The 9 Very Best Plush Mattress Toppers

Material: Cross-cut memory-foam and microfiber blend | Thickness: Five inches | Trial and Warranty: 100-day free return window, 5-year warranty

From the makers of some of our favorite bed pillows and body pillows, Coop Sleep Goods, this topper is filled with the brand’s well-loved crosscut memory-foam and microfiber blend (which you’ll also find in its pillows). That makes it a good option for anyone with an allergy or aversion to down. At an extra-cushy five inches thick, this topper has the highest loft on this list and is designed to add a pillow-top-like feel to your mattress — and I would say it succeeds. I have tried the Retreat topper myself, and I found it creates a tufted feel on the surface of the bed due to the gridded stitching used to parcel out the filling so that each square in the grid is a pocket of foam-and-fiber fill. The result is like rows of mini pillows spread across the mattress, adding a lot of extra oomph and plushness that you can really sink into. This design makes the Retreat like a hybrid of a memory-foam mattress topper (the rectangular slab of foam) and a down topper. It has the support of memory foam with the fluffiness of down. When former Strategist sleep writer Latifah Miles tested the Retreat, she said it added softness to her medium-firm Saatva mattress, but in a buoyant, not-too-sinky way. I like that aspect of the topper too — it adds a comfortable top layer without making the mattress too soft.

At just under $300 for a queen size, this mattress topper isn’t cheap, but I think Coop does enough here to earn a higher price. The topper feels well made, uses high-quality materials (the foam is both CertiPUR-US and GREENGUARD Gold certified), and has straps to secure it in place. My biggest complaint is that it’s spot-clean only; I usually prefer to see toppers that are washable or at least have a removable cover. But of all of the plush mattress toppers on this list, this one best strikes the balance of softness and support.

Material: Down | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and Warranty: Free returns within 60 days, 3-year warranty

This three-inch topper from online bedding-and-bath retailer Parachute is made with two chambers: The top chamber is filled with a mix of 85 percent down and 15 percent down and feather fibers, while the bottom chamber is filled with 100 feather fill. The result is a sturdier base layer with an ultra-fluffy upper layer for you to sink into, and it’s all held together with a cotton sateen shell that has baffle-box grid stitching to keep the filling evenly distributed and prevent it from bunching up. (This construction does mean there’s a right-side up with this topper, so make sure you’re not flip-flopping it on your mattress.)

The feel of this mattress topper is very enveloping. When I tested it, I sank into the cushy down and felt like I was cocooned in a fluffy featherbed. However, the topper doesn’t cradle and support pressure points the way memory-foam can. It also means that if your mattress is ultra-firm, you might sink into the down and feathers of the topper and land on the firm surface of your bed; I could still feel a mattress underneath the feathers of this topper. This makes the Parachute Down topper a better pick for people who want to give their bed a featherbed-style feel without changing the overall firmness, rather than those who are looking to cushion the impact of a super-firm mattress. One drawback is that this topper does not have straps to keep it in place on your mattress, and it’s also worth noting that the topper is dry-clean only. You could add a mattress pad or protector over it to keep it clean, but that may reduce how fluffy it feels.

Material: Microfiber | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and Warranty: Free returns within 60 days, 3-year warranty

For an alternative (and animal-product-free) option from Parachute, consider the brand’s down-alternative topper, which has been a favorite among our staff since 2016. Former writer Lauren Schwartzberg learned about this topper from an informal survey of her interior-designer friends and bedding experts. The topper acted like memory foam — it shaped to her body and “followed her every move” throughout the night — but still felt light and airy instead of thick. She liked how she felt herself melt into the topper, saying, “I woke up feeling lightly sandwiched between layers of plushness.”

Like the down version, Parachute’s down-alternative topper is baffle-box stitched to keep the filling evenly distributed. It is also three inches thick with a cotton sateen shell. And like its down-counterpart, the topper is dry-clean only.

Material: Memory foam | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and Warranty: Not returnable, 10-year warranty

The Adapt topper is three inches thick and made of the same dense, contouring, and slow-moving proprietary foam found in Tempur-Pedic’s mattresses, called Tempur Material. This signature foam is what makes Tempur-Pedic products so pliant and conforming, truly molding itself around the contours of your body. The moisture-wicking polyester-blend cover is designed to keep dust mites and allergens away from the core of the topper and is removable and machine washable. The extra-stretchy mattress straps prevent the four corners of the topper from slipping and sliding while you sleep — always a plus in my book for toppers.

I’m generally a fan of Tempur-Pedic’s products, and I love this topper. I have tested it myself and found the foam to be very cushioning and supportive: It truly feels like it’s cradling your every pressure point. It’s also dense — the queen size weighs about 30 pounds — which can make the foam feel firm initially but allows for you to sink in deeply for some serious pressure relief, especially around sensitive areas like shoulders or hips.

It’s important to note that this topper sleeps fairly warm — the foam easily traps heat and there isn’t much way to counteract that. You can upgrade to a cooling cover for an additional $60, but that’s on top of an already expensive starting price.

Material: Gel-infused memory foam | Thickness: Three inches or four inches | Trial and warranty: Free returns within 90 days, 5-year warranty

For those who want the feel of memory foam without the heat, consider this option from ViscoSoft. Like the Tempur-Adapt topper above, it’s made of thick, dense memory foam and provides cradling, cushioning support. But unlike the Tempur-Adapt topper, the memory foam in this topper is infused with a cooling gel designed to pull heat away from the body. It’s also covered in bamboo rayon, a material known for its moisture-wicking and temperature-regulating properties. The bottom of the cover is made of mesh, which allows even more heat to escape. All of this means the topper will stay cooler throughout the night. It also has straps to secure it to the bed.

Material: Gel memory foam | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and warranty: Not returnable, 5-year warranty

Zoning is a way to target different parts of the body for varying levels of cushioning around pressure points like shoulders and hips while remaining firmer in other areas to maintain support for the rest of the body. Sleepline co-founder Robert Pagano and certified sleep science coach Alex Savy both recommend this topper because it has five different zones that each respond differently to the sections of your body: “Heavier parts sink in, while the rest is supported in a relatively straight line,” Savy explains. This allows for better pressure relief and could be especially beneficial for those with joint pain. The zones — which resemble the old-fashioned egg-crate style of mattress topper — are also meant to promote airflow so you don’t overheat. This topper comes with a liquid-resistant, cooling cover, which fits over both the foam portion and the rest of your mattress like a fitted sheet (the brand doesn’t specify the materials for the cover beyond noting that it is a “quilted fiber blend”). The cover also has a two-inch elastic band around the bottom to keep it secure on your mattress. While the foam part of the topper can only be spot-cleaned, the cover is machine washable.

Material: Latex | Thickness: Two inches or three inches | Trial and warranty: Not returnable, 5-year warranty

Latex is more responsive than memory foam, meaning it will bounce back to its original shape quite quickly after you get up. It can provide similar cushioning to memory foam without totally enveloping the body the way memory foam does. Three of the experts we interviewed for this article recommend this model from PlushBeds in particular. The topper comes in five firmness levels, ranging from soft to extra-firm, and two thicknesses: two inches or three inches. But if you want the most plush feeling, Savy recommends the three-inch soft version. He called out this topper’s small air holes, which help improve air circulation for hot sleepers — another bonus on top of latex’s ability to maintain a cooler temperature than memory foam. Even though this topper is pricier, as latex usually is, Savy points out that it’s well made for a longer-lasting investment. (PlushBeds is known for high-quality natural mattresses and sleep products, especially latex ones.) The price of this topper does not include a cover, but PlushBeds sells an organic cotton cover for an additional cost ($112 for a queen size).