One confession: we do wish Brooklinen’s duvet was machine washable, but if you got this thing really dirty, it can be sent to the dry cleaners. But it’s probably cheaper just to get a duvet cover or two.
The Best Down Duvet: Casper
At the airier end of the fill-power spectrum (600), Casper’s lightweight down duvet is ideal for hot sleepers who prefer some combination of top sheets and blankets rather than a comforter. It’s not super bulky or fluffy, so it lays relatively flat, and can be layered with a combo of sheets and blankets underneath during colder months. With a nice soft hand-feel, it can also live on its own without a duvet cover, but still has corner loops to secure it inside a duvet (which will be key since most duvets are meant to accommodate a wider range of puffiness).
The Best All-Season, Down-Alternative Comforter: West Elm
If you’re ethically against the use of animal byproducts in your bedding, or if down just makes you sneeze, there are also alternative options that use synthetic fill without the dust and other allergens that down feathers can attract. But not all alternative fill comforters are created equal. Some have synthetic filling that runs way too hot. Some are weirdly crinkly and loud.
West Elm’s line of comforters includes four different options, which each offering a different combination of warmth and loft, and this down-alternative version is great for hot sleepers—it’s packed with just enough moisture-wicking, temperature-regulating fill to be cozy, but not suffocating. And thanks to its baffle box construction, that fill stays distributed evenly throughout the entire lightweight comforter.
The Best Budget 100% Down Comforter: Quince
Founded in 2018, Quince has been creating affordable alternatives to luxury brand items—whether it’s cashmere sweaters or high-quality bedding—without compromising on excellence. The brand’s done it again with a 100% down duvet that somehow lands under $200.
and it wonderfully teeters the lines between lightweight warmness and thick, warming comfort.
The Quince won us over at night, but we gotta say: it nailed the first impression. The duvet arrived sealed in a zippered canvas bag, which we prefer to the usual vacuum-sealed plastic (too often, it leaves a strange smell, like a recently-unboxed mattress). We also loved its cool-to-the-touch, almost crisp cotton sateen shell—but know that it makes for a slightly swishy track pants-kinda sound at night as the duvet moves around.
The Best Down-Like Wool Option: Nest Bedding
Instead of goose down clusters, duck down, or some sort of hypoallergenic alternative, this Nest Bedding comforter is filled with wool. Wool! While this might seem like the makings of a “winter-only” comforter, wool turns out to be a surprisingly breathable fabric. We had previously crowned Coyuchi’s wool duvet insert as our favorite of the genre, but after testing this one, we had to reevaluate: Nest’s all-season comforter (which comes with ties for strapping into a separate cover, so it’s technically more like a duvet) is surprisingly thin and lightweight for just how toasty it gets your bed when temps are hovering around the freezing point. That’s a big plus if you’re hoping to avoid the feeling of being compressed under a comforter that’s more like a meaty weighted blanket. It’s also blessedly washable so you can give it a quick spin cycle before spring. At less than $200 on sale, it’s one of the most budget-friendly options on this list, which more than covers the cost of the organic cotton cover that it arrives in.
The Best Plant-Based, Down-Like Comforter: Buffy Breeze
For the eco-friendly factor, we appreciate that the original Buffy Cloud comforter is made with a special fill crafted from recycled bottles, but find that it runs too hot and feels rougher than we’d like. Its followup, the Breeze comforter, is somewhere closer to the middle—with a more lightweight feel, a delightfully soft and cool-to-the-touch outer fabric, eucalyptus fill, and a surprising warmth and coziness. Despite its airy branding, it’s not really breathable enough to lay under comfortably in summer without kicking off the covers, but it’s perfectly warm and cozy for New York City winters. Another plus is that it’s one of the rare comforters that’s stylish enough to leave out of the duvet cover on its own thanks to the undulating waves on the stitching.
The Best Down-Like Weighted Comforter: Brooklinen
Sure, any downy topper will immediately upgrade the coziness factor of your sleeping arrangements. But if you truly want to max them out, you could also get a weighted comforter instead. It’s basically exactly what it sounds like: A duvet insert with a heavy fill material in lieu of more typical lightweight down fill. The result is something that isn’t at all cloud-like—it feels more like your favorite person in the world giving you a gentle hug. This Brooklinen one comes in a bunch of different fill weights and sizes (up to California King), and checks all the right boxes. Despite being much heavier than most other down-alternative quilted comforters, our testers never overheated or sweated through their sheets while sleeping underneath it. It is kind of an advanced bedding move, so maybe try a cheaper weighted throw blanket first before really dropping the dough on this one.
The Best Adjustable Comforter: Coop Sleep Goods
The winner of a GQ Sleep Award this year, Coop Sleep Goods’ Exhale comforter took home a trophy largely on the back of one ingenious feature: you can add or remove cotton sateen padding on either side of the duvet to tailor its coziness. That’s kind of the brand’s signature move (we also love Coop’s adjustable foam pillows), but even still, we’ve never seen something like this before. Swapping those panels is as easy as buttoning a shirt. Not only do they let you adjust the weight of the duvet based on weather, but you can also add them to just one side of the comforter. It may be the perfect couple’s comforter: one person can be extra warm without forcing the other to sleep in a cotton sauna.
The Best Comforter to Buy on Amazon: Utopia Bedding
Knowing some people just want to Amazon their way out of a problem, we tested the retailer’s most popular comforter: a budget-friendly, polyester-fill option from Utopia Bedding. Nearly 90,000 five-star reviews hinted at a comforter that seemed to rise above its ridiculously low price. One reviewer, for example, says: “It provides the right amount of warmth, making it suitable for year-round use. I’ve had some of the most restful nights of sleep since I started using it.” All the corners have been cut, to be clear: polyester fill, sewn-through baffles, no warranty, a noticeable thinness. But inside a duvet cover, it’s a solid option for hot sleepers who still want something over their body. Plus, it’s available in a whole mess of sizes, ranging from dorm-ready twin XL to California king.
5 More Down and Down-Alternative Comforters We Like
Last year, we anointed this Clima comforter from stylish new bedding company Sijo with a Home Award for its in-betweener, mid-weight design that comfortably ushers you from season to season. It’s crafted to adapt to your body temperature (keeping you from freezing in winter and cooling you down when the mercury rises) thanks to a fill comprised of a breathable plant-based Tencel fabric, recycled polyester for warmth, and some proprietary cooling Clima tech fiber. The comforter is all wrapped up in a slinky lyocell and nylon shell that feels a little manufactured, but also gives it a cool-to-the-touch feel. Just be careful if you’re not using a cover that the whole thing doesn’t slip all the way off the bed. And though the “Clima” branding designates a cooler feel, we’d say that this is more of a wintery bedding option, since the comfortable wasn’t quite as breathable as we would have liked for warmer climates or temps.
The Feathered Friends comforter in the medium weight has a luxurious hand feel, though your pocketbook may definitely feel it too. Comforters fall around $500 for this premium comforter. One of our testers described it as “extremely fluffy, like a gigantic pillow.” (His pup likes it too.) If you’re looking for something with a bit more squish, this is a great alternative with a generous lifetime warranty against defects. Feathered Friends also offers one of the best weight ranges we’ve seen, whether you want something airier for summer or the “Arctic” weight for your icebox of an apartment—all with an impressive 700-fill power.
Another wool option, this Coyuchi duvet is warm, but pleasantly light, and doesn’t really cling to your body like some heavier inserts. Among the several comforters and duvet inserts Coyuchi makes, this one is our clear favorite. It’s a great option for anyone looking for eco-friendly sourcing, and it’s heftier than the Nest Bedding option above if you prefer a weightier topper. It’s nearly twice as expensive though, which is why the Nest comforter is still our top pick.
Parachute’s all-season duvet clocks in at 750 fill power, which we would compare to a plushy pouf! Comparable 750-fill-power comforters are a lot thicker than this Parachute, so if you do want something lighter, or just don’t want to sleep under something that feels like a weighted blanket, this Parachute option is the way to go.
Boasting slightly oversized dimensions so it completely fills your duvet cover instead of looking sad and deflated, this Tuft & Needle down duvet insert is a solidly lightweight option for hot sleepers who still want something with a super fluffy feel. The only rub is that the duvet is quite a noisemaker and tends to rustle around as you toss and turn. Still, if you’re a heavier sleeper, chances are you’ll snooze right through it without hardly noticing.
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