The Best Twin Murphy Beds

What a twin actually is, in inches

Four numbers settle most of this category, and they are worth having in front of you while you read any listing.

Twin: 38 by 75 inches. Twin XL: 38 by 80 inches. Same width, five inches of extra length. Twin XL is the dorm standard and it is the right choice for any adult over about six feet; the trade is that twin XL mattresses and bedding are harder to buy off a shelf. The full sizing argument is in what size mattress for a murphy bed.

Anything narrower than 38 inches is not a twin, whatever the title says. This matters more than it sounds: a 34-inch sleeping surface is noticeably tight for an adult who moves in their sleep, and bedding bought as twin will hang off it.

Mattress depth is a hard limit on a wall bed in a way it is not on a frame. The bed has to fold into a cabinet with the mattress strapped to it, so too thick and the cabinet will not close. None of the five picks here publishes a maximum mattress depth, which is a real gap — the queens we cover routinely state 8 to 12 inches. Our depth guidance for this category is in murphy bed mattress thickness, and the mattresses that actually suit a wall bed are ranked in the best murphy bed mattresses.

The question a renter has to ask first

Everything else on this page is a preference. This one is a yes or a no, and it determines whether you can buy a wall bed at all.

The AFI Westfield is the clear answer. It is a chest. It stands on its own feet, it looks like a sideboard when closed, and the bed lifts out of it manually. There is no wall fixing, no stud-finding, no hole to fill when you move out, and AFI backs it with an 800 lb capacity — the highest figure on this page by a wide margin. That is why it is ranked first despite being the most expensive bracket here and the only one whose mattress is a folding 6-inch unit.

The AMERLIFE is the honest middle. It stands on fixed wheels, and AMERLIFE puts an anti-tip kit in the box. Nobody ships an anti-tip kit with furniture that does not need one, so read that as: designed to stand freely, designed to be secured. For most renters a single anti-tip bracket into one stud is a far easier conversation with a landlord than a wall bed mechanism, and it is a conversation worth having rather than skipping.

The other three do not say. SOFTSEA publishes no anchoring requirement either way on either of its cabinets. MERITLINE publishes none on a 197 lb unit with gas struts. These are almost certainly wall beds in the conventional sense, and the specification that would confirm it is absent. We have scored their renter fit accordingly rather than assuming in their favor.

Why three of these five fold sideways

A vertical wall bed stands the mattress on end against the wall, so the cabinet is as tall as the mattress is long — roughly 80 inches for a twin, more with a frame. A horizontal one lays it along the wall, so the cabinet is as wide as the mattress is long and only about four feet tall.

That one change unlocks the rooms people actually have. A 46.8-inch-tall cabinet goes under a window. It goes in a room with a sloped ceiling, in a basement with ductwork, in a loft, and under a high shelf. It also puts the top of the cabinet at a usable height, which is why the MERITLINE and the two SOFTSEA units all put shelves, a charging station or an LED strip up there.

What it costs is wall. A horizontal twin needs 83 to 88 inches of uninterrupted wall — seven feet — against the roughly 42 inches a vertical twin needs. In a narrow room that is the wrong trade, and the general argument between the two orientations, at every size, is laid out in the best horizontal murphy beds.

The mechanisms differ too, and the difference is worth money. The SOFTSEA horizontal twin uses a hydraulic lift. The MERITLINE uses gas struts plus safety latches that lock the bed in the upright position — the latch is the part that matters, and it is the only pick here that publishes one. The AMERLIFE is a folding platform on rails with handles. The AFI is a manual lift out of a chest, which is the simplest mechanism here and the one with least to fail. How each type behaves over years is covered in how murphy beds work.

Closed depth: 19 inches against 45

A wall bed is closed for 363 nights a year. Closed depth is therefore the number it costs you, and the spread here is enormous.

The SOFTSEA twin XL hideaway is 19.1 inches deep, which is shallower than most bookcases and about the depth of a radiator cover. On an 88.2-inch wall it gives you twin XL length, a top shelf, an LED strip and a power-plus-USB module, and it takes less floor than a chest of drawers. That is the best closed-state figure in this roundup and the reason it is here.

The SOFTSEA horizontal twin publishes 45.3 inches in its overall set, and this is where the labelling problem bites. On a horizontal twin, the bed drops out along the mattress’s short side, so the projection with the bed down should be about 38 inches plus the frame — which is approximately 45. In other words the 45.3 is most likely the open depth, and the closed depth is unpublished. We cannot confirm it from the listing, so the spec block says exactly that rather than picking the flattering reading. Before you buy, ask.

The MERITLINE at 64.5 inches tall is the other end of the same trade: the height buys a bookcase and a drawer above the bed. Worth noting what that means in use — anything on those shelves is above your head when the bed is down, so it comes off before anyone sleeps there. That is a chore, not a disaster, but it is the kind of thing nobody mentions until the third guest.

For planning, the practical method — measure the wall, then the swing, then the walkway — is in how to measure for a murphy bed. The 36-inch clear route in the ADA standards is a sane minimum to leave in front of an open bed, and none of these makers publishes a walkway recommendation of its own.

The one with a mattress in the box, and what that mattress is

Only the AFI Westfield includes a mattress, and it is important to be precise about what kind.

It is a 6-inch folding mattress: 1 inch of aerated foam, 2 inches of cooling gel foam and 3 inches of resilient support foam, hinged across the middle so it folds into the chest. Six inches of foam with a fold line is a guest surface. It is fine for a few nights several times a year and it is not what anyone should sleep on nightly, and because the cabinet is built around it, it is also the only mattress this bed takes.

The other four take a mattress you buy separately, which is better for sleep quality and worse for the total price. Two points that catch people out:

Depth. None of the four publishes a maximum. Until a seller confirms otherwise, treat 8 inches as the ceiling on a twin wall bed — the queens we cover generally state 8 to 12 inches, and a twin mechanism is not more generous.

Straps. A mattress on a wall bed has to be held to the platform or it slides when the bed folds. None of these five publishes a strap in its feature list. Ask.

If a mattress in the box is the main attraction, the whole-category version of that search is the best murphy beds with a mattress included.

Who should buy which

Buy the AFI Westfield if you rent, or if you simply will not drill. A freestanding chest 24.41 in. deep closed and 79.3 in. deep open, both published, with an 800 lb capacity and the mattress in the box. Accept the most expensive bracket here, 106 lb to position, and a 6-inch folding mattress that is the only one the cabinet takes.

Buy the SOFTSEA horizontal twin if you own the wall and the bed has to go under a window. Forty-six point eight inches tall closed, a hydraulic lift, a 400 lb capacity and the lowest price of any real twin here. Accept that SOFTSEA publishes one unlabeled dimension set, no anchoring specification and no maximum mattress depth, and that it wants two adults for the install.

Buy the SOFTSEA twin XL hideaway if the sleeper is tall and the room cannot spare any depth. Nineteen inches closed is the best figure on this page, with twin XL length, a shelf, an LED and a charging module. Accept 171 lb, no published capacity on this listing at all, and the badge problem below.

Buy the MERITLINE if the wall has to do two jobs. Gas struts with a safety latch — the only published latch here — plus bookcase shelves, a drawer and a charging station in the same footprint, and a 12-month warranty. Accept 197 lb in three boxes MERITLINE warns may not arrive together, 64.5 in. of height, and clearing the shelves before anyone sleeps.

Buy the AMERLIFE if the budget is the constraint and you want power at the bedside. Two AC outlets plus USB and Type-C, zinc-alloy connectors, fixed wheels and an anti-tip kit. Accept no published weight capacity at all for a folding bed, one unlabeled dimension set, and two adults for two to three hours.

One honest warning on badges. The SOFTSEA twin XL hideaway and a Virubi twin XL murphy bed share identical dimensions — 19.1 by 88.2 by 57.4 inches — identical 171 lb weights and the same photographs, with roughly two hundred dollars between them. The Virubi listing publishes a 500 lb capacity on a solid pine frame where the SOFTSEA one publishes none, so read both: between them they give the full specification that neither gives alone. Then buy whichever is cheaper on the day.

And one wall unit we did not rank. A Harper & Bright Designs twin wall bed with a closet, two drawers and a desk publishes a 600 lb capacity and an overall 110.7 by 15.7 by 90.4 inches — nine feet of wall and seven and a half feet of height. It is a well-specified product and it is a wardrobe wall with a bed in it rather than a twin murphy bed, which is why it is in the sources below rather than in the ranking. If that is the job, start at the best murphy beds with storage.

If the room cannot give up a wall at all, the twin-sized alternatives without a cabinet are the best daybeds for small spaces and, for a room that has to seat people too, the best futon chair beds.

And if the twin is for a child, the ranking changes — anchoring and a published capacity outrank closed depth, and the units that also carry the desk and the wardrobe come into play. That shortlist, including a dual twin for a shared room, is the best Murphy beds for kids.