Saatva Memory Foam Pillow Review

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Saatva is known for its luxury mattresses and bedding. With head- and neck-contouring support and an overall high-quality feel, the Saatva Memory Foam Pillow doesn’t break from that upstanding reputation. But will it work for your body type and sleep style?

I had the chance to sleep on Saatva’s memory foam pillow overnight—read on for what I thought about it, where it excels and potentially falls short, and what types of sleepers it’s best for.

✔️Customer Rating: 4.8/5
✔️Mattress Advisor Score: 9/10
✔️Type:  Memory Foam Pillow
✔️Free Shipping & Returns
✔️1-Year Limited Warranty
✔️45-Night Sleep Trial

What’s Inside

The Saatva memory foam pillow has a quilted knit cover that can be removed and machine-washed. Inside, the pillow is made from a shredded foam core pocketed inside a graphite-infused memory foam layer.

Both layers are made from 100% CertiPUR-US certified memory foam that’s free from hazardous chemicals. The interior foam core can be easily removed by unzipping the graphite layer and pulling it out; however, the pillow is fairly flat when you do so.

Special Features

• Excellent contouring: Saatva’s pillow has a classic slow-moving memory foam feel and memory foam’s ability to shape to your head and neck and provide customized support.
• Great for side sleepers: That contouring makes the pillow excellent for side sleepers, as the pillow reshapes itself around your head and neck so they stay supported and well-aligned when you’re lying on your side. Many back sleepers will also find the pillow to be comfortable—particularly taller or larger back sleepers. Smaller back sleepers might find that the pillow stacks up to be too high.
  
• Medium-firm support: The pillow has a medium-firm feel that provides consistent support and holds its shape well. If you like the soft, puffy feel of a down or down alternative pillow, you might not like this one. But if you want to feel more structure and pushback from your pillow, you’ll love the support this one offers.
  
• Sleeps cool: A graphite infusion inside the memory foam keeps the pillow from retaining too much heat. Soft, breathable organic cotton on the pillow’s cover also makes the surface of the pillow feel cooler.

Product Info

Sizes and Prices

• Queen: $165
• King: $185

Warranty

The Saatva memory foam pillow comes with a 1-year limited warranty against defects, and a 45-night sleep trial, so you can make sure the pillow works for you before you commit to it forever.

Shipping and Returns

Saatva offers free shipping on all its orders and 45 days of free returns for this pillow. The brand just asks that you wash your bedding before you return it.

Sleep Experience

To fully assess a new pillow, I can’t just lie down on it—I have to bring it home for at least one full night’s sleep. This test process is always something of a gamble because sometimes the pillow doesn’t pan out and I end up feeling like I wasted a night of rest on it.

My first impression of the Saatva Memory Foam Pillow gave me some fear that that might be the case, and it might not work for me. In addition to being far bigger than my usual pillow, it also felt too firm and lofted. But that’s the magic of memory foam—once I actually settled in on the Saatva pillow, it melted down and reshaped into an ideal base of support.

Lying on my side, the pillow felt tall but perfectly compressive. I rested my head on it, and it contoured to the hollow of my neck so that I felt no pressure there. I suffer from an achy neck, and this pillow has that standard, slow-moving memory foam feel to it, which is excellent for pain relief.

Though at first my head felt like it was lifted too high by the pillow to be comfortable, by the time I fell asleep I felt like my spine was in perfect alignment, and it stayed that way throughout the night. I give the pillow five stars for comfortable side sleeping.

The next night I tried sleeping in different positions with the pillow (yes, I liked it enough to use it for multiple nights!). When resting on my back, it felt slightly too high for my preferences—and on my stomach, it felt much too high. I thought perhaps removing the latex core might solve my problems, but that left the pillow almost completely flat.

After discussing with a much taller colleague—who loved the pillow for both back sleeping and side sleeping alike—I concluded the pillow is best suited to side sleepers of all sizes, and back sleepers of average or larger size.

It’s also a great one for hot sleepers in general—and anyone who prefers to sleep on a high-lofted pillow. But if you love the puffy feel of down or down alternative, you should probably check out Saatva’s latex pillow, which is one of our favorite pillows overall. Here’s our review of it.

Customer Reviews

• “I was debating ordering because I didn’t want to spend so much on a pillow but I invested in a Saatva mattress a couple years ago and love it. I’m so glad I gave it a go. I suffer from positional vertigo and had trouble finding a firm memory foam pillow that will help support my head. This pillow is firm BUT soft for your head and neck. I no longer have a stiff neck. It’s a firm pillow with the perfect amount of a ‘spongy’ feel.” —Becca2023
• “I used down pillows for years, but gave this a try. I love this pillow. I no longer spend time punching the pillow like I did my down pillow. It’s a supportive pillow, but also soft. It conforms to you.” —Kats55
• “I like to sleep more on my side than anything and this is nice and firm without putting too much pressure back on your head and neck. It’s ridiculously expensive, but it should be at least a decade’s worth of pillow use, so in the long run, it’s not much considering having less pain/discomfort throughout everyday life.”—Lyle R.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Good Spine Alignment for Side Sleeping: Saatva’s pillow provides so much body-hugging support that it cushions your entire head and neck area and takes pressure off of your spine.
• High Loft: The pillow stacks up to be about five inches tall, which is part of what makes it so excellent for side sleeping (since side sleepers generally prefer a higher loft). Because it has a medium-firm feel to it and is made from memory foam, it doesn’t compress down far so much as it contours to your head.
• Excellent Support: Again, this is not one of those fluffy pillows that flattens under the weight of your head. You’ll get a ton of shape and support from this pillow.
• Good Cooling: Memory foam doesn’t tend to be the coolest material, but this pillow sleeps much cooler than most due to its breathable cotton cover and added cooling technologies in the foam.

Cons

• Not Great for Small Back Sleepers: I loved sleeping on my side with this pillow, but for back sleeping, it felt much too firm and high—and I wasn’t able to compress it enough for good spine alignment. A much taller colleague didn’t have this problem and felt that the pillow was perfect for sleeping on both his back and side. I wouldn’t recommend this pillow to a small-sized sleeper unless you exclusively sleep on your side.
• Not Suited to Stomach Sleepers: Just as I wouldn’t recommend this pillow to small back sleepers, I also wouldn’t recommend the pillow to stomach sleepers of any size. The pillow’s stack is too high for well-aligned stomach sleeping.
• Pricey: The pillow is built with high-quality, premium materials, so you’ll see that reflected in its price tag. Budget shoppers might want to try a different brand for their memory foam pillow needs.

Final Breakdown

The Saatva Memory Foam Pillow is ideal for side sleepers, as the pillow shapes and contours itself to fully support your head and neck, so your body stays in optimal alignment while you sleep.

If you’re used to a down or latex pillow, it might initially feel too packed or firm. However, once you’ve adjusted to its traditional, slow-moving memory foam feel, the pillow is not only supremely comfortable, but also palliative for those of us who suffer from neck pain. It’s also one of the only pillows I’ve been tempted to abscond with after testing.

If you think the pillow might work for you, give it a try—Saatva gives you a 45-night sleep trial, so you can sleep on it for more than a month before deciding if it works for you.