Best pillows – tried and tested for side, front and back sleepers

The Simba Hybrid pillow is a great all-rounder thanks to its adjustable fill which means you can alter the pillow's loft to best suit your sleep style. That means it works for front, back, *and* side sleepers. It also makes it a great option for overnight guests (if you can bear to part with it).

If you like a firmer place to rest your head then we think this is the crème de la crème of memory foam pillows. Its cooler-than-most sleep surface even converted our most memory foam-averse reviewers, with many saying they now won't sleep without it.

If you prefer natural materials over synthetics, then this wool-filled pillow with a quilted cotton case is a great buy. Plus, wool's naturally breathable qualities make it perfect for hot sleepers. Similar to the Simba pillow, it can also be unzipped to add or remove filling to adjust the height.

Thanks to its adjustable fill, the Simba Hybrid pillow is the top choice of many of our side sleeping testers. This genius concept means you have the ability to add or remove the foam 'nanocubes' inside the pillow to make it the exact right height for you. If you like a soft pillow and are a side sleeper with fairly narrow shoulders, we think this could be your new favourite pillow. However, although you can buy extra nanocubes to increase the pillow's loft further, side sleepers with wider shoulders may find it too low for optimal comfort, in which case read on to our next choice.

Side sleepers with wider shoulders need a pillow with more height to keep the head and neck aligned. A boxwall memory foam pillow is a great option as it has more loft than your average pillow and will stay a consistent height overnight rather than becoming compacted. That said, not everyone loves the firmer feel of memory foam, which is why the Panda Hybrid Bamboo pillow comes so highly recommended. Its memory foam inner is a little squishier than most, delivering height without sacrificing comfort. As a result it converted even our most memory foam-averse side sleepers.

For that 'hotel' sleep experience it's hard to beat a feather and down pillow. If you're a side sleeper on the hunt for a great feather and down option, this Scooms pillow is the best we've come across. Thanks to a denser goose feather inner core surrounded by a squashier goose down outer, it has a higher loft than most, making it a great height for side sleeping, and its tightly woven sateen cotton case not only makes it dust-mite and down-proof (so no escaping feathers) but keeps it super plump so you don't sink too low in the night. It's classic shape also looks great in a pillowcase.

Similar to the Simba Hybrid Pillow with its adjustable foam 'nanocubes', Woolroom's Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow has a quilted cover that you can unzip to adjust the amount of wool filling inside. You can buy more wool fill to increase the pillow height if needed, but we found the default medium loft to be a great height for back sleepers. Even better, the pillow is made from sustainable and naturally biodegradable materials. And, if you regularly wake up with a hot head, this pillow will help. It's perfect for hot sleepers thanks to wool's naturally breathable thermoregulating qualities.

If you're a back sleeper who enjoys a firm sleep surface then this high-density memory foam option, the Kally Sleep Neck Pain Pillow, could be one of the best pillows for you. It's designed to help side and back sleepers with neck pain, but once they adjusted to its firmness, our testers with no existing neck problems were just as impressed by its ergonomic shape that cradles the neck to offer optimum support during the night. It's also a great buy if you tend to switch positions during the night, with slightly higher headrests on either side of the pillow to cater for comfortable side sleeping too.

This plump feather and down pillow looks great on the bed, and offers the perfect mix of squish and support. We tested the 'soft' version of the pillow which felt as dreamy as a cloud to lay our heads on, and turned out to be the perfect feather and down pillow for back sleepers, as once the weight of your head has expelled some air from the pillow, it becomes just the right height to keep the neck and spine aligned nicely. It won't be suitable for vegans, but both the feather and down are sourced from cruelty-free suppliers.

This lightly filled feather and down pillow is ideal for front sleepers who need a super soft, low loft pillow that won't raise the head too far from the bed. Whilst you'll only want one of the two-pack Duck Feather & Down Medium pillows under your head at any one time, the airy duck feather and down fill is super squashy and ideal for getting comfortable on your front.

If you're a front sleeper who would prefer to avoid animal by-products then Simba's Hybrid pillow comes to the rescue yet again. This versatile all-rounder is height-adjustable so you can remove as many of the foam 'nanocubes' inside the pillow as necessary to create the perfect height pillow for your front-sleeping needs. There's also a handy bag included for storing the excess foam filling.

Another great option, and similar to the Simba Hybrid Pillow with its adjustable foam 'nanocubes', Woolroom's Deluxe Washable Wool Pillow has a quilted cover that you can unzip to adjust the amount of wool filling inside. It sleeps firmer than our other two front sleeping options, but that naturally breathable wool fill is ideal for hot sleepers, plus its sustainable and naturally biodegradable materials make it a winner for us.

Memory foam pillows often divide opinion, with some loving the adaptive sleep surface and others less keen on the firmer feel. However, the Panda Hybrid Bamboo pillow converted even our most memory foam-averse reviewers, with this pillow scoring highly amongst all testers, especially our side sleepers. The cool and silky bamboo rayon top layer gives the pillow a luxurious feel, and our side sleeping testers found the malleable memory foam inner brilliant for spinal alignment. In fact, several of our reviewers said they wouldn't sleep without it.

This one-of-kind pillow again converted even our memory foam cynics thanks to its dreamy sink-in sleep surface. Unlike most memory foam pillows that tend to be quite firm and 'block-like' in design, the Tempur Comfort Cloud pillow has a much more 'traditional' pillow shape and loft, which means it looks great in a pillowcase. It also suits a wide variety of sleepers, with our back and side sleepers all rating it highly. Just bear in mind that this memory foam pillow is far heavier than its name suggests – you'd have an unfair advantage in a pillow fight!

Another entry from Panda, the brand's original memory foam pillow is a design that's amassed many positive reviews online. The pillow is higher than the Panda Hybrid Bamboo pillow, so whilst our back sleeping testers preferred the Panda Hybrid, it was very popular with our side sleeping testers who appreciated the extra loft. Without the quilted bamboo rayon upper layer, it doesn't feel as luxurious as Panda's Hybrid pillow, but it is nearly half the price, which makes it a great value memory foam option. Plus, its unzippable, washable cover is a bonus.

Hungarian goose down is generally considered to be the highest quality money can buy, and this option from The White Company delivers everything you'd expect from a best-in-class feather and down pillow. We tested the 'soft' version of the pillow which felt as dreamy as a cloud to lay our heads on, and thought it was the perfect feather and down pillow for back sleepers, but there's also the option of 'medium' firmness if you prefer a higher loft and a bit more support.

We think this is the best feather and down pillow for side sleepers due to its higher loft. It delivers that 'just right' mix of comfort and support thanks to the combination of a goose feather inner core surrounded by a softer, squashier layer of goose down. Plus, it's encased in a dust-mite proof high thread-count cotton cover that stops any filling from escaping. The result is a super plumptious pillow that looks great styled on the bed and delivers a real sense of hotel-style luxury at night.

Offering the luxe 'flumph' of down at a far more affordable price point, this two-pack of duck feather and down pillows from M&S is the best budget buy we've found. Other feather pillows at this price point have tended to clump or have uncomfortable feathers that stick through the casing, but not this option. Whilst the pillows are lower loft and not the same quality as The White Company or Scooms pillows, this is a great value set that still delivers good squish factor for the price.

In our opinion, the Kally Sleep neck pain pillow is by far the best pillow for neck pain of all the options we've tested. The ergonomic butterfly shape is specifically designed to support the cervical spine (the upper section that connects the head and back), to keep the head in alignment with the spine when back sleeping, and to support the natural curve of the neck and head whilst side sleeping. Our testers initially found the slow-rebound memory foam quite firm, but soon realised that was its winning formula. As one tester said, 'I recently pulled a muscle in my neck and this is the only pillow that could make me comfortable at night'.

Whilst Kally Sleep's butterfly pillow scored highly with most of our reviewers, a couple found it too low for their comfort, which is when this Zamat Butterfly pillow came into its own. Offering ergonomic support that cradles the head and allows the cervical spine to rest in alignment, this is a slightly higher loft pillow. It also comes with a removable pillow insert that gives you greater control over the pillow's height. The downside is it's not the most attractive, and you're unlikely to find a pillowcase to fit, although the outer cover is washable. Still, if it helps relieve neck pain, that's a small price to pay.

If your neck pain is caused by the wrong height pillow and you're struggling to find just the right depth to keep your neck and spine in alignment, then Simba's Hybrid adjustable fill pillow could be the solution. This boxwall pillow unzips so you can add or remove the foam 'nanocubes' that form the pillow's fill, enabling you to make it just the right height for you, whether you're a front, back, or side sleeper. And whilst synthetic pillow fill can sometimes lead to overheating, Simba has addressed this with its 'astronaut-inspired temperature regulation' (that's coating the cotton pillow outer in a formula that absorbs, stores, and releases heat when you need it).

As already mentioned, this two-pack of duck feather and down pillows from Marks & Spencer is the best set of budget feather and down pillows we've tested. Whereas cheap feather and down pillows can tend to be lumpy or allow feathers to escape after just a little use, this option has kept going strong years after we first popped it onto the bed. Our front sleepers voted it their favourite pillow by far, with the low loft design not raising the head and neck too far from the mattress. They're a great way to add a little luxury to your bed without breaking the bank.

This Slumberdown pillow set offers two higher loft pillows, specifically designed for side sleeping, at a very low price. Machine washable, they feature a supportive core block centre that's wrapped in squishier synthetic microfibres. They have over 30,000 reviews on Amazon, with an average of 4.5 out of 5 stars, although the verdict is mixed on how well the microfibre fill holds up over time, with some reviewers finding they flattened sooner than expected. If you sleep warm then you may also find yourself regularly flipping the pillow over in search of the cool side.

Similarly, Silentnight's two-pack of Ultrabounce pillows is an affordable option for back sleepers. Like the Slumberdown Super Support pillows, the Silentnight Ultrabounce get over 30,000 reviews on Amazon with an average 4.5 out of 5 star rating, but with a softer mid-loft design that's a better height for back sleeping. However, as another synthetic option, they will reflect more heat towards the sleeper than a natural fill, and again some reviewers have noted that this affordable option can tend to flatten over time meaning they may not be the most durable investment.