I'm a Sleep Editor, and these are the 6 best memory foam pillows I've tested

If you're looking for the best memory foam pillow, it's likely that you're a sleeper who prefers firm support under your head.

If so, a memory foam pillow is a great choice, especially if you sleep on your side. That's because when lying down, the ideal pillow should keep our head, neck, and spine in the same position they would be in if we were standing perfectly upright.

Our heads are heavy, and memory foam's dense structure can provide the high loft and firm support that we need in this sleeping position, making it one of the best pillows for a side sleeper.

However, not all memory foam pillows are created equal. As Ideal Home's Sleep Editor, I've spent the last four years sleep-testing over 50 pillows to find the best pillows overall. Having slept on each pillow in this round-up (and many more that didn't make the grade), this is my shortlist of the best memory foam pillows on the market.

The quick list

Short on time? This quick list is an overview of the very best memory foam pillows I've tested. You'll find more information on why I recommend each one if you keep on scrolling.

Best memory foam pillow overall

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If you're a side sleeper, then as long as this pillow is the right height for you, (because it only comes in one height option), I think this is one of the best memory foam pillows on the market. It's also one of the best value memory foam pillows you can buy, yet the attention to detail in its design makes it feel far more premium than any comparable memory foam pillow at this price point.

Its memory foam core is medium-firm, so I found it had a nice amount of squish when I slept on it (none of the 'sleeping on a brick' feel that I encountered with other memory foam pillows at this price point), but it still offered enough height and density that it kept my head well supported in alignment with my neck when I slept on my side.

All memory foam pillows sleep warmer than a wool or feather-and-down filled pillow, especially if you're a hot sleeper like me, but I found this budget buy did sleep cooler than most, perhaps down to the removable and washable bamboo that zips neatly around the shaped inner core.

The final plus point is Panda's 30-night sleep trial. It can take a while to get used to a new pillow, and it's important to make sure it offers the right height and support for your needs. That sleep trial means there's plenty of time to test this option out before you commit to keeping it, and if you're a side sleeper, I highly recommend giving it a try.

Our Panda Memory Foam pillow review has more detail.

Best memory foam pillow for side sleepers

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First things first, this pillow is expensive. Very expensive in my book. However, I have had some of my best nights' sleep on this pillow, and I think that's likely because it comes in three height options: a 10, 11.5, or 13cm height.

I'm 5'9", and as a side sleeper with wider shoulders, I need a higher pillow that can fill the gap between my ear and the mattress when I'm lying on my side. I tested the 11.5cm depth and found it just right for me; taller sleepers will appreciate the 13.5cm depth.

Another bonus is the pillow's ergonomic shape, which makes it suitable for both side and back sleepers. However, it's worth noting you'll need a lower height pillow for back sleeping than for side sleeping. I found the 11.5cm the perfect height when laid on my side, but it lifted my head a little too high for comfortable back sleeping. But as long as you choose the right height, its curved shape is very comfortable for back sleeping, supporting the head and neck to keep the airway open during the night (which should help to prevent snoring).

Its feel is denser and heavier than any other memory foam pillow in this round up, but it's still very cushioning and moulded to the contours of my head and neck whilst I slept, and its 'SmartCool' cover is exactly that. It feels cool to the touch and offers a much cooler sleep than any other memory foam pillow I've tested. A 30-night sleep trial also makes that high-ticket investment a lot less risky.

Best memory foam pillow for back sleepers

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If you're a back sleeper, I think this is the best memory foam pillow for you. It has a squishier inner core than most other memory foam pillows I've tested, and that means a lower loft that suits back sleeping well.

It might also suit you if you're a side sleeper with narrower shoulders, although sadly, it only comes in one height, and I found it just a little too low to support my head at the correct height when lying on my side. That's a shame, because it's also the most luxurious memory foam pillow I've come across.

I've tested a lot of memory foam pillows that didn't make this shortlist because they felt very 'block' like under my head – fine for half an hour, but during the night, they became uncomfortably hard. In contrast, this pillow offers sink-in comfort that almost rivals a feather and down pillow.

That's largely down to its silky bamboo rayon cover and the quilting inside, which softens up the memory foam core and adds a more premium feel. That quilting also offers a little extra cooling. It's more expensive than Panda's other memory foam pillow at the top of this list, but I could immediately see why this pillow costs more. A 30-night sleep trial will help you decide whether you think it's worth the extra investment.

Get the full details in our Panda Hybrid Bamboo Pillow review.

Best memory foam pillow for side and back sleepers

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It's all very well finding the best memory foam pillow for side sleeping, or the best memory foam pillow for back sleeping, but what if you're someone who chops and changes between both sleeping positions during the night?

Enter the Kally Sleep Neck Pain pillow. It's a very firm pillow that's designed to offer stable support to those with neck pain, and its clever butterfly shape has a lower, curved centre section to cradle the head and neck whilst back sleeping and higher areas on each side to support the head when side sleeping.

It took a little while for me to get used to its firm feel, but I soon discovered this pillow's support is second to none, and that made for a great night's sleep as my head, neck, and spine stayed in alignment whilst I tossed and turned from my side to my back during the night.

The only downside is that this pillow only comes in one height. It's just high enough for me at 5'9" and thanks to its design it will suit those who are shorter, but it may be a little too low for those with wider shoulders to side sleep comfortably. I'd love to see if available in different size options. I'd also like it to be just a little bigger, as although it fitted my body perfectly, it is small, and it looked very lost inside a pillowcase on the bed.

Personally, I think it's well worth making the most of its 14-night sleep trial and giving this pillow a try. It's one of the best I've tested.

Our Kally Sleep Neck Pain Pillow review has more detail.

Best soft memory foam pillow

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The Simba Hybrid Pillow is fairly unusual. It's denser than your average microfibre or hollowfibre pillow, but softer than most memory foam pillows. That's because instead of the inner core of the Hybrid Pillow being one large block like most memory foam pillows, it's made up of hundreds of small foam cubes, or 'nanocubes' as Simba calls them.

Not only do these small pieces of blue foam give the pillow a softer, lighter, and airier feel than most memory foam pillows, but you can also unzip the inner core of the pillow and remove them. This means that you can adjust the height of the pillow to the exact depth to suit your body frame. It's an ingenious concept, and one that has earned this pillow a lot of diehard fans since its launch.

Personally, I found this pillow a little hard to get used to as I found the cubes tended to bunch in areas I didn't particularly want them to under my head, and I found the 'cooling' cover a little bulky and uncomfortable. But I've given it to plenty of friends and family to test out, and a lot of them love it, especially those sleepers who prefer a softer feeling pillow but don't want to opt for feather and down for ethical reasons.

Luckily, Simba offers a 30 night sleep trial, so if you too prefer a softer feeling pillow and like the idea of being able ot adjust its heigth; this is defintiely a good option to test out for yourself at home.

Our Simba Hybrid Pillow review explains more.

Best classic memory foam pillow

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In my opinion, the main downside of a memory foam pillow is that it doesn't look *that* great on the bed. Admittedly, this isn't the main reason most of us are investing in a pillow – we're generally looking for comfort instead – but most memory foam pillows are rectangular blocks, and if you're into your bedscaping, that means they can't compare to a feather and down pillow for aesthetics.

That is, unless it's the Tempur Cloud Pillow. This memory foam pillow is one-of-a-kind in that it emulates a classic pillow shape. That means it fits a pillowcase well, and it's far softer and more malleable than most memory foam pillows, which means you can scrunch it up into whatever shape you find most comfortable at night.

This malleability makes it versatile. It's fairly low loft, so it suits back sleepers best out of the box, but I found I could squish it up to make it a good height for side sleeping too. It also comes in two firmness options: soft and medium. I tested the medium, and I really enjoyed sleeping on it, although I wouldn't say it gave quite as much support when side sleeping as a firmer 'block-shaped' memory foam pillow, as it's less stable.

The downside – beyond the fact that its name is a little misleading, as this pillow is *super* heavy and could do some actual damage in a pillow fight! – is its price. It's a definite investment. But, there's a sleep trial on offer, and it's unique enough to *almost* justify its high price tag. After all, we could argue good night's sleep is priceless.

How I tested

Amy Lockwood

I'm Amy, Ideal Home's Sleep Editor and Certified Expert. I've spent the last four years testing sleep products by night and sharing my findings with our readers by day. That includes sleeping on more than 50 different pillows (and counting) to find the best in class. All in all, that's over 10,000 hours of at-home pillow testing under my belt.

Before creating this guide to the best memory foam pillows, I slept on each pillow for at least two weeks on my own bed. I'm an active sleeper who tends to change position during the night, usually starting off on my back before switching to my side.

As well as noting how comfortable each pillow was in each sleep position, as a hot sleeper, I paid attention to how warm each pillow slept, and if it caused my head to get hot or stayed cool and fresh.

Plus, I considered whether each pillow comes in multiple height options, how easy it was to care for, whether it came with a sleep trial, and its value for money. This guide includes only those six memory foam pillows that performed the very best during my tests.

How to choose a memory foam pillow

Sleep position: The most important factor in how to choose a pillow is considering your sleeping position before you shop. If you're a side sleeper, you'll want a firmer, higher pillow that can keep your head and neck in alignment with your spine as you sleep. If you're a back sleeper, you'll want a lower and perhaps slightly more cushioned pillow that will cradle the back of your neck.

Height options: If you're a side sleeper, you may also want to consider opting for a memory foam pillow that's available in different height options. That's because you need a pillow that will fit the gap between your ear and the edge of your shoulder for your head, neck, and spine to be in their optimum sleep posture, and because all of our bodies are built differently, that means a one-size pillow doesn't fit all. You might be lucky and find one of the single height pillows on this list that fits your body frame, but if your shoulders are wider or narrower than 'average', a pillow that comes in multiple depths or heights is more likely to offer you the ideal pillow loft you need.

Cooling technology: 'Old school' memory foam was notorious for making sleepers very hot. That's because its dense structure didn't allow for airflow, and this lack of breathability meant body heat was reflected back towards the sleeper, resulting in a very hot and sweaty sleep. All of the options in my round-up employ some kind of cooling technology to combat this; whether that's open-cell memory foam that allows for improved air flow, graphite-infusions that draw heat away from the sleeper, 'phase-change' technology that promises the same, or cooling covers designed to wick away body heat before it reaches the pillow core. Memory foam pillows that feature some kind of cooling 'tech' are generally a little more expensive, but having tested plenty of alternatives, I think they're well worth a slightly higher price tag to not be turning your pillow over every 20 minutes to escape the heat.

Sleep trial: Whilst a pillow might seem like a simple purchase, because of our individual sleep needs, one size doesn't fit all. For this reason, opting for a pillow that comes with a sleep trial can save you a lot of money on 'wrong choices'. It's very hard to judge whether you'll like a pillow before you sleep on it, and a sleep trial allows you to do just that. Generally, a pillow sleep trial ranges from 14 nights to 30 nights; a month is a nice amount of time to work out if a pillow is right for you, but any sleep trial is far better than none, especially considering most memory foam pillows are a significant investment.

Washable covers: When it comes to how to wash a pillow, I haven't encountered any memory foam pillows that can come in contact with water; instead, many memory foam pillows have removable covers you can unzip and wash instead. Whether your chosen pillow comes with a removable cover may not be a deal breaker as you can add a pillow protector and pillowcase to any pillow to help keep it clean, but it's a nice extra feature to have.

Price: Your budget is, of course, also going to play into your choice of memory foam pillow. In general, memory foam does tend to be a more expensive filling than a polyester microfibre or hollowfibre pillow, and on a par with feather and down. Memory foam pillows tend to start at around £45 and go up to a staggering £150. Is an expensive pillow worth it? It can be, it tends to mean you get more choice in the memory foam pillow's height and feel, a sleep trial, and more cooling technology, which can all make a significant difference to how well you sleep.

FAQs

Is memory foam the best filling for a pillow?

No, memory foam isn't necessarily the best filling for a pillow, it all depends on your sleep requirements. If you're a side sleeper then memory foam can be a particularly good filling as it offers more height and firmer support to keep your head raised in alignment with your neck and spine, particularly in comparison to a softer feather and down pillow, or a polyester microfibre or hollowfibre pillow.

However, I've found a firm foam pillow, such as the Levitex Sleep Posture Pillow can give memory foam a run for its money. A high-resilience foam such as this isn't temperature reactive, so it doesn't mould to your head like a memory foam pillow can, meaning it offers more stable support which is good for those with neck pain.

Is memory foam better than a feather and down pillow?

If you're looking to invest in a good pillow, memory foam is a popular choice. In my opinion, it can't compete with a high-quality Hungarian goose feather and down pillow in terms of luxurious comfort, but then it doesn't aim to.

Whereas a feather and down pillow is soft and squishy, offering sink-in comfort, a memory foam pillow is designed to offer firm support and a high loft, making it a better choice for side sleepers.

You can find out more about the difference between the two fillings in our guide to memory foam vs feather pillows.

Which brand of memory foam pillow is best?

During my tests, there were a couple of clear winners for best memory foam pillow brand: Panda for its relatively affordable memory foam pillows, and Tempur for its wide range of height options and variation in feel.

However, I also highly rate Kally Sleep for its ergonomically designed Neck Pain Pillow, and Simba for its softer take on a memory foam pillow.

Notably all of these brands have made significant efforts to add cooling technologies to their memory foam pillows so that they don't cause overheating. I found this was the biggest difference between these bestselling brand names, and budget or own-brand memory foam pillows available on the high street.