9 Best Cheap Couches of 2022

Updating your space without breaking the bank — especially when it comes to shopping for new furniture — can be a challenge: Some couches cost thousands of dollars, which just isn’t reasonable for every shopper’s budget, and some are priced remarkably low, but the quality can be low too. If you’re moving into your first apartment, looking for an option to accommodate overnight guests or are simply hoping to avoid splurging on a new piece, more retailers than ever are offering affordable yet high-quality furniture, so there are plenty of cheap couches to choose from. That’s where we come in: Our extensive research can help you whittle down your choices.

At the Good Housekeeping Institute, our analysts research and evaluate furniture of all kinds, from standard couches to sectional sofas to sleeper sofas to recliner chairs. For this article, we considered properties such as fiber content and fabric construction, dimensions and any special features, and we reviewed former Lab testing to find great options from brands that have performed well in other categories. Our Textiles Lab analysts also recently distributed a sofa survey to our panelists and received more than 5,800 responses from real users who shared their thoughts on sofas they own or have previously owned. In all, we collected more than 156,000 data points for analysis, providing us with insight into our panelists’ thoughts on the overall comfort and feel of their couches, as well as their opinions on delivery and setup, ease of cleaning and appearance. We combined former testing data, survey results and online reviews when making our final picks for the best cheap, comfy couches.

Our top picks:

Keep reading for helpful couch-shopping tips and to learn more about how we choose the best couches. But first, here are our favorite cheap and comfy couches, each for under $500.