What is the cheapest magnesium per dose?
Our pick for each type, capsules and powder ranked separately: Glycinate, capsules: Nature Made High Absorption Magnesium Glycinate 200 mg (60 capsules); Glycinate, powder: Thorne Magnesium Bisglycinate (60 servings); Citrate, capsules: Nature Made High Absorption Magnesium Citrate 250 mg (120 softgels); Citrate, powder: BulkSupplements.com Magnesium Citrate Powder (1 kg) (before delivery); L-Threonate: Momentous Magnesium L-Threonate (90 capsules) (before delivery). Types with no certified product are listed below. Where to buy
The salt you buy and the brand you buy it from both move the price, and the salts are not interchangeable, so the cheapest row is not automatically the best buy. Magnesium Oxide is the cheapest here at $0.033 per 200 mg of elemental magnesium; Magnesium L-Threonate is the most expensive at $1.36.
Capsules here include softgels and tablets. Powders are priced only against other powders, on each type's own page.
That is a 41× spread, but it is the least useful pair in the table to compare: it runs from the one form with published evidence of poor absorption to a specialty form bought for different reasons entirely. The like-for-like comparisons further down the table are the ones worth reading.
Magnesium is sold bound to different acids, and each salt carries a different amount of actual magnesium per gram. A “1,000 mg” capsule is a thousand milligrams of compound, not of magnesium. Every figure here is per 200 mg of elemental magnesium, read from each product's own Supplement Facts panel.
| Type | Cheapest capsule per 200 mg | Units per dose | Cheapest product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magnesium Oxide | $0.033 | 0.5 | Nutricost Magnesium Oxide 400 mg (240 capsules) |
| Magnesium Glycinate | $0.125 | 1.5 | Micro Ingredients Magnesium Glycinate 400 mg (240 capsules) |
| Magnesium Citrate | $0.128 | 2.0 | BulkSupplements.com Magnesium Citrate Capsules (360 count) |
| Magnesium Malate | $0.143 | 1.4 | Nutricost Magnesium Malate (180 capsules) |
| Magnesium Taurate | $0.406 | 4.4 | Micro Ingredients Magnesium Taurate (240 capsules) |
| Magnesium L-Threonate | $1.36 | 4.2 | Sports Research MAG LT Magnesium L-Threonate with Magtein (180 veggie capsules) |
Cheapest is not best, and this table cannot tell you which to take
These are prices, not verdicts. The forms differ in how well they are absorbed and how well they are tolerated, and we do not measure either, so the form at the top of this table is the cheapest way to buy elemental magnesium, not the one that will necessarily suit you.
Magnesium oxide is the one form here where that caveat has published evidence behind it. It is the only inorganic salt in this table, and a 2021 systematic review of 14 bioavailability studies concluded that inorganic formulations appear less bioavailable than organic ones, with absorption also depending on dose. An earlier study measured oxide’s fractional absorption at 4 percent. Neither ranks the individual salts against each other, so neither supports calling oxide the least absorbable of the six forms here, no study we found tests malate, taurate or L‑threonate against oxide at all.
The same review also concluded that all magnesium supplements can maintain physiological levels in healthy people without a prior deficit, though it does not extend that to older people or those with illness or existing low levels. So the practical size of the difference is smaller than the internet’s usual framing suggests. Read this table as what each choice costs, then make the choice on grounds this site does not cover.
Sources: Pardo MR et al. Bioavailability of magnesium food supplements: a systematic review. Nutrition 2021;89:111294 · Firoz M, Graber M. Bioavailability of US commercial magnesium preparations. Magnes Res 2001;14(4):257–62 · both checked August 31, 2026 · verified by Dan
Where to buy: the pick for each type
The pick is the cheapest certified product, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, with no adverse finding on record, a price its retailer let us read recently, and no more than a year’s supply at the label’s serving; per delivered dose where the retailer publishes a delivery rate. Where none does, it is the cheapest such product before delivery, and it says how far the order is from free delivery. It is the same pick the category page shows.
How these lines are chosen
Among 19 products and 19 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below.
How these lines are chosen
Among 8 products and 8 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below.
How these lines are chosen
Among 9 products and 9 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below.
How these lines are chosen
Among 5 products and 5 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below. No product here publishes a delivery rate below its free-delivery threshold, so the pick is priced before delivery.
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
How these lines are chosen
Among 7 products and 7 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below. No product here publishes a delivery rate below its free-delivery threshold, so the pick is priced before delivery.
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
A pick has to be independently certified, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, and carry no recall or failed test. Nothing we track here is yet. Each of these misses at least one bar, and says which:
- Magnesium glycinate vs citrate: what is the difference?
- Is magnesium glycinate actually all glycinate?
- Which magnesium brands are third-party tested?
- Magnesium glycinate vs malate: what is the difference?
- Why is magnesium L-threonate so much more expensive?
- Magnesium citrate vs oxide: what is the difference?
Full comparison of every product in this category: Magnesium. Every question we answer: the question index.
What this rests on: prices we last recorded at the retailer named on each product page, which go stale, and each page says when it was checked; the products we track, not every product sold, and Amazon and Walmart are not among the stores; listings and labels read at the source, each linked from the page. Found an error? Tell us. The full method: How we compare.