Alternatives to the Purple Mattress

The Purple mattress is known for its foam base and purple grid that provide sleepers with pressure relief. For those sleepers that may not find the purple mattress to be the right fit for them, here are some alternatives.

Mattress Topper Substitutes

For those who aren’t overly fond of the feel of the purple grid or can’t afford to buy a new mattress but still need the pressure relief provided by gel memory foam, here is a list of mattress toppers that can provide you with the same comfort.

The Ghostbed Memory Foam Topper

The Ghostbed Memory Foam topper is a 3-inch-high cooling gel memory foam topper that’s made to target pressure points for every sleeping position. Perfect for the hot sleeper, its contoured shape promotes airflow which keeps you cool throughout the night. Your sheets will have to be a little deeper to make room for the extra 3 inches added to the height of your mattress, but the extra height is perfect for eliminating pressure off of your hips and shoulders if you’re a side sleeper. Rated one of the best mattress toppers of 2022 by Architectural Digest, it makes the list due to its removable and washable waterproof cover and its 2-inch elastic band that allows you to fit it into your mattress without fear of it sliding off.

The Saatva Mattress Topper

Rated by the Sleep Foundation as the best mattress topper overall for back pain, the Saatva mattress topper has three different options to choose from. The 1.5-inch high-density foam topper is perfect for weight distribution and helps with pressure relief and support. The 1.5-inch latex mattress topper is perfect for those that want something that contours to their body but that is more solid than traditional memory foam. The 3-inch graphite topper is 1 inch of graphite-infused memory foam on top of 2 inches of polyfoam, which cools you while you sleep. Each of their toppers has an organic cotton cover that can be spot cleaned, and an elastic anchor band to help keep your topper in place.

The Viscosoft Active Cooling Mattress Topper

Rated the overall best cooling mattress topper by New York Magazine, the Viscosoft Active Cooling copper-topper is a 4-inch-high copper infused memory foam mattress topper that draws heat away from your body and allows it to dissipate into the environment around you, cooling you as you sleep. Wrapped in “phase-change material” the mattress topper adapts to your body temperature and will trap in heat if you’re warm. Known for eliminating the transfer of motion as you sleep, this mattress topper also relieves pressure points and helps with spinal alignment.

This mattress topper is also covered with an ultrasoft cover, which deflects moisture, is removable, and is washable. It comes with elastic straps to help secure the topper to your bed and is made for stomach, back, and side sleepers.

Sleep Number DualTemp Individual Layer

The Sleep Number DualTemp Individual Layer is an electric mattress topper with temperature controls that have individual settings on both sides for sleepers that share a bed. You can choose between six different levels of warm and cool temperatures, and it comes with a timer for personalized shut-off times to help save energy. This topper uses active air technology — it uses the air in a room to warm and cool, meaning that exactly how warm or cool it gets is based on the room temperature. It sits below the fitted sheet easily as it is just 1 inch thick, though it weighs 30 pounds which can make setting it up a little difficult. This mattress topper is expensive, however, at around $900 per side. Though this is easily the price of a new mattress, some sleepers are warm or cool no matter what mattress they rest on and need the extra boost from an air bed system.

Tempur-Pedic Supreme Mattress Topper

The Tempur-Pedic Supreme Mattress Topper is made of 3 inches of breathable polyester blend materials and TEMPUR Material that adapts to your weight, temperature, and body shape. The cover is removable and washable. The mattress topper itself responds slowly to pressure, similar to the Tempur-Pedic mattresses, in the way that memory foam contours to your body to provide a feeling similar to that of being cradled. This topper is made for sleepers of all types that weigh less than 230 pounds. Unlike other mattress topper brands, Tempur-Pedic does not allow a trial or returns on their mattress topper.

Birch Living Plush Pillow Topper

The Birch Plush Organic Mattress Topper by Helix is a handmade, organic cotton, birch wool, and natural latex pillow top mattress pad. The latex allows for body contouring, and the birch wool maintains shape and makes this topper perfect for side and back sleepers. The organic cotton cover allows for temperature regulation and cooling and is both breathable and soft to the touch. The wool also helps with temperature regulation by drawing heat away from your body and is sourced from farms that promise their sheep are free-range and pasture fed.

Avacado Green Organic Latex Mattress Topper

Avocado’s Organic Latex Mattress Topper is made of certified organic latex, wool, and cotton, and is available in plush soft or medium-firm. Their latex is harvested from their personal tree farms, and the rubber foam naturally created from it gives the mattress resilience and durability while helping with temperature control. Their wool comes from their personal sheep farms, and is antimicrobial, resistant to dust mites, wicks away moisture, and offers another natural temperature control material. This mattress topper has excellent support and conforms to your body without sinking. Avocado also offers a completely vegan mattress topper made of just cotton and latex that is also available in plush and firm.

PlushBeds Natural Wool Topper

The PlushBeds Handmade Natural Wool Topper is made of completely chemical- and cruelty-free, ethically sourced, hypoallergenic cotton and wool. Made with natural materials, this topper’s fibers are highly breathable allowing for temperature regulation, and is great for side sleepers due to their dense shape-maintaining materials that provide pressure relief. Great for sleepers that don’t like the conformity of memory foam but still want to feel enveloped, the plush nature of this topper allows you to rest comfortably with unencumbered movement. The natural materials also help keep moisture away, keeping your skin dry. This topper is 3 inches thick with a 400 thread count and is handmade in California.

Mattress Alternatives to the Purple Mattress

For those that would prefer or can afford an entirely new mattress but do not like the original Purple Mattress, here are some alternatives.

The Ghostbed Classic Mattress

The Ghostbed Classic Mattress is made for stomach, side, and back sleepers. Eleven inches tall, this mattress is a mix of 7.5 inches of high-density support poly-foam, 2 inches of gel-infused memory foam, and a 1.5-inch top layer of synthetic latex. This dense mattress helps with spinal alignment, and the latex combined with gel memory foam cools you while you sleep.

This mattress is great for motion isolation and pressure point relief, though it does not conform as closely to the body as traditional memory foam. It is perfect for back and stomach sleepers and helps relieve back pain. It is not recommended for side sleepers or people who dislike firm mattresses. The Ghostbed Classic is said to have great edge support, so sleepers who prefer to rest near the edge of their mattress will be just as comfortable as those who lay in the middle.

The Nectar Premier Memory Foam Mattress

The Nectar Premier Memory Foam Mattress is 13 inches high: 7 inches of foam for the base, 3 inches of foam for support, and 3 inches of gel-infused Active cool memory foam which adjusts to your sleep temperature. If you’re normally a hot sleeper, this top layer will adjust to cool you down. If you’re a cool sleeper it will release heat to warm you up. That being said, this mattress is limited to how much it can regulate temperatures due to the foam.

It’s topped with a quilted cover that assists with cooling, has a Nectar Smart Layer that was intentionally designed to react to rises and drops in body temperature, and is followed by a support layer and a stable base layer. Together they adjust for maximum support. On the very bottom is a lower cover that prevents your mattress from sliding. This mattress is good for motion isolation and contouring to your body; however, it is not suggested for stomach sleepers

The Zoma Mattress

The Zoma Mattress was made for athletes. This bed is wrapped in Aircloth, a ventilated fabric that was made to breathe so that you stay cool all night long. With gel memory foam and special zoned support, the Zoma mattress helps relieve pressure point pain in the shoulders, hips, lower back, and legs. This 12-inch mattress contours to your body, and its low-density foam keeps it from being as snug as other memory foam mattresses. This is best for lightweight or average back and side sleepers but is not ideal for heavier people or sleepers that rest on their stomachs. This mattress also falls midway on the firmness scale, so if you’re looking for something in the middle this is a perfect fit.

The Luxury Foam Winkbed

Rated the best overall mattress for stomach sleepers, the Luxury Foam Winkbed supports up to 230 pounds. With a Euro-top quilt and a polyfoam layer infused with cooling gel, it absorbs body heat to help it dissipate and to help keep you cool along with coils that allow for maximum air circulation. The polyfoam support layer prevents sinking and helps with back pain. The thick coils around the perimeter of the mattress allow for nice edge support, but the hybrid nature of this mattress means that it’s not great at hiding motion transfer.

Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-Cloud

The Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-Cloud comes in two forms. The medium has a premium foam base, followed by a firm support middle layer, and a soft comfort layer on top. Over it all is a premium stretch cover that allows airflow for cooling. The Medium Hybrid has over a thousand spring coils nestled between the base and support layers for extra support. Firm at first, the TEMPUR Material adapts to your specific weight, temperature, and body shape to support you while you sleep. This mattress is made with NASA-developed pressure-relieving material. This mattress comes in a shipping bag where it can be removed, unrolled, and ready to use after a few minutes.

This mattress is made for side sleepers and is great for motion isolation. It is known for its body conformity — it shapes tightly to individual bodies. The TEMPUR-Cloud helps with the promotion of spinal alignment and has high ratings for pressure relief for people below 230 pounds. However, due to the strength of the foam in this mattress, it rates low in ease of movement because the memory foam is slow to change shape. It’s also said to have weak edges as is common with foam mattresses.

Helix Luxe

The Helix Luxe is a luxury hybrid mattress with six layers available in soft, medium, or firm. It is made for sleepers of all types: side, stomach, and back. It has two cooling cover options: a TENCEL cover which is said to be soft and naturally breathable for cooling, and the Silky GlacioTex Cooling Cover that actively draws heat away. This mattress also relieves back pressure, as it contains over 1500 individually wrapped steel coils for support that target the lumbar area to help with spinal alignment. There are several Helix Luxe mattresses to choose from.

For their soft mattresses, they have the Helix Sunset Luxe, which has pressure point relief specifically for the side sleeper, and the Helix Moonlight Luxe, which provides support specifically for stomach and back sleepers. These mattresses have Helix Dynamic Foam for pressure relief. For medium feel mattresses, they have the Helix Dusk Luxe for back and stomach sleepers, and the Helix Midnight Luxe for side sleepers. While both of these mattresses have Memory Plus Foam for pressure relief, the Helix Midnight Luxe has Gel Visco for cushion and body support, whereas the Helix Dusk Luxe has Helix Dynamic Foam like the softer mattresses. For firm mattresses, there is the Helix Twighlight Luxe for side sleepers and the Helix Dawn Luxe for stomach and back sleepers, both of which contain GEl Visco for cushion, as well as Helix Dynamic Foam and polyfoam for maximum support. In order to find the best mattress for you, they have a quiz where you can choose the number of sleepers, your height and weight measurements, the size of mattress you’re considering, your individual sleep positions, your firmness preference, and how often you wake up with back pain. After, they allow you the option of adding on a cooling cover, a mattress protector, and a weighted blanket.

The Nolah Original

The Nolah 10” Original uses Cooling AirFoam and Tencel Cover Technology to keep you cool all night long. It contours gently to the body to not be overly snug, and has billions of air bubbles to help with bodyweight distribution for pressure relief. Unlike memory foam, the Nolah AirFoam is said to resist sagging over time while maintaining its medium feel. This mattress is three layers high: a 7-inch high-density foam base sits at the bottom for support, followed by a 1-inch support foam layer for bounce, then two inches of Cooling Nolah Airfoam for pressure relief and cooling. All of this is wrapped in a cellulosic Botanic Origin Tencel Cover.

This mattress is suited for side and back sleepers, those who overheat during the night, sleepers that weigh less than 230 pounds, and people who deal with back pain and pressure point issues. This mattress rates high in motion isolation, and medium in pressure relief, ease of movement, and edge support.

Avocado Organic Luxury Mattress

If you want to stay green but need more than just a mattress topper, Avocado also makes an Organic Luxury Mattress. Over 13 inches thick with 17 layers and more than 3,000 pocketed coils made from recycled steel, this mattress is also made from organic latex, organic wool, natural alpaca and silk, organic hemp, and organic cotton. It is also needle tufted by hand to bind the layers in a way that makes this mattress durable. For a more firm mattress Avocado also has two versions of its Green Mattress, made from the same materials but in medium-firm and firm.

The Purple Hybrid Premier 4 Mattress

For those that like the Purple mattress but need a little bit more, the Purple Hybrid Premier 4 Mattress is a purple mattress, but better.

Made with a 4-inch deep GelFlex Grid and their signature pressure-relieving gel that was made for hospitals, this is also their deepest overall mattress. One of the issues people have had with previous Purple mattresses is that they could feel the grid when they lay on it. The extra-thick grid on the Purple Hybrid Premier 4 allows for better weight support, and because it’s made of elastic rubber this mattress is resistant to breaking down, unlike most foam mattresses on the market. The coils beneath the GelFlex grid give the mattress buoyancy, allowing for quick adaptation to movement. This mattress offers noticeable pressure relief and is great at regulating your temperature. Thirteen inches thick with a 600-pound total weight limit, this mattress will evenly distribute your weight allowing for major pressure relief. This mattress is extremely costly however with the full size coming in at $3499.