Dreamfoam Essential vs Nectar Mattress Comparison

If you love the feel of a quality memory foam mattress but are on a budget, you’re in the right place. The Dreamfoam Essential and Nectar Mattress are two highly rated bed-in-a-box memory foam mattresses. Read on to see how they compare to one another.

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Dreamfoam and Nectar Overview

Dreamfoam Essential vs Nectar: Top Similarities

• Feel: If you love a typical memory foam mattress feel, Dreamfoam and Nectar are excellent options. Both beds give you a close cradling sensation, often described as sleeping “in” the mattress instead of “on” it.
• Excellent Values: Both Dreamfoam and Nectar offer affordable memory foam beds. If you’re on a tight budget, the Dreamfoam Essential is less expensive than the Nectar mattress.
• Sub-Par Cooling: Neither mattress is the best choice for hot sleepers. With all-foam designs, these beds don’t provide the airflow and cooling you get with a hybrid or innerspring mattress.
• Suitable for Side Sleepers: The Dreamfoam Essential and the Nectar each earned a high score for pressure relief, suggesting they’re great for side sleepers. Both beds gently cradle and support your shoulders and hips, minimizing pain in these areas.

Dreamfoam Essential vs Nectar: Top Differences

• Trial Period: Nectar gives you a full 365 nights to try out your new mattress, while Dreamfoam provides 120 nights. So if you need longer to decide whether a bed is the right fit, Nectar is a better choice.
• Spine Alignment: Posture matters both day and night, and the Dreamfoam Essential does an exceptional job with lumbar support. While the Nectar mattress didn’t score horribly in this category, spline alignment isn’t among its strongest suits.
• Firmness Options: Most sleepers prefer a medium-firm mattress, which is the Nectar’s firmness level. If you like a softer or firmer mattress, the Dreamfoam Essential has five different comfort levels to choose from.

Dreamfoam Essential vs Nectar Dimensions

The Dreamfoam Essential is available in a variety of unusual sizes, such as RV sizes, the short full, and the short queen. The Nectar is only available in standard mattress sizes.

	Dreamfoam Essential Mattress	Nectar
Thickness	6”–14”	12”
Twin	38” x 75”	38” x 75”
Twin XL	38” x 80”	38” x 80”
RV Bunk	28” x 75” 30” x 75” 30” x 80” 32” x 74” 34” x 75”	N/A
Short Full	48” x 74”	N/A
Full	53” x 75”	54” x 75”
Full XL	53” x 80”	N/A
Short Queen	60” x 74”	N/A
Queen	60” x 80”	60” x 80”
Olympic Queen	66” x 80”	N/A
RV King	70” x 74” 70” x 80” 72” x 80”	N/A
Short King	72” x 75”	N/A
King	76” x 80”	76” x 80”
Split King	N/A	38” x 80” (X2)
California King	72” x 84”	72” x 84”
Split California King	36″ x 84″ (X2)	N/A

Learn more about mattress sizes.

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Dreamfoam Essential vs Nectar Pricing

Both Nectar and Dreamfoam offer high-quality mattresses at affordable prices. Even though Nectar’s prices are higher than Dreamfoam’s, the Nectar Memory Foam is still a great deal—it even earned a spot in our Best Cheap Mattresses of 2023 list.

The Dreamfoam Essential is available at various price points depending on the mattress thickness, with the 6” bed on the lowest end and the 14” option at the highest. Because Brooklyn Bedding, the owner of Dreamfoam, handles all of its operations in-house and passes its savings onto the customer, the Dreamfoam Essential is a fantastic bargain.

Please remember the prices below do not include any promotions, discounts, or exclusive Mattress Advisor deals. Visit our mattress deals page for further information on available promotions.

	Dreamfoam Essential Prices	Nectar Prices
Twin	$274–$599	$599*
Twin XL	$349–$649	$849
Full	$449–$749	$899
Queen	$524–$949	$1,049
King	$699–$1,149	$1,349
California King	$699–$1,149	$1,349

(*We calculated the price of each Nectar mattress without current sales deals. This includes Nectar’s included add-ons, such as pillows, protectors, and sheet sets.)

Compare the Inside of the Mattresses

As gel-infused memory foam mattresses, the Dreamfoam Essential and the Nectar share a lot in common. Check out our layer-by-layer descriptions below to find out what these mattresses share and what sets them apart.

Compare Testing Scores

In the Mattress Advisor lab, we diligently test across 14 categories to make sure you have all the details you need to make an informed purchase. Check out our head-to-head comparison of the Dreamfoam Essential and the Nectar below. Please note that the scores below are for the 14” Dreamfoam Essential.

Curious about how we reach our Mattress Advisor lab scores? Read more about our review process here.

	Dreamfoam Essential	Nectar
Shipping	10	9
Trial Period	10	10
Return Policy	9	8.5
Warranty	9	10
Set-Up Test	9.5	8
Motion Transfer Test	8.5	8.5
Edge Support Test	7.5	9
Pressure Relief Test	8.75	8.5
Spine Alignment Test	9.5	7.5
Responsiveness Test	7.5	8.5
Cooling Evaluation	7.25	7.5
Durability Evaluation	8	8.5
Customer Service Score	9	8
Social Impact Score	3	9
Total Score	8.5/10	8.7/10

Spine Alignment

Mattresses with good spine alignment scores keep your spine in a neutral position while you sleep. This is crucial for people with back pain. The Dreamfoam Essential performed very well on this test, receiving a 9.5/10. Since it also received a great pressure relief score, this mattress is a strong choice for older adults, people with arthritis, athletes, and anyone worried about spine health.

While the Nectar did not do as well in this category, it still scored well in pressure relief, making it good for side sleepers—though perhaps not for side sleepers with back problems.

Edge Support

Edge support refers to how well the edges of a mattress handle weight. So if you sit on the edge of your bed and it droops, it has poor edge support.

The Nectar outperformed the Dreamfoam Essential in this category, scoring 9/10. This makes the Nectar better at providing support for older adults who need stability when getting into and out of bed. It’s also important for couples who want to maximize their sleep surface.

Cooling

Even though both Dreamfoam and Nectar infuse the memory foam layers with gel to provide a cool sleep experience, neither mattress performed well in our cooling test.

When you sink into the warm embrace of a memory foam mattress, some of your body heat gets trapped around you. So if you sleep very hot, memory foam may not be the way to go. However, with middle-of-the-road scores of 7.25/10 and 7.5/10 for the Dreamfoam Essential and the Nectar, respectively, these beds are cool enough for the average sleeper.

If you tend to sleep hot, check out our list of the Best Cooling Mattresses for Hot Sleepers.

Bottom Line: Which Is the Best Mattress?

So, which of these two affordable memory foam mattresses is right for you?

We recommend the Dreamfoam Essential over the Nectar for back-pain sufferers, lightweight sleepers, people looking for unusual mattress sizes, and anyone who wants a soft or firm mattress (thanks to the five available firmness levels). The Nectar is the winner for couples, combination sleepers, and people who want a longer trial period.

Both mattresses fall into our budget category, but Dreamfoam offers incredibly low prices on its thinner models. Keep in mind that our Mattress Advisor lab scores are for the 14” version, so categories like pressure relief and durability may vary in the 6”-10” beds in particular.

More Nectar Comparisons

• Nectar vs Layla
• Nectar vs Puffy
• Nectar vs Saatva
• Nectar vs Helix

More Dreamfoam Comparisons

• Dreamfoam Hybrid vs Brooklyn Bedding
• Dreamfoam Essential vs Casper