Murphy Bed vs Futon

The two form factors, side by side

Ten inches of closed depth is the headline, and it is real: the wall bed gives you ten more inches of room all day, every day. But read the second row before you get excited, because the wall bed opens to 93.1 inches from the wall against the futon’s 44 — more than twice as much floor when it is in use.

That is the trade in one line. A wall bed takes very little floor most of the time and a great deal of it at night. A futon takes a moderate amount all the time and barely any more at night. Which suits you depends on whether the room is in use during the day.

Pick the Murphy bed if...

Somebody sleeps there most nights. This is the decisive case. A real 8-to-12 inch queen mattress on a 1,000 lb frame is a bed, and every night of nightly use widens the gap. A futon’s fold seam does not improve with familiarity.

The room is a bedroom that needs to be something else by day. Twenty-three and a half inches of closed depth against a wall, and the floor comes back every morning. Nothing else in this category reclaims that much.

The sleeper is tall or heavy. Eighty inches of mattress and 1,000 lb of stated capacity against 73 inches and 600 lb — see the best sleeper sofas for a tall person and the best sleeper sofas for a heavy person for the figures across the whole registry.

And you have checked three numbers: the ceiling (88.9 inches minimum on the Cielo, 92 on the Versatile, 90.4 on the Orion), the extension from the wall, and the lease. The ceiling one catches people in older apartments and basements — a standard eight-foot ceiling is 96 inches and fits; a 90-inch basement does not fit everything.

Pick the futon if...

You rent, and the lease says no fixings. A dual-mount wall bed anchors into the wall structure and the floor. That is why it is stable and it is also why it is a landlord conversation — see can you put a Murphy bed in an apartment. A futon is freestanding furniture and nobody has to be asked.

The room needs seating more than it needs a bed. A wall bed closed is a cabinet. You cannot sit on it, and in a studio that matters — unless you buy a wall bed with a sofa in front of it, which is a real product and a bigger budget.

You are moving within two years. A futon is 88 to 103 lb, comes apart and goes in a van. A wall bed is assembled in place, anchored, and leaves holes behind.

The guest stays twice a year. Then the sleeping surface barely matters and the daytime use of the room is everything. Start at the best futons for small spaces.

The option that wins more often than either

A cabinet bed is a Murphy bed that bolts to nothing. The mattress tri-folds out of a credenza on a sliding platform, and it is as renter-safe as a futon while sleeping like a bed.

The Arason Creden-ZzZ is 64 by 25 by 39 inches closed, opens to 81 inches deep, includes a 6-inch tri-fold mattress and an 11-inch drawer for the bedding, and supports 500 lb. The Night & Day Murphy Cube is 26.4 inches deep closed — about ten square feet of floor — and opens to 80.3 inches with a genuine queen surface.

Two honest costs. The mattress is 6 inches rather than 8 to 12, so it is not the equal of a wall bed’s. And these things are 170 to 250 lb assembled and do not come apart again, which is the whole problem in a walk-up. The set is ranked in the best Murphy bed cabinets, and the storage angle is in the best Murphy beds with storage.

The verdict

Own the place, nightly sleeper, ceiling over 89 inches: wall bed, no hesitation. Read the best Murphy beds for small apartments and measure the ceiling before you order.

Rent, occasional guest, room needs a sofa: futon, and spend the saving on the mattress rather than the frame.

Rent, but somebody sleeps there most nights: cabinet bed. It is the only thing in this category that sleeps properly and anchors to nothing.

Genuinely undecided: ask how many nights a year somebody sleeps there. Under ten, buy the futon. Over a hundred, buy a bed of some kind. In between, the cabinet bed is the one that does not make you choose. The four-way version of this decision is in which guest bed fits your room.