Best pillow for side sleepers – tried and tested for good spine alignment

If sourcing the best pillow for side sleepers is on your agenda, then you're in the right place.

Your regular sleep position – that's whether you're most likely to sleep on your side, front, or back – is one of the most important factors to take into consideration when shopping for a good night's sleep, whether you're searching for the best pillows or the best mattress for a comfortable night's kip.

The best pillow for a side sleeper is one that will keep the head, neck, and spine in perfect alignment, without raising the head too high or allowing it to drop too low – both of which can put undue pressure on the neck whilst we rest.

The good news is that, as Ideal Home's Sleep Editor, in the past four years I've tried and tested multiple pillows from multiple brands – including Simba, Panda, Woolroom, Tempur, and many more – to track down the best pillow for side sleepers with neck pain, the best memory foam pillow for side sleepers, plus plenty more options to make finding your ideal pillow – and therefore getting a better night's sleep – quicker and easier.

The quick list

Short on time? This quick list is an overview of the very best pillows for side sleepers. You'll find more information on each pillow and why our testers and I recommend it if you keep on scrolling.

The best pillow for side sleepers

Best pillow for side sleepers overall

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Thanks to its adjustable fill (a genius concept) multiple testers found this Simba option to be the best pillow for side sleepers overall.

It's the pillow's versatility that meant it scored so highly, with it being one of the few pillows on the market that allows you to adjust the inner filling to make it just the right loft (height) for you. This is great for side sleepers as it means you can raise the height of the pillow to just the right loft for your spine to be in alignment. Just add or remove the foam 'nanocubes' to make the pillow the correct height for you. There's also a handy storage bag for storing any spare foam filling.

That adjustable fill also means this pillow can work just as well for back and front sleepers too, making it a great all-rounder, and especially useful for spare bedrooms where overnight guests can tailor the fill to exactly their liking.

The only testers this pillow didn't impress were those with a wider body frame who needed a pillow with more height. The wider our shoulders are, the higher the pillow needed to keep our head in alignment with the neck whilst laid on our side. This pillow is also very soft, so it won't be for anyone who prefers a firmer sleep surface – consider the Panda Hybrid Bamboo pillow or Panda Memory Foam pillow if this is you – or those who prefer to opt for more breathable natural materials over synthetics.

This pillow is an investment, but you can keep an eye on our Simba deals page to make the most of one of the brand's frequent sales when you shop.

Best pillow for side sleepers with neck pain

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We've tested multiple options, and we think this high-density memory foam pillow is the best pillow for side sleepers with neck pain.

Its firm structure means your neck is kept static during the night to decrease twinges and aches, and although its firmer feel takes a little getting used to at first, it quickly became our reviewer's go-to sleep aid.

Plus, our testers with no existing neck problems were just as impressed by its ergonomic shape that cradles the neck to offer optimum support during the night.

It's also a great buy if you tend to switch positions during the night, with slightly higher headrests on either side of the pillow to cater for comfortable side sleeping and a shaped centre to support the cervical spine whilst sleeping on your back. Not just the best pillow for side sleepers with neck pain, but the best pillow we've found for neck pain in genera.

The only downside is that it may be a little too low for those with wider shoulders, and its ergonomic shape doesn't fill out a pillowcase that well, so it's not going to help you achieve a well-styled bed. But if you're looking for pain relief and a good night's sleep then that's probably a sacrifice well worth making.

Best memory foam pillow for side sleepers

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Memory foam pillows can divide opinion, with some loving the adaptive sleep surface and others less keen on the firmer feel. However, if you can find one that's just the right height to prop up your head in alignment with your spine, then they're a great option for a side sleepers, as the dense memory foam won't compress during the night unlike a lot of softer fillings

The Panda Hybrid Bamboo pillow converted even our most memory foam-averse reviewers, with this pillow scoring highly amongst all testers, especially our side sleepers.

Alongside a slightly more malleable memory foam core that is brilliant for creating good spinal alignment whilst you sleep, the Panda Hybrid Bamboo pillow is topped with a cool and silky bamboo rayon top layer that gives the pillow a really luxurious feel compared to your usual rather 'boxy' memory foam pillow.

Panda has also incorporated several ways of increasing airflow into this pillow to combat the usual downside of solid memory foam, which is overheating. The memory foam has ventilation holes throughout it, there's a breathable mesh panel on the side of the pillow, and that upper layer of bamboo rayon helps to cool down your sleep – it certainly impressed our hot sleepers who found it far more breathable than expected.

In fact, several of our side sleeping reviewers now say they won't sleep without this pillow.

Best firm pillow for side sleepers

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Another entry from Panda, the brand's original memory foam pillow is a design that's amassed a host of positive reviews online. And little wonder, because in testing we found this to be one of the best firm pillows for side sleepers, as well as being a relatively affordably buy.

The Panda Memory Foam pillow is higher than the Panda Hybrid Bamboo pillow and a good degree firmer, but in our tests, it proved very popular with our side sleeping testers with wider shoulders who appreciated the extra loft.

Minus the quilted bamboo rayon upper layer that the Panda Hybrid Bamboo offers, the Panda Memory Foam pillow doesn't feel as luxurious, but it still offers good quality compared to most similar firm memory foam pillows we've tested. Its textured cover, which can be unzipped and washed at 40°c is a nice touch. As is the embroidered Panda logo – although unfortunately, we did find this showed through pale coloured pillowcases, so we needed to flip the pillow to the reverse to hide it.

And the real plus point? Compared to the Panda Hybrid Bamboo, the Panda Memory Foam pillow is nearly half the price, and reasonable in relation to most memory foam pillows you price check it against.

This makes it not only the best firm pillow for side sleepers but a good value side sleeping option all round.

Best pillow for side and back sleepers

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If you like the more solid feel of memory foam under your head for side sleeping, but also crave a softer sleep surface if you roll onto your back during the night, then Tempur's Comfort Cloud Pillow could be for you.

Tempur is the brand widely accredited with creating the very first memory foam as-we-know-it after it adapted 'viscoelastic' – a material invented by NASA for use as cushioning in its spacecraft – for use in mattresses. It remains the only sleep brand to hold NASA's Certified Space Technology® license.

Unlike the usual rectangular shape that most memory foam pillows adopt, the Tempur Comfort Cloud Pillow echoes the shape of a 'traditional' pillow, and it's this slightly softer and lower loft that means we think it's the best pillow for side and back sleepers; perfect if you're someone who switches up their sleep position during the night.

If how your bed looks is also important to you, then that classic pillow shape also means it fills out a pillowcase better than most memory foam pillows, so this option still looks great on the bed.

It may be an investment, but after sleeping on this pillow for a week several of our reviewers said they wouldn't return to another pillow, with one saying, 'this pillow has changed my mind about memory foam – I'm definitely a convert!'.

Best feather and down pillow for side sleepers

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A feather and down pillow is a classic for good reason, with this pillow filling by far the most luxurious to sink into at night. The only problem with that is that as a side sleeper you don't want to sink into your pillow too much, as then the head will end up dipping out of alignment with the spine.

If you're a side sleeper who doesn't want to give up on the 'hotel-worthy' sleep experience that a feather and down pillow provides, then this is the best feather and down option we've found for those who prefer to lay on their side at night.

Thanks to a denser white goose feather inner core surrounded by a squashier Hungarian goose down outer, this pillow has a higher loft than most, making it a great height for side sleeping, and its tightly woven sateen cotton case not only makes it dust-mite and down-proof (so no escaping feathers) but keeps it super plump so your head doesn't sink too low in the night.

This pillow also sleeps cool. In our tests we found feather and down pillows far more breathable to sleep on than synthetic fillings, only just pipped to the post by wool fill as the coolest bedding filling out there. Unlike boxier memory foam options, a feather and down pillow's classic shape also looks great in a pillowcase.

Plus, Scooms uses responsibly sourced feather and down in all its bedding, and offers this pillow in a choice of two firmness options – soft/medium and medium/firm – and in both a standard size and king size option for a larger bed.

The only downside of a feather and down pillow – beyond the fact that the fill won't be suitable for vegans – is the fact that you will need to do a bit of plumping to redistribute the feathers and keep it in shape.

How I tested

In order to thoroughly test the pillows in this round-up, I've slept on each one on my own bed. I'm a combination sleeper which means I regularly change my sleeping position during the night, sleeping on my front, back, and side. However, for this shortlist, I've focused on the pillows I found best for side sleeping.

Because not all side sleepers are built the same – ideally a side sleeper needs a pillow of a height to match the distance from their neck to the edge of their shoulder to support the head in alignment with the spine and we all have different body frames – I've also enlisted the help of the wider Ideal Home team to get second, third, and often far more opinions on each pillow.

To make this round-up, each pillow had to offer a good amount of support, enough height for side sleeping, and good temperature regulation. I've also researched third-party customer reviews, considered any sleep trials available, and considered value for money before creating this shortlist.

Amy Lockwood

I'm Amy, Ideal Home's Sleep Editor, and over the past four years I've slept on over 50 different pillows (and counting) to find the best-in-class. All in all, that's over 10,000 hours of at-home pillow testing! This round-up includes just those pillows that myself and the wider Ideal Home team deem the best for side sleeping.

How to choose

If you sleep on your side then usually you'll be best choosing a thicker pillow – or two thinner pillows – that will lift your head off the mattress enough that it keeps your spine and neck in good alignment.

However, this can be a challenge as everyone’s shoulders are different widths. Wider shoulders mean that you're likely to need more pillow height to keep your neck straight once you're laid on your side and narrower shoulders mean you'll need less loft, so sometimes it can take a little trial and error to get the correct pillow height for side sleeping.

A higher loft memory foam or boxwall pillow can be a good bet as they both provide height and prevent your head from sinking too low. Or, a pillow with adjustable fill – like the two on our shortlist – can help you to create just the right height pillow for your body frame.

However, you'll also want to take the pros and cons of different pillow materials into account when you shop.

If you find yourself regularly flipping your pillow over at night looking for the cooler side, it’s likely you need a more breathable pillow filling. Synthetic fibres are usually the biggest culprit when it comes to nighttime sweats, with the plastic polymers prone to reflecting heat back towards the sleeper and causing overheating.

Many pillow manufacturers aim to combat this lack of breathability by adding in ‘spaces’ between the synthetic fibres to enable airflow, but opting for natural materials for the pillow casing and fill is usually the best bet for staying cool at night. Look for cotton, wool, feather, or down which are all far more breathable and so make the best pillows for those prone to getting a hot head at night, delivering a far cooler sleep.

FAQs

What is the best pillow for side sleepers?

The best pillow for a side sleeper is one that allows the neck and spine to rest in perfect alignment.

As Kora Habinakova, sleep and bedding expert from bedding specialist Sleepseeker, clarifies, ‘The purpose of a pillow is to support your head and align your neck and spine while you lie down’. Misalignment between the neck and spine can create ‘discomfort, stiffness, and even pain in the neck, shoulders, and back. It can also exacerbate existing spinal conditions or lead to new ones over time.'

That means that finding the best pillow for a side sleeper requires finding a pillow that is the right height for your exact measurements, with those with wider shoulders requiring a higher pillow than those with a narrower frame.

You also need to factor in body weight, and how soft your mattress is. As Kora explains, ’Lighter individuals are less likely to sink into the mattress and tend to prefer medium-thick pillows that will help to promote optimal spinal alignment. Those with heavier weight considerations are more likely to experience sinkage and may find a thinner pillow helps keep the head level with the spine.’

What kind of pillow should side sleepers use?

As well as getting a comfortable pillow (or two) for under your head, side sleepers might also want to consider an extra pillow – for between the knees.

‘Placing a pillow between your knees whilst side sleeping can help to keep your spine in proper alignment' says Emily Attwood, co-founder of bedding brand Scooms.

Kora from Sleepseeeker agrees, 'When sleeping on your side, your spine can pull out of alignment and cause pain in your lower back and hips’. That's why adding a pillow between your legs can help to prevent the lower back from twisting.

Should side sleeper pillows be hard or soft?

Ultimately, whether you opt for a soft or firm pillow is down to your personal preference. However, most side sleepers are best opting for a pillow that's fairly well filled with a good loft. This is because a softer pillow filling makes the pillow more likely to become compressed during the night which can lead to the head dropping lower and a kink forming in the neck which can cause neck pain.