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If you happen to be a stomach sleeper, having the right pillow is especially important, because unfortunately, stomach sleeping just isn’t all that great for your neck. Unlike sleeping on your side or back, where your neck is aligned with your head and spine and rests in a neutral position (so long as it’s properly supported), when you sleep on your stomach your neck is often twisted, so that your face can turn to the side. “This can stretch the muscles on one side of the neck and tighten them on the other, leading to the development of ‘trigger points’ — irritable areas in a muscle that are tender when touched,” says chiropractor Dr. Sherry McAllister. But if sleeping on your stomach feels most natural to you, odds are it’ll be a difficult habit to break. While the experts I spoke to recommend trying your best to switch to another sleeping position, if you are going to stay on your stomach, it’s best to choose a soft, low-loft pillow that will cushion your head and neck without causing any additional strain.
To find the very best pillows for stomach sleepers, I consulted two chiropractors on what to look for, asked actual stomach sleepers for their recommendations, and tested a few pillows myself. You’ll find my picks below, or you can take a look at our guide to the best pillows overall for more pillows we recommend.
Update on February 25, 2025: Updated prices and checked stock for all products.
What we’re looking for
Fill type
There is no single fill type that’s best for stomach sleepers. Pillows made from down, down-alternatives, memory foam, latex, or other materials can all potentially make a good stomach sleeper pillow. The key is simply to choose something soft and compressive. McAllister says that pillows for stomach sleepers should function more as a soft headrest than as stable support, so there’s no need to choose something firm and sturdy, like you might for a side sleeper. Down and down-alternatives generally fit this bill best, but some softer and/or shredded foams can also do the job.
Loft
The experts I spoke to unanimously agreed that stomach sleepers need a low-loft pillow. If your pillow is too tall, it can force your neck into awkward positions, leading to stiffness, neck pain, and even nerve injuries due to prolonged compression, says chiropractor Dr. Sapna Sriram. For that reason, McAllister even specifically recommends a “thin or flat pillow” to minimize stress on your neck and reduce strain on your upper back and hips. I would generally consider anything two inches or lower to be standard for a low loft, but what counts as “low” can vary among people of different body sizes. If you aren’t quite sure how low your ideal pillow should be, adjustable pillows can be especially handy.
Firmness and support
Stomach sleepers should also look for softer pillows, because a pillow that’s too firm can cause the same kind of strain and stress as one that’s too lofty, Sriram says. She also recommends a pillow that is flexible enough to allow for easy adjustments — something you can squish, mold, and generally zhuzh around your head and neck to get comfortable.
Best pillow overall for stomach sleepers
Fill: Recycled plastic down-alternative fill | Loft: Varies | Firmness: Soft, medium, or firm
The Buffy Cloud is a down-alternative pillow, stuffed with PET fill made from recycled plastic bottles and encased in a Tencel cover. It comes in three firmness levels (soft, medium, or firm), which are progressively stuffed with more filling to create a denser, firmer pillow; the soft has 26 ounces of fill, the medium has 35 ounces, and the firm has 46 ounces. I tried the soft version of the Buffy Cloud, and that’s the one I recommend for stomach sleepers. It’s very soft, the loft is low; when I laid on my stomach with this pillow, it compressed easily and I was able to nestle my head into it without my neck flexing backward or feeling like the pillow was choking me (something I commonly run into with a too-thick pillow when testing for stomach sleeping).
Of course, the Buffy Cloud isn’t the only pillow out there that’s soft, low-loft, and compressive, so what makes this one my top pick? For me, the deciding factors are its cooling Tencel cover (Tencel is moisture-wicking and breathable), the recycled filling, and the relatively affordable price.
Best adjustable pillow for stomach sleepers
Fill: “Ultra soft” microfiber | Loft: Adjustable, arrives low | Firmness: Adjustable, arrives soft
Because finding the right loft and firmness is especially important for stomach sleepers, an adjustable pillow like the Lagoon Chinchilla can be a good way to tinker until you figure out exactly what you need. It’s filled with an “ultra soft” microfiber, which looks and feels like the inside of a kid’s stuffed animal. It arrives with a fairly low loft and soft feel in the first place, so it’s already a good option for stomach sleepers. When I tested it, I was able to comfortably rest without flexing my neck. But you can lower and soften it even more by removing some filling if you want to. It’s easy to do — you just unzip the case and pull some of the fiber out, and I’d recommend giving the pillow a good shake after you zip it back up, to fluff and distribute the fill.
The Chinchilla has a bamboo-and-polyester blend cover, which gives it a bit of cooling power (similar to the Buffy Cloud’s Tencel cover). When I tested it, the pillow came rolled up in a fabric bag made of the same material as the cover, which I was able to use to hold extra fill after removing some. The fill is fairly wispy — similar to Halloween cobweb decorations — and I appreciate that the brand provides a dedicated place to store it if you remove some.
Best pillow for combination stomach sleepers
Fill: Polyester microfiber fill | Loft: Medium | Firmness: Medium-firm
If you typically switch between sleeping on your stomach and sleeping in another position, the Casper Original comes recommended by Strategist writer Brenley Goertzen, herself a stomach-and-side combination sleeper, because it offers a good balance of softness and support. It’s filled with polyester microfiber fill, with a pillow-in-a-pillow design: The inner, “core” pillow is firmer and more densely filled, while the outer “case” pillow has a light layer of microfiber fill on each side to add plushness. This makes the Casper Original soft and cushy enough for stomach sleeping, but supportive enough to turn over to your side (a position that tends to need lots of neck support). Goertzen has slept on this pillow for years and loves it so much that she’s convinced several family members to buy their own.
Best cooling pillow for stomach sleepers
Fill: Mulberry silk | Loft: Low | Firmness: Soft
Stomach sleepers generally lay face first on their pillow, even if they turn their head to one side, and it obviously feels much better to rest your face on a cool surface than a hot one. This Cozy Earth pillow is filled with mulberry silk — a breathable and temperature-regulating natural material — and covered with bamboo viscose, which also regulates temperature while wicking away moisture. Strategist senior editor Simone Kitchens sleeps with the Cozy Earth Silk pillow and says it feels very breathable, particularly because the fill isn’t overly dense. It’s great for stomach sleepers because it’s very soft and compressive; when I tested it, I was able to sleep comfortably on my stomach as well as my back, so it could also work for some combination sleepers.
Best down pillow for stomach sleepers
Fill: European white duck down to down and feather fibers | Loft: Varies by firmness | Firmness: Soft, medium, or firm
For a soft and compressive pillow, you can’t do much better than a classic, fluffy down pillow. I like Parachute’s because it comes in three firmness options, so you can choose the level that best suits your sleeping position and comfort preferences. For stomach sleepers, I’d recommend either the soft or medium; though down is always pretty squishy, the firm model may be too lofty and dense to keep your neck from flexing upward. Goertzen and I have both tested the medium version of this pillow — it’s fairly soft and moldable, which works well for stomach sleepers. I also found it wasn’t overly lofty, as the pillow compacted beneath my head and neck. But even though it can compress, it holds its shape: Goertzen particularly likes how it reliably bounces back, so it doesn’t need to be fluffed all the time.
Our experts
• Brenley Goertzen, Strategist writer
• Simone Kitchens, Strategist senior editor
• Dr. Sherry McAllister, chiropractor and president at Foundation for Chiropractic Progress
• Dr. Sapna Sriram, chiropractor, acupuncturist, strength and conditioning specialist, and co-founder and CEO of Integra Health
Some other favorite pillows we’ve written about
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
