Side sleepers may lean toward softer mattresses, just to give their pressure points a break. The trade-off is that softer beds aren’t always able to maintain spinal alignment. Medium-firm is a wise choice for maintaining both pressure relief and lumbar support, but some sleepers may just want a straight-up firm bed. Several teammates have tested the Bear Elite Hybrid, but for WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell, the Bear in Firm was a noteworthy experience.

Nena is a side sleeper who suffers from spondylosis and scoliosis—firm mattresses are nonnegotiable for her, as they ensure that she gets enough spine support to sleep well. In her words, the Bear Elite Hybrid was “insanely firm” for the first few nights. However, it didn’t prove abrasive to her hips and shoulders, and she woke up without any aches or pains during testing. The top quilted pillowtop was essential for this, as it’s meant to cradle these sensitive areas without allowing unnecessary sinkage around your midsection. There is also copper-infused foam for cooling, and zoned coils for dedicated, firmer lumbar support. —Julia Forbes

Bear Elite Hybrid ranges from $2,172 for a twin mattress to $3,141 for a California king.

Most mattresses aiming to solve sleeping problems target one issue—back problems, say, or preventing motion transfer to stop disturbances from a partner. The Leesa Sapira Chill Hybrid is special for solving two big problems by offering excellent spinal alignment for side sleepers and using cooling fibers that will maintain a surface temperature of 88 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Sapira Chill has an attractive European-style quilted top with nice deep divots from the stitching, which also seems to help hot air escape. The cooling cover is made from polyethylene and polyester with a dash of Lycra, and while it’s not icy to the touch, it did keep me comfortable during two weeks of testing. What I really liked, though, was the way two layers of springs separated by one of three layers of foam added up to a medium-firm feel, with my hips sinking deep but not too deep. It was the best at cooling among the side-sleeper mattresses I’ve tested. —Martin Cizmar

Leesa Sapira Chill ranges from $1,499 for a twin mattress to $2,589 for a California king.

Before I started testing mattresses professionally, I spent a decade sleeping on a heavy old latex mattress that slowly grew to have a me-shaped divot in it. The Naturepedic EOS reminds me a lot of that mattress—partly because it has a 3-inch layer of natural latex, and partly because it’s aged very well over nearly a year of long-term use anytime I’m not actively testing something else.

The EOS is an organic hybrid that puts the latex layer on top of 8-inch encased coils and below a cover made from organic cotton with wool batting. This bed is extremely comfortable for me as a side sleeper, with the springs helping dissipate body heat in a way an all-latex mattress does not, and the only real downside is that because the parts of this bed need to be zipped together, its edges can get a little wonky unless you’re very careful about how you arrange the parts. —Martin Cizmar

Naturepedic EOC Classic ranges from $2,399 for a twin mattress to $4,699 for a California king.

The Contour5 is Saatva’s successor to the discontinued Loom & Leaf, which you will no longer find on the menu of the company’s site, but it’s still for sale here. Like all Saatva mattresses, it comes delivered on a moving truck instead of roll-packed—you can sleep on it right away instead of letting it puff back up.

The Contour5 is quite similar to its predecessor and the Saatva Classic I’ve tested. There are now two firmness options instead of one, and it stands a half-inch taller than its predecessor. It also has updated cooling tech that utilizes airflow channels in the gel foam layer, and that gel foam is a half-inch thinner than the old version, which means less mass to retain heat. In my two weeks of testing, I found it was very good at remaining cool through summer nights when my power company kept hijacking my Ecobee, which is impressive given that it uses extra-dense 5-pound-weight memory foam (that’s the 5 in the name).

The Contour5 performs very much like the other two Saatva mattresses I’ve tested. It’s soft enough for side sleeping without feeling like a saggy hammock. It has excellent build quality and a very sturdy, solid feel. That’s especially impressive on the Contour5 given that it’s an all-foam mattress without a layer or two of springs. I prefer a hybrid with microcoils, but Saatva is popular for a reason, and as all-foam mattresses go, it has a true luxury feel. —Martin Cizmar

Saatva Contour5 ranges from $1,899 for a twin mattress to $3,599 for a California king.

Casper was one of the first big mattress-in-a-box sellers to make inroads in the US, and the brand’s marketing may well have been your introduction to the concept. Casper relaunched its entire line last year, including this modestly priced entry-level all-foam model. To be honest, my expectations weren’t high—all-foam mattresses don’t have springy coils to soften specific zones, so they tend to be either overly stiff or overly soft, which is why we usually recommend hybrids (see below). But after a week of sleeping on the One, I was very impressed at how well it cradled my hips and brought my spine into alignment without the help of springs.

The One is the successor to the Casper and the Original from the line, and it has a medium-firm feel with three levels of foam, which increase in density as you move down. It’s 11 inches tall, and the queen weighs just 66 pounds, meaning you can lug it around with relative ease. It does sleep a little hotter than the hybrids on this list, which is another issue with all-foam mattresses. I started out skeptical, but I ended up swapping this mattress for the expensive organic latex one in my 10-year-old daughter’s room at her request. —Martin Cizmar

Casper The One ranges from $749 for a twin mattress to $1,698 for a split king.

The standard model from Birch has long been our pick for side sleepers who want an organic mattress, but Birch’s new higher-end Luxe Natural model impressed over my month of testing, thanks to its medium-firm feel and structured support. The Luxe Natural is GOTS-certified organic and uses natural latex with no polyurethane-based foams.

Like the standard Birch, the Luxe has multiple layers of wool plus a layer of individually wrapped coils for support and cushioning. It adds a pillowy Euro top for firmer edges. For side sleepers, the coils offer full lumbar support and are arranged to effectively cradle you after a break-in period of two weeks. —Martin Cizmar

Birch Luxe Natural ranges from $1,624 for a twin mattress to $3,124 for a California king.

Let’s say you are very tall and, with that, pack some extra punch, because you have more body mass. I get it—I come from a family of very tall individuals. Regular mattresses don’t cut it, feeling either too soft, unsupportive, or a bit of both. This is where firmer beds are actually the move for heavier sleepers. With more weight pressing into the bed, it actually feels softer to the sleeper in question.

The WinkBed mattress has always been a standout option to me as a professional mattress tester. It’s not only because they have a Plus setting especially for heavier sleepers, but their luxury firm and firm offerings are quite supportive too. WIRED Reviewer Julian Chokkattu is 6’4″ and did some long-term testing (two years, to be exact) of the luxury firm version of The WinkBed. He found that the pillow top hit the mark for pressure relief, but firm support was more than forthcoming. —Julia Forbes

The WinkBed ranges from $1,427 for a twin mattress to $2,856 for a California king.

I recently tested the Wolf Memory Foam Hybrid Premium Firm Mattress and have been singing its praises ever since. With its two mattress materials at work that are both side-sleeper friendly, you glean all the benefits of a memory foam mattress and an innerspring one. The Wolf had a firmer feel, but it did not feel abrasive against my hips and shoulders. Rather, my body was kept evenly aligned so that my spine wasn’t hurting, and my joints felt painless.

Nine layers go into this bed, with a lot of cooling and comfort foams stacked on pocketed coils. The cooling cover was something else, maintaining a cool feel that I could detect through my sheets. These components did a fabulous job of not only supporting me but also helping me wake up refreshed each morning. —Julia Forbes

The Wolf Memory Foam Hybrid Premium Firm Mattress ranges from $1,049 for a twin mattress to $1,399 for a king.

Side sleepers’ hips and shoulders are already under pressure by the very nature of how this sleeping position operates. It’s why pressure-relieving materials are so important, but especially in cases where one is also dealing with aches and pains in addition to trying to sleep comfortably. WIRED reviewer Nena Farrell was the person for this testing job, as she regularly deals with joint and back pain as a side sleeper.

The Rx was designed for sleepers who grapple with advanced joint pain issues. It comes in one firmness level—Supportive Plush—which Nena found comfortable while side sleeping. She didn’t notice any tension around her hips and shoulders, just a generally comfortable, cushioned feel. However, the firmness level isn’t the most conducive for supporting severe back pain. Despite features like a firmer lumbar support layer and microcoils, it was still a tad too soft for her as someone who prefers a firmer feel. But in terms of supporting her joints and muscles while sleeping on her side, she thought it did swimmingly. —Julia Forbes

Saatva Rx ranges from $1,999 for a twin mattress to $4,498 for a split king.