Supplement Cost Calculator

Build your stack and see what it costs per month and year

Search above to add supplements to your stack

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What the Cost Calculator does

The Cost Calculator turns your stack into a real monthly number — so you stop being surprised at the register. For each supplement you add it pulls:

  • Median retail price per serving across major retailers (Amazon, iHerb, Costco, brand-direct).
  • Servings per container at the dose you’re actually taking — not the dose printed on the marketing copy.
  • A “budget pick” (best $/dose at acceptable quality) and a “premium pick” (highest third-party-tested form) for each item.

It rolls those up into a clean monthly and yearly total, plus a per-item cost-per-day so you can see which item in your stack is doing the most damage to your wallet.

How to use it

  1. Add your supplements one at a time using the search box. Type a dose if it differs from the default (e.g., “Magnesium Glycinate 600 mg” instead of 400 mg).
  2. Pick your preference: budget, balanced, or premium — the calculator swaps the recommended product to match.
  3. See the running total update as you add or remove items.
  4. Click any line item to expand alternatives at different price points and forms (e.g., Magnesium Glycinate capsules vs. powder — the powder is usually 40–60% cheaper per gram).
  5. Export the final list as a shareable summary if you want to plan a subscription order or compare with a friend’s stack.

Examples

Example — A typical “foundation” stack, priced two ways

A common core stack: Multivitamin, Vitamin D3 5,000 IU, Omega-3 1 g EPA+DHA, Magnesium Glycinate 400 mg, Creatine 5 g.

  • Budget picks: ≈ $23/month (~$0.77/day). Costco multi, NOW D3, Kirkland fish oil, Doctor’s Best Glycinate, MyProtein creatine monohydrate.
  • Premium picks: ≈ $72/month (~$2.40/day). Thorne basics multi, Thorne D3/K2, Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omega, Pure Encapsulations Magnesium Glycinate, Thorne Creatine.

Both stacks deliver the same effective doses. The premium picks add third-party testing and (in some cases) better-tolerated forms. The difference is roughly $49/month — useful to see in writing before deciding which trade-off you actually want.

Example — Where most stacks bleed money

When users run their existing stack through the calculator, the most common bleeders are:

  • Branded “complex” blends (e.g., a $60/month “sleep blend” that’s just 300 mg Magnesium + 100 mg L-Theanine + 0.5 mg Melatonin — buyable in three separate bottles for ~$15/month).
  • Proprietary blends that hide actual doses on the label — you’re often paying premium for sub-clinical amounts.
  • Wrong form: paying for Magnesium Oxide (~4% bioavailable) when Glycinate is ~$3 more per bottle and 4–5× more usable.

7 swaps that cut your stack cost without losing effectiveness

These swaps deliver the same active dose at a fraction of the price. None involve “cheaper but worse” — they’re cheaper because the math of the supplement market is irrational, not because the product is.

SwapTypical monthly saving
Costco/Kirkland multivitamin instead of a $50/mo “premium” multi$40–45
Bulk Creatine Monohydrate (e.g., MyProtein 1 kg) instead of branded “creatine HCL” capsules$20–30
NOW or Doctor’s Best D3 instead of branded “premium D3”$10–15
Kirkland Fish Oil (IFOS-tested) instead of a branded Omega-3$15–25
Magnesium Glycinate powder (e.g., 250 g tubs) instead of capsules$8–12
Buying individual actives instead of branded “sleep / focus / energy” blends$20–60 per blend
Generic Curcumin + Piperine instead of branded “Curcumin complex”$15–20

The combined savings from 3–4 of these typically pay for the more expensive forms where form does matter (e.g., NSF-tested Omega-3 if you’re an athlete, Magnesium Threonate if you specifically need cognitive support).

When to spend more, not less

Cheap is the right call for most supplements. These are the exceptions where paying up is worth it:

  • Omega-3 fish oil — oxidation matters. Rancid fish oil is actively pro-inflammatory. Pay for IFOS 5-star or Informed Sport certification. The $5–10/month premium is the cheapest insurance in your stack.
  • Probiotics — strain and CFU count vary wildly. Cheap probiotics are often dead on arrival or contain unverified strains. Pay for refrigerated or shelf-stable strains with published efficacy.
  • Anything you take daily long-term — at 365 doses/year, a $5/month difference compounds. The premium-tested version may be worth it for heavy metals testing alone.
  • Anything for athletic performance with drug testing — NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport only. Cheap supplements have a real contamination rate.

What “premium” usually buys you

For most items, the premium price tag delivers some combination of:

  1. Third-party testing — NSF, USP, Informed Sport, ConsumerLab. Useful for athletes and high-volume stackers.
  2. Better-tolerated form — Glycinate vs. Citrate for people with GI sensitivity, for example.
  3. Cleaner excipients — no titanium dioxide, no artificial colors. Matters for some people; cosmetic for most.
  4. Brand trust + customer service — replacement, refund, sourcing transparency.

If none of those apply to your situation, the budget pick is functionally identical.

FAQ

Where do the prices come from?We track median retail across Amazon, iHerb, Costco, and brand-direct stores for each recommended SKU. Prices are refreshed weekly. They'll never be perfectly current — treat the totals as accurate to within ~10%.
Does the calculator include shipping?No — it shows per-serving cost at retail. If you order monthly from a single retailer, expect to add a few dollars for shipping. Subscribing or hitting free-shipping thresholds usually closes that gap.
Why is there a budget vs. premium toggle?Because they're both valid choices. Budget picks are quality-screened (no questionable manufacturers) and deliver the same active ingredient at the same dose. Premium picks add NSF / USP / Informed Sport third-party testing — important for elite athletes and people taking 10+ supplements where contamination stacking matters.
Is the "budget" pick safe?Yes — every item in the database (budget or premium) is on a curated list. We exclude brands with FDA warning letters, fake-review patterns, or repeated independent testing failures. Cheap doesn't mean sketchy when you know what to skip.
Can I include peptides or prescription items?The calculator covers over-the-counter supplements only. Peptides have prices that vary by source and legal status; prescriptions are out of scope. For peptide protocols, see the peptides section.