The 2 Best Air Mattresses of 2025
Top pick
Our top pick since 2016, it has the best combination of comfort, customer service, and owner satisfaction of any mattress we tested. But like all air mattresses, it’s never going to be as comfortable as a real mattress or sofa bed.
The SoundAsleep Dream Series Air Mattress has been our top air mattress pick since 2016, and we’ve found that it delivers a decent night’s sleep without any surprises time after time.
It’s as comfortable as an air mattress gets. The most important qualities an air mattress has are reliability and comfort. No air mattress is going to be as comfortable as a real mattress, but the SoundAsleep Dream Series Air Mattress comes as close as possible—it doesn’t lose air overnight and feels supportive.
It’s portable and quiet. The SoundAsleep is easier to carry than others we’ve tested (weighing just under 19 pounds) and has a quieter built-in pump than the King Koil—a plus if you need to inflate without waking the whole household. The company says it takes about 4½ minutes for the mattress to reach the maximum fill level, but for us, it inflated to its full height of 18 inches in just under 4 minutes.
It has an automatic shutoff. After the mattress is filled, the motor keeps running, but air won’t go into the mattress, so you don’t have to worry about it over-inflating or popping, something the King Koil runner-up pick didn’t have. After about 6.5 minutes, the motor automatically shuts off to avoid overheating, and it won’t turn back on for about an hour while it cools down (the company doesn’t recommend running the motor for more than 5 minutes).
Sheets fit it well, and it comes in many sizes. The top of the mattress has a powder-blue flocked velvety material that keeps sheets from slipping around, provides a softer feel, and minimizes the impression one might have of sleeping on a pool float. We had no problem getting our queen-size fitted sheets to grip the mattress snugly, which wasn’t always the case with other testers. We also like that the SoundAsleep comes in six sizes (including full and twin XL), compared with the King Koil, our runner-up, which comes in only four.
Its customer service is excellent. Should your SoundAsleep spring a leak or should its pump fail, the mattress comes with a one-year limited warranty, which is the same as King Koil’s warranty, but both reviewers and our own staff have raved about the “no questions asked” service in which a new model is sent—sometimes even after the warranty has expired.
How the SoundAsleep has held up
Staff writer Ellen Airhart has owned the SoundAsleep since 2020 and says that it continues to be easy to inflate and deflate. She says that other than it being awkward to fold up and get back into the bag (something I also had an issue with), it’s “pretty perfect” for an air mattress. Wirecutter senior editor Harry Sawyers also owns the SoundAsleep and says he personally finds the storage bag is big enough to accommodate the folded mattress.
Our director of operations, Koshie Nartey, loves her SoundAsleep but she says she has trouble getting her queen fitted sheet to fit right and opts to use king sheets instead. Sheet sizes, even within a “standard” can vary a lot, so we always suggest checking dimensions if possible.
Senior engineering manager, Polina Grinbaum, says her guests always rave about her SoundAsleep. She also has a tip for getting the mattress back in the bag: deflate the mattress and then, while keeping it plugged in, you fold in halves until it’s the size of the bag. At the end, run the pump again to further deflate it and get it even more compact.
Flaws but not dealbreakers
- As with all air mattresses, there is some creaking and jiggling, which is more noticeable with two sleepers.
- It was sometimes cumbersome to pull the cord out of its internal storage cup (which unlike our runner-up, doesn’t have a lid) and plug it into the wall.
- When it came time to pack it all up, I struggled to cram the mattress back into the included nylon bag, but other testers didn’t have an issue with this.
- The SoundAsleep only comes in one height (18 inches).
Specs:
- Sizes: twin, twin XL, full, queen, king, CA king XL
- Weight limit: 500 pounds (queen)
- Warranty: one-year limited warranty
- Inflated dimensions: 78 by 58 by 18 inches (queen)
