a hybrid mattress with a pocket spring base and memory foam top layer, and reviewer Rachel was impressed by its comfort levels. 'The cushioning of this mattress can't be faulted,' says Rachel, 'I slept so well on my side on it. And when I slept on my back, I found it was firm enough to prevent my hips and lower back from dipping too low, but offered ample cushioning to support my lower back.'
This firmer level of tension is something the team has struggled to find in mattresses below the £500 price point. 'It's firmer tension meant that the lower back pain that I often experience after running didn’t bother me at all for the month when I slept on this mattress,' says Rachel.
The DreamCloud Hybrid's motion isolation also scored well, 'my husband often comes to bed later than me,' says Rachel, 'and on some mattresses the movement reverberation of him getting in wakes me, but not on this mattress.' Rachel also rated the mattress's temperature regulation and found its edge support to be the best of all the budget mattresses the team has tested. 'That meant when the kids climbed into our bed, I could lie right on its edge without any feeling I was about to roll out,' Rachel shares.
All in all, if you're looking for the best budget mattress for around the £500 mark, this is my top recommendation.
Our DreamCloud Hybrid mattress review has the full lowdown.
Best under £400 mattress
The Simbatex Cool Mattress is an Amazon-exclusive, and at £399 for a double, it's far more budget-friendly than most Simba mattresses. That lower price point does mean there are some compromises, especially compared to our top-rated Simba Hybrid Mattress, which retails at £899. However, our tester, Annie, was still impressed by this budget buy's performance.
In fact, at the end of the testing period, Annie chose to keep the Simbatex Cool on her bed and donate the more expensive mattress she and her husband had previously been sleeping on; you can't get much higher praise than that.
'As a back and side sleeper, I found this medium-firm sleep surface very comfortable,' says Annie. 'I especially enjoyed its light cushioning around my shoulder and hip when I lay on my side.'
Unlike Simba's usual hybrid mattresses that combine springs and memory foam, this mattress is foam only. That can mean it doesn't offer heavier sleepers as much support as the hybrid DreamCloud mattress above, but, as Annie found out, there are also some plus points to its construction.
'My husband and I really appreciated this mattress's motion isolation,' says Annie, 'on this mattress we didn't notice when one of us in the bed tossed or turned. Plus, it has a nice amount of bounce to say it lacks springs.'
The downsides? Annie felt it didn't quite live up to its 'cool' name. 'It didn't actively cause us to overheat like many all-foam mattresses, but it wasn't as cooling and breathable as I would have liked either,' she says. Plus, 'its edge support is lacking,' says Annie, 'that meant my leg could sometimes slip out of bed when I was pushed to the edge by our star-fishing toddler!'
You need to order this mattress via Amazon, rather than directly from Simba, which means slightly less customer service support. However, it's good to know that you can still pay a little extra for delivery to your room of choice, and that Simba's usual 200-night sleep trial still applies.
Find out more in Annie's full Simba Simbatex Cool Mattress review.
Best under £250 mattress
Perhaps unsurprisingly, once I dropped our mattress purchasing budget to under £250, I found it became a struggle to find a mattress that fulfilled all of our testing criteria. However, all in all, the Bensons for Beds Simply Support Pocket Sprung mattress proved itself to be the best of the under £250 crop, and at just £219.99 for a double and £199.99 for a single, it's very reasonably priced.
Like all the mattresses Rachel, Jenny, and I tested at this price point, it lacks the support of more expensive options. However, it's available in two tension options – medium and firm – and Rachel found the firmest option to offer more support than similarly priced competition, such as the £229 IKEA VALEVÅG Pocket Sprung mattress a little lower down this list.
'It's a no-frills mattress,' says Rachel, 'and as someone who prefers a firm mattress, I often find that cheaper mattresses don’t provide the support to the spine that I like, however, this one did better than most. It was comfortable, and I slept well on it, as did my husband.'
The downsides? 'I could feel when my husband rolled over in the night, and it didn't offer the memory foam cushioning that the DreamCloud Hybrid mattress does, so my hip and shoulder weren't as comfortable when I was side sleeping.' says Rachel. However, it has decent edge support for a sub-£250 mattress, and I love the fact that the pocket spring support is padded with 75% recycled PET polyester – it's great to see a more environmentally-friendly budget mattress.'
Rachel's full Bensons for Beds Simply Support Pocket Sprung mattress review has more detail.
4. Best IKEA budget mattress
If I'm looking to kit out a room on a budget, IKEA is the first place I head to, and unlike most of our options, if you have an IKEA store in your area (and big enough transport), it's one of the few places you can test out and take home a mattress on the same day. (Very useful if you're trying to time a mattress delivery with moving-in day).
As such, I wanted to figure out which is the best under £500 IKEA mattress, and the IKEA VALEVÅG mattress proved itself to be the best of the brand's low-priced range. Plus, at just £229 for a double, it's *very* reasonably priced.
However, it isn't perfect. Similar to all the mattresses Rachel, Jenny, and I tested at this price point, it feels softer than I'd hoped, even though it's also available in two tension options. If you're looking for a slightly firmer mattress for under £250, the Bensons for Beds Simply Support Pocket Sprung mattress above offers slightly more support, but if you prefer a soft mattress, then IKEA's VALEVÅG is a decent alternative.
As such, the VALEVÅG will likely lack enough support for heavier-weight sleepers, and its edge support and motion isolation were also lacking, but this was the case with all of the mattresses we tested in the under £400 price bracket.
That said, I was impressed by the mattress's combination of affordability and comfort. As Rachel says, 'This mattress looks quite basic, but on testing, its no-frills design pleasantly surprised me. The more I slept on it, the more I liked it. The cushioned top layer provided a decent level of comfort for my hip and shoulder when I lay on my side, and I felt it gave a decent level of support compared to similarly priced options I tested.'
Our IKEA VALEVÅG pocket sprung mattress has more detail.
Also tested
Budget mattress quick comparison
Mattress | Price (Double) | Ideal Home Review Rating (out of 5) | Mattress Depth | Sleep Trial | Delivery Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
£499 | 25cm | 200 nights | room of choice | ||
£399 | 23cm | 200 nights | room of choice | ||
£449 | 20cm | 200 nights | room of choice | ||
£219.99 | 22cm | 40 night exchange | room of choice | ||
£229 | 24cm | 365 day exchange | room of choice | ||
£289 | 22cm | 200 nights | doorstep only | ||
£179 | 18cm | 100 day exchange | room of choice | ||
£449 | 25cm | 200 nights | room of choice | ||
£150 | 20cm | none | room of choice |
How I tested
All the mattresses in this round-up have been put through Ideal Home's mattress testing process by either myself, Rachel, Jenny, or Annie from our team of expert reviewers. That means we slept on each mattress at home in real-life conditions, for at least a month before writing our reviews.
During the review process, each mattress is tested for comfort, motion isolation, responsiveness, temperature regulation, and edge support.
In rating each mattress, we also consider whether the manufacturer offers a sleep trial and assess ease of care, the mattress delivery process, value for money, and any third-party reviews.
Meet our testing team
I'm Amy, Ideal Home's Sleep Editor and Certified Expert in all things sleep-related. I'm a hot sleeper who switches between side and front sleeping, and I've spent the last five years testing mattresses from all the leading mattress brands, sleeping on hybrid, memory foam, and sprung mattresses.
I'm Rachel, a side-sleeping mother of two and a mattress testing pro who sometimes suffers from neck and lower back pain. I tested out multiple affordable mattresses for Ideal Home to find the best budget-friendly buys.
I'm Jenny, a side sleeper who struggles with overheating and shoulder tension at night. I'm also a mother of two young kids who has 10 years of experience as a product reviewer specialising in home appliances, smart tech, and mattresses.
I'm Annie, and I've spent the past seven years testing all sorts of homeware products for Ideal Home, from mattresses to vacuums and everything in between. I'm also Mum to a 2.5-year-old who often does her fair share of mattress testing, since she currently sleeps in between my husband and me every night of the week!
FAQs
What's the most comfortable budget mattress?
What's the most comfortable budget mattress? Well, that does, of course, depend on what your budget is.
For this guide, I set our mattress purchasing budget at £500, and within that price bracket, we found the DreamCloud Hybrid Mattress to be the most comfortable of all the budget mattresses we've tested.
If your budget is smaller, then the Bensons for Beds Simply Support Pocket Sprung Mattress is the most comfortable mattress we've tested for under £250.
Is a cheap mattress OK?
I'd love to say that you can secure yourself a good night's sleep, whatever your budget, but in reality, I've found there's a big difference between the mattresses we've tested that are under £500 and those we've tested that are closer to £1000 and above.
The main difference between a cheaper mattress and a more expensive mattress is support. The cheaper mattresses I've tested – i.e. those between £150 and £500 – have all been far softer and far less supportive than those over the £500 price mark.
Largely, that's down to manufacturers using fewer materials in cheaper mattresses. You will get fewer springs, less cushioning, and fewer advanced technologies to help with temperature regulation, motion isolation, or edge support in a cheap mattress.
So, yes, cheap mattresses are OK, but, sadly, they're not going to offer the same quality, support, or comfort as a more expensive option.
When's the best time to buy a mattress cheaply?
As Ideal Home's Sleep Editor, I've been tracking the prices of mattresses for the past four years, and Black Friday deals at the end of November are generally the time you can score a mattress for a lot less than its usual retail price. Often a *lot* less.
For example, this year, Black Friday saw Simba offer up to 30% off its bestselling mattresses, Emma offering up to 30% off, and plenty more mattress retailers ran big discounts too.
The other big opportunity to save is in the January sales. At this time of year, you can find especially good discounts on older models as brands prepare to launch new ranges. Older models may not have all the bells and whistle of newly launched collections, but they can still offer a great nights sleep for a budget price tag.
Are expensive mattresses worth it?
Is an expensive mattress worth it? After testing multiple cheaper mattresses in order to compile this guide, I can say a resounding yes, a more expensive mattress is going to be of better quality and offer you better support than a cheap mattress.
However, what one person considers 'expensive' can differ greatly from another person's idea of 'expensive'.
At the lowest end of the price spectrum, around the £150-£400 mark, all of the mattresses we tested felt quite soft and lacked the support of more expensive options. They also tended to lack edge support, had some issues with poor motion isolation, or were lacking in features like good temperature regulation. As you might expect, they felt lower quality overall.
At the £500-£700 price bracket, things started to get better, but there was still a noticeable difference between mattresses at this price point, and the type of mattress you can get if you spend between £800 and £1500.
If you can, a mattress is one purchase where I would recommend stretching your budget as much as possible. However, if that isn't an option, you can still find a good night's sleep, and this guide will help.
