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Tech Traveler’s Guide to Seattle: Where to Stay, Eat, and Recharge

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Tech Traveler’s Guide to Seattle: Where to Stay, Eat, and Recharge


As much as any city, Seattle is synonymous with the tech industry. Over the past 40 years, Seattle and its suburbs have seen hometown heroes like Microsoft and Amazon grow into some of the biggest businesses on the planet. Around them has sprung up a diverse network of companies whose work touches nearly every aspect of public life, from Redfin to Costco to Wizards of the Coast, to name a few.

Tech culture has seemingly permeated nearly every aspect of city life here—a fact about which some local Mossbacks grumble—and it has transformed certain neighborhoods entirely over the past few decades. This is especially true of the South Lake Union neighborhood, where Jeff Bezos has parked his mighty balls, and a new crop of office towers and hotels have sprung up around them in priapic fashion, eager to serve Amazon’s considerable needs.

Seattle is also a distinct cultural destination in its own right, and the stuff you’ve seen before on TV—like the Pike Place Market (please note it is not possessive; Pike Place, not Pike’s Place) or the ferry boats scooting around the Puget Sound—is very much worth checking out while you’re in town. Live sports, live music, a surprisingly good comedy and theater scene, great shopping, and awesome restaurants (particularly with fresh seafood) are all on deck for Seattle travelers, and I do suggest trying it all.

I know you’re here for work, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have fun. With the right hotel, a bar or two to decompress in, and a choice dinner reservation, Seattle offers high levels of enjoyment amidst the busy professional environment. We work hard, we play hard—try and keep up, and no one complains about the rain, because it’s simply a fact of life.

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Where to Stay in Seattle

Courtesy of Palisociety

107 Pine Street, (206) 596-0600

Tucked a block away from Pike Place Market, with epic views looking out over the market and on to Elliott Bay, this Seattle location from the California-based Pali Society offers unbeatable location benefits galore. You can literally use the market as your breakfast pantry, just a block outside your door—grab a morning pastry from Piroshky Piroshky or an espresso from Ghost Alley—and in a matter of minutes be anywhere downtown for meetings or at the Convention Center for convention stuff. Beloved Pike Place market mainstays like Athenian Cafe (for seafood), Alibi Room (for day drinking), and Café Campagne (for all-day French bistro) are seconds from your door. It literally does not get more Seattle than this.

110 Boren Avenue N., (206) 455-9077

Tech travelers with commitments in South Lake Union may want to choose a hotel directly adjacent to the action, and with around 10 to choose from, let me make it simple: Level Seattle is where you want to stay. This place is hyper modern to the extreme, with blazing fast Wi-Fi throughout the property, a vast, impressively modern gym with Peloton bikes and a climbing wall, and a level of detached chic interior design throughout that fits the busy travel vibe. If you’re here for a night or two, this place is great; if you’re in town for longer, and really getting your tech work on, Level Seattle also offers tastefully furnished apartment suites.

700 3rd Avenue, (206) 776-9090

The Arctic Club hotel is epic, in every sense of the word. Originally founded in 1908 as a social club for prospectors, financiers, and adventurers drawn to Seattle by the Klondike Gold Rush, the building was added to the National Register of Historic places in the late ’70s, and became a hotel in the late aughts. Today it’s operated by Hilton; many of the rooms have vast panoramic views of downtown, including the Olympic Mountains to the west and the historic Smith Tower building on the edge of Pioneer Square; and every room features free Wi-Fi, HDTV with streaming and casting, and complimentary breakfast. Eight of the suites feature rooftop terraces, so if you’re looking to splash out on a hospitality suite situation, this is a great option. The best part of staying here is your nightly proximity to the Polar Bar, which oozes history and sophistication, making it the perfect place to take a happy hour meeting or meet colleagues for a wind-down drink after meetings or post-dinner.

intodustphotography

@intodustphotographyCourtesy of Fairmont Olympic

411 University Street, (206) 621-1700

Seattle’s grand dame hotel, opened in 1926, has been lovingly remodeled in a series of tasteful modernizations, including a significant $25 million update completed in 2021. They’ve really got it all here: a buzzy lobby bar, multiple restaurants, including The George, which offers perhaps the classiest brunch in Seattle, and an all-world spa and wellness complex on the bottom floor. The gym is modest and bright, but the real action is at the hotel’s glass conservatory swimming pool, which is set beneath sweeping skyscrapers above. Presidents and ambassadors and dignitaries and rock stars stay here, so why not you?

4140 Roosevelt Way N.E., (206) 632-5055

The University of Washington—my alma mater (real men wear purple)—is a major hub for various nodes of the tech industry, home to several leading research institutions and a world-class teaching hospital at UW Medical Center. If you’re in Seattle for work in and around the U District, it’s worthwhile to stay close by, and the University Inn is the best of the local bunch. Open since the early ’60s, and now managed by hospitality group Stay Pineapple, this spot is bright, clean, and modern with a kitschy ’60s atomic theme (but not too heavy-handed). I’ve been continually impressed by the range of amenities here across multiple stays: snacks in the lobby, free coffee in-room, a reusable PATH water bottle in every room and a filtered “Water Bar” in the lobby, and great customer service. The UW campus is a five-minute walk.

Coworking and Meeting Spaces

Aerial Seattle Downtown and Capitol Hill Sunrays

Aerial Seattle Downtown and Capitol Hill SunraysPhotograph: Mike Reid Photography/Getty Images

1424 11th Avenue, Suite 400, (206) 739-9004

Every real tech city has a coworking space where the people-watching is a good as the connectivity. Such is the scene at The Cloud Room, which floats above Seattle’s fashionable Capitol Hill neighborhood as part of the Chop House Row development. A $40 day pass gets you hi-speed Wi-Fi, printing services, free coffee (and kombucha), and flexible seating across the space’s dreamy warren of nooks and snugs. Check the events calendar for TCR’s many activities, from yoga to live music.

92 Lenora Street, multiple locations

A locally owned mini-chain of coworking spaces, with locations in Ballard, Belltown, and down south in Tacoma, The Pioneer Collective feels rooted in the Pacific Northwest thanks to a timber-forward approach to interior design—and a collection of working people from around the region. Day passes are $35, or $75 for your own private office, with gigabit Wi-Fi throughout and larger office meeting rooms available.

1700 Westlake Avenue N #200

Thinkspace has one thing the other coworking spaces in Seattle can’t match, and that’s proximity to Lake Union. Their Seattle location is set right on the water—you can even rent a stand-up paddleboard in case you need to get in a core workout between meetings. A day pass runs $50 and includes unlimited coffee and tea, showers and lockers, and phone booths as well as meeting room options. If you need to post that #OfficeViews ’gram and make the team back home jealous, this is your place.

Best Cafés and Co-Offices

What to Do in Seattle if Youre Here for Business

Courtesy of Victrola Coffee

411 15th Avenue E., multiple locations

A personal favorite for getting a little work done with a nice cup of coffee. Victrola is a long-standing Seattle third-wave coffee bar, and its location on 15th Avenue has seen it all—get a cappuccino and a cookie and hunker down.

425 15th Avenue E

A bookshop dedicated to STEA(A)M titles and a charming, chill coffee bar with plenty of seating. This is the ideal place to work, relax, and perhaps pick up a book for your flight home. Ada’s is a short block or so from a great local cocktail bar called Liberty, in case your office hours need to transition into happy hour.

754 N. 34th Street

Long one of the city’s best cafés, in a charming neighborhood north of the lake with close proximity to the Adobe HQ. Milstead serves coffees from a variety of roasters, all prepared with “third wave” expertise and care. The shop gets busy on weekend mornings, but it’s a charming midweek coffice, particularly if the weather’s nice and you can sit outside.

472 1st Avenue N

A huge space, perfect for setting up your laptop or even taking a chill meeting, with coffee service by local roaster Café Vita. This is also the lobby for Seattle’s much-loved community supported radio station, KEXP, so you get cool points for hanging out here.

1501 17th Avenue E

Opened by former Canlis alums, this spot serves outstanding coffee and makes some of the city’s best pastries. The space inside is cute, and you can work if you need to, but use this cafe as a jump-off point for a walking meeting or a strolling phone call, and explore the leafy neighborhood it calls home.

4214 University Way N.E. (in the alley)

Seattle’s oldest continually operated coffee bar, this space vibrates with history and culture. If you’re anywhere near the U District I highly recommend you stop here for some laptop time amongst the students, professors, and assorted intellectuals that call Allegro a home away from home.

Where to Eat

What to Do in Seattle if Youre Here for Business

Photograph: Jordan Michelman

4903 Rainier Avenue S

Brawling, bare-knuckle offal-forward cuisine to challenge and delight from chef Evan Leichtling, who cooked in San Sebastian and Paris before opening his own place in south Seattle. If a chanterelle and wild boar pot pie or ham and cantaloupe sorbet sound like your idea of a good time, perhaps washed down with some cheerful natural wine or craft beer, this is your place.

1054 N 39th Street

Mutsuko Soma is a James Beard finalist chef for her work at Kamonegi, where she hand-makes soba noodles nightly and runs one of the best tempura programs in the United States. Make a reservation, because this place is tiny, but if you have to wait, their nextdoor sake bar, Hannyatou, is a rollicking good time and features delicious drinking snacks.

2576 Aurora Avenue N

The godfather of Seattle fine dining, Canlis is unbeatable for its view, atmosphere, and timeless mid-century live piano vibes. Their beverage program is epic—in particular the cocktails of head bartender Jose Castillo (order his pimento sherry martini)—and the food from new executive chef James Huffman shows verve and promise. Some untold amount of deals and agreements and contracts and marriage proposals have been sealed behind these doors over the last 75 years, so why not add your Dinner of Great Importance to the historic register?



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More Than 800 Google Workers Urge Company to Cancel Any Contracts With ICE and CBP

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More Than 800 Google Workers Urge Company to Cancel Any Contracts With ICE and CBP


More Than 800 employees and contractors working for Google signed a petition this week calling on the company to disclose and cancel any contracts it may have with US immigration authorities. In a statement, the workers said they are “vehemently opposed” to Google’s dealings with the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

“We consider it our leadership’s ethical and policy-bound responsibility to disclose all contracts and collaboration with CBP and ICE, and to divest from these partnerships,” the petition published on Friday states. Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

US immigration authorities have been under intense public scrutiny this year as the Trump administration ramped up its mass deportation campaign, sparking nationwide protests. In Minneapolis, confrontations between protesters and federal agents culminated in the fatal shooting of two US citizens by immigration officers. Both incidents were captured in widely disseminated videos and became a focal point of the backlash. In the wake of the uproar, the Trump administration and Congress say they are negotiating changes to ICE’s tactics.

Some of the Department of Homeland Security’s most lucrative contracts are for software and tech gear from a variety of different vendors. A small share of workers at some of those suppliers, including Google, Amazon, and Palantir, have raised concerns for years about whether the technology they are developing is being used for surveillance or to carry out violence.

In 2019, nearly 1,500 workers at Google signed a petition demanding that the tech giant suspend its work with Customs and Border Protection until the agency stopped engaging in what they said were human rights abuses. More recently, staff at Google’s AI unit asked executives to explain how they would prevent ICE from raiding their offices. (No answers were immediately provided to the workers.)

Employees at Palantir have also recently raised questions internally about the company’s work with ICE, WIRED reported. And over 1,000 people across the tech industry signed a letter last month urging businesses to dump the agency.

The tech companies have largely either defended their work for the federal government or pushed back on the idea that they are assisting it in concerning ways. Some government contracts run through intermediaries, making it challenging for workers to identify which tools an agency is using and for what purposes.

The new petition inside Google aims to renew pressure on the company to, at the very least, acknowledge recent events and any work it may be doing with immigration authorities. It was organized by No Tech for Apartheid, a group of Google and Amazon workers who oppose what they describe as tech militarism, or the integration of corporate tech platforms, cloud services, and AI into military and surveillance systems.

The petition specifically asks Google’s leadership to publicly call for the US government to make urgent changes to its immigration enforcement tactics and to hold an internal discussion with workers about the principles they consider when deciding to sell technology to state authorities. It also demands Google take additional steps to keep its own workforce safe, noting that immigration agents recently targeted an area near a Meta data center under construction.



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NordProtect Makes ID Theft Protection a Little Easier—if You Trust That It Works

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NordProtect Makes ID Theft Protection a Little Easier—if You Trust That It Works


Once I signed up, I had to fill out several online forms. These include information that might personally identify me, like my Social Security number, phone numbers, email addresses, credit/debit cards, and so on. Filling out the information took about 20 minutes. It’s not effortless, but NordProtect’s interface is clean and intuitive. It puts the information you want to see on top, often alongside brief but informative details, with the option to dive deeper. Notifications are rare, too, so you’re not peppered with distracting alerts.

The exception to this was the first time I logged in. I saw dozens of alerts associated with data breaches that occurred over the past two decades. Once those were dismissed, new notifications were uncommon. The interface can seem a bit too simple. I found it easy to forget exactly what the service was doing for me. NordProtect lacks a mobile app. The website works well enough on a smartphone, but a dedicated app would look better.

NordProtect didn’t provide me with any information or take any actions that had an easily quantifiable impact on my privacy. I looked at each of the 48 data breach alerts that appeared and found that none of them contained worrying information. Much of it was out of date (old passwords, ancient addresses, and so on). Some of it was just straight-up wrong.

NordProtect can offer financial safeguards, but I already have a freeze on my credit, and my bank provides free credit monitoring services. I already use a VPN, so NordVPN wasn’t new to me. The most tangible services I gained were identity theft insurance and access to Incogni. On the other hand, I gained less because I’m already somewhat active in monitoring my personal data. NordProtect would be more valuable if I were starting from scratch.

Doing the Math

NordProtect via Matthew Smith

NordProtect offers monthly, annual, and two-year plans, but the pricing pushes you hard toward yearly subscriptions. Silver is $16, Gold is $24, and Platinum is $32 if you pay monthly. That’s pricey! However, the yearly plans are $84, $114, and $144 for the same tiers, respectively, and the two-year plans are $120/$180/$240.



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The 11 Best Mattresses You Can Buy Online, Picked After Testing 100+

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The 11 Best Mattresses You Can Buy Online, Picked After Testing 100+


Compare Our Top Picks

Honorable Mentions

Photograph: Julia Forbes

We tested many mattresses last year and have already hit the ground running in 2026. That said, here are a few options we enjoyed and considered but ultimately didn’t make the starter team.

Sleep Number p6 Smart Bed for $3,199: This smart mattress offering from Sleep Number is designed to prioritize pressure relief in your sleep experience. If sensors detect areas that bear the brunt of your weight, “Responsive Air” chambers atop the p6 will adjust in real time to counteract it. It takes some getting used to to hear the bed inflate and deflate on its own, but it truly makes for a personalized sleep experience. Add built-in sleep tracking and 100 adjustable firmness levels, and you get a one-of-a-kind experience. However, to fully enjoy the mattress’s performance, it’s best to also get an adjustable base, which is a significant additional expense. —Julia Forbes. $3,199 to $7,998

Thuma Luxury Hybrid Mattress for $1,795: Thuma’s hybrid mattress is interesting because it blends together a smorgasbord of mattress materials: a Tencel cover, organic wool, memory foam, organic latex, and recycled-steel coils. The same rubberwood trees are used for Thuma’s popular Classic Bed frame, and for the Dunlop latex in this mattress. Of the three firmness levels offered—plush, medium, and firm—the medium was yielding some pretty strong support. The sleep trial is a bit unclear, as you only get 100 nights of coverage with your first Thuma purchase. So if you’ve already used it on a different Thuma product, like the frame, you may be out of luck here. —Julia Forbes. $1,295 to $1,995

Puffy Cloud for $949: This enhanced all-foam mattress offers profound pressure relief without feeling too soft, despite the name “Cloud” being in its name. The Puffy Cloud has a thinner profile and would most likely be too soft for bigger bodies. However, for lightweight and average builds, it really comes through to support the lower back and hug around pressure points. The thinness also didn’t compromise its motion isolation, which meant little to no shaking when my dogs jumped in and out of bed.—Julia Forbes. $449 to $1,298

The Saatva Contour5 for $2,999: The Contour5 is a newer offering from Saatva, replacing the popular Loom & Leaf in the company’s lineup. Like other Saatva mattresses, but unlike most others on this list, it is not roll-packed and comes delivered on a moving truck. The Contour5 has two firmness options and updated cooling tech that uses airflow channels in its gel foam layer, which is thinner than its predecessor, meaning it retains less heat. In my two weeks of testing, I found the Contour 5 was very good at remaining cool through summer nights, which is extra impressive given that it uses very dense 5-pound-weight memory foam. The Contour5 is soft enough for side sleeping without feeling like a saggy hammock and has excellent build quality, which is impressive for an all-foam mattress without springs. I prefer a hybrid with microcoils, but Saatva is popular for a reason, and as all-foam mattresses go, it has a true luxury feel. —Martin Cizmar. $1,899 to $3,599

The Big Fig Classic for $1,899: The Big Fig is designed for larger body frames. Being a bit overweight myself, I was eager to see how well this mattress, which is advertised as comfortably handling 550 pounds per sleeper, performed. It is a well-built mattress with an effective gel cooling layer; however, the aggressive edge support created a hammock-like feel despite the sturdy springs and three layers of high-density foam in the middle of the mattress. This was true both on my back and on my side. Others may appreciate the effect of sinking a bit into the center of the bed more than I do. —Martin Cizmar. $1,499 to $2,699

The Boring Hybrid Mattress for $799: Boring Mattress is a new company founded by two alums from Tuft & Needle. Simplicity is the company’s selling point. There is just one option: the Boring Hybrid Mattress. (You are allowed to pick a size.) This 10-inch hybrid has four layers of both foam and springs. I’m very sensitive to joint pain, and certain beds tend to make it worse, which is why pressure relief is super important for me. Having slept on a variety of different mattresses throughout the years, I was doubtful that this one would work. But I’ve slept on the hybrid mattress for months now and have yet to feel any pain at all. It strikes an excellent balance between firmness and support that my very particular self hasn’t been able to find with other options on the market. It’s worth noting, however, that its layers come equipped with an open-cell design that’s designed to move heat from your body while sleeping. I’m usually cold, so this feature isn’t that important to me. But on nights when I’ve cranked the heat up in my room and woken up sweating a bit, I can’t say it worked all that well for me. This isn’t a deal breaker, but I wouldn’t buy it solely for that. —Brenda Stolyar. $599 to $999

Casper The One for $799: Casper was a leader in the first wave of bed-in-a-box makers in 2014. The company has changed ownership and design a few times over the past decade but last year’s launch of The One finds the company keeping pace with competitors. This is an all-foam mattress that stands 11 inches tall. Because it’s all foam, it’s on the light side, with a queen weighing an easily movable 66 pounds. One of the main issues with all-foam beds is that they get too hot, but Casper’s The One uses an open-cell foam layer called Breathe Flex Foam on the top, which makes it both pleasantly squishy and breathable. Two more layers of foam add up to a medium-firm feel, with the middle layer designed to cradle your hips, and the base layer designed to provide support. —Martin Cizmar. $749 to $1,698

The Winkbed for $1,499: WIRED reviewer Julian Chokkattu slept on the luxury firm version of the WinkBed for almost two years and he was quite happy in that time. His favorite perk? The edge support is fantastic, so his partner never wakes when he slips into bed late at night. The plush pillowtop also adds a luxe, hotel-like feel to a relatively firm bed. —Martin Cizmar. $1,149 to $2,049

Silk and Snow S&S Organic for $1,000: I wouldn’t expect this to feel silky-soft, but the latex is supportive for sleep. I love how responsive (read: bouncy) this bed is, especially as someone who tosses and turns often. It’s able to move with me so I never feel unsupported, or overheated for that matter. Latex and coils are breathable, as are the organic cotton cover and wool fire barrier. —Julia Forbes. $800 to $1,300

Nest Bedding Quail for $1,299: When it comes to all-foam mattresses from classic bed-in-a-box brands, I prefer the Casper above, but the Quail by Nest is a nice option if you want an all-foam bed that’s a little firmer and you’re willing to pay a little more. My biggest issue with the Nest was that despite its claimed cooling system—the foam is infused with minerals and designed with an airflow layer—I did sleep a little hot on it during my week of testing. —Martin Cizmar. $849 to $1,499

Buying a Mattress in 2026 We Tested 100 and These Were the Standouts

Courtesy of Helix

Helix Sunset Elite for $3,749: Our top pick, Helix, also has an Elite collection that consists of seven mattresses along a spectrum of softness. At 15 inches high, the Sunset Elite is “the tallest mattress on the internet,” and comes shipped in two separate boxes, each heavy enough to max out FedEx requirements. The firmness is dictated by the foam density of the upper layer, which zips into a larger support system. This makes the mattress adjustable if you end up regretting your order. The bottom section has a separate layer of microcoils. I spent a month sleeping on the softest model from the Elite line, dubbed the Sunset, and appreciated the deep cradling effect. Helix offers a 100-day trial period on all of its mattresses. —Martin Cizmar. $2,499 to $4,499

DreamCloud Hybrid for $1,698: Don’t be turned off by that price just yet. This is one mattress that my husband begged me to keep, because the support and pressure relief set the bar so high. It’s been one of the most consistently performing mattresses I’ve tested over the years. And that seemingly high price? DreamCloud runs sales often, so expect to slash that in half. —Julia Forbes. $1,148 to $2,562

Wayfair Sleep 14-Inch Plush Cooling Gel Hybrid Mattress for $410: This plush mattress has a top layer of cooling gel that conforms to your body for comfort and has classic pocket coils below for structure and support, with layers of memory foams with varying thickness surrounding the coils for extra support (the coils and memory foam mixture helps with low motion transfer, too). The top knit cover and sides help with breathability and the overall cooling effect. The mattress is also compatible with an adjustable bed base, has solid edge support, is CertiPUR-US and Oeko-Tex Certified (ensuring no harmful toxins), and has a 10-year warranty. This bed is super comfy if you like a more plush mattress. —Molly Higgins. $400 to $700

Mattresses to Avoid

Not every mattress we test can be a winner, which is why we test in the first place. Here are a few that did not make the cut according to our standards.

Birch Elite Hybrid for $3,749: This is the newest model from Birch, and frankly, you would be just fine sticking with the Birch Natural or Birch Luxe Natural instead. The Birch Elite Hybrid was incredibly top-heavy and incredibly difficult to move, given the floppiness and weight of its numerous latex and coil layers. The top layers slid around, creating a lumpy surface, and the new “CoolForce” layer was completely undetectable. —Julia Forbes. $2,499 to $4,499

Brooklyn Bedding Spartan for $1,099: This mattress is designed for “athletic recovery,” and as a former collegiate athlete, I was excited to try it. I had opted for medium firmness over the soft and firm options, but upon receiving it, I had to double-check that I hadn’t gotten the soft option by accident. The medium cratered around me, leaving me with unhappy pressure points. The lack of overall support didn’t help me recover from soreness, so I couldn’t tell you whether the Far Infrared Ray recovery tech in the cover helped at all. —Julia Forbes $1,099 to $2,399

Sleep Number Climate360 Smart Bed for $10,249: This bed can be temperature-controlled, which is amazing. The adjustable base means you can be comfortable when watching TV, reading, or sleeping. Unfortunately, the price tag has too many digits, and sleep experts recommend avoiding electronic usage before bed—advice the Sleep IQ app defies. Did we mention it costs as much as a used Buick and the weight is not far behind? —Martin Cizmar. $10,249 to $14,499

Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt for $2,199: Tempur-Pedic is one of the country’s best-known and loved mattress brands, but two separate WIRED reviewers (Martin Cizmar and Nena Farrell) have both disliked different mattresses from the company over the past two years. Nena found the Tempur-Adapt totally lacking in support, and felt like she was sinking into a void when she lay on it. Her spine and muscles both ached after sleeping on it so she gave it to her sister who also hated it, describing it as like sleeping on a leaky air mattress. —Martin Cizmar. $1,699 to $3,398

Amazon Basics mattress for $170 (Twin): This one is made of cheap foam that isn’t dense enough, causing too much sinkage. —Martin Cizmar. $170 to $436

Parachute Eco Comfort Mattress for $2,650: This mattress just doesn’t live up to its extravagant price. The model we tested didn’t have enough proper padding above its coils. —Martin Cizmar. $1,550 to $2,850

Frequently Asked Questions

Our testing process is simple—we dedicate a week or so to each mattress, sleeping on it at home to understand what it’s all about. The WIRED Reviews testing team has been refining our testing methodology since 2019, when we would try out mattresses side by side in a conference room, much like a mattress store experience. But just like what can happen at a mattress store, the experiences we were documenting in these brief observations could change the more time we spent with a mattress. Hence, we went back to basics and dedicated a week or more to sleeping on each one, noting down our nightly experiences.

That being said, I have spent the last six years as a certified sleep science coach and professional mattress testing becoming a mattress sommelier of sorts. Instead of devising tests to show how much a bed can support at the edge or reduce motion transfer, it really comes down to understanding the range of materials, sleeping positions, and body types in the mattress space.

What Should You Look for When Buying a Mattress?

Mattress shopping requires a bit of self-assessment before you even get into the particulars of a mattress. Taking note of your body type, preferred sleeping position, pain points, and material preferences for things like allergies or staying chemical-free are all data points that make the search a lot easier. From there, we can help you narrow down options for different scenarios, such as if you are a couple looking for a firm mattress to help with back pain. For that, I’d point you to some of our other guides, such as the best mattresses for sex and the best mattresses for back pain, to discuss some of our favorite options we’ve tested.

What Are Mattress Certifications?

This is one of the most critical factors to look for when buying a mattress, as it’s basically a cheat code for evaluating a mattress’s material and quality claims. For mattresses that use memory foam or organic and natural components, mattress certifications help us, as consumers, gain insight into the sourcing and safety of these materials. CertiPUR-US certification is a non-negotiable for me when it comes to memory foam because it shows that harmful chemicals were not used in its production. GreenGuard Gold is another certification that ensures any off-gassing from your mattress upon unboxing won’t affect your indoor air quality—important if you have sensitive skin, a strong sense of smell, allergies, or asthma.

How Long Does a Mattress Last?

As a ballpark estimate, your mattress should last eight to 10 years. I don’t recommend going much beyond that, as the mattress materials are past their prime and aren’t providing adequate support or comfort.

Just like picking out a bed, there are several factors involved that dictate how long it’ll last. Durability of the mattress’s materials always comes into play, as beds with coils tend to remain more structurally intact than all-foam beds, which can sag around the middle and edges over time. Your build also plays into this, because if your bed starts to buckle under your weight night after night, that’s obviously an issue. If this is the case for you, I’d recommend reviewing your warranty to see if it can be replaced.

How Long of a Mattress Warranty Should I Look For?

The industry standard for a warranty is about 10 years, so that should be the minimum in most cases. Many brands will offer prorated coverage beyond that decade mark, meaning the mattress can be replaced at a significant discount, depending on how long it’s been. This is where the fine print of a warranty is especially important to review, because many mattresses offer lifetime warranties. For example, DreamCloud has a “Forever Warranty” that fully covers its mattresses the first 10 years. After that 10-year mark, you have to pay $50 each way for the mattress repair or replacement to be delivered. It’s still a good deal, but something to be aware of.

Should I Buy My Mattress In-Store or Online?

Where you purchase your mattress is another personal preference. Many people may live near a showroom that sells a mattress they’ve been eyeballing, and want to go see it in person before buying. Others may do that and wait for an online holiday sale to secure a major deal.

The nice thing about buying online is that you get much more variety than what you’d get with a mattress store. You’ll still receive the sleep trial component that most brands offer for in-store purchases when opting to do so online. You can try the bed from the comfort of your home for a set number of days, typically 90 nights to an entire year, depending on the brand. Many companies, but not all, will require a 30-day adjustment period for you to get used to the mattress before they will process a return. If you do end up returning a mattress, some brands, both online and brick-and-mortar, may ask you to donate it to a local charity or arrange for pickup as part of the warranty. By donating, mattresses are kept out of landfills and put to good use.

Should I Wait for a Mattress Sale Before I Buy?

In all honesty, it comes down to how you’re currently faring with your mattress and sleep schedule. If you’re sleep-deprived and ready for a change, there’s no time like the present. We do cover coupons and promos that come up in non-holiday periods. For example, we have a special code for the Nolah Evolution running at all times.

During the holidays, the WIRED Reviews process is unique because we meticulously track price changes and sales year-round. That way, we can deliver news about the really good sales rather than what’s dominating headlines. Major mattress sales weekends include Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. There are plenty of ad hoc sales that pop up for various events in between, too.

How Does WIRED Acquire Mattresses for Testing?

We conduct a lot of research about what’s new in the mattress world, as well as the legacy of established brands and models. To perform hands-on testing, we will request free media samples from these brands or buy them outright on sites like Amazon or Wayfair, or from smaller vendors. Some brands will engage with us in partnerships, but that does not dictate their placement within an article, what we say about the product, or even if we cover it. Even if we receive commission, it’s essential that we publish our true account of our experiences.

What Does WIRED Do With the Mattresses After Testing Them?

Because most mattresses we test are provided as media samples, we donate them locally upon completion of testing.

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