Feather vs Down Pillow Inserts

Though feather and down-based pillow inserts are not everyone’s cup of tea (considering the fact that they involve the use of animals), these are popular pillow insert options. 

Compared to polyfill or polyester-based pillow inserts, both feather and down-based pillow inserts are costlier. However, they are also more biodegradable, and for those sensitive to chemicals and plastics, more preferrable. 

In this post, we’ll take a look at feather and down and compare these pillow insert types:

Down Pillow Inserts

You can look at down pillow inserts as basically the gold standard or Mercedes of pillow inserts — this is as good as it generally gets in terms of quality, comfort, and durability.

Down is basically the undercoating of a bird’s feathers. It’s simply the fluffy base part of the bird, but it’s incredibly soft, certainly more so than any artificial polyester or polyfill pillow insert. When it comes to down, people generally consider the down of European white geese the best.

Basically, down pillow inserts hold-up their shape really well, and for a long time. That means they are great at supporting the head and neck of the user. They’re also very light and cuddly, and with the right care, down pillow inserts are also very durable and resilient. 

As we noted earlier, down is also biodegradable and recyclable, so it’s sustainable, if albeit at the cost of birds. This leads us to our next point, the disadvantageous. The fact that it involves animals may turn off some. Likewise, down is also the costliest type of pillow insert. 

Feather Pillow Inserts

Now, feathers don’t solve the animal use problem that down brings, but they do offer amazing comfort and form, and at a lower cost compared to down pillow inserts.

However, feather pillow inserts will not hold up over the long-term as well as down pillow inserts. Though they cost less than down, they’re still fairly expensive in their own right as well. 

In the end, it ultimately boils down to your preferences and budget. We recommend selecting the type of pillow insert that’s the most comfortable and cost-effective to you.