If your current down or down-alternative pillow seems comfortable at first but sinks too low while you sleep, or if you wake up with pain in your head, neck, and shoulders, you might like a memory-foam pillow instead—they’re firmer, and they keep their shape. These generally come in four types of foam: shredded, single slab, layered, and contoured. We tried 18 memory-foam pillows and picked our favorite of each type, but the one that was the most popular with our testers was the adjustable shredded-foam Nest Bedding Easy Breather Pillow.
Our pick
Our testers love shredded foam more than any other type, and this pillow is a longtime favorite. It has moldable, customizable filling that gives back- and side-sleepers firm support.
The Nest Bedding Easy Breather Pillow is our overall favorite memory-foam pillow, and it has been a consistent tester favorite since 2016. Our testers generally prefer shredded foam to solid, layered, or contoured foam, and the Easy Breather is one of the most comfortable shredded-foam pillows we’ve found.
It’s adjustable—you can unzip the cover and scoop out filling to get your ideal loft—and it offers firm support. It has a soft, cool cover, and the shredded foam is encased in its own washable inner pouch (making it the first fully washable shredded foam pillow we’ve tested). The pouch also has a zipper, so you can still add and remove as much shredded-foam filling as necessary to get your ideal loft. Another plus: The Easy Breather doesn’t have the chemical smell we’ve found in other shredded-foam pillows we’ve tried.
Nest Bedding offers a 30-day return policy and a two-year warranty on the Easy Breather.
Budget pick
The most affordable memory-foam pillow we tried is also our favorite one-piece foam pillow. It offered some of the best neck and shoulder support without overheating our testers.
The Weekender Gel Memory Foam Pillow is our favorite solid memory-foam pillow—it felt cool to use, it’s the lightest of our picks, and our side- and back-sleepers found it more supportive than several pricier pillows they tried. It’s also one of the highest-rated and least expensive memory-foam pillows we found on Amazon.
Its cover does feel less luxe than those of our other picks, and the foam inside makes it much squishier than the layered Tempur-Pedic and contoured Ecosa pillows we recommend, so your head sinks a bit more (but not as much as with down or down-alternative pillows). This pillow could be a better choice if you often find memory foam too stiff and lofty, or if you just want to try a memory-foam pillow to see if it’s right for you.
The Weekender pillow comes with Amazon’s 30-day return policy.
Upgrade pick
This pillow is made with stacked sheets of foam and has a better cover than any other foam pillow we tried—it’s luxe, cool, and soft but substantial. The pillow comes in three thicknesses, and it’s one of the few we tested that you can try in a store.
The Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt Pro + Cooling Pillow (mid-density) is made with some of the best foam we’ve tried—it feels dense and luxurious.
The pillow comes in three heights, or densities, and the “lo” and “mid” options are made with two sheets of memory foam sandwiching a middle layer of “micro cushions” (the layer looks a bit like hundreds of mini marshmallows squished together). The “hi” height is a single, thick block of memory foam. We tried the layered mid-density version with testers of various body sizes in various sleep positions, and we wouldn’t recommend anything taller unless you have especially broad shoulders or need significant height.
Most of our side- and back-sleepers found this pillow very supportive, but some thought it was too big. The outer cover is made from the highest-quality fabric of any foam pillow we tested; it’s well stitched and taut, and the material stayed cooler than most others we tried.
This pillow comes with a five-year limited warranty—the longest warranty of our picks—and it’s one of the few pillows we’ve tested that you can try in stores to make sure your choice fits your body before you buy. (Tempur-Pedic accepts returns only if the pillow is damaged.)
Also great
Height-adjustable and curved to provide targeted neck support, the Ecosa was the best contoured pillow we tested. It’s pricier than others we recommend, but it’s the favorite of our back- and side-sleepers who struggle with pain.
The Ecosa Pillow is made with contoured memory foam to offer extra support for the natural curve of the neck, and it was the overall favorite in our testing with back- and side-sleepers who struggle with neck, shoulder, or arm pain while they sleep.
The pillow is firm with a bit of squish, so our testers felt cradled without sinking. It’s also more adjustable than any other solid-foam pillow we tested—it comes with two sheets of extra foam you can add to the bottom (inside the cover) to adjust its height. We think it’s the best contoured pillow for most bodies.
Ecosa offers a 100-night return policy, so you can try this pillow risk-free.
