The 21 Very Best Couches
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It’s a confusing time to buy a couch. Classic brands and DTC companies make great sofas and terrible sofas, which often look quite similar. Brands that look good on Instagram arebizarrely uncomfortable IRL. You can find more information about what’s inside your couch than ever — upholstery material, cushion-fill material, Martindale rating, the style of the joinery and springs — but that doesn’t make it easier to imagine how a couch will feel once it’s in your home.
The good news is that there are plenty of great couches out there, often for the same affordable prices as the bad ones. To find them, I caucused designers, resellers, co-workers, and friends, and honed in on two essential qualities: comfort and durability. A couch should invite you to sit on it for hours without the need to move to a comfier seat. It also should not, with reasonable maintenance, deflate, discolor, fray, or sag within a few years. To test for comfort, I visited 17 showrooms across New York City and sat on a final tally of 100 couches. (Article and American Leather, which don’t have showrooms nearby, shipped couches to our office.)
Durability is trickier to measure. A sofa being expensive doesn’t guarantee it will last (see the 2017 Awl piece about theWest Elm Peggy sofa), but I couldn’t simulate years of wear and tear on dozens of sofas. I came up with a few proxies: I’ve tested a few models in our office for several months, and I’ve also asked furniture resellers about the brands that fare the best secondhand. Reddit and secondhand sites are fantastic resources; if buyers feel scammed by a furniture company or sofa model, they will be vocal online. I also search for models on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace, the best way to see how a sofa might look after a few years of wear and tear. Alarm bells go off if my search turns up a lot of sofas that look sad and deflated. If the sofa looks great — or if I don’t see many listings, indicating that buyers aren’t reselling — that’s a good sign.
Updated on August 7, 2026
Added five couches, including a sub-$1,000 Article couch and a made-in-America designer favorite, and checked stock and updated prices for all of the sofas on our list.
Our top picks
Whatwe’relookingfor
Frame
The frame provides a sofa’s structure, supporting your weight when you sit down. Look for strong materials like hardwood and metal, and avoid particleboard, which is weaker and more prone to breaking. The frame will also often contain springs, which help distribute your weight for support and bounce. Where possible, I’m listing what style of springs a sofa contains.
Fill
A good couch is a comfortable one, and ergonomics specialists likeEsther Gokhale, a posture-focused integrative therapist in the Bay Area, said that being able to keep a lengthened spine on it (a.k.a. not slouching) matters most. Most couch cushions have a foam core wrapped in a softer and more pillowy material, like polyester fiber fill, feathers, down, or a blend of all three. High-quality foam and filling are the most important qualities in how comfortable your couch is — look for high-density or high-resiliency foam.
Upholstery
Upholsteryis the most fun aesthetic decision when buying a sofa — go for anything from buttery leather to mid-century tweed to velvet. To avoid cushions that go threadbare or pill, look for their Martindale rating, a measure of a textile’s resistance to abrasion. I’m looking for a rating of above 40,000 Martindales for the heavy daily use you can expect from a sofa.
Size
Measuring is key when buying a sofa — both for ensuringthat it will fit throughthe door and that the proportions make sense for your space. Designers recommend marking the dimensions on your floor with masking tape to get a sense of the footprint before you buy.
Best overall
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Frame:Engineered hardwood, sinuous spring |Filling:Polyfoam; fiber and feather-down blend |Upholstery:246 options, including performance fabrics |Size:78, 90, and 102 inches
In my quest to sit on every sofa in New York City, there were only a few that I looped back to sit on multiple times to confirm that they really were as comfortable as I first thought. One of them was the Crate & Barrel Oceanside sofa, a customizable, reasonably priced, fits-anyone sofa with some of the comfiest seat cushions I encountered. They’re halfway between firm and cushy, a nice soft sink without the pillowy feeling that signals high maintenance. I tested a model upholstered in performance fabric (Ascend in ivory); some performance fabrics can feel crunchy or plasticky, and I was surprised at how soft it felt.
Another reason it’s my Best in Class pick: It’s versatile. The Oceanside has a minimal-yet-friendly design that would look good anywhere; most of the product photography shows a Nantucket-y white, but there are hundreds of upholstery options in a wide range of colors. ( I like a greenish twill called Chalk and lemon-yellow velvet.) If it’s too low, you can order a higher seat; if you want to lounge, you can choose deeper seats. It’s easy to build outa custom sectional.
Although I don’t have a tester who can speak to the long-term durability of the Oceanside sofa specifically, I’ve spoken to several people who have similar Crate & Barrel sofas that have held up for well over a decade. If you prefer a less blocky silhouette, try theCrate & Barrel Lounge, which has many of the same specs and was recommended as aflop sofa.
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Crate & Barrel Lounge Sofa
Best couch under $1,500
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Frame:Solid and engineered wood, sinuous springs |Filling:High-density foam and down seat cushions, recycled polyfiber back cushions |Upholstery:73% polyester, 27% cotton performance fabric |Size:7, 8, and 9 feet
Quince has become a one-stop shopfor tasteful minimalist staples. Its home goods can be hit or miss; this couch is a hit. Strategist associate editor Jeremy Rellosa has beentesting itfor over a year and gets better sleep on it than his own bed. It’s well-made and comfortable, with a single bench cushion that feels firm but buoyant. When I sat on it myself, I was also impressed by the quality of the construction and upholstery. It’s also very low maintenance — the performance fabric makes for easy cleaning. (Rellosa reported one major spill that could stain a fussier sofa, and neither of us could see any trace of it.)Like other Quince products, it’s a solid bet if you’re looking for a trendy, neutral style at a much lower price than other retailers. It also comes with free white-glove shipping, so there’s very little hassle involved in getting it into your home.
Best couch under $1,000
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Frame:Solid rubberwood, plywood, steel S-springs |Filling:Foam, polyfill |Upholstery:Polyester, 50,000 Martindale rating |Size:80 inches
When I tested Article’s $800 Hanson sofa at our office,I wrote thatit’s the best couch I’ve seen for the price in a while. It’s sturdily made and comfortable — Strategist junior writer Bella Druckman said that it’s herfavorite place to sit and work in the office— and although I don’t love the aesthetic of its polyester chenille upholstery, it’s great value for your money. Checking in several months later, it’s still in great shape: The cushions haven’t sagged or deflated, and the upholstery is pill-free and looks as good as new.
Our other favorite couches
Best loungy couch
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Frame:Hardwood frame, sinuous coil suspension |Fill:Spring and foam seat cushion, fiber-down blend back cushion |Upholstery:229 options, including leather and performance fabrics |Size:Five options from 70 inches to 102 inches
Room & Board is one of my favorite sofa companies — it is in the same price range asCrate & Barrel and West Elm, but I’ve found its furniture to be higher quality and more consistent. (Jon — who asked to go by his first name only — an experiencedcouch resellerand the owner of consignment storeKydeco, agrees: “I’ve had Room & Board sofas come in ten years old that look brand-new.”) The caveat is that its designs are not always trendy, but that’s been changing recently. There are many versions of this deep, loungy silhouette on the market, but Room & Board does it best. It has supportive spring-seat cushions and perfect proportions: deep and unstructured enough for sprawling out, not so deep that you have to fight your way out. The cushions are smooth and even, the seams lie flat, and small design details are well considered.
Best velvet couch
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Frame:Laminated hardwood, sinuous springs |Fill:High-resiliency foam, fiber padding, hypoallergenic blend of down and feathers, spring coils |Upholstery:Ten fabrics, over 100 colors |Size:69, 79, and 89 inches
Anthropologie’s Willoughby sofa is the platonic ideal of an overstuffed vintage velvet couch. “It nods to an iconic George Smith, but for a fraction of the price,” says Taylor. It isn’t squishy or fluffy like the RH Cloud, but is still quite comfortable for a firmer sofa, with an even, bouncy sink. Though it comes in leather and brushed cotton, it is most popular in cotton-polyester velvet, which has a substantial, plush handfeel. Upholstery with a dense weave is also great for pets with claws — a fabric with a more open weave, like linen or bouclé, will be irresistible to cats, but velvet is dense enough that it’s hard to get a claw into and won’t snag easily.
Best down-filled couch
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RH Cloud Sofa
Frame:Engineered wood and hardwood with corner-blocked joinery, pocket springs |Fill:High-resiliency foam, down, and feather seat cushions; feather, down and polyfiber back cushions |Upholstery:98 fabrics, including leather |Size:Five lengths, from 72 inches to 120 inches
The RH Cloud was the first sofa I tested, and I think all the other sofas suffered for it. The fluffiest of fluffy sofas, you sink into its feather-and-down-filled cushions and never want to leave. It’s a favorite of celebrities and influencers, includingStas Karanikolaou, who included it in her list of things she can’t live without. “I have an emotional attachment to it. I spend probably 70 percent of my life on my couch,” she says. “It’s like you’re laying on a duvet.”
It’s worth noting that, like other down-filled sofas, the RH Cloud is not low-maintenance. Down has the magical ability toreinflate again and againafter it’s compressed, but it requires fluffing to get air back into the fibers and restore that nice fluffy loft. If daily or weekly cushion refluffing does not appeal to you, a firmer sofa like Anthropologie’s Willoughby couch or the Room & Board Fia may be preferable.
Best (less expensive) feather-filled couch
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Frame:Solid pine |Fill:Feather |Upholstery:Performance polyester-nylon | Size: 86 inches
This feather-filled sofa from World Market is one of the Strategist’sfavorite less expensive couchesand was recommended to us by two designers,Baylee FloydandEmerie Forehand, both of whom love its breezy, coastal style. Floyd mentions it specifically as an affordable dupe for the RH Cloud couch with similarly squishy, fluffy cushions and a “casual, laid-back vibe.”
Strategist writer Tembe Denton-Hurst is testing the Brynn sofa in her apartment and says it looks better in person than in the picture. Plus, it’s very comfortable — “like a couch of pillows,” she says. (She rated it five out of five for comfort.) The sofa has another unexpected perk: Her cats aren’t interested in scratching the woven upholstery, and because the frame goes all the way to the floor, they can’t get underneath and cause havoc.
Best soft slipcover couch
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Frame:Hardwood and plywood, webbing, sinuous springs |Fill:High-density foam, choice of feather down or poly fill |Upholstery:Removable slipcovers in linen, cotton canvas, velvet, and faux fur; 31 colors |Size:72 or 84 inches
If you like Belgian linen sheets and taking naps, you’ll love the Sixpenny Neva. It’s a fluffy, squishy sofa with removable slipcovers and cushions that are heavier on the down (or polyfill, if you have allergies or concerns about animal products) and lighter on the foam than the average sofa. The trade-off is that the Neva will never look crisp and untouched, and you’ll have to occasionally refluff the cushions to keep them plump, but it’s incredibly comfortable. Eva Lee, director of Politico’s newsroom operations, bought theNeva love seatin the washed-cotton-linen fabric for a studio apartment she shares with her dog. “I’ve washed the covers multiple times, and they slip back on easily and still look good,” she reports.
The Neva is not the lowest-maintenance sofa, best suited for those who enjoy the highs and lows of caring for natural fibers. (I am in this camp, but I don’t have pets or kids.) Other than a recycled syntheticfauxfur and a woven recycled polyester, the upholstery fabrics are all made from cotton, linen, or a blend of the two, without synthetic fibers, and aren’t treated with products to make them stain- or UV-resistant. That means they break in beautifully and have a lovely handfeel, but the color may change over time. Thread-dyed cotton linen is best for UV resistance, and it also helps to wash all the slipcovers at once to keep color even. You can find more of the brand’s textile-care recommendationson their website.
Best firmer slipcover couch
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Frame:Hardwood, sinuous springs |Fill:High-resiliency foam; feathers, down, and fiber |Upholstery:23 fabrics, including performance fabrics and linen |Size:12 sizes, from 60 inches to 120 inches
For a slipcovered couch with a firmer feel and lower-maintenance upholstery, I recommend the Maiden Home Dune, which comes recommended byinterior designer Emily C. Butler: “I have purchased several Maiden Home sofas for clients over the past year with great success,” she says. The Dune has a similar breezy, lived-in look to the Sixpenny Neva, with a few features that translate to easier maintenance. The cushions are firmer and require less fluffing, and the sofa also comes in performance fabric, which helps prevent stains from setting. Like the Neva, slipcovers can be removed and washed, and both brands recommend air-drying.
Best kidproof sofa
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West Elm Andes Sofa
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West Elm Andes 3-Piece Ottoman Sectional
Frame:Solid eucalyptus and engineered hardwood frame, sinuous springs |Fill:High-resiliency polyurethane foam cores, fiber wrap |Upholstery:131 fabrics |Size:8 sizes, including sectional
Multiple parents have singled out the West Elm Andes sofa as holding up well to toddlers and young kids.New Yorkdeputy editor Alexis Swerdloffsays her kids “literally use it a trampoline,” and production designer Anastasia White says thather Andes sectionalhas been through multiple spot-cleanings and doesn’t look the worse for it. In my experience, it’s on the firmer side — the high-resiliency foam core that makes it impervious to jumping toddlers also makes for a less cushy sit — but it’s a great choice for a family sofa that looks chic but can take some hits.
Best couch for durability
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Benchmade Modern Eva Sofa
Frame:Engineered hardwood, webbing |Fill:High-resiliency foam and fiber |Upholstery:131 fabrics, including performance fabrics and leather |Size:Eight sizes, from 65 inches to 100 inches
Jon, the furniture reseller, sees a lot of old sofas, and he ranks Benchmade Modern highly for long-term durability. “It’s not cheap, but they’re unreal,” he says. He attributes that to the brand’s foam, an essential ingredient in sofa cushions that has grown more expensive in recent years. (If a sofa looks saggy and deflated, blame the foam.) Benchmade Modern’s foam is especially high quality: “They do not cheap out on that at all,” he says. Its sofas are made in America and available in a ton of configurations, including eight sizes and over 100 fabrics.
Best retro couch
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Frame:Plywood |Fill:High-resiliency foam |Upholstery:22 fabrics |Size:86 inches, 96 inches
Sabai is a relatively new player in the sofa game — it sells a small range of stylish sofas and sleepers, all made in America. When I visited its Williamsburg showroom with Strategist senior writer Liza Corsillo, we both fell for its upholstery — especially a cotton-hemp blend with thin stripes, the perfect level of playful without skewing so maximalist that it dominates the whole room. I’d pair it with the Elevate, my favorite model I tried — I liked its supportive but not stiff foam cushions and the retro silhouette of its sloped arms.
Best chunky couch
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Hay Mags Soft Low 2.5-Seat Sofa
Frame:Wood, springs |Fill:High-density foam, down |Upholstery:36 fabrics, including leather |Size:92.25 inches, 121.75 inches
After months of research, creative directorIsabel Castillo Guijarrobought the Mags 2.5-seat sofa from Hay because it had all the elements she was looking for: low, comfortable (“sturdy but not hard”), timeless, and durable. Guijarro placed it in the middle of the room and enjoys it as a “social sofa”: friends can sprawl out, sit on the armrests, or lean against the back without obstructing conversation.
I tried it out at the Design Within Reach store in midtown Manhattan and was impressed by the quality of the construction and materials. It was firmer than I expected, not at all squishy or fluffy — a salesperson told me that “soft” in the name refers to the sofa’s soft curves rather than the feel of its cushions — but it was comfortable and supportive. It has a big, fun, chubby footprint (even the smaller size is larger than many sofas on this list), so it may be better suited for large spaces than small apartments. Strategist senior editor Simone Kitchens has the Mags sofa (a deeply discounted deadstock oneoriginally meant for a WeWork) and reports that it’s durable: After four years, it is holding up well with no pilling or sagging.
Best bench-cushion sofa
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Frame:Unlisted |Fill:High-density foam, fill-wrapped foam back cushion |Upholstery:Over 100 fabrics, including leather |Size:94 inches, 108 inches
American Leather is a Texas company known for high-quality engineering. It makes one of my favoritesleeper sofas, but I wasn’t a huge fan of its sofa-sofas — until Itested a new model, the Brooklyn, in our office. It is rare to find a chic couch that is also supremely comfortable, and this sofa aces both tests. The model we tested was made of leather and a cotton-linen fabric meant to imitate mohair, but you can choose from over 100 upholstery options (not just leather).
Best mid-century modern sofa
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Room&Board Pierson Sofa
Frame:Hardwood frame, webbing |Fill:High-resiliency foam; feather, down, and fiber; downproof ticking |Upholstery:223 options, including leather and performance fabrics |Size:79, 89, and 102 inches
I found out about the Pierson sofa from Alyssa Shelasky, a columnist at the Cut and editor of the “Sex Diaries” series, who bought it after a long search for a couch with her ideal depth of 40 inches (“Deep enough to blissfully watchThe Traitorsafter a long stressful day of deadlines and parenting, but not so deep that I never left my apartment again.”) The sofa has a lot of qualities I’m looking for — a hardwood frame, high-quality foam cushions, tons of fabric options — and is very comfortable to sit in, with a firmer, supportive feel. I especially like theleather version— leather is tricky to sew, and the Pierson had some of the best sewing and finishes I saw in all my showroom visits. Most of the company’s furniture is made in America, including the Pierson, which is manufactured in Texas.
Best boneless sofa
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Rove Lab M1 Loveseat
Frame:No frame |Filling:Foam |Upholstery:Oeko-Tex polyester |Size:Modular; sold inthree sizes
This Rove Lab love seat is part of the “boneless sofa” trend: It’s an all-foam sofa with no hard frame inside. The trade-off of a boneless sofa is that it’s cheap, lightweight, and easy to move and set up — this one came rolled up in boxes like a DTC mattress — but tend to have a firmer feel, since the foam in the cushions has to be dense enough to hold the whole thing together. Boneless sofas also live or die on the quality of the foam: A badly made one will deflate in a few months like a leaky air mattress.
After six months of testing, the M1 looks good as new. We’ve had guests sleep on it comfortably, and since it’s so lightweight, it’s easy to unzip the sections and reposition them as chairs. A few design quirks mean that it doesn’t look as put-together as some others on this list, but it’s a great option for those who want something modular or to avoid hauling heavy furniture. The all-foam construction also means that there are no hard edges to bump your head on, so it would be great for kids.
Best heirloom sofa
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Cisco Home Vista Sofa
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Frame:FSC-certified hardwood |Filling:Multiple options, includinglatex, feathers, and organic cotton |Upholstery:164 fabric options|Size:Multiple
Cisco Home is a California company that makes all of its furniture in the U.S. from FSC-certified hardwood, with the option for organic fill and fabrics. The brand has come up often amongdesign professionals(it produces a line of sofas withJohn Derian) for beautifully crafted pieces that will stand the test of time. Most Cisco sofas are not particularly trendy, but that’s part of the appeal: One thingwriter David Cogginsloves about his is that “it’s impossible to tell how old it is.”
A note on secondhand sofas
I own two sofas I love, and neither of them were purchased new. The first is aGae Aulenti Orsaysofa that came froma vintage dealer via Instagram, and the second is aModernica Cloudfrom the ’90s we bought on Facebook Marketplace for $300. Both are in great shape despite their age. “Based on my experience with new and used furniture, the quality in new furniture has decreased tremendously,” says Jon. A new sofa that’s built to last will cost you thousands of dollars. “But used, you’re getting absolute steals,” he says — and you’ll also find more interesting options.
Of course, no one wants a sofa with mysterious stains or a bedbug infestation, but those are fairly easy to avoid if you’re buying from a vintage-furniture store or an auction. (You can ask the seller if a couch has been cleaned recently, or do it yourself with anupholstery cleaner.) My go-tos include Facebook Marketplace and the estate-sale siteAuctionNinja; for a less chaotic interface (but higher prices), tryLiveAuctioneersandInvaluable. If you’re in the New York area, check outFurnish Green,Dream Fishing Tackle,Housing Works,Dobbin Street Co-Op,Bygone Icons, andKydeco.
Some more sofas we’ve written about
Our experts
•Ashlie Broderic, interior designer
•Baylee Floyd, interior designer
•Emerie Forehand, interior designer
• Heather Goerzen,Havenlydesign editor
•Esther Gokhale, integrative therapist
•Isabel Castillo Guijarro, creative director
•Emily Henderson, interior designer
•Joanna Jones, interior designer
•Alexandra Kalita, interior designer
•Eva Lee, director of BuzzFeed’s newsroom operations
•Dan Mazzarini, interior designer
•Courtney McLeod, interior designer
•Jenn O’Brien, interior designer
• Aelfie Oudghiri,Aelfiefounder
• Margaret Rhodes, former Strategist senior editor
• Carlie Rice,Havenlysocial-media manager
•Joslyn Taylor, interior designer
•C.S. Valentin, interior designer
•Sophia Venturo, interior designer
•Evelyn Zhang, designer
Additional reporting by Lauren Ro.
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