One of my pet peeves as a professional mattress tester of more than six years is seeing the names “adjustable mattress,” “adjustable frame,” and “smart bed” used interchangeably. While they are related products that can rely on each other to maximize performance and your overall sleep experience, each offers distinct qualities. It doesn’t help that these products consistently appear in the same search results for one another, often labeled interchangeably by the manufacturers. When that happens, of course, they will get mixed up. To make matters worse, you may think you have everything you need at checkout, only to find you’re adding an extra product you didn’t plan for.
It’s time to set the record straight and adjust your understanding of all things adjustable mattresses. Under my wing you go to begin this journey.
Updated March 2026: I’ve reworked this story to include information on smart beds, as well as a model I recommend.
Adjustable Mattresses
What is an adjustable mattress? Simply put, it’s designed to let users adjust how soft or firm they want their bed to be. Adjustable mattresses don’t follow the same layout as a normal mattress, because they involve internal air chambers or coil-adjusting mechanisms that help you accomplish the firmness you’re seeking. While a glorified air mattress may come to mind (and, arguably, that is basically what it is for many adjustable mattresses), there is a lot to the material makeup here. To pump up these air chambers, a lot of automation tech and tubing are involved. Hence, they aren’t budget buys.
Depending on the brand and model you choose, another common feature among adjustable mattresses is the ability to shift the head and foot both up and down, as in Personal Comfort’s Rejuvenate. Some models may not include this, depending on the brand and iteration, but it’s also a cost driver. This feature is where adjustable frames and mattresses are likely to be confused, as an adjustable mattress cannot perform this range of motion without assistance from an adjustable frame.
Smart Beds
Here is where things get more nuanced, and where, in my professional opinion, the industry could get more streamlined in its terminology. In the vast majority of cases (at least with the models I have researched, interacted with, and tested), smart beds offer the same range of motion capabilities as adjustable mattresses. To pull this off, they require an additional adjustable frame. Adjustable mattresses will rely on some degree of tech integration in order to change the overall firmness level. Smart beds do this too. However, in my book, what defines a truly smart bed is how advanced its additional programming is.
A prime example of this is the Bryte Balance Pro. This smart bed offers targeted support by adjusting coil zones that automatically adapt to you, even as you sleep. It is also a sleep tracker in itself, showing metrics such as heart rate, respiratory rate, and sleep stages. The bed is fully controlled via app, with an AI sleep concierge that can help you modify your sleep experience. This particular smart bed also offers “massage” settings that move the coils in a wavelike fashion to lull you to sleep. The Balance Pro is designed to deliver this within the mattress itself, whereas adjustable bases usually offer a massage feature for other smart beds and adjustable mattresses.
Adjustable Frames
Many brands (like another popular smart bed brand, Sleep Number) recommend adding an adjustable frame to your purchase to enjoy the full benefits of your new mattress. Other times, you can purchase an adjustable frame (also known as an adjustable base) to use with a regular bed-in-a-box mattress. There’s a range of adjustable bases and what they can do. Basic versions only allow you to raise and lower the bed’s top and bottom. Other adjustable frames, like Sleep Number’s FlexFit3 adjustable base, also include motion-detecting underbed lights and foot warming.
Whether you opt for something simple or the most luxurious adjustable frame you can get, it’s absolutely crucial that you confirm the mattress—whether it’s memory foam or a hybrid—is compatible with an adjustable base or frame, lest you break the internal support system. The easiest way to verify is to reach out to a brand’s customer service team to confirm whether the mattress you’re considering works with an adjustable frame. Never assume you’re good to go right off the bat. But keep in mind that you will only be able to move the mattress to various angles, not adjust the overall firmness. Also, from experience, let’s say you put a hybrid mattress that’s approved for use on an adjustable frame—the popping of the pocketed coils isn’t the most pleasant noise to hear. Or feel, for that matter.
Stay Flexible
To recap: You can use an adjustable mattress or a smart bed without an adjustable frame. But if your mattress or smart bed can move its head and foot vertically, and you’re already paying for this feature in the mattress’s overall cost, are you truly enjoying the full offerings of the mattress (and what you paid for)? Similarly, you can use an adjustable frame with an approved mattress or smart bed, but you’ll only get up-and-down motion, not the variety of firmnesses.
Is it worth purchasing both a smart bed/adjustable mattress and an adjustable base to use together? It depends on the particular adjustable mattress or smart bed. For example, the Sleep Number P6 smart bed performs at its best when paired with an adjustable base, so you can try out all the features Sleep Number is known for. On the other hand, the Bryte Balance Pro is an adjustable-base-friendly product, but I ended up skipping it due to how rigid the mattress’s internal coils were.
If you are presented with the option to pair your adjustable mattress or smart bed with an adjustable base, I would go for it. It’s a symbiotic relationship, with both products working together so that you can enjoy everything they have to offer as a formidable pair. And, ultimately, having these features at your disposal is meant to help you sleep better.
Aside from the elevated (pun intended) price tags associated with smart beds, adjustable mattresses, and bases, there are some other downsides to consider. In my experience, getting adjustable mattresses and bases set up is quite cumbersome, as they’re heavy and require extra cords and bits for the electronic components.
The upside, though? Many people who have an adjustable bed, frame, or both consider them absolute game-changers for situations like reading in bed, watching TV with their feet kicked up, anti-snore settings for couples’ sanity, or dealing with medical concerns like acid reflux. That’s another angle to consider. While traditional mattress types will never be obsolete, this new age of tech and mattress integration is something to behold.
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