Best Horny Goat Weed Supplement

Research supports its efficacy.1 Reputable manufacturers make it. Trustworthy brands sell it. Yet there’s no getting around its ridiculous name: horny goat weed. Of course, the roughly 33% of men dealing with erectile performance issues, a silly name certainly shouldn’t stand in the way of relief.2

But horny goat weed is also widely available from sketchy brands you’ll only see sold in gas stations and truck stops, unfairly damaging the reputation of a substance with actual potential. That said, there are undeniably superior treatments out there for libido and erectile health, ones with more research support and, in some cases, lower costs.

That’s why we created this guide: to take the silliness and confusion out of a product category that deserves attention in men’s sexual wellness. We’ll look closely at the science and scrutinize the top companies offering horny goat weed to see which among them might earn your trust.

For a quick peek at our results, check out this summary of our top recommendations:

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test and research every product and service we review, including the horny goat weed products in this guide. This was an area of the market that required special scrutiny, both because the ingredient in question has some potential to help men suffering from ED, and because there are noteworthy safety risks and a bevy of suspect companies offering useless horny goat weed products everywhere from Amazon to your local gas station.

Our team looked into more than three dozen research studies specific to horny goat weed and its active constituent compounds. We’ve also spent the past several years deeply invested in male sexual wellness, poring over more than 500 research studies and spending well over 1,000 hours scrutinizing companies and products.

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this guide was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy and will continue to be monitored for updates by our editorial team.

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

In evaluating horny goat weed supplements, we chose to focus on four criteria we felt would help us whittle down a truly massive field of products to a handful that could actually make a difference for men. Specifically, we looked at efficacy, safety, cost, and convenience. Let’s take a closer look at each criterion to see what companies fared the best.

Effectiveness

Winner: Nootropics Depot Horny Goat Weed 50% Icariin

The effectiveness of a horny goat weed supplement largely comes down to the abundance of a set of compounds called icariin. This is true when using the supplement for blood flow and erectile performance, and it’s also true when using it for bone health or other concerns.3 4

But the horny goat weed plant only contains about 0.5-1% icariin, which is why we avoided any and all supplements that weren’t extracts.5 Plant extracts offer the opportunity to standardize to a higher concentration of icariin, so you don’t have to consume several grams of horny goat weed to reap positive effects.

Most horny goat weed supplements use standardized extracts at 10% or 20%, but Nootropics Depot offers an impressive 50% standardized extract. Now, it’s important to note that its dose is only 200mg in a single capsule, whereas something like Double Wood’s horny goat weed uses a 20% extract and a two-capsule dose of 1,000mg. Given the percentages, a little math reveals that each supplement offers the same 100mg of icariin per capsule. Nootropics Depot delivers that icariin dose in much smaller capsules with far less extraneous plant material, so it’s easier to take more of them if you want to push the efficacy envelope. That said, it should be just as effective as Double Wood at the same dose.

Safety

Winner: Double Wood Horny Goat Weed

Horny goat weed itself should be relatively safe for anyone without cardiovascular issues, even at doses that provide up to 1,680mg of icariin.6 Its impact on blood pressure may cause concern if you have blood pressure issues or any condition or medication regimen that affects your blood pressure.7 Gastrointestinal (GI) issues may also occur, especially at the outset of use, but this is common with a wide array of similar herbal supplements.

Both Double Wood and Nootropics Depot offer vegan, gluten-free, non-GMO horny goat weed extracts that are third-party tested, and both companies publish their certificates of analysis. Those certificates reveal that Double Wood includes microbial testing as part of its third-party analysis, which Nootropics Depot doesn’t. That gives it a slight edge in safety over competitors. However, Nootropics Depot’s results are batch-specific, so you can match the batch number on your bottle to a test result on the site and know exactly how your supplement fared.

Double Wood’s dose and extract concentration are also closer to what we’ve seen in successful human studies, whereas the 50% concentration in Nootropics Depot’s horny goat weed is something of an outlier. The dose itself is smaller than Double Wood’s, so that increased concentration is less of a safety concern overall, but if you’re looking for a supplement that more closely resembles a version that’s been shown to be relatively safe, Double Wood’s is superior.

Cost

Winner: Bulk Supplements Horny Goat Weed Extract Powder

From a pure cost perspective, there isn’t much chance you’ll find a better deal than Bulk Supplements offers with its horny goat weed. There are some important caveats to that deal, but if you want to spend as little money as possible to see if the supplement can work for you, this is a good way to do it.

Bulk Supplements offers its horny goat weed as either a capsule or a loose powder, with the powder representing the best deal. Subscriptions knock the prices down by an additional 10%, as well.

A good way to look at the cost advantage here is to compare not just prices but the actual cost per gram of horny goat weed in a given bottle or bag of the substance. Here’s what that looks like:

Now, that looks pretty bleak for Double Wood and Nootropics Depot, but it’s important to remember that those two companies standardize their horny goat weed extracts, whereas Bulk Supplements does not. Therefore, it’s hard to know exactly how much icariin you’re going to get from each Bulk Supplements dose, making the competition a better place to invest if price isn’t your one and only concern.

That said, you can get horny goat weed from Bulk Supplements in quantities as little as 100g for just over $15 — a low barrier of entry to see if you feel anything from the substance.

Convenience

Winner: Double Wood Horny Goat Weed

Nearly all of the products in this guide could make an argument to win the convenience category, as most have something in that department to offer that the others do not. For example, Nootropics Depot packs the most icariin into the smallest capsules, making them especially easy to take and to control your dose. Double Wood has the most flexible subscription setup, so you can build your auto-deliveries around your preferred regimen. And Performer 8 has the longest money-back guarantee, offering a lifetime of coverage.

So, what tipped the scales in Double Wood’s favor? Well, in addition to a flexible subscription platform, you can also buy one, two, or three bottles at a time, creating a slightly more customized experience.

Ultimately, this may come down to your preference. If you have trouble swallowing pills, Nootropics Depot would be a better fit. If you want more time to try out the supplement, Performer 8 makes the most sense.

Horny goat weed is the common name given to plants of the Epimedium genus, a flowering plant native to China and grown throughout that area of the Pacific.8 Some of its other names include barrenwort, bishop’s hat, and fairy wings, but horny goat weed is the one that really stuck.

The legend populating the internet is that a Chinese goat herd noticed increased mating behavior in the members of his flock and connected that behavior to their consumption of a certain local plant. The plant was a weed. The goats were horny. Thus, the name was born.

Whatever the case, Eastern medicine has made use of the plant for centuries, typically as a libido enhancer, but also in cases of Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and depression.9 Today, libido enhancement remains its most common use, and you’re as likely to see it being sold by a trustworthy company as you are to see it next to the register at a gas station, packaged and sold in a way that would have most reasonable men run screaming in the opposite direction.

But research supports its role in erectile health, at least in animals.3 And further research into its potential benefits to human health has expanded in recent years to include a role in cardiovascular health, neurological wellness, and osteoporosis and other bone conditions.7 10 4

Central to any research into horny goat weed’s potential benefits are icariin, a specific flavonoid compounds found in plants of the Epimedium genus that influence various aspects of human health.9 Mechanisms of action are still being investigated, but the results of exposure to icariin in studies reveal real potential in several areas:

Horny goat weed seems like a good fit for men dealing with mild ED — essentially those who can either come very close to achieving an erection or need a little help getting that erection to sufficient strength for penetrative sex.3

Because of its blood flow effects, horny goat weed might also be an interesting botanical alternative to prescription medication for men who are prehypertensive, though we cannot stress enough the importance of talking with your doctor first.7 You don’t want to mess with your heart health if you don’t have to.

Horny goat weed also appears to provide a decent protective role against bone and cartilage loss in osteoporosis and arthritis, making it a possible first step in treatment for those just starting to experience symptoms.4 Again, conferring with your doctor is critical.

Who might want to look elsewhere?

Because of its influence over blood pressure, anyone with any kind of heart condition may want to look elsewhere or at least have a long conversation with their doctor before trying horny goat weed.7 It’s also probably not quite effective enough to work for men with moderate to severe cases of ED. Those men would do better to consider prescription PDE5 inhibitors, which have a proven track record in human studies.15

Participants in some of the few human studies on icariin out there reported increased depressive symptoms, especially at higher doses. Icariin is purported to help with depression, but the evidence we’ve seen contradicts this traditional usage, leading us to believe anyone suffering from or at risk of depression should avoid it.6

Horny goat weed should be perfectly safe for most people without depression or cardiovascular issues. (Its ability to reduce blood pressure can be a big concern if you’re trying to control your blood pressure for any reason.)7

A large study looking specifically at the safety of icariin (horny goat weed’s primary active component) found doses up to 1,680mg/day to be relatively safe, though some participants in the high-dose group dropped out due to GI discomfort.6 The biggest red flag from that study was a statistically significant increase in self-reported depressive symptoms in the icariin group. This is all the more alarming when you consider that the study only ran for five days.

Since horny goat weed is typically taken daily without any end point in treatment, a five-day study is certainly insufficient to determine long-term safety. Another study using an average dose of horny goat weed extract in postmenopausal women saw no reports of adverse effects over six weeks.4

The best thing you can do before introducing horny goat weed into your daily regimen is to speak with your doctor about potential risks or contraindications.

Best overall and best budget pick

If you look at our cost section from earlier, you’ll see that Bulk Supplements offers a lower price for horny goat weed than Double Wood, but we‘ve chosen Double Wood’s horny goat weed as both our best overall and top budget pick. This comes down to the fact that Double Wood standardizes its horny goat weed extract to 20% icariin, while Bulk Supplements offers no standardization.

So, while you might save some money going with Bulk Supplements, there’s a risk that the product won’t be as effective as it could be. Icariin content in wild horny goat weed is concentrated at only around 1%,5 and the concentration likely goes up in the extraction process, but without standardization, Bulk Supplements’ extract is more of a dice roll.16

By comparison, Double Wood Horny Goat Weed offers the best price on a standardized, encapsulated extract that delivers a known quantity of icariin with every dose. At 20%, that standardization is on the high side of what we typically see in competing supplements, many of which offer 10% or 20% extracts. (However, Nootropics Depot’s 50% extract remains the most potent among the recommended products in our guide.)

That said, Double Wood suggests a 1,000mg dose, which delivers more icariin than Nootropics Depots’s 200mg dose for its 50% extract. You might even be able to start out by taking just one of Double Wood’s 500mg capsules (delivering 100mg icariin, the same as Nootropics Depot’s full dose) to see if that’s a sufficient dose for your needs. If so, you’ll get twice as much for your money.

Double Wood horny goat weed pricing

Double Wood offers both bulk and subscription savings on its horny goat weed. Here’s how the pricing works out:

Double Wood offers free shipping on all U.S. orders, saving you even more money. Other companies in this guide have free shipping thresholds that their horny goat weed products rarely meet on their own. Double Wood also has a 30-day money-back guarantee that allows you to try the product for a month and still return it if it doesn’t work for you. We’ve seen some icariin research that showed results in as little as four weeks, so Double Wood’s return window could be enough time to determine efficacy. But Performer 8’s lifetime guarantee is superior.

Most concentrated horny goat weed extract

Nootropics Depot distributes a wide array of products, most focusing on cognition and neurological wellness. Given the research into horny goat weed’s potential benefits for depression and Alzheimer’s disease, its presence in the company’s catalog makes a lot of sense (though, to be clear, its inclusion in a nootropics company's catalog isn't the most convincing evidence of horny goat weed's potential merits).9

You can get two standardized concentrations of horny goat weed from Nootropics Depot, one standardized to 10% icariin, the other to an impressive 50%. The latter is the most potent horny goat weed extract we’ve seen, and the dose is correspondingly smaller than a dose you’d take with a 10% or 20% extract.

At 50%, Nootropics Depot’s recommended horny goat weed dose is just 200mg. At 10%, it’s 500mg. That difference not only translates to different amounts of icariin per dose, but it also means you get different amounts of the compounds that are less effective or even inert. Here’s how those two yield their respective icariin alongside Double Wood’s 20% extract for reference:

As you can see, the 50% extract delivers the least amount of extraneous material — compounds that aren’t icariin — per dose with the same amount of icariin per capsule as Double Wood’s 20% extract. That means smaller capsules and less of what you don’t need from the plant.

Nootropics Depot also sells both of its horny goat weed supplements as loose powders, which helps bring down the cost a bit. But convenience goes out the window with the powders, as there’s no scoop provided that could measure out an appropriate dose, and the doses are small enough that you’d need to whip out a jeweler’s or pharmaceutical scale any time you wanted to take some.

Nootropics Depot horny goat weed pricing

The biggest downside of a more concentrated extract is that it’s expensive, at least when you consider the cost per gram of horny goat weed. However, since it’s such a more potent product, the price is less of a shock when you consider the cost per gram of icariin. Here’s how it breaks down:

So, while Nootropics Depot’s 50% extract seems like it’s about 12 times as expensive as Double Wood’s 20% in terms of per-gram horny goat weed, the difference in potency indicates that it’s really about four times as expensive. Still pricier, but not drastically so.

Here’s a close look at Nootropics Depot’s full horny goat weed catalog:

You can also get Nootropics Depot Horny Goat Weed as a powder:

Shipping costs from Nootropics Depot are also on the high side, coming in just above $10 for most orders. However, the 90-count 50% icariin option costs enough to break the company’s $50 free shipping threshold. By comparison, Double Wood offers free shipping on all orders, while the other companies in this guide have thresholds as high or higher than Nootropics Depot.

If you’re not satisfied with your Nootropics Depot purchase, you really don’t have any security. The company’s return policy only applies to unopened products, while Performer 8 and Double Wood at least let you try their products, with a lifetime guarantee from the former and 30 days from the latter.

Best money-back guarantee

For men struggling with low libido or erectile difficulties, a more complex formula like the one in Performer 8 and other male enhancement pills may offer greater odds of success simply from the increased diversity of herbal remedies. Among male enhancement pills, Performer 8 consistently ranks as our top choice, primarily because of its high doses of maca and branded ashwagandha.

Performer 8’s horny goat weed dose is a little on the low end, but it should deliver approximately 11.5mg of icariin, with greater numbers possible depending on the method of extraction.3 16 Whether that turns out to be an effective icariin dose will depend a bit on your body weight. An 11.5mg dose would be sufficient for a man weighing around 160lb, but heavier men may need a higher dose.

Fortunately, this product contains much more than just horny goat weed, including a 3,000mg powder-equivalent dose of maca and 500mg of KSM-66 ashwagandha, both of which have been shown effective in improving erectile performance.17 18

Here’s the full list of Performer 8 ingredients:

• Ashwagandha extract (KSM-66): 500mg
• Maca root: 3,000mg
• Muira puama: 3,000mg
• Glucuronolactone: 600mg
• Panax ginseng: 6,000mg
• Barrenwort: 1,000mg
• Pine bark extract: 300mg
• Grape seed extract: 30mg
• Vitamin B6: 48mg
• Vitamin B5: 6mg
• Iron: 12mg
• Chromium: 100mcg

What’s particularly compelling about this ingredient bill is that its components attack erectile and libido issues from different angles. Ashwagandha can reduce stress and anxiety, which can be a big problem for men dealing with performance issues.19 It can also help raise testosterone levels, low numbers of which can contribute to ED and low libido.20 Meanwhile, maca and horny goat weed can help with blood flow, and ginseng may be able to relax the smooth muscles in the penis that specifically control blood flow there.17 3 21

Performer 8 pricing

Performer 8 offers discounts if you buy in bulk, but there are no subscription options. That can be a little frustrating if you end up forgetting to reorder when you’re running low. Fortunately, the nature of these supplements is such that you won’t see a big drop in efficacy if you skip a few days waiting for a delivery.

There are three bulk purchasing tiers with Performer 8:

As you can see, if you have the capital for a higher up-front cost, you can save a little over 40% per bottle by purchasing a five-month supply. It’s also worth noting that free shipping only kicks in above $80, so a one-bottle purchase will also be subject to shipping charges. The free e-books aren’t anything groundbreaking, but they contain advice on raising testosterone levels through diet and improving stamina in the bedroom.

Performer 8 has the best money-back guarantee of the companies in this guide. However, the refundable portion only applies to one opened bottle and any remaining unopened bottles. So if you buy a five-month supply and try two bottles, you can get a refund for four of those five bottles (one of the two opened bottles and the remaining three unopened bottles). That’s a little more complicated than we’d like from what’s advertised as a lifetime guarantee, but it’s still more generous than other offerings in this guide.

While Double Wood took the win as our top budget choice, it only did so because it offered a standardized extract for such a low price. Bulk Supplements offers a horny goat weed extract that isn’t standardized but comes as a loose powder at an extremely low price, with an increasingly lower cost per gram as you buy larger quantities.

Thus, Bulk Supplements represents the lowest threshold for entry into the horny goat weed space that’s still a safe product from a reputable company. If you find that it only takes a regular 500mg or 1,000mg dose for you to feel its effects, you’ll be able to save a lot compared to competitors. But if you don’t feel much or it takes you 2-5g per day to really feel anything, then you’ll want to upgrade to a more potent standardized extract.

Ultimately, Bulk Supplements Horny Goat Weed is ideal for those who want to spend as little as possible up front, even if it means sacrificing potential efficacy.

Bulk Supplements horny goat weed pricing

Bulk Supplements sells its horny goat weed as a loose powder and in capsule form. With the capsules, there’s only one quantity available: a 360-count bottle. You can get that bottle as a one-time purchase for $22.96 or on a subscription basis for $20.66.

The picture with the powder is a little more complicated, so let’s employ a handy chart:

With some of these bulk prices, you can get your cost per gram of horny goat weed down to around $0.02. That’s less than one-tenth the cost of the next-best-priced product in our guide from Double Wood. Again, the lack of standardization means that we can’t compare Bulk Supplements’ pricing to its competitors for cost per gram of icariin.

You’ll have to spend $59 or more to get free shipping from Bulk Supplements, which is similar to thresholds set by competitors, except for Double Wood’s free shipping.

Bulk Supplements also has a 30-day refund policy, but it comes with one big caveat. The company will only refund you for the cost of the smallest available quantity. So, for example, suppose you bought a 1kg bag of horny goat weed for $41.96 and you wanted a refund after 30 days. Well, Bulk Supplements would only refund you the cost of the 100g bag, which is $15.96. You wouldn’t get back the remaining $26, and you’d owe any return shipping costs for what’s left of your 1kg. We don’t see this kind of fine print associated with any of the other products in this guide (or in most of our guides, for that matter), and we hope it’s something Bulk Supplements can improve in the future.

The majority of people looking for horny goat weed supplements are likely men hoping to improve their erectile performance and libido. Therefore, we’re going to focus our efforts in this alternatives section on ways to approach those problems outside of horny goat weed. The three top options we’ve determined from years spent researching this space are prescription PDE5 inhibitors, dedicated testosterone treatments, and shockwave treatment.

Let’s take a closer look at each to help guide you in the right direction if you’re curious about other paths for treatment:

Prescription PDE5 inhibitors

The brand names of these medications — including the likes of Viagra and Cialis — are among the most recognizable ED treatments in the world.22 Both of those drugs have seen their patents expire, allowing generic alternatives to flood the market. Sildenafil (generic for Viagra) and tadalafil (generic for Cialis) are widely available from telehealth companies that take some of the potential embarrassment out of having to seek the meds in person. In our testing experience, many of these companies can provide you with a prescription based on a thorough questionnaire and some messaging back and forth with a doctor. No phone calls or video chats are required, let alone an in-person visit.

And compared to botanical treatments like horny goat weed, which has no known studies looking at human erectile performance, PDE5 inhibitors have been put through the research wringer.23 They’ve had to pass regulatory hurdles in the U.S., the E.U., the U.K., Australia, and both Asian and Middle Eastern markets. As a result, you can be confident in their efficacy and the specific risks they might pose, like their potential interactions with nitrates.24

It’s also worth noting that these treatments can often be taken as needed, so you don’t need to take them daily the way you would a nutritional supplement. With prices for as-needed sildenafil and tadalafil hovering as low as $2 per dose (without insurance), you could actually save money by opting for a prescription drug over a supplement.

Testosterone treatment

Testosterone levels start to drop dramatically after age 40, with the average man losing 1% of his testosterone yearly.25 Since low testosterone can cause many of the same symptoms that might send a man reaching for horny goat weed, treating low T becomes a potentially viable alternative.26

There are three routes to testosterone treatment:

Shockwave treatment

Among the more novel approaches to ED, shockwave treatment uses specific frequencies of pressure waves to stimulate blood flow and tissue repair wherever they’re applied.31 To be clear, this is not electroshock therapy. Shockwaves are an acoustic phenomenon, not an electrical one. No electrical current is applied to the body.

Shockwave treatment has traditionally been done in clinics under the hand of a trained urologist, but there has been increased interest in performing them at home.

Numerous at-home shockwave devices have hit the market in recent years, but our research has concluded that nearly all of them are either ineffective or flat-out unsafe. They might create waves that don’t penetrate deeply enough or waves that pass through the target tissue instead of resonating at the intended treatment site.

We’ve identified one at-home device that we think holds water, and that’s the Phoenix. You can read our complete review of the Phoenix here.