What is a box mattress? Your expert guide

The box mattress is one of the best things to come out of online shopping. Gone are the days of driving to the mattress store, buying a bed, and strapping it to your sunroof or stuffing it into the backseat to take it home. When you order a box mattress, it arrives compactly packaged in a neat, narrow box, delivered to your door for your convenience.

As mattress types go, a box mattress is one of the easiest to define. It's just a mattress that arrives in a box, wrapped in plastic. A box mattress could look like anything from a plush memory foam model to a high-tech hybrid. The term refers less to the contents of the mattress and more to its container.

As H&G's resident sleep writer, I lead a team of expert testers in the search to find the world's best mattress. We test each bed from the comfort of our own homes and document the entire process, from the details of delivery to the intricacies of the unboxing process. This article should tell you everything you need to know about buying a box mattress and whether it's the best fit for your bedroom and budget.

What is a box mattress?

I asked certified sleep scientist Jill Zwarensteyn to help me outline the pros and cons of buying a box mattress, with a special focus on convenience and cost. I've also rounded up a few of the best box mattresses at the fairest prices you'll find online to streamline your shopping experience.

What is a box mattress?

A box mattress is just that − a mattress that arrives in a box. This convenient delivery method means that you can buy a mattress and bring it into your home without ever setting foot in a mattress store or showroom.

Once your mattress arrives, you'll need to lift the box and carry it into the room of your choice. Bear in mind that a box mattress might look compact, but it could still be heavy: all the weight of your bed is compressed and concentrated into one small space. You might want to ask a friend to help you carry your box mattress into your bedroom. Alternatively, you could opt for a white glove delivery service and let the professionals do the heavy lifting.

Now that you've brought your mattress into the bedroom, it's time to unwrap it. Cut through the plastic with a pair of scissors, taking care not to cut through the mattress material as you go. Unwrapped and unfolded, your mattress might look a lot smaller than you imagined. Don't worry – it's all part of the process. Your average box mattress needs a day or two to inflate to its full height.

What are the pros of a box mattress?

The best thing about buying a box mattress is how easy it is. All you need to do is find a bed you like, read a few reviews, check the specs, and hit 'order'. Your average box mattress arrives within a few business days, ideal for last-minute moves. Most box mattresses come with free shipping and free returns to make your shopping experience even easier.

The box mattress was invented to cut down on warehousing costs: the more you compress the mattress, the less space it takes up on the factory floor, and the more mattresses you can store, ready to ship. That's part of the reason why a bed-in-a-box is so much cheaper to produce than a traditional mattress and far more affordable for you as a customer. We're talking hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars for a Queen-sized bed. All six of our top contenders for the title of best affordable mattress arrive as a bed-in-a-box.

I asked Jill Zwarensteyn, a fellow mattress tester and Senior Editor over at Sleep Advisor, what she likes best about box mattresses. She pointed to the practicalities: 'most online mattress brands offer generous mattress sleep trials that give you plenty of time to test the bed at home. That's especially important when you're buying a box mattress online, since you don't get to try it before you buy it'. If you want to learn how to test a mattress properly, I suggest you consult our expert guide.

Jill Zwarensteyn

Jill is a certified sleep science coach and Senior Editor at Sleep Advisor, a website that covers all things sleep, from solutions to sleep disorders to tips and tricks for enhancing your sleep quality.

It's not all about convenience and cost. The best box mattress should be comfortable, too, with plenty of support to suit all sleep positions. As a sleep editor, I'm often asked: 'are box mattresses actually good?' My answer: yes, they can be, if the mattress is made from quality materials and comes from a reputable retailer. Shop at one of the best places to buy a mattress and you won't go far wrong.

When I took a look through our top contenders for the title of best mattress, I found that 5 out of 10 beds were box mattresses. We tested beds-in-a-box from budget-friendly brands, such as Nectar, Emma, and Nolah, and found that they performed just as well as traditional beds, if not better. These are some of my favorites.

What are the cons of a box mattress?

Your average box mattress is filled with thick layers of viscoelastic foam, which is far easier to compress than steel springs. Memory foam offers plush comfort and pressure relief, but it doesn't always make for the most supportive base. You might need to buy a box spring to add an extra layer between your mattress and your bed frame. That's an extra expense on top of your new mattress.

Don't be alarmed if you notice a chemical sort of smell coming from your box mattress as it starts to inflate. That's just the mattress off-gassing. Most box mattresses feature some sort of memory foam, which contains a lot of volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. As your box mattress unfolds and inflates, these chemicals are released, which often results in a strong smell. That smell is totally harmless, but it's pretty unpleasant, so you might want to wait a few nights before you sleep on your box mattress. I recommend leaving a window open overnight for better ventilation.

Final thoughts

Once you've bought the best box mattress, it's important to take good care of it. I recommend wrapping your mattress with the best mattress protector to guard against spills and stains. Some brands require that you use a mattress protector to meet the terms of the mattress warranty, so make sure to read the fine print before you purchase.

If you know you need a new bed, but you just can't afford it, then you could always opt for the best mattress topper, instead. Almost all of the big box mattress brands make their own mattress toppers, too, so you can get the look and feel of a new box mattress for less.