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A spare room is a luxury few of us can afford. Even if we did have one, with today’s flexible working patterns, it would be more likely used as a home office than a guest bedroom. Enter the trusty sofa bed – a hardworking, dual-functional piece of furniture that enables you to accommodate overnight guests comfortably.
But sofa beds often get a bad rap, thanks to the clunky mechanisms, bumpy seat cushions, and paper-thin mattresses of old, leaving you with neither a cosy sofa nor a comfy bed.
The great news, though, is sofa beds have evolved, with most contemporary pieces boasting shrewd engineering, clever design, and even high-tech memory foam or coil-sprung mattresses to rival the best ones designed for your bed.
Modern click-clack (or clic clac) styles are considered the easiest to use – simply fold down the backrest of the sofa, which then becomes the mattress. More conventional styles employ an integrated hidden metal frame, complete with a separate mattress, which opens out with ease – contemporary designs can prove surprisingly comfy and user-friendly.
Both types have their pros and cons, of course – it’s all down to personal preference and the space you have available – but the very best sofa beds prove perfectly comfy in either setup and will withstand everyday use.
How we tested the best sofa beds
One of the sofa beds in our tester’s home
(Ali Howard)
We put a range of sofa beds to the test, whether click clack or pull out, looking for that sweet spot that gives you comfort and support in both sofa and bed setups. We weighed up affordability with quality of craftsmanship, and we were keen to test different upholstery fabrics, to see which ones stood up to a battering from the kids – suffice to say, we’ve had numerous sleepovers.
The best sofa beds for 2024 are:
- Best sofa bed overall – Dreams Gallway clic clac sofa bed: £899,
- Best budget sofa bed – Benson for Beds Alexa small double sofa bed: £349.99,
- Best corner sofa bed – Sofology Richmond sofa bed: £2,699, Sofology.co.uk
- Best fold-out sofa bed – Snug the big chill 3-seater sofa bed: £2,109, Snugsofa.com
- Best slim-profile sofa bed – Swyft model 02 3-seater sofa bed: £2,295, Swyfthome.com
