As one of the big names in the mattress industry, Casper is known for its comfortable, high-quality bed-in-a-box mattresses, which are available online. It was founded in 2014 and since then, the mattresses have gone through quite a few changes and improvements. From variable softness to cooling technology, here’s a breakdown of the Casper mattresses.
I guarantee if you’ve been shopping for a mattress online for even a little while, you’ve probably heard of Casper. It’s one of the most popular and oldest names in the online mattress industry. We’re going to be covering all five of Casper’s mattresses, including what they’re made of, what they feel like, how much they cost and which one might work best for you.
We’ll start with the most affordable mattress from Casper and work our way up through the catalog. And that means we’ll start with the newly redesigned Casper mattress.
Video: Casper mattress roundup
Watch CNET video producer Owen Poole review Casper mattresses.
See more: Best bed-in-a-box mattress
Casper mattress construction
Casper mattress
The newest Casper mattress is similar to the Original, but it’s more affordable and omits Casper’s zoned support layer.
- The new Casper bed measures 10 inches thick and is made of three foam layers.
- You have dense foam at the bottom as the primary support layer.
- Then you have a transition layer of memory foam that helps make sure you don’t really feel the harsh, dense support foam underneath and adds some pressure relief and comfort to the mattress.
- As the primary comfort layer, you have what Casper calls its “signature foam.” This stuff is a really nice balance of a more responsive foam that provides you with a good amount of pressure relief.
The biggest differences between this new Casper mattress and the all-foam version of the Casper Original mattress are that this bed is a little bit thinner and it doesn’t feature a zone support layer, which we’ll talk about a little bit later in our review.
Casper Original and Original Hybrid
The all-foam version of the Casper Original with its zoned support layer in the center. The hybrid model replaces the foam base layer with pocketed coils.
The Casper Original is similar to the first bed we mentioned, but it’s a little thicker and has a zoned-support layer for targeted support under your back, and pressure relief under your hips and shoulders. The Hybrid Original is the same, except it uses pocketed coils in the base.
- The first layer is either foam or a system of pocketed coils for targeted support and enhanced motion isolation.
- Second is a layer of zone support memory foam. A zone support design like this is intended to help keep your spine in a more neutral alignment in whatever position you’re sleeping. The center third of it is actually slightly firmer, which means it provides you with a bit of extra support where you carry the majority of your weight and a little more pressure relief on the upper and lower thirds.
- The top comfort layer is the same as the Casper — the brand’s signature foam.
Casper Snow
The Casper Snow mattress features a cooling cover that feels cold to the touch.
The Snow technology has been around for a little while now. You used to be able to find it in Casper’s Nova mattress, and it is still available in the Wave Hybrid mattress, but this bed is designed to be a very cool sleeping mattress with a construction that’s very similar to the Casper original hybrid. It has one or two noticeable differences on the outer edge of the mattress. However, the transition and comfort layers are the same.
On the Snow, there’s a foam border around the perimeter, making the edge support really solid. The cover on the Casper Snow mattress is also noticeably cool to the touch, and in the center third of the mattress underneath the cover, there’s an extra laminated cooling strip that should help you sleep a little bit cooler at night.
Casper Nova Hybrid (Update: Currently unavailable)
Casper’s soft, plush mattress called Casper Nova is perfect for side sleepers.
The softest bed from Casper features a layer of pocketed coils and three layers of comfort foam rather than just two. The bottom two layers are actually cut out in very strategic ways to provide you with even more targeted, zoned support.
Casper Wave Hybrid (Update: Currently unavailable)
Take a peek at the layers inside of a Casper Wave mattress, including foam-encased pocketed coils in the base layer.
There are two different versions of the Wave Hybrid. One of them has the same technology that you find in the Snow mattress, and one without.
I think the cover on the Casper Snow itself is going to be a bit cooler than the one you find on the Casper Wave Hybrid with Snow, but that might change because it just introduced the Snow. It wouldn’t surprise me if they start shipping out the Casper Wave Hybrid Snow with the same style of cover. Something to keep in mind.
The Wave Hybrid also features what the brand calls Zoned Support Max, which is an even more sophisticated version of the zone support system you find in the Nova Hybrid. It actually features these little gel pods in its construction that are supposed to provide you with even more targeted support. And this bed has actually been endorsed by the American Chiropractic Association because of how well it can help alleviate back pain. Don’t be fooled by the photo, there are coils in the bottom layer of the bed. It just has foam encased around the coils in the bottom layer for enhanced edge support.
Casper firmness and feel
What do Casper mattresses feel like?
Casper: The construction of the new Casper mattress adds up to an overall soft, neutral-foam feel, which is absolutely what you’d expect from Casper. Casper became really popular because it just made a very comfy and accommodating mattress that most people generally like.
Casper Hybrid: It feels similar to the Casper and Casper Original, but it has more bounce to it and feels a little more supportive.
If you’re looking for more of a memory foam, sink-in feel from your next mattress, the Casper and Casper Hybrid mattresses don’t really fit that description. They are just generally accommodating. I really like them, and most people who try them agree with me. Even those who don’t really love it still get by on it.
Casper Snow: Even though the transition and comfort layers on the Snow mattress are the same as the Original Hybrid, for whatever reason when we tested it, we found this bed to have a slightly more memory foam feel in comparison to the other beds from Casper.
I can’t really determine what accounts for this difference, but it’s just a little less responsive when you press down on those top layers of foam. If you are a person who really doesn’t like memory foam, I still think you’ll find this bed comfortable. It’s just a slight little difference that we noted.
Casper Nova Hybrid: It’s going to have that very similar soft, neutral-foam feel as the other beds from Casper, and it does have a more sophisticated zone support design in comparison to the other beds.
Casper Wave Hybrid: The Casper Wave has Casper’s signature soft foam feel with the added bounce of the bed’s pocketed coil layer.
Since Casper mattresses use a lot of the same foams, the way they feel tends to be very similar. Their major differentiators will include firmness, construction and price.
How firm are Casper mattresses?
Casper: The new Casper is going to be around a flat medium, maybe between a medium and a medium firm. If you are a petite side sleeper, it might not have quite as much pressure relief as you’re looking for, but I think pretty much everyone will be able to get by on it pretty comfortably.
Casper Original (foam and hybrid): These are rated the same, around a medium on the soft-to-firm scale. This makes it accommodating for all sleeping positions.
Casper Hybrid, Snow and Wave Hybrid: I’d say they are closer to that of a true medium, and softer than the new Casper mattress.
Casper Nova Hybrid: In our testing, we found it to be around a medium soft on our firmness scale, which is the softest bed that Casper makes. I am actually a huge fan of the Casper Nova Hybrid. I’m a primary side sleeper who really likes a soft yet supportive mattress, and I think this does that really, really well.
CNET’s Dillon Payne trying out the Casper Wave mattress, testing how accommodating it is for stomach sleepers
Temperature
Casper claims you’ll sleep five degrees cooler on the Casper Snow mattress in comparison to an average mattress purchased online. I can’t really confirm whether or not five degrees is an accurate number, but I think you will notice that this bed sleeps cooler than your average mattress and would be a good mattress option for hot sleepers.
Casper mattress price
You’re looking at only about $1,000 for a queen size Casper before any discounts, which means it’s much more affordable than the aforementioned foam version of the Casper Original.
It’s around $1,500 for a queen size Casper Original Hybrid before any discounts. The price actually has gone down a little bit recently, which is pretty nice. Most of the time bed prices just seem to go up, but I think with the original foam version being gone and replaced with the Casper, they decided to bring that price down a little bit.
A queen size Casper Snow will run you around $2,000. The extra edge support is a nice feature, but I think the cooling features are what you’re really paying that extra $500 for.
For a queen size Casper Nova Hybrid a queen size will cost around $2,200, which makes it just a little bit more expensive than the Casper Snow. For the Casper Wave Hybrid you’re looking at around $2,000 for a queen size bed.
Prices change pretty frequently, and it seems like right now Casper is saving all its discounts for major holidays.
Final thoughts
This leaves us with the question, which one of these Casper beds should you think about getting?
Casper: I can see a lot of people gravitating toward this particular mattress. I’m a pretty big fan myself. It seems like Casper is trying to go back to basics with this mattress as it’s pretty simple, but that’s not really a bad thing. It’s really accommodating with its firmness and feel, but it doesn’t really have many bells and whistles. Plus, it’s super affordable. I think if you are just looking for a mattress upgrade and you don’t want to spend a lot of money, there aren’t a lot of other better options out there than this particular mattress.
Casper Hybrid: If you like the sound of the all-foam Casper but are looking for a hybrid mattress specifically, then I think the Original Hybrid is worth the extra money.
Casper Snow: I would say look into getting the Snow mattress if you are an extremely hot sleeper and you want to try out an active cooling bed. I think there are other methods you could probably use to help you sleep a little bit cooler rather than shelling out the money for a Snow, but at the same time, this mattress is nice and it will help you sleep a little bit cooler. Will it be worth the extra 500 bucks? That’s your call.
Casper Nova Hybrid: Personally, I think if you are a primary side sleeper looking for a lot of pressure relief, you can’t do a whole lot better than the Nova Hybrid. It’s one of my personal favorite mattresses as a primary side sleeper.
Casper Wave Hybrid: Maybe you’ve tried beds in the past that just don’t help your back pain. This one has designs and special tech that might actually do that for you, and it does have that ACA endorsement that might be worth the extra cash.
Casper mattress policies
Your shopping experience is important, and this includes stuff like shipping, returns, trial periods and warranties.
Casper did send us beds so we could review them and tell you about them for free, but if you go in for yourself, you’ll start with free bed-in-a-box shipping. This is how the vast majority of beds are delivered these days because it’s a very quick and easy process and the mattress arrives at your door.
Unboxing
It’s pretty easy to unbox these things. You just bring it inside, open it up, rip off all the plastic wrapping and then watch your new mattress inflate. That said, there are a few things I should mention about this process.
Number one, you should probably have someone there to help you because it makes the process go a lot more smoothly. You can unbox a lot of beds by yourself, but it’s just not as easy.
Tip no. 2 is that when you first unbox a mattress, there’s a really good chance it’ll have an odor. This is called off-gassing, and it happens because the bed has been compressed in plastic wrapping for so long. However, it dissipates after one to two days.
Also, the bed might look a little misshapen and it’s probably going to feel really soft right out of the box because it needs time to fully expand. So if you unbox a bed, it looks totally wrong and your room smells. That’s just a normal part of the process.
Free trial
Once the mattress arrives at your door, your trial period of 100 nights kicks in. You get a little bit over three months to sleep on the mattress at home to determine if you like it. If you decide that you don’t want to keep it for whatever reason within that trial window, you can return it and get a full refund.
Casper, like pretty much every other brand, will ask you to sleep on its bed for at least 30 nights before initiating a return. This is because no matter how nice your new mattress is and how well suited it is to you and your sleep style, it can take a couple of weeks for your body to really adjust to a new mattress.
Warranty
If you decide you like your new Casper mattress and you want to keep it, it is backed by a standard 10-year warranty.