Best single mattresses
A single bed has one sleeper, which removes the constraint that drives most mattress spending.
I earn a commission if you buy through some links on this page. It never changes what I recommend, and I publish negative verdicts on brands I earn from. Editorial independence.
A UK single is 90 by 190 centimetres, and almost everything that makes mattress buying difficult is about two people sharing one surface.
Motion isolation stops mattering, because nobody is turning over beside you. Dual firmness is irrelevant. The compromise between two body weights disappears.
What is left is straightforward: the right firmness for one body, enough depth for that weight, and a surface you can keep clean. That is a far cheaper problem to solve.
It also means open coil springs become a legitimate option here, when they are not for a shared double.
The picks
The pick, if you want one answer
Emma Original Lite Mattress, 7.3 / 10. A three-zone pocket spring layer at a price where almost everything else is a foam slab.
| Product | Best for | From | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emma Original Lite Mattress | Best overall | £199 | 7.3 / 10 |
| Silentnight Sleep Now Range | Cheapest worth buying | From £169 | 6.7 / 10 |
| Simba Hybrid Kids Mattress | Best for a child | Mid range | 7.6 / 10 |
| Inofia Elegant Collection Mattress | Most mattress per pound | Around £210 | 6.3 / 10 |
Emma Original Lite Mattress: Best overall
£199 · 7.3 / 10
A three-zone pocket spring layer at £199 with a 200 night trial. Zoning is one of very few mattress technologies where the marketing and the physics agree, and this is the cheapest zoned mattress I know of in Britain.
The naming catches people: the Original Lite has the springs; the Original at £369 is all foam.
Buy it if
You want the best construction at the bottom of the market, for a child, guest or spare room.
Do not buy it if
The sleeper is over about fifteen stone. There is limited headroom at this price.
Read the full Emma Original Lite Mattress review
Silentnight Sleep Now Range: Cheapest worth buying
From £169 · 6.7 / 10
From £169, from a manufacturer making beds in Barnoldswick since 1946. This is where open coil is fine: linked springs mean one person's movement travels across the mattress, and with one sleeper there is nobody for it to travel to.
Buy it if
You need the lowest price from a manufacturer that will still exist.
Do not buy it if
You want pocket springs specifically. Confirm before ordering.
Read the full Silentnight Sleep Now Range review
Simba Hybrid Kids Mattress: Best for a child
Mid range · 7.6 / 10
Scores 7.6. A child barely compresses a mattress, so a high spring count does very little, and the design decisions that actually matter are waterproofing and a washable cover. Those are not what adult mattresses optimise for.
Buy it if
The bed is for a child and you want waterproofing and washability built in.
Do not buy it if
The sleeper is an adult.
Read the full Simba Hybrid Kids Mattress review
Inofia Elegant Collection Mattress: Most mattress per pound
Around £210 · 6.3 / 10
Scores 6.3. Twenty-seven centimetres and a spring core at around £210. For a spare room, a rental or a first flat, that is a good trade against the shorter trading history behind the guarantee.
Buy it if
You want depth and a genuine spring core at the price of a foam slab.
Do not buy it if
It is a main bed for an adult who will keep it a decade.
Read the full Inofia Elegant Collection Mattress review
Open coil, and why it is acceptable here
Open coil springs are joined together by wire into one unit. Press one and its neighbours move, so on a shared bed one person turning over moves the other side. That is why pocket springs are the floor rather than an upgrade in a double.
On a single, the objection disappears. There is no second sleeper for movement to reach, and open coil is a sound, durable, cheap construction that has been made properly for decades.
What you still give up is independent response: the mattress reacts as a region rather than conforming to your shape. For a lighter sleeper who does not compress it far, that matters little. For a heavier adult on a single, pocket springs are worth the difference.
If a listing does not use the word pocket, assume it is open coil.
Buy for the use, because they are different problems
| Use | Priority |
|---|---|
| Child's bed | Waterproofing, washable cover, firm. Spring count barely matters. |
| Guest room | Medium-firm, which fails least badly for a stranger. Durability over feel. |
| Student or rental | Price, plus a protector to protect the deposit rather than a guarantee. |
| Adult's main bed | Pocket springs, 26cm or more of depth, firmness matched to position. |
| Bunk or cabin bed | Depth limited by the frame's guard rail. Check the stated maximum. |
The guest room row is worth dwelling on. You are buying for someone whose weight and sleeping position you do not know, so medium-firm is genuinely the right answer rather than a fudge.
Single sizes, and the ones that catch people
A UK single is 90 by 190 centimetres. A small single, often sold as a cabin bed size, is 75 by 190. A European single is 90 by 200, which will not fit a UK frame or UK fitted sheets.
Student accommodation sometimes uses small doubles at 120 by 190 rather than singles, so measure before ordering sheets.
For a bunk bed, check the frame's stated maximum mattress depth. A deep mattress reduces the height of the guard rail, which is a safety consideration rather than a comfort one, and bunk mattresses are usually limited to around 15 centimetres.
The protector is the best value purchase
Twenty to forty pounds, and it does different work depending on the situation.
On a child's bed, it makes a 3am change manageable and stops a stain voiding the guarantee. Two protectors is sensible rather than indulgent.
In a rental, it protects your deposit rather than a guarantee, which is frequently worth considerably more.
In a guest room, it protects a mattress that is used rarely and therefore expected to last a very long time.
Buy a breathable membrane rather than a cheap plastic-backed protector, which stops air as well as liquid.
What not to buy
A high spring count for a child. They do not load the springs enough for it to do anything.
A soft mattress at a low price. Soft needs a high spring count to work, and at this price you cannot have both.
An open coil mattress for a heavier adult. Fine for a child or a light sleeper, and pocket springs are worth the difference above that.
A deep mattress for a bunk bed without checking the frame's stated maximum.
A European single for a UK frame. Ninety by 200 against 90 by 190.
Also considered, and why they are not here
A roundup is only as useful as what it leaves out, so here is what was assessed and rejected for this list.
| Product | Why it is not on the list |
|---|---|
| Rem-Fit Kids | Scores 7.5 and is a sound children's mattress. Rem-Fit's eligibility schemes are unusually broad and can change the price materially. |
| Mlily Memory Gel 200 | Scores 5.5, has no springs despite the number, and runs warm. At this money a spring layer is available elsewhere. |
| Memory One | Scores 5.9. Much of the budget foam market is white label from a small number of producers, so brand names at this level describe very little. |
| Emma Original | All foam at £369 when the Original Lite at £199 has a spring layer. Hard to recommend the dearer foam model. |
How this list is made, and who made it
Independence
No brand pays to appear on this site and no placement is sold. Some links earn a commission if you buy, which never changes a score, an order or a verdict. Several of the lowest scores here are on products that carry commission, and several recommendations carry none.
Who writes this. Kyle Klinkradt has worked in the mattress and bedding industry for over ten years across retail, distribution and brand partnerships, and has handled, sold or assessed products from every major UK bed-in-a-box brand. Every review on this site is written by one person, so the scores mean the same thing from page to page.
What the assessment is. Construction specifications against what they physically do: spring height and where in the mattress it sits, spring count for the size, gauge, whether the base is sprung or foam, foam density where it is published, comfort layer depth and material. Then the commercial terms that decide what you are actually buying: trial against returns policy, guarantee length against the company's UK trading history at Companies House, and the regulatory record.
What it is not. This is not a laboratory. I do not publish pressure-mapping data or claim to have slept eight years on every mattress here, because nobody has and pages that imply otherwise are not telling you the truth. Where a judgement rests on construction rather than long-term use, the review says so.
What gets a product removed. Leaving the UK market, a specification change that makes the review inaccurate, or a corrected fact. Brands that have withdrawn are kept on the site with the score removed rather than quietly deleted, because people still search for them.
See editorial independence, corrections and the author page.
How these were chosen
Every product here has its own review on this site with a score out of 10, and the score is a judgement rather than an average. Nothing appears in a list because it pays more.
A score is against the market, not against its own range. The cheapest mattress in a lineup is usually priced to make the model above it look reasonable, and the flagship of a budget range has risen into a bracket where better brands compete. Both are judged against what else you could buy for the money.
Everything listed can actually be bought in the UK. That is not a given: Casper withdrew in July 2020 and Leesa no longer sells here, and both still appear in current British roundups with affiliate links attached.
I do not pad the list. Where only three or four products genuinely qualify, there are three or four. A list of seven when the category contains four good ones is a list with three bad recommendations in it.
Prices move constantly. Judge the cash price on the day rather than any percentage beside it. See every review on this site or where the real savings are.
Questions people ask
How big is a UK single mattress?
Ninety by 190 centimetres. A small single, often sold as a cabin bed size, is 75 by 190, and a European single is 90 by 200, which will not fit a UK frame or UK fitted sheets.
Is an open coil mattress acceptable in a single bed?
Yes, which is not true of a shared double. Open coil springs are joined by wire so movement travels across the mattress, and with one sleeper there is nobody for it to travel to. It is a sound, durable, cheap construction.
What should I buy for a guest room?
Medium-firm, because you are buying for someone whose weight and sleeping position you do not know, and it is the firmness that fails least badly. Prioritise durability over feel, since it will be used rarely and expected to last.
What mattress depth can I use on a bunk bed?
Check the frame's stated maximum, usually around 15 centimetres. A deep mattress reduces the height of the guard rail, which is a safety consideration rather than a comfort one.