Awara vs Purple Mattress

Why You Should Get Awara — As we mentioned earlier, Awara is a natural/organic mattress without the boutique retail store price. The main reasons to get Awara are that it’s a firm mattress with plenty of support and it also has certain eco-friendly materials. More on all of this below.

Design Of The Bed — Awara has a simple construction, but we think plenty of people will like it. It starts with 9″ support coils and then has a single comfort layer that is Dunlop latex foam. On top is a really nice, super-soft cover that’s made in part of organic cotton.

Given Awara’s straightforward two-layer construction, it’s not hard to imagine its firmness rating. We place Awara on the firmer side of the spectrum in what we internally call a “medium-firm+” meaning it’s a little firmer than the average bed we give the “medium-firm” designation to.

While we think Purple Hybrid is a great option for stomach and back sleepers, Awara is firmer and therefore specifically appeals to a group of consumers that want a firm, supportive bed. We wouldn’t go as far as saying that Awara is better than Purple for stomach and back sleepers, it’s just at a different firmness level, so it will attract different shoppers.

Pricing — It’s hard to beat Awara on price. For the queen bed, Awara sells for around $1,200 after discount, which is a great price. You can check the current price on Awara’s website. Our guess, though, is that Awara will always be more affordable than the Purple Hybrid models, which range in price from around $1,600 to $3,000.

If you exclude the Purple Hybrid models and just focus on Purple Original, the pricing is basically the same for the two brands. In other words, the Original Purple mattress is also around $1,000-$1,100—and if they do run a promotion it’s typically around $900-$1,000 (if they are actually offering cash discounts).

It might be worth it to check pricing and offers on Purple’s website to see if they are publicizing any sales today. The bottom line, however, is that if you compare apples to apples (i.e. Awara vs Purple Hybrid), Awara is more affordable.

Why You Will Prefer Purple — The main reason why people end up trying a Purple mattress is something called Hyper-Elastic Polymer, a proprietary gel-like material that you’ll only see on Purple beds. To be frank, it’s not for everyone, but in our experience about 50% of people do end up really liking the material, even though it doesn’t seem like it would go well on a mattress.

Hyper-Elastic Polymer — Close your eyes and imagine a mattress-size Dr. Scholl’s insole. That’s essentially what all Purple mattresses have, albeit in various thicknesses. The material is squishy and stretchy, but almost always cool-to-the-touch. We’ve posted an entire article about the Purple Mattress Topper that you might find helpful in understanding what the material is like.

As you can see in our demo above, the material bends and flexes to fit the shape of the hand. What’s interesting about Hyper-Elastic Polymer is that it almost feels soft and firm at the same time. A good way to exemplify this is that side sleepers will experience pressure relief under their shoulders and hips, but the rest of your body will feel buoyant.

Sleeping Styles — Between Original Purple, Purple Hybrid, and Purple Hybrid Premier, there is a mattress for every type of sleeper. That is in contrast to Awara which targets stomach and back sleepers.

• Purple Original — We rate it as a “medium” so it’s good for all sleep styles.
• Purple Hybrid — About a medium-firm, which makes it the best Purple bed for stomach and back sleepers. Just for reference, this bed used to be known as the New Purple 2.
• Purple Hybrid Premier 3″ — Close to a true “medium” on our soft/firm scale. All sleeping positions. This bed used to be called the New Purple 3.
• Purple Hybrid Premier 4″ — Also about a “medium” but especially good for side sleepers. This mattress used to go by New Purple 4.

The biggest difference between Purple and Awara is firmness and feel. Awara is firmer, while Purple can be anywhere from “medium” to “medium-firm.” Also, both beds have an extra-responsive feel, but Purple feels more squishy and soft, while Awara feels more supportive and firm.

Bottom line, we would rather side sleepers buy a Purple mattress than Awara. You will just get more pressure relief for your hips, shoulders, and upper back.