At alarm o’clock on a January morning, any duvet will feel like heaven: anything’s better than having to haul myself out into the freezing dark. There’s no need to go to the extreme, though: find the best duvet for you and you’ll sleep so well that you’ll rise with a spring in your step and a smile on your face.
You probably don’t need a scientific study to tell you that you feel more refreshed the morning after a good night’s sleep, though there’s plenty of research demonstrating just that. A duvet that helps you sleep better will improve your days as well as your nights. The key is to find one that hits the perfect balance between warmth, weight and breathability for you and your sleep style.
For this test I hunkered down with 10 squishy bedfellows, from a lightweight 3.5-tog microfibre quilt to a 16-tog duvet filled with traceable British wool. Here are my favourites, including one I loved so much I bought it.
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At a glance
Best duvet overall:
Panda the Cloud
Best budget duvet:
Slumberland All Seasons
Best luxury duvet:
Woolroom Deluxe Washable 3-in-1
Best down duvet:
Scooms Hungarian goose down
Best down-like duvet:
Soak & Sleep Soft as Down
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Why you should trust me
I’ve spent decades reviewing products, from smartphones to hay fever remedies, so I’m professionally sceptical of manufacturers’ claims to magically improve our lives by buying their stuff. I also have a solid background in napping, insomnia and swearing at alarm clocks, so I welcome the chance to sleep on the job for the Filter.
Ageing has slowly robbed me of my ability to sleep like a baby – or, indeed, like my pre-menopause self. On the upside, it’s given me a helpfully rigorous perspective when testing mattresses, sleep aids and other things that promise to fix my slumbers.
How I tested
Testing duvets, like testing mattresses, is not just about sleeping. That’s a key part of it, but only as a reward after the graft of sourcing, measuring and assessing my experimental subjects.
Most of the duvets turned up in October. My husband and testing partner, Alan, helped me gather initial impressions, including the casing, stitching and distribution of filling. Then we dived into the duvet pile and wrapped ourselves in each one to assess weight, loft and overall comfort.
Then came the sleeping, which lasted from late October to Christmas, albeit not 24/7. Alan and I shared each duvet for three nights, then slept separately under it for at least a further night to check it was warm enough for a solo sleeper.
Temperatures were helpfully chaotic, with November alone ranging from 4C to 12C at night outdoors. Our bedroom is obviously more temperate than that, at about 15C overnight, but the skittish weather still provided a useful context for testing duvets of different togs.
We also created a hot-room nap test for the summer duvets. This involved heating up our bedroom to 24C by augmenting the radiator with a halogen heater, then having a nap. Not exactly a scientific recreation of summer, but it did give us a rough idea of warm-weather performance.
We used a cotton duvet cover in all our sleep tests, which showed how well cooling, breathability and other factors worked from inside a cover because, of course, that’s how you’ll be using them. Each morning, we made a note of factors such as how comfortable we’d felt when getting into bed, how warm the duvet had made us, and how quickly we fell asleep. We also noted whether we were sweating or felt too cold, if either of us woke in the night.
I washed the duvets that were machine washable, then dried them on my heated clothes airer. This process took a whole day per duvet, but it was reassuring to find that many could be laundered indoors even in the dreck of November.
At the end of testing, I donated all washed duvets to the Southampton hardship charity Scratch, which collects homewares for families in need. Volunteer Paul made me smile (“Oh, you’re famous at Scratch, you’re the reviews lady!”) but also gave me pause by revealing that many of the people they help would have no winter bedding without the Filter’s donations.
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The best duvets you can buy in 2026
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<em>Best duvet overall:</em>Panda the Cloud
- What we love:Keeps you warm but dissipates heat to feel cool on your skin
- What we don’t love:Its 10.5 togs will be too much when the nights warm up
Panda’s duvet was love at first touch for me. Its bright-white casing, made from 100% bamboo viscose, felt silky and cool against my skin, while the bamboo-infused microfibre filling added up to a cosy 10.5 togs for all the warmth we needed in November’s cold snap.
Why we love it
This huggable duvet didn’t let me down after those ecstatic first impressions. Its lofty cosiness helped me drift off faster than normal and kept me warm all night, even when I slept alone. Its breathable bamboo-infused material never left me feeling clammy, and adding a cotton duvet cover didn’t seem to diminish this. I was delighted to find that a slight shift of the duvet during the night felt like flipping a pillow over to the cool side.
At 3.75kg (my measure) for the double I tested, the Panda is one of the heavier duvets in my test, but it didn’t ever feel like it was weighing me down. This was important for me, and even more so for my feet, which get cold but hate being crushed by heavy bedding. It draped around my body just enough to make me feel hugged, but never so much that I felt airless.
This duvet makes barely a sound, so there was no annoying rustling whenever Alan or I turned over in bed. Its filling is generously and evenly distributed between its pillowy stitched squares, and fills right up to the piped edges. It even fared well in my washing machine, and dried in a reasonable seven hours (with a turn in the middle) on my heated clothes airer.
The Panda is not a budget duvet, but I’d rate it as a superb buy, especially given that it comes with a five-year guarantee and 30-night trial. Such a good buy, in fact, that I’ve snapped up one for myself.
It’s a shame that … I’d classify this as an all-season duvet, with the best balance of cosiness and breathability I experienced in this test. However, it doesn’t come in any tog rating other than 10.5, and that would be too warm during a heatwave.
Tog rating: 10.5
Other togs available: none
Sizes available: single, double, king, super king
Casing: 100% bamboo viscose
Filling: 50% bamboo, 50% microfibre made from recycled water bottles
Washing: machine wash at 30C
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<em>Best budget duvet:</em>Slumberland All Seasons
- What we love:Three duvets in one, covering all weathers for a brilliant price
- What we don’t love:Its 100% polyester composition means it tends to trap heat
At this price, this lightweight polyester duvet would already be a decent buy if it were just one duvet. But it’s two – a 4.5 tog and a 9 tog – that fasten together to create a “three-in-one” with a total tog rating of 13.5.
Why we love it
You wouldn’t find this duvet in a five-star hotel, but its price, ease of washing and multi-tog versatility add up to full marks for convenience. It was also the firm favourite of my new rescue cat Lumen, who so loved disappearing into its folds that we had to be careful not to disturb her accidentally – or, indeed, sit on her.
The Slumberland’s polyester filling is well distributed in both sections, and remained so after five nights of acceptably cosy sleep, plus a wash and spin in my machine. Its full 13.5-tog iteration weighed 2.3kg by my measure, making it the lightest winter duvet in my test. It doesn’t scrimp on the warmth, though: I actually found it too warm when I spent a night alone with it, and preferred the 9-tog section on its own.
Neither section is particularly lofty, but this slimness has practical benefits. Each section dried after just a few hours on my heated airer, and I found the whole duvet easy to get into a cover by myself. It also packed neatly into its zippable storage bag for collection by my local hardship charity, Scratch.
It’s a shame that … details such as frayed stitching and straggly corner threads betray the budget nature of this duvet. I also woke up feeling sweaty a couple of times; a clammy reminder that polyester is no friend to those who tend to overheat at night, even in winter.
Tog rating: 4.5+9 (13.5 total)
Other togs available: none
Sizes available: single, double, king, super king
Casing: polyester fabric
Filling: polyester fibre
Washing: machine wash at 40C
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<em>Best luxury duvet:</em>Woolroom Deluxe Washable 3-in-1
- What we love:Versatile three-in-one made of sustainable, breathable fibres
- What we don’t love:Expensive, and takes a long time to dry after washing
The Woolroom Deluxe is another three-in-one duvet, with its summer section and medium section fastening together to create a winter warmer. Its percale cotton cover has a deliciously premium feel, and its traceable British wool filling is naturally hypoallergenic, temperature-regulating and sustainable.
Why we love it
The Woolroom was a contender for best duvet overall. It feels less cuddly than the Panda and costs a lot more (double the price), but it’s exceptionally well made and can be used year-round because of its detachable sections. It also looks beautiful, and its smooth casing feels lovely against your skin.
Alan and I began the sleep tests by sharing the full double-section duvet, which has a “tog range” (common with wool duvets) of 9-15. We found the two-part duvet too warm for autumn and a little too heavy for comfort, at 4.5kg by my measure. Its weight also made it difficult to get into a duvet cover, even with its mitten-like corner handles designed for the purpose. Fans of weighted blankets will love it, though, and it will come into its own on the coldest nights of winter.
We ran our nap test with the lightest section (2-5-tog range), which proved ideal for sleeping under in a warm room. But for our proper night-time test, the middle section (7-10 togs) on its own was Goldilocks-perfect. It draped around us to create a satisfying hug that kept us warm enough for comfortable sleep, but never felt heavy or hot.
Woolroom treats its filling to remove the barbs that make wool shrink during washing, resulting in a “truly machine-washable” duvet. I tested this claim with the medium section, and it survived a 40C cycle with no shrinking or warping.
It’s a shame that … the newly washed duvet took more than a day to dry, not least because I couldn’t spin it at more than 800rpm. It’s also not suitable for tumble drying. So while it is genuinely washable, I’d wait until the weather is warm enough to dry it outdoors.
Tog rating: 2-5+7-10 (9-15 when combined)
Other togs available: 2-5, 7-10, 11-14
Sizes available: single, double, king, super king, emperor
Casing: 100% unbleached organic percale cotton cover
Filling: 100% traceable British wool
Washing: machine wash at max 40C, spin at max 800rpm
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<em>Best down duvet:</em>Scooms Hungarian goose down
- What we love:Luxuriously warm without feeling heavy
- What we don’t love:Down is not cheap, easy to clean – or vegan
Goose down is the pinnacle of bedding luxury, evoking five-star hotels and weightless warmth. The down used by Scooms is traceably sourced and sustainably processed, and it’s encased in sateen cotton that feels gorgeous and works well with the filling to regulate your temperature.
Why we love it
As a down sceptic, my expectations were limited. I feared a smelly, overly lofty duvet covered with spiky bits of half-escaped feather that should have stayed on the bird. But I stand corrected, because this 9-tog duvet is a delight to lie under. When you rub the silky casing, you don’t feel feathers underneath – just soft, silent down.
In our sleep test, the Scooms had a lovely balance of lightness and insulation. It’s not weightless, of course (the double size weighed 2.5kg in my test), but it kept us warmer than its modest mass had led us to expect. It needed a good shake to puff it up after delivery, but it never looked or felt as voluminous as anticipated. This lack of bounce meant it draped evenly around our bodies, cloaking us rather than sitting on top like a cloud.
I was initially hesitant to test a down duvet because of ethical concerns. If you feel the same, you may be reassured to know that Scooms is certified by the Responsible Down Standard, which guarantees the down is a byproduct of the food industry. It’s not vegan, but its origins should give you no more sleepless nights than a roast dinner.
Scooms also keeps things as sustainable as possible, using no plastic in its packaging and even cleaning its down with spring water. Its other certifications include Oeko-Tex 100 (no harmful chemicals) and the Nomite anti-allergen standard. It also has the best guarantee of all the duvets I tested, at 10 years, and – unusually for down – can be machine washed.
It’s a shame that … it’s pricey, with the double I tested costing £280. And no matter how ethically sourced this down is, it’s still down, and it has a slight earthy smell that not everyone will like.
Tog rating tested: 9
Other togs available: 2.5, 4.5, 2.5+9, 2.5+4.5, 4.5+9
Sizes available: single, double, king, super king, emperor
Casing: 100% sateen cotton
Filling: 90% Hungarian goose down; 10% selected small white Hungarian goose feather
Washing: machine wash at 40C every 6-12 months
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<em>Best down-like duvet:</em>Soak & Sleep Soft as Down
- What we love:Great value without feeling cheap; cotton helps breathability
- What we don’t love:It’s a bit noisy, and the polyester filling can trap heat
Duvets marketed “… as down” aim for the warmth and softness of down without the use of animal products or indeed the price. This Soak & Sleep silky white 9-tog duvet isn’t as light or warm on a chilly night as the Scooms, but it’s more lofty and significantly cheaper.
Why we love it
At £65 RRP for a double, this cotton-encased duvet is a fantastic buy. It’s not quite as great value as the Slumberland because it’s not three duvets in one, but it does have button holes for attaching it to other Soak & Sleep duvets if you need to upgrade the tog count. Our 9-tog test sample was warm enough on its own in October. Alan was a big fan of this duvet, and said it would “work well all year round, except on unusually cold or warm nights”.
The filling is polyester that’s been carded to a super-fine fibre, then stitched into squares to keep it evenly distributed, even after a machine wash. It kept us cosy without feeling heavy, and while it draped well over our bodies, it allowed plenty of room for the air to circulate.
The use of polyester for the filling helps to keep the weight and price of this duvet down, but polyester has a tendency to trap heat. The breathable 100% cotton cover helped to keep overheating to a minimum, but I did wake up sweating one night. If you’re a fellow night-sweater, you’ll be glad to hear that this duvet’s light fill fibres made for easy washing and relatively quick drying, and you can tumble-dry it, if needed.
It’s a shame that … I wasn’t immune to night sweats when testing this duvet on mild nights. The fabric also makes a crinkly sound, which isn’t uncommon in duvets, but can be distracting when you’re turning in bed as you try to get to sleep.
Tog rating: 9
Other togs available: 3, 4.5, 7.5, 10.5, 13.5, 4.5+9, 4.5+10.5, 4.5+13.5
Sizes available: single, double, king, super king, emperor
Casing: 100% cotton
Filling: 100% fine denier polyester
Washing: machine wash at 30C; tumble dry on low heat
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The best of the rest
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Emma Spring and Autumn duvet
- What we love:Warm enough for spring/autumn, but light and washes easily
- What we don’t love:Too cool for winter, and too slim to cuddle
Best for: anyone who prefers a slimline duvet all year round
Emma’s lovely looking 6.7-tog duvet, which it calls Spring and Autumn on its website and Lean on the box (it’s the same in every other way), was by far the thinnest in my test, and this helped to make it particularly easy to wash and dry. It happily endures 60C in the machine, and mine dried in just three hours on a heated airer. Its size also makes it easy to store in a drawer.
Despite its slimness, it’s not the lowest tog duvet I tested. Its 6.7 rating is significantly warmer than the 4.5-tog summer section of the Slumberland, and also weighs more (2.45kg – more than both sections of the Slumberland fastened together). This makes it a good all-season choice, especially for anyone who dislikes a chunky duvet and is happy to layer their bedding until it feels just right. If you want to give it a go, you get a 14-night trial.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it wasn’t warm enough to soothe me to sleep in November, and its lack of loft makes it feel less huggable than you’d hope a duvet would.
Tog rating: 6.7; other togs available: none; sizes available: single, double, king, super king; casing: microfibre; filling: polyester microfibre; washing: machine wash at max 60C; tumble dry on low heat
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Floks Wool Winter Plus
- What we love:Its sustainable wool filling is exceptionally warm
- What we don’t love:Its lack of pliability makes it feel less cosy
Best for: freezing nights, especially if you can’t use an electric blanket
As with the Woolroom, the Floks duvet contains traceable British wool and has a tog range rather than a single rating (it’s 15-16 togs, which translates as “very warm to very, very warm”). It’s not particularly pliable and made us feel slightly like we were sleeping under a mattress topper – but my goodness, it’s warm.
We tested it during November’s freezing snap, when even a hot bedtime bath couldn’t keep me warm long enough to fall asleep comfortably under most of the duvets in this test (other than all of them in one go). It created a kind of insulating shell – which, after we’d been in bed for half an hour, seemed to generate almost as much warmth as an electric blanket.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it’s pricey, heavy and dry-clean only.
Tog rating: 15-16; other togs available: 4-5, 8-10, 12-14; sizes available: single, double, king, super king, emperor; casing: organic cotton; filling: 100% British Cheviot wool sourced from sustainably farmed sheep; washing: dry clean or hang out to air
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Simba Hybrid
- What we love:Warm enough for winter but light and cool against your skin
- What we don’t love:Noisy and feels slightly plasticky, albeit the recycled kind
Best for: year-round use, without having to switch duvets or add sections
This 10.5-tog duvet has two sides, including one infused with Simba’s Stratos cooling material that helps to dissipate heat while you sleep. You’ll need to remember which side is which once it’s inside a cover, but that isn’t much of a challenge.
I found this duvet pleasingly warm, without feeling too heavy or bulky. I mostly tested it on my own (in a moment, you’ll see why) across several nights, some mild and some cold, and it kept me warm without triggering any sweats or clamminess. I also like the sustainability credentials of Simba, which is B Corp certified.
It’s a shame that … Alan thoroughly disliked this duvet. “It feels like a big sheet of plastic,” he said, pointing out that it’s also the noisiest duvet in our test.
Tog rating: 10.5; other togs available: 4.5, 3.5+7; sizes available: single, double, king, super king; casing: cotton with cooling Stratos finish; filling: Renew Bio fibre made from recycled PET bottles; washing: machine wash at 40C; tumble dry on low heat
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Fogarty Cool Sleep
- What we love:Cooling cotton cover helps prevent overheating
- What we don’t love:Polyester filling is less good at dissipating heat
Best for: anyone who tends to overheat at night, even in winter
The Fogarty is a quieter, more affordable alternative to the sophisticated Simba. Its cotton cover is sparkly, thanks to a sprinkling of special “phase change” material designed to prevent overheating, while the 10.5 togs keep you warm. I found its general feel to be more similar to the Soak & Sleep, although its casing is less silky and its soft hollow-fibre filling is less lofty.
It didn’t make the final cut because … no refunds are given once the package is opened, so you can’t send this duvet back if you don’t get on with it.
Tog rating: 10.5; other togs available: 4.5; sizes available: single, double, king, super king; casing: cotton with “phase change material”; filling: polyester; washing: machine wash; tumble dry on low heat
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Silentnight Yours & Mine dual tog
- What we love:The dual tog may suit couples who feel the cold differently
- What we don’t love:Feels like a budget duvet; only available in double size
Best for: couples who sleep hot and cold
This duvet – only available in double size – is a great idea that didn’t quite work for us in practice. The stitching is much wider on one half than the other, and the more widely stitched side retains more warmth in its microfibre filling than the side with narrower channels. The warmer side is 13.5 togs, while the cooler side is 10.5.
We shared this duvet, switching it around after the first night, and I genuinely did find the more widely stitched side much warmer. It doesn’t have temperature-regulating properties, however, and its lack of breathability gave me nowhere to hide when the dreaded night sweats landed at 3am – whichever side I slept under.
It didn’t make the final cut because … it retains heat and feels cheap. The stitching is so wide on the 13.5-tog side that the filling may gather and get patchy after a few washes.
Tog rating: 10.5 and 13.5; other togs available: none; sizes available: double; casing: polyester; filling: microfibre and hollow-fibre; washing: machine wash at 30C; tumble dry on low heat
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What you need to know
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What do tog ratings mean?
A duvet’s tog (thermal overall grade) rating measures how well it can maintain and trap heat. The lightest and most breathable duvets are 1-tog, while the warmest can go beyond 16-tog. You don’t have to look far to find a 1-tog (such as this one from Dunelm) or a 16.5 (such as this from Amazon), but most UK duvets are between 4.5 and 13.5 togs.
Tog ratings are measured in a lab by applying heat to one side of the duvet, usually by laying it (flat) on a hot plate. The testers then measure how much heat has transferred through the duvet by recording the temperature difference between the two sides. They do this several times from different parts of the surface, and then an average score is used to give the duvet’s overall tog rating.
You can’t usually tell the tog of a duvet by looking at it or feeling it, or by reading its list of ingredients. The microfibre Emma Spring and Autumn duvet was the slimmest duvet in my test and one of the lightest, but it was warmer than expected, with a tog rating of 6.7. Wool duvets don’t quite fit the pattern, either. Wool is an adaptive insulator that doesn’t retain heat in the same way as synthetic fillings or down, so wool duvet togs are expressed as a range rather than a rating.
Are down duvets cruel?
Down duvets, particularly those filled with lightweight goose down, are legendarily luxurious and beloved of brands including Soho House’s Soho Home and Sofitel. As mentioned above, I was reluctant to test a down duvet: I don’t eat meat, and I’ve long regarded down to be as troubling as fur. As do companies including H&M, which no longer uses new down or feathers in its products.
However, there are ways you can ensure the down in products you buy is traceable throughout the supply chain. Companies including Scooms, Marks & Spencer and Uniqlo are certified by the Responsible Down Standard, which strictly prohibits cruel sourcing methods such as live plucking and force-feeding.
Down will never be vegan, but it’s clear that the industry has made progress. Just be sure to research a manufacturer’s ethical credentials before you buy.
For more ways to sleep better from the Filter:
• The best mattresses, tested
• The best pillows for every type of sleeper
• The best mattress toppers for a more comfortable night’s sleep
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Jane Hoskyn is a features journalist with three decades of experience in rearranging bookshelves and ‘testing’ coffee machines while deadlines loom. She would always rather be in the woods, although a five-star duvet is an acceptable alternative
