Best Mattresses for Cooling

I wasted months sleeping hot on a “cooling” mattress before I finally figured out what that word actually means.

I bought a gel memory foam mattress because the tag said “cooling technology” and I believed it. I slept on that thing for four months, waking up drenched at 3am, convinced something was wrong with me. Maybe I just ran hot. Maybe I needed a fan. Maybe I needed to stop eating dinner so late. It took a friend visiting and sleeping on my couch to say, “dude, your bedroom is like a sauna,” for me to realize the mattress was the problem.

The myth I had completely bought into: gel foam equals cool sleep. It does not. Gel foam absorbs heat initially, sure. But once it’s saturated, it just holds that heat against your body all night. I paid for “cooling” and got a slow-cooker. That experience sent me down a rabbit hole of actually understanding what makes a mattress sleep cool, and I’ve been testing and comparing ever since.

Here’s what I found.

In This Review

• Casper Wave Hybrid Snow Mattress — Buy Now on Amazon
• Purple RestorePlus Mattress — Buy Now on Amazon
• Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-breeze°LUXEbreeze Mattress — Buy Now on Amazon
• Saatva Solaire Adjustable Firmness Mattress — Buy Now on Amazon
• Bear Elite Hybrid Mattress — Buy Now on Amazon

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This article contains affiliate links — if you buy something through them I may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

What Actually Matters

Look, the marketing around cooling mattresses is genuinely confusing. Every brand slaps “cool” or “breeze” or “chill” on their packaging and calls it a day. But after sleeping on a lot of these, I’ve narrowed it down to three things that actually move the needle.

First: airflow. Hybrid mattresses with coil systems allow air to circulate through the mattress itself. All-foam mattresses, no matter what gel they inject into them, trap heat because there’s nowhere for it to go. This was my original mistake.

Second: surface temperature regulation. Some mattresses use phase-change materials in their covers that actively pull heat away from your skin. This is different from just “not trapping heat.” It’s an active process, and you can feel the difference the moment you lie down.

Third: pressure relief without heat retention. A lot of hot sleepers also need contouring for joint pain or back support. The challenge is that contouring materials tend to be denser and trap more heat. The best cooling mattresses solve both problems at once instead of trading one for the other.

Casper Wave Hybrid Snow Mattress

People assume the Snow version is just the regular Wave Hybrid with a fancy cover slapped on. That’s not what’s happening here. The Snow line uses a proprietary HeatDelete Band across the top of the mattress combined with a phase-change material cover. These two things together are doing real work.

I was skeptical because I’d been burned by “cooling cover” claims before. But the surface of this mattress genuinely feels cooler to the touch than room temperature when you first lie down. And more importantly, it stays that way. I didn’t wake up sweating, which honestly felt like a miracle after my gel foam disaster.

The zoned support is also legitimately impressive. Softer under the shoulders, firmer under the hips. For side sleepers especially, this matters a lot.

Pros:

• Phase-change cover that actually works, not just marketing language
• Zoned ergonomic support for pressure relief
• Hybrid coil system keeps airflow moving underneath
• Strong edge support

Cons:

• One of the pricier options on this list
• Heavy to move or set up alone

According to sleep experts at Relax the Back, the Casper Snow’s cooling system is specifically engineered to dissipate body heat rather than just absorb it temporarily, which is the key distinction most buyers miss.

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Purple RestorePlus Mattress

Okay so this one surprised me. The common knock on Purple mattresses is that the grid feels weird. And honestly, the first night I slept on it, I thought the same thing. It doesn’t feel like any other mattress. It’s not soft, it’s not firm in the traditional sense. It’s… different.

But here’s the thing: that grid is genuinely the most breathable sleep surface I’ve tested. It’s not foam. It’s not latex. It’s a polymer grid with open channels running through it, and air moves through it constantly. There’s no heat buildup because there’s nothing to trap the heat in the first place.

By night three, I stopped noticing the feel and just noticed that I wasn’t hot. That’s the real story with Purple.

Pros:

• GelFlex Grid is uniquely breathable, not just “less bad” than foam
• Pressure relief without the sinking-in feeling of memory foam
• Good for combination sleepers who move around
• The RestorePlus adds more cushion than earlier Purple models

Cons:

• The feel takes adjustment, especially if you’re used to traditional foam
• Heavier than it looks, which makes setup annoying

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Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-breeze°LUXEbreeze Mattress

The criticism I hear most about this mattress is that Tempur-Pedic has no business making a cooling mattress because their foam is notoriously hot. And look, that’s a fair historical critique. Old Tempur-Pedic foam slept like a furnace.

But the LUXEbreeze is a different animal. Tempur-Pedic engineered a ventilated TEMPUR-CM+ layer specifically for this line, and the PureCool+ phase-change material in the cover is doing serious heavy lifting. I tested this on a warm night without AC running and it held up better than I expected from a memory foam brand.

Honestly, if you love that classic Tempur-Pedic feel but have been avoiding it because of heat issues, this is the version that finally addresses the problem head-on. It’s not perfect. It still sleeps slightly warmer than the Purple or Casper. But it’s a massive improvement over standard Tempur-Pedic foam.

Pros:

• The closest thing to classic Tempur-Pedic feel with actual cooling built in
• PureCool+ cover is effective, not just decorative
• Excellent motion isolation for couples
• Durable and long-lasting

Cons:

• Still sleeps warmer than hybrid options
• Premium price point
• All-foam construction limits airflow compared to coil-based options

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Saatva Solaire Adjustable Firmness Mattress

Most people overlook this one when they’re shopping for cooling mattresses because they see “adjustable firmness” and think it’s gimmicky. But here’s what they’re missing: the Solaire is built on an innerspring foundation with individually wrapped coils, and that construction is inherently one of the best setups for airflow you can buy.

The adjustable air chambers let you dial in firmness on each side independently. And the organic cotton cover breathes well. This isn’t a mattress that relies on one cooling technology. It’s cooling by design because of what it’s made of.

My experience was that it slept consistently cool without any special features doing the work. Sometimes the best solution is just good materials and smart construction.

Pros:

• Innerspring base promotes natural airflow throughout
• Adjustable firmness is genuinely useful, not a gimmick
• Organic cotton cover breathes well
• Great for couples with different firmness preferences

Cons:

• The adjustable system adds mechanical complexity
• Heavier and bulkier than most mattresses
• Higher price, though the dual-adjustability justifies some of it

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Bear Elite Hybrid Mattress

Bear gets written off as a “fitness mattress brand” by people who haven’t tried it. The assumption is that the Celliant cover is a gimmick targeting athletes and that the cooling claims are just branding. I thought this too.

But the hybrid construction here is genuinely solid. Wrapped coils, copper-infused foam, and that Celliant cover work together in a way that kept me sleeping noticeably cooler than I expected. The copper infusion in the foam conducts heat away from the body rather than holding it. And copper actually does this. It’s not a marketing invention.

Now here’s where it gets interesting: the Bear Elite Hybrid also happens to be one of the more affordable options on this list that still delivers real cooling performance. For the price-to-performance ratio, it honestly punches above its weight.

Pros:

• Copper-infused foam actively conducts heat away
• Hybrid coil system adds airflow and support
• Celliant cover has real research behind it
• More affordable than Casper Snow or Tempur-Pedic

Cons:

• Not as dramatically cool as the top performers on this list
• Motion isolation is decent but not exceptional
• Edge support could be stronger

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Head to Head

Casper Wave Hybrid Snow — Cooling method: phase-change cover plus hybrid coils, Performance: best overall cooling, Feel: zoned medium, Best for: hot sleepers who also need pressure relief

Purple RestorePlus — Cooling method: open-grid polymer construction, Performance: most breathable surface tested, Feel: unique grid, not foam-like, Best for: sleepers who run very hot and want something structurally different

Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-breeze°LUXEbreeze — Cooling method: ventilated foam plus phase-change cover, Performance: good for foam, still warmer than hybrids, Feel: classic Tempur-Pedic contouring, Best for: foam loyalists who need better temperature control

Saatva Solaire — Cooling method: innerspring airflow plus organic cotton, Performance: consistently cool without active technology, Feel: adjustable from soft to firm, Best for: couples with different firmness needs who also sleep hot

Bear Elite Hybrid — Cooling method: copper-infused foam plus coil airflow, Performance: solid mid-tier cooling, Feel: supportive medium-firm, Best for: budget-conscious hot sleepers who want real performance

The Truth Is…

If you take nothing else from this, take this: “cooling” on a mattress label means almost nothing without understanding the mechanism behind it. Gel foam cools briefly and then stops. Phase-change materials actively pull heat away. Open structures let air move. These are fundamentally different things.

My top pick for most people is the Casper Wave Hybrid Snow. It combines active surface cooling with a hybrid coil base and genuinely thoughtful zoned support. It’s not cheap, but it solves the actual problem instead of just marketing around it.

If budget is a real concern, the Bear Elite Hybrid is the move. It’s not the coldest mattress I’ve slept on, but the copper-infused foam and coil construction do real work at a price that doesn’t require a payment plan.

And if you’re someone who has always loved memory foam but given up on it because of heat, try the Tempur-Pedic LUXEbreeze before you write off the category entirely. It’s the best version of that experience for hot sleepers.

Stop buying “cooling” mattresses based on labels. Start buying based on what’s actually inside.