If you’re reading this, you’re probably one of the many people who loves the body-hugging feel and pressure-relief memory foam offers at a more affordable price than other mattress builds. Our choice for the Best Memory Foam Mattress award had to be a bed that rose above all the rest in an admittedly crowded field.
Cushioned, contouring, and supportive, and earning high marks for edge support and motion isolation in our review, the Nectar Premier Memory Foam Mattress had to take our memory foam crown.
We’ve tested many of Nectar’s memory foam mattresses over the years but the best-selling Premier impressed the most, thanks to its body-hugging feel and mid-range price point. The top-rated memory foam mattress in our best mattress guide, it’s a particularly good choice for side sleepers.
Keep reading to discover why, after rigorous testing, the Nectar Premier has been awarded the best memory foam mattress of the year. And don’t forget to head to our Tom’s Guide Sleep Awards listings to find all our top rated products for taking your sleep to the next level.
The Nectar Premier’s memory foam magic
The Nectar Premier is the mid-range option in Nectar’s all-foam mattress collection, thicker and plusher than the Nectar Classic while not as expensively luxurious as the Luxe or Ultra. That places it in the goldilocks position: just right.
Affordability was a big factor in this mattress winning Best Memory Foam Mattress, but what you get for the price impressed us too.
Despite a relatively simple build (three foam layers plus a breathable cover), the Premier uses its impressive 13 inches of foam to create contouring and support that’s particularly good for side sleepers.
All-foam beds often excel in either cushioning (such as the Zinus Green Tea Memory Foam Mattress) or support (like the Siena Signature Mattress.) The Premier pretty much nails both. You sink into the foams at first as they adapt to your body but once you’ve settled, the support comes into its own to hold your spine in alignment.
That said, stomach sleepers will need a firmer bed (the Plank Firm mattress is a similarly priced alternative). And among our team, back support reviews were mixed: some loved it, but some needed less contouring, which is where the feel of the Puffy Cloud mattress could work better.
We expect good motion isolation from a memory foam mattress, as foams are typically excellent at absorbing excess movement. And that’s something you’ll get here, we awarded the Nectar Premier 4/5 stars in for motion isolation, making it a good choice for couples.
An area where memory foam mattresses often lose points is temperature control, so we were expecting the Premier to sleep hot. But for an all-foam mattress in this price bracket, the Nectar Premier gets the job done.
The brand say the Premier has 60% more cooling fibers in the cover than their Classic model, but our lead tester felt it stayed neutral overnight rather than cooling her in any significant way. The Premier deserves credit for not trapping heat, but if you are a hot sleeper, the active cooling of a bed like the GhostBed Luxe might be more suitable, though it is pricier.
Talking of cost; at $949 for a queen in the year-round Nectar mattress sale, the Nectar Premier fits firmly into the mid-range price category while delivering the comfort and performance of a more expensive bed. You might also see free bedding or an additional 15% off in Black Friday mattress sales on or closer to Black Friday itself.
We think it’s a winner but if you’re not so sure, the Nectar Premier Memory Foam Mattress comes with free delivery, a forever warranty and one final touch to sweeten the deal: a 365-night sleep trial. That’s a full year to take the bed home, test it out and see if it lives up to our high praise and its Best Memory Foam Mattress award.