The 7 Very Best Cooling Mattress Toppers

Cooling components: Gel-infused foam, bamboo rayon cover | Thickness: Three inches or four inches | Trial and warranty: 90-day money-back guarantee, five-year warranty

Also from ViscoSoft, the Select High Density topper is made with high-density, gel-infused foam, and it’s a good choice for a classic memory-foam feel with minimal heat retention. I like high-density foam because it’s usually very durable and supportive, thanks to its higher weight per cubic foot. The gel infusions are designed to help draw heat away from the body, similar to the copper infusions in the Active Cooling topper, above, and while the bamboo-rayon cover is not cool to the touch like the Active Cooling topper’s phase-change material cover, bamboo rayon is temperature-regulating and moisture-wicking. These differences in materials mean the Select High Density topper is significantly cheaper than the Active Cooling topper, while still offering meaningful temperature regulation. The Select High Density topper also still has corner straps to keep it from sliding around, which you don’t always see on lower-priced toppers.

When I tested this topper, the foam felt firm at first, but I sank in more deeply after lying on it for a few minutes; it contoured around me and provided excellent pressure relief. I especially liked how well it cushioned my shoulder, which sometimes jams up when I lie on my side, but the foam of this topper prevented any discomfort. As far as cooling goes, this topper didn’t feel overly chilly to the touch, but I didn’t feel it heating up around me excessively, which is sometimes all you can expect with memory foam. The bamboo cover and the gel infusions in the foam work together to keep the topper from overheating.

Strategist associate editor Jeremy Rellosa also likes the Select High Density topper — he’s been sleeping on it for about three years and says it’s very comfortable — but he does caution that the foam softens when it’s warm. “When my room is cold from AC, and when it’s cold outside, the topper is nice and firm. But when the weather is hot and humid, it can be so soft and soupy,” Rellosa explains. The change in firmness doesn’t affect the cooling properties, but can be an annoyance nonetheless. Rellosa says keeping the AC running can mostly prevent the softening — which many hot sleepers are likely to be doing anyway.

Overall, the Active Cooling topper is stronger in cooling than the Select High Density topper, as it has a noticeably cool-to-the-touch feel. But this one is a good option if you don’t want to spend $400 on a mattress topper, if you want thinner options, or if you want a slightly softer feel than the Active Cooling topper provides — though as Rellosa notes, it can get much softer depending on the weather.

Cooling components: Graphite-infused memory foam | Thickness: Three inches | Trial and warranty: 180-day trial period, one-year limited warranty

Graphite is another common bedding material used to draw heat away from the body. This topper from Saatva — the maker of our favorite mattress — uses graphite-infused memory foam to create a plush but not too hot topper. When I tested it, I loved how thick and dense the foam felt. It contoured around my body with a nice balance of cushioning and support — I didn’t sink in quite as much as I did on the ViscoSoft High-Density topper. This one doesn’t feel cool to the touch, but it also didn’t feel noticeably hot. I like that on top of the graphite infusions, this topper has a breathable organic-cotton cover with straps to secure it in place on your mattress. However, I wish the cover were removable and washable instead of spot-clean only. On the plus side, Saatva offers a very generous 180-day trial period with this topper, so you have plenty of time to decide whether you like it.

Cooling components: Copper gel-infused memory foam | Thickness: Two inches | Trial and warranty: 30-day trial period, five-year warranty

This two-inch topper from Layla features the same copper gel-infused foam used in Layla’s mattresses. Strategist writer Tembe Denton-Hurt sleeps on the Layla Hybrid mattress and says she and her partner never overheat.

While this topper is on the thinner side compared with others on this list, it has fairly dense foam, with a 2.5-pound density level. When I tested it, I sank into the foam quite slowly — it molded around my body the longer I lay on it, ultimately providing excellent pressure relief. As with the ViscoSoft High-Density topper, I felt hugged by this one, but the effect was lessened by the foam’s thinness (two inches versus three or four inches). Because the foam is dense in this topper, it will take a minute for your body to settle into it. Like the other toppers with infusions for cooling, the Layla topper didn’t feel noticeably cool, but I didn’t feel overheated.

Additionally, I like that this topper has a removable cover with straps, but Layla does recommend dry-cleaning the topper’s cover to maintain the softness, which is a little inconvenient.

Cooling components: Polyethylene cooling cover | Thickness: 3.75 inches | Trial and warranty: 100-day trial, one-year limited warranty

If you’re looking for a topper that provides a little extra support — maybe to place atop a slightly sagging mattress — consider a micro-coil topper. These toppers, as the name suggests, have small coils in them to provide more structure and bounce, and which can also assist with airflow. This one from Helix is made with .75-inch coils sandwiched between two 1.5-inch sections of foam, like a mini hybrid mattress. The reason it earned a spot on this list is that it has a cooling cover made from Helix’s GlacioTex fabric, a 50-50 blend of polyester and polyethylene; polyethylene is a synthetic material that is commonly used in cooling products because it gives the fabric a slick and cool-to-the-touch feel that polyester alone doesn’t have. When I tried this topper, the cooling effect was most powerful when I was lying directly on the topper, but I could also still feel it through my sheets. I’ve tried one other micro-coil topper, from Saatva, which has much larger coils that add more bounce. The coils in this Helix topper aren’t nearly as noticeable, but I think they add more structured support to what could otherwise be three inches of pure foam, and the cover’s cooling abilities are on par with similar cooling toppers that I’ve tried. Just as importantly, the topper is really quite comfortable: It has enough foam to sink into to feel pressure relief, but the coils add enough extra oomph that it doesn’t become a total sinky-foam fest.

Cooling components: App-controlled fan cooling | Thickness: Approximately two inches | Trial and warranty: 30-day trial, one-year limited warranty

The Perfectly Snug Smart Topper is app-controlled and customizable so you can warm or cool it to your desired temperature. The topper has two main layers: a one-inch layer of memory foam and a one-inch layer of “3-D mesh,” the plastic layer the air actually flows through. Both of those layers are encased in a breathable mesh fabric. The topper has mini-fans at the corners or the foot of the topper, depending on which size you get, that blow warm or cool air through its surface. I tested a queen size, which had two fans — one in each corner at the foot of the bed. I didn’t notice them much, but they are covered with hard plastic that you could knock a foot against if your feet reach the end of the bed. When I set the temperature and lay down, I could feel that air was flowing underneath me, but I couldn’t feel distinct gusts or currents. The temperature change was obvious, but I never had the feeling of hot or cold air blowing directly on me (like you might feel in a car).

The Perfectly Snug is primarily controlled through an app, but it has physical-button controls on the side of the topper too. With the app, you choose a temperature setting between negative 10 and 10, as well as whether you want the temperature to change at all throughout the night or in the morning. The brand does not provide exact temperatures that correspond to each setting, so you’ll need to experiment a bit to find one that works for you. After sleeping on the topper for about two weeks, I landed on an ideal of between 1 and 3 for warming, or -1 and -3 for cooling. While the app feels a little outdated and isn’t especially intuitive to use, the topper itself is pretty effective. When I set it to a cool temperature, I could immediately feel air coming through the topper, which made for a much speedier temperature adjustment than I’ve felt with the water-powered cooling systems I’ve tested (more on those below). It’s worth noting, though, that the coolness of the cool air is dependent on the room temperature. The Perfectly Snug doesn’t work like air-conditioning to make the air colder; it just blows more air when you crank up the cooling. If the room is hot in the first place, the topper won’t do quite as much to cool you down. The heating option is powered by the same fans and works more like a forced-air space heater, which is nice for preheating your bed before hopping in. I also like that for a queen size and larger, each side of the topper can be set to different temperatures — ideal for partners who differ on their temperature preferences.

The Perfectly Snug is primarily designed for temperature control, but because it has a thin layer of memory foam, it will make your mattress feel slightly cushier. I tested it on our best-in-class mattress, the Saatva Classic, which is springy and somewhat firm, and I definitely felt more give with the Perfectly Snug topper than without. Still, it isn’t as plush or pressure-relieving as most of the other toppers on this list, so if adding softness is your highest priority, I’d go with a less techy topper.