Best Berberine Supplement

Preventable diseases kill hundreds of thousands of people annually and cause years of suffering for hundreds of thousands more. For perspective, in 2024, eight of the top ten causes of death in the United States were diseases.43 These include diabetes, which affects 11.6% of the U.S. population, and heart disease, which accounts for one in every three deaths.44 45

Berberine, a golden yellow compound found in several plants, might play a role in preventing or slowing the progression of both heart disease and diabetes, among several other medical conditions. In this guide, we investigate the pros and cons of adding berberine to your daily diet, explore the safety and quality measures of different supplements, and spotlight the seven best berberine supplements in 2026.

If you’re in a hurry, check out our top recommendations below.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions to live healthier lifestyles.

Not every herbal supplement is created equally, and there’s a lot of misinformation out there. So, for this guide, we’ve spent over 280 hours closely reading more than 50 scientific studies to separate the facts from the falsehoods about berberine supplementation. Through this effort, we’ve gained a thorough understanding of what berberine is, how it works, and how it can be beneficial, as well as who would and would not be a good candidate for taking it. Everything we learned went into choosing our top product recommendations.

Like all health-related content on this website, this review was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy. And as the berberine space continues to evolve, we’ll keep an eye on the latest science and product options to ensure this guide stays up-to-date.

We considered three major criteria when comparing berberine supplements:

• Safety: Since the FDA doesn’t regulate supplements the same way as food and prescription medications, we consider product safety and transparent testing to be the highest priority.
• Efficacy: While almost all of our top picks have the same effective main ingredient (berberine hydrochloride), a couple of them stand out for their potent, bioenhanced formulas. At the same time, if a particular formula is potentially stronger but not as well studied, research becomes less predictive, and the side effects could outweigh health benefits. So, at this time, we reserve our highest recommendation for forms and dosages that are most supported by current research.
• Cost: We found that the prices of berberine supplements don’t vary too significantly per milligram, and almost all of our top picks offer savings through subscription programs and free shipping. Therefore, while cost remains an important consideration, the other factors at play are more crucial.

In the following sections, we summarize our findings in each category.

Safety

Advantage: Double Wood Supplements Berberine

While berberine has many powerful benefits, it also has some drawbacks. It can be rough on the digestive system, for example, capable of causing nausea, bloating, diarrhea, or constipation, and there haven’t been many studies on its long-term safety.47 So, a berberine supplement that’s been through extensive third-party testing will be safer than most, as would one that was manufactured in an FDA-registered facility compliant with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP).

Double Wood makes its GMP-compliant status known right off the bat and includes links to both a certificate of analysis and third-party testing results near the top of the berberine product page. These results back up the company’s ingredient claims on the label, instilling confidence that you’re receiving the berberine you seek. This is especially important considering that one 2017 study found that 60% of berberine supplements do not meet the 90-110% potency standard of what is printed on their label.39

Double Wood also provides additional information in support of safe use, including but not limited to:

• A clear explanation of how often you should take the supplement to avoid the worst side effects
• Allergen notices
• Contraindications with other medications

While other companies in our top picks also perform rigorous testing, we preferred Double Wood’s easy-to-locate results and freely accessible knowledge resources, combined with its competitive pricing and free shipping.

Efficacy

Advantage: Double Wood Supplements Berberine

One of the most important factors behind balancing effectiveness and safety is the dose. Most clinical research, including the most recent reviews of the literature, has demonstrated that daily doses of 500-1,500mg of berberine provide therapeutic benefits but remain well tolerated.46 12 But remember, many berberine supplements don’t really contain the dose printed on the label, so the efficacy is closely tied to the brand’s safety measures (i.e., third-party testing and certificates of analysis).

It should be no surprise, then, that our safety pick, Double Wood, is also our efficacy winner. And apart from its transparency about test results (which are current), it has a couple of other qualities that contribute to its being a highly effective berberine supplement:

• It comes in 500mg capsules, so you can easily adjust your dosage from the low end to the high end of the 500-1,500mg range used in successful research. No scoops or scales required, as with powders.
• It isn’t bioenhanced. At first, this might seem like a downside — after all, clinical research has reliably shown that less than 1% of all orally ingested berberine ends up circulating in the bloodstream40 — but then you recognize that berberine studies typically do not use bioenhanced forms. So, while competitors like Renue and Toniiq use technologies or concentrations that can theoretically boost absorption, we like that Double Wood allows you to stay consistent with dosing that has been studied the most. That is, there’s no guessing how much you are really absorbing from each capsule.

Note: The “standard” form of berberine is berberine hydrochloride (HCl), but there are also enhanced variations, berberine phytosome and dihydroberberine, which are more bioavailable. For example, in a 2021 randomized, controlled trial, 100-200mg of dihydroberberine yielded higher blood levels of berberine than 500mg of the standard stuff. Interestingly, however, dihydroberberine yielded no significant difference in insulin or glucose levels.48 In other words, “more bioavailable” doesn’t necessarily equate to “more effective.” The enhanced variations are also pricier, usually. So, given this combination of cost and negligible improvement, we’ve centered most of our picks on the HCl form of berberine.

Cost

Advantage: Bulk Supplements Berberine HCl Powder

The true cost of a supplement involves multiple factors in addition to the listed price — the serving count, subscription or bulk deals, shipping costs, and the price per serving. Customer service policies also come into play, specifically money-back guarantees that protect your financial risk in case the supplement doesn’t work out.

With all of that in mind, we’ve designated a new budget pick in Bulk Supplements Berberine HCl Powder. Even though Bulk Supplements has a larger flat-rate shipping fee and a higher free-shipping threshold, with no exceptions for subscribers, its up-front and per-serving costs are altogether lower than those of Puritan’s Pride, our previous selection in this category. By way of illustration, consider this table:

Even with the 50g container, Bulk Supplements’ lowest-value option, the barrier to entry is around $12 lower compared with Puritan’s Pride, and the per-serving expenditure is $0.01-$0.05 less. Additionally, Bulk Supplements’ larger container sizes (not listed in the table above) all clear the free-shipping threshold and cost no more than $0.10 per serving.

Puritan’s Pride may have a better money-back guarantee than Bulk Supplements (90 days with no questions asked versus 30 days with caveats), but Bulk Supplements wins out on hard numbers alone.

To help you break down the differences between our top products, we’ve put together a chart mapping all of their most important features. Check it out below (prices reflect the lowest-cost one-time option before shipping fees, and they’ve been rounded to the nearest cent or dollar).

Berberine is an alkaloid found in the roots, bark, and other structures of many plants, including the Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium), goldenseal (Hydrastis canadensis), Indian barberry (Berberis aristata), and European barberry (Berberis vulgaris). It has a long history of therapeutic uses in Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine and an equally expansive list of potential benefits within the framework of contemporary medicine.

Berberine has both antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. It may play a role in defending the body against harmful bacterial overgrowth and even promote the growth of beneficial organisms in the gut microbiome, which in turn affects a variety of disease processes.2 While there’s still a lot to uncover about berberine’s mechanisms of action, researchers do know it impacts a host of medical conditions, such as:

• Diabetes3
• Insulin resistance4
• High cholesterol5
• High blood pressure6
• Candida overgrowth7
• Metabolic syndrome8 41
• Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS)9
• Ulcerative colitis10
• Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)11
• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease12

It might even be a potential cancer preventive or adjunctive therapy. Indeed, a 2019 literature review discussed berberine’s potential for antitumor effects against a few types of cancer, and a more recent review from 2024 highlighted its ability to support chemotherapy.13 49 At this time, the most extensive research on berberine has revolved around its impacts not on cancer but on diabetes and cholesterol management, so those are the health concerns for which the supplement is most likely to yield benefits.

Berberine generally comes in one of four forms:

• Pure berberine: the natural alkaloid form extracted from the parts of berberine-rich plants
• Berberine hydrochloride (HCl): the salt form created by combining berberine with hydrochloric acid — improved water solubility and, therefore, better absorption in the body. There’s a branded extract form of berberine HCl called Himaberb, which has been concentrated to achieve 97% purity.50
• Berberine phospholipid: berberine surrounded by a lipid layer that improves oral bioavailability. An example of a branded extract here is Berbevis.
• Dihydroberberine: the hydrogenated form of berberine, also with increased oral bioavailability

Berberine HCl is the most common form. Indeed, it’s the one used in most research studies on berberine. Yet berberine phytosome and dihydroberberine are engineered such that a lower dose can yield higher systemic increases in berberine. For example, in a 2021 study, as little as 100mg of dihydroberberine increased berberine blood levels better than 500mg of HCl, and another 2021 study (by Indena, the company that makes Berbevis) found that a phytosomal preparation resulted in a tenfold improvement in bioavailability compared with HCl.48 51

Based on these studies, you might conclude that the two bioenhanced forms are superior to berberine HCl. But because of berberine’s side effect profile (discussed later on), bioenhancement might not always work in your favor. In this case, we feel that efficacy can’t be divorced from safety, and from this standpoint we favor the better-researched HCl form. That said, we’ve also found bioenhanced berberine supplements with excellent safety potential, such as Renue By Science’s LIPO formulation, and recommend them with the caveat that users may want to exercise caution.

Most of berberine’s physiological effects are still under investigation, but let’s take a look at some of its most recognized mechanisms of action.

Berberine dosages have not been formally established, but clinical studies use a dose range between 500mg and 2,000mg daily. One study found that high cholesterol levels start to improve at 300mg daily,26 but most people report seeing success with three 500mg capsules daily (1,500mg total).

Generally speaking, berberine is a safe supplement for healthy adults. There aren’t a lot of side effects associated with berberine at the aforementioned doses, but you might experience some stomach upset when getting started. Specifically, berberine can cause:

• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Stomach cramps
• Bloating
• Headache
• Constipation (particularly when you stop taking it)
• Rashes (though this is relatively rare)

The more berberine you take, the more likely you are to experience these side effects. Higher doses also mean you might feel stronger side effects for a longer time. If you know you have a sensitive stomach, it makes sense to start on a low dose of berberine and slowly increase it over time.

In addition to minor side effects, there aren’t many studies on how well berberine works long-term, nor on the potential safety hazards associated with taking berberine for years. Some of the longest-running studies looked at berberine as a dietary supplement for colorectal cancer over two years and found only a few adverse reactions.27 But pay attention to your body. Because we don’t know what could happen, taking berberine long-term typically is not recommended. Also, always talk to your doctor before trying a new supplement.

Contraindications with berberine

We said that berberine is generally safe for healthy adults, but certain health conditions and medications would disqualify a person from the “healthy” category.

For example, if you have diabetes and take insulin, be careful while taking berberine. Since it can lower your insulin resistance, you might need to use less insulin than before to stabilize your blood sugar. Keep an eye out for low or dropping blood sugar levels, too, as hypoglycemia can be extremely dangerous. It’s best to check in with your endocrinologist beforehand if you want to take a berberine supplement.

Berberine is particularly unsafe for pregnant and lactating individuals. Babies and fetuses that ingest berberine are more likely to have jaundice — a condition in which the liver doesn’t function as expected, leading to a buildup of bilirubin and jaundice’s hallmark yellow skin. This could lead to a form of jaundice-induced brain damage called kernicterus, a rare disorder in which bilirubin is deposited in the brain, leading to vision and hearing loss that can be permanent.56 Likewise, children under 18 should not take berberine supplements.

And berberine interacts with several liver enzymes called cytochromes — specifically CYP2D6, CYP2C9, and CYP3A4, all of which come from cytochrome P450. These enzymes break down medications and help our bodies build the cholesterol and certain steroids needed to function.

Berberine’s interaction with cytochrome P450 is important because it can influence how much of particular prescription medications gets absorbed. If your medication has a warning not to eat grapefruit while taking it, you shouldn’t take berberine with it, either.55 (Note, also, that berberine isn’t the only supplement that interacts with cytochrome P450). This is why it’s essential to check with your doctor before starting berberine, as the list of potential cytochrome P450 interactions is quite long:

Besides the contraindicated populations we’ve discussed in the previous safety section, berberine is likely not to be a suitable supplemental intervention for anyone seeking:

• Dramatic weight loss: Although berberine appears to have weight-reducing potential,32 33 it isn’t the “nature’s Ozempic” that some of the marketing might have you believe.62 If you experience any weight loss on berberine, it will be through roundabout mechanisms and much more modest than what you can expect with something like a GLP-1 receptor agonist.
• A cure-all for inflammatory, metabolic, or cardiovascular diseases: Despite the research support for berberine’s uses for these conditions, don’t expect it to substitute proper medical evaluation and prescription treatment. After all, it’s not an FDA-regulated or approved substance. Heed your doctor’s guidance before embarking on a berberine regimen.

Also, if you’d rather take an additive-free berberine powder instead of capsules, you should know that berberine isn’t exactly enjoyable to consume. Let’s say it’s an acquired taste that we’re not sure anyone has ever acquired. It isn’t a complementary flavor, either, so it isn’t likely to hide well behind the fruits and yogurts in your smoothie.

Best overall

Double Wood makes a simple and high-quality berberine supplement. There isn’t much to it, but there doesn’t have to be, because it combines the best traits of an excellent supplement — a relatively low cost, transparent testing and safety measures, and a high-enough dose to make a difference in small-enough capsules to provide flexibility.

Each capsule contains 500mg of pure berberine HCl, which is within the range used in successful clinical studies. The dosage makes it easy to titrate upward to 1,000mg or 1,500mg, as well, should you need to.

Apart from these qualities, one of the biggest reasons that Double Wood stands out as our top berberine supplement is the company’s commitment to transparency. You won’t have to look hard to find that it was made in GMP-compliant facilities in the United States, and its allergen notice is prominently displayed. The company also links directly to a current certificate of analysis and independent third-party testing results on the webpage, revealing that its berberine capsules contain exactly what is claimed on the label. Currently, each capsule contains berberine, hypromellose (veggie capsule), rice flour, silica, and vegetable stearate. The last three ingredients are common supplement additives. But if you’d rather avoid additives (and you have a kitchen scale handy), Bulk Supplements or PureBulk might be a better fit for you.

Pricing

Double Wood sells its berberine capsules at several different price points, depending on the number of bottles you’re ordering and whether or not you’re joining the subscription program. The bulk discount has shrunk since we last checked in, but the subscription discount has increased from 15% to 20%. The berberine was sold out at the time that we’re writing this update, so exact subscription costs weren’t displayed on the product page, but we’ve done the math to give you an accurate sense of what you can expect to pay:

Subscriptions are all processed through the third-party service Recharge. You can choose how frequently you’d like to have a new bottle delivered:

• 30 days
• 60 days
• 90 days
• 180 days

Double Wood now charges standard shipping fees on orders under $30 (including subscriptions), whereas it used to ship all orders for free. We’d rather have free shipping on all orders, but the $30 threshold is at least much lower than any other brand in this guide.

If you aren’t happy with your berberine supplement, you can get a refund even if you’ve already opened the bottle. After placing the order, you’ll have 30 days to initiate a refund, and you’ll need to ship the bottle back, at your expense, whether or not you’ve opened it. Double Wood will still accept returns after the 30 days are up but won’t guarantee a refund. While this return policy isn’t as generous as some of our other top picks — like PureBulk’s 90-day policy, or the 60-day policies of Renue, Oregon’s Wild Harvest, and Nootropics Depot — we appreciate that Double Wood will accept a return even if the product has been opened.

Runner-up for best overall

If you compare this pros/cons list with the one for Double Wood, you’ll notice that Toniiq’s Berberine 97% has a few things in common with our top pick: transparency, a solid safety pedigree and a clinically relevant dose of berberine. So, much of the praise we have for Double Wood can be directed toward Toniiq, as well.

Yet Toniiq falls short of Double Wood in some small but important ways. One, because it isn’t verified to be vegan or soy-, gluten-, and GMO-free, it may not be appropriate for as large an audience. And two, its pricing isn’t as friendly, either.

Pricing

As a one-time purchase, Toniiq’s Berberine 97% berberine costs $27.74 on Amazon and $29.97 through Toniiq. These price tags, along with the 90-serving bottle size, makes it roughly equal in cost to Double Wood on a serving-by-serving basis.

Subscriptions, however, are $24.97 and $25.47, respectively, which amounts to a lower discount compared to Double Wood. And while there are two- and three-bottle bulk purchasing options, the associated savings here are significantly lower than those of Double Wood (10-15% versus 24-28%). Moreover, Toniiq’s $49 free-shipping threshold is much higher than Double Wood’s $30.

Toniiq has a 60-day money-back guarantee, though, which is one improvement on Double Wood. Refund requests are limited to first bottles, but Toniiq doesn't require you to ship the product back if you decide it’s not going to work for you; instead, it asks that you pass it on to someone else who might benefit from using it.

Best budget pick

Like most of our recommendations, Bulk Supplements Berberine HCl Powder delivers a clinically relevant 500mg dose that’s easily adjustable to individual needs. It’s actually more adjustable than our capsule recommendations because it’s a free-standing powder, like PureBulk, which allows you to titrate downward as well as upward. But also like PureBulk, it doesn’t come with a scoop in the bag, so to measure out accurate doses, you’ll need a kitchen scale that reads down to the milligram. And because it’s a powder, you’ll have to contend with its taste, which is unpleasant: an immediate and lasting bitterness.

Bulk Supplements is much more palatable on the safety front. All of its products are manufactured in NSF-certified and FDA-registered cGMP facilities, and they undergo third-party testing before distribution. We wish, however, that it provided test results and certificates of analysis on the product page. If you want this information, you’ll have to request it through customer support.

At least the customer support team is accessible through live chat, a feature we’d like to see with more supplement companies. In our experience, live chatting with Bulk Supplements yields fast and sufficient responses.

Pricing

If you don’t mind the inconveniences of measuring and tasting the powder, then Bulk Supplements Berberine HCl gives you the best bang-for-buck we’ve found in its space. You have your pick of multiple package sizes, with the per-serving cost dropping in reverse correlation with volume. Shipping adds around $10 unless your order exceeds $59, but even then the cost is astonishingly low. Here’s a table to illustrate the price points with shipping added:

The cost per serving sort of levels off at around $0.09, but that’s half the amount you could hope to pay for our previous budget pick, Puritan’s Pride. As long as you have the up-front cash, you don’t really have to bother with a subscription: just get at least a 500g package and be set for years (it should have something like a five-year expiration date).

Just be sure that you want that much before you buy, because the money-back guarantee is severely limited. You can return your product within 30 days, but only unopened products are broadly eligible for full refunds. For opened ones, your refund will be equivalent to the price of the smallest available unit. If, for example, you buy and use a 500g bag, the most you can hope to get in a refund is the cost of a 50g bag (you eat the shipping cost). The policy, then, doesn’t apply if all you bought was the 50g bag. We’d hardly call this a guarantee, and it’s egregiously worse than that of any other brand in this guide.

Best powder

PureBulk Berberine HCl powder has a lot in common with Bulk Supplements: it’s available in multiple size options (from 25g all the way up to 1kg), offers the same degree of dose personalization, is made in GMP-certified facilities, undergoes third-party testing before distribution, and has an unpleasant taste.

But PureBulk exclusively has a few small qualities that ultimately persuaded us to name it our best powder option:

• Transparency: PureBulk displays the certificate of analysis right on the product page. With Bulk Supplements, you have to request it through customer support.
• Customer guidance: PureBulk’s berberine product page also displays valid scientific evidence that can help inform smarter purchasing decisions.
• Guarantee period: PureBulk’s guarantee period is three times as long as that of Bulk Supplements (more on that in the next section).

For all that, though, PureBulk is a little less convenient to dose than Bulk Supplements. That’s because a 500mg dose of powder amounts to 439mg of berberine, which doesn’t exactly align with a clinical dose. You’ll need to be extra precise to make sure you take the right amount.

Pricing

PureBulk offers its berberine supplement in three forms: powder, gelatin capsules, and vegetarian-friendly cellulose capsules. The capsules really aren’t the subject of our recommendation, so let’s focus on the powder, which is available in six bag sizes and price points. Shipping adds $4.99 to each order unless you exceed the $49 free-shipping threshold. This table lays it all out (you’ll notice there’s now a subscription program, which was still missing when we last checked in with the company):

Outside of the 50g bag, the per-serving cost is slightly higher compared to Bulk Supplements across the board, but we’re still talking about a very affordable berberine supplement.

That’s especially true for teachers, first responders, and military members, who get a 15% discount. You’ll need to verify your identity through VerifyPass, a third-party platform, and upon approval, you’ll get a one-time discount code valid for 24 hours. You’ll need to repeat this process to get another code each time you shop with PureBulk.

Also, PureBulk has a 90-day return period that no other brand in this guide can beat. The “guarantee” policy is the same as that of Bulk Supplements, though — for opened products, your refund is equivalent only to the smallest bag size — so it isn’t great, just long.

Most potent

Known mostly for its excellent NAD+ supplements, Renue By Science steps out of its usual arena with LIPO Berberine. What separates it from a traditional supplement is the addition of sunflower lecithin as a liposomal carrier — two phospholipid layers arranged in a sphere. Because the human body uses phospholipid bilayers to create cells, it should notice, bond to, and process this liposomal supplement much faster and more effectively than if it just went through your digestive system.

Liposomal technology isn’t a guaranteed bioenhancer for all supplements, but it appears to be effective with berberine. Normally, less than 1% of any given oral berberine supplement gets put to use in the body, but a 2017 animal study showed that liposomal berberine is stored, absorbed, and used 16 times more than berberine on its own.1 31 Though more (human) studies are needed to verify this bioenhancing potential, the theory holds that your body may get more impact from Renue’s LIPO Berberine than from alternatives.

The bioenhancement angle is how Renue can settle on a lower-than-standard dose: 250mg of berberine per one-capsule serving. If you assume that the 2017 animal study accurately predicts the greater absorption rate in humans, then a 250mg dose of LIPO Berberine might be equivalent to something like 2,500mg of traditionally formulated berberine HCl, which is a high dose. So, by corollary, the liposomal bioenhancement could put you at a higher risk of GI side effects, with no easy way to divide the capsule into a smaller dose.

Primarily for that reason, Renue by Science is not our pick for best overall berberine supplement. But to the company’s credit, it includes a copy of the certificate of analysis directly on the product page.

Pricing

Renue By Science sells LIPO Berberine in only one size and form: a bottle of 90 capsules for $49.95 (one-time) or $44.96 (subscription). Subscribers can choose to have the product delivered every 30, 45, 60, or 90 days.

If your order exceeds $50 — by adding literally anything else from the catalog alongside one bottle of LIPO Berberine — you unlock free shipping within the United States. (This threshold is $10 lower than it previously was.) Otherwise, it’s a $4.99 shipping fee added to your total. The resulting per-serving cost is around $0.55-$0.60, depending on whether it’s a one-timer or a subscription.

There are free-shipping thresholds for the United Kingdom and Canada, too ($500), as well as for Australia ($35). Also, Renue By Science will not ship to Mexico, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, or the United Arab Emirates, but it will send its products to any other country.

Renue has a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee and a 60-day return window. If you aren’t pleased with your purchase, for any reason, you can request a refund or exchange within that time.

Best organic

Oregon grape root is one of the best plant sources of berberine. It’s widely used in oral and topical formulas and addresses everything from an upset stomach to irritation-related rashes. Oregon’s Wild Harvest encapsulates Oregon grape root to capitalize on the plant’s berberine content, providing you with a supplement made exclusively from natural sources.

Each three-capsule serving contains 1,140mg of organic Oregon grape root and nothing else. The berberine content is unspecified, but we can make an educated guess based on existing scientific research. For example, a 2020 analysis found that an Oregon grape extract contained around 6mg of berberine per 1,000mg of plant material, suggesting that Oregon’s Wild Harvest delivers a little more than 6mg per serving.63 That’s a low dose, but Oregon grape contains other compounds that could help make up the difference. The most notable of them is jatrorrhizine, an alkaloid with antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anti-obesity, and hypolipidemic properties, like berberine.64 Of this alkaloid, Oregon grape has a relatively high concentration.65

On the safety side, Oregon’s Wild Harvest performs every step of the production process in-house — growing the herbs, packaging, testing, and shipping. While it doesn’t appear that the company uses third-party quality testing, it does verify quality and potency on every batch and processes its herbs in facilities compliant with USDA standards.

Pricing

One bottle of Oregon’s Wild Harvest holds 90 capsules (30 servings). You can purchase it as a one-time order or join the company’s subscription program to save 15% on every order. Prices have gone up by about 35% since we last checked. So, for each bottle, you’ll now pay the following prices:

• One-time order: $27.95
• Subscribe & save: $23.76

The free-shipping threshold has also risen, from $50 to $60. If you don’t cross the threshold, you’ll pay a shipping cost calculated at checkout (for perspective, an order to Kansas would add $10 in shipping to the bill).

Oregon’s Wild Harvest attests to a 100% satisfaction guarantee with 60 days of purchase. The website doesn’t clarify whether all opened products qualify for the guarantee (it speaks instead of a “qualified refund”), so you may need to contact customer support to determine whether you’re eligible.

Best for enhanced metabolic support

We’ve covered the merits of a 500mg dose of berberine, so here we’re going to focus on silymarin, the ingredient that separates Nootropics Depot from the rest of the pack.

Silymarin, the active ingredient in milk thistle, refers to a group of flavonoid antioxidants best known for their potential to support liver and diabetic health. In clinical studies, daily doses as low as 420mg have led to improved biomarkers of liver pathologies, and doses of 600mg have decreased key diabetic markers.57 58 Nootropics Depot’s 100mg dose is on the low side, but at the label-recommended 2-3 servings per day, it may be sufficient to enhance the metabolic benefits of berberine.

On top of that, Nootropics Depot satisfies the safety criteria we prefer a berberine producer to meet: GMP compliance and third-party testing. Nootropics Depot is also one of those companies that willingly displays its testing results on the product page, which speaks to its confidence in the purity and quality of its supplements.

Pricing

Nootropics Depot Berberine + Silymarin comes in two sizes and price points: $34.99 for a 60-serving bottle and $69.99 for a 180-serving bottle. Domestic orders below $50 get around $10 tacked on for shipping. Your per-serving cost will depend on how many servings you take per day. Here’s approximately how the pricing breaks down with shipping added:

So, at its most affordable, Nootropics Depot is more cost-effective than Renue by Science and Oregon’s Wild Harvest, but otherwise it’s the least affordable product in this guide. There are no direct subscriptions, and so no opportunities for additional savings. For some people, though, the potentially enhanced metabolic support could be worth it.

The return policy isn’t great, either, as only unopened products qualify.

Nutricost has an extensive catalog and a history of well-performing supplements. The company’s Berberine Capsules are consistent with the company’s reputation, offering 600mg of Indian-barberry-derived berberine in every capsule. The serving size is two capsules, giving you a total dose of 1,200mg of berberine, but you can easily halve the daily dose instead.

This berberine supplement also includes silica, magnesium stearate, and microcrystalline cellulose, so if you’re looking for a completely clean supplement, you may want to look elsewhere. But these ingredients are relatively common in supplements, so it’s not anything alarming; instead, it just means there’s a little more than just berberine inside.

Nutricost’s supplements are all manufactured in a GMP-certified facility and are tested for purity, potency, and quality by a third party, although the certificates are not readily available, unlike some of our other top picks.

Pricing

Nutricost sells its berberine HCl in a 60-capsule bottle for $21.97 (one-time) or $17.58 (subscription). These prices are around 15% less than when we last checked. Shipping adds $7 unless your order exceeds $59.

On the surface, then, Nutricost doesn’t look to be all that expensive. But then you see the per-serving breakdown. If you take the label-recommended two capsules a day, then it’s around $0.82-$0.97 per serving after you account for shipping. Even with just one capsule a day, the per-serving cost is higher than that of almost any one of our other recommendations.

On the upside, Nutricost has a true money-back guarantee, with a 60-day return window. You’re responsible only for the return shipping. That is, unless you purchase the $2.98 protection plan at checkout that qualifies you for a free return.

Thorne’s Berberine (formerly known as Berberine-500) is no longer one of our top recommendations, but it still holds place as an honorable mention. It’s a clinically refined, potent berberine supplement. One serving of it is two capsules containing a total of 1,000mg of berberine from Indian barberry extract (450mg) and Berberis aristata extract (550mg). Each bottle holds 60 capsules (30 servings). This provides flexibility while ensuring you’ll have enough berberine to get you through the month.

Though not labeled as such, the 500mg berberine supplement option has no additional animal-based ingredients (just a hypromellose capsule and calcium laurate), making it vegan-friendly. It’s also gluten-, dairy-, and soy-free. Moreover, Thorne uses NSF and cGMP-certified facilities to manufacture its berberine supplements, and all of its supplements are rigorously tested in-house four times at various stages of manufacturing (although test results are not readily available on the product website).

Of note, Thorne was the first supplement manufacturer from the United States to earn an A rating from Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration, which is well-known for having some of the highest standards in the world.

Pricing

One bottle of Thorne’s Berberine Capsules costs $42 as a one-time purchase, with free ground shipping. This breaks down into a steep $1.40 per serving. Even though it delivers 1,000mg per dose, it has a high price tag.

You can unlock 10% savings by joining Thorne’s subscription program. The discount kicks in only after your first order, so it’s still $42 for the first bottle, and then $37.80 thereafter. You can also increase the per-bottle discount to 20% if you subscribe to three or more Thorne products.

If you aren’t satisfied with your berberine capsules for any reason, you can return them within 60 days of purchase for a full refund.

Puritan’s Pride Berberine was another of our previously recommended products, but its place has been taken by Bulk Supplements. But it, too, remains a worthy consideration in the berberine space.

Every bottle of Puritan’s Pride berberine contains 60 capsules of 500mg berberine sourced from Indian barberry. Every “single” order comes with two free bottles, and a “double” comes with four free bottles, so it’s either 180 or 360 servings per order. It’s a unique pricing model that gives you much more flexibility in your dosing schedule, as you can take anywhere from 500mg to 2,000mg daily without worrying about running out before the month’s end.

Puritan’s Pride also offers berberine mixed with several other ingredients (such as turmeric and black pepper, cinnamon, and silymarin), so you can pick a combination that’ll support your specific health goals if you’re focused on decreasing inflammation, increasing metabolism, or supporting liver health.30 However, we think that pure berberine capsules are best for most people.

We’ve confirmed that Puritan’s Pride berberine supplements are vegan-friendly, and a small amount of vegetable magnesium stearate and silica are included, which are common fillers. This won’t hurt your health, but if you’re looking for a completely clean supplement, this one might not quite fit the bill.

All Puritan’s Pride supplements are manufactured in GMP-certified facilities and tested multiple times throughout their production. Disappointingly, the company doesn't specify whether the supplements are tested in-house or by independent third parties and doesn’t provide any test results.

Pricing

As we said, every order of Puritan’s Pride Berberine comes with free bottles. Prices have increased by around $1-$2 since our last check-in, but it’s still a bargain. Subscribing drops not only the price but also the free-shipping threshold (from $49 to $30). If you don’t clear the free-shipping threshold, the shipping charge is a flat rate of $4.95.

This chart below lays out exactly how much you’ll pay in different circumstances.

The per-serving costs don’t fall low enough to compete with Bulk Supplements (which is why Bulk Supplements is our new budget pick), but these prices are terrific by any metric.

Also, you can try Puritan’s Pride Berberine risk-free, with returns eligible within a 90-day window. The caveat is that Puritan’s Pride will offer a full refund only if just one bottle has been opened, and you’ll need to include them all in a return package when you send the product back.

If you’re curious about what the rest of the Puritan’s Pride catalog holds, check out our full review.

In addition to berberine’s antimicrobial properties and impacts on diabetes, some of its greatest value lies in its effects on heart health and inflammation. But despite its far-reaching potential health benefits, taking a berberine supplement may not be right for everyone. We’ve laid out some alternative options to berberine if you are seeking a different answer for these issues.