Best Cheap Mattresses of 2021

When it comes to making a big-ticket purchase like a mattress, one of the most important considerations is staying within your budget. That doesn’t mean you have to settle. With more and more advancements in the manufacturing industry, mattress companies are finding ways of providing high-tech features at affordable prices.

Here, we’ve rounded up the most budget-friendly mattresses of 2021, pulling the least expensive choices from our rating of the Best Mattresses of 2021. You’ll also find tips on how to save money on your new mattress.

Our Best Budget Mattresses of 2021 Rating

#1 Casper – Element Mattress
#2 Tuft & Needle – Original Mattress
#3 Sealy – Response Performance

The Best Budget Mattresses of 2021

To find the Best Budget Mattresses, we started with our rating of the Best Mattresses of 2021, as sleepers shouldn't have to sacrifice quality for the sake of saving money. We narrowed down this list to include only queen mattresses that cost $600 or less, which you can see below. Our 2021 Best Mattress rating is based on data and research we conducted in 2020 as described in our methodology.

The Best Budget Mattresses of 2021 in Detail

Casper – Element: The Casper Element is one of the most inexpensive mattresses in our ratings this year. At $595 for a queen mattress, it’s beaten only by the $499 Sealy Response Performance Mattress in terms of price. But its low cost is not an indication of low quality. In fact, the Casper Element comes in third out of all our top mattresses of 2021. It has two foam layers: a sturdy base layer for support and a perforated foam layer on top to conform to your shape and keep you cool. Read more in our review of Casper mattresses, or check out the top Casper coupon codes.

Tuft & Needle – Original Mattress: The Original mattress from Tuft & Needle is the No. 2 pick in our rating. It’s the same price as the Casper Element and similarly structured, too. It’s made with two layers of foam, although the Tuft & Needle Original utilizes open-cell foam for breathability and added ceramic gel beads and graphite for cooling. Read more in our review of Tuft & Needle mattresses, or check out the top Tuft & Needle promo codes.

Sealy – Response Performance Mattress: Placing at No. 3 in our rating of the Best Budget Mattresses is the Response Line Performance Collection from Sealy. The Performance is the midprice mattress in Sealy's Response Line, with a cushier comfort layer and added support features over the entry-level Essentials Collection. Prices for a queen-size mattress start at about $500 and go up to about $750 if you add a pillow-top cover. Read more in our review of Sealy mattresses.

The Best Lower-Priced Mattresses of 2021

The mattresses here are not the cheapest in our ratings, but they’re still well below the average cost of most mattresses. These fall in the $600 to $1,000 range. These three mattresses each feature medium or medium-firm support, a memory foam comfort layer, and special materials to help you sleep cooler, but each is different. When shopping for a mattress, keep your most important priorities in mind, whether that’s organic materials, motion isolation, cooling abilities, or long warranties.

Tuft & Needle – Mint Mattress: The Tuft & Needle Mint Mattress builds on the design of the Tuft & Needle Original Mattress. There’s an added middle layer of the brand’s proprietary adaptive foam, along with ceramic cooling gel beads that stack under pressure to provide support while allowing for airflow. The Mint has 30% more graphite in its top layer than Tuft & Needle's entry-level mattress to help wick away body heat. It retails for $995. Read more in our review of Tuft & Needle mattresses, or check out the top Tuft & Needle promo codes.

Bear – Bear Mattress: The Bear Mattress is a bit cheaper than the Tuft & Needle Mint at $800 for a queen mattress, though it features a similar construction. The Bear mattress is made with three layers of foam like many lower-priced or mid-range foam mattresses: a high-density support layer, a transitional foam layer, and a cooling foam with a breathable cover for the top layer. Bear also contains graphite for cooling, plus Celliant technology in its cover which Bear says improves sleep quality and aids in physical recovery of your muscles. Read more in our review of Bear mattresses, or check out the top Bear mattress discount codes.

Allswell – The Luxe Mattress: The Allswell Luxe is a hybrid mattress, the only mattress of this type among our Best Cheap Mattresses rating. Hybrids are made with both spring and foam layers (or foamlike materials), so they are often more expensive than innerspring or all-foam mattresses as they require the materials of both. The Allswell Luxe is made with a layer of coils (individually wrapped to reduce motion transfer), a layer of high-density foam, then a thicker layer of copper-infused memory foam, all encased in a quilted cover. It costs $645 for a queen mattress. Read more in our review of Allswell mattresses, or check out the top Allswell discount codes.

How Much Does a Mattress Cost?

The price of a new mattress can be as low as a few hundred dollars or as high as several thousand dollars. According to our research, there are few hard and fast rules when it comes to which mattress types and brands are the least expensive. For example, the top-rated foam mattresses in our comparison range from about $600 (includes the Tuft & Needle Original Mattress) to around $4,700 (Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Luxebreeze) for a queen mattress. This extreme variety is good news, as you should be able to find a highly rated bed that's within your budget.

Many brands also offer a mix of prices within their lineup. One of the Best Mattresses of 2021 is the Casper Wave Hybrid, which costs almost $2,600 for a queen mattress. If that's too pricey, you may instead want to consider a Casper Element, which places at No. 3 and costs about $600, a savings of nearly $2,000.

When it comes to mattress type, you can find an affordable mattress in almost any category, according to our comparison of more than 70 mattresses. The exception is latex mattresses, which typically cost $1,000 or more. In general, innerspring mattresses have the lowest average price of around $1,000. Hybrid mattresses are the second most affordable, with prices in our comparison averaging about $1,500, followed by foam mattresses at around $1,560, on average.

The price can be misleading if you are looking for something other than a queen mattress. As the most common mattress size, most quoted prices are for a queen. Shoppers looking for another size may be surprised at how widely prices vary depending on the size. Using the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress as an example, you'll spend $798 for a twin mattress, $868 for a twin XL, $1,198 for a queen mattress, and $1,398 for a king-size mattress.

You can save significantly on your new mattress by watching for a mattress sale. In general, the best affordable mattresses become an even better value during three-day holiday weekends and major shopping events, such as Black Friday.

How Much Does a Cheap Foam Mattress Cost?

Foam mattresses can be some of the least expensive mattresses on the market. This is partially due to the cost of materials, but in some cases is also because many all-foam mattress companies are direct-to-consumer, meaning they manufacture, sell, and ship mattresses themselves, which keeps costs lower. Amongst our Best Mattresses of 2021 rating, the cheapest all-foam mattresses are the Tuft & Needle Mint Mattress and the Casper Element.

All of our Best Budget Foam Mattresses are between $500 and $1,000. A lot of the price differences are due to the type of foam. Traditional memory foam mattresses can provide a lot of benefits for people, from the body-conforming support to the fact that they can be delivered in a box. Latex foam mattresses are very durable. You’re likely to get a longer warranty with a latex foam mattress than memory foam.

How Do You Buy a Cheap Mattress?

Whether you're shopping online or heading to a brick-and-mortar store to buy your new mattress, here are few tips. Keep in mind that you'll save money in the long run if you buy a mattress that fits your sleeping needs first and your budget second. Otherwise, you may find yourself back at the mattress store looking for a more comfortable replacement before your bed is actually worn out.

The firmness level you choose can affect the price. Generally, the best affordable mattresses in our ratings are medium-firm or firm, although some also have a soft option.

The mattress type you want to buy also impacts the price tag. A foam mattress is one of the most affordable types. The top entry in our ratings of the Best Budget Mattresses – the Casper Element – is a foam mattress. So is our No. 2, the Tuft & Needle Original Mattress.

If you want to spend a little more on your memory foam mattress, the Tuft & Needle Mint Mattress and the Bear Mattress are the No. 1 and No. 2 best mattresses under $1,000, costing $995 and $800 for a queen mattress, respectively. The Casper Original is foam too, priced a bit higher at $1,095.

The only innerspring mattress in our rating of the Best Budget Mattresses is the Sealy Response Line Performance Collection, which costs about $500 for a queen size. It comes in soft or medium-firm and has reinforced edge support.

The best affordable mattresses are also available as hybrids, though the selection is slimmer for this mattress type. In general, you'll pay more for a hybrid, partly because of the combination of foam and springs. In our hybrid mattress rating, one of the best affordable mattresses is the Luxe from Allswell, which costs $645 for a queen mattress.

Don't forget to add in the shipping costs, and be sure to ask about return costs if a mattress doesn’t work out for you. Many brick-and-mortar stores charge a delivery fee for innerspring mattresses. If you do choose to ship your mattress to your home, a number of brands offer easy mattress-in-a-box shipping for foam mattresses, including Tuft & Needle and Casper. The advanced memory foam allows the mattress to be compressed and then to expand when you open the container.

Some mattresses offer trial periods so you can test them for several weeks in the comfort of your own home. Most of the mattresses with the lowest price tags in our rating offer 100-night sleep trials. Within the time frame listed in the return policy, if you decide the mattress isn't the right fit, you can return it.

Most new mattresses come with a warranty that covers defects and other manufacturing problems for at least 10 years. The length of the warranty is not always reflected in the cost of the mattress. Mattress companies are producing mattresses at a wide range of price points, like the Element and the Wave, which are both from Casper but cost $595 and $2,595, respectively. Because they’re from the same company, and warranties tend to be company-wide policies, both mattresses have a 10-year warranty. Other mattresses, like the DreamCloud, priced at $1,099 for a queen-sized mattress, have a lifetime warranty.

Get the most bang for your buck with a company that excels in two or more of these areas. For example, Purple, Birch, and Tuft & Needle all offer 100-night trials. Purple offers free shipping and free returns, Birch offers free shipping, and Tuft & Needle offers free returns. Purple and Tuft & Needle also offer 10-year warranties on their mattresses, and Birch offers a 25-year warranty. Avocado offers free shipping, a one-year free trial, and a 25-year warranty.

Some companies offer monthly financing. For an especially good deal, look for 0% interest rates.

When Are the Best Mattress Sales?

Shoppers looking for the best mattress deal in early winter and spring should circle the second weekend in February as the time to buy. Most companies roll out Presidents Day mattress sales to coincide with this three-day weekend. These promotions may not save you quite as much money as the Memorial Day or Black Friday sales, but the offers still tend to be better than the average standalone mattress sale.

This Presidents Day, you'll see a mix of percentage and dollar discounts, and you may have to break out the calculator to see which ones save you the most money. Brands that are currently offering some of the best Presidents Day mattress deals include Sealy, which is offering 35% off of its Cocoon by Sealy Chill Mattress. Promotions from Brooklyn Bedding include up to 25% off its mattresses and 50% off its sheets, though you can't combine the two offers. You can also get up to 25% off a GhostBed mattress and 20% off select mattresses from Bear and Nest Bedding.

One of the best flat-rate Presidents Day mattress sales includes a savings of $300 on a WinkBed mattress. You can save up to $200 off select mattresses from Saatva, DreamCloud, and Layla. Brands such as DreamCloud also include a bundle of free bedding when you purchase a new mattress. Throughout the year, you'll regularly see mattress deals that include free pillows, though many mattress deals this February sweeten the pot a little more by also including free sheets and a free mattress protector.

How Long Does a Cheap Mattress Last?

A general rule of thumb is to replace a mattress every seven to 10 years, although different brands have various recommendations for their specific products. Best practices, such as rotating your mattress, can help extend its lifetime. If you spend fewer hours in bed than average or use the mattress only occasionally – for example, if you travel a lot or the mattress is used in a guest room – it likely will last longer.

According to Nectar, you should look for signs such as sagging, stains and smells, bedbugs, lumpiness, squeaking, or discomfort to know when to replace your mattress. Also pay attention to your allergies, as they can be an indicator that it's time for a change.

Squeaks, sagging, lumps, and waking up with sore muscles can be a sign of a low-quality mattress if these problems appear soon after purchase. Most mattresses should last up to 10 years. If an inexpensive mattress doesn’t last this long, it might not be worth its price because you’ll have to replace it sooner rather than later.

Before buying a mattress with a budget-friendly price, check the terms of its warranty. A 10-year warranty may sound appealing on the surface, but the fine print is sometimes very restrictive. Prorated warranties, which subtract a percentage of the reimbursement price based on how long you have owned the mattress, are common. Other common warranty terms allow for sagging by 1 inch or more or require a specific type of base or foundation. In addition, manufacturers may reserve the right to choose whether to send you a refund or a replacement mattress.

Are Cheap Mattresses Good for Health and Sleep Problems?

Getting a good night’s sleep is important for everyone’s health, but an inexpensive mattress might not be good for some medical problems. For those who suffer from back pain, we checked out different types of mattresses that are best suited to help your back feel better. Prices in our rating of the Best Mattresses for Back Pain start at around $1,050, which is higher than the $600 to $1,000 range of our Best Budget Mattresses. If you suffer from back pain or other sleep issues, it's probably better to save up a little more and buy a mattress that works for you over the long term.

Studies have shown that medium-firm mattresses with some type of adaptive or conforming top layer are best for people with back pain. If you suffer from back pain, you’ll want a mattress that shapes to your body so you’re supported in the right places, but you’ll also want a relatively firm mattress to help keep your spine in alignment. A mattress that’s too hard won’t provide targeted support, and a mattress that’s too soft can cause your body to sink into uncomfortable positions.

This year, the No. 1 best mattress in our rating of the Best Mattresses for Back Pain is the Casper Wave, hybrid that costs $2,595 for a queen mattress. It’s made with pocketed coils and layers of memory foam and is 13 inches thick. Other good choices for back pain include the Saatva Classic; which costs $1,299 for a queen-size mattress and comes in soft, medium-firm, or firm; and the Purple Mattress, which runs $1,149 for a queen and is made with a unique polymer grid. The Layla Memory Foam Mattress is the least expensive in our selection of the best mattresses for back pain at $1,049 for a queen mattress.

Your sleeping position can also affect your health and cause back pain if you don’t have the right type of mattress. Most people are side sleepers. If that’s you, you’ll want a mattress that’s supportive but also has some give for your shoulders and hips, which should sink into your mattress more to keep your spine in alignment. Our guide to the Best Mattresses for Side Sleepers can give you a better idea of what to look for.

Expensive vs. Cheap Mattresses

It’s easier than ever to get an affordable mattress with many of the bells and whistles you want. You can find mattresses of any type at a range of price points in our rating of the Best Mattresses of 2021. There are some general patterns between cost and features, though.

Hybrid mattresses are likely to be more expensive than all-foam or innerspring mattresses. This is partly because hybrids mattresses require the materials for both foam and innerspring mattresses. You can see this reflected within the brands on our rating: the Casper Element is an all-foam mattress priced at $595 for a queen mattress, while the Casper Wave Hybrid is a hybrid mattress priced at $2,595 for a queen mattress. It should be noted that the difference between these mattresses is not solely the addition of springs. The Wave Hybrid also features more layers of foam, zoned support, cooling gel, and supportive gel pods.

Organic and eco-friendly materials also tend to increase the price of a mattress, though an expensive mattress is not necessarily a "green" one. The mattresses in our Best Organic Mattresses rating range in price from $1,399-$1,499.

When it comes to the mattress warranty, there are many cheap mattresses with below-average prices that also have excellent warranties. Mattresses that have a lifetime warranty and also cost less than similar mattresses include the DreamCloud ($1,099 for a queen mattress) and the Nectar Memory Foam Mattress ($1,198).

While you’re more likely to find multiple firmness options available in mid-range or higher-priced mattresses, that’s not an exclusive rule. The Sealy Response Performance, for example, is available in four different firmness levels, and while the exact prices vary based on specifications (like thickness) and retailers, you can find many versions of this mattress available for under $500.

Reviewed Mattresses

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Other Guides from 360 Reviews

Get advice on how to make other major purchases for your home with our other guides.

Our 360 Methodology for Evaluating Mattresses

The following describes our 360 approach to researching and analyzing mattresses to provide guidance to prospective buyers.

1. We researched the brands and products people care most about.

U.S. News analyzed and compared publicly available internet search data to determine which brands of mattresses consumers are most interested in. We found 62 mattress companies that stand out in terms of volume of searches and research among consumers. Once we identified these brands, we reviewed manufacturer data to determine every make and model of mattresses made by the brand at the time of publication.

For mattresses, we evaluated each company’s product lines, which is a step deeper than brands but a step above individual products. The mattress market is fragmented, with several products considered a part of each product line. Often, the difference between products varies slightly, whether it’s in size or with ancillary features. We felt that products within the same product line had enough in common that aggregating the collection was the most useful way to evaluate mattresses. Further, featuring product lines allowed us to aggregate more data points with a focus on consumer reviews than if we were to investigate individual products.

Because product lines tend to launch or discontinue often, U.S. News made the best effort to review active and available product lines as of the date of publication.

2. We created objective 360 Overall Ratings based on our analysis of third-party reviews.

Our scoring methodology is based on a composite analysis of the ratings and reviews published by credible third-party professional and consumer review sources. The ratings are not based on the personal opinions, tests, or experiences of U.S. News. To calculate the ratings:

(a) We compiled two types of third-party reviews and ratings:

· Professional Ratings and Reviews. Many independent mattress industry sources have published their assessments of mattresses on the web. We consider several of these third-party reviews to be reputable and well-researched. However, professional reviewers often make recommendations that contradict one another. Rather than relying on a single source, U.S. News believes consumers benefit most when these opinions and recommendations are all considered and analyzed with an objective, consensus-based methodology.

· Consumer Ratings and Reviews. U.S. News also reviewed published consumer ratings and reviews of mattresses. Sources with a sufficient number of quality consumer reviews ratings were included in our scoring model.

***Please note that not all professional and consumer rating sources met our criteria for objectivity. Therefore, some sources were excluded from our model.

(b) We standardized the inputs to create a common scale.

The third-party review source data was collected in a variety of forms, including ratings, recommendations, and accolades. Before including each third-party data point into our scoring equation, we had to standardize it so that it could be compared on an apples-to-apples basis with data points from other review sources. We used the scoring methodology described below to convert these systems to a comparable scale.

The 360 scoring process first converted each third-party rating into a common 0 to 5 scale. To balance the distribution of scores within each source’s scale, we used a standard deviation (or Z-Score) calculation to determine how each mattress that a source rated was scored in comparison to the source’s mean score. We then used the Z-Score to create a standardized U.S. News score using the method outlined below:

(c) We calculated the 360 Overall Score based on a weighted-average model.

We assigned “source weights” to each source used in the consensus scoring model based on our assessment of how much the source is trusted and recognized by consumers and how much its published review process indicates that it is both comprehensive and editorially independent. The source weights are assigned on a 1-5 scale. Any source with an assigned weight less than 2 was excluded from the consensus scoring model.

Finally, we combined the converted third-party data points using a weighted average formula based on source weight. This formula calculated the consensus score for each mattress product line, which we call the 360 Overall Rating.

Firmness is an important factor for many consumers, but unfortunately, there is no objective standard for what is considered “firm,” “soft,” or anything in between. Where possible, we used manufacturers' assessments for firmness ratings and standardized it to a five-point scale. Where such information was unavailable, we omitted any mention of firmness relative to a mattress and excluded that product from certain sub-categories that depend upon firmness.

Mattress type is another important factor for many consumers. We considered four options for mattress type: innerspring, foam, latex, and hybrid. “Hybrid” mattresses are growing in popularity, but there is no objective standard for what they consist of. In some cases, manufacturers will label a mattress as a hybrid when it is actually a standard innerspring mattress with a thin layer of extra material added to the top. Our standard for what counts as a hybrid is a mattress with more than 33% of its height composed of a non-primary material. For instance, if a mattress is 12 inches deep and consists of 7 inches of innerspring and 5 inches of foam, we would consider the foam to be a non-primary material. We then would calculate that 41.7% of the mattress depth consists of a non-primary material, which would meet our standard of a hybrid mattress.

Another important factor for some consumers is whether a mattress is cooling or not. A cooling mattress has one or more layers manufactured from a material designed to lower body temperature or wick away moisture and/or heat. The best cooling mattresses will contain a cooling top layer along with secondary layers that contain a gel or are infused with an element such as copper or graphite which have high thermal conductivity.

An organic mattress is made of natural and organic raw materials. To be considered organic the material must be grown or farmed in accordance with specific guidelines and must not contain petroleum-based fertilizers, pesticides, nor synthetic products. The raw materials may not be explicitly certified to be organic certified however, the processed raw materials may have a certification

A mattress is to be considered as a memory foam mattress when use of conforming viscoelastic foam is made. Memory foam softens and conforms to the body in response to temperature and weight.

A mattress-in-a-box is a mattress that is delivered compressed in a box and then expands to its full size.

A mattress for people with back pain should provide medium-firm support or firmness score between 6.5 - 7.5. Additionally, the mattress should have zoned support or other targeted features that support the back

A mattress for side sleepers is one with a firmness rating of soft or medium, or between 0 - 6, and uses material that conforms to the body shape, such as memory foam.

All of the data used in our mattress ratings were accurate as of August 15, 2020.