Best Cheap Mattress For Your Budget

How We Put This List Together

We’ve reviewed so many mattresses from the bed-in-a-box industry, and as a result, we’re quite familiar with what they cost and what they’re worth. For this list, we pulled together affordable options and considered which ones are best within their price point (i.e. best mattress under $500, and so on). We also considered which budget-friendly beds are best within their construction type.

Who Is The Bed For?

When you’re looking for a new bed, this is obviously something you take into consideration. You want to be sure you choose a mattress that suits the sleeper. But this is also something to think about when deciding how much you’re willing to spend on a bed. Like with most other products, you pay more for more features.

But maybe you don’t need all those features. Maybe you’re a single person and you weigh 105 lb. You won’t need to spend as much to get a bed that will be comfortable for you. But say you’re a couple. Say one of you is a 200 lb back sleeper, and the other is a 140 lb side sleeper. In that case, you’ll need to spend more in order to get a mattress that let’s both of you sleep well.

Couples also want to look for a mattress that has solid edge support. Particularly if you’re trying to save some money by opting for a full or queen rather than a king size bed. Couples should also consider motion transfer control. If a mattress has poor motion transfer control, one of you may end up jostled awake at night when the other turns over or gets up for a midnight snack.

Sleeper Type

It’s also important to shop for your sleeper type. Whether you sleep on your back, stomach, side, or a combination of them all determines how firm or soft your bed ought to be.

If you’re a back sleeper or stomach sleeper, you need a firmer bed that provides support around your hips and trunk area to maintain proper alignment. If the bed is too soft, your hips will sink uncomfortably and you’ll likely wake up sore.

For side sleepers or combo sleepers, the mattress should be a bit softer with some give. That softer construction allows for pressure relief where you need it when sleeping on your side. Combo sleepers, however, can (and probably should) get away with a bed that’s a little firmer than what a strictly side sleeper would prefer.

It’s also important to remember that your size and body type will effect how a bed feels to you. A heavier person may think a certain mattress is quite soft, while that same mattress might be a medium-firm for someone who is very petite.

How Weight Affects How A Mattress Feels

We try to include this disclaimer in every written review and video that we make: Every mattress will feel different to each person based on weight and overall body type.

Generally, when we’re talking about how a bed feels, we’re talking in terms of how it will feel for the average sized person. If we want to make a point about a mattress being particularly good or bad for someone heavier or someone who’s quite petite, we’ll say that specifically. But it’s still important to remember that everything we talk about in terms of feel is going to be subjective. What we experience probably won’t be exactly what you will experience.

In simple terms, the same bed will feel softer for a heavier individual, but firmer for a lighter individual.

For heavier individuals, say 225 lb+, you’ll want to look for a mattress that’s on the firmer side of the scale and you’ll also want a mattress that has a thicker construction. You don’t want a bed that lets you sink right through. You can bottom out on a mattress and nobody wants that.

For very petite individuals, say 110 lb give or take, you can definitely get away with beds rated on the softer side of the scale. However, you can also get away with firmer beds. They’re still going to feel different, but you won’t feel the difference as significantly as someone heavier.

If you’re a couple with a significant weight difference between the two of you, you’ll probably end up going for something in the middle because you’ve learned to compromise (as couples do). But if you’re going to lean one way, we suggest that you cater towards the heavier partner. Like we said, petite people can get a comfortable night’s sleep on a wider range of softness/firmness.

Mattress Construction

A mattress’s construction significantly plays into its cost because certain materials are more expensive than others. Also, if a mattress has a several-layer construction that comes together to form a 13″ thick bed, it’s going to cost more than a 10″ three-layer construction. The more material used, the more money required. It’s pretty logical, really.

When it comes to materials, there are basically two categories: foam and coils. Of course, within those categories you have various options. For example, a bed can be made with memory foam, latex foam, poly foam, or a combination of those. A bed with coils may have pocketed coils or traditional innersprings.

Generally speaking, an all-foam bed is usually more affordable than a hybrid mattress that incorporates both some kind of foam and usually pocketed coils.

And as a side note, when you are purchasing a mattress that uses foam in its construction, you’ll want to look for one that is CeriPUR-US certified. This just means that it’s manufactured safely and without chemicals that could be harmful to you or the environment.

Materials

We briefly went over materials above, and like we said, there are quite a few options and they will make a difference both in price and feel.

Memory foam is typically more dense, but softens over time and when heat is applied. If you lay in one spot, you’ll get some of that stereotypical sink-in feel. This cradles your body, but can also leave people feeling stuck.

Gel memory foam is a newer technology that has a similar feel to memory foam, but incorporates gel for added temperature regulation.

Then there’s latex mattresses, which has a more sponge-like feel. It’s very bouncy and airy, so it tends to stay cooler than memory foam. A lot of latex beds tend to take the natural and organic angle.

There’s also polyurethane foam (wow, so much foam), and that’s pretty commonly used for support in an all-foam bed. It comes in many different densities and is typically pretty affordable.

Now, with coils, you have two options: pocketed coils or traditional innersprings. Both are bouncy and responsive, and both allow for good airflow. The difference is that pocketed coils are individually encased, while innersprings are all connected. That means the innersprings transfer motion quite a bit more since they have a very low point elasticity (you press on one part of the mattress and it spreads to the surrounding area).

Some mattresses will use gel or Hyper-Elastic Polymer (only Purple beds), which has a very unique feel and is heavy, but comfortable. However, beds with this stuff are puh-rice-ee (pricey, but exaggerated for emphasis). Probably not what you’re looking for if you’re this deep into a “Cheap Mattress” post.

Coolness

No one likes an overly hot bed. And if you tend to be a hot sleeper, that can be a problem with a lot of mattress options. But if you know what to shop for, you can find a bed that will help you sleep cooler and it doesn’t have to cost you an exorbitant amount of money.

A good rule of thumb to keep in mind while looking for a cool-sleeping mattress is to avoid anything especially dense. If a mattress is made up of all dense foam, it won’t allow for much airflow. Pocketed coils, on the other hand, do allow for good airflow. That’s not to say that foam is hopeless, just that some foam will be cooler than others. Latex foam, for example tends to sleep cooler than memory foam.

It also helps to think about the feel and firmness of the mattress. If a mattress is soft and has that sink-in feel to it, you’ll sleep more in the mattress as opposed to on it, which can trap heat around your body throughout the night.