12 best sofa beds that are so comfy your guests won’t want to leave

If you’re after a nippy turnaround from sofa to bed, the Gallway, with its user-friendly click clack mechanism, proves particularly speedy and efficient. Simply unzip and pull out the hidden metal legs at the back, lunge the backrest forward, lay it flat, and voila! A makeshift double bed in seconds.

This one is a comfy sofa and a comfy bed in equal measure, meaning it can absolutely be used as a main settee – yet you have the versatility of an extra guest bed when you need it. Mid-century in design, the sofa bed is elevated off the floor with tapered wooden legs. Despite its bulk (think firm and supportive deep cushioning), it boasts a clean silhouette.

The sofa bed comes in a small range of plush velvet-like fabrics, while decorative details include smart buttoning at the back and curvy armrests. At £900, this is a quality mid-priced buy.

If there were a prize for the quickest turnaround when it comes to transforming a couch into a bed, this would be a contender. Futon-like in design, the sofa bed boasts a simple fold-out function, which proves a godsend for late nights when all your guests want to do is crash. Just unfurl it and pull out the hidden metal legs.

In its bed configuration, the Alexa measures up as a small double, making it perfectly compact and suited to smaller spaces, loft rooms, and indeed spare rooms that won’t quite fit a standard double bed.

The Alexa boasts a plush velvet upholstery fabric that’s soft to the touch yet reliably hardwearing and durable. We love the addition of the matching back cushions – which, rather handily, double up as comfy pillows.

There’s no denying sofa beds can be cumbersome things, which is why Swyft’s newly transformable model 02 caught our eye. The low-sitting 02 is the sofa-in-a-box brand’s bestseller, for obvious reasons: it is a wholly stylish affair with design roots in mid-century modern. It boasts a wide comfy seat; firm but suitably slouchy back cushions; and a slimline frame that makes it compact enough for tight spaces. You wouldn’t know this one’s a sofa bed at all, with its uninterrupted, angular lines.

Like any click clack sofa bed worth its salt, the 02 can be laid flat in a matter of seconds. With the addition of hidden metal legs, the seat cushion becomes the mattress, while the back of the sofa is pushed down to make up the remaining surface area. As with all of Swyft’s offerings, the sofa bed comes in a range of highly durable and stain-resistant fabrics, but you do get a smart mattress topper to go with this one, too. It may be slim, but it is surprisingly comfy, both as a sofa and a bed.

Contemporary and pleasingly boxy in design, this is another dual-function furniture piece that you wouldn’t know transforms into an inviting bed – the way it does so is quite the feat of engineering.

For the ultimate in comfort for your overnight guests, this sofa becomes a king size bed in a jiffy, with a simple pull out section, while the back of the sofa comes forward and lies flat, to give you a generous surface area. What we loved most about the Ashley is the way we can store the back cushions within the frame of the bed, including the ottoman section, keeping the living room free from clutter. What’s more, the side cushions double up as handy pillows.

As a corner sofa, this one is cosy, sociable and super comfy – choose left- or right-hand configurations, depending on your space. As a bed, it is a dream – guests can spread out in style, and they’ll thank you for it.

The Rosslyn is a stylish, mid-century-inspired sofa bed that’s comfy enough to use as your main settee. Its nifty click-clack design enables you to lie it flat, while its tall, clean-lined armrests act as both head- and footboard (albeit for two-thirds, rather than end-to-end).

For a practical sofa bed, there’s little in the way of bulk here, which is a testament to its thoughtful design. It is also elevated on tall metal, pole-like feet, to give you the illusion of extra floor space. Importantly, the Rosslyn proves equally comfy as a bed and sofa, and it’s as easy to lie it flat as it is to push it upright again. You won’t break a sweat.

Borrowing heavily from classic mid-century modern design is this sleek number from John Lewis & Partners’ Anyday range. This sofa bed is made with a deep memory foam that, just like a mattress, cleverly moulds to the shape of your body and quickly returns to its original form when not in use.

This is another nifty click-clack design, which enables you to make up the bed in a matter of moments, hidden support legs are neatly zipped up inside the upholstery at the back of the piece, and the backrest folds down with ease.

Its angular frame is made from a mix of pine and plywood and boasts a warm, honey tone, while the upholstery fabric is suitably durable for heavy, everyday use. Apart from being a particularly stylish addition to the living room, this one proves an invaluable space-saver too, making it ideal for smaller rooms.

A Chesterfield-inspired sofa bed, the Patrick features the classic deep buttoning, low backrest, scroll arms and decorative turned wooden feet. Underneath its plush cushioning is a supportive and springy bed, which easily folds out via a lightweight metal frame that doesn’t lie too low within the structure of the sofa, yet allows the sleeper to feel cosy and cocooned.

This is a brand with a proven track record when it comes to quality. Like all of Sofa.com’s handcrafted seating offerings, the Patrick comes in a huge range of fabric choices, too. Think eye-popping bright velvets, silky jacquard weaves in earthy tones, soft leathers from light to dark, or the new texture-rich bubble velvet, as well as a choice of English oak or darker mahogany feet.

Available as a two-, three-, and a handy two-and-a-half-seater, the sofa bed proves a versatile number. This is a beautifully made piece that, until it’s opened up, doesn’t look like a sofa bed at all.

The most bed-like piece in our review is also the most sculptural and design-led – with a price tag to suit. Like a contemporary day bed, there’s not much shifting around needed to swiftly turn your settee into a bed – simply remove the cushions and pull out the seat to extend (or rather glide it out, with its integrated TouchGlide technology).

As comfy as it looks, the low-sitting sofa bed boasts a wonderfully deep tufted seat cushion with an equally supportive backrest to match. It is crafted with an engineered steel frame and boasts innovative springs and the brand’s own Postureflex seating system for comfort and support.

The Felix’s added luxuries include smart pockets to use with LED reading lights, swivel tables or charge tables, keeping unsightly leads out of sight, so as not to interrupt those clean, contemporary lines. This one’s not cheap but it is a modern beauty.

The hero piece of a larger living room setup, the Richmond, in this configuration, is a sprawling symmetrical corner sofa that also boasts an integrated pull-out bed, making it one highly functional – and comfortable – settee.

Stylishly boxy and contemporary in design, the handcrafted sofa boasts a soft, warm chenille upholstery fabric in a comprehensive choice of colours from calming neutrals to rich, nature-inspired hues. Seat cushions are filled with foam wrapped in a soft Dacron fabric, which gives you the perfect balance between comfort and support, while the sofa’s French piping detailing awards it a smart, tailored look.

In keeping with the neatness, the bed, with its light metal frame and generous mattress, is cleverly tucked away and can be easily unfolded to create a comfy extra sleep space in moments. This, of course, sits snug within the shape of the corner sofa, making it feel extra spacious – a dream to dive into.

Boxy and modern, Snug’s big chill offers a big impact in any living space. This is another bed-in-a-box piece that comes in the slimmest possible packages, designed to fit through tight doors and awkward spaces, which can be a godsend if you live in a flat. It slots together with ease and without a screwdriver in sight, so you can down tools and relax.

The three-seater is crafted with pocket springs wrapped in a thick foam, which gives you a pleasing bounce when you sit down. Meanwhile, the metal bed frame is neatly concealed within the sofa and folds out with ease, while the foam mattress proves impressively thick and comfy for a sofa bed.

As with all of Snug’s settees and armchairs, the big chill comes in a small range of hardworking fabrics, which are vegan-friendly and spill-resistant.

The luxurious Paris sofa bed ranges in size from an armchair all the way up to an expansive five-seater, making it one versatile furniture piece. It’s up to you whether you want to keep it compact to save on space or go extra-large for a sprawling, family-friendly settee that transforms into a true-to-size super-king bed (your overnight guests will love you).

There’s a choice of three mattresses: pocket sprung, memory foam, or reflex. Meanwhile, upholstery fabrics range from leathers to wools to easy-clean velvet – in fact, you can even choose your own material if you’ve got designs on a particular colour or pattern. Stylish add-ons include headrests, footstools, bolster cushions and nifty side pockets, making this made-to-order piece practically bespoke.

Timeless in shape with its slimline silhouette, gently curved armrests and high, tapered legs, this high-seated sofa bed is as elegant as it is practical. Even in its vast five-seater configuration, the steel mechanism allows you to open it up in one smooth motion.

When selecting a sofa bed, your priority should be comfort – you’ll want to make sure your guests don’t regret staying over when they wake up in the morning. For this reason, we had to put mattress brand Emma’s sofa bed to the test.

Much like the brand’s mattresses, the sofa bed arrives in boxes – this makes it great if you have tight corners you need to manoeuvre around, but it does result in lots of cardboard packaging that needs recycling (we’d have loved it if the brand had taken it away). If you’re concerned about putting it together, we did it in less than 10 minutes and found it surprisingly easy. What’s more, transforming it from a comfortable sofa to a bed is easy, and takes a matter of seconds – all you have to do is pull the mattress out from under the sofa and you’re good to go.

Unlike other sofa beds we’ve tested, you lie on it width-ways, which we found provides more space. The mattress is firm yet comfortable and provides a decent amount of support. Owing to the thickness (18cm), we found we couldn’t feel the springs or the frame of the bed while sleeping on it, which sets it apart from some other designs. This level of firmness, though, is also present when it’s being used as a sofa – it seems particularly upright and stiff, so, we’d certainly recommend investing in some soft cushions.