Updating your sleeping situation with one of the best pillows on Amazon is one of the easiest (and fastest) ways to breathe new life into your old bedding. When you’re browsing the virtual shelves, you’ll want to go ahead and scroll right on past the sponsored results, the cheap pillows, and anything from a company with a name like ECBMPX. Or even better, don’t spend your time scrolling at all. Instead, rely on our guide to the dreamiest pillows, based on hundreds of hours of sleep tests by GQ editors. From memory foam pillows designed to realign creaky necks to lighter-than-air feather options that will leave you feeling like you’re floating on a cloud, a better night’s sleep is within reach.
We’ve pulled together a list of the best pillows on Amazon based on different sleeping styles, common alignment issues, and even some GQ Sleep Award-winning picks. We’ve also consulted the professionals to find out what types of pillows you should prioritize based on your needs, and we’ve answered any questions that you may have so that you never have to worry about focusing on upkeep, care, or even the exact type of filling.
The Best Pillows on Amazon, According to GQ
In This Guide
Best Pillow on Amazon, Overall: Coop Home Goods Eden Pillow
Back sleepers, go ahead and buy this one and skip the rest of the article, because GQ editors love this pillow. You might not expect a pillow on Amazon that costs under $100 to provide you with such stellar sleep, but it does. To date, every GQ team member who’s tried this pillow has unanimously agreed that it’s the pillow to beat, and it’s a good choice for all sleeping styles thanks to its generous loft. Plus, this pillow comes with an extra bag of memory foam fill, so you can plump up (or de-plump) the Eden pillow until it has the exact right level of firmness. Amazon reviewers note that just like with bed-in-a-box mattresses, this pillow might have a slight synthetic smell when it arrives, though this fades quickly. Otherwise, the consensus is clear: This pillow offers softness with support.
Best Luxe Pillow on Amazon: Saatva Latex Pillow
Saatva is a luxury DTC mattress and bedding brand, but you can purchase their products through Amazon. Just know that you’ll have to trade the brand’s one-year sleep trial and warranty for Amazon Prime’s free shipping and return policy. As for the pillow itself, it’s a cooling, comfy pillow crafted from organic materials. This luxe down-alternative pillow will suit side, stomach, and combination sleepers best, and it’s also hypoallergenic, if you’re prone to sneezing. This is one instance where GQ and Amazon shoppers disagree. This pillow only recently became available on Amazon, where it has a whopping six customer reviews. Reviewers either love it or hate it (and some people really hate it), but we have to disagree. We featured this pillow in the GQ Home Awards 2021, when we noted its a perfect pillow for stomach sleepers in particular.
Best Gel Pillow on Amazon: Purple Pillow
Purple has brought some impressive technology to bear on their mattress and pillow products, which use a unique hexagon-shaped gel core. This pillow is the best option for folks who prefer gel cores to memory foam or down fill. The material provides a good in-between option if you don’t want a pillow that’s too soft or too firm, and this pillow provides just the right balance of support and comfort. You can even adjust the height to your liking, as Purple includes pillow boosters that can add up to 1.5 inches of thickness. Folks with neck and shoulder pain love this pillow, and reviewers say that the gel core molds to your neck and head better than memory foam and down alternatives.
Most Popular Pillow on Amazon: Beckham Hotel Collection, Set of Two
Amazon is overflowing with cheap “hotel pillows,” most of which belong in the trash can, not your bedroom. (Verdict: harsh, but true). However, that doesn’t mean cheap bed pillows can’t also be high-quality products, and few products on Amazon, in any category, have proven so durably popular as the Beckham Hotel Collection pillow set. If you love the feel of soft old-school down pillows but don’t want any baby geese harmed in the making of your pillow, then consider these affordable pillows for your queen- or king-size bed. They’ll require some fluffing now and again, but that’s the price you pay for extra-soft pillows. In the budget category, you won’t find any better Amazon pillows. Reviewers agree that these pillows are soft, and they generally mean that in a good way. The brand promises the pillows will hold their shape no matter what, but customers report that some fluffing is required.
Best Memory Foam Pillow on Amazon: Sutera Dream Deep Pillow
This is one of those pillows that makes you feel as though you’re being embraced. By that, I mean that it doesn’t make you feel like you’re stuck and can’t move, but you do feel so fully supported that you don’t want to move. It bills itself as having an “orthopedic contour,” and in this case, that means that it has a little memory foam notch at the neck area that contours around your shoulders to aid your spinal alignment. It’s ideal for those with neck or back pain, and it can be used by side, back, or stomach sleepers. It’s also made of 100% high-density memory foam, and it has a super breathable cover so that you don’t feel like it’s holding in heat. On Amazon, this pillow has 4 stars and nearly 8,000 reviews. A few reviewers with diagnosed back and neck conditions mentioned that their chiropractors or doctors recommended this pillow to them. Generally, the complaints center around the level of firmness. A few people also reported that it was a little less cozy if you’re a side sleeper.
Best Travel Pillow on Amazon: Vaverto Small Memory Foam Pillow
While this would make an excellent pillow for kids as well, it’s great for those who want a smaller-than-average option to take on a plane or have in their hotel rooms. Not only is it smaller and lighter, the supportive memory foam is sure to offer lots of support if you’re on a plane or train trip. The cover is also cooling and washable, so you don’t have to worry about it holding in heat or germs. This is also a great feature for travel since you’ll definitely want a washable cover that can be refreshed after touching different surfaces during travel. With more than 1,600 Amazon reviews, this pillow still has 4.5 stars. The majority of the reviews say it’s smaller for travel, with some even reporting that they can roll it up and fit it inside a suitcase or backpack. Negative reviews center around the firmness of the pillow.
Best Adjustable Pillow on Amazon: Layla Adjustable Fill Kapok Pillow
The best pillows should be comfortable, naturally. Lucky for you, that’s exactly what we love about this pillow. Layla’s adjustable pillows are also designed to be cooling and versatile for all sleep positions, and they deliver in both categories. Reasonably priced for a set of two, each pillow is filled with a mix of shredded memory foam and natural kapok fibers (harvested from the seeds of the kapok tree). This pillow has proven to be a big hit among GQ reviewers, and it was included in the GQ 2022 Home Awards. Unlike other cooling pillows, Layla’s engineers put as much effort into designing a breathable cover as they did into designing a cooling pillow. The pillow is also adjustable, so if it’s too full and firm for your liking, simply remove some of the foam filling until you get it just right. Shoppers note that you’ll need to give the pillow some time to decompress after it arrives, but once it plumps up, it provides supreme comfort. While this pillow is adjustable, reviewers say it can be tricky to remove the filling to make adjustments.
Best Wedge Pillow on Amazon: Kӧlbs Bed Wedge Pillow
Wedge pillows have a few different use cases. One of the most popular uses is actually to help you achieve maximum flexibility and superhuman angles while having sex (let’s not bother with euphemisms here). However, while Liberator wedge pillows are expert-approved for X-rated fun, this bed wedge pillow has more mundane applications. Wedge pillows like this are popular with people prone to heartburn, snoring, and sleep apnea, and they can also provide good support for your neck and legs. This Amazon best-seller has gotten rave five-star reviews from shoppers who bought it while recovering from surgery or battling acid reflux. However, even some of the five-star reviews note that the cover leaves something to be desired.
More Amazon Pillows We Love
What to Look For in Amazon Pillows
When evaluating pillows for our readers, our criteria are very simple:
- Fill: This is the inner material that gives the pillow that fluffy feeling you crave. Traditionally, goose down feathers were used in the finest pillows, but more recently, memory foam and gel pillows have become the standard for a good night’s sleep. New technologies, like Purple’s hex-gel cushioning, have also entered the market. If you prefer an old-school feel, down is worth considering, but if you’re a hot sleeper or prefer more animal-free sleep products, then you’ll sleep better at night on foam.
- Care and maintenance: You’re washing your bed sheets and pillowcases once a week, right? On second thought, don’t answer that question. We don’t want to know. Regardless, a lot of bacteria, dust, and dead skin cells can end up on your pillows, so the best pillows should have covers that are easy to wash and clean. We recommend buying a pillow protector for hygiene purposes otherwise.
- Outer cover: Lastly, we look at the outer material used on the pillow. The most comfortable pillows in the world are no good if they’re encased in a crinkly, uncomfortable cover. Common outer materials include cotton, polyester, and spandex.
- Overall comfort: This last criteria is hard to quantify, but it’s also the most important. Is it comfy? A new pillow might be comfortable for the first few weeks, but then it might become lumpy or condensed in an awkward way. At the end of the day…and by that we mean at the end of the night, you have to sleep well on the pillow. For hot sleepers, we also consider whether cooling pillows lived up to their promises.
How We Test Pillows
GQ takes sleep seriously. And over the years, our editors and product testers have slept on a lot of pillows. We’ve included our favorites in the GQ Home Awards, and sleep products have proven so popular that we even introduced the GQ Sleep Awards for the first time in 2023. Before giving a pillow our endorsement, we spend a few weeks sleeping with it at a minimum. That results in hundreds of hours of testing for our top sleep products. Not all of the products featured in this guide have been personally tested by GQ team members, and we’ve chosen a handful of these pillows based on careful research, our previous experience with the brand, and the overall experience of Amazon shoppers.