All posts by : Jason Guanso

Brooklyn Bedding vs Casper: Who makes the better bed?

Both companies are major bed in a box mattress companies who are trying to offer their customers quality products at an affordable price. They both do this by “cutting out the middleman” and selling most of their mattresses through their online store, though both brands do have a few brick and mortar locations.

When it comes to deciding on your new mattress, the most important factors are comfort and support. But you also have to be able to afford the purchase and also it’s nice to buy from a mattress company that offers generous sleep trials and warranties.

To help you decide between a Brooklyn Bedding mattress or a Casper mattress, we’re going to cover each of their models, breaking them up into their least expensive options, middle of the line options, and most expensive options. Then we will cover other key information, such as sleep trials, sleeping positions, and firmness levels.

But first, here’s a quick review of the two brands.

FYI: Unless noted otherwise, all prices in this article are regular (non-promotional) queen prices.

Brooklyn Bedding vs Casper: A Quick Overview

Casper makes three mattresses, ranging in price from $1095 to $2595. 

Here’s the complete pricing breakdown on Casper beds.

Casper Pricing

The most affordable option, the Original Casper, is 10 inches thick and made up of three different layers of foam. (Though you can also pay a little more money and get an innerspring coil base instead of a high density foam base, to give the mattress more bounce.)

The Original Casper is firm to medium-firm and is our choice if you want an affordable mattress for a guest bedroom, or you’re a stomach or back sleeper who likes a firmer feel. It’s likely to be too firm for most side sleepers. 

If you’re a side sleeper and want a Casper, stick to either the Casper Nova ($1995) or the Casper Wave ($2595)

Brooklyn Bedding makes six mattresses, ranging in price from $699 to $2,399. Five of their models come in three different firmnesses: soft, medium, firm. This means you can get a good bed for side sleeping starting at $999, whereas with Casper you’d need to spend double that.

Brooklyn Bedding Pricing

Both Brooklyn Bedding and Casper use eco-friendly materials and Certi-PUR® US certified foam. 

Both have generous no-risk sleep trials and long mattress warranties (which go over below). 

So the real deciding factor when choosing a side in the Brooklyn Bedding vs Casper debate is which bed will be the most comfortable for you?

To answer that, let’s take a closer look. 

First, the introductory models.

1. Brooklyn Bowery vs. Casper Original

If you want to spend less than $1200 on a new mattress then you’re going to be looking at the Brooklyn Bowery and Original Casper.

The Brooklyn Bowery

The Bowery Hybrid is only available as a medium firmness. It’s supposed to be “not too soft” and “not too firm,” to accommodate the majority of sleepers.  But it still falls on the relatively firm side and isn’t our favorite choice for side sleepers. 

The Bowery has 1 inch of quilted gel memory foam as the top layer. Gel is used to keep heat from getting trapped in memory foam, helping it stay cool.

Next, there are three inches of poly-foam. Poly-foam is firmer than memory foam as it doesn’t contour to your weight and shape. So it bounces back quickly, and is usually used  to support softer, comfort layers (such as the 1 inch of gel memory foam). 

Still, a 1 inch comfort layer is pretty thin. Most body types will sink through that thin 1 inch layer and feel the firmer, poly foam layers beneath it.

Its small amount of memory foam – coupled with its lack of any special features, such as wool or organic cotton covers or infrared fibers – is why the Bowery is so inexpensive. 

Who is the Brooklyn Bowery Great For?

The Brooklyn Bowery is great for stomach and side sleepers who want an inexpensive mattress. Or, it’s also a good option for a child to last them their teenage years. Finally, it’d make a great mattress for a guest bedroom. 

The Casper Original

An all-foam mattress, the Casper Original is the firmest Casper mattress. It doesn’t have any memory foam, so it’s going to feel firmer (to most) than the Brooklyn Bowery.

There are pros and cons to having no memory foam in your mattress.

• Pro: Poly-foam is breathable and can be comfortable and is often very inexpensive.
• Con: Poly-foam isn’t pressure-relieving like memory foam is. So this mattress isn’t as good as taking pressure off your sensitive areas (like your hips or shoulders).

So why does the Original Casper cost more than the Bowery?

The original Casper has zoned support, which is a nice feature for a budget mattress like this. Zoned support is when a mattress has firmer foam or extra support at the parts of the bed that are likely to be touched by the heaviest parts of your body. 

But the Casper Original still has zoned support, which is a big plus and not something found in other budget mattresses.

Who is the Casper Original Great For?

You need a budget mattress but still want some of the perks like zoned support and eco-friendly materials. You want a firmer feeling mattress and are a stomach or back sleeper. Plus, similar to the Bowery, this would make a great bed for a child or a guest bedroom.

Second, the middle of the road models.

2. Brooklyn Bedding Aurora vs. Casper Nova Hybrid

The Brooklyn Bedding Aurora $1699 for a queen, but is currently on sale for $1274. It’s available as soft, medium, or firm

Side sleepers should (normally) sleep on a medium to soft mattress. If a bed is too firm, it can lead to pain in their shoulders and lower back.

The Brooklyn Aurora uses copper-infused foam and cooling PCMs. It’s one of the cooler beds on the market because it takes the heat from your body and cools you down. If you’re a hot sleeper – or are worried about hot sleeping – the Aurora is likely to be cooler than the Casper Nova. 

While the Brooklyn Aurora uses memory foam, poly foam, and coils, it’s important to note that the memory foam layer is 4 inches deep. So even the soft Aurora model won’t feel like a traditional memory foam mattress, which means this bed has a good amount of bounce and not a lot of sink.

Now, let’s compare that to Casper’s Nova Hybrid.

The Nova Hybrid’s regular price is $1995 but is currently on sale for $1795. 12 inches thick, the Nova Hybrid uses aerated foam to help not trap heat. 

While it doesn’t have the same advanced cooling features as the Brooklyn Aurora, it’s not likely to be a heat trap. The Nova Hybrid is more temperature neutral than anything – it won’t really cool you down or warm you up.

The Nova Hybrid’s second layer of foam is zoned into 7 critical areas. This zoned support is great because it offers advanced support in the heavier parts of your body. (Most of us need more support in our hips than say our legs.)

Brooklyn Bedding Aurora vs. Casper Nova Hybrid: Final Vote

These are both well-designed beds with some similarities. However, based on price point and technology, you’re getting a much better deal with the Brooklyn Bedding Aurora. You’re getting more technology (thanks to its active cooling) for nearly $500 less (off the sale price). 

If you’re not crazy about a bed feeling cool as you lie on it, then you might like the Casper Nova Hybrid. However, 

3. Brooklyn Bedding Sedona Hybrid vs. Casper’s Wave Hybrid

Finally, the luxury, higher end models. 

The Sedona Hybrid is Brooklyn Bedding’s newest model. 14 inches thick, the Sedona hybrid uses 3 inches of memory foam to offer pressure relief and immense comfort. 3 inches of memory foam is a good amount, because it’s not so much that you’ll sink through it but it’s just enough to offer the benefits of memory foam. 

Since it’s a hybrid, the Sedona does use 8 inches of individually wrapped coils as a support system – giving you that bounce and motion isolation we talked about earlier.

Thanks to its cooling fibers in the knit cover, and its gel infused memory foam, and its coil support system, there are minimal sleeping hot concerns with the Sedona Hybrid.

The Casper Wave is 13 inch thick. It’s also Casper’s softest mattress, coming in at a medium-soft. 

The first layer of the Wave Hybrid is soft poly-foam. Because it’s poly-foam it’s breathable, but for this price point, it’s a lot unfortunate that the first layer isn’t pressure relieving memory foam, like the Sedona hybrid.

But beneath the poly-foam layer is a layer of natural latex. Latex mattresses are supportive and long-lasting. They bounce back and provide comfort but a latex layer is generally firmer than a memory foam layer. 

Like the other Casper models, the Wave Hybrid offers zoned support in its memory foam layer. 

Overall, we really like the Wave Hybrid, but given its high price tag it’s worth considering why you’re buying it. If you’re a big Casper fan or really need that zoned support, it’s worth it. If not, consider a more affordable – but just as comfy – mattress from Brooklyn Bedding.

Sleep Trial and Mattress Warranty

Both Brooklyn Bedding and Casper have a customer-first trial period and mattress warranty.

With Brooklyn Bedding, you get 120 nights to sleep on your new mattress. Let’s say you get it delivered, set up the bed, and on the third night, you absolutely hate it. If you call Brooklyn Bedding and tell them that, they’ll recommend you keep it for 30 nights first. This is because they want to see if your body will adjust to a new mattress. This is relatively normal in the mattress industry. After the 30th night, you can return it for a full refund or exchange it for a different model.

If you wanted a different model (say you get the firm but now you want the medium), you will pay any price difference (if your new mattress is more expensive) or get money back (if your new mattress is less expensive). But there isn’t any fee or penalty. 

Brooklyn Bedding also offers toppers to change the firmness of a bed. So, let’s say your like your new bed but it’s just a little too firm and it hasn’t softened the way you thought it would have two months of sleeping on it. Brooklyn Bedding might recommend a topper of extra memory foam that helps add some softness to your bed.

IMPORTANT: With Brooklyn Bedding, a customer gets one sleep trial per year. This means if you exchange from the firm to a medium and then decide you now want the soft, that you’re going to have to pay for a new mattress. This helps cut down on the environmental waste of so many exchanged beds. 

After the sleep trial, your bed is now covered by the Brooklyn Bedding mattress warranty.

The Brooklyn Bedding mattress warranty works like this:

• It’s 10 years long.

• It covers the bed as long as the bed has been adequate support the entire time, such as mattress foundations or box springs with no more than 4” between wooden slats or an adjustable base. 

• It doesn’t cover normal wear and tear or normal body indentations. 

• It mainly covers abnormal body indentations – that’s defined as a sag that’s permanent and is 1” or greater).
• If there is a defect, Brooklyn Bedding will replace or repair the mattress within “a reasonable amount of time.”

Now let’s look at what the Casper mattress sleep trial and warranty covers.

With Casper, you get a 100-night trial for all Casper mattresses, Casper pillows, and Casper bedding.

But let’s focus on the mattresses for this article.

Once you get the mattress, you have a 100-night trial. This is 20 days less than Brooklyn Bedding’s, but in our experience, most sleepers know well before day 100 on whether or not a bed is right for them. 

Casper doesn’t necessarily make you wait 30 days before initiating a return as Brooklyn Bedding does, but they do agree it takes time to adjust to a new mattress – especially if you’ve been sleeping on a bed that offers no pressure relief or support.

With Casper, a new product means a new trial period, but this also means you can’t go back to an older product. For example, if you bought the Casper Wave, then decide you want the Casper Nova, then go back to the Casper Wave, your only other option for a new mattress is the original Casper.

Note: Mattress sleep trials are there to give you peace of mind, but ideally you don’t ever have to use them. By doing your research and picking the right mattress for your based off mattress reviews like ours, you can hopefully zone in on the best mattress for you and not have to resort to throwing away a perfectly good mattress.

The Casper mattress warranty works like this:

• It’s 10 years long.

• It is valid as long as your Casper bed is supported by a flat or nearly flat sturdy surface, such as a Casper mattress foundation or adjustable base. 

• It doesn’t cover normal wear and tear or normal body indentations. 

• It mainly covers abnormal body indentations – that’s defined as a sag that’s permanent and is 1” or greater).

• If there is a defect, you must ship the mattress back to Casper. However, you’re not responsible for any shipping charges. 

• If you’re getting a more expensive bed, you will pay the difference in price. 

Brooklyn Bedding vs. Casper: Final Recommendations

Generally, we’d say Brooklyn Bedding is better suited for customers who want a softer, more plus mattress. It also has more options.

With Brooklyn Bedding you can get an all-foam budget mattress (The Bowery) or an eco-friendly, all-latex mattress (The Bloom).

If you’d like to learn more about each Brooklyn Bedding model, check out our complete review of Brooklyn Bedding’s beds.

But Casper mattresses are known for their advanced support systems, and the Wave and Nova are well-made (if a little expensive) hybrid mattresses.

If you’re curious about Casper – and want to know more – we did an in-depth review of each Casper mattress.