Until a few years ago, I wasn’t someone who cared much about pillows. My checklist was pretty simple: clean, decently soft, and roughly pillow-shaped. If those needs were met then the rest didn’t really matter. As I got older, however, my demands for pillows started to change. Neck pain started popping up at night, and — after experiencing what could only be described as the perfect pillow while on a business trip to Chicago — I realized that finding a great pillow was no longer a nice-to-have but a need-to-have, especially as I entered my 30s.
Given that one in three Americans doesn’t get enough sleep, I’m definitely not alone. We know that sleep is necessary — and that sleeping with the wrong pillow can hurt your health — but finding the perfect pillow isn’t easy. With endless options for pillow height and density, filling, covers, and more, it can be difficult to find the right pillow to suit your preferences and your optimal sleep health.
Enter the Pluto Pillow. Marketed as the “first and only custom sleep pillow brand,” Pluto Pillow offers customized, made-to-order pillows designed to suit your body, sleep habits, and preference. With more than 35 variations offered, each Pluto Pillow features a CertiPUR-US certified solid foam core encased in an outer plush pillow. The rest — including the pillow’s height, density, additives, and outer cover — depends on you.
Obviously, I jumped at the prospect of trying a Pluto Pillow for myself. Ordinarily, I tend to stick to medium- to low-density down-alternative pillows, but I was intrigued with trying a foam pillow that was both plush and supportive, especially since my go-to pillows rarely stay fluffy for long.
Ordering my Pluto Pillow
The process behind ordering my Pluto Pillow was simple, and the first step was filling out a short questionnaire on the company’s website. After entering your basic information — including your name and email, age, height, and weight — the questionnaire begins by asking you a few questions about your current pillow, including its material, softness, height, and how satisfied you are with it. From there, you’re asked about your sleep habits like “Does your head get hot while sleeping?” and “What position do you tend to settle into when you go to bed?” A few final questions about your pillow preferences wrap up the questionnaire, as well as an optional comment box to share any additional information with your pillow builder before your Pluto Pillow results are calculated.
After filling out my questionnaire, I landed on the results page where I was given a description of my Pluto Pillow, which was where I felt my first frustration with the Pluto Pillow process. Instead of being told what my customized pillow would entail, it simply recapped my answers to the questionnaire. The pillow was automatically added to my shopping cart with a placeholder, along with a reassurance that my data was being “calculated on the backend,” so I wouldn’t see my unique pillow make-up before purchasing. Plus, once I navigated away from my results page, the information was gone, so I couldn’t see which options I chose even after confirming my purchase.
While this wasn’t a huge deal-breaker — and Pluto does offer a 110-night risk-free trial — I didn’t like not seeing the results of my questionnaire before purchasing the pillow. Instead of feeling like a fully customized process, it felt a bit more like a marketing gimmick relying on the hype of buzzwords like algorithm and customization to make users feel like it’s a more complex process than it actually is.
Trying out the Pluto Pillow
Unfortunately, my doubts weren’t soothed once my Pluto Pillow arrived. Upon opening the box, there was no mention of what my unique Pluto Pillow was made of — nothing noting the height, density, or material of the pillow I received — just a note thanking me for my purchase.
While the pillow was undoubtedly high quality, with a silky soft quilted cover, this lack of detail didn’t make me feel like I’d received a made-to-order pillow designed uniquely for me. Instead, it felt like I’d filled out a questionnaire that wasn’t much different from using filters to search for pillows on Target’s website, and, instead of having any sense of control over the result, someone just picked the final option for me.
Despite my frustrations with the purchasing process, I decided to give the Pluto Pillow a fair chance to redeem itself, and after sustaining a severe leg injury that left me on bed rest for two weeks, I was given ample time to try it out for myself.
The pillow I received matched my preferences well. It was super plush, low profile, and appeared to tout a cooling cover, but while the pillow itself was clearly high quality, I found it didn’t do much for my overall sleep quality.
Did I like using it? Absolutely. Over the course of my recovery, I found myself reaching for the Pluto Pillow far more than my old ones — especially to prop myself up in bed — and it did a great job of supporting my head and neck while I worked. Plus, I liked how the foam core made it a versatile pillow that could be used for many different sleeping positions, which was especially helpful when my injury made it difficult for me to sleep on my back.
That being said, most nights I found myself tossing the Pluto Pillow off the bed in the middle of the night. Once the foam “molded” to my head, it almost felt flat and hard unless I stuck another pillow under it. (The Casper pillow might be a better choice for sleepers like me.) Obviously, this made it a great pillow for reading or working in bed, but it wasn’t my go-to pillow for sleeping.
Is it worth the price?
While I can definitely understand why some people might enjoy sinking into the pillow after a long day, I wasn’t a convert, so I’m not convinced the Pluto Pillow is worth the $110 price tag. It could be that the specific pillow I received wasn’t right for me, so it’s hard to say conclusively whether or not you’ll like your unique Pluto Pillow, but I don’t know if I’d be willing to give a different variation a try.
That being said, I can’t help but wonder if the price of the Pluto Pillow comes from the questionnaire making the process feel a little more in-depth than it actually is. The company’s website hints at this, stating that they “personalize the best materials to your questionnaire results,” which makes me feel like it’s basically a print-on-demand pillow. The company already has at least 35 different pillows to choose from, they’re just using your questionnaire to decide which one they’ll send you rather than you choosing for yourself.
It almost feels like telling a friend what kind of pillows you like and paying them to pick one for you. Is it better than what you would choose for yourself? Maybe, especially if they know more about pillows and sleep science than you. However, part of what you’re paying for appears to be Pluto Pillow’s algorithm, not just the pillow itself.
Is it worth the added cost? It depends on the person. For some people, it might be. If you’re tired of searching for the right pillow for you or you want to give their algorithm a try, this might be the perfect solution for you. However, if you’re not quite sure what you’re looking for or you want a little more transparency or control over what you’re getting, it might not be worth the higher price tag.
For me, the experience simply wasn’t quite there.
