Let’s be honest, there are so many beds within the online space. With so many options that vary in terms of firmness, feel, construction and pricing, it’s hard to figure out where to start with your online mattress search. You could stress out over your decision, but why do that? After all, we are talking about a place to rest your head at night.

Many people would rather take all the guesswork out of it and get a generally accommodating, safe pick, which is what you get with the Tuft & Needle Original mattress. It’s a no-frills, comfy foam bed that should work for most people out there. In this review, I’ll discuss why that is, giving you a general understanding of the mattress and who our team of experts view it working best for.

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First impressions of the Tuft & Needle Original

Tuft & Needle is one of the pioneering brands that pretty much kicked off the bed-in-a-box craze. So naturally, this mattress will ship directly to you inside of a box for completely free. The unboxing process is really quick and easy to do, it took our team practically no time at all to complete. When we unboxed ours, we did notice that the mattress looked slightly misshapen, but we gave it a solid night to sit out and properly inflate. 

In the morning, it looked right as rain -- similar to the pictures advertised on the website. We took this as a sign that the bed was ready for testing. We’ve been testing different versions of this mattress for the past six years, and honestly, not much has changed. This version felt pretty similar to previous iterations of the bed -- simply put, it feels like a comfy, foam bed.

Video: Tuft & Needle Original Mattress Review

Watch CNET senior video producer Owen Poole review the Tuft & Needle Original mattress.

Tuft and Needle Original mattress firmness and feel

What does the Tuft & Needle Original mattress feel like?

Getting more into what that “comfy foam feel” actually feels like, we’d say this mattress features a predominant neutral foam feel. Since the mattress is entirely made up of neutral support and comfort foams, it presents sleepers with an unassuming, generally accommodating style of mattress feel. When you press into the mattress and let go, it responds quickly, but not as fast as something like a latex foam bed.

This feel makes the Tuft and Needle Original a safe choice for practically anyone. I think if you asked a random group of people to try this bed out, most would say that they could probably get by sleeping on it. It’s just a straightforward foam mattress designed to work for the masses. That said, if you’re looking for a dense memory foam option like Tempur-Pedic or a responsive latex foam bed like an Avocado, this isn’t the best choice for those preferences. The closest comparison I can make to the Tuft & Needle Original feel-wise would probably be something like the Leesa mattress, another accommodating, neutral foam bed.     

How firm is the Tuft & Needle Original mattress?

Going along with its feel, this mattress also is quite accommodating in terms of its overall firmness level. We’d place it right around a medium on our scale, making it a great choice for all sleeper types. It should be pressure-relieving enough to cradle your sides at night, while being supportive enough to prop you up when you’re sleeping on your back or stomach.

Firmness is however, a pretty subjective thing from person to person. We rank how firm a bed is based on the size of an average person, but you could find the bed to have a different firmness if you’re much heavier or even on the more petite side. Luckily, we now have a machine at CNET Home called the Mattress Smasher 9000 that tests how objectively firm beds are. It gave the Tuft & Needle Original a firmness score of 5.3 out of 10, which definitely confirms our thoughts on this bed’s firmness level. 

Tuft & Needle Original mattress construction

It doesn’t take much to put together a comfortable foam mattress. It’s 10’’ thick and composed of the following materials:

1. On the bottom, you’ve got the bed’s main support system, which, in this case, is a thick layer of dense polyurethane foam.
2. Then, you’ve got a responsive transition layer that the brand dubs T&N Adaptive foam. This adds another support layer to the bed and acts as a buffer above the dense support foam so you don’t feel it as much. 
3. Above that, there’s another responsive transition layer called T&N Release foam, which enhances the bed’s pressure relief and helps transition you toward the main comfort layer of the bed. 
4. On top, the main foam that you’ll feel in the bed is the brand’s T&N flex foam. This is basically a softer comfort foam that’s designed to be more open-cell and breathable, adapting to the shape of your body.
5. The bed is wrapped in this soft, gray cover with this nice design on top. Compared to the previous versions of this mattress that we’ve tested over the years, this one definitely looks the nicest.

Tuft & Needle Original mattress performance

Motion isolation

If you sleep with a partner who is an especially light sleeper, the last thing you want is a mattress that reverberates a bunch of motion when you move around at night. Luckily, all-foam mattresses usually perform quite well in this department, and I’d say the Tuft & Needle Original has some good motion isolation. Based on our tests, we didn’t see the bed exhibit a lot of excessive motion transfer at all, which is great news for light sleepers. You shouldn’t be jostling anyone awake on the bed any time soon.

Edge-to-edge support

For a foam mattress, the Tuft & Needle Original also has some pretty sturdy edges. When I applied my full weight to the perimeter of this mattress, I still felt plenty supported by it -- which is saying something: I’m a bigger guy. If getting something with superior edge support is a top priority for you or your partner, I’d steer you toward the Tuft & Needle Original Hybrid instead. We’ve noticed that beds with coils usually have stronger edges, but there are no apparent issues with this bed’s edge support to report on.   

Temperature

This is a temperature-neutral sleeping mattress. Many of the construction elements in this bed are advertised with cooling descriptions, but a lot of that is just marketing noise. To us, this isn’t an active-cooling bed, but it also shouldn’t warm up on you or your partner excessively. The thing to remember about temperature regulation is that it usually depends on other exterior factors rather than the bed itself. If you are looking for an active-cooling mattress, you can always check out our Best Cooling Mattress for Hot Sleepers list. 

Durability

The Tuft & Needle Original is designed to be a pretty durable, all-foam mattress. Given that this model has more foam layers than previous renditions of the bed, it should prove to be more supportive and durable over the course of several years. When it comes to long-term durability, hybrid beds have a bit more of an advantage than foam mattresses since bases consisting of steel coils obviously degrade slower than a thick layer of support foam over time. Still, the Original should be plenty durable to last you and your partner a long time, especially if you’re both average-sized individuals. 

Who is the Tuft & Needle mattress best for?

Even though this bed could work for just about anyone, that doesn't mean everyone will like it. Here’s who we see this mattress working out best for.

Sleeping position

I think combination sleepers who like to rotate between all sleeping positions throughout the course of a night will enjoy this option the most. The bed’s medium firmness profile presents sleepers with equal parts pressure relief and support, making it versatile enough to work best for this preference.

If you’re a back or stomach sleeper who prefers something a bit firmer, you could check out the Tuft & Needle Mint mattresses. Both skew toward the firmer end of the spectrum, between a medium and a medium-firm. Those upgraded Tuft and Needle beds used to be on the softer end for side sleepers, but nowadays, they’re the more supportive options.

Body type

Since this is an all-foam mattress, the Tuft & Needle Original is primarily best for supporting medium to petite-sized people. If you’re heavier, like me, over the 250-pound range, you’ll likely prefer the additional support offered by a hybrid mattress that has coils. I personally sleep on a hybrid bed, and I really enjoy the amount of support it offers me on a nightly basis. It might cost you more, but trust me, it’s worth it.

Speaking of price, that’s currently one of my favorite things about this particular mattress. While a queen size retails for $895, after you apply a discount, you can expect to pay closer to $716 for one. I think that’s a fantastic value for an all-foam bed of this quality. Over the years, I’ve typically seen this bed priced well over $1000, so it’s nice to know that the bed is more affordable nowadays.   

Trial, shipping and warranty

Tuft & Needle backs its beds with a pretty standard policy set. Its beds ship to you in a box for free, and once it’s in your possession, you get a 100-night trial period to try it at home risk-free. If you happen not to like it within that time frame, you can return it for free. On the other hand, if you decide to keep it, you’re backed by a 10-year limited warranty. Just be sure to use the right foundation for the bed. Otherwise, you could void your bed’s warranty.

How does Tuft & Needle Original compare to other mattresses? 

Tuft & Needle Original vs. Tuft & Needle Mint

When it comes to comparing the flagship Tuft & Needle to the upgraded Mint mattress, there are definitely some things to take note of. Both options have the same type of soft, neutral foam feel. You can also purchase either with an all-foam or hybrid construction. However, there are some things that set them apart, starting with firmness. The Original is slightly softer at a proper medium, while the Mint sits slightly firmer between that and a medium-firm. This makes the Mint the slightly more supportive option for primary back and stomach sleepers and the Original bed more generally accommodating for combination sleepers. Being the brand’s more premium beds, you’ll obviously have to spend up for the Mint beds.

Tuft & Needle Original vs. Leesa Original

These two online beds are very similar when it comes to design, firmness and feel. Both are all-foam mattresses that feature soft, neutral foam feels, and they’re both around a medium firmness, give or take. The Tuft & Needle Original incorporates an additional transition layer, whereas the Leesa Original only has one. Since the beds are so similar, it’s a challenge to discern between the two, but one of the main distinctions comes down to pricing. The Leesa Original usually ranges around $1,000 after a discount for a queen size, so you’ll probably save more money by going the Tuft & Needle Original route.

The final verdict

Simply put, when you think of the Tuft & Needle Original, basically picture a comfy foam bed. That’s really all you have to know about it. I think if you’re overwhelmed by the online mattress shopping experience and you just want a safe choice with an accommodating firmness and feel, you can’t really go wrong here, especially for the price.

You might like this mattress if:

• You want an all-foam mattress
• You want a soft, neutral foam feel
• You want a bed that’s around a medium firmness
• You want an affordable, quality mattress

You might not like it if: 

• You're looking for a more supportive hybrid mattress
• You prefer the feel of a dense memory foam mattress
• You’re searching for a much firmer mattress
• You want something that’s more premium