“Most people should shortlist the Performance 26 and the Original Pro and let the price gap in their size decide between them. Pay more than that only for a feel you need, such as the Elite's softer surface for side sleeping or the Performance 30's depth for broad shoulders.”
How the Emma range is built
Emma’s UK range splits into two collections. The Original collection runs from the 22 cm Original Lite to the 27 cm Original Pro and Original Elite, and every model in it is a pocket-sprung hybrid except the Original Classic, which is 25 cm of foam with no springs. The Performance collection is one design sold in three depths, with Emma’s latest AirGrid polymer layer on top. According to Emma’s Performance product page, only two layers change between the depths, the firmer MemoryAdapt foam (2, 3.5 and 4.5 cm) and the SupportBase foam (5, 5.5 and 6.5 cm), and each step up feels plusher.
Layers, zones, depths and Emma’s firmness ratings are from each model’s emma-sleep.co.uk page; prices are Emma’s regular UK prices on 28 September 2026. Our firmness column is our estimate, from home tests for the three models marked tested and from the published build for the rest.
Springs or foam
Choose a hybrid unless you already know you like all-foam. Emma’s own range guide says foams relieve pressure better while a spring core is more ventilated, and seven of the eight models here use pocket springs. The Original Classic is Emma’s only memory foam mattress without springs, quiet and good at absorbing a partner’s movement. It also costs more than the hybrid Original in every UK size, which is why it ranks last.
Firmness and your back
Medium-firm is the evidence-backed default for most adults. In a randomised trial of 313 adults with chronic low-back pain, Kovacs and colleagues (The Lancet, 2003) compared medium-firm mattresses (5.6 on the European H(s) scale, where 1 is firmest and 10 softest) with firm ones (2.3) and concluded that “A mattress of medium firmness improves pain and disability among patients with chronic non-specific low-back pain.” A 2015 systematic review of 24 trials in Sleep Health found medium-firm and self-adjusted mattresses best for sleep comfort, quality and spinal alignment.
In Emma’s range that points back and front sleepers to the Original, Original Lite and Original Pro; we found the Pro firmer than its medium label. Side sleepers need more give at the shoulder and hip, which is where the medium-soft Original Elite and the Performance 30 come in. Expert Reviews listed “Exceptional comfort and pressure relief for side sleepers” among the Elite’s strengths and “Too soft for stomach sleepers and heavier bodies” among its weaknesses.
Heat
If you sleep hot, look at the top layer first. A 2012 review in the Journal of Physiological Anthropology found that in real-life conditions, with bedding, heat exposure increases wakefulness and reduces slow-wave and REM sleep. For the Performance 26 Emma quotes a 72% higher capacity to level out temperature spikes than a full-foam mattress, from thermal tests it says an accredited Kiel institute ran in early 2026. Emma does not link the report, so treat the figure as a brand claim. Within the range, Emma’s cooling layers are the AirGrid top on the three Performance models and the Original Elite, and the graphite-infused ThermoSync foam in the Original Pro; the Original has no dedicated cooling layer.
Names and sizes
Older reviews use older names. The former Hybrid Premium is now the Original, the Hybrid Original is now the Original Lite and the Hybrid AirGrid is now the Original Elite, and TechRadar’s Emma review describes a 25 cm all-foam Original with the same three-foam layout as today’s Original Classic.
Every model except the Original Elite comes in the five UK sizes from 90x190 to 180x200 plus EU 140x200 and 160x200; the Elite skips the small double and the EU sizes. The National Bed Federation notes there is no legal size tolerance in the UK and that accepted practice is 20 mm either way, so allow for that if the mattress has to fit a tight frame. Performance mattresses need slats no more than 7 cm apart, and a Performance 30 super king weighs 59.6 kg. Bed Advice UK, the NBF’s consumer site, recommends replacing a mattress every seven years.
To compare Emma with the wider market, see our best mattresses of 2026, the best double mattresses and the Simba, Nectar, Origin and OTTY ranges. Emma’s own Original Pro Topper and Original Topper both feature in our Emma mattress topper comparison, and the Emma Waterproof Mattress Protector has its own review.
