Best Pillows of 2024
We evaluated more than three dozen pillows to find out which ones will help you get better sleep
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The biggest barrier between you and a great night’s sleep could be right under your head. Even with the support of a good-quality mattress, if your pillow is too firm, too soft, or just doesn’t offer the support that you need, you could find yourself waking up with aches and pains.
A pillow’s core function is to support your neck and back and keep your upper body in alignment as you sleep. “You need to find a pillow that doesn’t crane your neck in any position,” says Joel Press, MD, physiatrist-in-chief at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. “The idea is to keep your neck as neutral as possible when you sleep.”
If it’s time for you to upgrade, read on for a closer look at the top five pillows from our tests, listed in alphabetical order. Some are adjustable, meaning you can remove some of the filling to your liking. Our pillows buying guide can help you decide what you need. And for more options, check our pillow ratings to see how a full slate of pillows performs in each of CR’s extensive tests.
The Coop Sleep Goods Premium Adjustable Loft pillow is made of shredded memory foam and excels in our tests for support, no matter your size or sleep position. It’s quite versatile, too. The pillow comes with extra foam, so you can adjust the filling to your liking. It also keeps its shape well, showing little or no change in height or fluffiness in our resilience tests. Our panel of testers was also impressed by its look and feel. The only area where this pillow falls a bit short is in how well it allows air to circulate. It sleeps slightly warm.
Side and back sleepers will find the GhostBed pillow quite dreamy. It’s made of shredded memory foam pieces with a polyester fiber cover and can be customized to your level of support by removing some of the shredded foam pieces and polyester gel fibers in the pillow. Our tests found that sleepers of all sizes and positions can experience some degree of improved support by removing varying amounts of filling. This adjustable pillow, which comes in a pack of two, earns just middling marks in our resilience test but aces our breathability test.
Fans of memory foam pillows appreciate that the material contours to the head and neck while offering support for the neck and spine. The Serenity by Tempur-Pedic memory foam pillow, a Costco exclusive, delivers on that while also being highly resilient and breathable. It’s best suited for side sleepers, who get very good support from this pillow, but back sleepers can still expect to get adequate bracing. Overall, it’s a solid pick, and compared with others in this roundup, it comes at a fairly affordable price.
Sleep Number’s ComfortFit Ultimate is made of a blend of memory foam pieces and down alternative fibers. Inside the pillow casing are three layers that can be added or removed to tailor the pillow’s comfort to your individual needs. It earns top support ratings for both side and back sleepers, and our testers found it to be very breathable. It’s not as resilient as some other options on this list, though, and might not hold its shape over time.
The Tuft & Needle Original Foam pillow is made of polyurethane foam and comes with a micro polyamide and polyester cover. Despite its composition, testers found that it doesn’t retain heat and excels in our breathability evaluation. It also aces our side-support test, making it a great choice for side sleepers. It is, however, less ideal for back sleepers, giving just a middle-of-the-road performance in our back-support test. Expect its firmness, height, and support to remain consistent with use.
How to Care for Your Pillows
Pillows require a bit of maintenance to be kept in good shape. Be sure you know how to wash your pillow. And if you have asthma or a dust mite allergy, consider adding a pillow protector. Regardless of how well you take care of your pillows, they do need to be replaced regularly, particularly if you have allergies. The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America recommends replacing pillows every two years. Indoor allergens, such as dust mites, thrive in places that trap moisture, and that includes bedding. For more information about pillows, consult our pillow buying guide, where we cover additional factors to consider as you shop.
How We Test Pillows
Consumer Reports currently rates more than three dozen pillows from widely available brands, each poked, prodded, and pounded by machines in the lab. We assess how well each one supports the head and neck of people of various sizes—petite, average, and large/tall—whether they sleep on their side or their back. And we use a pressure mat to analyze about 1,600 pressure points, focusing on the contact area between the head and the pillow.
We also evaluate how well pillows hold their shape by placing an evenly distributed 225-pound weight on each one (to simulate the human body) in a room set to 98.6° F (to mimic body heat) for 96 hours. “Some pillows will show considerable changes, but fluffing will bring the pillow back to the exact characteristics it had prior to the test,” says Chris Regan, the CR test engineer who oversees pillow testing. “Some aren’t able to bounce back.” That’s reflected in a lower resilience score.
