What's the Best ED Treatment in 2024?

Our ED guide examines cost, effectiveness, convenience, and other facts about erectile dysfunction treatments, along with free trial information.

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Medically reviewed by:
Last updated: Oct 28th, 2024
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best ED treatments

Photo by Innerbody Research

Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a common condition. One recent study estimated that roughly a third of men struggle with ED. Though the condition does affect more older men than younger men — half of the erectile dysfunction patients in the U.S. are over the age of 60 — men who suffer from ED span age groups. Another study found over 25% of men under age 40 suffered from ED to some extent. If any of this describes you, then you’re certainly not alone at all.

Thankfully, ED is also a condition that is very treatable. Several treatments work for most men with ED, but "most" may technically mean only more than 50% of ED sufferers. The truth is that ED has various underlying causes, and those who are confronting it face varying challenges in treatment due to other potential underlying health conditions. So, the question is: what is the best treatment for you?

It can get complicated. Aside from underlying health considerations, everything from price to how you take a medication can affect your decision. But we're here to demystify ED and your treatment options. To help you out, we’ve reviewed the major online providers and treatments and analyzed a large swath of relevant scientific research. In this guide, we’ll break down all of your best options.

First, to orient you to this landscape, here is a roadmap that breaks down the diverse treatment paths you might take and our characterization of their merits.

  1. Most likely to help: Prescription PDE5i medication like sildenafil (Viagra), tadalafil (Cialis), etc.
  2. Next most likely to help: Mental health care
  3. Best device-based alternative to prescription: Shockwave therapy
  4. Best OTC budget options to try: ED rings and/or certain supplements

And now, for those in a hurry, here’s a quick snapshot of our specific recommendations across that roadmap.

Our top recommended ED treatments

Best Place to Start

If you’re new to prescription ED medications, there’s simply no more affordable, convenient, or discreet place to start treatment.

That’s because BlueChew offers a free trial of ED medication (minus a $5 shipping fee). Nobody else offers an opportunity like this, and it’s a great way to discover if a prescription PDE5 inhibitor works as well for you as it does for many men. There are other platforms that could suit you better over the long haul once you know what works best — such as Hims for daily tadalafil, or Strut for sildenafil. Read on for all of those comparative details.

Table of Contents

In this Review

Why you should trust us

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test each health service we review, including ED medication services, whenever possible. All told, our team has collectively spent over 1,300 hours researching erectile dysfunction, its potential treatments, and the companies offering them.

Our team has considered over 180 clinical studies related to erectile dysfunction and its treatments. We’ve heard from men who rely on them and those whose partners require them. To get as clear a picture of the market landscape as possible, we’ve completed the consultation and ordering process for all of the top online ED medication providers. This guide was also scrutinized by members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy. We’ll continue to monitor developments among these providers and in the broader landscape of ED treatment.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of people make more informed decisions about staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles.

What is erectile dysfunction?

ED is the term used to describe the condition of being unable to get or keep an erection long enough to engage in satisfying sexual activity. It encompasses a few circumstances:

  • You can get an erection but can’t maintain it for a long enough period of time.
  • You can get semi-erect but not fully firm.
  • An erection just won’t happen at all.
  • Erections sometimes happen, but sometimes they won’t.

ED prevalence is much greater than you might think. Various studies indicate that anywhere from one-third to one-half of all men deal with ED at some point. And incidences of ED increase steadily with age.

What causes ED?

There are numerous potential causes of ED. Though it occurs more frequently as men age, this isn’t a condition that’s a natural part of the aging process; erectile dysfunction isn’t something that men or their partners should just accept. And it’s not at all something that should be a source of shame or embarrassment. ED is a common condition, and many roads may lead to it, including:

  • Hypertension (high blood pressure)
  • Obesity
  • Diabetes
  • Stress
  • Use of alcohol, tobacco, or drugs (recreational or prescription)
  • Exhaustion and sleep disorders
  • Depression and anxiety

It would be wise to speak with your doctor to rule out any of these potential causes before taking a prescription for ED, as each of those listed ailments can have far-reaching consequences beyond sexual health. Dealing with the greater issue should alleviate most (if not all) ED symptoms, but if it doesn’t, you can still reach for an ED prescription. For example, Dr. Isabel Urdaneta, a urologist and member of our Medical Review Board, tells us, “Prostatitis is a very common cause. Once you eradicate it, the ED will disappear.”

What to discuss with a healthcare provider

It’s always a good idea to talk with a healthcare provider before you embark on an ED treatment journey. If you hope to use any prescription ED treatments, you’ll have to get the prescription from a doctor who will review your medical history and current health to determine if one of these medicines is suitable for you.

But even if a prescription treatment isn’t the best course of action, it’s still wise to consult with a healthcare provider. Because there are many possible causes of ED, your erection difficulties might signal an underlying condition that requires medical attention.

Thankfully, our top recommendations for the best ED treatment include complimentary consultations with a physician who can help you. This is an incredible value for anyone without insurance, for whom a simple doctor’s visit might be prohibitively expensive. Here are some topics that you might discuss during a consultation.

Testosterone

ED is a common health condition with many possible underlying causes. One of these potential causes happens to be low testosterone. A testosterone test can help you determine if this is what’s behind your ED. Thankfully, these days, you have the option of testing your testosterone at home without a lab order or waiting in a medical office. We recommend you check out the high-quality at-home Testosterone Test from LetsGetChecked, as well as our guide to the best testosterone tests. And if you’re in need of testosterone support, supplements can help; visit our guide to the best testosterone boosters.

Psychological factors

Psychological factors can contribute to erectile dysfunction and make it difficult for a consulting physician to pinpoint the cause of your ED. You should still respond well to ED medications, but if you’ve exhausted possible physical causes, you may want to speak with a counselor to rule out psychological conditions like depression or anxiety.

History of diabetes

Diabetes mellitus can cause ED. Thankfully, those with diabetes-induced ED (DMED) tend to respond very well to ED treatments. If you have prediabetes or your family has a history of diabetes, this is something you should bring up in your consultation.

Nitrate drugs

Unfortunately, people who take nitrates for cardiovascular conditions may not be suitable candidates for PDE5 inhibitor ED treatments. In this case, you will likely have to pursue alternative ED treatments.

History of heart disease or cardiovascular problems, including high or low blood pressure

A consultation with a doctor will help you determine whether you can safely take ED medications, which can affect blood pressure and interact dangerously with certain heart medications. If you already have low blood pressure or are being treated for high blood pressure, there is a possibility that ED treatments could lead to hypotension, which is a serious risk. The doctor will be able to advise you on safe treatment options. You will need recent blood pressure results to acquire a prescription for PDE5-inhibiting ED medications.

Lifestyle choices

Certain behaviors can make it harder to maintain an erection for men who don’t have ED. These include sleep patterns, alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, stress management, and even lack of exercise. Try to keep track of your sleep, exercise, and other habits for at least a week leading up to your consultation.

Prescription ED treatment options

When it comes to readily available ED medications, you have several options to consider. Believe it or not, nearly all of these medications work by achieving the same effect: they are PDE5 inhibitors (PDE5i), supporting or enhancing the effects of nitric oxide in our bodies. However, they each have specific onset times and durations that may make one a better option for your lifestyle than another.

Best place to start in 2024: BlueChew

BlueChew offers three PDE5i medications and has a simple interface that quickly leads you through the consultation process to get your prescription sent to you expediently. They offer two sildenafil and tadalafil doses intended for as-needed use, as well as a daily tadalafil blended with a multivitamin. Doses are in typical clinical ranges for effectiveness with minimal risk for side effects.

Bluechew Tadalafil

Photo by Innerbody Research

And BlueChew is our Editors’ Choice for best ED treatment in 2024 for several additional reasons:

  • BlueChew’s medications (tadalafil, sildenafil, and vardenafil) are chewable, which eliminates the need for water to take them.
  • BlueChew’s monthly subscriptions keep the cost per dose low.
  • You can try it for free for a month using the INNERBODY coupon code.

Ultimately, what works best for you — and what dosage you take — depends on what the consulting physician determines is suitable. They’ll make that determination based on your medical background, how you tolerate the medication when you begin using it, and your own routines and preferences. You may also have some say in the dosage you use to start.

Scientific research suggests that many men prefer the convenience of tadalafil. In a meta-analysis of numerous studies, couples preferred tadalafil to sildenafil — and it wasn’t very close. In one study, nearly 80% of women preferred their sexual partners to use tadalafil, compared to sildenafil (15% preference). Therefore, the chances are pretty good that tadalafil will be ideal for you, too.

Sildenafil is a reliable and long-studied treatment option, as well. Many doctors recommend it and prescribe it to great efficacy. Vardenafil is nearly identical to sildenafil and makes a good choice for the few men who don’t have success with the latter.

Wherever you start, it’s important to remember that these medications don’t automatically give you an erection. Appropriate sexual stimulation is still required; PDE5 inhibitors merely create the physiological conditions for arousal to cause an erection.

Close runner-up: Hims

Hims Sildenafil

Photo by Innerbody Research

Based on extensive and varied testing, we have formed a very high opinion of Hims as a telemedicine platform. After a free consultation with a doctor, you can access a few different ED treatments proven to be effective for most men: sildenafil (and brand-name Viagra), tadalafil (and brand-name Cialis), vardenafil, and Stendra (avanafil). Hims offers chewable versions of tadalafil and vardenafil, as well as chews that combine medications. Most prices for as-needed medication are still higher than BlueChew and others. However, prices for daily tadalafil (in pill and chew form) are among the lowest on the market. For daily tadalafil, Hims could save you $250-$350 per year compared to BlueChew (depending on whether you opt for a chew or a pill). This makes Hims our recommendation for long-term daily tadalafil.

Here’s a quick comparison of some of our top choices:

Lowest price per dose
Free trial?
Medication form
How fast does it work?
How long can it work?
BlueChew tadalafil 6 mg (as needed)
$3.21
Chewable
30 minutes
18-36 hours
BlueChew tadalafil 9mg + multivitamin (daily)
$2.00
Discounted
Chewable
Always ready
Always ready
Hims tadalafil 2.5mg and 5mg (daily)
$1.07
Pill
30 minutes
18-36 hours
Hims tadalafil 8.5mg (daily)
$1.30
Chewable
30 minutes
18-36 hours
BlueChew sildenafil 30 mg
$2.65
Chewable
30 minutes
Up to 6 hours
Hims sildenafil
$3.38
Pill
30 minutes
Up to 6 hours
Strut sildenafil
$1.60
Pill
30 minutes
Up to 6 hours
Roman sildenafil 40 mg
$4.00
Pill
30 minutes
Up to 6 hours
Hims Stendra 100 mg
$52.50
Pill
15-30 minutes
Up to 6 hours
Roman Viagra 50 mg
$90.00
Pill
30 minutes
Up to 6 hours
Rugiet Ready Maximum Strength
$19.44
Lozenge
15-20 minutes
Up to 36 hours
BlueChew vardenafil 8mg
$4.00
Chewable
30 minutes
Up to 8 hours
Hims vardenafil 8.5mg
$1.30
Chewable
30 minutes
Up to 8 hours

How we evaluated ED treatments

Each of the treatments we cover in this guide will work for most men with ED. Some men may need higher doses than others, and it might take some time to arrive at the dose that maximizes efficacy while maintaining a low risk of side effects.

We focus here on what most men would need to consider before investing in medication for erectile dysfunction. When you look at what these pills offer and how you need to take them, dose timing becomes an important factor. It’s less a matter of better or worse and more a matter of preference, but there is one type that’s likely to please more users than others, and research supports this position. Combined with cost, safety, privacy, and medication format, we have a set of fundamental factors that form our overall value assessment of each medication type.

While sildenafil often works out to be the least expensive option in terms of per-month cost, that doesn’t automatically make it the best choice for men. Consider tadalafil, for instance — its available doses are similarly flexible to sildenafil’s, but the dose timing (taking it as needed and having it work for up to 36 hours) is preferable for many men who’d rather not try to predict precisely when sex will happen. There are some caveats, and one medicine might work better for you than another. All of these prescription ED pills are highly effective. Let’s delve into the factors that will help you determine what your preferences might be.

Dose timing

Winner: Tadalafil from BlueChew

Some ED treatments are effective within a specific time window after you swallow a pill and require a short wait before they become effective. Others give you more leeway to forget about timing altogether. Are you somebody who will be irritated by a certain amount of planning for sex? For some people, this can be a mood-killer, while other men don’t mind, especially those who don’t like the idea of taking a daily pill for occasional sex.

Ultimately, we prefer tadalafil for dose timing because you can take a daily dose to ensure you’re ready at any time or take one pill within 24-36 hours of any anticipated intercourse. Also, as Dr. Urdaneta points out, “In my practice, I often use the daily dose of 5mg of tadalafil, whether or not the intention of sex exists, since it favors circulation of the corpus cavernosum, improving its elasticity and response to future erections.”

So, if you don’t want to take a daily pill but have a date at night, you can take tadalafil sometime that day and see reliable effects well into the next day. And since tadalafil is active in the system well within an hour, you can still use it in cases of spontaneous sex and not have to wait too long for it to kick in.

Here’s a quick visual comparison of ED medication dose timing:

Time to workLasts for
Cialis (tadalafil)Less than 30 minutesUp to 36 hours
Viagra (sildenafil)Less than 30 minutes2-4 hours
VardenafilLess than 30 minutesUp to 8 hours
Stendra15-30 minutesUp to 6 hours
Apomorphine (sublingual)Less than 20 minutesUp to 8 hours

Dr. Urdaneta adds, “Another advantage of Tadalafil is that its absorption is not affected by the intake of fatty foods, unlike what happens with the rest of the PDE5i.”

And if tadalafil sounds like the right path to try first, BlueChew is the best way to try it out. As long as you’re a suitable candidate to try PDE5 inhibitors like tadalafil and sildenafil, you can get several doses for free from BlueChew to see how well they work for you; you only pay a few dollars for shipping. Once you’ve confirmed that it works well, you could switch to Hims for lower ongoing costs.

Cost

Winner: Sildenafil from Strut

Most insurance, including government insurance like Medicare, won’t cover the costs of ED medication, so it’s essential to consider your available budget. Prescription ED medications vary in price, and in many cases, sildenafil is available at the lowest cost per pill. To provide the best price for the most effective treatment, many companies have various billing cycles, shipping quantities, and dosages you can mix and match.

Let’s visualize how much you might pay for the lowest available doses on telemedicine platforms with the best prices. Keep in mind that some low prices are only available with larger orders up to as much as a one-year supply (360 pills):

Doses start atPrices per dose start atWho has the best prices per dose
Sildenafil20mg$1.60Strut Health
Tadalafil (daily)2.5mg$1.07Hims
Tadalafil (as needed)5mg$2.40Strut Health and BlueChew
Vardenafil8mg$4BlueChew
Stendra100mg$52.50Hims

Special Offer from Bluechew: 30-Day Free Trial (Only Pay Shipping)

This is why Strut Health is a top choice for men for whom budget is a huge factor. It offers the lowest price for sildenafil — the most affordable as-needed prescription ED medication available today. However, BlueChew offers a free trial for your first order of any medication it sells. For budget-conscious men new to ED meds, we recommend that you try BlueChew first.

If you start with BlueChew sildenafil and find success, you can move to Strut for a lower per-dose price, so long as you don’t mind going from chewables to traditional tablets. If you try their tadalafil and find success, you can try switching to Hims, where you can get 5mg tadalafil (1mg lower than BlueChew’s lowest dose) for as little as $1.07/dose, whether for daily or as-needed use. If that 5mg dose proves sufficient, you’ll have the best price around. If you need to go back up to 6mg or more, BlueChew would be the superior choice for price.

Safety

Winner: Avanafil from Hims

Any medication designed to affect male sexual anatomy is going to be met with extreme caution, and rightly so. Beyond the psychological importance most men place on their genitalia, there is the practical use for reproduction and waste elimination to consider. We take all of these issues seriously when considering ED treatments.

Most studies show that PDE5 inhibitors (the class of medications that includes sildenafil, tadalafil, and others) are safe for most healthy men. The men who are most at risk for severe adverse effects are those on medications that affect blood pressure. PDE5 inhibitors act as vasodilators, effectively lowering blood pressure by increasing nitric oxide production. If your blood pressure is already lowered due to an ailment or medication, adding a PDE5 inhibitor can prove fatal.

Insider Tip: Doctors require a recent blood pressure reading to prescribe any PDE5-inhibiting ED medication. This can pose a hurdle for some, potentially negating the cost- and time-saving benefits telemedicine offers. But you can get a blood pressure reading elsewhere if needed. Devices for at-home use cost as little as $20, and pharmacy chains like CVS often have free heart health programs or open-access machines that can measure it for you. Patients who have suffered a major cardiovascular event in the past two weeks cannot receive PDE5 inhibitors.

Studies comparing oral medications for erectile dysfunction come to the conclusion that there are few meaningful differences in their respective safety profiles. Some men develop visual color processing issues when they take PDE5 inhibitors that also act to inhibit PDE-6 — a common but usually benign collateral effect. Muscle pain can also result from collateral inhibition of other phosphodiesterase enzymes. For these men, avanafil would be preferable to sildenafil, as it more selectively targets PDE5 without affecting PDE-6 and other PDE enzymes. Vardenafil is also a superior choice to sildenafil in this regard, but between common doses for avanafil and vardenafil, avanafil has lower incidences of side effects in scientific research. (The major downside is that avanafil is only available as brand-name Stendra, which is much more expensive than generic ED medications.)

Tadalafil is less associated with visual disturbances than sildenafil, though muscle pain is somewhat common.

Common but typically mild side effects associated with popular ED medications include:

  • Headache
  • Flushing
  • Backache
  • Dyspepsia
  • Nasal congestion

Access to these ED medications requires a prescription, which means you’ll have the opportunity to talk with a physician along the way. Take the time to ask your doctor about any of these issues during your consultation.

Privacy

Winner: BlueChew (by a hair)

You deserve a high degree of discretion when acquiring medication for erectile dysfunction, especially considering the stigmas around ED and the shame you may feel about the issue. All of the companies we’ve included here provide significant protections and stringent practices for the safeguarding of medical data. They abide by HIPAA regulations, or else they would lose their right to offer prescription medications.

So, when it comes to comparing these companies to one another on the basis of privacy, the only two parameters left are their online tracking practices and medication delivery systems. All of these companies use cookies and web beacons to track your browsing habits on their site. The data shouldn’t link to you directly, but it will connect with your IP address and possibly information about your device. We want to see these companies make it as easy as possible to opt out of their tracking systems.

There are options for restricting the sale of your information on each of the top sites we cover here, but BlueChew has the easiest interface. You don’t have to send an email or make a phone call. When you’re logged into your account, you can click “Do Not Sell My Information” at the bottom of almost any page and quickly submit an automated request to opt out.

For the actual delivery, none of these companies ship their products in boxes that show what’s inside. Some Hims and Roman deliveries will have Hims or Roman in the return address, but those companies’ product lineups are large enough that no one could deduce the box’s contents.

BlueChew gets the edge here because of the way its meds are packaged. Since they’re individually wrapped tablets, their packaging is rather flat; it doesn’t look like it would contain medicine, and there’s no audible rattling of pills in a bottle or tin.

Medication format

Winner: Chewable tadalafil

Another way to think of medication format is, essentially, “convenience.”

When Viagra hit the market in 1998, it quickly became known as the “little blue pill,” a coy way for men to gain some distance from any potential stigma associated with ED at the time. It wasn’t hard in those days to imagine the “little” or the “blue” aspects of Viagra evolving as generic sildenafil and competitive medications came out. But recently, it seems the industry is paying closer attention to the “pill” aspect of erectile dysfunction treatment.

Sildenafil, tadalafil, Stendra, and vardenafil are typically delivered in pill form, but pills aren’t always the most convenient format. Many people have trouble swallowing pills, and — particularly in the case of pills you take just before intercourse — finding a drink to wash those pills down can be an annoyance. BlueChew and Rugiet developed workarounds to this issue by providing chewable tablets and dissolving lozenges, respectively. Hims and Roman later came out with chewables of their own.

There is some evidence that chewable and dissolvable delivery methods can accelerate the time to action since the medication can be absorbed through oral membranes and into the bloodstream without having to pass through the digestive tract. However, it may only be the difference of a few minutes. These methods are ultimately more about maximizing convenience than anything else.

Hims currently has the best prices for chewable daily tadalafil, but it’s only available at 8.5mg, which may be higher than needed for some men. However, if that dose is high enough that it works for you on an as-needed basis, you could save a lot of money by getting the daily prescription, stocking up, using it only as needed, and canceling your subscription until you run low. You can do this penalty-free, provided your doctor prescribes daily chewable tadalafil.

Hims also has a chewable as-needed tadalafil at 11.2mg, but it’s not the best deal for as-needed chewable tadalafil around. That honor goes to BlueChew’s as-needed chewable tadalafil (which starts at 6mg), and their free trial makes them a more convenient place for men to start. If you’re comfortable titrating up to 8.5mg, you can save money by migrating to Hims, and you can always switch back to BlueChew if the 8.5mg dose from Hims causes side effects.

Right now, BlueChew remains the only source of chewable sildenafil on its own.

How PDE5 inhibitors work

Nitric oxide (NO) mediates vasodilation (widening of blood vessels) in the penis, increasing blood flow. PDE5 inhibitors promote the release of nitric oxide, causing improved blood flow and helping the muscles in the penis to relax, causing the penis to enlarge and grow rigid, forming an erection.

Meanwhile, PDE5 (phosphodiesterase-5) is a chemical that the body releases to signal that it’s time for the erection to end. PDE5 inhibitors slow the activity of PDE5, allowing the NO activity to continue, bringing forth a sustained erection.

Taking one of these medications should not result in an instant erection — stimulation is still required. But when stimulation occurs, the medicine helps boost nitric oxide and its effects.

Are prescription ED medications safe for me?

Every ED drug has contraindications (i.e., reasons why a person should not use it). Men with certain liver, kidney, or cardiovascular conditions may not be able to take ED medications safely. Men taking nitrates and alpha-blockers to treat hypertension may need to find other ways to treat their ED. Other health conditions could make PDE5 medications unsafe for men as well.

These potential complications are why you need a prescription for ED medication. Your consulting physician will determine what will be safe and effective based on your medical history and any current medications that you use. Thankfully, PDE5 medications for ED are prescribed very widely, and the healthcare community considers them safe for most men, with the likeliest side effects being mild.

Side effects of PDE5 inhibitors

When side effects happen, they tend to be mild and commonly include some of the following:

  • Headache
  • A sensation of flushing in the face
  • Nasal congestion
  • Nausea or indigestion
  • Muscle pain
  • Dizziness

Though they rely on the same primary mechanism to treat ED, research confirms that these different PDE5 inhibitors tend to produce side effects to varying degrees. For instance, a slightly higher percentage of people who take sildenafil (and Viagra) report flushing and headaches, while a slightly higher percentage of tadalafil (and Cialis) users report muscle pain.

“It is quite common for patients to report muscle pain during the use of PDE5 inhibitors,” Dr. Urdaneta notes. “However, the daily dose of 5mg [tadalafil] is well tolerated.”

Any of the PDE5 inhibitors can also cause your blood pressure to drop (though Stendra is less likely to cause this to happen). You might think that’s a good thing, but blood pressure that gets too low is also dangerous. If you get dizzy from taking any of these medications, you should share this observation with a healthcare provider; it could indicate a potentially unsafe drop in blood pressure.

One rare but noteworthy side effect of some PDE5 inhibitors is a change in visual color processing. This occurs when a PDE5 inhibitor collaterally inhibits PDE-6. If you’re one of the relatively few men to experience this phenomenon, you should ask your doctor about vardenafil, which does not seem to cause this side effect.

In response to reader requests, we created a comprehensive guide to the side effects of BlueChew, which is a useful resource if you're interested in learning much more about the likelihood of experiencing side effects while taking PDE5 inhibitors.

Branded vs. generic ED medications

When we break down your top choices for ED medication, we find it useful to refer only to the names of the active ingredients (i.e., sildenafil, tadalafil, etc.) as opposed to their brand names. Unless you’re going through your insurance company, there’s almost never a good reason to buy branded ED medication — generic options are therapeutically identical.

We always recommend that people start with generics for ED, so let’s look at which medications are available in generic form:

Brand name(s)Generics available?
SildenafilViagra
TadalafilCialis, Adcirca
AvanafilStendra
VardenafilLevitra, Staxyn
ApomorphineN/A

During the course of your research or in conversation with your consulting physician, you might come across the term “authorized generic,” which is distinct from simply “generic.” Here’s how they differ:

Generics

Generics — with no additional word to modify the meaning — are produced by companies other than the original manufacturer. They bear only the name of the active ingredient (i.e., sildenafil), and telemedicine companies typically advertise them as such. Effects on the body are identical to the original; the only differences may be in the appearance of the pills and the inactive ingredients used.

Authorized generics

Authorized generics are either made by the original manufacturer or by a company they’ve permitted to do the manufacturing. These pills are completely identical to the original branded option, right down to the inactive ingredients and appearance, but they usually don’t include the original brand name on the label.

To make matters more confusing, telemedicine providers will sometimes use original brand names when selling generics that are not “authorized generics” because it makes it easier for their customers to understand what they’re choosing. Others sell branded pills, authorized generics, and regular generics without doing enough work to explain the differences to their customers.

This gets the most confusing with sildenafil and Viagra, and we’ll break that down a little later. If you’re confused by all of it, make sure to ask your doctor which one would be right for you.

Tadalafil and Cialis

Pros

  • Among the most effective ED treatments
  • Less planning needed with its extended duration of action
  • Can be taken daily or as needed
  • Can be taken with or without food
  • Tends to be preferred by men and their partners, compared to sildenafil
  • More affordable than medications like Stendra

Cons

  • Costs a little more than sildenafil in some as-needed cases
  • Risk of mild side effects is slightly higher than Stendra

Often known by the common brand name Cialis, tadalafil is a PDE5 inhibitor that you can take once per day to provide 18-36 hours of effectiveness. This significantly reduces the planning typically involved in using other treatments like sildenafil. That said, some users only take tadalafil as needed, and those dosages can sometimes be different. You and your doctor will decide what dosage and schedule are right for you.

Side effects with tadalafil are about as common as with sildenafil and are similarly mild. Dose for dose, as-needed tadalafil is often a little bit more expensive than sildenafil. However, tadalafil may be the better value, mainly because:

  • In studies, men and their partners prefer tadalafil to sildenafil.
  • Tadalafil has superior psychological outcomes to sildenafil, providing more sexual confidence.
  • The larger window for sexual activity (18-36 hours, compared to 4-6 hours with sildenafil) for many people justifies the slightly higher expense.
  • Daily tadalafil offers the lowest cost per dose among PDE5 inhibitors.

Common tadalafil dosing

Branded Cialis and generic tadalafil are available in the same dose increments across most platforms, with 2.5mg, 5mg, 10mg, and 20mg being the most common. Daily doses typically start at 2.5mg, while as-needed doses typically start at 5mg. These are the doses you’ll see from Hims for its tadalafil tablets.

Chewable tablets and lozenges often have different doses, with BlueChew offering 6mg and 9mg doses, Hims offering 8.5mg and 11.2mg doses, Roman offering a 7mg dose, and Rugiet offering 14mg and 22mg doses (possibly blended with sildenafil and apomorphine). We’ll get a little more into Rugiet’s offering in the “Apomorphine” section below. Ultimately, you’ll decide with the prescribing doctor which dose and schedule are best for your lifestyle.

Here’s a quick visual reference to let you know what kinds of branded and generic tadalafil our top choices carry:

BrandedGenericAuthorized generic
BlueChew
Hims
Roman
Rugiet

The tadalafil landscape has gotten a little more complicated in recent years. While BlueChew was steadily our top choice for tadalafil for years, Hims has caught up and surpassed them slightly, beating BlueChew to a chewable daily tadalafil offering that could undercut BlueChew’s tadalafil pricing if you only needed a low dose. That said, Hims’ low prices on tadalafil only apply to daily versions of those lower 2.5mg and 5mg doses. BlueChew still has better prices on comparable doses of as-needed tadalafil. So, the provider that’s best for you will have a lot to do with the dose you need and whether you want to take tadalafil daily or as needed.

Here’s how those prices compare, with lower prices often coming from extended billing cycles (quarterly, bi-annually, etc.):

Lowest price per doseHighest price per doseAvailable doses
Hims as-needed tadalafil$6.50 (pills); $6.00 (chews)$11.33 (pills); $8 (chews)5mg, 10mg, 20mg (pills); 11.2mg (chews)
BlueChew as-needed tadalafil$3.21$7.506mg, 9mg
Hims daily tadalafil$1.07 (pills); $1.30 (chews)$2.63 (pills and chews)2.5mg, 5mg (pills); 8.5mg (chews)
BlueChew daily tadalafil$2.00$3.009mg

As you can see, the decision isn’t terribly obvious from the start, as BlueChew typically has better prices than Hims for as-needed medications, whereas Hims often beats out BlueChew for daily tadalafil. But the picture gets even murkier when you consider that BlueChew’s daily tadalafil also includes seven vitamins; some of these are associated with erectile health and blood flow, and others have connections to healthy testosterone levels.

Our simplified recommendation for tadalafil

BlueChew offers a free month of as-needed tadalafil as a way to test their service; all you pay is a small shipping fee. As far as we know, no other platform offers such a low-cost way to try the medication. For that reason, we recommend BlueChew to anyone who hasn’t tried an ED medication in the past. You can see if these medications work for your ED for a $5 shipping charge.

So, your path may look something like this:

  1. Try BlueChew’s 6mg tadalafil chews (as needed) to see if the medication is effective for you.
  2. If it is, decide whether you want to take tadalafil daily or as needed.
  3. If daily, consider switching to Hims (either chews or pills) to get the best price per dose on your daily medication.
  4. If you’d prefer to take it as needed, BlueChew will offer better prices.
  5. If you find you need a stronger dose, you can bounce back and forth between BlueChew and Hims, trying higher doses until you arrive at one that works.
Bluechew Tadalafil Package

Photo by Innerbody Research

Insider Tip: If you’re willing to take on some hassle and you know your goal is to take as-needed tadalafil at a dosage no stronger than 5mg, then tadalafil from Hims could conceivably be your most economical option. That’s because you could request daily tadalafil tablets on a yearly billing cycle, which brings the cost per dose to nearly $1.00. You could then temporarily cancel your Hims subscription until you make your way through that stock of 360 doses and reinstate it whenever you need more. Canceling and restarting through Hims carries no financial penalty. All that said, doses lower than 5mg would be slightly on the low side for as-needed tadalafil. But if they work for you, then all the better.

Sildenafil and Viagra

Pros

  • The most economical as-needed treatment
  • Has been studied the most thoroughly
  • Efficacy rate is greater than 90%
  • Allows for more flexibility in dosage

Cons

  • The window of effectiveness requires a bit of planning
  • Loses efficacy when you take it with meals
  • Mild side effects like headaches are more common than with other treatments like Stendra

Most people can’t predict with complete certainty whether or not they’ll have sex on any given day. Even if you’re accustomed to daily intercourse, your partner could get sick, you could strike out at the club, or your in-laws could pay you a surprise visit. For that reason, some men prefer not to take a daily tablet of Cialis or tadalafil when the prospect of sex is not guaranteed. This is even truer for men who’ve experienced some mild side effects from frequent or daily tadalafil use.

On the flip side, sildenafil and Viagra (as well as a specific regimen of Cialis and tadalafil) offer you the choice to take them as needed. So, if you want to spend all day in bed playing video games, you don’t have to worry about missing a daily pill. And if you know that sex is on the horizon, you can take these meds accordingly.

You’ll need to take this medication 30-60 minutes before sex. Some men report that chewables and lozenges kick in faster than pills, but this is not guaranteed.

Viagra vs. sildenafil

Viagra’s active ingredient is sildenafil, but you might not know it from looking around at your ED options. Why would Viagra be so much more expensive than sildenafil (the active ingredient in Viagra)? Why does anyone opt for the more expensive Viagra if both have the same ingredient?

Some men familiar with Viagra, having used it before successfully, want to stick with what works. They trust it, and the brain is the largest and most important sex organ after all; psychology can be a potent tool in combating ED.

But a complete understanding of your options requires a little knowledge about the differences between Viagra, generic Viagra, and generic sildenafil.

Branded Viagra

This is the original “little blue pill,” and it’s the most expensive option. Made by Pfizer, Viagra is available in 25mg, 50mg, and 100mg tablets from most providers. Many men start with 50mg. We consider Roman the best choice for branded Viagra thanks to their low per-dose pricing compared to Hims ($90 vs. $138).

Generic Viagra

This is a generic form of Viagra either made by Pfizer or by an authorized company with which Pfizer has shared their exact formula. It’s identical to branded Viagra in every way except that it won’t say “Viagra” on the prescription label. This is one of the least expensive options, though it’s often pricier than generic sildenafil.

Generic sildenafil

This is a formula therapeutically identical to branded Viagra but with discrepancies in inactive ingredients, color, shape, and delivery mechanism. Doses are theoretically supposed to be the same, but there are caveats. This is often the least expensive option.

Sildenafil is also the active ingredient in Revatio, a drug designed to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension. The drugs are identical in almost every way — they’re even both made by Pfizer — but Revatio is made only in 20mg tablets.

Many providers that stock generic sildenafil for erectile dysfunction prefer these 20mg tablets because they allow for more dose flexibility from a single stockpile of pills. A doctor can prescribe 20mg, 40mg, 60mg, or 100mg, and the patient simply takes the corresponding number of 20mg pills. Both branded and generic Viagra come in 25mg tablets, 50mg tablets, and 100mg tablets. If the most common dose is 50mg, then those 100mg doses are going to sit on the shelf, gradually approaching their expiration date and causing providers to lose money.

Like tadalafil, sildenafil doses can vary to greater degrees, especially as delivery mechanisms change. BlueChew’s chewable tablets come in 30mg and 45mg doses, and Hims chewable sildenafil is only available in combination with tadalafil at a dose of 45mg sildenafil and 11mg tadalafil. Rugiet’s combination pills include sildenafil doses of 40mg, 60mg, 80mg, or 110mg. (More on those options later in the section exploring combination therapies.)

Here’s a quick visual reference detailing which versions of sildenafil our top choices offer:

BrandedGenericAuthorized generic
BlueChew
Hims
Roman
Rugiet

Our recommendation here, for most men, is generic sildenafil. Sildenafil is far more economical and allows for better dosage tailoring.

Here are the basics on price:

Lowest price per doseHighest price per doseAvailable doses
BlueChew sildenafil chews$2.65$530mg, 45mg
Hims sildenafil tablets$3.38$1020mg, 40mg, 60mg, 80mg, 100mg
Roman sildenafil tablets$4$1025mg, 50mg, 100mg

Our simplified recommendation for sildenafil

For men new to ED medication, we recommend BlueChew, if only because the medication is super convenient to take and because the company offers a free trial. That trial, which we discussed in the tadalafil section above, also applies to sildenafil, so you can try out the medication to see if it works for you with very little financial risk.

Hims also offers sildenafil in a chew, but only combined with another medication and only at a relatively high combination of doses (which we’ll discuss below in our combination therapy section).

However, there are also a few situations in which you might want to opt for Hims’ sildenafil tablets after determining through BlueChew’s free trial that sildenafil is a good fit.

  • Hims sildenafil is available in a wider number of doses, making it our top choice for men who find they need to fine-tune or maximize their dosage of sildenafil for the best effect.
  • Hims telemedical support is fantastic for men who are dealing with ED alongside efforts to treat premature ejaculation.
  • If you’re one of the many men who already use Hims for hair loss treatment or another service, then it could be convenient to use them for ED treatment as well.
  • Hims offers classic, brand-name Viagra or an authorized generic for men who want it. BlueChew doesn’t offer classic Viagra or the authorized generic.

If budget is your primary concern, you ought to consider Strut, which offers the lowest price for sildenafil that we’ve seen from a reputable company. The only issue is that dosing is less flexible. You can get 25mg, 50mg, and 100mg doses from Strut, whereas Hims offers sildenafil tablets and authorized generic Viagra (for the same price) in 20mg, 25mg, 40mg, 50mg, 60mg, 75mg, 80mg, and 100mg doses. But if one of Strut’s doses is the dose that has worked for you, then it’s the most affordable option here.

Hims is also the only company we recommend that sells an authorized generic Viagra. Interestingly, Roman lists their options as “Branded Viagra” and “Generic Viagra.” That second option is actually generic sildenafil — it is not an authorized generic made by Pfizer. Roman lists their sildenafil this way because they believe it makes it easier for potential patients to understand that the two drugs are practically identical. Visit our Roman reviews to learn more.

Vardenafil

Pros

  • Nearly identical in efficacy to sildenafil
  • Starts working in as little as 30 minutes
  • Lasts for up to eight hours
  • Doesn’t cause a particular — but rare — side effect of sildenafil
  • Available in chewable form from BlueChew and Hims

Cons

  • More expensive than sildenafil
  • Less thoroughly researched than other options
  • Not offered by many online providers

While it isn’t the most widely available option from telemedicine providers, vardenafil is an important option for the few men who might not have success taking sildenafil but still want an effective medicine they can take on demand 30-60 minutes before sex. Studies show that vardenafil behaves the same way in the body as sildenafil, with one known exception.

A rare side effect of sildenafil is an alteration in color perception due to the drug’s inhibition of PDE-6 in addition to PDE5. Vardenafil is somewhat more selective in this regard, having no known effect on PDE-6 and, thus, no known effect on color perception. And while vardenafil is less thoroughly researched than sildenafil, there are still numerous studies looking at thousands of users over nearly two decades, so its safety and efficacy are without question.

For a while, BlueChew was the only provider among our top picks to offer vardenafil, but Hims included it in its recent development of chewable mint tablets. Despite not being a daily medication, Hims offers a 30-day supply of vardenafil that bears the same low price as its daily tadalafil. As a result, you can get 8.5mg vardenafil chews from Hims for significantly less than you can from BlueChew. Here’s how it works out:

Lowest price per doseHighest price per doseAvailable doses
Hims vardenafil$1.30$8.008.5mg, 11.2mg
BlueChew vardenafil$4.00$5.008mg

Hims’ low price on vardenafil reflects their pricing for a 150-day supply. If you don’t want to stockpile vardenafil like that, the next lowest price per dose you can get from Hims on smaller quantities of vardenafil is $6, which is more expensive than even the highest price per dose from BlueChew.

Our simplified vardenafil recommendation

Our recommendation for vardenafil is similar to our recommendation for tadalafil. BlueChew's free trial still makes them the best place for men new to ED treatments to start. After that, you can use the low price of Hims’ 30, 90-, and 150-day supplies to stock up on vardenafil chews at a lower cost. But men seeking smaller quantities should stick with BlueChew.

You can find out more about BlueChew’s vardenafil and other treatments by reading our complete BlueChew reviews.

Stendra (avanafil)

Pros

  • Starts working in just 15 minutes
  • Lasts for around six hours
  • Per-dose cost via Hims is cheaper than Viagra
  • Less risk of side effects
  • Can take it with or without meals
  • Alcohol won’t reduce efficacy

Cons

  • Not as affordable as sildenafil or tadalafil
  • Studied less than sildenafil or tadalafil

Many men prefer to take an ED medication only when they need it rather than at the start of a day when they may or may not have sex. Understandably, these men also want that drug to take effect as quickly as possible and with the lowest chance of side effects.

Avanafil (brand-name Stendra) is a newer medication in the landscape of ED treatments. While other ED medications like sildenafil affect enzymes like PDE-1 and PDE-6 alongside PDE5, Stendra is more micro-targeted to inhibit the specific PDE5 enzyme related to a man’s ability to get and keep an erection. This increases Stendra’s efficacy while reducing its side effect profile. Here are some other benefits of Stendra:

  • According to FDA data, close to 3 in 10 men using the maximum dosage of Viagra report headaches. By contrast, about 1 in 10 men using the 200mg Stendra (highest dosage) report headaches.
  • Only about 4% of men using 200mg Stendra experience flushing of the face, compared to 18% of men using the maximum dosage of sildenafil.
  • Heartburn, muscle and back pain, congestion, and vision changes are all less likely with Stendra.

Stendra also acts quicker in the body than others — some studies showed efficacy in as little as 15 minutes.

This speed makes Stendra a great treatment choice for men who don’t always know when they’ll want to have sex and are happy to take something shortly beforehand. If this describes you, then we recommend Hims Stendra.

Stendra is also our top choice for couples who enjoy morning sex. Tadalafil taken in the morning can sometimes require about an hour before it is fully effective. This experience with tadalafil varies — some men find tadalafil to be effective for a full 36 hours (which would make the prior morning’s dose still effective), while others find its effects wear off in closer to 18 hours. If you are in the latter camp, Stendra will be better for your morning rituals because you can take a dose as you wake up and then be ready for fun in as little as 15 minutes.

However, Stendra will cost you significantly more than sildenafil or tadalafil. Hims — our top choice for convenient access to Stendra — offers a monthly subscription for four 100mg Stendra tablets at $210 per month, billed quarterly. If you can afford the cost, this may be the best choice for you. If not, then we’d suggest you explore daily tadalafil.

There are three standard dosage options for Stendra:

  • 50mg
  • 100mg
  • 200mg

Both the 100mg and 200mg dosages take effect in about 15 minutes, which is even faster than BlueChew’s chewable sildenafil. It lasts about six hours, which is basically on par with sildenafil (and Viagra).

Apomorphine for ED

Pros

  • Works in under 20 minutes
  • Relatively few side effects reported
  • Sublingual dose requires no water to take
  • FDA-approved for use in Parkinson’s patients

Cons

  • Does not mix well with alcohol
  • May cause fainting in a small fraction of users
  • Nausea is a common initial side effect
  • Lozenges melt at high temperatures
  • Hard to find outside Rugiet’s blended ED treatment

Apomorphine has been used since the 19th century as everything from a sedative to an aid in kicking heroin addiction, and it’s currently FDA-approved for treating Parkinson’s disease. However, multiple studies indicate its potential as a treatment for ED. The name can be a source of confusion since most people outside the medical professions would likely hear the “morphine” in apomorphine and assume opioid properties. But apomorphine doesn’t bind to opioid receptors and is non-addicting.

For Parkinson’s patients, apomorphine is delivered via subcutaneous injection at doses often higher than those used in erectile dysfunction treatment. Studies into its use for Parkinson’s revealed intense nausea as a potential side effect — often to the point that doctors would have to prescribe an antiemetic to deal with nausea and vomiting. ED patients taking apomorphine as a sublingual film — or, in the case of Rugiet, a lozenge — may also experience some nausea, but this appears to decline with regular use.

Apomorphine appeared on target to become a viable alternative to Viagra in 2000, but the manufacturers behind its two branded forms intended for ED patients pulled it from FDA consideration despite what appeared to be a sure path to approval. They cited the need for further study, particularly into the drug's interaction with nitrates and its potential to cause fainting in less than 0.2% of trial participants. Today, apomorphine remains FDA-approved for Parkinson’s disease but is only prescribed for ED treatment as an off-label use.

The only major provider we recommend that offers apomorphine in any form is Rugiet, but they typically combine apomorphine with tadalafil and sildenafil in a lozenge. That lozenge’s sublingual administration may decrease the time it takes to start working. It is possible to get apomorphine-only lozenges from Rugiet, but they only come in the 3mg dose at a cost of $30 for six doses. If you’re looking for ED medications that aren’t technically PDE5 inhibitors like sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil all are, this may be a viable route.

We’ll discuss Rugiet’s combination offering in our next section, which is all about combination therapies.

Combination therapies for ED

Pros

  • May improve outcomes in men resistant to monotherapies
  • Can offer treatment outside of just PDE5 inhibitors
  • Often available as chewables

Cons

  • May increase the risk of side effects
  • Dosing can be less flexible
  • Often pricier than most monotherapies

Combination therapies are exactly what they sound like: some combination of commonly prescribed ED medications. Studies have shown that certain combinations can be more effective than a monotherapy on its own. As with monotherapies, the exact combination and dosing will be a matter for your physician to prescribe.

Combination therapies have become more popular among the providers in this guide. Rugiet was the first to offer multiple drugs in a single product with its lozenges, but Hims and Roman soon followed suit. Even BlueChew’s daily tadalafil is combined with a multivitamin complex that may help with erectile performance.

Let’s start with Rugiet since they kicked off the combination craze. The specific combinations available to you from Rugiet depend on the results of your doctor’s consultation, but here’s a look at their standard mixes:

Cost
Dose count
Sildenafil
Tadalafil
Apomorphine
Low strength
$84
6
40mg
14mg
2mg
Medium strength
$102
6
65mg
22mg
2mg
Most popular
$120
6
80mg
22mg
3mg
Maximum strength
$144
6
110mg
22mg
3mg

The obvious downside to Rugiet is its cost. If you sign up for recurring shipments of 18 doses every three months, the company will knock $70 off the cost, resulting in a monthly cost ranging from $61-$120 and a per-dose cost ranging from $10-$20.

As you can imagine, combining these three medications theoretically increases the chances that they will work for you quickly and remain active in your system for up to 24-36 hours (as long as tadalafil is one of them). However, side effect risks may also increase as you combine medications.

To learn more about Rugiet’s offering, check out our comprehensive review of their services.

Now, let’s look at available combinations from Hims:

Lowest price per doseHighest price per dose
Tadalafil 11.2mg + sildenafil 45mg$7.00$8.00
Tadalafil 8.5mg + vardenafil 8.5mg$6.00$8.00
Tadalafil 11.2mg + vardenafil 11.2mg$6.00$8.00

Finally, there’s Roman’s combination sex chew offering, called Sparks, which is only available as a combination of 22mg tadalafil and 55mg sildenafil for the constant rate of $12/dose. That 22mg tadalafil dose is much higher than we’d recommend for men new to ED medications. If you’re used to taking such a high dose, this might be a viable product, but there are superior options with more flexible dosing for lower prices from Hims.

Our simplified combination therapy recommendation

Given the current state of available doses, we don’t recommend combination therapies to men who haven’t tried ED medications before. If you discover that a monotherapy can work for you, there’s no reason to add another medication to the picture.

If you’ve tried monotherapies and had poor or mixed results at various doses, a combination therapy might be the way to go. In that case, we’d recommend starting with Hims, where you can choose between two combinations at slightly better prices and more reasonable doses than you’ll find from Roman or Rugiet.

Our testing also confirmed that Rugiet lozenges are susceptible to high temperatures and may melt if left in a hot car or even outside on a hot enough day. That makes them less ideal for certain situations and climates than more durable chews from Hims or Roman.

Novel ED drug combinations

Hims has led the way in the chewable combination space since they first introduced their Hard Mints and Sex Chews. Recently, the company has expanded these efforts to introduce three new combination treatments that combine common ED medications with ingredients to treat hair loss or premature ejaculation. Here’s a quick look at both:

Sex Rx + Climax Control

This product combines daily tadalafil (likely as a 2.5mg or 5mg dose) with an unspecified dose of fluoxetine, a prescription selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) that’s been studied for years in the context of premature ejaculation.

Sex Rx + Hair Hero

Like Climax Control, this Sex Rx product uses daily tadalafil as its ED-fighting base, combined with oral finasteride and oral minoxidil. It’s unclear at this time if the medication can be delivered with just one of those two hair loss medications, but both have been shown to be very effective as oral treatments.

ED + Heart Health

Again, this drug combination starts with tadalafil, and Hims has combined it with atorvastatin, a statin designed to reduce your risk of certain cardiovascular events like myocardial infarction.

Mental health care for addressing ED

With up to 40% of ED cases proving to be psychological in origin, a large number of men can find relief through mental health care, whether that’s talk therapy, psychiatry, or a combination of the two. You can try to find an in-person therapist or psychiatrist, but the industry has largely moved online over the last several years, so we’ll focus this section on teletherapy resources for mental health that can help men address psychogenic ED.

Our top mental health resource for men with ED: Cerebral

While Cerebral is a little more expensive than some excellent competitors, it offers plans for talk therapy, psychiatry (medication access), or both. That makes it a great place to start for men concerned with psychological issues leading to ED, as they can start with talk therapy and expand their care to include medication if it becomes necessary without having to switch to another platform.

Cerebral also works with several insurance companies, so there’s a good chance you’ll only have copays to worry about if you’re covered. Here’s a current list of Cerebral’s insurance partners:

  • Cigna
  • BlueCross BlueShield
  • Humana
  • United Healthcare
  • Optum

Of course, coverage varies by state and by plan, so if your provider is on that list, it’s not a guarantee you’ll be covered. Still, it would be worth visiting the Cerebral site to check your coverage. Those companies account for more than half the population of the U.S.

And if you’re not insured, Cerebral still offers plans that are competitively priced and may still be affordable for you. However, other companies offer financial assistance for patients who lack insurance, though the care provided might not be as comprehensive as Cerebral’s offering.

Close runner-up: BetterHelp

Because talk therapy is likely the best place for men concerned with psychogenic ED to start, BetterHelp is a close runner-up to Cerebral. It doesn’t offer psychiatric care, so you’d have to switch to another platform if you ultimately need psychiatric medication to address the mental health concerns that are contributing to your ED. That said, if talk therapy is enough to address the problem (perhaps in combination with PDE5 inhibitors discussed elsewhere in this guide), BetterHelp offers what we feel is the best combination of cost and quality of care.

How we evaluated mental health resources for ED

Two of the most common root causes for psychogenic ED are anxiety and depression, which are among the most commonly treated issues in telehealth psychology and psychiatry. As a result, our breakdown of evaluation criteria for ED-related treatment largely followed the same standards set in our guide to finding the best online therapy, specifically looking at quality of care, cost, privacy, and platform.

Quality of care

Evaluating the potential quality of care you might get from one company to the next is nearly impossible, given the thousands of therapists and psychiatrists involved, their diverse backgrounds, and your unique needs. However, there are certain standards we look for in each company’s approach to hiring clinicians that can tell us a lot about the standard of care you can expect.

For example, all of Cerebral’s clinicians have either a master’s or doctoral degree from an accredited institution, and the company provides licensing information on each therapist’s biography page. BetterHelp has similar degree and licensing requirements, but its therapists also have to have a minimum of three years or 1,000 hours of practice under their belt. Without that requirement, you might get a doctor with a high-level degree but limited experience actually dealing with patients.

Ultimately, you stand a very good chance of receiving high-quality, satisfying care from any of the therapy platforms mentioned in this guide.

Cost

Winner: Cerebral (if you’re insured)

If you have insurance, Cerebral may be the least expensive option among prominent telehealth providers. If not, or if your insurance is insufficient to bring down Cerebral’s costs, you’ll be better off with BetterHelp.

Cerebral affordability through insurance will depend on your plan. Regardless of your coverage specifics, there’s still a $30 monthly charge to access the Cerebral platform, and all other billing is through your insurance. So, if you have a $30 copay for therapy visits, you’d pay about $36.92 per weekly visit over the course of a year. That’s nearly $12 less than the best possible rate you could get from BetterHelp with its maximum financial aid.

However, if you’re uninsured or your insurance doesn’t cover Cerebral’s services, the costs would climb dramatically. Out of pocket, Cerebral costs $95/month for medication plans (psychiatry), with medication billed separately. Therapy costs $295/month, or just over $68/session. That’s a lot cheaper than out-of-pocket costs for in-person therapy, but it’s also much pricier than financially assisted sessions from BetterHelp.

Privacy

Winner: Talkspace

The top telehealth providers for therapy and psychiatry take your privacy seriously, using things like dedicated video conferencing and messaging software to prevent intrusion. Associated clinicians are also bound by all the same laws restricting the dissemination of patient information that apply to in-person therapy and psychiatry.

But these platforms deal in various data pools, including medical records, messaging, payment and insurance information, and more. Some have policies that state the exact amount of time they’ll keep this information in their databases. Others are more vague. Some allow you to make specific requests to delete your data; others don’t.

Talkspace stands alone among these companies for two reasons. First, it allows you to manually delete messaging information between you and your doctor if you switch doctors and want a clean slate. Having all your old messages accessible to your new doctor may introduce certain prejudices in treatment, or you simply may want to start from scratch for your own sake. Whatever the case, we appreciate this option from Talkspace.

Second, Talkspace states it will retain your data only as long as your account is active. That means it’s gone once you fully delete your account. Other companies will retain the same data for up to 10 years.

Platform

Winner: Cerebral, by a nose

The companies in this part of our guide are all benefactors of a combined tech and telehealth boom in the late 2010s and early 2020s. As such, they all offer sleek, responsive interfaces with good apps and reliable communications.

Cerebral has an edge here, thanks to the positive experiences we had in extensive testing. None of these companies ever let us down through our sessions, but Cerebral’s platform felt simultaneously more accessible and more discreet than others. Cerebral also had our preferred therapist selection tool.

Again, this win was marginal, with BetterHelp and Talkspace offering platforms that others may very well prefer.

How can therapy or psychiatry help with ED?

Any man who has lost or failed to achieve an erection would tell you there are undeniable emotional and psychological effects from the experience. Fear, anger, stress, and disappointment are just some of the most common responses to such an event. There are myriad physiological reasons a man can have a one-time erectile hiccup that isn’t ED, but the anxiety surrounding that experience can fuel future failures.

And that only covers psychogenic ED that starts from one or two minor physiological issues that are easily corrected, like fatigue or overconsumption of alcohol. There are also countless cases of psychogenic ED that arise from other psychological concerns that have physiological effects on the body. For example, chronically elevated cortisol levels in patients with anxiety can lead to episodes of ED. So, too, can depression have significant effects on libido.

Treating these issues directly, through talk therapy, psychiatric medication, or a combination of the two, should have similar effects as treating high blood pressure in men whose hypertension is causing erectile issues. By treating the root cause of the ED, you can, in theory, eliminate the ED.

Risks of mental health care for ED

There are inherent risks with any kind of health care, including both psychiatry and talk therapy. While the latter certainly seems safe, there’s always a risk of exposing underlying trauma or deepening symptoms of anxiety or depression along your journey. For some patients, these twists and turns are inevitable parts of the healing process.

Psychiatry presents more obvious risks, as psychiatric medications each come with their specific sets of potential side effects and contraindications. You and your consulting health professional — typically a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner in the telehealth space — will have to review these potential risks to determine which medication would best suit your needs.

Physical devices to tackle ED

Sildenafil and tadalafil — the active ingredients in Viagra and Cialis — remain the most reliable treatments for erectile dysfunction, but some men may prefer to avoid medications of any kind. Others, of course, discover through consultation that they aren’t viable candidates for prescription ED treatments. Still others may want to throw everything but the kitchen sink at the problem and use a multi-pronged treatment approach that includes prescription ED medication and devices. For all of these groups, there are physical treatment devices that can help.

There are essentially three main types of physical devices you can use to combat ED, one of which is intended to treat the condition itself, while the other two are intended to help with immediate erectile performance:

  • Shockwave devices apply acute pressure with acoustic shock waves to stimulate blood flow and repair penile tissue toward healthier erections.
  • Penis rings apply physical pressure at the base of the penis to restrict blood flow out of the penis after an erection is achieved. They may also aid in physical and psychological arousal.
  • Penis pumps apply vacuum pressure to the penis to draw blood into it and create an erection.

Shockwave treatment and vacuum erection assistance are very much medical treatments, whereas penis rings have roots in the fetish community and have been adopted as a practical solution for men with ED.

Our top choice among devices for ED: Shockwave treatment

We often steer men toward shockwave treatment because research suggests it could have lasting positive effects on erectile health. You can elect to see a urologist in person for treatment with a high-grade shockwave device, or you can purchase an at-home device to use on yourself.

Having the treatments in a clinical setting provides you with the peace of mind that they’re being performed correctly with the best possible equipment. The downside is that they can be very expensive over the course of treatment. At-home devices are almost all either too weak and poorly made or, in some cases, actually dangerous. But one at-home device — the Phoenix — stands out as a viable option, and we'll discuss it a bit more below.

Close runner-up: Penis rings

Penis rings are a close runner-up to shockwave treatment because they offer a degree of efficacy for a very low price. But it’s important to remember that you can use penis rings even if you’re also undergoing shockwave treatment (though, ideally, not at the exact same time). So, the rings can help you immediately, provided your ED is mild enough, even as you work toward more lasting erectile health through other treatments.

Shockwave devices for ED

Pros

  • Can produce lasting results
  • Doesn’t have to be used in anticipation of or during sex
  • No recurring costs

Cons

  • Science isn’t as strong as things like prescription ED meds
  • Devices can be very loud
  • Many poorly made models available on the cheap

The most compelling new treatments being researched are acoustic wave and low-intensity shockwave therapies (LI-SWT). Both treatments use soundwaves, but the much faster-moving shockwaves appear to be more effective at stimulating blood flow and improving vascular performance in penile tissue.

There are currently several clinics around the country that perform LI-SWT, but there’s only one at-home device that we’ve found to be safe and recommendable. That’s the Phoenix, which comes from a company called Launch Medical.

The Phoenix uses a pneumatic system in which a motor causes a small piston housed in a narrow cylinder to slam against a metal plate. This impact creates a shockwave that the device channels toward its tip. When you apply that tip to your penis, the shockwave travels out of the device and into the target tissue.

As you might imagine, the act of slamming that piston into that metal place is rather noisy, so we recommend you use earplugs to dampen the sound.

Penis rings

Pros

  • Very inexpensive solution
  • Widely available
  • No recurring costs
  • May also delay orgasm

Cons

  • Can be uncomfortable or awkward to use
  • Men with very large or small penises may have a hard time
  • Difficult to differentiate among brands and models

Penis rings, known colloquially as cock rings, look a lot like rubber gaskets that you’d see in the plumbing aisle of a home improvement store. They’re thin, round, and flexible O shapes that you fit around the base of your penis to constrict blood flow. Because they’re bigger than your penis is thick when it’s flaccid, they won’t stop blood from flowing in, but if you can get the blood in there and the penis thickens, they can stop that blood from flowing out.

For some men, the use of rings also provides an additional physical or psychological stimulus, increasing the odds of a successful erection.

The best part about rings is that you can use them in conjunction with just about any other ED treatment on the market, from PDE5 inhibitors and supplements to shockwave devices and penis pumps. However, penis rings come with a unique set of risks, most notably the danger of completely cutting off blood flow to the penis and the possibility of something called penile entrapment.

Cases of entrapment, which are more commonly seen with metal penis rings, occur when you can get the ring on, but you can’t get it off. This can result in numerous complications, but it’s fairly easy to manage with the help of a medical professional, who will likely need to remove the ring by force (e.g., with bolt cutters or a saw).

In our estimation, the rings offered by Hims are among the best out there. They come in two sizes that should serve the vast majority of men, and they’re flexible enough to come off safely when it’s time to remove them.

Penis pumps

Pros

  • Ideal for men who have post-surgical ED (e.g., prostatectomy)
  • Available in manual or automatic versions
  • Some double as pleasure devices

Cons

  • Water-based pumps demand use in the shower
  • Improper use can be painful
  • May require recurring lubricant costs

Penis pumps are essentially little vacuum chambers out of which you pump the air after inserting your penis. Some do this with manual pumps, while others work electronically. As the air is sucked out of the chamber, the vacuum force in its place applies suction to your penis, causing it to fill with blood.

Penis pumps occupy a specific section of ED research that focuses on treatment for men who've undergone radical prostatectomies or similar surgeries that have caused their ED. In some cases, another side effect of such surgeries is a phenomenon in which the penis retreats somewhat into the body.

They’ve been shown to work for other types of ED, as well, but the majority of the research seems to focus on post-operative ED. Some research has also highlighted the potential for pumps to help with Peyronie’s disease, a painful curvature of the penis that involves calcium deposits around the shaft.

As with other device-based therapies, you might want to use penis pumps as one part of a multi-prong treatment approach. They pair well with rings to ensure that the blood you’ve drawn into your penis doesn’t escape.

The biggest fault of penis pumps is that they can be a pain to use, both literally and figuratively. The vacuum pressure can be uncomfortable. Some brands, like Bathmate, are designed to be used with water in the chamber, which softens the experience. But these necessitate a shower or a bath that can get in the way of foreplay and slow down a passionate moment.

Can supplements be effective for ED?

Prescription ED medications are safe and effective ways for most men to treat ED. However, not all men want to take prescription medication, and some men cannot take PDE5 medicine safely.

Based on our research, we believe you may find an effective treatment for very mild cases of ED using a nutritional supplement. As with any medication or supplement, it’s imperative to discuss this with your primary care provider to make sure there’s nothing in your medical history that might make these alternative treatments unsafe for you.

Nutritional supplements don’t work as strongly as prescription ED medications, based on clinical research. Research is also still less thorough for supplement ingredients, which makes it harder to assess reliability and safety for everyone. They also typically come in only one dose, so the efficacy can be wildly different in men with disparate BMIs and metabolisms. And from a cost standpoint, supplements are often much more expensive than prescriptions, especially considering generic options.

Still, if your ED isn’t too severe, and you’re determined to avoid getting a prescription for it, these alternatives may be sufficient.

Complex nutritional supplements

Some companies tailor their supplements to target ED and increase sex drive and performance. Others may aim to boost testosterone or specifically increase the volume of ejaculate, often concurrently improving fertility. There’s a bit of ingredient crossover from one category to the next, so you can pick your preferred supplement based on your most pressing concerns, and you very well may see benefits elsewhere in your sexual health, as well.

Here’s a quick look at the three main categories of complex nutritional supplements that might help with ED:

Male enhancement pills

Male enhancement pills have the closest link to ED of the bunch, with ingredients that typically try to improve blood flow and relax the musculature of the corpus cavernosa (the chambers of the penis that fill with blood to create an erection). These can include L-arginine or maca root. Some other ingredients are there to improve libido or reduce anxiety, the latter of which might help with psychogenic ED. A few ingredients in these supplements may also work to increase testosterone levels or ejaculate volume.

Testosterone boosters

Testosterone boosters may help with ED if low testosterone is at the source. Some prominent testosterone boosters, like tongkat ali and ashwagandha, also have anti-anxiety effects, which might help with cases of psychogenic ED, regardless of testosterone levels. And because erectile performance often suffers with low testosterone, some brands will include erection-supporting ingredients in their testosterone boosters, even when there’s less evidence connecting them with testosterone. A great example of this is the potent maca extract in Innerbody Testosterone Support and Roman’s supplement.

Volume pills

Volume pills often better resemble fertility supplements than ED solutions. In fact, our top-rated volume pill is a male fertility supplement by Bird & Be. Again, some ingredient crossover means you can find volume pills that have beneficial potential for ED.

Our top-recommended complex nutritional supplement to support erectile health is Performer 8, which comes with a lifetime guarantee and boasts an ingredient bill including ashwagandha, ginseng, and more.

Single-ingredient supplements

It would be understandable if you wanted to try a single supplemental ingredient as opposed to a complex formula. With the exception of a few great products out there, many such complex supplements include a few iffy ingredients or subclinical doses that call their potential safety and efficacy into question. And even with a good complex supplement, you won’t know which of its ingredients are working for you, in particular, and which may not be.

Here’s a quick look at some popular single-ingredient supplements people look to for help with ED. Not all of the items on this list are home runs, but their prevalence in the marketplace demands that we address them:

Ashwagandha

While an abundance of evidence points toward its testosterone-boosting potential, there is also some evidence that ashwagandha can help with ED. This may, in part, be a result of its anti-anxiety effects, which may help alleviate issues with psychogenic ED.

Maca root

Studies using high doses of maca root powder have illustrated its ability to improve erectile performance. But maca isn't always well-absorbed, so extracts made from the powder are superior to consuming 10g of the dried and ground root.

L-Arginine and pycnogenol

L-Arginine is an amino acid we naturally have within our bodies. Under normal circumstances, it plays a role in nitric oxide production, which in turn plays a crucial role in allowing blood to rush into the penis to cause an erection. In one study, a third of men reported that they experienced significant improvement in sexual function while using L-arginine.

A separate study of men ages 25-45 examined the effect of taking both L-arginine and pycnogenol (chemicals taken from French pine trees) together for ED treatment. Participants were given L-arginine for one month; nothing happened. Then, the men were given both L-arginine and pycnogenol for a month. After this second month, 80% of the men reported that their sexual function was mostly restored. Using this same combination for a third month, over 92% of the men had what they considered normal erections.

Horny goat weed

While erection-specific research has only been conducted in animals, horny goat weed is among the most popular herbal remedies for ED. As with maca, we recommend extracts over powders and advise men to focus on the icariin content of the extract over raw dose numbers.

Red ginseng

Panax ginseng (red ginseng) is sometimes called “herbal Viagra.” There have been more than a handful of studies providing evidence that Panax ginseng can help with ED. However, the studies leave a fair bit to be desired in their methodologies and size. The evidence thus far points to the need for more research into the potential of red ginseng as an effective treatment.

DHEA, a potential choice for diabetics

DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone) is a precursor to the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen that our body’s adrenal glands typically produce. Production of DHEA naturally drops as we age. Several studies on diabetics have uncovered an inverse relationship between serum DHEA levels and the incidence of ED. Those results suggest that possibly a third of men with diabetes-related ED could treat their ED using DHEA.

The World Anti-Doping Agency and many collegiate and international competitive organizations have banned DHEA as a performance-enhancing drug. The quantities you’ll encounter in male enhancement supplements aren’t likely to help you break any home run records, but they could still show up on mandatory drug tests. You might also find that DHEA raises your cholesterol levels, so if you have high cholesterol levels already, DHEA might not be the right choice.

CBD is also a popular ingredient for erectile performance, especially if anxiety and psychogenic ED are at issue, and some of our favorite CBD companies have introduced sex-focused products that include some of these ingredients.

Among these gummies, Neurogan’s Pure Intimacy is an easy top pick, as it combines an effective dose of CBD with both maca root and horny goat weed.

Side effects with all of the supplements mentioned here tend to be mild if any occur. Most men don’t experience any, but it’s always wise to share your supplement plans with your healthcare provider before adding anything new to your regimen. Notably, men who take medications for cardiovascular problems may not be suitable candidates for ED supplements.

Most of the supplements you can use to combat ED are more expensive than generic drugs. You also have to take them every day for them to be effective, unlike certain ED meds that you can take as needed. Ultimately, the choice between a prescription ED treatment and a supplement comes down to budget and lifestyle, and the choice is yours to make.

Erectile dysfunction FAQ

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