Is the Nolah or the Nectar the right all-foam mattress for you? Find out everything you need to know to choose the best mattress based on your body size, sleeping position, preferences, and more.
Is the Nolah or the Nectar the right all-foam mattress for you? Find out everything you need to know to choose the best mattress based on your body size, sleeping position, preferences, and more.
Nolah and Nectar are two leading bed-in-a-box mattress companies that craft high-quality foam mattresses. So, how do you know which online mattress is a good fit for you? We’ve put each of these mattresses to the test at our in-house mattress lab to find out what makes them stand out.
In this mattress comparison, we’ll see how they performed, explore their construction and feel, and explain their similarities and differences, so you can choose the best new mattress for you.
Temperature neutral AirFoam mattress known for offering great pressure relief
Medium firm: 5 - 6 /10
All-foam mattress
120 days
Lifetime warranty
Affordable quality mattress with excellent trial period
Medium-firm: 5.5-6/10
Gel memory foam
365 days
Lifetime warranty as long as you own the mattress
Both Nectar and Nolah come in the same mattresses sizes, although there are slight variations in the dimensions. Most importantly, the Nectar is one inch thicker. This added thickness combined with Nectar’s high-density foams make it more durable, so it better supports bigger bodies.
Nolah | Nectar | |
Thickness | 10” | 11” |
Twin | 38” x 75” | 39” x 75” |
Twin XL | 38” x 80” | 39” x 80” |
Full | 54” x 75” | 54” x 75” |
Queen | 60” x 80” | 60” x 80” |
King | 76” x 80” | 76” x 80” |
California King | 72” x 84” | 72” x 84” |
Learn more about mattress sizes.
Both of these beds are competitively priced, but the Nectar is less expensive than the Nolah in every size, making it better for budget shoppers.
Nolah | Nectar | |
Twin | $649 | $499 |
Twin XL | $799 | $569 |
Full | $899 | $699 |
Queen | $1,049 | $799 |
King | $1,149 | $999 |
California King | $1,149 | $999 |
The Nolah Original mattress and flagship Nectar bed are both all-foam mattresses with a medium-firm feel. With only one inch separating their thickness, these two beds are quite similar at first glance. However, they’re made from vastly different foams that create different sleeping experiences.
The Nectar is a classic memory foam mattress. When you lie on its surface, you’ll feel like you’re being hugged by a soft marshmallow. Being hugged by a mattress means excellent contouring and pressure relief, and memory foam does a great job at minimizing motion transfer.
The Nolah doesn’t have any memory foam layers. Instead, they utilize proprietary polyfoams to create a mattress with a more balanced feel. The surface stills deliver comfortable cushioning, but you won’t sink in as far as you do on the Nectar. This foam adjusts more quickly to the body when you reposition, which is a good thing for combination sleepers who move around a lot.
The Nolah is a three-layer all-foam mattress that measures 10” thick. It has a medium-firm firmness and a balanced foam feel that’s at once soft and supportive. Here’s what you’ll find inside.
The Nectar mattress is a four-layer memory foam mattress that’s 11 inches thick. Thanks to high-quality foams, the Nectar mattress is durable yet pressure-relieving. Let’s take a peek inside.
We rate mattresses on a 14-point evaluation to help shoppers find a bed with the specific features that matter most to them. See how the Nolah and Nectar performed in our side-by-side comparison.
Find out more about our review and scoring process here.
Nolah | Nectar | |
Shipping | 10 | 9 |
Trial Period | 10 | 10 |
Return Policy | 10 | 10 |
Warranty | 10 | 10 |
Set-Up Test | 9 | 8 |
Motion Transfer Test | 9 | 8.5 |
Edge Support Test | 8.5 | 9 |
Pressure Relief Test | 7.25 | 8.5 |
Spinal Alignment Test | 9.5 | 7.5 |
Responsiveness Test | 9.25 | 8.5 |
Cooling Evaluation | 8 | 7.75 |
Durability Evaluation | 7 | 8.5 |
Customer Service Score | 9 | 8.5 |
Social Impact Score | 6 | 5 |
TOTAL SCORE | 8.9/10 | 8.7/10 |
A properly supported spine at night means fewer aches and pains come morning. We’ve tested both the Nolah and Nectar mattresses at the Mattress Advisor lab to see how well they support healthy spine alignment.
The Nolah earned a nearly perfect 9.5/10 while the Nectar earned an okay 7.5/10. The superior spinal alignment offered by the Nolah leads us to recommend it over the Nectar for people with neck or back pain.
While pressure-relieving properties are beneficial no matter your sleeping position, side sleepers, in particular, need a mattress that cushions their pressure points. When a mattress delivers contouring along the entire surface, it minimizes built-up pressure at areas like the shoulders and hips.
When we had our sleep testers lie on these mattresses on top of a pressure mapping film, the Nectar mattress did a better job than the Nolah at evenly distributing pressure. If you spend most of your night side sleeping and have experienced shoulder or hip discomfort, the Nectar may be a better mattress for you.
A common complaint that we hear about all-foam beds is that excess sinkage can leave people feeling trapped. When the surface doesn’t quickly adjust to your movements, it’s hard to move around and get comfy. Responsiveness is a term that describes how well a mattress responds to movement. Combination sleepers and people who toss and turn usually sleep more soundly on a responsive bed.
Fortunately, both the Nolah and Nectar mattresses earned high scores in our responsiveness test. However, the Nolah was noticeably easier to move around on than the Nectar. This is due to the adaptive air pockets found in Nolah AirFoam, compared to the traditional memory foam feel of the Nectar that deeply hugs the body. If you change positions a lot, Nolah could be the best mattress for you.
The Nectar and Nolah are both all-foam mattresses with a medium-firm feel. Only the Nectar contains conforming memory foam layers for great pressure relief and a dough-like feel. The Nolah has a more balanced foam feel that’s a bit easier to move around on and better supports the spine.
Both of these mattresses are wonderful for couples thanks to impressive motion isolation properties and solid edges. They each come with a lifetime warranty and a risk-free sleep trial. Just remember that Nectar’s year-long trial period is more generous than Nolah’s 120-night trial.
If you still need to narrow down your options and eliminate some options, check out our mattress comparison tool.
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