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Casper initially launched in 2014 and is probably the best-known of the direct-to-consumer foam mattress companies. While the company started with just one mattress offering, in the summer of 2017, they launched two new mattresses, including the Casper Essential. The Casper Essential has fewer features but is intended to provide a low-cost foam mattress option.
Some of the key strengths of the Casper Essential mattress include:
- Low cost: the Essential model was designed to help make a Casper mattress available to budget customers, and its price point is competitive with virtually any foam mattress on the market.
- Simple design: for customers confused or overwhelmed by the bells and whistles that are marketed for many foam mattresses, the Essential mattress offers a straightforward design backed by the well-known Casper brand.
Potential drawbacks for the Casper Essential mattress include:
- Unlisted foam specifications: Casper does not publicly list the details of the density or ILD for the foams that are used in this mattress. That makes it difficult to effectively evaluate the quality of materials and likely durability of the mattress.
- Only one firmness option: Casper is only offered in one firmness option, which could be an issue for people who have a strong preference for either a very firm or very soft mattress.
If you want to find information about other offerings from Casper, check out our review of the original Casper mattress and the higher-end Casper Wave.
Casper Essential Mattress Pricing
Casper has one mattress model that is offered in 6 different sizes. Prices for each size are listed below.
| Mattress Size | Standard Price |
|---|---|
| Twin | $350 |
| Twin XL | $400 |
| Full | $500 |
| Queen | $600 |
| King | $725 |
| California King | $725 |
About the Casper Essential Mattress
Casper Essential Mattress Specifications
The Casper Essential mattress is built with three layers.
- The top layer is 2.5” of poly foam.
- The second layer is 1.5” of memory foam.
- The bottom layer is 4.5” of support foam.
Casper does not publish the density of these foam layers. The company lists this as proprietary information, and as such, we are unable to state definitively the density or ILD of these foams. This can make it harder to comparison shop or to truly understand the composition of the mattress.
Where It’s Made
The Casper mattress is manufactured in the USA.
Buying Logistics
Where to Buy
At this time, the Casper Essential is only available through the company’s website.
Sleep Trial / Refunds
The Casper Essential comes with a 100 night sleep trial. If you aren’t satisfied with the mattress, you have up to 100 nights to get a full refund. If you decide to return the mattress, Casper arranges to have it picked up and donated or recycled.
Delivery
After ordering, the Casper mattress typically arrives within 2-5 business days after you place your order.
No installation or haul-away services are included. Instead, a box with the mattress compressed within plastic packaging arrives at your doorstep. Once you open the packaging, the mattress decompresses and, according to Casper, should be ready to sleep on within minutes.
While white glove delivery is available for the Casper and Casper Wave mattresses, it is not currently available for the Casper Essential mattress.
Warranty
The Casper mattresses come with a 10-year warranty. During this time, the company will replace or repair your mattress if there are any defects in craftsmanship. Transportation and/or shipping costs associated with warranty repair or replacement is not covered under this warranty. You can find the full warranty terms at casper.com.
Customer Service
Casper has a strong reputation for customer service. As a pioneer in the direct-to-consumer mattress industry, Casper has been very visible and has dealt with perhaps more customers than any other company. Casper has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.
Mattress Performance
The Casper Essential mattress has not been on the market long enough to have received enough verified reviews or assessments by independent testers for us to confidently determine its performance. However, based on the basics of the composition of the mattress, we can make projections about what to expect from this mattress overall.
Support
The Casper Essential uses polyfoam and memory foam in its comfort layer. While most mattresses feature memory foam as the top layer, in the Essential, the memory foam is beneath the polyfoam. As a thinner mattress overall — at just 8.5” total — we have concerns about how effectively this can provide support, especially for heavier sleepers or people with pronounced pressure points. With less memory foam, it is less able to contour to the body to provide support.
For customers looking for the most supportive sleep surface, the Casper Essential won’t be the top choice. That said, it is designed as a low-cost mattress, and it may deliver as much or more support than other options at its price point.
Durability
Casper does not publicly post the density of the foam layers of the Essential mattress online, and density is one of the key factors we look at to understand the likely durability of a foam mattress. Without this information or a track record to evaluate, we simply cannot state with confidence whether this mattress is likely to perform well over years of regular use.
Firmness
Like the other Casper mattresses, the Casper Essential is designed to have a medium firm feel that falls around a 5-6 on the traditional firmness scale. It is only available in this one firmness option.
Motion Transfer
In building the Essential mattress, Casper tried to borrow design elements from its original mattress. This included trying to keep an overall feel that is responsive yet also has bounce. Because it does not have as much sink and contouring as a traditional memory foam mattress, it may have more of an issue with motion transfer. Despite this, most foams isolate enough motion that it does not usually create disturbance issues for most customers.
Offgassing
As with almost all foam mattresses, you can expect some odor after the mattress is first unboxed. This smell is not harmful, and the odor usually dissipates within a few hours. Because the total amount of foam in the Essential is less, there is likely to be fewer issues with offgassing than with many other foam mattresses.
Sleeping Hot
The primary cause of most overheating when sleeping on foam is excessive sinking into the mattress. The foams used in the Casper Essential do not permit the same level of sink as with traditional memory foam, and consequently, sleeping hot is not likely to be a common issue with the Casper Essential.
Intimacy
Since the Essential is built to resist excessive sinking and to maintain some resilience and bounce, we do not anticipate it to disrupt customers with an active sex life.
Mattress Comparison
The table below provides a comparison of some mattresses with similarities to the Casper Essential mattress in terms of construction and feel.
| Brand | Mattress Type | Support Layer | Comfort Layer | Price (Queen) | Where to Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casper Essential | Foam | Foam | Memory Foam + Poly Foam | $600 | Online + some retail |
| Leesa | Foam | Foam | Avena Foam | $940 | Online + 1 showroom |
| GhostBed | Latex Hybrid | Foam | Memory Foam + Latex | $795 | Online only |
| Saatva | Innerspring | Hourglass coils | Coils + Foam | $999 | Online only |
| Purple | Foam | Foam | Hyper-Elastic Polymer | $999 | Online only |
