BlueChew vs. Hims

Erectile dysfunction (ED) treatments have come a long way since the arrival of the “little blue pill.” And when Pfizer’s patent on Viagra ran out in 2020, the available versions of generic sildenafil (Viagra’s active ingredient) exploded.1 The same thing happened with Cialis and its active ingredient, tadalafil.

Today, you can get pills to help with your ED from a seemingly endless number of online providers. But two such providers — BlueChew and Hims — are the only reputable companies to offer chewable versions of the drugs. The companies have some stark differences aside from this overt similarity. So, which should you choose?

Our testing team has spent years covering Hims and BlueChew and following developments in their products, services, and pricing. We’ll tell you everything you need to know right here.

BlueChew offers three different monotherapies in a chewable form — sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil — as well as several combination treatments you can chew or dissolve under your tongue. Hims deals in both traditional ED tablets, like you’d get if you went through a urologist or your PCP, but it also has some interesting novel combination therapies designed to treat ED alongside other issues, like premature ejaculation, high blood pressure, and hair loss.

Hims also offers the same three chewable ED medications you can get from BlueChew, but they come in a regular prescription bottle with a small tin for carrying them, for added convenience, rather than the individually wrapped doses you get from BlueChew. There are some dosing and drug combination limitations with Hims’ chewables that may make BlueChew a more appropriate starting point for certain men determined to take chewables. But Hims’ traditional tablets offer a much wider range of doses overall; that’s better for titration purposes as men calibrate the dose that works for them.

Between the two, BlueChew has better prices on sildenafil, while Hims has better prices on tadalafil and vardenafil. In the rare instances that their combination treatments offer similar drugs and doses, their prices are similar.

For those in a hurry, here is a quick summary of our suggestions — read on for all of the details behind them.

Bottom-line recommendations

• For tadalafil (generic Cialis): Hims
• For sildenafil (generic Viagra): BlueChew
• For combination therapies: Hims
• For dose flexibility: Hims
• For branded or authorized generic Viagra or Cialis: Hims
• For frequent vardenafil: Hims
• For less frequent vardenafil (generic Levitra): BlueChew
• For a free trial: BlueChew

If you want sildenafil, BlueChew will save you money over Hims; even if you don’t mind swallowing the Hims tablets, they’re more expensive. For tadalafil or vardenafil, on the other hand, Hims offers better money-saving options (though your best choice for vardenafil isn’t as obvious and may come down to how many doses you need per order). We think Hims’ tablets are generally easier to recommend than its chewables at this time because of greater dosing flexibility and the ability to start with a lower dose, which may reduce the risk of side effects. For budget-conscious men who’ve never tried PDE-5 medications at all, BlueChew gives our readers a deal to try some of its chewables free of charge (your only expense being a $5 shipping fee) — a very economical way to find out if a moderate dosage of ED medication works well for you.

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test every product or service we review, including those by Hims and BlueChew. We’re dedicated to performing hands-on testing whenever possible, allowing us to convey aspects of the customer experience such as ordering, shipping logistics, product quality, efficacy, taste, and more.

In addition to our hands-on experience, our testing team has been studying the men’s sexual wellness space for nearly two decades, having read through more than 1,000 scholarly articles related to erectile health and various treatments for erectile issues. We also worked with Dr. Ilija Kelepurovski, urologist and member of our Medical Review Board, to verify the medical accuracy of this content.

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.

While we often list our evaluation criteria starting with what we feel would be the most important consideration, we’re going to lead this section off by talking about available medications and doses. This is despite the fact that we think cost is a more important determining factor between the two companies, and we’re doing so because understanding the different doses each company offers for the same medications will help contextualize those cost differences.

Dr. Kelepurovski says: "In selecting between platforms like Hims and BlueChew, patients should think beyond cost and convenience. Patients may also want to consider dose flexibility and personal safety concerns. Starting with lower doses may be beneficial to decrease the chance of side effects when starting treatment."

Available medications

Both BlueChew and Hims offer chewable forms of the popular PDE5 inhibitors sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil.2 Hims also offers tablet forms of sildenafil, tadalafil, and Stendra (branded avanafil). Let’s compare the chewable offerings here, as they’re the ones shared by both companies.

As you can see, Hims offers a few more quantity options you can use to customize your shipment size depending on your level of sexual activity. Hims also uses slightly higher base doses of chewable tadalafil and vardenafil, though the fact that they don’t also match BlueChew’s lower doses may cause a problem for some men. If you want the lowest possible starting doses to limit side effect risk, you’ll need to opt for tablets over chews, and Hims is the only one of these two companies to offer them.3 What’s more, Hims’ tablet prices for tadalafil are excellent, making it a safe and economical choice for men new to treatment.

Cost

What you pay for your ED medication will largely come down to whether you want to take a daily medication to be ready for sex at the drop of a hat (tadalafil) or an as-needed medication that might take up to an hour to start working (sildenafil or vardenafil).

That said, if you acquire a prescription for daily tadalafil from Hims and only use it as needed, you’ll get the best possible price from either company. This is true of tadalafil in both tablet and chewable form from Hims, though it can be less expensive in tablet form. That’s because Hims offers an annual billing and shipping period for its tadalafil tablets, but not for its tadalafil chews, where semiannual is as extended a period as you can get. For monthly, quarterly, and semiannual billing, Hims tadalafil daily chews and tablets cost the same.

BlueChew also recently added a daily tadalafil chew to its platform, which you can get in quarterly installments for a slightly higher price per dose than Hims but with a handful of added vitamins.

Let’s quickly compare the lowest possible cost per dose of the three generic medications offered by both BlueChew and Hims:

BlueChew’s pricing for sildenafil is undeniably superior, but for tadalafil or vardenafil, Hims has the clear edge. Those prices are only attainable with semiannual or annual billing, which means you must be able to pay more up front to save in the long run. Most of BlueChew’s billing and shipments are only set up as monthly installments, which means you don't have to come up with as much money up front, but it also means that your potential for savings is more limited. Its daily tadalafil multivitamin presents the best opportunity for savings, with the lowest up-front cost, as it gets you a 9mg tadalafil dose for $2.00 with quarterly shipping.

The best-case scenario here is that you have the capital to invest in annual or semiannual billing through Hims or a quarterly tadalafil shipment from BlueChew, and that you actually only plan to take the tadalafil as needed. That gives you a large shipment of meds that could last you a while (you can pause your subscription after receiving the medication, and resume only when you need more).

If you’re not sure you want to commit to a month’s worth of medication to start, especially as you figure out what dose works best for you, you can also try BlueChew for free — a $25 value offered to our readers who visit BlueChew from links on our site — then evaluate your needs for quantity and dose adjustments from there.

Convenience

When we look at convenience, we consider both the convenience of attaining the medications in question and the convenience of taking them. Both Hims and BlueChew have very similar intake procedures, with online questionnaires followed by messaging with a doctor to finalize a prescription. All of it can be done entirely from home.

Both BlueChew and Hims have easy-to-take chews that taste just fine, but the fact that Hims offers both chewable medications and traditional tablets might be a convenience factor for some men if they prefer to take pills, especially since those tablets open up a wider range of available doses than chews from either company.

It’s worth noting that Hims chews come in little tins, with all of the chews together. BlueChew provides its medications in individually wrapped packets. This is a small difference on the surface, but if you’re taking your chews out into the world with you, when traveling or in other circumstances where discretion is important, one or two slim packets will be easier to carry around than a slightly thicker tin.

Here’s a quick comparison of the packet and the tin for thickness:

Those BlueChew packets are no thicker than a single chewable dose, and they’re about the size of a sugar packet. Hims’ tin is about 0.75in thick, more than 3in long, and just over 2in wide. It’s not unfeasible that you could slip this into your pocket, but it’s definitely less convenient than the BlueChew alternative.

BlueChew’s recently released daily tadalafil multivitamins also come in tins, but you don’t need to carry those around with you if you’re taking them once per day.

Safety

The three main medications that either company offers in chewable form are well-researched and regarded as relatively safe.4 Their side effects have been thoroughly documented and exclude a few types of men from taking them, including those with cardiovascular conditions. That’s because PDE5 inhibitors effectively relax the muscles that control the diameter of blood vessels, resulting in wider pathways through which blood can flow. This can lower blood pressure, which may be dangerous for some patients.5 Men with low blood pressure or those on medications that already lower their blood pressure can be at risk for various complications when taking PDE5 inhibitors, especially at higher doses.

Hims has some of these medications in tablet form that come in relatively low doses. Meanwhile, between the two companies’ chewable offerings, Hims’ lowest dose is higher than BlueChew’s lowest dose. That creates a slightly higher side effect risk for first-time PDE5 inhibitor users.

Men who’ve established a relative dose for their PDE5 regimen and want to try switching to a chewable form of the medication should examine either company’s dosages and stick with what’s been working for them.

As an additional safety note, we were concerned about the Hims tin being too easily accessed by a child or even an unsuspecting adult. But we were pleased to find a kind of child lock built into the tin that requires you to squeeze one section of it to slide it open. It isn’t perfect, but it’s a big step in a safer direction.

Dr. Kelepurovski’s advice

Here’s a brief summary of the comparison from urologist Dr. Kelepurovski: “If you’re looking for a comprehensive telehealth platform, especially one that goes beyond ED to address skin, hair, or mental health concerns, Hims may be a useful starting point.”

He adds, “As usual, it is always advisable to visit a doctor who will assess your entire medical history before making any treatment decision.”

BlueChew and Hims are male-oriented telehealth companies offering prescription medications to help fight erectile dysfunction (ED). Both allow you to get a prescription online and have medication shipped directly to your home.

Previously, BlueChew was the only one of the two companies to offer its ED medications as chewables, increasing their portability and convenience since you wouldn’t need a glass of water to take them. Hims has caught up in that effort and now offers its own line of chewable ED meds, though there are important differences between it and BlueChew’s.

Hims also offers traditional pill-form ED medications, while BlueChew does not. And Hims has a much wider range of other telehealth offerings, including mental health care, premature ejaculation treatment, and more, which we will briefly address after our main comparison of ED medication product offerings.

BlueChew and Hims company reputations

Between the two companies, Hims has slightly better ratings than BlueChew on Trustpilot and the Better Business Bureau (BBB) website. However, BlueChew’s ratings come from a somewhat smaller number of reviews (under 2,000 across both sites compared to more than 14,000 for Hims). Much of this quantitative difference stems from the wide array of offerings Hims has and the fact that its BBB page is a combined page shared between Hims and its sister site, Hers.

Currently, Hims holds a rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars on BBB and 3 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot. BlueChew’s ratings are currently 1.19 and 3.9 on those sites, respectively. It’s worth noting that Hims has nearly 10,000 reviews, while BlueChew has only 27 via BBB and a little under 2,000 via Trustpilot.

For Hims, most complaints revolve around confusing billing practices, unclear subscription parameters, and some treatments proving unsuccessful for users. For BlueChew, complaints seem to focus on occasional issues with efficacy and subscription cancellation.

Our testing experiences with these companies have been very similar. We’ve had quick, easy consultations with Hims and BlueChew-affiliated physicians, and our subscriptions were always easy to manage and cancel.

BlueChew and Hims are both outstanding choices for men seeking prescription treatment for ED, especially those who don’t want to risk the potential embarrassment of seeking such medications in person. Both companies offer legitimate prescriptions provided with discretion.

Hims is also a good choice for men seeking treatment for other men’s health concerns, ranging from premature ejaculation and hair loss to skin care and herpes management.

Because BlueChew and Hims both offer vardenafil and chewable versions of three prominent PDE5 inhibitors, they also make sense as options for men who’ve tried traditional Viagra or Cialis in the past with mixed results. For men who’ve had issues with the effectiveness of either medication in tablet form, chewable formulations may offer improved absorption, though data on oral mucosal absorption of PDE5 inhibitors is limited. Of course, many people have trouble swallowing pills, which also makes chewable medication an appealing option.

And if you’ve tried sildenafil or tadalafil in the past without success or with certain side effects, vardenafil may prove to be a viable alternative.

Who might want to look elsewhere?

Because BlueChew and Hims offer prescription medications for ED, men looking to address their ED without medications won’t find much help from either company. And men who’ve tried sildenafil, tadalafil, vardenafil, and avanafil at high doses with no effect may need alternative treatment.

PDE5 inhibitors have some specific risks and contraindications, as well. Certain cardiovascular issues and medications to control blood pressure are generally contraindicated and may compel prescribing physicians to decline the treatment due to safety.5

BlueChew and Hims both treat ED with prescription medications known as PDE5 inhibitors. Before diving into how these medications work, let's briefly review the physiology of an erection.

Your body typically creates both cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) in regular balance.6 A certain amount of cGMP maintains a relaxation in the muscles controlling your blood vessel constriction, and PDE5 helps wash out cGMP so it doesn’t build up.

When you get aroused, your body produces extra cGMP, which results in a relaxation of the muscles that control blood vessel constriction, especially in the penis. That increases blood flow to the penis, causing an erection.7

After climax, your body increases its production of PDE5, which returns your cGMP levels to normal. Blood flow decreases and your erection goes away. Evolutionarily speaking, this is a good thing.

PDE5 inhibitors allow cGMP to accumulate and relax those blood vessels.2 This should work whether you have too much PDE5 or too little cGMP.

However, not all PDE-5 inhibitors act exactly the same way. Here’s a quick look at the characteristics of sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil, as an example:8 9 10

Which medication you ultimately choose will come down to a conversation with your doctor, including a consideration for whether you want to take a daily pill and be ready for sex at any time or only consume the medication as needed shortly before anticipated intercourse.

For most men, the ED medications offered by BlueChew and Hims should be safe. That said, there are known side effects and contraindications associated with PDE5 inhibitors. These are generally mild for most users but can be clinically significant in certain populations. Common side effects of PDE5 inhibitors include:4

• Headache
• Back ache
• Muscle pains
• Facial flushing
• Vision disturbances
• Nasal congestion
• Flu-like symptoms
• Dyspepsia

Among these, vision disturbances may be the most concerning at first glance. But while the vision disturbances associated with PDE5 inhibitors include blurred vision, ocular pain, and alterations in light perception, one of the most common disturbances is an added bluish or greenish tinge to vision, which fades as the medicine leaves the body.11

The most significant health risk associated with PDE5 inhibitors comes from the role they play in regulating blood flow. Because these medications cause your blood vessels to relax, they typically lower your blood pressure. There’s some evidence that daily tadalafil may have a small effect in lowering blood pressure, which could benefit men with untreated hypertension.12 But if you don’t have high blood pressure, or you’re already on medication for it, adding a PDE5 inhibitor to the mix can result in a pressure drop that could be dangerous.5 PDE5 inhibitors pose the risks above; hence, they are prescription-only, and healthcare providers are responsible for determining suitability.

Tadalafil is the active ingredient in Cialis. Like Viagra, the Cialis patent expired several years ago, allowing far less expensive generic options to hit the market. Unlike Viagra’s sildenafil, however, it’s harder to make tidy comparisons in price and dose with tadalafil because it’s available as either an as-needed medication like sildenafil or a daily medication.

You can take tadalafil within about 30 minutes of intercourse and expect to be able to achieve an erection with sufficient arousal for 18-36 hours post-dose. But some men prefer to take a smaller dose every day. The longer duration of action that tadalafil offers means that a smaller daily dose can keep you in a ready state for an erection throughout the day.9 Depending on the nature of your sex life, this can be a significant bonus.

Hims used to be the only one of the two companies to openly offer tadalafil — in both tablet and chewable form — as a daily or as-needed medication, depending on your preference. BlueChew’s as-needed tadalafil was available in quantities up to 28 chews per month, but it wasn’t intended for daily use.

BlueChew has since introduced a daily tadalafil chew to compete with Hims, and its formula also contains seven vitamins linked to sexual and hormonal health in studies. For example, vitamin D levels are consistently linked to testosterone levels in research, so much so that vitamin D is typically a central ingredient in many testosterone boosters.19 There’s also some evidence from animal studies that vitamin E can play a role in improving erectile health.20

BlueChew’s daily tadalafil multivitamin includes:

• Tadalafil: 9mg
• Vitamin A: 1mg
• Vitamin B6: 12mg
• Vitamin B12: 1mg
• Vitamin C: 100mg
• Vitamin D3: 0.1mg
• Vitamin E: 25mg
• Folic acid: 1mg

None of these are massive doses, and few will make much of a dent if you aren’t deficient. But it’s a nice thing to have for men concerned with such nutritional deficiencies. Here's how the companies’ chewable tadalafil offerings compare:

As you can see, Hims has a very low price per dose for its daily tadalafil offering. BlueChew’s daily tadalafil multivitamins are a hair pricier, but they’re also 0.5mg stronger and include several vitamins for sexual health. However, it’s worth noting that most daily tadalafil prescriptions start at 2.5mg and increase to 5mg if needed. We’ve rarely seen daily prescriptions over 5mg. Hims only offers its 8.5mg dose as a daily — not its 11.2mg dose. An 8.5mg dose is still a pretty significant increase over 2.5mg. The same can be said of BlueChew's 9mg daily tadalafil dose, but you can still try a dose as low as 6mg in a chewable from BlueChew.

It would be safer and less expensive to start with Hims’ tadalafil in tablet form, especially if you can afford to invest in a longer billing cycle. If you find you need to titrate up to 5mg and it still doesn’t quite cut it, you could then switch to BlueChew to try its 6mg dose before going all the way up to 8.5mg in a Hims tadalafil chewable. It might sound like a hassle bouncing between companies like this, but it’s the best way to ensure both affordability and safety.

Sildenafil is the main active ingredient in Viagra. Generic sildenafil is therapeutically equivalent to Viagra, meaning it provides the same efficacy and side effect profile as the branded drug. But generics bring an important advantage when it comes to cost; now that Pfizer’s patent on Viagra has expired, generic versions are available for significantly less money.

Both BlueChew and Hims offer chewable sildenafil, but you can also get stand-alone sildenafil from Hims in tablet form. Unfortunately, as a tablet, its lowest cost is $0.73 higher per dose than the lowest cost for BlueChew’s sildenafil chews. And Hims sildenafil chews are even more expensive.

Here’s a snapshot of how their chewables compare, including a look at Hims sildenafil tablets:

So, for pricing, dosing, and convenience, BlueChew is the better way to go for sildenafil chewables, but Hims’ tablets provide more options for dose adjustments, just at slightly higher prices.

Depending on your purchasing path, you can get your BlueChew sildenafil price down to $2.94 per pill. The lowest cost you’ll get from Hims on sildenafil tablets (instead of chewables) is $4.00, and that’s only if you opt for a specific quantity billed quarterly.

With its active ingredient of sildenafil, Viagra is the oldest PDE5 inhibitor prescribed for ED. Unlike tadalafil, sildenafil is always intended to be used on an as-needed basis. Meanwhile, newer PDE5 medications have emerged in the decades since Viagra was introduced, and these may be a superior option for some men looking for as-needed medication.

When you take a PDE5 inhibitor, it may have collateral effects on other phosphodiesterase enzymes, including PDEs 6 and 11.14 Impacts on the activity of these enzymes are responsible for certain side effects associated with PDE5 inhibitor use, including muscle pains and vision disturbances.

Newer PDE5 inhibitors, like vardenafil and avanafil, are more selective for PDE5 than sildenafil, which may limit side effects such as visual disturbances (due to the inhibition of PDE6) and myalgia (due to the inhibition of PDE11). Nonetheless, side effects can still occur and should be discussed with a physician.15 The reason many men will prefer to opt for sildenafil or tadalafil is that the newer medications aren’t meaningfully more effective but are typically more expensive.

You can see how the prices for the lowest available doses of chewable sildenafil and tadalafil compare to the lowest available doses of vardenafil from both Hims and BlueChew:

As you can see, Hims appears to have BlueChew beat when it comes to prices for vardenafil, but it’s important to note that such low prices only come from its prescription of 8.5mg vardenafil in a quantity of 30 pills per month. BlueChew’s lowest price per dose only happens at the 30-per-month level as well. Vardenafil is not technically a daily medication, so if you go this route, you’ll still have to take it as needed.

If you anticipate needing all of those doses each month, then Hims is the more cost-effective option. But depending on your level of sexual activity, you may wish to cancel after receiving this first shipment to see how long it lasts.

What if you want fewer than 30 pills each month? By comparison, the lowest cost per dose of Hims’ vardenafil sold in any quantity fewer than 30 chews is $10. And that version only comes in an 11.2mg dose. This means that your best choice between BlueChew and Hims depends on your lowest effective dose and how often you anticipate wanting to take the medication. If a slightly lower 8mg dose is still as effective for you and you engage in sex fewer times per month, you could be better off with vardenafil from BlueChew.

Hims also offers Stendra, the branded form of avanafil, but this is even more expensive thanks to the fact that it’s not yet available as a generic.21 Branded Stendra from Hims costs more than $50 per dose. For that, Stendra offers some advantages over sildenafil that extend beyond more precise PDE5 targeting, including a faster onset of action seen in studies.18

While most physicians would likely start men off on a monotherapy, combination therapies have become increasingly popular, especially among men who’ve tried monotherapies with mixed results. But BlueChew and Hims have taken very different approaches to developing new combination treatments. Here’s a look at the available prescription medications combined in various multi-therapies from either company:

As you can see, tadalafil forms the bedrock of every combination therapy from either company, as it’s the one ED medication with the most research supporting its daily use. Exactly which medicines you combine — and at what doses — is something you should arrive at with your consulting physician, though BlueChew and Hims might only give you a few limited options here.

To compare, Hims and BlueChew offer chewable combinations of sildenafil and tadalafil. Unfortunately, they are a little expensive, and the doses are inflexible. These products may be convenient for some patients, but for men starting therapy or who need to titrate individually, such fixed dosing may not be suitable.

For example, Hims’ sildenafil chewables come with 45mg of sildenafil and 11mg of tadalafil, and BlueChew Max delivers 45mg and 18mg of the same, with neither offering the option to adjust the dose. That 45mg of sildenafil is a pretty normal dose, but 11mg of tadalafil is a little on the high side for a drug that often begins at 2.5mg and makes stops at 5mg and 10mg before you’d get to 11.9 There’s some evidence that the combination is effective, but one of the most prominent of such studies used a 50mg sildenafil dose alongside a 5mg tadalafil dose.13 More than doubling the tadalafil may be unnecessary for a large number of men and will likely increase the risk of side effects.

Dr. Kelepurovski notes, “It is frequently preferable to provide personalized treatment to prevent adverse effects and maximize efficacy.”

Hims and BlueChew also have chewable products that combine tadalafil and vardenafil — a PDE5 inhibitor with pharmacologic properties similar to sildenafil — though these face the same inflexible dosing issue.

In many cases, the further you go out into novel combinations, the less research you have to support your journey. That said, Hims is a company with extensive experience in hair loss and premature ejaculation treatment, so their physicians are better suited to combine therapies with disparate albeit related goals. This degree of experience and expertise, along with a more considered combination of ingredients and doses than we’ve seen from BlueChew, gives Hims the edge in multi-therapy treatment.

Stendra isn’t the only brand-name ED drug in Hims’ catalog. The company also offers original Viagra and Cialis for men who prefer the brand name. These pills are significantly more expensive than generic alternatives.

Hims also offers a middle ground here with a version of sildenafil called an authorized generic. Essentially, when a drug’s patent runs out, anybody can make it. But the companies that owned the patent can still create the generic versions themselves or contract out to other pharmaceutical companies to create those generics using the original company’s recipe.

To be clear, brand-name, generic, and authorized generic drugs are therapeutically identical, as mandated by the FDA. Sometimes, inactive ingredients will differ, which won’t create a difference in efficacy but may create a difference in side effects in men who have an allergy or other sensitivity to a certain inactive ingredient. These men might prefer to stick with a brand-name drug, especially if they’ve had unexpected reactions to generics after having success with brand-name equivalents.

We recommend sticking with regular generics for anyone starting out on their ED journey. They’re cost-effective and virtually identical to the original medication. That said, sildenafil is also sold as a blood pressure medication (brand name: Revatio), and its generic form is either less expensive or more readily available than the generic form of Viagra, as we tend to see it more often on telehealth platforms.

You can tell the difference between the two generics by looking at the doses. Generic sildenafil based on Viagra uses dose increments of 25mg, whereas generics based on Revatio use 20mg intervals.

BlueChew uses neither increment, as its medications are custom-compounded at specialized compounding pharmacies, as are the chewable medications from Hims.

Here’s how costs and doses for brand-name and authorized generic Viagra compare. Each is available in quantities of 6, 10, or 16 pills per month:

As you can see, brand-name Viagra is much pricier than generic alternatives, and authorized generics are around the same cost. There are some differences between the lowest and highest dose costs we’ve listed, but those are mainly due to differences in strength. Your intake physician will help you determine which is appropriate based on your medical history.

One of the biggest differences between BlueChew and Hims is that BlueChew focuses solely on providing ED medications, whereas Hims offers a slew of telehealth services. On the one hand, Hims’ diverse offering may provide convenience for men seeking to address more than just ED. On the other hand, BlueChew’s singular focus on ED may make them a better choice for men with that one goal in mind.

Here’s a quick summary to give you a sense of what Hims offers in addition to ED treatment:

We alluded earlier to some of Hims’ chief competitors, and one of those — Roman — also offers ED medications. That makes it a viable alternative to both BlueChew and Hims, at least until you start comparing prices. At every turn, Roman has higher prices. It also has just one formula for a chewable in its catalog, which contains 55mg of sildenafil and 22mg of tadalafil. This is an even more intense dose than the 11mg of tadalafil in Hims’ chews, making it a product only suitable for men who’ve tried just about every dose up to that point.

The strongest competitor against BlueChew and Hims is Rocket Rx, which offers better sildenafil prices than either and tadalafil prices that rival the best deals you can get from Hims. And it does this without requiring the long billing periods and high up-front costs you see with Hims’ best deals.

In addition to Rocket Rx and Roman, there are a few other noteworthy alternatives:

• Rugiet: This company combines sildenafil, tadalafil, and apomorphine into sublingual lozenges (you let them dissolve under your tongue rather than chew them). Its products are significantly more expensive than BlueChew or Hims at this time.
• Promescent: The original purveyor of an oil-aqueous lidocaine spray for premature ejaculation has recently joined the ranks of ED medication providers with decent prices on tablets but no chewable medications. Sildenafil tablets start at $6/dose, which isn’t great, but 5mg tadalafil tablets start at just $2/dose. That’s lower than BlueChew’s 6mg tadalafil chews and the same price as BlueChew’s stronger tadalafil chews, but it’s not lower than the price of Hims’ daily tadalafil in either chewable or tablet form.
• Keeps: Hims’ chief competitor in the hair loss space is in the midst of launching several new products unrelated to hair loss, including ED medications (tablets, not chewables). At this point, prices don’t appear to be competitive with BlueChew or Hims.

While some of these companies may offer viable medications at competitive rates, none of them compare to Hims or BlueChew in terms of price or diversity of chewable offerings.

In our final analysis, it’s clear to us that Hims is the superior choice for men who intend to take ED meds for any length of time. Those just starting out can certainly take advantage of BlueChew's free trial to see whether a given medication works at all, and BlueChew’s sildenafil price still beats Hims. But most men will find that they can get better prices on other medications — as well as a wider variety of doses, billing periods, and combination therapies — from Hims.

Either way, both companies offer convenient, effective options for managing ED.