Memory foam has come a long way since it was developed by NASA in the 1960s. Once used to make airplane seats better at shock absorption, memory foam is now ubiquitous in the bedding industry, often used in bed pillows and mattresses.
Memory-foam pillows, typically more moldable and resilient than their down counterparts, offer firmness and support, especially for side sleepers. We he been testing these pillows, which generally come in shredded or one-piece solid slab varieties, since 2016.
Although no pillow will suit every sleeper, our testers appreciated the one-piece Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt ProHi Pillow, which is a luxe option with dense foam, and the more affordable Weekender Gel Memory Foam Pillow. They also loved the comfort and adjustability of the shredded memory-foam Coop Original Adjustable Pillow and the Brooklyn Bedding Premium Shredded Foam Pillow, a slightly firmer shredded option.
Everything we recommendTop pick
Best single-piece memory-foam pillowTempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt ProHi PillowThis crowd-pleasing pillow is made with luxurious memory foam that is responsive and contours to your head. It’s one of the few options you can try in a store, but you can’t return it.
$175 from Wayfair$175 from Tempur-PedicTop pick
Best adjustable memory-foam pillowCoop Original Adjustable PillowFilled with pieces of cross-cut memory foam, this pillow has the loftiest customizable filling we tested, and testers adored its fluffy feel. It offers great value, too.
$89 from Amazon$85 from Walmart$85 from TargetRunner-up
Firmer adjustable shredded memory foam, but pricierBrooklyn Bedding Premium Shredded Foam PillowThis pillow is more expensive than our top adjustable pick but has a slightly firmer feel, which side sleepers loved.
$99 from Brooklyn BeddingBudget pick
An inexpensive single-piece foam pillow, with ample supportWeekender Gel Memory Foam Pillow The most affordable memory-foam pillow we tried is also one of our forite one-piece foam pillows.
$37 from AmazonTop pickBest single-piece memory-foam pillowTempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt ProHi PillowThis crowd-pleasing pillow is made with luxurious memory foam that is responsive and contours to your head. It’s one of the few options you can try in a store, but you can’t return it.
$175 from Wayfair$175 from Tempur-PedicThe Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Adapt ProHi Pillow is made with some of the best foam we’ve tried — it feels dense yet breathable, and it contours to your head without sacrificing support.
The one-piece version of this pillow comes in two heights: ProLo and ProHi. We tested and recommend the ProHi version, which most of our side- and back-sleeping testers found very supportive, though one tester thought it was too lofty. The outer cover is high quality, well stitched, and taut, and the polyester-blend material is cool to the touch.
It’s one of the few pillows we tested that you can try in stores before you buy. However, this pillow cannot be returned, and it has no trial period.
Top pickBest adjustable memory-foam pillowCoop Original Adjustable PillowFilled with pieces of cross-cut memory foam, this pillow has the loftiest customizable filling we tested, and testers adored its fluffy feel. It offers great value, too.
$89 from Amazon$85 from Walmart$85 from TargetThe Coop Original Adjustable Pillow is our forite adjustable memory-foam pillow. Like many pillows filled with cut or shredded foam, it’s adjustable; you can unzip the cover and scoop out the foam or opt to add more, as each pillow comes with a resealable plastic bag of additional shredded memory foam. Testers found that the Coop Original holds its shape better than other shredded pillows we tested. No hard, flat pancakes here.
The pillow’s soft cover — made with a blend of polyester and bamboo-derived viscose — is machine-washable, as is the interior pouch of shredded foam. The Coop Original offers free returns during the 100-night trial, the longest trial period of any of our picks.
Runner-upFirmer adjustable shredded memory foam, but pricierBrooklyn Bedding Premium Shredded Foam PillowThis pillow is more expensive than our top adjustable pick but has a slightly firmer feel, which side sleepers loved.
$99 from Brooklyn BeddingTesters rated the Brooklyn Bedding Premium Shredded Foam Pillow as the most comfortable shredded memory-foam option they slept on and appreciated its adjustability and firm feel. The pillow arrives stuffed full of foam but comes with a small fabric bag to store extra shredded foam, should you want to remove some. It has a quilted cover made of cool-to-the-touch fabric that is machine-washable, but the inside foam is not. It’s also more expensive, costing about $15 to $45 more than our top pick, the Coop Original Adjustable Pillow.
Brooklyn Bedding offers free returns during a 30-night trial period for pillows.
Budget pickAn inexpensive single-piece foam pillow, with ample supportWeekender Gel Memory Foam Pillow The most affordable memory-foam pillow we tried is also one of our forite one-piece foam pillows.
$37 from AmazonThe Weekender Gel Memory Foam Pillow is the lightest of our picks, yet our side and back sleepers found it more supportive than several pricier pillows they tried. It’s also one of the least expensive — and one of the most highly rated — memory-foam pillows we found on Amazon.
Its thin polyester cover feels less luxe than those of our other picks, and the foam feels bouncier and less dense than our top pick from Tempur-Pedic. However, testers still found it firm and supportive.
The Weekender pillow comes with Amazon’s 30-day return policy.