Best air mattresses

“Buy height and a built-in pump for a spare room, a bag pump for a tent, and fill any new air bed twice before the first guest arrives. The sag on the first night is often stretching PVC rather than a puncture.”

The ranked air beds by height, pump and size

The table below joins the specs that decide an air bed purchase. Sizes are shown exactly as each seller lists them, and prices are for the size named in the last column.

Pump type decides where the bed can go

Built-in electric pumps dominate this category, and eight of the ten beds here have one. The Active Era Comfort Plus fills its double in 2 minutes 20 seconds, and the Intex Comfort-Plush High-Rise inflates its 152x203 queen in under 5 minutes. The Vango Blissful goes a step further, with a pump that switches off at the chosen firmness and restarts by itself when the pressure drops, as long as the bed stays plugged in. The catch is the socket. A pitch without hook-up, a festival field or a garden room with no power needs a bed that inflates by hand, which is why the Active Era Camping Air Bed comes with a bag pump and the Bestway Flocked Airbed comes with no pump at all. For camping, check the inflated dimensions of the bed against the inside of the tent before you buy.

Height is the comfort you notice first

Height decides how easy an air bed is to get out of in the morning, and the range here runs from 22 cm for the two camping-style beds to 56 cm for the Intex High-Rise and the Hi-Gear High Rise Flock King. For an older guest, or anyone with stiff knees, that points to the Hi-Gear High Rise Flock King or the Intex (both 56 cm), the Vango Blissful or Bestway TriTech (46 cm), or the Outwell Flock Superior (45 cm).

Why a new air bed feels softer by morning

On a new air bed, the first-night sag is often the PVC stretching rather than a puncture. Intex explains it on its air mattress safety page: “Stretching is a natural characteristic of new vinyl. During initial use, your air mattress may become soft and require additional inflation to maintain desired firmness.” Its support team recommends filling a new bed two or three times and letting it rest for a few hours each time. A spare room that cools after the heating goes off softens the bed a little more, because cooler air takes up less space, so top it up at bedtime rather than in the afternoon.

Read the size in centimetres, not the name

Air beds are sold in the maker’s own measurements, and they rarely match a UK bed. A UK double mattress is 135x190 cm and a king 150x200 cm, while the doubles in this ranking run from 137x191 (Active Era Camping, Bestway Flocked) to 160x195 (Outwell Flock Superior). The bigger trap is the word queen, which is not a standard UK bed size: an air bed sold as a queen, such as the Intex High-Rise or the Bestway TriTech queen, measures 152x203 cm and is wider than a UK king.

Guarantees, returns and when to buy something else

No air bed here comes with a sleep trial of the kind mattress brands offer. Active Era refunds a return only if the bed is unused. Vango gives two years on the Blissful, three if you register it, Outdoor World Direct lists two years on the Outwell Flock Superior, and Active Era and Yawn give one year, while Bestway’s UK warranty table lists airbeds as “Refer to Retailer”. If a bed arrives faulty, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 gives you a short-term right to reject it within 30 days, so keep the box for the first month.

An air bed is a temporary bed. For a spare room that sleeps someone most weekends, a rolled mattress from our best foam mattresses comparison or one of the best double mattresses will outlast any air bed, and the best mattresses of 2026 covers the wider field.