I tried a cheap alternative to the internet-famous Thuma bed frame and was reminded why the original

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• Thuma makes an internet-famous sturdy bed frame with a tool-free assembly, but it's expensive at $1,095 for a Queen.
• I found an alternative from Helix that is half the cost, and tested it against the Thuma frame.
• After sleeping on both frames and comparing the parts, I'm convinced Thuma is worth the money.

Finding a bed frame I truly love has been a lifelong journey. I've had Ikea frames that fall apart after a few years, a pricey West Elm frame that my mattress kept slipping off of, simple metal bed frames that creak loudly when you move, and the list goes on. 

Somewhere along this journey I started coveting the Thuma Bed Frame. It's sleek, simple, and features a tool-less assembly that is great for someone like me who moves often — but, unfortunately, it's pretty pricey at $1,095 for a Queen. 

Given my track record with only keeping bed frames for a few years at a time, I wasn't sure I wanted to make the investment, so I always kept my eye out for less expensive alternatives. A few months ago, I finally spotted one: Helix's Bed Frame, which is about half the price of Thuma at $599. It had the same exact design, minus the wood coloring and the pillow board. So I decided to give it a try. 

Ultimately, I gave up on the Helix after about six months and decided to test the Thuma frame in earnest. As I took apart the Helix and assembled the Thuma frame, it was easy to see why there's such a drastic price difference between the two frames. And after sleeping on the Thuma for three months now, I can confidently say it is worth the price many times over.

Below I compare the various components of each product and my experience sleeping on both frames:

Cost

Both frames will run you more than ye olde Ikea bed frame but come at a significant cost difference. The Thuma costs $1,095 for a Queen, while the Helix costs $599 for the same size. The price disparity becomes larger if you jump to a King: a King-sized Thuma will run you $1,195, while a King-sized Helix tops out at $639. 

Winner: Helix

Materials

Right out of the box, I could tell that the Thuma frame was made of sturdier and higher-quality material. The Helix pieces feel mostly unfinished, while the Thuma's pieces were sleek and polished. Almost universally, the Thuma's rubberwood pieces were thicker and heavier than the Helix's combination of pine and maple. There were also some dead knots on the slats of a few of the Helix pieces, which I imagine could create stress points with time.

Winner: Thuma

Assembly

Both of the beds feature a nearly identical tool-free assembly. In place of screws or other hardware to hold the pieces together, the beams fit together like a puzzle piece. Thuma refers to this interlocking mechanism as "Japanese joinery." The primary difference in the assembly comes down to the slats. The Thuma frame's slats roll out on one interconnected sheet, whereas you have to place the Helix's slats individually. I didn't find any one easier than the other. Both frames took under 10 minutes to assemble once the pieces were unpacked. 

Winner: Tie

Slats

Speaking of slats, the Thuma's seemed quite a bit thicker than the Helix's. The ends of the Thuma slats are also covered in felt, which helps with creaking (more on that later). The Thuma slats definitely felt sturdier than the Helix slats, which were skinnier than even Ikea bed frame slats. 

Winner: Thuma

Center beam

The center beam is the main support for the bed frame as you sleep on it, so it has to be sturdy. I saw a huge difference between Thuma and Helix's center beam, in both appearance and performance.

Starting with the joints that hold the center beam in place: Thuma's joint was much thicker and featured a wider ledge to hold the center beam. This turned out to be crucial. During the few months we slept on the Helix bed frame, the center beam slipped off the ledge twice, causing the mattress to collapse. This was easy to remedy, but a pain when it happened. This has never happened in the months I slept on the Thuma.

Second, the central beams and the legs that support them are very different. Thuma's is again thick and sturdy, while the Helix is thin and flimsy. While it's common for the center leg not to touch the ground unless there's weight on the bed frame (some flexibility is good for durability), the Helix's center leg sometimes hit the ground at an angle when weight was placed on the bed. Over time, this led to permanent damage to the beam and leg. This happened after 6 months of use, so I can't imagine it would survive much longer than a year.

Winner: Thuma

Legs

That same difference in size and sturdiness was repeated in the rest of each bed's legs. The Thuma's legs were quite heavy and significantly larger than the Helix legs. The Thuma legs definitely seemed more likely to keep the bed from moving around. 

Winner: Thuma

Durability

As mentioned previously, the center leg of the Helix frame bent after a few months of use, and some of the slats came with what turned out to be knots, but looked like rotted sections of wood. Together, this didn't inspire confidence that the Helix frame was built to last. Thuma, on the other hand, looks just as good as it did the day I set it up. In fact, when I packed it up for a recent move, I was admiring how pristine the pieces looked.

Winner: Thuma

Comfort and noise

Of course, the most important factor is: How did all these material differences translate to my experience sleeping on the beds? To use a shameless pun, the difference was night and day. The Helix frame was really squeaky. Every time I or my partner rolled or got out of bed, the frame would creak loudly.

The frame also seemed to slip on our floor (and our mattress slipped on the frame), so I would have to push the bed back against the wall after every night. Sometimes I would pile blankets into the crack between the wall and the frame so that my pillow wouldn't slip into the crack in the middle of the night.

I had a much better night's sleep on the Thuma. The frame was sturdy and silent; I haven't heard a creak out of it in the months we've been using it. It also stays put! No more pushing in the mattress or the bed after each night. A nifty pillowboard keeps my pillow from disappearing during the night.

The bottom line

Overall, the Thuma is by far the better bed frame. Trying it against the Helix made me realize why it's priced the way it is. I've owned a lot of bed frames and the Thuma is the only one I've found that is both attractive and sturdy. If you're debating taking the plunge on this pricey frame, I think it's worth it — there isn't currently another wood frame out there that combines tool-free assembly with stunning aesthetics and durability.   

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