14 best yoga mats for at home and in the studio

Onyx has created a yoga mat that not only looks great, it goes the distance too. Ultra grippy with a smooth rubberlike antimicrobial coating and a natural rubber bottom, your hands and feet won’t be going anywhere on this mat.

At 5mm it’s around medium thickness with a little bounce to it – ideal for more seasoned yogis. However, if you suffer with sore joints or struggle with using your mat on a hard surface, you might want to upgrade to the 8mm version which offers more cushioning.

The mat also comes with a velcro strap to help keep it rolled up and in shape when you store it. However, the mat is a little heavy to carry once rolled, so unless you’re feeling strong and invest in a decent carry strap, this one is probably best suited to at-home sessions.

The curved edges look cool and considered and are a nice design touch, along with the textured logo at one side and the range of muted colours to choose from. Of all the mats we’ve tried, this was our favourite.

Incredibly lightweight, this yoga mat is great for those wanting an option that’s easy to cart around. It’s also incredibly soft, showing an imprint of any hand or foot placed onto it – it really does absorb any shock, making it great for those with sore joints.

Due to it being super lightweight it also does roll up a little at the edges with no extra weight to hold it down. However, this cloud-like quality does make it great for travelling and taking with you to your classes.

Made from polyvinyl chloride with a smooth surface, it can get rather slippy after an especially sweaty session, so be sure to have a towel to hand.

For all its great travel credentials, on the website, it looks like this yoga mat comes with a strap, which it doesn’t, so be sure to buy one if you do wish to travel with it.

The name of this yoga mat gives the game away – it’s the perfect one to pick if you’re always out and about with your practice. At just 1.5mm thick, the super soft suede-feel mat can fold flat into any gym bag, or roll into an incredibly lightweight and thin tube.

The microfibre suede is an interesting departure from the rubber and PVC mats you might be used to but it feels lovely and soft under the hands and feet. However, at just 1.mm in thickness, it doesn’t offer the most protection for those with sore joints, knees or elbows, so be sure to stay away if this is you.

For the rest of us, we’re dubbing this a game-changer for outdoor exercise in particular, and you can even pop it in the washing machine at 30C. What more could we ask for?

The mat also comes with carefully-placed markings that help you to place your hands and feet, keeping your form in check – especially useful if you’re not practicing in your usual environment.

The Corkspace yoga mat continues to impress us, day after day. While it is on the pricier side, we promise you won’t be disappointed.

Made from natural grounding rubber and soft cork, it protects your body from the ground, whether you’re crouching in crow or attempting an inversion. Cork has natural antimicrobial properties and naturally helps to wick moisture away so is a brilliant material for a yoga mat, especially if you prefer to opt for something natural.

While we’ll confess to having incredibly sweaty hands and feet, we found this mat to have the best grip out of any yoga mat we’ve tried, and there are no annoying bumps, thanks to the heaviness of the material.

So, whether you’re diligent about doing your daily downward dog or are new to pilates or yoga, this piece of kit will be a great aid. The brand also stocks small accessories, such as a cork massage ball (£12, Corkspace.co.uk), to add an extra dimension to your practice, too.

At 6mm thick, the Myprotein yoga mat offers nice density and bounce for an affordable price. Ideal if this is your first go with matwork and you aren’t quite sure what you need.

Made from high-density foam with a wave-pattern texture to ensure ample grip, this plain black mat is a great essential.

It’s also very lightweight so easy to transport to your classes or take with you when you travel. There’s also a little blank name space for you to label the mat as yours – which should stop you from getting it mixed up with anyone else’s in class or at the airport, a nice touch we thought.

It’s safe to say Gymshark knows more than a thing or two when it comes to sweat sessions, so, of course, its yoga mat has been made to see you through the most challenging stretches in that hot yoga class.

If you’re after a rubber yoga mat, you won’t be disappointed. Rubber offers great natural grip and this mat has added texture to ensure you don’t slip out of place.

In basic black – pink and red options are also available – the large logo is striking, however it’s offset by the background colour and is in a muted shade.

It’s weighty enough that the corners don’t curl up, no matter how tightly you roll it. The only downside is it is on the heavy side, so be sure to buy an additional travel strap if you do wish to take it out and about.

If you’re not a fan of plain block-colour styles, this yoga mat is sure to help you stand out from the crowd. In a fierce, fun leopard print, it’s beautifully designed and feels just as good as it looks.

Unlike your conventional yoga mats, this one is topped with vegan suede, giving it a very luxurious, soft and silky finish that we loved, and it was almost entirely slip-free – a huge bonus for hot yoga.

It’s a medium thickness at 4mm with a nice bounce to it and it feels pretty good under the knees and elbows thanks to the suedette finish. The downside is that it is rather heavy and doesn’t come with a travel strap, so may be best for at-home practise.

Peloton needs little introduction. In fact, the online training classes have taken the world by storm, with both the brand’s treadmill and bike becoming must-have pieces of home-gym equipment.

What you may not know is that Peleton’s classes include a huge range of activities, from dance to yoga, and there’s a great range of products to accompany each one. This yoga mat is one of our favourite finds, and it offers a multi-purpose twist that can help you to diversify your at-home practice.

The red side is heavily textured for extra grip, while the black side is smooth yet completely slip-free. At 5mm thick, it offers medium-grade protection from hard floors.

The one downside is it isn’t the easiest to take out and about, but if you’re using it to follow one of Peloton’s classes at home, this won’t be an issue.

A lightweight essential with a textured almost sticky grip, the essential mat from Fabletics is a great all rounder for different types of yoga. Both sides feature a cross-hatch textured pattern to give your fingertips plenty to hold on to and this also keeps it in place on the floor.

The mat is a thin to medium thickness but surpringly weighty despite this so there are no rolling corners and it’s easy to fold or roll and store. This is helpful as it doesn’t come with a storage strap or carry strap so if you’re planning to take this mat out of the house you’ll have to purchase a travel strap separately.

There’s also a discount for Fabletics members which can make this mat much more affordable – it’s £25.60 for members. But at its non-member price it’s a great all rounder for at-home sessions.

Made from vegan suede crafted from recycled plastic bottles and natural rubber, this mat from Kati Kaia is soft, supple and and packs a punch where design is concerned too.

The 4.5mm thickness provides medium cushioning and the rubber offers a nice spring. These suede-style mats aren’t for everyone but if you prefer a softer, more luxurious feeling under your hands and feet that still gives good grip, this mat is a great choice.

There’s also a handy travel strap included so you can take this mat anywhere, and let’s be honest, you’ll probably want to bring it with you to class because of how cool it looks.

This plush customer falls more into the exercise mat category, but can be used for yoga too. It’s twice as thick as your average yoga mat, with 10mm of NBR rubber providing plenty of cushioning. As a result, we found it was incredibly comfortable for lying poses, whether we were using it indoors, outside or on an unforgiving stone floor. The added thickness also felt fantastic for HIIT workout mainstays like burpees and lunges, providing a soft landing when we were required to hit the deck.

However, this mat’s biggest strength (the ample cushioning) is also its most significant shortcoming. The 10mm mat doesn’t offer great ground feel for grippy poses where you’re placing your weight through your hands, such as downward facing dog and crow. If your hands are pushing forward while in a downward facing dog pose, the mat can also stretch slightly, reducing stability.

For these reasons, we would recommend it for people who want an exercise mat they can also use for occasional stretching or Pilates and yoga. It could also make a good fit for those who prefer less active practices such as yoga nidra, or want to protect sore joints from hard floors.

The average yoga mat is about 60cm wide. This Fiit mat boasts another 30cm beyond this, giving you more space for stretching and complex flows.

We loved the larger surface area for all forms of exercise – we never needed to rearrange our body during a yoga class to stay on the mat, or worry about missing the mat with our hands when dropping into the press-up position during a class.

The recycled rubber underside of the mat was brilliantly sticky, not budging on any surface (even slippery laminate floors). And the suede-like top layer is incredibly durable, surviving a multitude of indoor and outdoor classes (as well as unwanted attention from the claws and teeth of our writer’s dog) with little more than a few scuffs to show for it.

The mat didn’t offer as much grip as others on this list, and its larger size means it’s tricky to roll up and take with you on the go. But if you’re after a larger, robust mat, this is a great option at a fairly affordable price.

While this is one of the more expensive mats on this list, it’s also one of the best. At 5mm thick, the Warrior mat from Alo offers medium thickness yet feels springier and more cushioned than other 5mm mats we’ve tried.

Made with ethically sourced natural rubber and polyurethane leather it offers amazing grip so it’s an ideal choice if you tend to slip or suffer with sweaty hands when you’re holding your poses. The finish also wicks moisture away and is formaldehyde-free and PVC-free so its non-toxic credentials are well up to scratch.

The only drawback is that this mat is a little heavy and doesn’t come with a carry strap so is best suited to at-home sessions. Available in four cool colourways from jungle green to smoky quartz, it blends form and function beautifully.

Touted by the brand as ‘the world’s most comfortable mat’, the play mat by Bala is 8mm thick to ensure a comfortable practice. While this level of thickness might not suit everyone, it does make a session on a hard floor that much easier.

Our tester found that it was well suited to a range of yoga styles and to Pilates and training with a resistance band. However, the thickness did interferre a little with balance in certain poses.

The design and luxe finish at the edges certainly makes up for other shortcomings as this is one of the cooler looking mats and it feels premium. Made from FSC-certified natural rubber and high-grade polyurethane, it’s very grippy and prevents any slipping.

The mat is also pretty hardwearing and easy to clean so the higher price point will hopefully ensure that you don’t have to replace your mat after a year of use, which can often be the case with cheaper foam-style mats.