“Start with the Hybrid Pro, and pay for the Ultra only if you still sleep hot on wool. Above the Pro, each step adds weight and cost faster than it adds support.”
Start with the price of a double
Simba sits above what most UK buyers spend. The National Bed Federation’s 2026 consumer survey of 1,000 adults who bought a mattress in the past year put the mean price paid at £543 and found that almost half paid less than £400 while only 20% spent £800 or more. At list price the Hybrid Essential is the only adult Simba whose double costs less than £800, and a Hybrid Pro double costs £1,299. On 28 September 2026 Simba’s UK site was taking 25% to 30% off its adult Hybrid and Natural Hybrid mattresses, and our Simba brand page tracks the current offers.
What each step up the range adds
Every Simba in the Hybrid line puts titanium Aerocoil microsprings near the surface, and each step up adds depth, springs and a different comfort layer. The biggest structural step is from the Hybrid to the Hybrid Pro, which swaps the nine-zone foam base for a SupportCore base of up to 1,000 steel barrel springs and adds a layer of British wool. The Luxe and Ultra add a third microspring layer, the Ultra also gets a latex and coconut-fibre layer with HeatRelease graphite as standard, and the Natural Hybrid models leave foam out of the materials list altogether. The middle Natural Hybrid, the 30cm Escape, adds a second microspring layer and more wool to the Source and costs exactly what the Hybrid Luxe costs in every size both come in.
Firmness and who each model suits
Simba says it has designed all its mattresses to feel medium-firm, yet it labels the Luxe, Ultra and Apex plush on their own product pages. The clinical evidence does back a medium-firm default. In a randomised trial of 313 adults with chronic low-back pain published in The Lancet (Kovacs et al., 2003), people given a medium-firm mattress had better outcomes after 90 days than those on a firm one, with an odds ratio of 2.36 for pain while lying in bed. The authors 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 controlled trials in Sleep Health (Radwan et al.) found a medium-firm, self-adjusted mattress optimal for sleep comfort, quality and spinal alignment.
Independent testers do not always agree with Simba’s labels. TechRadar rated the Hybrid Pro 8/10 for firmness and found it too firm for lighter side sleepers. Its Hybrid Luxe review gave the plush-labelled Luxe the same 8/10 and recommended it for back and stomach sleepers, while Tom’s Guide put the Hybrid Ultra at 6.5 to 7 out of 10. If you sleep on your side and weigh less than average, the Apex, the Escape or the Ultra is the safer choice. Back and stomach sleepers and heavier adults suit the Pro or the Luxe.
Temperature, wool and foam-free builds
Simbatex foam tops the Essential and the Hybrid, while every model from the Pro upwards adds wool. HeatRelease comes fitted on the Ultra and is a paid upgrade on the Pro and Luxe in double, king and super king only, adding £149, £199 or £249 by size. Simba’s own lab figure for it is a 4.4°C lower temperature in the upper foam layer of an Ultra with HeatRelease than without. The Natural Hybrid range was called the Earth range until its rename, as MattressNextDay notes, so older reviews list the Source, Escape and Apex under their earlier names.
Sizes, weight and care
Only the Simba Hybrid is sold in all eight UK and EU sizes. The Essential stops at king, and the Ultra and all three Natural Hybrid models come in single, double, king and super king only. Our double, king size and super king rankings compare Simba with other brands size by size.
Weight matters on the deeper models because Simba’s help centre makes regular rotation one of the few conditions of its guarantee, a 180-degree turn once a month for the first three months and every three months after that. On the 31cm Luxe or the 34cm Ultra, that is a two-person job. The boxed Hybrids are ready to sleep on six hours after unboxing. The flat-delivered Natural Hybrids come with free VIP delivery that includes installation, but their covers do not come off and Simba rules out vacuuming the wool. Simba’s product pages also state that a protector is required to keep the 10-year guarantee valid, which our mattress protectors comparison covers.
Our Emma, Nectar and OTTY rankings and the full best mattresses 2026 list cover rival brands at similar prices, and a mattress topper softens a firm Simba for far less than a new mattress.
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