Innerspring mattresses are also known as “traditional mattresses”—they’re constructed from steel coils with a soft, pillow top to cushion your body. Innerspring mattresses are popular for their firmness, support, and breathability, but they often fall short in durability, pressure relief, and motion isolation.
If you enjoy innerspring mattresses, but are looking for an upgrade, consider our hybrid beds, a modern take on innersprings. Hybrid mattresses are more durable than traditional innerspring mattresses and contour to your body and isolate motion better, so you can sleep peacefully and comfortably.
Best Mattresses At
Better Prices
Save Hundreds On Sleep
Our guide covers our top picks for innerspring hybrid mattresses, along with the ins and outs of innerspring beds to help you find the best mattress for you.
Best Innerspring Mattresses from Amerisleep:
| Best Innerspring Mattress... | Model Type |
|---|---|
| Best Innerspring Mattress for an Adjustable Bed | Amerisleep AS3 Hybrid |
| Best Innerspring Mattress for Back Pain | Amerisleep AS2 Hybrid |
| Best Luxury Innerspring Mattress | Amerisleep AS5 Hybrid |
Best Innerspring Mattress for an Adjustable Bed: AS3 Hybrid
The AS3 Hybrid is our most popular hybrid mattress as it’s the perfect medium firmness, offering a mix of bounce, softness, and support. This 12-inch hybrid mattress is best for side sleepers and combination sleepers looking for some extra cushioning. The AS3 Hybrid is encased in a soft, breathable cover designed to help you stay cooler at night.
The AS3 Hybrid has a thick, 3-inch comfort layer of Bio-Pur® foam. Our proprietary Bio-Pur® foam contains plant-based oils along with the traditional petroleum-based oil used to make foam. With the addition of plant-based foam, the mattress is cleaner and more eco-friendly.
Bio-Pur® has similar pressure-relieving properties as memory foam; however, it is much more durable and breathable than traditional memory foam.
The highlight of the AS3 Hybrid is the 8-inch pocketed coil support layer, which is filled with up to 900 pocketed coils. These fabric-wrapped coils ensure there is minimal motion transfer and noise while contouring to your body, even as you change position. We make every coil with upcycled steel.
At the base of the mattress is 1 inch of foam. This foam provides an even surface for all the upper layers to bounce off of and enhances the mattress’s overall durability.
Best Innerspring Mattress for Back Pain: AS2 Hybrid
The AS2 Hybrid has a medium-firm feel and is one of the best mattresses for back sleepers. It’s also one of our best options if you suffer from chronic back pain. Just like our other mattresses, the AS2 Hybrid is wrapped in a soft, lightweight cover.
The uppermost layer of the AS2 Hybrid is 2 inches of Bio-Pur® foam to provide some give to this medium-firm bed. Unlike the AS3 Hybrid, however, the AS2 Hybrid has a transition layer for an added bounce without making your bed overly soft or causing motion transfer.
This 1-inch transition foam, the Affinity layer with HIVE®, provides additional support around your back, but is still soft around your shoulders and legs. It helps promote healthy spinal alignment while ensuring you won’t develop pressure points.
The AS2 Hybrid has an 8-inch coil system in its base, made with upcycled steel. The sides of the bed offer edge support, making getting in and out of bed easier.
Underneath all of the layers is a 1-inch base foam.
All Amerisleep mattresses, including the AS3 Hybrid and the AS2 Hybrid, come with a 100-night sleep trial, giving you time to get accustomed to your new bed. We also offer a 20-year warranty for our mattresses covering sags deeper than 0.75 inches and any workmanship defects.
Best Luxury Innerspring Mattress: Amerisleep AS5 Hybrid
The last hybrid in our lineup, the AS5 Hybrid, is our softest hybrid mattress and recommended for side sleepers, back sleepers, and even plus-size sleepers who want some extra cradle and cushion from their mattress.
We design this bed with both contouring, soft foams and responsive support layers to ensure softness without sagging. (Plus, every bed is backed by our 20-year warranty covering sags as little as .75 inches.)
Our AS5 Hybrid has the same cushioning Bio-Pur® and responsive pocketed coils as our other hybrid models, but it contains an extra layer our AS3 and AS2 don’t have—Active Flex. Active Flex is a latex-like transition foam that gives our AS5 even more bounce, and this is what makes it possible for our soft hybrid to support sleepers of all body types.
So, the layer construction goes like this:
- 3 inches of Bio-Pur®
- 2 inches of Active Flex
- 8 inches of pocketed coils
- 1 inch of base foam
And of course, the AS5 Hybrid also comes with our 100-night sleep trial and free shipping.
What to Look For in the Best Innerspring Mattress
As you compare different innerspring mattress models, the top factors to keep in mind before making a purchase are the coil type, count, and gauge, along with the comfort layer materials and the cost of the bed.
Coil Types
The coils in your innerspring mattress come in different shapes, affecting its price, durability, and feel. Let’s take a look at some of the most common coil types you may come across.
Bonnell
Bonnell coils are the most inexpensive and widely available. The coils are tempered steel made in an hourglass shape and joined together with helical, spiral-shaped wires built to help the coils react in unison. The coils contour based on the amount of pressure applied, but do little in terms of motion isolation.
Pocketed
Pocketed coils are thin, non-tempered steel coils wrapped in cloth and connected to other coils with glue, not helicals. Hybrid mattresses most commonly feature pocketed coils. Pocketed coils are also known as wrapped, or Marshall coils.
Pocket coils are often advantageous to other coil types as they enhance a mattress’s contouring while also minimizing its motion transfer. Being encased in fabric also minimizes the noisiness.
However, pocketed coil mattresses tend to be the most expensive among innersprings while also having a slightly shorter lifespan.
Offset
Offset coils are similar to Bonnell coils, but instead of having a rounded top, they have a straight edge to ensure there’s less of a gap between the coils. This design contours to the body better than Bonnell coils do, and it isolates motion while staying highly supportive.
Continuous
Continuous wire coils are a single piece of wire shaped to form individual rows of coils. Continuous wire coils are durable, firm, and supportive, all while being inexpensive. However, since they are only one long piece of wire, the chance of motion transfer is much higher and this type of coil can be quite noisy.
Coil Count
Coil count refers to how many coils are in the mattress. Most mattresses have between 500 to 1000 coils, though some mattresses can contain more or less.
Generally, the higher the coil count, the better the contouring. High coil count beds are also pricier since there are more materials used. A lower coil count can result in less contouring and more opportunities for pressure build-up in the body.
When looking at the number of coils in an innerspring mattress, there is one caveat. Some manufacturers may trick buyers by stating they have a high coil count (suggesting the mattress is high-quality), but the companies are really using thin or small coils so they can be packed into the mattress. These thin and small coils are weak and unsupportive, but give companies the excuse to raise their prices.
Coil Gauge
Coil gauge refers to the thickness of the mattress coils and affects a mattress’s firmness level.
Although it sounds a little confusing, the lower the coil’s gauge, the thicker and more durable the coil and vice versa. Gauges usually range from around 12 to 15, but they can get as high as 18.
Some higher-end mattress brands may use different gauge levels throughout their mattress for targeted support. For example, a mattress may have a higher gauge around the head and legs and a lower gauge around the back and hips. This way, each body part is sufficiently supported, better-distributing weight and preventing pressure build-up.
If you’re looking for more firmness, look for a mattress with around a 12-coil gauge. On the other hand, if you’re in need of more give and bounce, opt for at least a 13.5-coil gauge.
Comfort Layers
One of the most important aspects of your innerspring mattress is the comfort layer, or the top layer you feel beneath you while lying in bed. The comfort layers also partially affect the support, motion transfer, and comfort of your bed.
Innerspring comfort layers are called pillow tops. They’re typically made from down, wool, cotton, fiberfill, memory foam, latex, or poly-foam.
In lower-cost innerspring mattresses, the comfort layer is typically thinner and made from cheaper materials, such as fiberfill or poly-foam, while nicer innerspring mattresses contain durable, breathable latex, cooling gel, or memory foam layers.
For a mattress to be considered a hybrid mattress (versus simply an innerspring mattress with a pillow top), the layers of foam must be at least 2 or 3 inches thick.
Price
Innerspring mattresses have a wide price range. You can find bottom-of-the-barrel innersprings for only a couple of hundred dollars, but then there also are some innersprings costing over $3000 or $4000.
Based on the quality of materials, comfort systems, coil type, and additional features, you can gauge a price. Usually, you can expect to pay around $500 to $1500 for a high-quality innerspring mattress.
Pros of an Innerspring Mattress
- Supportive and firm
- Come in all types of firmness options to suit different sleep positions
- Coils offer more airflow compared to other mattress models
- Bounciness makes moving in bed easy
- Typically affordable and widely available
Cons of an Innerspring Mattress
- Can be overly firm
- Short lifespan
- Noisy
- Not as contouring or pressure-relieving as foam mattresses
- More motion transfer than other mattress types
Who Needs an Innerspring Mattress?
Although there is an increasing number of memory foam and latex mattresses, lots of people still benefit from using innerspring mattresses as they’re cool, responsive, and supportive. We generally recommend getting an innerspring mattress if:
- You tend to sleep hot
- You’re looking for a traditional mattress feel
- You enjoy a bouncy mattress
- You weigh over 230 pounds
FAQs
Do companies still make innerspring mattresses?
Although other mattress types (hybrid, latex, and memory foam) have risen in popularity, innerspring mattresses are still a favorite for many homes. Still, traditional innerspring mattresses tend to have the lowest satisfaction ratings and many people prefer modern mattress types over them.
Hybrid mattresses are the better, modern replacement for the traditional innerspring bed.
How long do innerspring mattresses last?
Innerspring mattresses typically last between 6 to 8 years, so a bit less than an all-foam mattress (7 to 10 years).
Factors such as the mattress’s coil style, thickness, comfort layer design, and amount of weight placed on the bed affect how long the mattress will last. Higher-end innerspring mattresses will generally last a bit longer than cheaper models, as expected.
You can tell your innerspring mattress needs to be replaced if it is:
- Developing an indent around the center
- Yellowing or discolored
- Lumpy
Why do innerspring mattresses sag?
All mattresses sag with use. Even if you care for your mattress meticulously, you can’t prevent your mattress from sagging. The materials eventually soften and wear down with regular usage, losing support, firmness, and comfort.
What’s the difference between hybrid and innerspring mattresses?
Both hybrid and innerspring mattresses have steel coil support systems. However, hybrid mattresses must have at least a 2 to 3-inch foam comfort layer to be considered a “hybrid” and also have a more complex construction—usually between 3 to 4 layers.
Innerspring mattresses usually have a simpler construction. They have a thinner pillow-top comfort layer—generally made from materials such as cotton or wool, which aren’t necessarily pressure-relieving—and can be flippable. Hybrid mattresses, on the other hand, aren’t flippable.
We recommend choosing hybrid mattresses over innersprings.
Which is better, memory foam or innerspring mattress?
Choosing between a memory foam or innerspring mattress may come down to personal preference.
However, remember, memory foam mattresses tend to last a bit longer than innerspring mattresses. People typically experience Verified Source National Library of Medicine (NIH) World’s largest medical library, making biomedical data and information more accessible. View source more pressure-relief, pain-relief, and better sleep on memory foam mattresses, but the beds can get hot. On the other hand, innerspring mattresses are more breathable but less comfortable.
If you’re stuck between the two options, take advantage of sleep trials and test out the mattress you’re interested in at home for between 30 to 365 days (depending on the company).
Conclusion
Despite being a less modern mattress type, innerspring mattresses are still one of the most popular mattresses today since they are inexpensive, breathable, and supportive. If you’re considering an innerspring mattress, we suggest upgrading to a hybrid mattress instead since they offer the same breathability and support of an innerspring, but are also more pressure-relieving and comfortable.
About the author
McKenzie Hyde is a Certified Sleep Science Coach and a full-time writer focused on sleep health and the mattress industry. She currently writes articles on a variety of topics, ranging from sleep hygiene to the newest trends in the mattress and bedding industry. Just some of the topics she has covered include best sleep practices for students, the consequences of going without sleep, and choosing the right bed if you suffer from back pain. McKenzie Hyde holds a Master of Arts degree from Utah State University where she studied literature and writing. While there, she taught argumentative writing and wrote a variety of articles and analyses for literary and academic journals.
View all posts
