The Best Pillows For Side Sleeper (2024): The definitive in-depth review of top-rated pillows

Shredded Memory Foam and Polyfiber Mix

The Saybrook Adjustable Pillow is by far the most comfortable pillow I've tried, and it's the only pillow that stops me from tossing and turning at night. I used to think that it was normal to wake up periodically to shift my weight, but because the Saybrook pillow can adjust to the exact loft (height level) I need to cradle my head in place, I no longer wake up in the middle of the night to move my pillow around. I'm amazed by how much deeper my sleep is with the Saybrook pillow, and I wake up more well-rested in the morning. It's also the perfect combination of softness and firmness. I'd describe the consistency as firm enough to support my head but also soft enough so that it doesn't hurt my ears or jaw. I'm obsessed with the Saybrook pillow, and I use it as my personal pillow now.

The Saybrook pillow is one of three adjustable pillows I tested that use a combination of shredded memory foam and polyester fiber in the filling. The shredded memory foam can be removed or added back in to adjust the loft, and the polyester fibers smooth out the fill material so that lumpiness isn't an issue. The pillows can be unzipped for easy access to the filling inside. For side-sleepers, the adjustable loft is a huge advantage. The key to finding a good pillow is finding the right loft and the right softness, and an adjustable loft takes care of one half the equation perfectly. I like these adjustable pillows in general, but I like the Saybrook pillow the most because of the high-quality fill material.

The Saybrook pillow distinguishes itself in the filling. Saybrook uses a blend called "Lion Down Alternative," and I find the pun pretty amusing. Compared to the other shredded memory foam and polyester fiber blends, Lion Down Alternative has a higher proportion of memory foam, and the overall feel of the pillow is more like a memory foam pillow. When I sleep on the other adjustable pillows in this review, I feel more like I'm sleeping on a polyester pillow. In addition, the Saybrook memory foam feels to me like it's the highest quality. Pieces of memory foam in the Wondersleep pillow feel hard and uncomfortable to me while the Coop memory foam feels more like regular foam in my opinion. The Coop foam reminds me of the foam used in Walkman over-the-ear headphones from the 80's (not necessarily uncomfortable, but it has a different, more mundane feel), while the Saybrook memory foam has the signature squish I've come to expect from memory foam. The high proportion of memory foam pieces combined with the slight amount of polyester fiber results in a medium softness / firmness. It cradles my head with ample support when I sleep on my side, and I don't find myself tossing and turning at night when I use it. At the same time, the pillow still feels soft enough to be comfortable when I squish it, and it isn't so firm that I feel pressure against my ears or jaw. I can still turn my head without feeling pushback while lying down if I want to, which isn't true for some of the firmer pillows.

In the past, I had tried low-cost shredded memory foam pillows off of Amazon that were in the $20 - $50 price range, and they almost made me give up on shredded memory foam pillows. The pieces of memory foam were hard and stiff, causing the pillows to feel lumpy. Many of them didn't have the polyester fibers mixed in, unlike the Saybrook, Coop, and Wondersleep pillows, and the lack of polyester fibers exacerbated the lumpiness. Some of the pieces of foam in these low-cost pillows were sticky or had a rind on them that made me suspect the foam was a byproduct of mattress production. The Saybrook pillow (and the Coop pillow) use all new foam, and these pillows don't feel lumpy. If you've tried $20 - $50 shredded memory foam pillows in the past and have been disappointed, I would give the Saybrook Adjustable Pillow a try. You'll probably be surprised how different the Saybrook pillow feels. If you haven't tried a shredded memory foam pillow before, I recommend avoiding the $20 - $50 pillows. These types of pillows are noticeably better in the luxury pillow price range.

The Saybrook pillow comes in a zippered tube that acts as a measuring cup for removing filling. The tube instructs sleepers to take out enough to fill the tube in order to have a thinner pillow. I appreciate the rough guidance on how much filling to remove for people who want a lower loft, though obviously everyone should make their own micro-adjustments to get the right loft for them. I personally took out enough to fill the entire tube for side-sleeping. I also appreciate that there is a place for me to store the extra filling in case I need it later. The downside for the Saybrook is that it doesn't come with an additional bag of filling, while Coop provides an extra bag. However, this isn't a deal-breaker because I'd guess most people won't use all the filling. In addition, I measure 3.6 lbs of filling inside the standard-sized Saybrook pillow and 3.2 lbs of filling inside the standard-sized Coop pillow. The extra bag of Coop filling brings its overall weight to 3.7 lbs, so the total amount of filling for both pillows turns out to be very similar based on my measurements.

For back-sleeping, I use the same amount of fill as side-sleeping with the Saybrook pillow. When I sleep on my back, I don't need the thickness to match my shoulder size, and instead, I care about giving my neck support while making sure my head doesn't get pushed too forward. The tolerance range for the loft is higher when I sleep on my back. The loft I use for side-sleeping works for back-sleeping on the Saybrook pillow as well.

The Saybrook pillow uses a removable cover made of bamboo fabric. The fabric has a slight sheen, and the texture sits halfway between silk and knit wool. Out of all the pillow covers, I enjoy the Saybrook and Tempur-Pedic covers the most.

Overall, the Saybrook pillow has really impressed me, and I've been obsessively recommending it to all my friends and anyone who will listen. I like the adjustability and the quality of the filling. I like the way the bamboo cover feels against my cheeks. Sleeping on this pillow, I feel refreshed in the morning without any jaw pain or neck pain. It's been a long journey, but I've finally found the perfect pillow.

Update (8 months later): I've been sleeping on the Saybrook Adjustable Pillow for a while now, and it still sleeps like new! I'm very happy with the quality and durability of this pillow. I fluff this pillow in the dryer on a no-heat, gentle setting once every 2 months like the instructions say, and the pillow stays at the loft I want. I attribute this to the high-quality memory foam material.

Down and Feather

Have you ever been surprised by how nice the pillows were in a luxury hotel or resort? As a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium Elite member for a few years in a row, I've stayed at many hotels, and the Chamberlain Down Dual-Chamber Pillow reminds me of some of the best hotel pillows I've experienced. It's made with the same type of design as the hotel pillows, featuring a down chamber on the outside wrapped around a feather chamber on the inside. I enjoy the satisfying puff of air from the down layer that allows me to "sink" into the pillow, and the feather chamber on the inside gives the pillow more structure than a typical down pillow. I tested three down and feather pillows for this review, and the Chamberlain Down pillow is by far the highest quality in my opinion.

Down pillows in general have been prized as luxury items for centuries. Down pillows function by trapping air inside the pillow. The air provides loft for the pillow, and the escaping air provides the buoyant sensation as the sleeper lies down. This makes down pillows different from pillows made with other materials, which provide loft through the material itself rather than trapped air. Feathers don't trap air as well as down, but they do provide loft through their structure thanks to the hard quill. Most pillows use a combination of down and feather since down can be very expensive, and having some structure can be an advantage to prevent the pillow from going flat over time.

The Chamberlain construction quality shows in two ways. First, the seams of the pillow are double-stitched, which prevents feathers and down from escaping the pillow. In contrast, the Puredown pillow is single-stitched along the seams. The Pacific Coast Double DownAround pillow has double-stitching, but the one I purchased has feathers sticking out of the stitching, as shown in the picture below. This is important because escaping down clusters might allow the pillow to go flat over time, and clusters in the air may cause unwanted sneezing.

Second, the Chamberlain Down pillow uses the aforementioned dual-chamber construction that wraps a layer of down on the outside, keeping the sleeper insulated from the feathers. This is the same build used in luxury hotel pillows. In fact, while multiple pillows that I tested for this review claim to be "hotel-style" pillows, the Chamberlain Dual-Chamber Pillow is the only one that reminds me of the pillows I've used at high-end hotels. Many years ago, I traveled for work, staying at hotels such as the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, and Intercontinental, so I've become all too familiar with hotel pillows. The down layer on the outside prevents the sleeper from feeling any of the quills from feathers in the inner chamber, which results in the feeling of sleeping on air. The Chamberlain Down pillow has a substantial layer of down to achieve this effect. While I have felt quills in other down pillows, I do not feel any quills in the Chamberlain Down Dual-Chamber Pillow.

By comparison, the Puredown pillow, which is only a single chamber, mixes down and feathers together, and I can feel the quills in the pillow when I lie down. The Pacific Coast Double DownAround pillow is also a dual-chamber pillow, but when I lie down, I can still feel the quills. Even though the stated proportion of down is the same as the Chamberlain Down pillow, the Pacific Coast Double DownAround pillow uses 550 fill power down according to the Pacific Coast website at my time of purchase, while the Chamberlain Down Dual-Chamber Pillow uses 600+ fill power. In down terminology, a higher fill power indicates larger down clusters, which are better at trapping air. As a result, when I lie down on the Chamberlain Down pillow, the layer of down holds my head buoyant, but I sink straight into the feathers with the Pacific Coast pillow.

Like all down and feather pillows, the Chamberlain Down pillow will require fluffing in the morning. Fluffing just pumps the air back into the down clusters. At nicer hotels, fluffing typically happens during evening turn-down service. I find that my Chamberlain Down pillow is comparatively better at maintaining its air compared to the other down and feather pillows I have, so I don't mind fluffing when I sleep on it.

I classify the firmness as soft, but it's important to note that while the pillow feels soft, there is a substantial amount of material inside. When I lay my head down, I sink slowly but considerably into the pillow. Because the pillow has so much material, I still get that buoyant support. It's still not enough support for me to side-sleep comfortably, but the pillow is very comfortable for sleeping on my back or stomach. If you want a pillow that disappears underneath, this pillow has too much material for that to happen, but if you want a soft pillow that gives a slow-motion sinking sensation without completely disappearing, then this is the pillow to get.

For anyone searching for a luxury pillow similar to the ones found in high-end hotels, I highly recommend this pillow. The Chamberlain Down Dual-Chamber Pillow provides that signature sensation of sleeping on air, and it's great for back-sleepers and stomach-sleepers. I put this pillow in my guest bedroom, and at least half my guests comment on the Chamberlain pillow or ask where they can get their own.

Finally, this pillow is only available on chamberlaindown.com, which can sometimes run out of stock. I reached out to see if they sell on other marketplaces, but they told me that they tightly control their distribution. Sites like Amazon tried taking me to different pillows that did not have the same quality. If you're looking for a hotel-style pillow, I would recommend being patient and buying when you see Chamberlain Down in stock.

Solid Memory Foam

The Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Cloud Pillow is a solid memory foam pillow, which means the loft isn't adjustable. The Tempur-Pedic memory foam is also incredibly soft. For side-sleepers and back-sleepers, this memory foam will likely be too soft in my opinion. For stomach sleepers, who might prefer a thinner and softer pillow, the Tempur-Pedic works perfectly.

The quality of the memory foam is noticeable. When compressed all the way down, the Tempur-Pedic memory foam takes about 3 seconds to bounce back to the original shape, as if it were bouncing back in slow motion.

The foam is much softer compared to the Weekender and Pillow Cube, which are also solid memory foam pillows. I measure all three of these solid memory foam pillows at a 5-inch starting loft. When I lay my head down, the Tempur-Pedic compresses halfway while the Weekender compresses only slightly and the Pillow Cube barely has any noticeable compression, so the Tempur-Pedic ends up effectively thinner. The compression provides a very comfortable sinking feeling for people who enjoy that aspect of a pillow.

I've slept on the Tempur-Pedic pillow in all three positions. As a side-sleeper and back-sleeper, this pillow does not provide enough support for my preferences. My head just sinks down. However, this pillow feels like magic when sleeping on my stomach. I usually hug the pillow vertically so that half my body is on top of the pillow. The Tempur-Pedic will compress more for my body than my head, which is lighter, and the result is a very comfortable incline.

The pillow has a removable cover that feels well-constructed. Where the Weekender and Pillow Cube covers are thin by comparison, the Tempur-Pedic pillow cover is best described as substantial. Based on the feel of the memory foam and the feel of the pillow cover, I'd consider the Tempur-Pedic to have a higher quality construction compared to the Weekender and Pillow Cube.

I highly recommend this option for stomach sleepers. Side-sleepers and back-sleepers, though, need to be aware that this pillow won't have the support they might expect. I see mixed reviews for this pillow, and I suspect it's because the five-star reviews are more likely to be stomach sleepers who prefer a thinner pillow while the one-star reviews are more likely to be side-sleepers and back-sleepers.

Polyester Fiber (Down Alternative)

The Casper Original Pillow uses a pillow-in-pillow design with two layers, both made of polyester fiber, at slightly different firmness levels. This creates a thick but soft pillow that is great for back-sleepers who want a polyester fiber pillow. However, I don't recommend this pillow for side-sleepers due to the lack of adjustability: the thickness combined with the softness results in an unpredictable loft.

The most noticeable aspect of the Casper pillow is the loft: I measure it at 10 inches thick, the highest loft of any pillow tested. This is because the pillow is actually made up of a regular sized pillow covered by another layer of pillow. The outer layer can be unzipped to reveal the inner pillow sandwiched inside. The outer layer is extremely soft and thin. It resembles a comforter or a thick blanket. In fact, the pillow does remind me of a regular pillow wrapped in a comforter. The outer layer sinks completely in when used.

Unzipping the outer pillow reveals an inner pillow also made with polyester filling. Keep in mind that though the pillow can be unzipped, the filling cannot be adjusted. Unzipping doesn't give access to the filling. It only gives access to the inner pillow. While you can technically have three different lofts by sleeping on the inside pillow by itself, the outside layer by itself, and both layers combined, I wouldn't consider the pillow to be adjustable. I suspect most people will be sleeping on the pillow with all the layers together because either layer by itself is too thin for my preferences. Like the outer layer, the inner pillow sinks all the way down when I lay my head on it by itself. Based on my experience, neither the inner pillow nor the outer pillow will provide enough support for side-sleepers or back-sleepers individually. Theoretically, the inner pillow could be used for stomach-sleeping, but there are other options on the market that don't involve discarding half the pillow.

When used together, the pillows start at the full 10-inch-high loft. Laying my head down makes the pillow significantly thinner since both parts of the pillow are so soft. The inner pillow and the outer pillow compress all the way down when slept on individually, but the combined pillow does leave some loft simply because there is so much material. Unfortunately, as a side-sleeper, the loft feels slightly off for me, leaving my head angled uncomfortably. It's possible that some side-sleepers will find the loft level perfect, but I recommend that side-sleepers stick with a fully adjustable pillow like the Saybrook or Coop.

The Casper pillow and Sleepgram pillow share a lot of similarities. From the outside, they even look almost the same except for the different logos. There are three main differences, though. First, the Sleepgram pillow comes with two inner pillows. Despite this, both the Casper and Sleepgram pillows have the same loft, so the Sleepgram inner pillows are individually thinner compared to the Casper inner pillow. Second, the zipper on the Casper pillow feels to me like it's easier to operate compared to the zipper on the Sleepgram pillow, which contributes to my perception that the Casper pillow has higher quality construction. Finally, I find the Sleepgram pillow to be even softer than the Casper pillow. My head sinks down even more with the Sleepgram pillow. This is because the Sleepgram polyester filling glides more easily, so some of the material moves out of the way when I lay my head on it. The Casper pillow polyester fill is also soft, but it stays underneath my head, so even though it compresses, the material stays there to provide some loft.

Unlike some of the other pillows reviewed, the Casper pillow doesn't come with a separate cover. Inserting this pillow into a pillow case can be difficult due to the thickness. Though the pillow compresses easily when sleeping on it, getting it to compress from 365 degrees to shove inside a pillow case is relatively frustrating. It is far from impossible, but it does take more energy than it should. I find that when pillows are difficult to insert into pillow cases, I subconsciously avoid wash cycles.

The lack of adjustability makes the Casper pillow a non-starter for side-sleepers since the angle of the head is so important and everyone has a different shoulder and head size. For back-sleepers looking for a polyester fiber pillow, the Casper pillow is a great choice. Because of the thickness, even though the pillow sinks significantly, it still provides some support.

Shredded Memory Foam and Polyfiber Mix

The Coop Home Goods Eden Pillow is an adjustable pillow similar to the Saybrook pillow. I really enjoy the sleep experience on the Coop at the start of the night, but it does have a few flaws that hold it back, including the way the polyester filling is tangled together inside the filling, the overall dominant feel of the polyester filling, and memory foam that doesn't feel like memory foam to me.

The pillow is adjustable with shredded memory foam and polyester fiber inside. It arrives in a box with extra filling, which is a nice touch, though it comes overstuffed already. I doubt anyone would be adding additional filing. Personally, I took out about a quarter of the filling before sleeping on mine. The ability to micro-adjust the pillow loft to the perfect height gives this pillow a massive advantage over other pillows in contention without this feature. The Coop Eden Pillow is the higher priced pillow that Coop offers. They also offer the Coop Original pillow, which does not come with silicone gel, according to the Coop website.

The polyester fiber is different in the Coop pillow compared to the Saybrook pillow. The fibers are long and tangled throughout the pillow. There is also more polyester fiber in comparison. The result is that taking out filling from the Coop pillow requires ripping out chunks of entangled polyester fiber, similar to ripping apart large cotton balls. For the Coop Eden Pillow that I have, after I remove some filling, I have to shake the pillow vigorously in order to spread everything evenly again because the filling left inside the pillow is still tangled together. The experience has unnecessary friction.

I am underwhelmed by the quality of the foam. When I squeeze the foam between my fingers, it just seems like regular foam to me instead of memory foam. Instead of a slow motion compression, the foam collapses in real time, and I can visibly tell that the foam has looser air bubbles. The Coop foam brings to mind the foam used on Walkman over-the-ear headphones in the 80's or the foam of a sponge. As a result, my experience is that the foam provides less support compared to other memory foam pillows that I've tried. I find that my Coop pillow feels flatter by morning, and I don't feel as supported as I would like. Unfortunately, adding more filling in would make the pillow feel too lofty at the start of the night, so that wouldn't be a good solution to the problem. On the plus side, I do enjoy using the Coop pillow for stomach-sleeping.

Because the proportion of polyester fibers is higher and because of the feel of the foam, the pillow overall sleeps more like a polyester pillow in my opinion. If you're looking for a polyester pillow, I would recommend the Coop Eden Pillow since it is adjustable. However, if you're looking for the feel of a memory foam pillow, then I'd recommend considering the other options.

Solid Latex Foam

The Purple Harmony Pillow has a very unique feel since it is made of latex foam on the inside and a rubber-like grid built into its cover. The material is fun to squeeze because it is bouncy and squishy, but what makes a good stress ball doesn't necessarily make a good pillow. For back sleepers particularly worried about sweating, the Purple Harmony Pillow is worth trying, but I wouldn't recommend the pillow due to the bounciness.

When I lie down on the pillow, I am distinctly reminded of a water balloon. It is soft enough to squish down and compress, but the elasticity of the latex foam means that my head bounces back. I'll also feel a small trembling vibration make its way through the pillow, not unlike the feeling of water swashing back and forth. Every time I shift my weight on the pillow, the pillow will jiggle. Because I shift my weight occasionally as I fall asleep, the wobbling of the pillow will snap me back awake. I've had several instances where I was close to falling asleep only to be brought back to attention from the wobble. Nevertheless, I do eventually fall asleep, so the pillow doesn't completely prevent me from sleeping.

The signature Purple Grid can be found in the cover of the pillow. The substance of the grid feels like a gel-grip pen. It is fun to squeeze, but when I lay my head on it, I mostly just feel the latex foam underneath. The latex foam is what gives the bounce. The grid serves mainly to provide aeration since solid foam pillows tend to trap heat and sweat against the sleeper. In my experience, I find the grid to be pretty effective in preventing sweat build-up, but if heat and sweat is a concern, down and down alternative pillows tend to be better for breathability than solid foam pillows in general.

The Purple Harmony Pillow comes in three different loft levels, but the options are separated by one inch each, according to the Purple website at my time of purchase. Though I appreciate the different options, a one inch difference is the difference between a size 6 and a size 9 shoe (for both men and women), and I'd prefer a fully adjustable pillow that can accommodate sizes in between. Because the Purple Harmony Pillow is not adjustable, I wouldn't recommend it for side-sleepers.

Overall, I consider the Purple Harmony Pillow a novelty experience akin to a water bed. It's fun to try once, but I don't want to sleep on it regularly. I would not consider it worth purchasing again at the price point that I paid.

Polyester Fiber (Down Alternative)

The Sleepgram Adjustable Pillow is an extra soft polyester fiber pillow with a thick starting loft. Though nominally adjustable based on the pillow-in-pillow design that allows the sleeper to keep or remove two layers of inner pillows, I wouldn't consider the Sleepgram pillow fully adjustable because of the softness, which limits its appeal for those who want more support, and the inability to do micro-adjustments. The Sleepgram pillow can be a good option for stomach-sleepers, but I would not recommend it for side-sleepers and back-sleepers.

The Sleepgram pillow uses a pillow-in-pillow design similar to the Casper pillow. In fact, when I first unboxed the pillows, I thought they were the same pillow with different logos. However, on a closer look, I found three main differences. The first difference is the softness of the pillows. Both pillows have the same starting loft, but my head sinks in more when I sleep on the Sleepgram pillow compared to the Casper pillow. The Casper pillow is already so soft that my head sinks significantly, so I was surprised that the Sleepgram pillow had even less support. Even though the Sleepgram pillow starts at 10 inches of loft by my measurements, my head sinks so far into the pillow that I feel even less support than I get from pillows that start at half that loft. I would guess the difference between the Casper and Sleepgram softness comes from the friction in the polyester fibers. The Sleepgram polyester fibers glide very smoothly against each other, almost like silk strands. This means that the material appears to move to the side when I lay my head on the pillow. The Casper polyester fibers are also soft in terms of firmness, but they aren't as soft in terms of friction. Because of the softness of the Sleepgram pillow, I'm unable to get the support I need for side-sleeping, and this is one of the reasons I wouldn't consider the Sleepgram pillow fully adjustable.

The second difference is the number of inner pillows. The Sleepgram pillow has two inner pillows while the Casper pillow only has one. Nevertheless, the total starting loft is the same across the Sleepgram and Casper pillows as far as I can measure, so the Sleepgram inner pillows are individually thinner than the Casper inner pillow. I find this to be an advantage for the Sleepgram pillow because it does allow for more configuration options. Sleepgram labels one inner pillow with a blue tag and the other with a red tag. The instruction booklet that comes with the pillow says that the inner pillow with the blue tag is softer than the one with the red tag, so you can get different firmness levels by keeping different configurations of the two inner pillows. Because I can't get the support I need for side-sleeping on the Sleepgram pillow even with both inner pillows loaded inside, I tend to prefer stomach-sleeping when I use it. For stomach-sleeping, I'll remove the inner pillow with the blue tag. Though I appreciate the configuration options, I still prefer the ability to micro-adjust with the Saybrook and Coop pillows.

Finally, the zipper on the Casper pillow that I purchased feels significantly easier to operate for me compared to the zipper on the Sleepgram pillow that I purchased. This contributes to my overall perception that the Casper pillow has higher quality construction. The zipper on the Sleepgram pillow regularly stalls when I try to operate it.

For stomach-sleepers who might want to try out different loft levels on the softer end of the spectrum, the Sleepgram pillow can be a good option. For side-sleepers and back-sleepers, I'd recommend other options, especially if you want to feel your head supported by your pillow.

Solid Memory Foam

The Weekender Ventilated Memory Foam Pillow is a good option for back-sleepers who want a firm pillow instead of a soft pillow, though I consider the pillow too firm to be comfortable for stomach-sleeping and side-sleeping. Like the Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Cloud, the Weekender is a solid memory foam pillow, but the contrast in materials is noticeable. The Weekender also isn't adjustable, unlike the Saybrook and Coop memory foam pillows.

I measure the loft at 5 inches, and the pillow barely compresses when I lay my head down passively. Though it compresses slightly more than the Pillow Cube, which is also a solid memory foam pillow, there is almost no compression compared to the Tempur-Pedic. I'd say the Tempur-Pedic is extra soft memory foam, the Weekender is extra firm, and the Pillow Cube is beyond-too-firm-for-my-taste. The firm support from the Weekender pillow feels pretty good when I sleep on my back, but the angle isn't quite right when I sleep on my side. Because the loft can't be adjusted, I don't recommend this pillow for side-sleepers. The firmness can also apply too much pressure against my face when sleeping on my side or stomach. This is uncomfortable for my jaw.

The memory foam comes with holes throughout the pillow, which provide ventilation. Solid memory foam pillows are in general the least breathable category of pillows, so the ventilation is meant to address that issue. Personally, I still feel heat trapped against my face, so the ventilation doesn't completely solve the problem.

Like the Tempur-Pedic, the Weekender pillow comes with a removable cover, but the cover is much thinner, which leads me to give it a lower score on perceived quality of construction. In combination with the pressure it applies against my face, the lower perceived quality of the materials leads me to recommend investing in a higher quality pillow since this is a purchase that will see regular use. However, for back-sleepers who are looking specifically for an extra firm pillow, the Weekender can be a great option.

Polyester Fiber (Down Alternative)

The Beckham Hotel Collection Pillow is very soft and very thin, providing a potential option for stomach-sleepers. However, back-sleepers and side-sleepers should be aware that they might not receive enough support. When I sleep on it, the pillow goes flat underneath me.

The Beckham pillow is similar in softness to the Sleepgram pillow, but I measure the Beckham pillow at 6 inches of starting loft instead of the 10 inches for the Sleepgram pillow, which means the Beckham pillow feels even thinner. The polyester fibers compress significantly when I lay my head on the pillow, and because the polyester fibers glide smoothly without much friction, I get the impression that all the stuffing moves out of the way when I lie down. The Beckham pillow doesn't provide enough support for me in most situations.

The thickness and softness of the pillow bring to my mind a duvet folded in half, but the tendency for the polyester fibers to glide magnifies the comparison for me. When I shift my weight, the top layer of fabric will shift with me while I feel the bottom layer glide away, almost as if I were indeed sleeping on a folded duvet with the two layers sliding away from each other.

The Beckham pillow has the moniker "Hotel Collection Pillow," suggesting that it is similar to pillows found in hotels. In my experience staying at hotels like the Ritz Carlton, St. Regis, and Intercontinental, I've found that higher end hotels tend to use puffier pillows that are soft but still substantial. There is no strong connection in my mind between the pillows I've experienced at luxury hotels and the Beckham pillows that I purchased. Of course, I haven't stayed at every hotel out there, so I can't rule anything out definitively.

I do like the sateen stripes on the fabric, and the seams of the pillow are double-stitched, which give me more confidence in the construction of the pillow. However, the amount of fill material seams lacking to me in the pillows I purchased. While the Beckham pillow has a great price point, I feel like I get what I pay for because the amount of fill material per pillow also appears to be proportionally lower. For stomach-sleepers who want a thin, soft pillow, the Beckham pillow can be a great option, but for back-sleepers and side-sleepers, I'd recommend investing in more support.

Down and Feather

The Puredown Natural Goose Down and Feather Pillow provides an affordable down and feather option for stomach sleepers. The softness and thin loft make it a good stomach-sleeping option, but it may not have enough support for side-sleepers and back-sleepers. Ultimately, going with the budget-friendly option comes with a few downsides.

The contrast in quality with the Chamberlain Down pillow is notable, as expected given the difference in price. Both the Chamberlain Down pillow and Puredown pillow use a mix of down and feathers. The down provides loft from trapped air, and the feathers provide structure. However, the Chamberlain Down pillow uses a dual-chamber construction that has an outside down layer around an inside feather chamber. This prevents the sleeper from feeling the quills, and instead the sleeper feels the airy down layer. In contrast, the Puredown pillow uses a single chamber that mixes the down and feathers together, and I can feel the quills when I lie down on the Puredown pillow I have.

Another difference is that the Puredown pillow uses a single stitch at the seams while the Chamberlain Down pillow is double-stitched, as shown in the picture above. The single-stitching gives me less confidence in the construction quality. Also, while all down and feather pillows require fluffing, I find that my Puredown pillow loses its air and flattens more quickly compared to my Chamberlain Down pillow. Finally, I measure the starting loft of the Puredown pillow I have at 6 inches compared to the starting loft of 7.5 inches I measure for the Chamberlain Down pillow I have, after both pillows have been fluffed. A higher starting loft is helpful since down and feather pillows are mostly composed of air.

Overall, the Puredown pillow can be a good option for stomach-sleepers if budget is a concern, but I recommend looking toward the higher quality found in the top picks since a pillow is used every night.

Shredded Memory Foam and Polyfiber Mix

On paper, the Wondersleep Premium Adjustable Pillow should be similar to the Saybrook and Coop pillows: it has shredded memory foam and polyester filling. However, that's where the similarities end. I selected this candidate because it was much cheaper than the other pillows while sporting the same reported features. I wanted to see what the difference was in person. Unfortunately, the pillow case quality, the adjustability, and the filling comfort level don't match up in my opinion.

Immediately upon unpacking, I notice the pillow has much less filling compared to other pillows and is very thin. The thinness of the pillow defeats the purpose of the adjustability because it won't be in the loft range many people need. The loft might be okay for stomach sleepers who appreciate a thinner pillow. Though the initial loft measures at 6 inches, the pillow compresses a third of the way down for me when I lie down due to the softness.

The sensation of the Wondersleep pillow fill is dominated by polyester fiber for me, with pieces of shredded memory foam buried throughout. The memory foam feels stiff, not just firm, as if it had been left out in the sun too long. The pillow reminds me of clumps of cattail fluff in the wild: mostly soft and fluffy but with random bits of hard seeds (or in this case, memory foam) inside.

Though many shredded memory foam pillows under $50 can look similar to the Saybrook and Coop pillows on paper, I recommend investing more to get the higher quality construction and better filling found in the top picks.

Shredded Foam

The MyPillow Premium Series Pillow dominates hours of late-night commercials, but the pillow disappoints in person. MyPillow uses large chunks of shredded foam with an elastic nature. As a result, the pillow is lumpy and bouncy. I would not recommend the MyPillow due to these comfort issues and the lack of adjustability.

The MyPillow doesn't come with a separate removable cover, and the pillow encasing cannot be unzipped, which means the pillow loft can't be adjusted. Instead, it comes in four different loft levels coded as colors, in increasing order of filling level: White, Yellow, Green, and Blue. I ordered the Green fill level after using the selection tool on the MyPillow site.

I measure the loft at about 7.5 inches, and the fill is pretty firm. The pillow barely compresses when I lay my head down passively. The loft is slightly too high for my comfort level when I sleep on my side, though I don't mind when I sleep on my back. The Green level pillow is too thick and firm for stomach-sleepers, but the White or Yellow fill level might work for that purpose. Because the pillow can't be adjusted, sleepers have to hope that one of the four fill levels happens to fit perfectly for them and hope that they choose the correct one on the first try.

My main issue with the pillow, though, is the nature of the shredded foam filling. The Saybrook and Coop pillows use softer foam and mix the foam with polyester fibers, so those pillows don't feel lumpy to me. On the other hand, MyPillow uses large chunks of firm foam without any polyester fiber, so the pillow is noticeably lumpy. The pieces of foam also have an elastic bounce. The MyPillow reminds me of a bag of packing peanuts in the firmness, the lumpiness, and the slight elasticity. When I shift my weight on the pillow, I can feel the elasticity of the foam. The jiggling of the elastic foam can be distracting as I try to fall asleep.

Based on the MyPillow website, it looks like there are two main differences between the MyPillow Classic Series and MyPillow Premium Series. First, the MyPillow Premium has a shorter width, coming in at 16.5 inches wide compared to the 18.5 inches of the MyPillow Classic. I would not expect this difference to affect my sleeping experience on the MyPillow. Second, the MyPillow Premium comes in four loft levels (White, Yellow, Green, and Blue), while the MyPillow Classic only comes in two (Medium and Firm). This is also not a difference that would affect my review since my main complaint is the lumpiness and bounciness.

Down and Feather

The Pacific Coast Double DownAround Pillow is a down and feather pillow that uses a double-chamber design like the Chamberlain Down Dual-Chamber Pillow. However, I see a huge difference in quality.

Most notably, even though the Pacific Coast pillow uses a dual-chamber design that keeps feathers in the inner chamber and down in the outer layer, I can still feel the quills from the feathers when I lie down. In contrast, the Chamberlain Down pillow feels like sleeping on air because the down layer feels more robust. I suspect this is because of a difference in the size of down clusters used by each pillow. The Pacific Coast website lists the down fill power, which measures the size of the down clusters, at 550 in the Double DownAround Pillow. The Chamberlain website lists the fill power at 600+, which means that the down clusters are larger in the Chamberlan Down Dual-Chamber Pillow. Larger clusters tend to be better at trapping air and providing loft.

In the Pacific Coast pillow I have, feathers are sticking out of the stitching along the seams, as shown in the picture below. This gives me low confidence in the construction quality of the pillow.

Another consideration is that I can hear a rustling noise inside the Pacific Coast pillow I have when I push down on it. The noise is relatively loud, and I'd compare it to the crinkling of a plastic grocery bag in terms of loudness and nature. The sound appears to originate from the inner chamber. Since a pillow is something I put my ear against when I sleep, the last adjective I'd want to use to describe it is "noisy." I can hear a crinkling in the Puredown pillow and Chamberlain Down pillow fabrics if I rustle them and concentrate on listening, but I wouldn't consider noise to be an issue for those two pillows. The Pacific Coast pillow I have is much louder to my ears and in a completely different league of noise.

The Pacific Coast Double DownAround Pillow comes in a Soft, Medium, and Firm version on their website as of my time of purchase. I ordered the pillow from Amazon, and I didn't see the firmness specified in the listing when I purchased. I ended up receiving the Soft version, which I prefer to use for stomach-sleeping. It's possible that the Medium and Firm versions can work for back-sleeping and side-sleeping, but based on my experience with the perceived construction quality of the Soft pillow, I don't intend to try the other options.

Finally, it's worth noting that the Pacific Coast pillow, like all down and feather pillows, would require regular fluffing to restore the loft. Because down and feather pillows work by trapping air, which escapes after an extended period of sleeping, down and feather pillows benefit from a fluff that pumps air back in.

Solid Memory Foam

I do not like sleeping on the Pillow Cube Pro Pillow, and I would not consider purchasing it or any other cube-shaped pillow again. The Pillow Cube advertises its unique shape (a cube or a rectangular box in the case of the Pro Pillow), but in my opinion, there is a reason why other pillows aren't shaped like a box, and it's not because no one else realized it was possible. Instead, it's because our necks and shoulders don't connect in sharp angles, so regular memory foam pillows have a curve instead of an edge. When I use the Pillow Cube, the sharp angle digs into my neck.

The Pillow Cube Pro Pillow is a solid memory foam pillow in the shape of a rectangular box. The pillow is available in a 4-inch, 5-inch, and 6-inch size. The website, as of my time of purchase, advertises that the different sizes allow the pillow to perfectly fit the pillow gap, but the website also recommends the 5-inch option for everyone between 5'4" and 6'3". Since that is a wide range of heights and body types, I was already skeptical that the pillow would fit perfectly. As expected, now that I've tried the pillow, I can confirm that the 5-inch pillow doesn't fit my shoulder gap perfectly. Though the 5-inch starting loft is a relatively low starting loft, because the foam is incredibly firm and doesn't compress when I lay my head on it, the effective loft of the pillow feels relatively thick. My neck ends up angled uncomfortably when side-sleeping. In general, the 1-inch gap between sizes is the same as the size difference between a size 6 shoe and a size 9 shoe (for both men and women), so I would expect many people won't be able to find a perfect fit. Instead, for side-sleepers, I recommend looking at an adjustable pillow like the Saybrook or Coop pillows, which can be micro-adjusted to the perfect fit.

I consider the shape of the pillow a downside as well. The boxy shape makes the pillow worse for back-sleeping and stomach-sleeping because I can feel the corners dig into my neck. Though the pillow is designed for side-sleepers, the way the pillow affects back-sleepers and stomach-sleepers is worth noting because many people switch among the positions even if they favor side-sleeping. Even for side-sleeping, the edges don't improve the experience for me. Instead, I would prefer the corners to be rounded out, which would result in the same shape as a normal memory foam pillow.

The Pillow Cube foam feels much firmer than the Weekender memory foam, which already feels much firmer than the Tempur-Pedic memory foam. I consider the Tempur-Pedic memory foam extra soft, the Weekender memory foam extra firm, and the Pillow Cube memory foam off-the-charts-firm, applying unwanted pressure against my ear and jaw when I use it. The Pillow Cube has a removable zippered cover, and taking it off reveals the grey foam inside. The foam reminds me of the industrial foam used to pad furniture in moving trucks or the foam used in gymnasiums.

Putting the cover back on is a daunting challenge. Imagine the difficulty of fitting a duvet cover on a duvet. The corners are always annoying to fit into the cover. Now imagine there are eight corners instead of four corners, as well as eight edges that also need to fit into the proper place in the cover. The most difficult part, though, is getting the foam into the zipper opening in the first place. The zipper sits along the long edge of the pillow, and even though the long edge measures 24 inches, I measure the zipper opening at only 19 inches in length. As a result, the challenge is to fit an ultra firm 24 inch by 12 inch by 5 inch block of foam through a one-dimensional line-shaped zipper opening that measures 19 inches long.

If you want a pillow that is as firm as possible, then the Pillow Cube might be an option, but I would recommend trying the Weekender first because the Weekender memory foam is already very firm. If you want a pillow designed for side-sleepers, I would recommend looking at an adjustable pillow like Saybrook or Coop.

Update (1 year later): I tried the newest version of the Pillow Cube Pro, and it seems they updated the firmness of the foam from much too firm to medium firm. They also updated the zipper opening for the cover to wrap around. These are welcome updates for this pillow. Unfortunately, at the new firmness level, the pillow is now too thin when I lay my head down because it has more give. The pillow went from angling my head upward to angling it downward. They advertise that side-sleepers need a pillow that fits the shoulder gap, but this pillow does not solve the problem. If you are a side-sleeper, you need a pillow that is adjustable to fit your shoulder gap. Adding a right angle does not solve anything.