purple Vs. Tuft & Needle: Head-to head Comparison

TLDR;

Here, we’ll compare Purple and Tuft & Needle, highlighting each brand’s features and offerings.

Picking a great mattress is a lot harder than heading down to your local Sleepy’s and getting upsold by a salesperson in a suit more concerned with their own commission than your comfort. After all, your sleep quality is on the line here. You’re going to invest a lot of energy into deciding which mattress is the right one for you.

The latest crop of mattresses on the scene in the mattress industry are multi-layered and built with sophisticated composite materials that will blow you away into the land of Nod.

Read on for more about both brands and their respective collections, or skip to the summary section, if you’re in a hurry.

Tuft and Needle has a new mattress which they’re calling the Mint. The Mint incorporates a hybrid foam-and-bead system which no other mattresses in the industry can be compared to. The Mint uses graphite in its foam layers, providing a highly breathable yet firm feeling.

Purple also has a new mattress offering, the New Purple. The New Purple uses a foam grid matrix and layered foams of different firmness’s to provide a “sleeping on air” feeling.

Let’s see how they stack up.

Who Is It For?

The Tuft and Needle mattresses are excellent for people who like to sleep cool and enjoy that memory foam feeling without the downsides (like stiffness) when it gets old.

In contrast, the Purple mattresses are for people who need to stay isolated from movement occurring across the bed. Likewise, the Purple mattresses are better for people who have a bigger budget because they’re much more expensive.  

purple mattress
tuft and needle mattress

The Collections

Purple’s lineup includes the Original Purple and the New Purple. The New Purple is the stronger of the two regarding its features, but it’s also vastly more expensive, so use your best judgment in determining whether the price points are acceptable.

The Tuft and Needle lineup includes the Original and the Mint; between these two, the Mint is the better choice, but it’s still affordable. Of course, the Mint is a bit less customizable than the New Purple, which features three different firmness options — but it’s also roughly half as expensive, so the customizability has a steep cost.

Size

Original Purple

New Purple

Tuft and Needle Original

Tuft and Needle Mint

Twin XL

$649

$1299

$395

$695

Full

$799

$1499

$495

$795

Queen

$899

$1599

$595

$895

King

$1199

$1899

$750

$1050

Cal King

$1199

$1899

$750

$1050

 

Casper Mattress

  • Great Zoned Support
  • 100-night sleep trial
  • Construction of the Mattress

    The Purple mattresses have several layers of foam and a foam grid system which serves to isolate motion between different sectors of the grid. These foam layers also wick some heat from the sleeper, but the real power of the Purple mattress is the cloudlike sleep experience.

    Notably, the Purple mattress doesn’t retain any shape when you stop laying on it.

    The Tuft and Needle mattresses are foam-and gel hybrids, meaning that there is a layer of foam, a layer of gel, and a final large layer of coarse foam. The gel layer and graphite materials in the upper foam layer make the bed feel airy, almost like a piece of porous volcanic stone.

    Over all, the Tuft and Needle mattresses are much more similar in feeling to a traditional memory foam mattress than the Purple mattresses. This means that they conform to your body’s shape, which makes them perfect for side-sleepers.

    Nonetheless, the Tuft and Needle mattress doesn’t get stiff when it ages like traditional memory foam mattresses do, nor does it get stiff when the room is cold. So it’s a substantial upgrade over an older mattress.  

    Purple Mattress
    Purple Mattress Structure
    Tuft Mattress Structure
    Tuft Mattress Structure

    Trial Period & Guarantee

    Both manufacturers offer a 10-year warranty period, but the Tuft and Needle warranty is more limited in its terms than the Purple warranty. You shouldn’t have any issues, but it’s important to remember that there are more parts which might have issues in the Purple mattress than in the Tuft and Needle mattress.

    In other words, the minor differences between the warranty should not be a purchasing factor. Likewise, the trial periods of the two mattress manufacturers are practically identical. You can zonk on either sleep solution for 100 evening sessions.

    Firmness Level

    The Tuft and Needle mattress is a bit firmer than the Purple mattresses even though it has some of the adaptive shape-keeping thanks to its memory foam surfaces.

    You can have your pick of firmness with Purple mattresses. If you want firm, there’s a Purple mattress insert for that. The same goes for medium or soft. You’ll have to pay a pretty penny for the softest inserts on the Purple mattress, though.

    If you’re on a budget and you only want a medium-firmness mattress, you’ll save the big bucks by purchasing a Tuft and Needle mattress. But, if you need a mattress that’s a lot softer — or harder — than average, the Purple customizability will work in your favor if you can pay for it gracefully.

    Comfort

    The comfort of these mattresses depends immensely on your preferred sleeping temperature and whether you are a side sleeper or a back sleeper.

    If you’re a side sleeper who loves to sleep cool while still retaining the memory foam feeling, the Tuft and Needle mattress will give you a great snooze.

    If you’re the kind of masochist who is a side sleeper but who also loves a very firm mattress that doesn’t conform to your shape, you’ll only be satisfied by the firmest Purple mattress, however.

    For back sleepers who like memory foam feeling but a medium level of firmness, the Tuft and Needle mattress is the best choice.

    Generally, the Purple mattresses are a little bit warmer than the Tuft and Needle mattresses. They’re not warm by any means — but they don’t focus on heat removal as meticulously.

    Smell Effect

    The Purple mattresses tend to have a uniquely “purple” smell as a result of the composite materials included in the different foam layers. It can take a bit of getting used to, but the smell dissipates after a while. The Purple mattress isn’t particularly well endowed with regard to resisting future scent acquisition, so be sure to clean it from time to time.

    The Tuft and Needle mattress also has a distinct smell, but it’s a milder smell that is refreshing rather than industrial. Likewise, the charcoal and graphite included in the foam layers help to trap any new scents which might otherwise stick around and irritate you.

    Over all, the Tuft and Needle mattresses are better regarding smell and scent lifetime.

    Leesa Mattress

  • Balanced foam feel
  • 100-night sleep trial
  • Motion Isolation

    The Purple mattress is superior at containing movement to whichever part of the bed it is occurring in. Because of the grid-like shock absorbing foam pad underneath the first few layers of foam, the Purple mattress can perform in those stereotypical bowling-ball-dropped-on-the-bed tests where a glass of wine doesn’t get spilled after a heavy object slams into the mattress.

    The Tuft and Needle mattress isn’t about to prevent a bowling ball from knocking over a cup of wine on the mattress. But you’re not going to be leaving cups of wine balanced on the mattress anyway, hopefully. As far as foam and gel hybrid mattresses go, the Tuft and Needle bed is fairly effective at containing movement.

    The Ordering Process

    The Tuft and Needle mattresses are fairly fast to order as a result of a limited number of choices. You’ll still have to pick between the Original or the Mint, but other than that and the size, you’ll be ready to go.

    The Purple mattress, in contrast, requires a bit more premeditation. First, the prices of every option vary substantially. If you purchase an Original, you won’t need to worry about this, but if you purchase a New Purple, each firmness insert costs a lot more as you decrease in firmness.

    There’s an extra few steps and a few extra points of deliberation when you purchase a Purple mattress. Of course, if price is no object, Purple’s ordering process is still a little bit more complicated, but you’ll figure it out.

    purple mattress
    tuft and needle mattress

    Delivery and Packaging

    Tuft and Needle’s shipping policy leaves the mattress at your door within five business days. In contrast, your Purple mattress will arrive within one or two weeks — if you order an Original Purple, it’ll arrive within a week. So, you might have to wait a little bit longer with Purple.

    Conclusion

    So what’s my final decision?

    If you’re in the process of choosing a mattress, and more specifically, choosing between Purple and Tuft & Needle, our comparison article of these two brands is here to help. And this quick round up of the benefits and features of each will help you make your ultimate decision.

    Purple’s two mattress options, the Original Purple and the New Purple, are both constructed with Smart Comfort Grid, an open cell foam inner that is a signature feature of the Purple brand. The Original Purple is the more standard foam-only version, and it comes in one firmness level, while the New Purple combines coil and foam construction for a firmer option. 

    In contrast, Tuft & Needle mattresses are a foam and gel hybrid. The Original model is the more standard affordable mattress, and the Mint is the higher end version, incorporating graphite in the foam for a highly breathable effect. Compared to Purple, Tuft & Needle mattresses are closer to the traditional memory foam style that conforms to the body, making it a good option for side sleepers. 

    While Purple mattresses cover the low to mid firmness range, Tuft & Needle are a standard medium firm, and cooler compared to some of Purple’s mattress options. And while Purple offers a broader spectrum of choice, you can rely on Tuft & Needle as a cost-efficient quality option, albeit with less selection to choose from.

    Casper Mattress

  • Great Zoned Support
  • 100-night sleep trial
  • Lee Levy

    Lee Levy

    Lee is an experienced reviewer and passionate about trying new products. She is a side sleeper and always looking to ways to avoid back pains in her sleep. Lee is a mom for two little princesses and a devoted wife, living in Brooklyn, NYC.