Tom's Guide Awards 2024: The best mattress and sleep tech of the year

We’re entering the fifth year of the Tom’s Guide Awards, during which we celebrate the very best sleep and mattress products of 2024. Out of hundreds of top-rated mattresses and accessories, our team of expert mattress testers have rounded up the highest performing beds across a number of different categories, including the bed that we deem to be the best mattress overall.

Beyond the beds, we’ve also gathered up the best sleep accessories, including the highest performing pillow, mattress protector and mattress topper of the year. Unsurprisingly, most of the brands behind this year’s winners are recognizable names with impeccable industry reputations, such as Saatva, Tempur-Pedic and Helix.

Here are all of this year’s winners, along with commentary surrounding why each product beat off stiff competition to be selected for the award.

Best mattress

Best mattress: Saatva Classic

The Saatva Classic isn’t a new mattress – it’s been winning awards for years – but it’s still the best mattress we’ve ever slept on, and as of yet it remains unbeaten in our testing. In fact, this is the mattress everyone on our team fights over when it’s time for re-testing – we all want to sleep on the Saatva Classic. This opulent innerspring hybrid mattress is handcrafted in America from non-toxic and organic materials, and looks every inch the luxury hotel mattress. You can buy it in your choice of two heights and three firmness levels, tailoring it closely to your sleep needs.

The Saatva Classic isn’t cheap by any stretch, but compared to luxury handmade mattresses sold only in stores it’s actually good value for money with a lifetime warranty. While we acknowledge in our Saatva Classic mattress review that no mattress suits every person, the Saatva Classic comes very close.

Best mattress in a box

Best mattress in a box: The DreamCloud Hybrid

Beds-in-a-box are often mistaken as inferior to traditional mattresses, but The DreamCloud Hybrid laughs in the face of all that nonsense. As this year’s best mattress in a box for every budget, The DreamCloud looks and performs like a much more expensive mattress, with our testers loving it for super-comfy stomach and back sleeping. It’s a great choice if you have lower back pain too – in fact, we recommend it to people who want the enhanced back support of the Saatva Classic but who have a smaller budget (it’s $900 cheaper).

The DreamCloud Hybrid is made from gel memory foam and innerspring coils, and is excellent at reducing pressure points along the body. As we explain in our DreamCloud mattress review it doesn’t retain heat either, with a cashmere cover that wicks away moisture for dry and hygienic sleep. The DreamCloud outperforms its price tag in every way, proving that good sleep needn’t cost the earth.

Best hybrid mattress

Best hybrid mattress: Saatva Classic

Hybrid mattresses are made of foam and coils, and their main benefits include cooler sleep, deep pressure relief and a responsive feel. The Saatva Classic is a fantastic example of a hybrid bed, taking all of those usual benefits and super-charging them with cutting edge mattress technologies for next-level sleep comfort and hygiene. The Classic is crafted by hand in the US and that artisanship shows – you can instantly tell the difference between a mattress of this caliber compared to a bed-in-a-box.

As our overall top-recommended mattress it was an easy decision for us to also name the Saatva Classic as this year’s best hybrid mattress for all sleepers. Every year we see multiple sleep brands launching new hybrid mattresses, and all make bold claims as to why they are the new gold standard. As of yet, none have what it takes to de-throne the Saatva Classic. This isn’t just a hybrid mattress, it’s an investment in better sleep and better health.

Best memory foam mattress

Best memory foam mattress: Nectar Memory Foam Mattress

Nectar Sleep has become synonymous with memory foam mattresses in a box, and its flagship offering is the best we’ve tested. On a similar price level to its stablemate The DreamCloud Hybrid, the Nectar Memory Foam offers a lot of mattress for your buck. It isn’t overly contouring like some all-foam beds, instead existing in a space where contouring comfort meets firmer full body support.

We found it comfy for all sleeping positions, but mainly for back sleeping or switching from back to stomach. And unlike other models in our best memory foam mattress guide, the Nectar Memory Foam sleeps fairly cool. It’s a bit of a rare bird in that respect, and coupled with good pressure relief and excellent motion isolation, it punches well above its mid-range (price) weight.

Best organic mattress

Best organic mattress: Avocado Green Mattress

Avocado Green is one of the most popular organic sleep brands in America, and its flagship mattress is our best-rated organic mattress of the year. The eponymous Avocado Green Mattress is stacked with natural materials, each carrying industry-recognized certifications including GOTS-certified organic wool and cotton, and GOLS-certified organic latex. This luxury latex hybrid is hand-tufted and assembled in Los Angeles, and comes in a vegan (no wool) option too.

We awarded it high test scores in our Avocado Green Mattress review, recommending it to people who want a hybrid bed with strong eco-friendly credentials. On an ever-more polluted planet, greener, cleaner sleep is a point we should all be moving towards. The Avocado Green Mattress is making it easier for us to get there.

Best mattress for side sleepers

Best mattress for side sleepers: Helix Midnight Luxe

Roughly 74% of Americans sleep on their side, and while it’s the optimal sleeping position for circulatory health and digestion, it does place a large amount of pressure on the shoulders, hips and knees. The job of a great side-sleeper mattress is to reduce those pressure points, contouring your body so that you sleep pain-free. The Helix Midnight Luxe nails this brief, delivering outstanding pressure relief and support, coupled with a plush pillow top for insta-softness.

Unusually for hybrid mattresses, it also stops nearly all motion transferring from one side to the other – bedsharing couples, take note. Proper side sleeping mattresses are few and far between, especially of this quality. The Helix Midnight Luxe leaves all of its competitors far behind and roundly deserves its moniker of this year’s best mattress for side sleepers .

Best mattress for stomach sleepers

Best mattress for stomach sleepers: Helix Dusk Luxe

It’s a double-header for Helix Sleep, who this time takes home our award for its dedicated stomach sleeper mattress the Helix Dusk Luxe . This 13.5” tall luxury hybrid bed is ideal for back sleepers too – we awarded it an overall score of 4.5/5 stars in our Helix Dusk Luxe Mattress review, praising the use of zoned support for noticeable relief from back pain. It shares a similar build to the Helix Midnight Luxe side sleeper mattress above, but the feel is firmer despite the plush pillow-top.

The Helix Dusk Luxe is now our gold standard for stomach sleeping mattresses and the one we measure all others against. Yes it’s expensive, but the 15-year warranty speaks volumes about the build quality and durability.

Best mattress for back pain

Best mattress for back pain: Saatva RX

Pain and good sleep don’t mix, so we were excited by the release of Saatva’s first-ever mattress designed for people with chronic back pain and joint disorders. We had the perfect tester for it too: our reviewer Alison Barretta, who has long-term lower back pain and mild scoliosis. In our Saatva RX mattress review Alison reported a reduction in pain from the first night of sleeping on the RX, declaring it the best mattress for back pain .

The ace card up the Saatva RX’s sleeve is a technology called the Unique Therapeutic Support Core. In a nutshell, this core automatically adjusts to your in-bed movements to reduce pressure points for better circulation (more oxygen to your blood means less pain). Back pain mattresses are normally ugly and medical-looking, but the Saatva RX delivers premium pressure relief and full-bore support in an opulent package.

Best mattress topper

Best mattress topper: Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt Topper

Tempur-Pedic mattresses are world-beating but they’re also eye-wateringly expensive. The Tempur-Adapt Mattress Topper is superb value for money by comparison, offering a taste of Tempur-Pedic magic at a fraction of the cost.

We love the feel of this 3” topper, stuffed to the gills with NASA-developed Tempur foam to absorb impact and motion while simultaneously knocking out all pressure points. It’s the best mattress topper in the world right now for weightless, pain-free sleeping, bowling over all of our testers with its outstanding pressure relief and plush comfort.

Best mattress protector

Best mattress protector: Coop Home Goods Ultra Tech Waterproof Mattress Protector

We know mattress protectors aren’t a sexy purchase, but in terms of keeping your bed safe from bugs, bacteria and bodily fluids, they’re an absolute must have. There is no better mattress protector for the money right now than the Coop Home Goods Ultra Tech Waterproof Mattress Protector.

We’ve just finished real-world testing of this humble slip of fabric, and it kept our luxury organic hybrid mattress safe from vomit, pet urine, and spilled tea. It’s nothing to look at, but it’s quiet, effective and affordable. Coop Home Goods is also a company we know and rate, and the fact that the Ultra Tech Waterproof Mattress Protector comes with a full year’s warranty speaks volumes about the quality you’re getting here.

Best pillow

Best pillow: Casper Hybrid Pillow with Snow Technology

The Casper Hybrid Pillow with Snow Technology is about as close to perfect as a pillow can get. It’s fluffy and squishy, with a shape that bounces back fast even after several hours’ use. Foam and fiber team up to create a soft and cushy sleep surface whilst still supporting the head and neck for correct spinal alignment (this helps prevent pain traveling up and down the neck). The hot sleepers on our judging panel were impressed by Casper’s AirScape foam, calling it ‘breathable and sweat-wicking’, with a cool-touch cover ending the nightly search for a fresh cool spot to rest upon. HeatDelete Bands also help to dissipate heat and humidity from the head and neck areas for over 12 hours at a time. In short, the Casper Hybrid Pillow with Snow Technology is a magic bullet for cooler, comfier sleep, claiming our best pillow of the year award.