Casper vs. Nectar

For popular foam or hybrid mattresses, both Casper and Nectar have become common names in the mattress industry and both companies have a longer track record than many other bed-in-a-box options.

This guide is going to highlight the most important factors in determining if either Casper or Nectar offers the right mattress for you.

In This Comparison
Compare the Models | Performance Tests | Firmness | Support & Sleeping Positions | Design | Materials | Summary

Compare the Models

At NapLab, we put each mattress to the test.

We score each mattress using a series of performance tests. Here is a full comparison of all current models we’ve tested between Casper vs. Nectar.

This first table shows the factor scoring of all current models that we have tested:

Factor	Casper	Casper Original	Casper Original Hybrid	Casper Select	Casper Snow	Casper Snow Hybrid	Casper Wave Hybrid	Nectar Hybrid	Nectar Hybrid Premier	Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper	Nectar Original	Nectar Premier	Nectar Premier Copper
Overall Score	8.08	8.16	8.62	8.07	8.72	8.51	8.55	7.87	8.48	8.87	7.95	8.64	8.78
Cooling	8.0	8.0	9.0	8.0	10	10	8.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	8.0	9.0	9.0
Motion Transfer	8.2	7.2	7.4	7.0	7.5	8.7	6.5	6.0	5.6	7.7	10	10	10
Response	9.6	9.6	9.9	9.0	7.5	5.0	9.6	5.0	9.1	9.2	5.0	8.7	9.4
Edge Support	7.7	9.1	9.5	9.1	9.4	9.4	8.9	8.7	8.2	9.6	6.0	6.4	7.5
Sex	7.3	8.7	8.3	7.5	8.5	8.9	9.3	8.4	9.6	8.6	6.0	6.8	6.3
Pressure Relief	8.0	8.0	9.0	8.0	9.0	9.0	10	8.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.0
Off-Gassing	6.7	5.8	5.8	8.1	8.1	4.4	6.9	9.2	8.9	9.4	8.9	8.9	9.2
Company	8.5	8.5	8.5	8.5	8.5	8.5	8.5	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.0	9.0

This second table shows the testing data from each test. In many cases, the difference between scores can be minimal, but this table helps to highlight these differences in a visible way.

Factor	Casper	Casper Original	Casper Original Hybrid	Casper Select	Casper Snow	Casper Snow Hybrid	Casper Wave Hybrid	Nectar Hybrid	Nectar Hybrid Premier	Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper	Nectar Original	Nectar Premier	Nectar Premier Copper
Price (Queen)	$995	$1,295	$1,495	$695	$2,399	$1,995	$2,895	$799	$1,099	$1,349	$659	$949	$1,249
Cooling	Good	Good	Excellent	Good	Outstanding	Outstanding	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Good	Excellent	Excellent
Sinkage – Depth	1.75″	1.69″	1.91″	1.63″	2.14″	2.36″	2.38″	1.70″	2.35″	1.99″	2.03″	2.23″	2.22″
Sinkage – Feel	Minimal	Very Minimal	Minimal	Very Minimal	Moderate	Deep	Deep	Minimal	Deep	Minimal	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate
Motion Transfer – Acceleration	8.91 m/s²	11.30 m/s²	10.87 m/s²	11.73 m/s²	10.55 m/s²	7.95 m/s²	12.88 m/s²	14.00 m/s²	14.73 m/s²	10.04 m/s²	2.67 m/s²	2.80 m/s²	1.88 m/s²
Response Time – Mostly Recovered	0.2 sec.	0.2 sec.	0.2 sec.	0.3 sec.	0.6 sec.	2.8 sec.	0.2 sec.	2.5 sec.	0.3 sec.	0.3 sec.	3.0 sec.	0.4 sec.	0.3 sec.
Response Time – Fully Recovered	0.8 sec.	0.7 sec.	0.4 sec.	0.9 sec.	1.2 sec.	5.1 sec.	0.8 sec.	6.8 sec.	0.8 sec.	0.7 sec.	5.0 sec.	0.8 sec.	0.5 sec.
Bounce – Height	6.53″	9.80″	8.21″	6.93″	8.73″	9.54″	10.78″	8.83″	13.11″	9.30″	4.76″	7.10″	5.14″
Bounce – Feel	Low	Moderate	Moderate	Low	Moderate	Moderate	High	Moderate	Very High	Moderate	Very Low	Low	Very Low
Edge Support – Sitting	4.25″	3.75″	2.25″	3.75″	3.25″	3.25″	3.25″	3.50″	4.25″	3.75″	6.25″	7.25″	6.25″
Edge Support – Lying	Fair	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Excellent	Good	Good	Good	Outstanding	Mediocre	Good	Excellent
Comfort Layer Thickness	3.0″	3.5″	3.5″	4.5″	3.0″	3.0″	5.0″	3.0″	4.0″	5.0″	5.0″	6.0″	5.0″
Mattress Thickness	9.0″	10.5″	10.5″	12.0″	12.0″	11.5″	12.0″	12.0″	13.0″	14.0″	12.0″	13.0″	14.0″
Off-Gassing – Smell	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Strong	Moderate	Moderate	Strong	Strong
Off-Gassing – Days	12 days	15 days	15 days	7 days	7 days	20 days	11 days	3 days	4 days	2 days	4 days	4 days	3 days
Trial	100 nights	100 nights	100 nights	100 nights	100 nights	100 nights	100 nights	365 nights	365 nights	365 nights	365 nights	365 nights	365 nights
Warranty	10 years	10 years	10 years	10 years	10 years	10 years	10 years	Lifetime	Lifetime	Lifetime	Lifetime	Lifetime	Lifetime

Best Mattress For

Before we get into the gritty details, let’s honor some specific mattresses first. The mattresses noted below are recognized as the best for each respective performance category.

Depending on what exactly you’re looking for, you may find Casper or Nectar may be better suited for your needs.

Factor	Winner	Score
Best Overall	Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper	8.87
Best Cooling	Casper Snow, Casper Snow Hybrid	10
Most Sinkage	Casper Wave Hybrid	2.38″
Least Sinkage	Casper Select	1.63″
Lowest Motion Transfer	Nectar Original, Nectar Premier, Nectar Premier Copper	10
Fastest Response Time	Casper Original Hybrid	9.9
Most Bounce	Nectar Hybrid Premier	13.11″
Least Bounce	Nectar Original	4.76″
Best Edge Support	Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper	9.6
Best for Sex	Nectar Hybrid Premier	9.6
Best Pressure Relief	Casper Wave Hybrid	10
Least Off-Gassing	Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper	9.4
Best Company	Nectar	9

We test 10 different factors that impact the performance, comfort, and value of the mattress. Testing categories include:

1. Cooling
2. Sinkage
3. Motion Transfer
4. Response
5. Bounce
6. Edge Support
7. Sex
8. Pressure Relief
9. Off-Gassing
10. Company

Casper and Nectar both offer foam and hybrid mattresses. This comparison is going to feature the Casper hybrids and the Nectar all-foam mattresses, representing the most popular styles from each brand. The exact mattresses featured in the tests below include:

1. Casper Original Hybrid
2. Casper Wave Hybrid
3. Casper Snow Hybrid
4. Nectar Original (all-foam)
5. Nectar Premier (all-foam)
6. Nectar Premier Copper (all-foam)

So with that in mind, let’s dive into the performance tests.

Sinkage between Casper and Nectar ranged from Minimal to Deep, with the largest range coming from the Casper lineup.

All Nectar mattresses listed here have moderate sinkage within 0.25″ of each other.

Sinkage Test	Sinkage Feel	Sinkage Depth
Casper Original Hybrid	Minimal	1.91″
Casper Snow Hybrid	Deep	2.36″
Casper Wave Hybrid	Deep	2.38″
Nectar Original	Moderate	2.03″
Nectar Premier	Moderate	2.23″
Nectar Premier Copper	Moderate	2.22″

The mattress with the least amount of sinkage is the Casper Original Hybrid at 1.91″ and the mattress with the deepest sinkage is the Casper Wave Hybrid at 2.38″.

For comparison, the average level of sinkage across mattresses tested to date is 2.19″.

The level of sinkage for each mattress is documented in the images and table below.

Moving along, let’s talk about response time. Comparing Casper and Nectar, Casper was generally faster than the all-foam Nectar mattresses, although there are a few exceptions to the rule.

Response Test	Score	Mostly Recovered	Completely Recovered
Casper Original Hybrid	9.9	0.2 seconds	0.4 seconds
Casper Snow Hybrid	5.0	2.8 seconds	5.1 seconds
Casper Wave Hybrid	9.6	0.2 seconds	0.8 seconds
Nectar Original	5.0	3.0 seconds	5.0 seconds
Nectar Premier	8.7	0.4 seconds	0.8 seconds
Nectar Premier Copper	9.4	0.3 seconds	0.5 seconds

The mattress with the fastest response is the Casper Original Hybrid, which completely recovered by 0.4 seconds.

The slowest material recovery comes from the Nectar Original, which took 3 seconds to mostly recover and 5 seconds to completely recover.

The level of responsiveness for each mattress is documented in the videos below.

Bounce is a bit of a preferential factor, but still worth a mention in this comparison, especially because there is quite a range of bounce within Casper and Nectar mattresses.

Bounce Test	Bounce Feel	Bounce Height
Casper Original Hybrid	Moderate	8.21″
Casper Snow Hybrid	Moderate	9.54″
Casper Wave Hybrid	High	10.78″
Nectar Original	Very Low	4.76″
Nectar Premier	Low	7.10″
Nectar Premier Copper	Very Low	5.14″

The Casper Wave Hybrid has the highest level of bounce at 10.78″. The Nectar Original all-foam mattress has the lowest level of bounce.

For comparison, the average level of bounce across all mattresses tested to date is 9.59″. All mattresses have less bounce than average except for the Casper Wave Hybrid, which generated 10.78″ of bounce.

Comparing Casper hybrids vs. Nectar all-foam mattresses, it’s an easy win for Casper. The pocketed coil base provides a more supportive base, which in turn improves edge support.

The average level of sinkage across all mattresses tested to date is 4.25″.

Check out the table below for a full rundown of edge support between Casper hybrids and Nectar all foam:

Edge Support Test	Score	Sitting Sinkage	Lying Support
Casper Original Hybrid	9.5	2.25″	Excellent
Casper Snow Hybrid	9.4	3.25″	Excellent
Casper Wave Hybrid	8.9	3.25″	Good
Nectar Original	6.0	6.25″	Mediocre
Nectar Premier	6.4	7.25″	Good
Nectar Premier Copper	7.5	6.25″	Excellent

All Casper hybrids have better edge support than average and all Nectar all-foam mattresses have worse edge support than average when seated.

Also, let me add a disclaimer here. Brands aside, a lot of these results have to do with the type of mattress design more than anything else.

Hybrids will almost always have better edge support than all-foam mattresses.

For example, Casper all-foam mattresses have the following edge support scores, all worse than the Casper hybrids:

• The Casper: 7.7
• Casper Select: 9.1
• Casper Original: 9.1

And Nectar hybrid mattresses have the following edge support scores, all better than the Nectar all-foam mattresses:

• Nectar Hybrid Original: 8.7
• Nectar Hybrid Premier: 8.2
• Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper: 9.6

It would be a more fair comparison to specifically look at Casper vs. Nectar hybrids and Casper vs. Nectar all-foam mattresses. But even then, Casper would still take the win.

As an overview, the average edge support score considering all current mattresses tested from each brand (hybrids and all-foam) is as follows:

• Casper: 8.91
• Nectar: 7.73

The level of edge support is documented in the images below.

Although sleep preferences are largely individual, the reality is that many couples share a bed together. This part of our scoring looks at the mattress’s expected sex performance based on a number of performance factors.

The best mattresses for sex have high bounce, good edge support, quiet materials, and good pressure relief and cooling.

These 5 factors make up the NapLab sex performance score and from these factors, we can generate a sex score, unique to each mattress.

The table below shows how sex performance varies between Casper and Nectar mattresses.

Sex Test	Sex Score	Bounce	Edge Support	Noise	Pressure Relief	Cooling
Casper Original Hybrid	8.3	7.6	10	10	9.0	9.0
Casper Snow Hybrid	8.9	8.5	9.7	10	9.0	10
Casper Wave Hybrid	9.3	9.2	9.7	10	10	8.0
Nectar Original	6.0	5.4	5.9	10	9.0	8.0
Nectar Premier	6.8	6.9	4.7	10	9.0	9.0
Nectar Premier Copper	6.3	5.7	5.9	10	9.0	9.0

From this selection, the best mattress for sex is the Casper Wave Hybrid, which maintains high bounce and good edge support. The performance of the Casper Original Hybrid or Casper Snow Hybrid was not far behind.

The Nectar mattresses struggled more, which was in part due to their all-foam design (especially memory foam). These mattresses have lower levels of bounce and consistently worse edge support.

The Nectar Hybrid mattresses have higher levels of bounce than the Nectar all-foams and better edge support, which allow for higher sex performance scores.

Considering pressure relief, both Casper and Nectar have good performance, with all scores from 9.0-10 out of 10.

Pressure Relief Test	Score	Comfort Layer	Support Layer
Casper Original Hybrid	9.0	3.5″	7.0″
Casper Snow Hybrid	9.0	3.0″	8.5″
Casper Wave Hybrid	10	5.0″	7.0″
Nectar Original	9.0	5.0″	7.0″
Nectar Premier	9.0	6.0″	7.0″
Nectar Premier Copper	9.0	5.0″	9.0″

All of the mattresses featured in this comparison have between 3.0 – 6.0″ of comfort material above the support layer, which is a large contributing factor for good pressure relief.

For comparison, the average level of comfort material across all mattresses tested to date is 4.13″.

The Casper Wave Hybrid as well as all of the Nectar all-foam mattresses have more comfort material than average. The Casper Original Hybrid and Casper Snow have less comfort material than average, but still scored just as high as the Nectar mattresses.

Off-Gassing Test	Score	Initial Smell	Smell Duration
Casper Original Hybrid	5.8	Strong	15 days
Casper Snow Hybrid	4.4	Strong	20 days
Casper Wave Hybrid	6.9	Strong	11 days
Nectar Original	8.9	Moderate	4 days
Nectar Premier	8.9	Strong	4 days
Nectar Premier Copper	9.2	Strong	3 days

Nectar mattresses off-gas faster, and in some cases with less odor, than Casper mattresses.

This is a bit surprising considering memory foam mattresses tend to off-gas slower than hybrid mattresses.

The odor from Casper mattresses lasted anywhere from 7-15 days before fully dissipating.

When it comes to company policy, Nectar takes the win for both a longer trial and a longer warranty.

Company	Casper	Nectar
Score	8.5	9
Trial Period	100 nights	365 nights
Warranty	10 years	Lifetime
Shipping	$0	$0
Returns	$0	$0
Trust	Good	Good
Country of Origin	USA	China

The Casper warranty is only 100 nights, while Nectar gives you a full year to decide if the mattress is right for you.

Nectar also has a lifetime warranty, but Casper maxes out at 10 years.

The Casper collection is made in the US and Nectar is manufactured in China, which may or may not be an important determining factor to some sleepers.

Looking at both hybrid and all-foam mattresses, Casper ranges from 4.5 to 6.5 out of 10 and the Nectar mattresses range from 5 to 6.5 out of 10. Casper has the greater firmness range.

Check the table below to see the details of each mattress.

Firmness	Rating	Feel
Casper	6	Medium-Firm
Casper Original	6	Medium-Firm
Casper Original Hybrid	6	Medium-Firm
Casper Select	6.5	Medium-Firm
Casper Snow	5	Medium
Casper Snow Hybrid	5	Medium
Casper Wave Hybrid	5.5	Medium
Nectar Hybrid	6.5	Medium-Firm
Nectar Hybrid Premier	6	Medium-Firm
Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper	6.5	Medium-Firm
Nectar Original	6.5	Medium-Firm
Nectar Premier	5.5	Medium
Nectar Premier Copper	5	Medium

Both Casper and Nectar have great support and are suited for a wide range of sleeping positions and sleeper weights. Softer mattresses, like the Casper Nova Hybrid are generally better suited for lighter sleepers or those who sleep on their side.

Heavier sleepers tend to prefer the feel of a firmer mattress, like the Nectar Hybrid, Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper, Nectar Original, or the Casper Select. All of these mattresses have a firmness of 6.5 out of 10.

Use the table below to better determine which firmness may be right for you.

Design

Both Casper and Nectar have hybrid mattresses as well as all-foam mattresses. The table below details all of the mattress types we have tested in-house by each brand.

Design	Type	Mattress Thickness
Casper Original Hybrid	Hybrid	10.5″
Casper Snow Hybrid	Memory Foam Hybrid	11.5″
Casper Wave Hybrid	Hybrid	12.0″
Nectar Original	Memory Foam	12.0″
Nectar Premier	Memory Foam	13.0″
Nectar Premier Copper	Memory Foam	14.0″

Materials

Here is a breakdown of the insides of Casper vs. Nectar:

Casper vs. Nectar: Which Should You Buy?

For the best-performing Casper, the Casper Snow Hybrid takes the win. It has the highest performance among both Casper and Nectar and really shines. It is more expensive than the average hybrid ($1,596 for a queen), but significantly less expensive than the Casper Wave Hybrid.

For the best value Casper, opt for the Casper Original Hybrid. The performance level was basically equal to the Wave and Nova hybrid, while being notably less expensive ($1,196).

For the best budget Casper, go with The Casper. This is the most basic model but still outperforms the more expensive Casper Original.

Note: The Casper was originally named the Casper Element Pro. It got a new name, but no notable material / design changes between the two mattresses.

For the best-performing Nectar, the Nectar Hybrid Premier Copper would be our top pick. It has a hybrid design, which provides some distinct advantages over the all-foam Nectar options. The Hybrid Premier Cooper has better cooling, better edge support, and higher levels of bounce for better sex which gives it an advantage over all the Nectar all-foam options. It’s also less expensive than the Casper Snow ($1,349 for a queen).

For the best value Nectar, opt for the Nectar Premier. It is priced between the Nectar Original and the Nectar Premier Copper, providing a great balance between price and performance.

For the best budget Nectar, go with the Nectar Original. The Original is the lowest price Nectar mattress available. While it does give up some luxuries, like an advanced cooling cover, better edge support, cooling, and fast response, it is well-priced for sleepers on a tight budget.

Note: I would not recommend the Nectar Original for heavier sleepers or this who don’t want the risk of feeling “stuck”, which the Original may be more prone to.

Disclosure – Derek Hales has a history with Casper that some may view as relevant to his reviews of Casper products. In 2016, Casper Sleep sued Derek Hales in federal court over his reviews of its products. In 2017, the lawsuit ended with a settlement. See here for more information.