How much should I pay for a decent mattress?
In the $2,000-$3,000 price bracket, there are three things that are worth holding out for:
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Quality materials. Natural latex or high-density foam over a real spring unit, with densities and spring counts published where you can read them.
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Spring tension matched to the surface material and body weight. One firmness sold to every body is the biggest reason people end up uncomfortable.
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A modular design. Parts you can swap, so springs that have softened in year eight don't mean a whole new mattress.
How to work out a mattress's cost per year
Divide the price by the years you'll realistically get out of it. That one sum changes what "expensive" means.
| Mattress | Price | Realistic lifespan | Cost per year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap spring mattress | $500 | 4 years | $125 |
| All-foam bed-in-a-box | $1,250 | 6 years | $208 |
| Pocket springs with natural latex | $2,950 | 20 years | $148 |
The cheap mattress and the good one cost about the same per night. One of them just takes the money in a lump. Heavier sleepers should shade those lifespans down, since more body weight compresses foam faster.
What drives mattress cost: materials, labour and marketing
Materials are the biggest chunk. Natural latex, micro springs and a high pocket spring count are expensive. We put 986 pocket springs in a queen where a lot of companies use under 768, as well as using GOLS-certified organic latex.
Labour is next. A slab of foam in a cover takes minutes. A hand-stitched and assembled mattress takes experienced people and costs a lot.
Marketing is where the gap between companies gets wide. Bed-in-a-box brands that run social media campaigns and physical ads spend a lot of money. These costs get absorbed by the consumer, at the cost of quality components.
Returns cost companies a lot. Sell a single firmness spring to every body shape, and customers will find it too soft or too firm. A returned mattress goes to landfill. The more returns a company has, the more these costs are passed on to the consumer.
We handle it differently. Because our mattresses are completely modular, when a mattress feels too firm or too soft, we can swap the springs or the latex until it's right, rather than taking the whole thing back, and two swaps are free during the 7-month trial. Lower costs are absorbed into the price of our mattresses, as well as less waste.
What you get at each price point
Below are the price categories for a queen-size mattress, which is what most Aussies buy.
| Queen price | What's usually inside | Likely lifespan |
|---|---|---|
| Under $800 | Bonnell springs or low-quality polyfoam, thin cover, no firmness options | 3-6 years |
| $800-$2,000 | Bed-in-a-box territory. Entry-level pocket springs or thick memory foam, one firmness per model | 5-8 years |
| $2,000-$3,000 | Higher spring counts, natural latex or high-density foam, spring tension selected for the comfort layer and body weight, replaceable parts | 10-20 years |
| $3,000+ | Either genuinely good materials or a brand name. Both look identical on the ticket | Depends entirely on what's inside |
Under $800 is guest room territory. On a tight budget, a basic pocket spring mattress outlasts a soft foam one every time.
From $800 to $2,000, you're mostly into bed-in-a-box brands, some decent, though almost all companies make one firmness and hope it suits everyone.
The $2,000-$3,000 bracket is where you will find high-quality materials. Two mattresses at $2,500 can be built completely differently, so this is where understanding specs and materials pays off. Our Cloud and Aurora queens sit within this range at $2,950. The higher price is due to using 5cm of natural latex, pocket springs matched to your weight, and 2 layers of micro springs. Our very firm Cooper is $1,950, with a foam layer in place of the micro springs.
Mattress types
Polyurethane foam mattresses
$400-$1,500. Standard polyfoam, no springs, cheap to make and cheap to ship, which is why it fills the bed-in-a-box market. Density is the number to ask for. Anything under 30kg/m³ softens within a couple of years, and you'll feel the dip well before the warranty is halfway through.
Keep in mind: A solid block of foam gives heat nowhere to go. All-foam mattresses are the hottest.
Memory foam mattresses
$800-$10,000+. Memory foam uses oils and chemicals to increase the viscosity of the foam. That's the sink-in feeling - they soften under body heat and return to shape slowly. Some people love the feeling of memory foam, and others think it feels like quicksand.
Memory foam also stores roughly 70 times more heat than air by volume, so 25cm of it with no springs sleeps hot. Expect five to seven years before it dips. More detail in my memory foam vs latex comparison.
Keep in mind: Many proprietary memory foams and "gel" foams claim to have cooling technology. I have debunked a few of these claims in my article on mattress marketing gimmicks.
Cheap innerspring mattresses
$400-$900. Bonnell or continuous coils, all wired together, with a thin layer of foam over the top. When your partner rolls over, the whole bed knows about it. They come in one firmness, the foam flattens fast, and there's nothing to replace when it does. Fine for a guest room, hard to justify for a bed you sleep in every night.
All-latex mattresses
$2,000-$5,000. Latex all the way down, no springs. Durable and expensive, and worth clearing up one myth: a 25cm slab of latex is still 25cm of foam. Latex handles heat better than memory foam or polyurethane does, but the amount of foam matters far more than the type. It's why at Ausbeds we use 5cm of natural latex over springs instead of a mattress made entirely of it.
Natural or synthetic latex changes the price too: natural comes from rubber tree sap and lasts longer; synthetic is petroleum-based and cheaper. The Dunlop or Talalay process shifts feel and cost again.
Premium hybrid mattresses
$1,500-$5,000+. Quality foam or latex over a pocket spring unit. This is what a good mattress is, and it's most of what's worth buying once you're past the cheap end.
The springs do the work. They hold you up, they let air move through the bed, and their tension can be matched to the comfort layer and body weight. The comfort layer only has to take the edge off. Ask for spring count and wire gauge, because that's where the money goes: we use 986 pocket springs in a queen where a lot of companies use less than 768.
Four things to check before you spend the money
1. Read the specs. Ask for foam density in kg/m³, spring count and comfort layer thickness. If a company won't give you numbers, that silence is the answer.
2. Ask what happens when the foam or springs wear out. In most mattresses, the answer is that you buy another one. Ask whether components can be replaced individually and what each costs. At Ausbeds, every component can be bought individually – cover, springs, micro springs, latex, foam.
3. Check the sleep trial. We run a 7-month sleep trial with free firmness swaps. Most discomfort is a firmness problem rather than a mattress problem. Read the warranty too: ten years against manufacturing faults is not ten years of guaranteed comfort.
4. Look at your bed base first. When someone tells me their mattress is sagging, it's the base about 80% of the time. Press down on your slats. If they flex under hand pressure, a new mattress sinks into that shape within months. Sort the bed base out first, or you'll blame the wrong thing.
How much to spend on a mattress
People walk into my showroom having spent wildly different amounts on their last mattress. At one end, $900 on an all-foam Koala. At the other, north of $8,000 on a Tempur.
The $800 buyers almost always bought on convenience. It suited the budget, an Instagram ad turned up at the right moment, and the box arrived two days later. The $8,000 buyers bought on the opposite logic, where the price and the material science were the proof. Something that expensive had to sleep better.
Both types of customers end up with an Ausbeds once they understand the quality of materials we were using and the philosophy behind the mattress design.
That's the answer to the question. Around $2,000 to $3,000 for a queen, spent on materials you can name and parts you can replace. What you spend matters far less than knowing what it bought.
People also ask
How to choose the right mattress?
Start with your body weight, because that sets the spring tension you need. Then your sleeping position, since a side sleeper needs more cushioning at the shoulders and hips than a front sleeper. Comfort preferences come last, and that first step matters more than the rest combined.
What's an average cost of a good mattress?
Around $2,000 to $3,000 for a queen size in Australia. That's where natural latex or high-density foam over a decent spring unit becomes normal rather than exceptional. Plenty of mattresses in that price range are still poorly built, so read the specifications before assuming price equals quality.
How much does a king size mattress cost?
A king costs more than a queen for a plain reason: it uses more of everything, more springs, more latex, more cover and more labour to build. On a well-made bed, expect a king to run a few hundred dollars above the queen, so the $2,000 to $3,000 queen bracket becomes roughly $2,500 to $3,500 in king. The build is identical, you're paying for a bigger area of the same materials.
Watch the names, because they cost very different amounts. A king single is a narrow bed for one person. A standard king is 183cm wide, and a super king is wider again. Each step up adds springs and foam, so check which size a price is quoting before you compare two shops. Then measure your bedroom, because a king needs clear floor on both sides and plenty of rooms can't spare it.
Can you get a good mattress for a few hundred dollars?
For a spare room, yes. For the bed you sleep in every night, a few hundred dollars buys a basic innerspring that gives you a good night's sleep for a year or two before the foam flattens. It won't be as good a mattress as a properly built bed for support or sleep quality, and it isn't trying to be. If that's the budget right now, buy the cheap one honestly as a stopgap and put money aside for a better bed later. That beats stretching to a mid-price foam mattress that promises to sleep like something twice its price and doesn't.
What mattress firmness to choose?
Choose the support for your body weight rather than relying on a firmness label. With soft latex, we use medium springs under 80kg and firm springs from 80kg. With medium latex, we use medium springs under 100kg and firm springs from 100kg. Lower back pain on your old mattress can mean the support was too soft, but the complete setup and bed base also need checking. Our firmness guide shows the whole system.
Which type of mattress is best?
A premium hybrid, for most people: quality latex or foam over pocket springs. You get support matched to the comfort layer and body weight, far less heat than an all-foam bed, and parts that can be replaced individually. Foam mattresses suit lighter sleepers who like a slow, sinking feel. Cheap innerspring mattresses are worth it only for a guest room.
Are well-known mattress brands worth the money?
Not for the name on the label. Well-known brands carry advertising budgets that would make your eyes water, and that cost sits in the ticket right next to the springs and the foam. An expensive mattress is only a worthwhile investment if the money went into materials that last, rather than into the ad that put the brand in your head. That doesn't make every big brand bad, but plenty of them charge for unique features that turn out to be a fancy cover and a good story. Judge the mattress on its materials and its warranty, and you'll make a more informed decision than the price alone allows.
How long should a new mattress last?
It depends entirely on what's inside it. A cheap foam mattress is done in five or six years once the foam loses its support. High-quality mattresses built on a proper spring unit will go ten to twenty years, and longer again if you can replace the comfort layer when it softens rather than binning the whole bed. Durability comes down to two things: the density of the foam and whether the mattress is designed to come apart. Ask both before you buy, because a new bed is something you lie on for a third of every day for years, and the cheap option rarely works out cheaper across that whole stretch.
Should you buy a mattress-in-a-box or go to a store?
Lie on it if you possibly can. Online stores work fine when the company gives you real specs and a long trial, and plenty of our interstate customers order without visiting. The trade-off is the compression: rolling a mattress into a box rules out a border wire, which holds the edge firm when you sit on it. We deliver full-size and set it up in your room. If you're in Sydney, come to the Gladesville showroom.
About the author
Karl owns Ausbeds. Tired of mattresses that failed too soon, he set up a Sydney workshop to make them properly: honest materials, adjustable designs. He also gives straight mattress advice on Reddit, Whirlpool and OzBargain.
