Originally launched as Casper’s discount mattress offering, Casper Essential is a relatively young brand that has had a few years to make waves in the mattress industry. Juno is a new mattress brand seeking to build on its strong start in the Canadian market. Here’s an overview of both companies.

Casper Essential

Casper introduced their bed-in-a-box in 2014 by launching a single-firmness, ‘one-size-fits-all’ mattress. The Casper mattress initially launched in the United States but has since expanded to Canada and a selection of European countries. Having received tens of millions of dollars of funding from the Target Corporation and celebrities like Ashton Kutcher, the Casper mattress has expanded their product catalogue by offering a budget version (the Essential) of the original Casper mattress.

Juno

The Juno mattress was launched in August of 2019 by the Canadian mattress-in-a-box company GoodMorning.com. Designed, sold, and manufactured exclusively in Canada, Juno is the logical next step in the progression of GoodMorning.com’s mission to make high-quality sleep more affordable throughout Canada. This value mattress comes with all the features GoodMorning.com is famous for, such as the 120-night trial, 15-year warranty, and outstanding Canadian customer care – and does so at a very affordable price.

Delivery, Trial, Returns	Casper Essential	Juno
Shipping cost:	Free shipping	Free shipping
Shipping time:	1–6 days	3–10 days
Sleep trial length:	100 nights	120 nights
Return ease:	Company picks up	Company picks up
Refund:	Yes, full refund	Yes, full refund
Additional fees:	No	No

Thanks to modern compression methods and the rising popularity of the bed-in-a-box, mattresses can now be shipped far more efficiently and conveniently than ever before. Customers no longer need to take a day off work to accept a delivery. Boxed beds are now delivered with the same convenience as most Amazon orders. Some bed-in-a-box companies even offer same-day delivery to certain areas.

Delivery

Casper Essential uses UPS to deliver while Juno uses FedEx. Both mattresses are delivered directly to customers’ doors throughout most parts of Canada. In addition, both companies offer free shipping to most Canadian postal codes with remote shipping fees applying to a minority of addresses.

Casper Essential’s delivery estimate is 1 to 6 business days while Juno’s is 3 to 10 business days excluding public holidays.

Trial Period

Like many bed-in-a-box companies, Casper Essential and Juno both heavily promote their in-home sleep trials. Juno has the longest sleep trial of the two mattress brands at 120 nights. Casper Essential offers a shorter 100-night sleep trial. 

Returns and Additional Fees

Both Casper Essential and Juno offer free returns with a full refund option and no additional fees.

Out of the Box	Casper Essential	Juno
Delivered in a box:	Yes	Yes
Box dimensions:	16" x 16" x 42"	16" x 16" x 45"
Box opening:	Scissors required	Scissors required
Box/mattress fitting:	Tight	Tight
Protection layers:	5	2
Expansion time:	1 minute	2 minutes

Delivery Times & Opening the Box

The Casper Essential and Juno mattresses arrived within the expected delivery times. Both mattresses arrived well-protected in their respective boxes. In each case, heavy-duty plastic layers were used to prevent damage during shipping.

Both mattress boxes came sealed with heavy-duty tape. Customers will need scissors or a knife to open the box. To prevent injuries and to avoid damaging the mattress inside, please remember to be very careful when using sharp objects to open the box.

Setting up the Mattress

Once opened, each compressed mattress is easy to remove from the box. We recommend a ‘tip-and-pull’ motion to slowly slide the mattress out from its cardboard container. Simply tip the box from a vertical position down to its side, and then pull the lightweight box away from the bundled mattress. It’s most efficient to do this process in the room where you intend to use the mattress.

Both mattresses are protected with multiple layers of heavy-duty plastic to compress it in a vacuum seal and keep it tightly rolled up for shipping.

Customers will need to unwrap the outer layer in order to unroll the mattress, which will still be in its compressed form. Some helpful advice at this stage is to place the rolled up mattress onto the designated bed frame. Next, like the end of a roll of tape, find and peel back the outer layer of plastic. You can use the momentum of unrolling the compressed mattress along the bed frame to help remove the rest of this layer, which could be up to a few meters long. After completing this process, the mattress will be lying unrolled before you.

Expansion Time

Next, cut the final layer of plastic. The vacuum seal now broken, the mattress will quickly begin to decompress. Remove this final layer of plastic as the mattresses expands to its full height. For the Casper Essential, full expansion took around 1 minute while Juno took roughly 2 minutes to fully expand.

Even so, one of the biggest differences between Casper Essential and Juno can be seen in their respective foam layers and in how they’re used. For instance, Casper Essential has a transition layer where Juno opts for a thicker support layer. In addition, while Juno’s cover is made from polyester and viscose, Casper Essential’s is made from polyester and spandex. 

In addition, both mattresses sport a distinct cover design. With mattresses, top covers are sometimes removable. In this case, both Casper Essential and Juno are spot-clean only.

Casper Essential vs Juno Mattress Layers

Casper Essential Mattress Layers

The Casper Essential contains three layers of foam. Like many of the combination foam mattresses on the market today, all layers in the Casper Essential work together to provide an overall level of comfort and support.

• First layer: 2 inches of Comfort foam. This top layer of foam provides extra softness as you lie down and claims to use breathable materials. Layer density: Unspecified.

• Second layer: 1.5 inches of memory foam. This layer works with the layer above to assist with pressure-point relief and help conform to the sleeper’s body shape. Layer density: Unspecified.

• Third layer: 5 inches of support foam. This bottom support layer gives the Casper Essential its structure and prevents sleepers from sinking in too deep. Layer density: Unspecified.

Of note: Foam density or origin information for the Casper Essential is not publicly available.

Juno Mattress Layers

The Juno mattress contains two layers of foam. Like many combination foam mattresses available on the market today, these two layers work together to provide comfort and support. 

• First layer: 2 inches of Full-Body Cooling Gel Foam. This top layer offers contoured comfort, as well as overall cooling and breathability. Foam density: 2.5 lbs/ft³.

• Second layer: 6 inches of Total Support Foam. This bottom layer allows Juno to provide support and firmness to sleepers. This layer improves overall edge support while reducing motion transfer. Foam density: 1.8 lbs/ft³.

Casper Essential vs Juno Mattress Cover

Like the Bloom Earth, the budget line from Sleep Country’s Bloom collection, the Casper Essential has an all-grey cover. The only accent is the blue Casper logo on either sidewall. The top cover is made from a blend of polyester (98%) and spandex (2%). While some mattress covers are able to be removed and washed, the Casper Essential’s top cover is spot-clean only and cannot be freshened up in the washing machine.

Juno Mattress Cover

Juno’s cover design is an homage to the iconic striped wool socks Canadians have worn for generations. The grey, white, and red pattern is made up of a soft blend of polyester and viscose. The red strip running across one end of the mattress is further decorated with white maple leafs to complete the brand’s Canadian identity. Finally, there’s a zipper underneath the mattress that makes it possible for you to remove the cover if necessary for easier care and maintenance.

Consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious when making purchases. Retailers both in and out of the mattress industry have been incorporating more eco-friendly and ethical policies when selling products and choosing suppliers. GoodMorning.com Inc. carried out a survey in February 2017, discovering that almost 50% of Canadians are willing to spend more money for more environmentally friendly products. Therefore, in every review on Mattress-Reviews.com, we will highlight each mattress company’s green philosophy, as well as how prominent their policies are on their websites.

Feel & Firmness	Casper Essential	Juno
Feel:	Medium-Firm	Medium-Firm
Firmness:	5.4 / 10	5.6 / 10
Edge Support:	4.6 / 10	4.0 / 10
Motion Isolation:	6.5 / 10	6.2 / 10
Bounce:	3.0 / 10	2.6 / 10

Feel & Firmness

According to the testing conducted by third-party engineers (commissioned by us), the firmness and feel of the Casper Essential mattress and Juno mattress are very similar:

• The Casper Essential is a medium-firm mattress rated at 5.4 / 10 on the firmness scale. The Casper Essential mattress has significant ‘hug.’
• The Juno is a medium-firm mattress rated at 5.6 / 10 on the firmness scale. The Juno sleep surface offers support, comfort, and contouring with some ‘hug.’

Edge Support

Foam mattresses are not known for their edge support; in fact, it is often one of the main issues customers have when moving from innerspring mattresses to foam. According to the testing conducted by third-party engineers (commissioned by us), the Casper Essential and Juno mattresses are not too far apart when it comes to their edge support scores:

• The Casper Essential mattress is rated at 4.6 / 10 on the edge support scale.
• The Juno mattress is rated at 4.0 / 10 on the edge support scale.

Motion Isolation

Motion isolation in foam mattresses is usually very good and one of the main reasons couples make the switch from innerspring to memory foam. According to the testing conducted by third-party engineers (commissioned by us), the Casper Essential and Juno mattress had similar scores for motion isolation:

• The Casper Essential mattress has above-average motion isolation. It is rated at 6.5 / 10 on the motion isolation scale. 
• The Juno mattress has above-average motion isolation. It is rated at 6.2 / 10 on the motion isolation scale.

Bounce

Due to the fact that motion isolation for foam mattresses is generally very good, bounce is generally very low. According to the testing conducted by third-party engineers (commissioned by us), Casper Essential and Juno have similar bounce ratings:

• The Casper Essential mattress has below-average bounce. It is rated at 3.0 / 10 on the bounce scale.
• The Juno mattress has below-average bounce. It is rated at 2.6 / 10 on the bounce scale.

Overview	Casper Essential	Juno
Price (Queen):	$595 USD $850 CAD	$399 CAD
Available in:	USA Canada UK France Germany Austria Switzerland	Canada
Made in:	USA or Canada	Canada
Trial length:	100 nights	120 nights
Warranty:	10 years	15 years
Number of layers:	3	2
Cover materials:	Polyester, spandex	Polyester, viscose
Machine washable:	No	No
Green policies:	No mention on the website	Manufactured using renewable energy; Optimized shipping; Recycled cardboard; Recycled ink
Feel:	Medium-Firm	Medium-Firm
Firmness	5.4 / 10	5.6 / 10
Edge support:	4.6 / 10	4.0 / 10
Motion isolation:	6.5 / 10	6.2 / 10
Bounce:	3.0 / 10	2.6 / 10

Remember, Mattress-Reviews.com is owned, operated, and paid for by GoodMorning.com Inc. and advertises the Novosbed, Douglas, Juno, Recore, Brunswick, Logan & Cove, and Podium brands. The following is strictly our competitive opinion:

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With its positioning and its price relative to Casper’s other mattresses, the Casper Essential is designed to appeal to budget and entry-level shoppers. To that end, it gets a lot of things right with its CertiPUR-US® certification and its medium-firm feel. Despite these positives, however, it’s also one of the most expensive entry-level mattresses available on the market.

Juno also focuses specifically on bargain hunters. What makes this mattress such a steal in comparison to the Casper Essential, however, is that although Juno scores similarly to the Casper Essential in firmness, edge support, motion isolation, and bounce, it retails at $400 less.

On top of the lower price, Juno also offers a longer home sleep trial and warranty compared to the Casper Essential. 

This unbeatable combo of price and value is why Juno is Mattress-Reviews.com’s TOP PICK for MATTRESS UNDER $500 CAD.