Most of what is written about pillows online is a list of product recommendations. This page is the other thing: the underlying numbers, formulas and datasets that those recommendations ought to be based on — published openly so anyone can check them, argue with them, or reuse them.
Everything on this page is free to reproduce, redraw or embed under CC BY 4.0, with a link back to the source page. Journalists, clinicians, physiotherapists, ergonomics teachers and other site owners are all explicitly welcome to use it. You do not need to ask.
Datasets
Pillow Loft & Specification Database (32 pillows)
Published loft, fill type, firmness, adjustability, cooling claim, trial window, warranty and price for 32 pillows sold in the United States, transcribed from manufacturer pages with a source link on every row. Gaps are recorded as “not published” rather than filled with estimates.
Sleep Position and Pain Map (position × mattress firmness)
Every combination of sleeping position and mattress firmness mapped to the supported pillow loft it requires, to what happens mechanically if the pillow does not change, and to what the published literature actually shows about pain in that position. Loft figures are arithmetic from the calculator formula; every pain claim carries a link to the study. Where no study exists the cell reads “not published”.
Tools
Pillow Height Calculator
Computes the supported pillow loft your body needs from sleeping position, frame width and mattress firmness. Supported loft is the gap between ear and mattress once the shoulder has sunk in — which is why a soft mattress needs a lower pillow, not a higher one.
The full 27-combination result table and the underlying formula are published as static text on the page, so the answers are readable without running the tool. The calculator is free to embed on clinic and practitioner sites with attribution.
For machines
Everything above is also published in formats an automated system can read directly, so there is no need to scrape the pages. Same CC BY 4.0 terms, no API key, no rate limit, no registration.
Data files and API
- /data/pillow-specifications.csv — the pillow dataset as CSV
- /data/pillow-specifications.json — the same dataset as JSON
- /wp-json/sleepalign/v1/loft — computes the supported loft for a given sleeping position, frame width and mattress firmness, and returns which catalogued pillows publish a loft inside that range
- /wp-json/sleepalign/v1/pillows — the dataset over REST
- /data/openapi.json — OpenAPI 3.1 description of both endpoints
- /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt — a plain-text summary of this site and the full dataset in prose form
How this material is produced
- Manufacturer sources first. Specifications come from the manufacturer’s own published pages, with the URL recorded. Retailer listings and review-site figures are not used to fill gaps.
- No first-hand product testing. This site does not buy, test, weigh or sleep on the products it writes about, and never claims to. Where buyer experience is discussed it is described as verified buyer reports, not as our own testing.
- Missing data stays missing. If a brand publishes no figure, the cell reads “not published”. Nothing is estimated, inferred or averaged into place.
- Dated and revisable. Every dataset carries a capture date. Corrections are welcome and get made.
- Geometry, not medicine. The loft ranges here are arithmetic about body dimensions. They are not clinical advice, and persistent pain is a matter for a clinician.
Spotted an error, or know a manufacturer figure recorded here as missing? Send the link and the row gets corrected.
SleepAlign is an independent, self-funded pillow research site run by Bogdan. It is not a clinical practice and carries no medical credentials. Some product links elsewhere on the site are affiliate links; nothing on this page is.