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6 of the Best Mattresses With A Free Trial - 2020 and 2021

Mattress shopping used to rely on you lying down in a showroom for 30 seconds and then standing up and saying 'yes, that one feels about right'. 

Nowadays there are loads of mattresses which offer a free trial of 100 nights or even a whole year, so you can really work out if it's comfortable. Some have terms and conditions attached, so always check the small print.

We've picked out five award winning mattresses which offer a free trial. Prices are for double mattresses and are correct at the time of writing. 

1. Nectar Sleep Mattress (medium/firm) - £569 - 365 night trial

**Nectar Sale: 5 free gifts worth up to £385 + 365 night trial + 20% off bedroom furniture until 25/04/21**
As far as I can tell, Nectar Sleep offers the joint longest home trial of any mattress in the UK market (along with the more expensive DreamCloud mattress featured below). 

You get a whole year to try it out and then it comes with a 'forever' warranty rather than the usual 5 or 10 years that come with most mattresses.

But is it any good, I hear you ask in a polite tone?

Well, as I write this the Nectar Sleep brand is scoring 4.3/5 from from more than 7000 customers on TrustPilot, which is good. It's also won several awards from experts including Ideal Home and Good Housekeeping. 

The mattress is entirely foam, so it's another one of those which are called a 'bed in a box'. It arrives squashed up and then expands once you've carried it upstairs. It uses memory foam but has a 'cooling cover' on top, which is an effort to get away from the issue that some people have of finding memory foam too hot.

Of course, if that turns out to be a problem you can return it.
Nectar mattress in a bedroom
We reckon Nectar's mattress has the joint longest trial period on the market

2. Simba Hybrid Mattress (medium/firm) - £799 – 200 night trial

​**Simba Sale: 30% off £300+ until 26/04/21**
The Simba Sleep mattress is what’s known as a hybrid mattress because it uses springs as well as foam. Recent awards include approval from Good Housekeeping and a 10/10 score from the Daily Mail.

If you aren't swayed by the Daily Mail's approval, have a look at the customer reviews. Simba Sleep as a brand averages 4.5/5 on TrustPilot whilst Amazon customers give it 4.3/5 at the time of writing.

The springs in the Simba Hybrid are mini ones which are sandwiched between layers of foam. It uses memory foam, but not on the top layer so it doesn’t have the sinking and hugging feeling that you probably associate with a memory foam mattress.

There’s some (fascinating) debate about how firm the Simba Hybrid mattress is, with some saying it is medium firmness whilst others saying it is more like medium-firm. We could settle this with an arm wrestle, but the official website say that the Simba Hybrid is medium-firm so let's stick with that. Of course, if it’s not the right firmness for you, they’ll pick it up and give you a refund. 

It also comes with a 10 year guarantee. 
Simba hybrid mattress
The Simba Hybrid offers more than six months to try it out at home

3. Inofia Memory Foam and Pocket Spring Mattress (medium) - £263 - 100 night trial

If you can cope with some dodgy grammar and spelling on the website (e.g. 'Adapts to the each part of body for perfect level') you might consider Inofia as a budget memory foam and pocket spring mattress with a 100 night trial. Reviews were a very impressive 4.6/5 from 1700+ reviews when I checked, putting it on a par with mattresses costing two or three times that.

Unlike some others on this list, the layer of memory foam is on the top with 'adapt foam' and springs lower down. Unfortunately, it doesn't specify how many springs it has. The diagram says that they are individual pocket springs though, which is the superior option to an open coil mattress.

It's also remarkably deep for the price at 27cm. There's some disagreement over the firmness, but the official guidance puts it half way between firm and 'plush' which I assume is a synonym for 'soft'.​ Of course, the advantage of a mattress with a free trial is that you can give it a go yourself and get your money back if you don't like it.
Inofia memory foam mattress
This Inofia mattress is one of the cheapest mattresses with a home trial period

4. DreamCloud Hybrid Mattress (medium/firm) - £949 - 365 night trial

**DreamCloud Sale: £300 off the Dreamcloud mattress + 20% off bedframes until 25/04/21**
The DreamCloud mattress is what's known as a hybrid mattress as it uses pocket springs and memory foam. It's owned by the same company as Nectar Sleep, and it comes with the same 365 night trial as well as a 'forever' warranty (you should check the Ts and Cs of these things, of course).

It's made in the UK and is at the more luxurious end of the mattress market (that's marketing speak for 'expensive'). It is much deeper than most mattresses at 29cm and it gets very good customer reviews. On TrustPilot, DreamCloud was scoring 4.2/5 from customers when we checked. 

The idea of a hybrid mattress is that you get the familiar springy feeling which most of us are used to with pocket springs, along with the consistent support and comfort which is offered by foam. One of the foam layers is memory foam which has a hugging and sinking feeling to it. Some people find memory foam makes them feel warm, but mattresses like this one use 'breathable memory foam' to try to overcome this.
Dreamcloud sleep hybrid mattress with pocket springs
The DreamCloud hybrid mattress offers a whole year to try it out

5.​ Emma Mattress (medium tension) - £649 - 200 night trial

There's a fair amount of technical jargon associated with the Emma Mattress ('progressive sinking technology' and 'point elastic' are my favourites) but we've included it because it gets rave reviews from experts and appears on many guides you'll find to the best mattresses. It's also known as the Emma Original, just in case you're getting confused.

Much like the Nectar Sleep mattress, the Emma Mattress is made from layers of foam in an attempt to give the right level of support. The memory foam layer (the one which has a bit of a sinking feeling) is sandwiched in between two other types of foam. The top layer is 'breathable Airgocell foam' to stop you getting too hot.

​There's a 10 year guarantee and a 200 night free trial. 

Reviews for the Emma Mattress were averaging 4.5/5 on Amazon when we checked whilst the Emma brand overall scores 4.6/5 on TrustPilot as of January 2021.
Emma mattress
The Emma Mattress calls itself the 'UK's No. 1 most awarded mattress'

6. Herdy Sleep - (medium firmness) - £849 - 100 night trial

I struggled to find many pocket spring mattresses offering a free trial. 

​As a general rule they are something you see on offer from newer online only mattress makers who offer foam mattresses, rather than the more traditional companies.

​Some exceptions:​
Herdy sleep mattress
There are a few pocket sprung mattresses with trial periods - but check the terms and conditions first

We picked out Herdy Sleep in the end as a pocket spring mattress with a 100 night trial. There are three layers of pocket springs, rather than the single layer which you might be used to. ​Pocket sprung mattresses offer a more familiar feel than foam mattresses and are what most of us are still sleeping on. 

Reviews are positive (on Feefo and their own Facebook page). It's won awards from Good Housekeeping and the Evening Standard as well as a couple of eco-friendly type awards.

It's made as a partnership with Harrison Spinks which is one of the few mattress companies with something called a Manufacturing Guild Mark from the Furniture Makers' Company. That's an award given out to some British companies which pass 'a rigorous, independently reviewed audit.'