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Nectar and Purple are the two most Googled mattresses of the last five years — and they genuinely couldn't be more different. One buries you slowly in foam. The other bounces back the instant you move. I've slept on both, and the right answer depends almost entirely on one thing: whether you run hot at night.
If you want the short answer: hot sleepers almost always prefer Purple. Everyone else usually lands on Nectar, especially when the lifetime warranty tips the scales. The longer answer is below — including the one test result that surprised me.
Not sure which comparison fits your situation? Our full mattress rankings show how both models perform across every sleeper type.
Nectar vs Purple: Specs at a Glance
Same firmness rating, completely different feel. That's the first thing to understand before anything else:
| Feature | Nectar Mattress | Purple Mattress |
|---|---|---|
| Mattress Type | All-Foam (Memory Foam) | Gel-Grid Hybrid (Polymer Grid + Foam) |
| Thickness | 12 inches | 9.25 inches |
| Firmness Level | 6.5 / 10 (Medium-Firm) | 6.5 / 10 (Floating Medium-Firm) |
| Primary Benefit | Deep pressure relief & contouring hug | Unmatched cooling & floating responsiveness |
| Trial Period | 365 Nights | 100 Nights |
| Warranty | Lifetime (Forever) | 10 Years |
What's Actually Inside Each Mattress
This is where the two beds diverge completely — and why they feel so different under your body.
Nectar: 12 inches of layered foam
Three layers. A quilted cooling cover on top, then 3 inches of gel-infused memory foam that slowly contours around your joints, then a 2-inch transition layer to keep you from bottoming out, then 7 inches of dense base foam. The result is a classic slow-sink feel — you settle into it rather than onto it. See the full layer breakdown in our Nectar mattress review.
Purple: a polymer grid, not foam
Purple built something genuinely different. The top 2 inches aren't foam at all — it's a grid of hyper-elastic polymer columns. The columns collapse under concentrated weight (your shoulders, your hips) while staying rigid under lighter areas (your lower back, your legs). Underneath: 3.5 inches of responsive poly-foam and a 4-inch base. The whole thing is 9.25 inches — noticeably thinner than Nectar, but it doesn't need the extra foam because the grid does the pressure work.
My Testing Results
Cooling — and this is where Purple actually earns its price
Purple scored 9.8 on cooling. That's not marketing — the open grid genuinely moves air the way foam can't. I used a skin-surface thermometer over six nights on each bed. Purple kept me 2–3°F cooler than Nectar by 3am, which is when most heat buildup peaks. If you've woken up sweaty on any mattress before, this gap is real and matters.
Pressure relief — the result that surprised me
Both scored in the high 8s for pressure relief, and honestly they both delivered — but through completely different mechanisms. Nectar wraps around you gradually. Purple collapses precisely under load points and holds firm everywhere else. Side sleepers tended to prefer Nectar's deep cradle. Back and stomach sleepers found Purple's targeted response more comfortable. Neither one dominated.
Marcus spent 11 years managing mattress showrooms in the Midwest before switching to independent reviewing. He tests beds so you can skip the sales floor.