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We’ve updated this guide with information on new temperature-balancing features in Sleep Number’s 360 Smart Bed line and the forthcoming Climate 360 Smart Bed.

Spending thousands of dollars on a mattress that, by volume, is mostly air may sound as ridiculous as paying inflated prices for bottled water. But with some marketing magic and a few enticing extras, real or imagined, anything can happen. Sleep Number, the most successful brand in the adjustable air-bed category, offers 11 models with varying levels of cushioning, all of which can be puffed up to your desired firmness level with just the touch of a button. If you sleep alone and have a consistent firmness preference, Sleep Number is an overpriced option. But for couples with vastly different tastes in mattress firmness, those adjustable, air-filled chambers could be worth it.

As a senior staff writer at Wirecutter, I’ve spent over two years covering sleep and mattresses. I’m the author of Wirecutter’s mattress buying guide, foam mattress guide, innerspring mattress guide, and sleep tracker guide. I’ve slept on dozens of different mattresses at home, sampled dozens more in-store, visited mattress factories, and attended mattress trade shows. I’ve also spent countless hours interviewing dozens of sleep and mattress experts about good sleep hygiene, pressure-point relief, and proper spinal alignment in bed. For this guide, I made two visits to the Sleep Number store in New York City to try its offerings. I also slept on the Sleep Number 360 p6 in my home for about three weeks.

Sleep Number offers two lines of mattresses: the Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed line and the Sleep Number Value Bed line.

The Sleep Number 360 Smart Bed line consists of four series, most of which include several models:

The Sleep Number Value Bed line includes only two options:

From a design standpoint, Sleep Number 360 Smart Beds and Value Beds are similar to any other mattresses: Each contains an upper “comfort” portion made of foam layers and a lower “support” portion. Instead of the foam or springs found in the lower support portion of conventional mattresses, in Sleep Number mattresses, that support portion consists of an adjustable air chamber and (with the exception of the Classic Series and Value lines) a “support” pad. These air chambers make it possible for couples to independently adjust firmness levels to their own liking. There’s also a sleep tracker inside the bed.

Here’s how the key components work:

The air chamber allows you to adjust the firmness level of the mattress—your “sleep settings”—by filling the chamber with more or less air. The settings range from 5 (least firm) to 100 (most firm); you can adjust them in increments of 5 (so there are 20 settings in all) using the SleepIQ app on your phone or tablet, or with a remote (an additional $40). With the 360 Smart Beds, the tissue-box–sized pump is incorporated into a base ($300 for a queen), which pairs with the mattress. If you don’t purchase the base, the pump will sit on the floor. (With the Value Beds, the pump is specifically designed to sit on the floor, even with the purchase of its compatible base, which is also $300.)

Except for twin and full sizes, Sleep Number mattresses have separate air chambers on each side, so you and your sleep partner can choose your own firmness levels. On the 360 Smart Bed series, these air chambers have what the company calls Responsive Air technology, which is said to allow these chambers to automatically adjust as you shift positions throughout the night; if you roll over onto your side, the bed will let out air so there’s more give. When I tested this feature at home, the adjustments were so subtle and infrequent that I hardly felt a difference. The low buzzing sound the bed emits with every involuntary (and voluntary) adjustment didn’t bother me—but if you’re a light sleeper, it might wake you.

There’s also a layer of foam cushion that surrounds the air chamber. And the thicker the foam portion on top, the more expensive the mattress. We’re disappointed that Sleep Number doesn’t divulge the type or density of foam it uses, calling it only a “proprietary foam.” (If customers are spending thousands of dollars on your product, we think you should tell them exactly what they’re getting.) But with the exception of the memory foam in the Cooling Memory Foam (m7) bed—which makes memory foam its selling point—we think the foam in Sleep Number mattresses is probably some sort of non-memory-foam polyurethane foam (also known as polyfoam). A majority of mattresses incorporate polyfoam, and the Sleep Number foam feels like the non-sinky kind used in the Tuft & Needle, a mattress we tested for our foam mattress guide. The Sleep Number mattresses are, with the exception of the Cooling Memory Foam (m7) bed, cushiony but not particularly contouring or extraordinarily plush. The Classic (c) line and Value (s) line have the least cushion; the Innovation (i) line has the most; and the Performance (p) line falls somewhere in between.

Sleep Number’s sleep-tracking sensors sit inside the mattress. The company’s SleepIQ technology senses heart and breathing rates and body movements through ballistocardiography, a process that tracks the force generated as the heart ejects blood into its surrounding major vessels. This data is then sent to the cloud and run through an algorithm that creates a sleep report, highlighting periods of restless and restful sleep. This report populates in your SleepIQ app, along with tips for how to sleep better. The upside of the sleep-tracking sensor is that you flop onto the bed and the sensor instantly starts tracking your movements (no need to set it up every night, as you would with a sleep-tracking app on your phone). The downside is that you flop onto the bed and the sensor instantly starts tracking your movements, so taking a long nap and reading in bed are both captured as sleep as well (though if you have a two-hour gap in between, it will show up as separate sessions).

Also, when I spoke with a customer service representative to get answers to our tech questions, I was a little taken aback by the details she had access to (“Looks like your husband woke up around 5:30 a.m. yesterday…” ). To be fair, Sleep Number says no one at the company has access to the information unless you give explicit permission. (You can read more about that privacy policy here). In addition, you can set the tracker to “privacy mode,” but that means you won’t get any recorded sleep data, either.

The truth is, there are many ways to analyze your sleep (all with their own advantages and disadvantages), whether it’s with an app on your phone or a fitness tracker. So even though SleepIQ is an interesting enhancement, it shouldn’t be a feature that, if you’re unsure, tips your decision toward buying a Sleep Number mattress.

In general, we think you can get a more comfortable mattress for a lot less. (For our favorites, see our foam mattress guide, our hybrid mattress guide, our innerspring mattress guide, as well as our guide to the best cheap mattresses.) But if you insist on Sleep Number’s adjustability because you and your partner can’t compromise on a firmness level, and you have a flexible budget, we think only the Performance Series and Innovation Series mattresses and the Cooling Memory Foam mattress are worth considering. The less expensive Classic Series mattresses and the Value Bed lines are just too thin for most people. If you like a plush mattress with good support, then you should spend more for the Innovation Series beds, which have thicker cushioning.

Beyond SleepIQ, Sleep Number’s marketing also touts technology that claims to help you fall asleep faster with a foot-warming feature. You can also theoretically control your partner’s snoring by raising the upper portion of their side of the bed. However, these features are available only with the company’s adjustable bases (sold separately), which cost between $1,200 and $2,400 for a queen. (We haven’t tested them yet.)

Here’s how the mattresses themselves compare to one another:

The under-$1,500 (for a queen) Classic Series is Sleep Number’s entry-level offering, and the mattresses in this line sure feel like it. The 8-inch c2 reminds me of a dormitory bed—not surprising, since it contains only 2 inches of foam; the rest of the mattress is made up of air encased in the bladder. The c4 has an inch more foam, for a total of 9 inches, and feels only slightly less institutional; there’s nothing cuddly about it. Unless you’re used to sleeping on a mat or you plan on springing for a good mattress topper, we don’t recommend this series.

In 2020, Sleep Number updated its 360 Smart Beds, adding “temperature-balancing” features—including high air-flow fabrics and gel materials—meant to make the mattresses feel cooler and more breathable.

The Performance Series is slightly plusher than the Classic Series. The p5 and “cooling” pSE each have 4 inches of cushioning, for a total height of 10 inches. The p6, the company’s most popular mattress, has an additional inch of cushioning, for an overall thickness of 11 inches.

Compared with the beds in the Classic line and the Performance line’s p5, the p6 felt like a “real” mattress, the kind with a surface that’s adequately cushioned for people who are not particularly high-maintenance. But when I tried the p6 at home, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was sleeping on a rubber raft. The 5 inches of foam wasn’t enough for me to nestle into, even with a softer air-bladder setting. Letting out air offered more “give,” but then the bed didn’t feel as supportive, and it still didn’t feel fluffy, per se. (With a conventional mattress, you can have both plushness and support if you choose a more billowy foam, fiber, or microspring top layer, and a firmer bottom foam or spring layer, with transitional foam layers in between. With a Sleep Number bed, you’ll need to treat yourself to the more pillowy Innovation Series mattress, and inflate the chamber with more air, to achieve the same result.)

I was left feeling adrift, but my husband, by contrast, loved sleeping on the p6. For once, instead of compromising on (aka relenting to) my medium-soft-mattress preferences, he could sleep on a firm mattress next to me. It was a sad day for him when we returned this mattress.

The pSE (SE stands for special edition) wasn’t available to try at the store when I visited, but Sleep Number’s publicist said it has proprietary “ClimaTemp” foam that is “softer and more plush” than what’s typically used on the p series. Unfortunately, we’re not sure exactly how this technology works because Sleep Number doesn’t share details about its foam.

As noted above, in 2020, Sleep Number added more temperature-balancing elements to its 360 Smart Bed mattresses.

The Innovation Series is Sleep Number’s highest-end, plushest line. Although these mattresses arguably don’t feel as plush as most foam or innerspring mattresses of similar price, the beds in this line actually feel like “nice” mattresses. If I were set on a Sleep Number mattress and could afford to do so, I’d spend more for the Innovation line’s added cushioning. But for someone like my husband, who just wants something adjustable and comfortable enough to sleep on, a less-expensive p6 would do just fine.

The i8 comes with 6 inches of foam and a “temperature-balancing” surface (for a total thickness of 12 inches), and it felt pleasantly pillowy. The i10, with its additional inch of foam, was just a tad fluffier. Like the pSE from the company’s Performance line, the iLE (limited edition) is not a typical fixture in-store, and it, too, has the ClimaTemp foam, described by the company as “softer and more cooling.”

The m7 is the only Sleep Number bed that offers the hugging sensation of memory foam. If you and your sleep partner prefer a light memory-foam cradling, and if you can’t agree on a firmness level, then the m7 may be a worthwhile, albeit expensive, option. However, the company doesn’t divulge what, exactly, is in that foamy comfort portion, so we don’t know how dense, and therefore durable, it is. The sinky-ness of the m7 is comparable to that of most online foam mattresses (such as a Leesa or Casper). It has a slight sinking sensation, but not the more-assertive curve-conforming feel of something like the Tempur-Adapt.

The Value Bed (s) line is Sleep Number’s “bed in a box” option. The company is planning to discontinue it in the near future, but for now, given the current coronavirus crisis, it has gained in popularity because of its contact-free delivery. The Value line’s s1 and the s3 mattresses cost about the same as the beds in the Classic (c) line, but they have a quilted cushion layer (as opposed to the smooth surface on all the other lines). That quilted layer is “zoned” to cater to various pressure points; there are five different cushioned areas in the s1 and seven in the s3. The company doesn’t divulge details about its foam, so we’re not sure how the zones differ. But we do know that this comfort portion isn’t thicker than the 2 inches we found wanting in the Classic line’s entry-level c2, and the air pump sits on the floor, as opposed to being integrated into the mattress itself, like with the other lines. And although the Value line comes with SleepIQ technology, the Value Beds don’t have the “smart” feature that allows them to conform to your body as you shift positions. We haven’t tried this line, but given how spartan the c line felt, we can’t imagine that any amount of quilting or zoning would compensate for the thin comfort layer.

Sleep Number mattresses are typically purchased directly from Sleep Number, so that’s where we found the majority of the online reviews. Out of the 34 good-quality negative user reviews we collected about the Classic (c) Series (that is, comments that were specific, even-keeled, and written during the past year), 10 contained complaints about issues related to a lack of cushioning. This included reviewers describing the mattress as too firm, too thin, “bottoming out,” or having poor pressure relief. Several reviewers pointed out that the c series is especially problematic for “heavier”-weight sleepers, and others noted the support felt better once they added a mattress topper.

For negative feedback on the Performance (p) Series, we found far fewer complaints related specifically to the mattress’ thinness (just one out of 22 reviews mentioned this, and this was specifically for the p5). But four out of 26 good-quality negative Innovation (i) Series reviews noted that the mattresses were too firm or offered poor pressure relief. Perhaps this is to be expected, given that these users paid much more for their mattresses and therefore expected more. Three out of the six Cooling Memory Foam (m7) owners complained that their mattresses were either too thin, too firm, or lacked pressure relief.

Of course, this sampling isn’t scientific. But it does suggest that a lack of cushion could be a concern across all Sleep Number lines if you like a billowy mattress. Although some sleepers were satisfied with their mattresses once they added an after-market topper (not necessarily from Sleep Number), others resented having to spend additional money or were annoyed that the topper didn’t stay put. One user noted that because of the added mattress topper, the foot-warming feature of Sleep Number’s adjustable bed frame was no longer effective. (The company says the warming should still work with one topper, but not with additional layers beyond that.)

In addition to thinner-than-expected cushioning (and possibly related to it), rolling into the middle of the bed was another recurring gripe. My husband and I didn’t experience this problem, but I could understand how some couples might feel annoyed if there’s a discernible gap between the two sides, depending on the thickness of the cushion, your weight, and the contrast in firmness levels between you and your sleep partner. We asked Sleep Number about this issue and its reps told us that you can request a free “chamber lift”—a foam base that’s placed on the softer side of the bed—to even out the surfaces. (This suggests that both members of a couple should really try out the mattress together before buying, too.)

We also spotted reviewer frustration with the SleepIQ technology on both the Sleep Number site and in the app store. Some noted that reading in bed at length or having a dog who lounges on the bed can confuse results (though, as noted earlier, the app will register these as separate sleep events if there’s at least a two-hour gap in between). Others reported that their bed didn’t, as promised, adjust to their sleep position as they shifted; still others said that when it did, the noise woke them up. The low buzzing sound didn’t bother me—but it was so infrequent that I, too, wondered whether the bed adjusted to me at all. Finally, plenty of people noted the general wonkiness of the app. Although I didn’t experience this myself, these comments make it clear that a good Wi-Fi signal is crucial for a seamless experience.

The low end of each price range refers to the size noted in the chart. The high end refers to a “split” or “flextop” California king bed, unless noted. (“Split” and “flextop” are options only for king and California king mattresses and are available only with the additional purchase of an adjustable base.) Split and flextop mattresses are the same price—a split mattress works for a base that adjusts only the upper body; a flextop works for one that adjusts to both upper and lower body—and they’re around $200 to $600 more expensive than a regular mattress of the same size.

The Value Bed (s) line ships free via UPS. Other lines can be delivered in-person for $200. You can pick a day and time window based on availability, and, if all works well, Sleep Number’s “Comfort Service Home Delivery service team” stops by with your mattress, configures the air pumps and app, and shows you how everything works. However, the delivery team missed my window twice because of New York City traffic (and, frustratingly, customer service was not particularly helpful in making special accommodations to take that traffic into consideration while also meeting my building’s strict furniture-delivery window). I received my bed on the third try, only to find out that I had been given a one-chamber instead of a two-chamber mattress, as requested. For my re-order, with the help of the Sleep Number public relations team, I was able to confirm a morning delivery and received the correct mattress without a hitch. To be fair, despite my experience, customer service wasn’t a big pain point among the user reviews we analyzed.

There’s a 100-night free trial for all new (i.e., non-closeout sale) Sleep Number mattresses, but you need to sleep on one for 30 nights before filing for a return. Plus, if you decide to return the mattress, there’s at least a $200 fee to cover transportation costs. If you ordered an adjustable base with your mattress, that base cannot be returned.

Sleep Number mattresses come with a 15-year limited warranty. (Sleep Number representatives say they made this recent change to “align with industry standards.”) However, the accessories that come with Sleep Number beds have different warranty time frames (the remote control, for example, which is optional and purchased separately, is good for a year). With the bed, you pay an increasing proportion of the costs associated with getting it repaired, starting at year two and beyond. This can get pricey. One Wirecutter staffer ended up with a broken pump on one side of her Sleep Number mattress after six years; the estimated cost to repair it was around $300.

In 2022, Sleep Number is releasing its Climate 360 Smart Bed, which is said to be responsive to both temperature and firmness preferences. The company says the bed will have sensors to measure sleep-tracking data like your heart, heart-rate variability, and breathing rate. Among other features, the mattress will automatically adjust firmness in response to your movements, and warm or cool the bed based on your body temperature. Sleep Number also now offers a kids bed.

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Joanne Chen is a former senior staff writer reporting on sleep and other lifestyle topics. Previously, she covered health and wellness as a magazine editor. After an assignment forced her to sleep eight hours a day for a month, she realized that she is, in fact, a smarter, nicer person when she isn’t sleep-deprived.

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