King mattresses are popular with people who enjoy extra sleeping room and want a more luxurious sleep experience, but not everyone has the space. If you’re tight on space or you’re on a budget, consider a full mattress instead. A good full mattress can be everything you need in a bed without breaking the bank. And if you currently have a twin bed, it’s the perfect upgrade, while remaining cheaper and more compact than queen or king mattresses. Full mattresses come in all kinds of materials and have the same support and pain relief offerings as other mattresses. Memory foam, hybrid, innerspring and more are all options for a full mattress, but which one is the best for you?
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There are a lot of questions you need to answer when trying to buy a mattress. Do you sleep on your back or are you primarily a stomach sleeper? Do you prefer a soft mattress, a firm mattress or a medium-firm one? Do you prefer latex foam and want a high-density foam mattress, an innerspring mattress or a hybrid mattress (innerspring with a foam layer)?
CNET’s team of nine sleep experts has spent years testing beds, and we’re here to help you make the decision. With around 300 beds under our belts, we know which mattresses will help you get quality sleep each night. The mattress industry is huge, so there are many options, but we’ve picked the best full-size mattresses you should consider buying.
What is the best overall full-size mattress?Â
The Layla Hybrid mattress is our top pick due to its impressive features. Including its soft cover, the mattress is made of several layers of copper-infused gel memory foam, support foam and individually wrapped coils. The copper-gel memory foam helps to keep sleepers cool at night and the coils keep the motion transfer to a minimum. What makes this mattress stand out is that the Layla Hybrid is flippable; one side is soft and the other is firm.
Video: Best full-size mattresses for 2025
Watch CNET video producer Owen Poole review the best full size mattresses for 2025.Â
Best full-size mattresses of 2025
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When looking for the best full mattress, here are a few things to keep in mind.Â
Firmness
The firmness of a mattress is dependent on your body type. If you are petite or an average person, your body will exert less pressure on a mattress, making it feel firmer. If you are a heavier sleeper, a mattress will feel softer. An average sleeper will find a medium firmness to be comfortable.
Support
Especially if you deal with back pain, you want a supportive mattress. A memory foam mattress is generally less supportive than a hybrid mattress that has both foam and coils. Petite and most average-size sleepers will still find memory foam mattresses supportive. If you are a heavier sleeper, opt for a hybrid or an innerspring mattress.
Edge support
The edges around your mattress should also be supportive. That way, you won’t roll off your bed in the middle of the night. You can test edge support by sitting on the edge. If you feel like you’re going to slip off, you might want a bed with better edge support.
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All of the beds above have been tested by our CNET Sleep editors, but we’ve also reviewed over 200 other beds. With that being the case, it can be difficult to narrow down the top favorites. The beds below are other mattresses we’ve tested that are also worth considering in your search for a new mattress.
Puffy Lux mattress: Side sleepers would also really enjoy the thick and luxurious Puffy Lux mattress. It’s just as comfortable as it looks and its cloud logo is a good indication of what you’re getting yourself into. It’s soft and pressure-relieving as it gently wraps around the curves of your body. The main comfort foam is memory foam, but it’s more light and airy than it is dense. I’d rate this mattress around a 4 out of 10 on the firmness scale or a medium-soft, so it’s mostly for people who favor their side.
Tuft & Needle mattress: The Tuft and Needle bed is a simple, two-layer foam mattress without any special bells and whistles. I think it’s a great mattress for kids, teenagers, your kid going off to college or a money-saving individual. It’s pretty wallet-friendly, and it’s arguably just as popular as the Casper mattress. It has a similar neutral-foam feel that most people find comfortable.
Allswell mattress: Looking for the best value? The Allswell mattress is the bed-in-a-box model from Walmart, and in true Walmart fashion, it’s extremely wallet-friendly. It’ll cost less than most regular foam mattresses, which is rare since hybrid beds are known to be more expensive. It’s a little on the firmer side, around a 6 out of 10 on the firmness scale or a medium-firm.
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Our CNET Sleep editors have spent countless hours testing each mattress on our many best lists. When we test mattresses, we have an established process that assesses key factors like firmness, feel, construction, performance, price, cooling properties and warranty information. We test how strong the edge of the bed is by sitting and lying on the edge. We test motion transfer by rolling across the mattress with a glass of water by the edge. We do this for all beds we test.
CNET editors pick the products and services we write about based on editorial merit. When you buy through our links, we may get a commission.
Find out more on how we test mattresses.
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A full-size mattress measures out to 54 inches wide and 74 inches long, which is 4.5 feet wide and 6.25 feet long.Â
A premium full-size mattress will range around $700 to $1,400, but there are plenty of options under $1,000 like Casper or Tuft and Needle. Full-size beds are more affordable than queen or king-size mattresses, but are still suitable for couples who want to share a bed.Â
Yes, a full-size mattress is big enough for two average sleepers. The bed might be a little small if one person is taller or a little heavier. Also, if you need space for pets or extra stretching room, a queen-size mattress might be better.
A full mattress is worth considering if you have a smaller space or you’re a single person who likes to spread out (since a twin mattress doesn’t provide much room). If you’re a co-sleeper, you should be able to fit snugly, but a queen mattress would be more suitable.