Finding best mattress cooling pads in 2023 could radically improve your sleep, especially if your mattress is trapping heat and leaving you sweaty in the early hours.
Memory foam is a major part of many of the best mattresses, but if you're unlucky, you may have found that yours acts as a heat magnet and becomes unpleasantly warm as the night wear on. This shouldn't happen with the best memory foam mattresses on sale now, but older and cheaper models are likely to need some cooling assistance.
There are plenty mattress cooling pads to choose from that span a range of budgets and use different materials to cool your mattress down. Some mattress cooling pads use water distributed through a series of internal tubes to keep your bed cool (or warm if you prefer), but while they're effective they're also the most expensive option. For a cheaper alternatives, we'd suggest a gel-filled pad which absorbs body heat an won't cost you much at all.
If you're not sold on a mattress cooling pad, another option to consider is to choose a topper that regulates your body heat rather than being focused on cooling. While they won't actively cool you, having one of the best mattress toppers between you and your mattress can definitely keep temperatures down at night, and many options are made with materials designed to reduce heat retention. That said, if you're specifically after one of the best mattress cooling pads, read on to find the top options to buy now in 2023.
Best mattress cooling pad 2023 ranking
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The best cooling pad
+ Can refrigerate before use
+ Low price
+ Can be used in a pillow or as a seat pad
- Relatively small
- Only three hours of cooling
The JML Chillmax pillow is the best cheap and cheerful cooling pad. The design is simple: it's a pouch filled with gel that absorbs excess heat from the body. Its compact dimensions add versatility – JML suggests it can also be used as a seat cushion or even under a laptop – as well as being a great option to slot into your pillowcase or under your sheet to keep you cool as you slumber.
This is an entirely analogue affair, so there's no charging to speak of, you don't even need to refill it, and it's wipe-clean if it does get sweaty. You can whack it in the fridge before use to amp up the cooling properties. JML says it'll work for up to three hours, so this isn't necessarily an all-night solution, but it should do its job long enough to help you drop off comfortably.
The best advanced mattress cooling pad
+ Precise, dual-zone temperature control
+ Cool or heat from 55°-110°F
+ Automatically adjusts temperature in the night
- Expensive option
- Requires water reservoir next to bed
The Eight Sleep Pod Pro Cover is the best mattress cooling pad around, and is for those who are serious about keeping their chill at night. The cover slots over your mattress but this one contains a network of water-filled plumbing that can be cooled or heated to your exact preferences. Don't agree with your partner on the ideal bed temperature? It's dual-zone, so you don't need to. As well as being able to adjust your own side of the bed to any temperature from 55°F to 110°F (13-43°C), the cover will also automatically adjust its temperature throughout the night, based on your sleep zones.
That's not all though! The Pod Pro Cover also has an integrated sleep tracker that'll give you data about the quality of snoozing you're doing, and there's 'GentleRise' function that can wake you up silently by gently vibrating and cooling/heating your side of the bed. Any downsides? Well, as you might suspect, all that tech doesn't come cheap (but there are sometimes Eight Sleep deals to take the price down) and you'll need to make room for a water reservoir next to your bed.
Read our full Eight Pod Pro Cover review.
The best memory foam cooling topper
+ Doesn't trap heat
+ Comfortable and supportive
+ Isolates movement well
- Will be too firm for some
The Eve mattress topper isn't specifically sold as a cooling pad, but it's a mattress topper with temperature regulation built in. Eve claims this is 30 times more breathable than 'the old kind of foam', which is suspiciously vague, but in our Eve mattress topper review, our tester was suitably reassured that it didn't trap body heat overnight.
The Eve topper is made from two layers of foam – a 2cm open cell comfort layer, and a 3cm supportive base foam layer – which together deliver a comfortable yet supportive sleep surface that isolates movement from wriggly sleepers well. Check out our Eve vs Panda mattress topper face-off to see how it compares to a softer, cheaper memory foam mattress topper.
The best cooling topper that doesn't use foam
+ Foam-free (recycled polyester stuffing)
+ Machine washable
+ Breathable cotton cover
- Stops overheating rather than actively cooling
Those who want a cooling topper that's not made from foam – it's not for everyone, after all – should pick up this Comfortably Cool Mattress Copper from Marks & Spencer. Instead of foam or gel, this one's stuffed with recycled polyester. The cover is cotton – which is known for being breathable – and M&S has doubled down on the temperature regulation front by adding its own climate control technologies that draws moisture away from the body to keep you cool (despite that, we'd still probably put this in the 'stops you from overheating rather than actively cooling you down' camp).
It's received some consistently great reviews and has the added bonus of being machine washable to help keep things fresh (assuming you can get it into your washing machine), as well as providing an extra-comfortable top layer for your bed.
Another system that'll actively cool your bed
+ Dual-zone cooling and heating
+ Set from 115ºF (46ºC) down to 55ºF (13ºC)
+ Machine washable cover
- Not that comfy to sleep on
Previously known as the Dock Pro Sleep System, the OOLER Sleep System with Chilipad Cool Mesh from sleepme and chilisleep is a similar idea to the Eight Sleep cover (in at #2). It comprises a control unit and a mattress cover, through which warm or cool water is piped to your exact temperature preferences, and again, you can pick a different temperature for each side of the bed.
The cooling pad is controlled via a companion app, which allows you to set times for the Dock Pro to turn on and off, and at what temperature, as well as the ability to specify temperature adjustments through the night. We tried out a sample for our sleepme Dock Pro review, and our tester was suitably impressed with this system's cooling and heating features, although found the pad itself a little uncomfortable to lie on. Its sleep tracking and sleep zone features are also not as advanced.
A breathable fibre topper with a cool-touch cover
+ Breathable fibre filling
+ Cooling cover
+ Affordable
- Polyester cover – some may prefer cotton
Another cooling mattress pad with a fibre filling rather than gel and foam, this 4.5cm topper from Slumberdown is designed to reduce heat build-up in the night and also gives your mattress an extra level of firm support and pressure relief. Its breathable fires are designed to allow air to flow freely and keep things cool and dry, it has elasticated straps enabling you fit it easily on top of mattresses up to 35cm deep, and its soft knit Coolmax cover is cool to the touch and should help wick away moisture.
