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The best gel pillows

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Gel pillows are ideal for people who need extra support to deal with neck and back pain, as well as for people who run hot but like to sleep cool.
The Coop Home Goods Eden Gel Foam Pillow is our top pick, thanks to its support and cooling, and because it can be adjusted for ideal custom comfort.
See also: The best pillows for your bed

While standard pillows feel soft and snuggly at once, they don't offer much actual neck and back support and they often heat up. Gel pillows tend to hold their shape, offering all-night support, and they stay relatively cool thanks to the gel's propensity to draw heat in and away from your body. Upon initial contact, gel pillows are often firm with a rubbery texture that's a far cry from the feathers or fabric stuffing to which most of us are accustomed. But the support they provide is unparalleled, especially if you're a side or back sleeper who often deals with back or neck pain.

Are there drawbacks? Sure. Each time you shift with most gel foam pillows, you need a moment to sink in again to reestablish ideal comfort. And also some of them are a bit pricey. Do the benefits way outweigh those minor issues? Oh yeah. At least, if hours of comfortable sleep followed by a day during which you feel well-rested matters much to you.

In selecting the best gel pillows you can buy, we factored in everything from price to shape to intended use. Some are ideal for cervical support (spinal support, e.g.), while some are great at keeping you cool. Others still have all the bases covered, though you'll need to pay for that level of quality and capability.

Here are the best gel pillows:

Best gel pillow overall: Coop Home Goods Eden Gel Foam Pillow
Best for side sleepers: Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-Ergo Cooling Neck Pillow
Best for hot sleepers: Classic Brands Cool Sleep Ventilated Gel Pillow

Prices and links are current as of 7/7/20. We added a product showcase at the top of the guide to help you see all our picks at a glance. We removed our pick for the best for neck pain due to stock issues. We also added a selection of related buying guides.

The best gel pillow overall

The Coop Home Goods Eden Gel Foam Pillow is comfortable, cooling, and customizable — you can remove its filling until it's just the right density for your preference.

The Coop Home Goods Eden Gel Foam Pillow is sort of a best of both worlds situation. Most gel foam pillows are essentially solid blocks of viscoelastic memory foam that either have a layer of cooling gel material or that have gel infused into the foam itself.

This unique gel pillow does indeed use a gel-infused memory foam, but it's not a solid block of the material. Rather, the pillow is stuffed with hundreds of little bits of gel foam, thus the best of both worlds. When you first put your head down on this pillow, you will settle into it much like with a feather or synthetic fill pillow.

So comfort right off the bat? Check. The more time you spend lying down with your head, neck, and shoulders on the Coop Home Goods Eden Gel Foam Pillow, the more you'll start to realize that gel foam isn't just a term bandied about by the fat cats in the pillow industry. This stuff actually does draw more heat away from your body than feathers or polyester could ever hope to.

Thanks to the shredded gel memory foam fill, the airflow throughout this pillow is unrivaled. Thus you enjoy that immediate comfort and all night cooling.

Pros: Custom adjustable fill, immediately comfortable, backed by satisfaction guarantee

Cons: Less supportive than solid pillows

The best for side sleepers

If you sleep on your side, your head and neck need a specific kind of support for comfort, and the Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-Ergo Cooling Neck Pillow provides it perfectly.

When you sleep on your side, you are asking a lot of your spine in the name of comfort. In fact, you are asking your spin to align itself in a way that it doesn't really want to align, namely bent sideways at the neck. This hardly bothers some people, but for others, it can cause pain both acute and chronic.

But if sleep on your side you must, whether for everyday comfort, during pregnancy, or after an accident that requires specific positioning during recovery, do your spine a favor and get the Tempur-Pedic TEMPUR-Ergo Cooling Neck Pillow.

With your head and neck cradled by the TEMPUR-Ergo, a pillow purpose-built for supporting side sleepers, your spinal column will be kept in line and without undue stress.

Beyond cervical ergonomics, your head will sink down into the memory foam and be cradled all night long. Also, a layer of cooling gel set near the surface of the pillow will keep you nice and cool during all those hours of ergonomic spine support.

Pros: Provides ergonomic spinal support, lasts for multiple years, washable knit cover

Cons: Quite expensive, too firm for some users

The best for hot sleepers

The memory foam that makes up the Classic Brands Cool Sleep Ventilated Gel Pillow is both infused with cooling gel and ventilated with several channels to keep you cool through the night.

The Classic Brands Cool Sleep Ventilated Gel Pillow provides the support and comfort you expect of memory foam. You sink into it slowly and steadily, and then your head is cradled until you shift. The fact that said memory foam is infused with a cooling gel that readily absorbs and redistributes endothermic body heat is the second plus.

But what truly sets this pillow apart from other gel pillows are the multiple channels that perforate the foam and that allow air to circulate throughout the pillow. Most gel pillows can draw off some heat but then essentially hold onto it, albeit holding it removed from your person. This pillow can actively dissipate heat and bring cool air thanks to the many channels bored into the foam.

Pros: Excellent cooling properties, good for side or back sleeping, hypoallergenic materials

Cons: Too dense feeling for some people

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Steven John

Freelance Writer

Steven John is a freelance writer living near New York City by way of 12 years in Los Angeles, four in Boston, and the first 18 near DC. When not writing or spending time with his wife and kids, he can occasionally be found climbing mountains. His writing is spread across the web, and his books can be found at www.stevenjohnbooks.com.