The 6 Best Bean Bag Chairs of 2025

The basics of bean-bag construction are largely the same — it consists of a cover, made of fabric (or sometimes real or fake leather), that encases an insert. This insert is stuffed with either expanded polystyrene (EPS) beads or shredded foam. When done right, beads provide a smoother experience as you move and adjust, while foam tends to feel a bit chunkier but adds a stronger sense of buoyancy.

EPS beads are made from tiny plastic resin spheres that expand when exposed to heat and steam, and it’s the same material used to create packing foam. These beads have been used as bean-bag stuffing since the category’s debut with the Sacco, invented in 1968 by three Italians designers and still available today. When it comes to EPS beads, we quickly learned that what sets apart the good from the bad is both the amount of beads used and their size. Our least favorite bag had thick beads, about half the size of a marble, and you could distinctly feel each one under the cover, while the most comfortable bags had beads that were tiny and created a more uniform, yet malleable, surface.

Some bags held so few beads that we sank right through them, others were so overstuffed that our weight barely made a dent. The larger beads we encountered had a bad smell, sort of a wet-dog-soaked-in-formaldehyde stench that refused to go away.

With a couple of exceptions, we tested bags in the four-feet-wide range, a decent middle ground to fit either an adult or child/teen, and a width that doesn’t take up too much floorspace but still feels luxurious.

We also prioritized the following:

• An easy-to-wash cover
• a wide selection of color and/or fabric styles to choose from
• brands that offer a range of sizes to accommodate different spaces and body types.

After paring our list down to 17 models, we called in 10 to test. The process included unpacking, fluffing, and then lounging in each bean-bag chair. I sat in them while working on my laptop, and I paid close attention to how the covers felt against my skin and how the filling felt beneath my body. Over the course of four weeks, we noted how the foam options held their shape with increased compression over time and whether the stitching held strong.

We also got opinions from about 25 Wirecutter writers and editors, who offered their thoughts on the bean bags during a company gathering. We caught several staffers working from the bags in the weeks that followed, and we paid attention to the ones people gravitated toward the most. Over two dozen kids also weighed in during our annual Take Your Kids to Work Day. Ultimately, we ended up with six picks.