Purple vs. Cocoon Mattress Comparison

This article was originally published on Mattress Finder.

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We have to cover the value proposition here — it’s very consumer-friendly from both brands such that you can’t really differentiate between the two based on things like shipping, returns, warranty, etc.

Both Purple and Cocoon by Sealy will ship your mattress to your front door for free in a package that is surprisingly small. You won’t believe a full mattress is inside.

Setting the mattress up is super easy as well. You take it out of the box, remove the vacuum sealing, and the mattress decompresses to its intended size. It’s pretty remarkable.

After that, both offer you free returns, plus a 100-night risk-free trial where you can test the mattress to see if you like it. If you do, that’s great, keep it.

If you decide you don’t want the Cocoon or Purple Mattress, you can return it at no cost to you. Sealy and Purple will come pick up your mattress for free and refund you all of your money.

You can return it for any reason you’d like or no reason at all. If you really wanted to, you could purchase both mattresses and keep only the one that you like the most, returning the other for a full refund.

Also, both Purple and Sealy offer 10-year warranties on their respective mattresses. They’ve definitely made it easy to get a new mattress and hard to not at least try one out.

Purple mattress vs. Cocoon by Sealy review video

Purple mattress review

Purple mattresses are good for:

• people looking for a unique mattress with a different type of feel
• all types of sleepers, including side, back, and stomach

Details:

• free shipping and returns
• 100-night trial period
• 10-year warranty
• made in the United States

Purple mattress review: Materials and construction

The Purple mattress is unlike any other mattress out there, Cocoon included. The headline feature of Purple is a 2-inch thick grid of hyper-elastic polymer, which is the top layer of the mattress.

Think of it as a gel-like material that’s not sticky. It’s super responsive and cushion-y and feels nothing like a memory foam mattress, but in a good way.

When you lie on the mattress, this grid is what you’ll feel. It contours, compresses, and molds itself to fit the exact shape of your body, offering probably the most perfect blend of support and pressure relief (more on this below).

Below the top layer is a 3.5-inch thick layer of polyurethane foam, which helps absorb impact and provides structure for the mattress. And below this middle layer is yet another slab of polyurethane foam, except the base layer is even more dense than the middle layer, which is really where the bed gets its structure.

What this translates into is the top layer providing the immediate pressure relief and cradling of your body, the middle layer absorbing a lot of the pressure, and the bottom layer supporting it all.

Bringing it all together is a mattress cover that’s incredibly soft. As an FYI, however, Purple recommends that you don’t machine wash or dry the cover, but rather you spot clean it as necessary with mild detergent.

In order to keep your Purple mattress clean and stain-free, you should consider getting the Purple Mattress Protector, which is $79 to $158, depending on the size of mattress you get.

Motion transfer, coolness, and responsiveness of the Purple mattress

Let’s first tackle motion transfer. You’d think Purple would transfer motion quite a bit since the top layer isn’t memory foam, but the motion transfer is actually quite limited with this mattress — far less than you’d expect.

This is probably due, in part, to the middle layer of the mattress. The net result is that you’re going to limit how much you disturb your partner (or they disturb you) when you’re sleeping.

When you lay something atop the mattress, it’s a little unstable since the grid flexes and moves, but the motion doesn’t transfer. And the grid has the added benefit of allowing in maximum airflow, keeping the mattress uniquely cool.

Since the top layer is a gel-like material — as opposed to memory foam — it doesn’t seem to conduct or retain heat, which is a huge benefit over traditional foam mattresses, which are infamous for trapping body heat.

As for responsiveness, Purple is the top dog. If you press in on a regular foam mattress, there’s a delay, as the mattress resets itself.

This isn’t necessarily bad or good, but it is common for mattresses, as they age, to not entirely reset themselves. You get around this by rotating the mattress, and it’s not usually an issue for many years.

With Purple, however, because of that top layer, it responds instantaneously, returning to its original form and leaving no body impression whatsoever regardless of how hard you press.

This definitely speaks to the level of support and pressure relief this mattress has. It cradles your body perfectly, but also pushes back enough such that you’re not sinking through the mattress.

Purple is difficult to score for firmness and softness because it’s unlike most everything else. It’s probably something like a 4.5/10 — meaning it’s a little softer than a regular mattress — but that’s only because the top layer immediately conforms to your body.

Purple is uniquely designed to equally support side, back, stomach, and combo sleepers. If you sleep predominantly on your side, Purple provides the right amount of softness such that you won’t get shoulder pain.

If you sleep mostly on your back and stomach, the mattress will support you enough for a very comfortable night’s sleep.

If you’re a combo sleeper and rotate between back, stomach, and side throughout the night, well, Purple is one of the best mattresses out there for you. This really is an innovative and interesting design for a mattress. We like it.

And this probably goes without saying, but Purple is very, very comfortable… but, again, it’s unlike any other mattress you’ve slept on, so you may be thrown off initially. You can feel yourself pushing around and displacing that top gel-like grid.

Purple mattress coupon code and pricing

You won’t often find a Purple promo code in circulation — probably because the company thinks its mattress is a good enough value already. We would agree, but you can always check here on Purple’s website for new discounts and promotions.

In terms of the actual price of Purple mattresses, they’re a little more expensive than the average bed-in-a-box, but not expensive by traditional mattress standards:

Prices valid as of September 24, 2020.

Purple mattresses are a little more expensive than Cocoon mattresses, which is a bummer, but the price discrepancy probably isn’t enough to change your mind one way or the other.

Purples does occasionally offer bundles (mattress and platform base, mattress and protector, etc.) where you can save around $50 to $100. Check current Purple Bundles online.

Purple bed review verdict

We were a little nervous with the concept of the Purple mattress at first, but we think this thing is awesome. It really does a fantastic job of being soft yet supportive and responsive yet pressure relieving — it’s unlike any other mattress we’ve tested.

You’ll definitely need to adjust to the feel of the mattress, but chances are you’ll really like this bed. The downsides with Purple are that it’s a little expensive (for the bed-in-a-box category) and the cover shouldn’t be removed or machine washed.

It’s a little heavier than you’d expect, making it slightly more difficult to move than the Casper mattress, for example. Overall, though, we have mostly positive things to say about Purple.

Cocoon by Sealy mattress review

Cocoon by Sealy mattresses are good for:

• people who like memory foam
• hot sleepers on a limited budget
• people who like firmer beds

Details:

• free shipping and returns
• 100-night trial period
• 10-year warranty
• made in the United States

Sealy Cocoon mattress review: Overview

Sealy is one of the largest (if not the largest) mattress companies out there. It’s been in business since 1881 and makes dozens of products, including innerspring mattresses, memory foam mattresses, hybrid mattresses, bed frames, pillows, and much more.

Sealy has ultra firm, firm, cushion firm, plush, and ultra plush mattresses, in a huge range of prices… and that’s just what’s on its website. It’s a big brand that you can find at every mattress retailer.

But Sealy has only recently entered the direct-to-consumer mattress game with a bed-in-a-box concept.

Construction of the Cocoon mattress by Sealy

Sealy offers two different models of the Cocoon mattress: the Cocoon Classic, which is the ultra affordable option, and the Cocoon Chill, which runs very cool compared to most memory foam mattresses.

And you can get both of them in either the soft or firm feel… up to you.

We do like that Sealy gives you options, though. In this article, however, we’re discussing the Cocoon Chill (soft) specifically.

Shop for Cocoon mattresses online.

The Cocoon Chill is made up of three layers of foam. On the bottom is a support layer, providing the structure for the bed. The middle layer is for durability and responsiveness. And the top layer is proper memory foam that conforms perfectly to your body.

If you’ve ever tried out a memory foam mattress, you’ll know that the foam slowly absorbs the pressure from your body and is extremely comfortable… dangerously comfortable.

But, as mentioned above, most memory foam mattresses trap your body heat, and the bed warms up over the night. It’s a pleasant experience when you first lie down, but over time you start to get uncomfortably hot.

Luckily, with the Cocoon Chill, Sealy has added the most amazing mattress cover that keeps the mattress cooler than you’ve ever experienced before. In fact, when we first tried out Cocoon Chill, we actually thought it was wet because it was so cool.

If there’s one mattress that we think runs cooler than even Purple, it’s Cocoon Chill. By the way, that’s really saying something… Purple runs very cool.

Motion transfer, softness, and responsiveness of Cocoon Chill

Since this is a memory foam mattress, the motion transfer is very limited. Cocoon is actually one of the best mattresses that we’ve tested for motion transfer. Only the Bear Mattress did a better job of limiting cross-mattress motion.

If you sleep with someone who moves around a lot in their sleep (or maybe you do), Cocoon is highly proficient in reducing the motion felt by the other sleeper.

In terms of softness/firmness, we’d give the Cocoon Chill (soft) about a 5.5/10. It’s basically as soft and supportive as the average memory foam mattress.

If it was too soft it would be a little awkward, as you’d feel like you’re sinking through the bed, but as it is currently, we think it’s a great blend of being soft and supportive.

But because it has memory foam as the top layer, it doesn’t respond nearly as quickly as Purple and is therefore harder to switch sleeping positions at night.

This means that over time it could compress, etc., but that may not be such a bad thing.

The bed will likely become even more comfortable over time… you’ll just need to make sure you rotate it and be mindful of any sagging. This occurs over years of use, but just be aware that it may happen.

Also, this mattress will be fine for back, stomach, and combo sleepers. However, if you’re exclusively a side sleeper, you may look into Purple or another soft mattress.

Cocoon isn’t bad for side sleepers, but if you’re on your side throughout most of the night, you may actually prefer something a little more soft. If you rotate between side, back, and stomach, you’ll be very pleased with Cocoon.

Cocoon by Sealy coupon code and pricing

Unlike Purple, Sealy does play the coupon game, so just look for one before you purchase. The mattress is pretty affordable as is, but why not take the discount deeper? You can check here on Sealy’s website for new discounts and promotions.

Pricing for Cocoon Chill mattresses is as follows:

And here’s the pricing for Cocoon Classic mattresses:

Prices valid as of September 24, 2020.

The Cocoon Classic is more affordable than the Cocoon Chill and Purple. Still, if you can afford Cocoon Chill or Purple, we think that’s a better option, especially if you’re concerned about the mattress heating up.

If you opt for a Cocoon mattress, check here for our discounts.

Cocoon mattress review verdict

The Cocoon mattress is comfortable for sure, but there’s almost no way that you could get me to get the Classic when the Chill runs as cool as it does.

The one thing that concerns us with the Cocoon Chill versus Purple mattress is that you rely on the cover to keep you cool with Sealy, whereas the top layer with Purple is what helps with air flow, etc.

We aren’t entirely sure if Cocoon Chill will retain its cooling effect year after year. With Purple, we know it’s not getting any warmer.

Also, in terms of cleaning the Cocoon Chill cover, Sealy (like Purple) recommends you spot clean and not remove or machine wash the cover. If you want to avoid stains, etc., you might look into adding a mattress cover or extra sheets, but that may somewhat dampen the cooling effect from the cover.

You can see there’s a little conundrum to think about with Cocoon Chill. In any case, it’s a wonderful mattress overall with very moderate price points.

Is Cocoon better than Purple? It’s hard to say. They feel different and rely on different technologies. If you want a really cool mattress with the memory foam feel, go with Sealy.

If you’re open to a different feel, Purple is a fantastic option. Again, there’s virtually no risk with trying one or both because of that 100-night trial.

The Mattress Finder team is composed of certified professionals who are passionate about helping consumers improve their sleep. We thoroughly test each mattress we review through a series of practical, hands-on inspections and assessments. We write every review expecting that our closest friends and family members rely on us for their mattress and sleep product decisions, so honesty and authenticity are core principles of our inspection process.