Tempur-Pedic, the company that popularized the memory-foam mattress decades ago with its iconic commercials featuring the “wine glass test” (video), has remained an industry leader. When people think of that classic, slow-sinking memory-foam sensation, a Tempur-Pedic mattress is usually the first thing that comes to mind.
Tempur-Pedic’s mattresses are well made from durable materials, and they come with terrific customer service, including a 90-night trial, a 10-year warranty, and white-glove delivery that includes disposal of your old mattress.
If you’re interested in a Tempur-Pedic mattress, be sure to try it in person to assess whether the slow-sinking memory-foam feel is right for you; we’ve found that people either love it or hate it. And note which model you’re testing: Many of the company’s mattresses are available in multiple versions and firmness levels.
We’ve tested Tempur-Pedic mattresses with dozens of panelists, and we’ve concluded that the Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt (Medium Hybrid) is worth considering. Here’s everything you need to know if you’re considering a Tempur-Pedic bed.
Our pick
With a luxurious slow-sinking foam and sturdy edge support, the Tempur-Adapt (Medium Hybrid) feels nuanced and expensive.
The dense memory foam of the Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt (Medium Hybrid) mattress hugs your body’s every contour. With the help of more than 1,000 coils, it offers a sturdy, medium-firm feel and great edge support.
As with all of Tempur-Pedic’s mattresses, the Tempur-Adapt (Medium Hybrid) is delivered by movers, rather than in a box. Tempur-Pedic also offers a 90-night trial period and a 10-year warranty. But if you return this mattress, you have to pay steep shipping costs.
What to expect from a Tempur-Pedic mattress
- Body-conforming sink
Tempur-Pedic’s proprietary memory foam gives you a truly body-conforming, pressure-relieving hug. People tend to love or hate the feeling, though.
- Durable materials
Tempur-Pedic mattresses are made with dense foams and thick coils and should be supportive and durable, including for those weighing more than 200 pounds.
- Customizable comfort
Most of Tempur-Pedic’s mattresses come in multiple firmness levels and in all-foam and hybrid versions.
- Tricky returns
Tempur-Pedic’s return process is more complicated than those of other online brands. Expect to pay a return-shipping fee of at least $100.
Why you should trust us
To find readers the best mattresses, Wirecutter’s sleep team takes a comprehensive approach:
- We interview scores of experts in the mattress industry and in materials science.
- We visit dozens of mattress stores, showrooms, and factories.
- We pore over the fine print on specifications, warranties, and return policies.
We have tested mattresses from Tempur-Pedic since 2019 in group tests and at home.
How Tempur-Pedic mattresses compare
| Tempur-Adapt | Tempur-ProAdapt | Tempur-LuxeAdapt | Tempur-ProBreeze | Tempur-LuxeBreeze | Tempur-Cloud | Tempur-ActiveBreeze | |
| Mattress type | memory foam and hybrid | memory foam and hybrid | memory foam and hybrid | memory foam and hybrid | memory foam and hybrid | memory foam and hybrid | hybrid |
| Street price (queen size) | $2,300 | $3,400 | $4,300 | $4,600 | $5,600 | $2,000 | $10,000 |
| Thickness | 11 inches | 12 inches | 13 inches | 12 inches | 13 inches | 10 inches | 13 inches |
| Firmness options | one | three | three | one | three | one | one |
The Tempur-Pedic mattresses that Wirecutter recommends
Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt (Medium Hybrid)
Our pick
With a luxurious slow-sinking foam and sturdy edge support, the Tempur-Adapt (Medium Hybrid) feels nuanced and expensive.
| Recommended for… | Side-sleepers | Back-sleepers | Stomach-sleepers | People who weigh over 200 pounds | Hot sleepers |
| Tempur-Adapt (Medium Hybrid) | no | yes | yes | yes | no |
| Tempur-Adapt | no | yes | yes | yes | no |
How it feels
The Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt (Medium Hybrid) is a foam-forward hybrid mattress that’s sturdy yet pressure-relieving. The Tempur-Adapt also comes in an all-foam construction, as the Tempur-Adapt (Medium), and while both versions are suitable for people who like the feel of a huggy mattress, more of our testers preferred the Medium Hybrid. Both the hybrid and all-foam iterations of this mattress are also available as ProAdapt and LuxeAdapt versions, which we haven’t tested.
What we like
It’s made from dense foams. The Tempur-Adapt’s foams are denser—4.5 pounds per cubic foot in its memory-foam layer and 2.5 pounds per cubic foot in its polyfoam layer—than those of most mattresses we’ve tested. As a result, it’s durable even for people who weigh more than 200 pounds.
It offers a slow-melting sensation with intense pressure relief. Tempur-Pedic’s mattresses are known for their pronounced slow-sinking, cradling sensation, and the Tempur-Adapt is no different. It isn’t springy: Your body melts into it, and its memory foam slowly conforms to your contours. The dense foam sits atop 1,000 springs, but they serve more to temper the bed’s “stickiness” than to provide bounce. Over multiple years of testing, we have found that people tend to either love or hate the feeling—but if it’s right for you, you’ll probably love it.
It provides excellent motion isolation. True to the company’s famous “wine glass test” commercials, the Tempur-Adapt’s body-conforming sink means you’re less likely to feel the movements of your sleep partner.
Why it might not work for you
It may be too memory-foamy for some people. Tempur-Pedic’s iconic, slow-sinking sensation is polarizing. Some people can’t stand its huggy feel, while others love the intense pressure relief. In our most recent round of testing, most testers fell in the former camp.
Memory foam retains heat. The company touts the Tempur-Adapt’s cover as being “cool to the touch,” and it is indeed at first contact. But the more time you spend on a memory-foam mattress, the more the heat builds up. Keep in mind that if you already sleep hot, you’ll probably need more help—perhaps from a fan—to actually sleep noticeably cooler.
It’s pricey, and it has a complicated return policy. The Tempur-Adapt usually costs about $2,300 for a queen. It also has a relatively onerous return policy: Instead of the typical 100 days, you have only 90 days to try the Tempur-Adapt before you must decide whether to keep it or return it. (And you must try it for at least 30 days.) If you decide to return it, you incur a shipping cost, which can be well over $100.
Read more: The Best Hybrid Mattresses
Other Tempur-Pedic options
Tempur-ProAdapt
Like the Tempur-Adapt, the Tempur-ProAdapt is designed for pressure relief. It’s available in three firmness levels—Soft, Medium, and Firm—in its all-foam version, and it’s also available in a Medium Hybrid version. Tempur-Pedic wouldn’t share specific foam densities for the Tempur-ProAdapt, but we expect that they’re similar to those in the standard Tempur-Adapt line.
Tempur-Pedic claims that, due to the Tempur-ProAdapt’s 12-inch profile and the addition of the company’s Advanced Relief Material, this mattress is 20% more pressure-relieving than the Tempur-Adapt. We can’t say whether that claim is true, but it seems plausible considering the additional thickness of this mattress.
The all-foam version comes with a removable and machine-washable cover, but the Medium Hybrid version does not.
Tempur-LuxeAdapt
The Tempur-LuxeAdapt, the most expensive version in the Tempur-Adapt line, is designed for people who need extra pressure relief. With its proprietary Advanced Relief Material foam and additional zoned support, the 13-inch Tempur-LuxeAdapt is Tempur-Pedic’s “most pressure-relieving” mattress, according to the company. It comes in Soft, Medium Hybrid, and Firm versions.
Tempur-Pedic wouldn’t share specific foam densities for the Tempur-LuxeAdapt mattresses, but we expect that they are similar to those in the standard Tempur-Adapt line. The hybrid version of the Tempur-LuxeAdapt includes more than 1,300 coils, about 300 more than the Tempur-Adapt and Tempur-ProAdapt models.
Tempur-Breeze
The company designed the Tempur-ProBreeze and Tempur-LuxeBreeze—collectively known as the Tempur-Breeze Collection—as essentially “cool” versions of the Tempur-ProAdapt and Tempur-LuxeAdapt lines for people who sleep hot. Tempur-Pedic wouldn’t share specific foam densities for the Tempur-Breeze mattresses, but we expect that they are similar to those found in the standard Tempur-Adapt line.
The Tempur-ProBreeze, which is constructed with Tempur-Pedic’s patented Pure Cool Material, is designed to pull heat away from your body; the Tempur-LuxeBreeze, which is constructed with an added inch of Tempur’s Pure Cool Plus Material, is supposedly even cooler. We haven’t evaluated those cooling claims. Memory-foam mattresses typically retain more heat than latex-foam mattresses or traditional innerspring mattresses.
When we tested the Tempur-ProBreeze in 2023 in a brand-concealed panel test, almost all of our testers said it felt overly dense and sinky. The Tempur-ProBreeze comes in Medium and Medium Hybrid versions, while the Tempur-LuxeBreeze is available in Soft, Medium Hybrid, and Firm. The hybrid version of both mattresses sits atop more than 1,000 individually pocketed coils.
Tempur-Cloud
The all-foam Tempur-Cloud is Tempur-Pedic’s first and only mattress in a box. It’s about $200 less expensive for a queen than the Tempur-Adapt and does not come with the white-glove delivery service that other Tempur-Pedic models do. It feels more substantial than most bed-in-a-box mattresses, and it’s made of denser foams too, with 4.5 pounds per cubic foot of memory foam and 2.5 pounds per cubic foot of polyfoam. The Tempur-Cloud is 10 inches thick, an inch shorter than the 11-inch Tempur-Adapt. The hybrid version, which has more than 1,000 coils in the queen size, costs an extra $200.
Tempur-ActiveBreeze
The Tempur-ActiveBreeze is a luxury smart bed with an adjustable base featuring a cooling system that is designed to alter the mattress’s temperature. People who share a bed can independently cool their respective sides of the mattress and adjust them to their preferred ergonomic positions, such as sitting upright to read while your partner drifts off. But that customizability comes with a hefty price tag, ranging from $9,300 for the twin XL size to $17,600 for the split king size.
Joanne Chen wrote a previous version of this article, first published in 2019. This article was edited by Christina Colizza and Courtney Schley.
Frequently asked questions
Where can I buy a Tempur-Pedic mattress?
You can find the mattresses online at Tempur-Pedic’s website or in one of the company’s many flagship stores nationwide. Department stores and bedding retailers nationwide also carry Tempur-Pedic mattresses; see the company’s store locator. We recommend trying a Tempur-Pedic mattress in person, if possible, to get a true feel for it before buying.
When is the best time to buy a Tempur-Pedic mattress?
The Wirecutter Deals team has found that Tempur-Pedic mattresses frequently go on sale. For example, the Tempur-LuxeAdapt retails for $4,300, but the “street price,” or the price you’re more likely to pay at any given time, hovers around $3,900. Because sales are so frequent, we advise against ever buying a mattress at full price unless you absolutely need it right away.
To avoid paying retail, or even the average sale price, we recommend holding out for a major sale. As is the case for most mattresses we recommend, Memorial Day, Presidents’ Day, and Labor Day are all great times to snag a good mattress on sale. Other times to watch for price cuts on Tempur-Pedic’s website are on shopping holidays such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
How long does a Tempur-Pedic mattress last?
Tempur-Pedic manufactures some of the densest foams we’ve seen in mattresses, using at least 4.5 pounds per cubic foot for Tempur memory foam and 2.5 pounds per cubic foot for polyfoam in its Tempur-Adapt and Tempur-Cloud mattresses, for example. Compared with cheaper mattresses that use less-dense foams, Tempur-Pedic mattresses should be more durable and less likely to form body impressions, even for people who weigh more than 200 pounds. Tempur-Pedic’s mattresses come with a 10-year warranty, and considering their durable construction, we expect them to last at least a decade.
Further reading
Purple Mattress Review: An Honest Assessment
by Joanne Chen
Purple’s gridded, jiggly foam may feel weird to many people. We recommend trying the mattresses in person before you buy.
Saatva Mattress Reviews: An Honest Assessment
by Christina Colizza
Saatva is known for elegantly designed mattresses made with high-quality materials. Here’s everything you need to know if you’re considering one.
Casper Mattress Review: An Honest Assessment
by Annie Chou
Casper revolutionized the world of online mattresses. They currently offer five models; here’s what to know if you’re considering one.
The Best Mattresses for Side Sleepers
by Caira Blackwell and Joanne Chen
If you regularly sleep on your side, you’ll likely want a cushy mattress that aligns your spine and offers good support. These are our favorites.
