There are plenty of reasons to get into yoga, from its impressive array of physical and mental health benefits to its low-impact nature that leaves your body no worse for wear the way other workouts would (no need for those workout recovery tools). You can also do your yoga poses, pretty much, anywhere, even without any equipment. Of course, having the right yoga accessories will ensure your sessions go a lot more smoothly and it all starts with your yoga mat.
The best yoga mats offers a layer of cushioning between you and the floor, protecting your joints from the pressure exerted when they come in contact with hard floors. It does that while being firm enough to let you maintain stability during yoga poses, all while having enough grip to keep you from slipping as you hold those same poses fully covered in sweat.
The best yoga mats can be made from a variety of materials, each with its own pros and cons. Some use synthetics like PVC and TPE for their durability and longevity, while others employ naturally-sourced materials, such as rubber, foam, or cork. There are also some yoga mats that take on a mix of those materials, which can lead to more versatile function. At any rate, different materials impart different characteristics that might prove more or less to your liking, so it’s probably a good idea to test a few different types of mats out to find what feels best to you.
The best yoga mats can vary a lot from each other. They can be longer, shorter, thicker, thinner, grippier, or more textured compared to others. Some are built to be more durable, while some deliver bouncier cushioning. Suffice to say, there a lot of differences that can set one yoga mat apart from the rest, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re getting.
These are the best yoga mats for home, gym, and studio use.
Hugger Mugger Earth Elements 5mm Yoga Mat
Pros
- Lightweight and very portable
- Good grip
- Feels durable
Cons
- Synthetic construction
- Not as cushioned as others
Materials: TPE
Size: 72 x 24 x 0.2 inches (length x width x thickness)
Weight: 2.4 pounds
Designed for portability, this yoga mat weighs just 2.4 pounds, making it very convenient to bring to the local gym or yoga studio where you’ll be doing your workouts. At 5mm, it’s about as thin as we’re willing to go with yoga mats, since anything thinner we’ve tried didn’t feel that nice on the joints. It feels durable with its TPE construction, all while being moisture-resistant and easy to clean, allowing you to sweat through your yoga poses without much concerns. We love the textured surface, too, which offers excellent grip pose after pose. Since it’s made from synthetic rubber, there’s no latex, so it’s allergy-safe, while coming out of the box with zero odors, which we appreciate.
Nike Training Mat 2.0
Pros
- Very lightweight
- Excellent grip and texture
- Includes adjustable carrying strap
Cons
- Very plain appearance
Materials: TPE, polyester
Size: 71.2 x 24 x 0.32 (length x width x thickness)
Weight: 2.1 pounds
Nike’s yoga mat is a little thicker than the Hugger Mugger at 8mm thick, while still managing to be lighter at just 2.1 pounds. As such, it should also make for a nice portable option, although the extra thickness does make it a little bulkier to bring along. We found it to strike a really good balance between weight and comfort, as it capably cushions against hard floors, wicks sweat, and delivers the necessary grip to keep you stable even while drenched in sweat. The texture also feels great underfoot, which makes it a favorite for all sorts of workouts. The appearance is pretty nondescript, just a black yoga mat with the Swoosh logo on one end, which folks who like more low-key designs will probably like. It even includes an adjustable carrying strap, so you can hang it off your shoulder when you make your way to the gym.
Jade Yoga Harmony
Pros
- Superb grip
- Firm cushioning
- Feels durable
Cons
- Strong rubber smell when first opened
- Not latex-free
Materials: Natural rubber
Size: 68 x 24 x 0.19 inches (length x width x thickness), also available in 74-inch length
Weight: 4.2 pounds
Like all rubber yoga mats, this one has a strong rubber smell when you first open it, so you have to let it air out for some time before using it the first time. How much time? Some people reported smelling it up to a week or so after opening, although we found it tolerable enough to use the next day. Why put with that? Well, it brings a lot of good things to the table. For one, it’s incredibly grippy, keeping you balanced and stable very naturally, even maintaining it when the whole thing is drenched in your sweat, making it ideal for hot yoga workouts. On the downside, some might find it too textured that it can hinder sliding movements you might need for some pose transitions. It also feels impressively firm, allowing you to move as freely as you would on hard floors, which is surprising, considering how thin it is. The rubber feels durable, too, so we have a feeling this can hold up for a good number of years.
Lululemon The Mat 5mm
Pros
- Reversible design
- Grippy on one side, smooth on the other
- Good cushioning
Cons
- Stains more easily
- Feint rubber smell
Materials: Natural rubber, synthetic rubber, PU, polyester, nylon
Size: 71 x 26 x 0.19 inches (length x width x thickness)
Weight: 5.2 pounds
Made from a mix of natural and synthetic rubbers, along with other materials, this yoga mat is able to deliver the firmness and grip we love in other rubber mats, with much less of the rubber smell that makes opening one for the first time unpleasant. It’s more subdued here, in fact, we didn’t mind using it for doing yoga poses after opening (you still get a whiff of that scent, though). The specs list it at the exact same thickness as the Nike yoga mat, although it feels somewhat thicker, which we’re just going to attribute to its reversible design. That’s right, you can use either of the two sides as your primary surface for doing your poses, with one side offering stronger grip and the other maintaining a smoother finish, so you can switch from one to the other, depending on the kind of workouts you have in mind. The grippy side, by the way, isn’t as grippy as the Jade Harmony mat above, but it offered enough to support our poses all the same.
Manduka PRO
Pros
- Wider profile
- Perfect cushioning for yoga
- Textured top and bottom sides
Cons
- Requires break-in period for grip to improve
- Heavy
Materials: PVC
Size: 71 x 26 x 0.24 inches (length x width x thickness)
Weight: 7.5 pounds
At 7.5 pounds, this is a pretty hefty yoga mat, so you’re going to have to love it if you’d go to the trouble of carrying it to the yoga studio. We won’t be surprised if you do, though, since it’s a really well-made mat, with an OEKO-TEX certified PVC construction that capably sheds sweat, moisture, and dirt of all sorts. We love the amount of cushioning – thicker than some, but not too thick to be cumbersome to roll up, making it feel really good kneeling, lying, and doing all sorts of poses on its surface. The top surface is textured to provide the necessary grip to keep you stable, while the dotted underside stays in place, no matter how much we move on every surface we tried it on. According to the outfit, the non-slip grip is designed to improve over time, too, as there’s a break-in period, so we’re stoked if it really does feel even better after a bit of use. We also love its wider profile, which gives us more room to spread out, as well as the overall durable look and feel of the PVC material.
Alo Warrior Mat
Pros
- Uses PU leather on top and rubber at bottom
- Great to use with bare feet
- Premium looks
Cons
- Can be slippery with socks on
- Expensive
Materials: PU leather, rubber
Size: 72 x 26 x 0.19 inches (length x width x thickness)
Weight: 8 pounds
This yoga mat has a notably different build than others in the list, using PU leather on top and rubber at the bottom, which means it could work even for people with latex sensitivity (you won’t be touching the rubber when doing poses). The rubber does a great job of keeping it glued to the floor, while the PU leather on top provides surprising grip that we didn’t expect. Do note, we tried doing exercises with socks on and it felt a little slippery that way (might depend on the socks), so we don’t recommend it to folks who do yoga with socks (hey, some people don’t want their feet exposed). It feels amazing with bare feet, though. Heck, we even did jump squats on the mat with bare feet and it offered terrific cushioning, absorbing the impact we’d otherwise feel if we did it on bare hard floors. Do note, despite only using rubber at the bottom, it did have that strong rubber smell, so consider that if the rubber smell is a big issue for you. The PU leather also seems to be prone to some amount of damage if you like wearing jewelry that can brush up against it, so beware of that.
Liforme Printed Yoga Mat
Pros
- Alignment lines are helpful during many poses
- Superb grip
- Thin and wide profile
Cons
- Very expensive
Materials: Rubber
Size: 72.8 x 26.8 x0.16 inches (length x width x thickness)
Weight: 5.5 pounds
We’ll be honest: we were really curious what yoga mats feel like at this price range. We mean… a few bucks under $200 seems like a lot to pay for an exercise mat. Is it worth it? We’re honestly not sure. Granted, there are a lot of great things about this rubber yoga mat. For one, the printed lines on the mat itself are great help for use as guides when doing your yoga poses, allowing you to focus on the correct alignments, so you stay mindful of your poses at all times. It’s also probably the grippiest of the yoga mats we’ve tried, which is a pleasant surprise because the texture doesn’t suggest that level of grip. We particularly love the fact that it’s wider than your typical yoga mat, too, so there’s a lot more room to do our poses. Another surprising this: the thickness is listed at 16mm, which makes it the thinnest in the list. However, it never felt like it’s lacking cushion at any point. Granted, we didn’t do any non-yoga exercises on this, so the cushioning might prove an issue for more grueling workouts.
