Leesa vs. Tuft & Needle Mattress Comparison 2023 : Which Is Better?

View The Winner

Both Leesa and Tuft and Needle are part of a new wave of companies set to disrupt the entire mattress industry. Can they do it?

They might seem very similar, but there are a few fundamental differences between these two companies. It’s close, but in the end, only one can get our final recommendation. Let’s see who it is in our Leesa versus Tuft and Needle showdown.

About the Brands

Before we start, let’s go over a few things.

Leesa Recap Full Review

What To Like

• universal support for a wide range of sleep preferences
• hybrid options and adaptive foams
• highly service-oriented company through social initiatives
• 100-night sleep trial
• proprietary foam top layer remains cool

What Not To Like

• pretty strong off-gassing smell
• heavy sleepers will find it too firm to be comfortable
• only two mattress choices

Tuft & Needle Recap Full Review

What To Like

• highly affordable
• excellent temperature control
• good for back issues (firmness level)
• 100-night sleep trial

What Not To Like

• only two mattress options
• both mattress options might be too firm for heavy sleepers

Leesa and Tuft and Needle Comparison

Although the mattresses seem similar, there are a few fundamental similarities and differences. Let’s take a look.

How are Leesa and Tuft and Needle Similar?

There are a lot of similarities in the companies’ logistics, policies, and basic mattress principles.

Contouring and Support

Both companies use a concept very common to bed-in-a-box mattress stores – contour and support layers. Although they execute this idea slightly differently, both use softer layers on top to contour to the body’s pressure points at the shoulders and hips. Denser support layers at the base prevent that dreaded dead foam feel and keep your spine aligned.

Traditional mattresses force your body to conform to the bed rather than the other way around. This is why you sometimes wake up with a crick in your neck that makes you feel like your chin is permanently attached to your collarbone. Not a good look.

The contouring foam solves that problem by giving in to the curves of your body. Old memory foams were all giving, making you feel like you were sleeping in a giant burrito. Now, heavier density foam prevents your body from sinking too much and gives pushback for a little more bounce.

Temperature Regulation

They don’t regulate temperature in the same way, but they do both offer a good night’s sleep without night sweats. The Leesa uses a proprietary, open cell top layer that’s shaped like an egg crate. It creates pretty serious air flow. Plus, the latex blend helps wick away moisture.

Tuft and Needle uses charcoal infused materials plus gel inserts to create a cooling effect. The cover also works to allow breathability and to help disperse heat throughout the mattress and away from both your body and the core of the bed.

Two different methods but the same result, a cooler night’s sleep.

Motion support

Both mattresses give you excellent protection from motion transfer though Leesa has a slight edge. If your partner or your pet has a knack for knowing exactly when you’re about to drift off and takes that chance to move in what can only be described as a crocodile death roll, both of these mattresses will be a game changer.

The foam layers isolate motion, so both partners have a relatively jiggle free (or crocodile death roll free) night.

Trial Period and Returns

Both companies offer a trial period of 100 nights, so you can figure out if you like the bed. It takes your body some time to adjust to a new mattress, so both companies ask that you spend at least 30 nights on their mattresses before initiating a return.

Once you decide the mattress isn’t for you, the companies both accept returns with no shipping or return fees. They pick the bed up from your house and refund your card.

Warranty

Both companies offer a ten-year warranty on their mattresses. They are available to the original purchaser, and both companies reserve the right to replace mattresses and to assign at their discretion. For defective mattresses the company uses replaces them.

Accessories

Both companies offer foundations, pillows, and bedding in addition to their mattresses. You can purchase the entire package through their site. There isn’t much difference between the two sets of accessories in terms of price.

Social Initiatives

Both companies have a strong commitment to giving back to their communities through mattress donations, environmental initiatives, and giving employees the chance and time to donate their own time and efforts.

Showrooms

If buying a mattress over the internet makes you nervous, both companies have a few options to help you out there.

Leesa mattresses are in select West Elm and Pottery Barn stores as well as a few other specific Leesa showrooms. They also have something called a Dream Gallery located in Virginia Beach and New York City. These are combination showrooms and art galleries featuring the work of homeless, formerly homeless, and disabled artists.

Tuft and Needle have a few showrooms located in the United States, but you can also try them out at select Lowes locations. They also have other partner stores in a few select locations.

How are Leesa and Tuft and Needle Different?

There are just as many differences as similarities between these two companies.

Mattress Styles

Both companies offer just two mattresses, but they could not be more different. Let’s look at each style.

Original Leesa

The original Leesa has three layers of foam. The first layer is an egg crate style foam designed to increase airflow and breathability. It’s made from Leesa’s proprietary Avena foam. The next layer is a comfort layer that contours to the body and relieves pressure points. The final layer is dense support foam that provides pushback and supports the spine. It’s rated at about a seven on a ten point firmness scale.

The Sapira

The Sapira is a hybrid mattress that replaces the dense foam support layer with pocket micro-coils sandwiched between one-inch layers of foam. If you love the feel of spring mattresses, this gives you the contouring feeling of memory foam but the bounce and support of innerspring. It’s rated at about a six and a half on a ten point firmness scale.

Original Tuft and Needle

Tuft and Needle decided to forgo a bunch of fancy foam layers and focus on simplicity. It features just two layers. The first is a charcoal-infused top foam with gel inserts. This creates a cooling layer of foam that’s breathable and disperses heat away from the body. The bottom layer is dense support foam. Both foam times are Tuft and Needle’s unique creation, so it doesn’t quite feel like traditional foam. It’s rated at about a seven on the firmness scale.

The Mint

Tuft and Needle Mint is the newest mattress from the line. It has three layers of foam with the extra layer holding more gel beads for even better-cushioning support and temperature control. The base layer is an improved support layer that helps fix one of Tuft and Needle’s most significant problems, edge support. It’s rated at about a six and a half on a ten point firmness scale.

Edge Support

Speaking of edges, one thing Tuft and Needle struggles with is edge support. The original mattress has poor edge support, but the Mint does improve it with some redesigns in the support layer.

Leesa, on the other hand, has excellent edge support with their medium to firm mattresses. You can sleep directly up to the edge without feeling like you’re going to fall off.

Accessories

Tuft and Needle offers a cool bean bag style chair called the Pouch. It’s made of the same foam as their beds. They also give you the option of ordering a topper that can increase the softness of their mattresses.

If you feel like the mattress is too firm for your liking, you can control it a bit with the extra topper. It’s made of their contouring foam, as well.

Price

Leesa’s original mattress runs at less than $1200 for all sizes of the bed. California king runs at just under that $1200. The Sapira is a bigger investment at less than $1800 with the California king at just under that $1800 mark.

Tuft and Needle is a bit less expensive with the original at $700 or less for all sizes. That’s a pretty significant savings from the Sapira line so if you’re on a serious budget, that’s going to work a lot better for you.

The Mint is more of an investment with the California king running about $1050 and the rest of the sizes progressively less.

This does give you a range of options for your budget. Preferably, budget isn’t the only deciding factor, but if you’re on a very tight budget, it’s hard to beat $700 for a California king.

And the winner is…

Leesa (by a hair!)Buy Online Now

We’re confident recommending Leesa as the best choice based on our analysis of key factors that an average, discerning mattress shopper would care most about. Only by the tiniest margin, however. Honestly, we love both of these mattresses, but the Leesa edges the Tuft and Needle out by a hair because there’s just something to Leesa’s proprietary Avena foam that keeps us cool during the night. We also like that we can choose between a full foam option and a hybrid option with pocketed inner coils.

The Mint is what gets us. It almost solves Tuft and Needle’s edge support problem, and the extra layer provides the perfect amount of contour. However, we prefer the feel of the Leesa, and we sleep just a little bit cooler at night.

• Quality – Leesa
• Price – Tuft and Needle
• Reputation – Leesa
• Sleep Trial – Tie
• Warranty – Tie
• Customer Support – Tie
• Product Selection – Tie

For Sleepers With Specific Needs

Let’s make a few targeted recommendations.

For Side Sleepers: Choose Leesa

Here’s why. The edge support of the Tuft and Needle just kills us. We’d roll off if we slept on our sides to the edge. It might work on the Mint with the topper, but that’s stretching it. Choose Leesa.

Stomach Sleepers: Choose Tuft and Needle

Hear us out. The original Tuft and Needle feels firm, and the support layer is right near the surface. If you don’t have to sleep near the edge of the mattress, Tuft and Needle original is going to do you right. If you do have to share tight quarters with a partner, choose Leesa.

Back Pain: Choose Leesa

The support layer in the middle makes sure you don’t wake up with weird pains in your lower lumbar region. It’s firm but not too firm.

Heavy People: Choose neither

Broken record. Neither mattress takes into consideration what extra weight is going to do to the foam layers. Tuft and Needle? Forget it. Side support is terrible. Leesa might be ok, but you’re going to blow through the contouring layer and interact directly with the base. Check out Winkbeds Plus instead.

Couples: Choose Leesa

Especially the hybrid model if you like bounce for night time activities. Leesa’s combination support should satisfy most sleep needs, and the hybrid option’s coils can improve the responsiveness of the mattress if that’s something you need.

Conclusion

We love both of these mattresses, honestly, but the Leesa still edges out Tuft and Needle because of edge support and the option for a hybrid mattress. Their proprietary foam keeps things cool at night, and the responsive layers provide good response even in the all foam version. However, if Tuft and Needle’s next mattress is as much of an improvement as the Mint was to the original, our recommendation might change in the future.

Do you think Tuft and Needle is right to “stick to basics” or do you believe targeted foam is the way to go? Let us know in the comments below.