Emma is a European bedding brand that was founded in Germany in 2015. While you might not have heard of it with names like Casper and Nectar, Emma mattresses are insanely popular in Europe. It’s apparently Europe’s “most award-winning” bedding brand. 

Emma offers two beds –– the Emma Original Mattress and the Emma ACT Hybrid Mattress. Instead of giving you just one Emma mattress review, we’re going to give you two. Read on to learn all about the construction, performance, and our thoughts on Emma mattresses. 

Emma Mattress Overview 

Emma Original Mattress 

How firm is the Original Emma bed?

We’ll start this Emma mattress review by first talking about the flagship, Original bed. Firmness level is one of the most important factors that go into buying a bed. Think about firmness as the immediate feeling you get when lay down on the bed –– is it hard or soft?

On our firmness scale, the Original Emma mattress falls right in the middle. We think it’s a true medium. 

How does the Original Emma Bed feel?

The Emma Original is an all-foam mattress that’s made with proprietary, foam and zoned support. It has a soft, neutral-foam feel. It’s almost fluffy. Despite being an all-foam mattress with a memory foam transition layer, you don’t get an overwhelming memory foam feel. Which is good news for people who don’t like the deep, stuck-in-the-mud feeling of traditional memory foam. 

Emma Original Mattress Construction 

• Airgocell® foam layer –– The top layer of the Emma bed is a proprietary Airgocell® foam that adapts to the pressure of your body. It’s what gives the bed its responsive nature. 
• Memory foam layer –– The transition layer of the Emma mattress is memory foam. Despite not having a true memory foam feel, this layer contours to your body. 
• HRX foam layer –– The base layer of HRX foam has zoned technology that ensures you get the right levels of support in the right places. 
• Cover –– With a climate-regulating design, the cover is breathable and lightweight. The cover of the Emma Original mattress is also removable and machine washable. That’s not the standard in the mattress industry, so we think this is an advantage. 

The Original Emma mattress is made with special 3-zone technology –– which essentially means the bed is firmer in the middle and softer at the top and the middle. Casper uses a similar design. When we tested it, we didn’t notice much of a difference but it is nice it’s not the same firmness across the entire surface of the mattress.

Emma Mattress Price

Below you can find the listing prices for the Emma mattresses by size. We do want to note that these prices are a little deceiving. The Emma mattresses are usually marked down 30-40% (talk about a good deal). You’ll see the queen size after discount hand around $650 to $700. 

We like the Emma mattress for its price. It’s really affordable, especially when you compare it to beds like Casper Original, Puffy Original, and Leesa Original mattresses. 

Emma Original Mattress Performance

Okay, let’s get into it. We’ve talked about price and construction, now it’s time to get into the performance of the mattress. 

• Pressure relief –– As we have said, Emma is a medium bed on our firmness scale. That means in general, it has a good amount of pressure relief. It’s an all-foam mattress, so this is to be expected. 
• Temperature –– When memory foam mattresses first came out, they tended to trap heat. Thankfully, foam mattresses have come a long way. In our opinion, the Original Emma mattress sleeps temperature neutral. It’s not an active cooling mattress.
• Edge support ––  The Original Emma bed is an all-foam bed, which means it has pretty decent edge support. It’s not the best we’ve ever seen, but we don’t think there’s anything to be concerned about though either.
• Motion isolation & noise –– Emma does a good job of dampening motion. If you sleep with a partner who tosses and turns or a pet that jumps in and out of bed, their movement won’t wake you up. 

Like the foam Emma bed, the Hybrid model also is made with the 3-zone technology. We don’t think you notice it a ton, but it is designed to be firmer in the middle and then softer at the head and foot of the bed. 

Emma ACT Hybrid Mattress 

Now we’ll talk about Emma’s hybrid mattress, the ACT bed. It’s a comfortable hybrid mattress that’s accommodating to most people. There are a few key differences from the flagship bed that you should know about. Namely the firmness, construction, and price. 

How firm is the Emma ACT Hybrid Bed?

The ACT hybrid mattress is a medium to a medium-firm on our scale. It’s slightly firmer than the Original Emma mattress, but it’s still fairly accommodating to most people. It won’t give you quite as much pressure relief as the all-foam model, but that’s a good thing for back and stomach sleepers. Side sleepers can get by on this bed, it might just not be the best pick.

How does the Emma ACT Hyrbid Bed Feel

When you lay down on the Emma ACT hybrid mattress, you immediately notice it is firmer than the flagship model. You still get that neutral foam feel, it’s just firmer. We would describe it as less airy and light, but more responsive. Make no mistake, you still get the comfort of foam. 

Emma Hybrid Mattress Construction 

The main difference between the ACT hybrid and the Emma bed is the construction. 

• Foam layer – The first foam layer of the ACT hybrid is actually graphite-infused foam that’s made with active cooling technology. Now we don’t think this is enough to make it an actively cooling mattress. 
• Memory foam layer –– This layer is supposed to adapt to your body’s curves and even distribute your weight.
• Pocket core –– Instead of foam, the ACT hybrid mattress has a core layer of 300+ pocked coils. This gives the bed a nice level of support that you generally don’t get from foam beds. 
• Mattress cover –– Like the Original Emma bed, this hybrid mattress includes a removable, machine washable cover. 

Emma Original Vs. ACT Hybrid Sleeper Type Analysis 

Emma Original Vs. ACT Hybrid Body Type Analysis

Your body type will determine how far you sink into the bed, which in turn will determine how soft a bed will feel to you. 

Emma Hybrid Mattress Price

Hybrid mattresses tend to be priced higher than all-foam mattresses. This is because they include varying material types. The ACT Hybrid mattress is going to be more expensive than the Emma Original bed, though you should expect to see discounts that knock that price down.

Emma Hybrid Mattress Performance

• Pressure relief –– You get a good amount of pressure relief with the Emma Hybrid bed. With two layers of foam, most people can comfortably lay on this mattress with no problem. In comparison to the all-foam mattresses from Emma, it’s a little bit firmer, which means you’ll get slightly less pressure relief. 
• Temperature regulation –– The ACT Hybrid bed from Emma is made with graphite-infused foam and Active Cooling Technology. But we don’t think it’s an actively cooling mattress. To us, it falls more in the temperature neutral category –– you won’t sleep hot because of the bed, but you won’t get instant relief either. 
• Durability –– We like this bed for it’s durability. It has a 300+ pocketed coil base, which means the bed offers plenty of durability and support. 
• Edge support –– Because it’s a hybrid design, the ACT bed is going to have better edge support than the all-foam version. Over all, we thing the edge support of this bed is pretty good.
• Motion isolation & noise –– As we mentioned, this bed is made with pocketed coils. That means it’s going to isolate motion much better than traditional innersprings, but maybe not as good as all foam.

Emma Company Policies

Now we’ll dig into Emma company policies. For the most part, they fall in line with the standard bed-in-a-box policies. You get free shipping, free returns and a 100 night trial period. 100 nights isn’t the longest we have seen, but it really is plenty of time to decide if a bed is right for you. One note there, is that you must sleep on the bed for three weeks before initiating return process. Finally, Emma beds come with a 10-year warranty, which is pretty standard. 

Our Final Verdict

We like Emma beds because they’re pretty accommodating to almost anyone. We like to think of them as super safe picks. You won’t be disappointed, you just also won’t get all the bells and whistles other beds offer. But we don’t think that’s an issue. 

Both the ACT Hybrid mattress and the Emma Original bed are great choices, just for different reasons. Picking between them can be difficult, so we’re going to break it down for you. 

Get the Original Emma mattress if:

• You’re a side sleeper who needs a lot of pressure relief. 
• If you want to buy Emma, but you’re on a budget. The Original Emma bed is cheaper than the hybrid version. 

Get the ACT Hybrid mattress if:

• You want a firmer mattress. It’s only about a medium firm, so it’s not the firmest mattress on the market by any means, but it is firmer than the all-foam Emma bed. 
• You have a heavier body type. This bed has a supportive coil base that the foam option just cannot compete with.

How We Test The Mattresses

Why Trust Us

Get the kind of sleep you’ve only dreamed of with some help from our team of mattress experts. We personally test more than 150 of the best sleep solutions from over 60 leading brands on site, so you can be sure you’re getting unbiased reviews, fair comparisons and personalized recommendations.