What is the cheapest zinc per dose?
Our picks, by labeled strength, with a link to buy them: see where to buy. A strength with nothing certified at it has no pick, and is not listed there.
Per 15 mg of elemental zinc, the cheapest salt we track is gluconate, at $0.012 (BulkSupplements.com Zinc Gluconate Capsules 50 mg (365 count) buy), before delivery. The most expensive is bisglycinate at $0.035, about 2.8×. The salt you choose and the brand you buy it from both move the price, and the salts are not interchangeable, so the cheapest row is a price, not a recommendation.
Every figure is per 15 mg of elemental zinc as printed on each product's own Supplement Facts panel, never on the weight of the salt. The products here run from 10 mg to 50 mg of zinc per capsule or softgel, so the last column says how many units hold 15 mg: a 50 mg unit holds 3.3 comparison doses, which is why the strong ones look cheap.
| Salt | Cheapest per 15 mg | Units per 15 mg | Products | Cheapest product |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gluconate | $0.012 | 0.3 capsules | 3 | BulkSupplements.com Zinc Gluconate Capsules 50 mg (365 count) buy |
| Citrate | $0.018 | 0.5 capsules | 3 | BulkSupplements.com Zinc Citrate Capsules 30 mg (500 count) buy |
| Picolinate | $0.025 | 0.3 capsules | 13 | Nutricost Zinc Picolinate 50 mg (240 capsules) buy |
| Orotate | $0.029 | 0.3 capsules | 1 | BulkSupplements.com Zinc Orotate Capsules 50 mg (240 count) buy |
| Sulfate | $0.03 | 0.3 tablets | 1 | Nutricost Zinc Sulfate 50 mg (120 tablets) buy |
| Bisglycinate | $0.035 | 0.3 capsules | 5 | Nutricost Zinc Bisglycinate 50 mg (120 capsules) buy |
What this page does not say is which salt is better absorbed. The argument between zinc salts is about absorption and tolerance, which are claims about physiology; we measure prices and labels. Every price here is before delivery, and each product page says whether the retailer publishes a delivery rate.
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 1 product and 1 retailer listing 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.
How these lines are chosen
Among 2 products and 2 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.
How these lines are chosen
Among 6 products and 6 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.
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 1 product and 1 retailer listing 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.
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:
Full comparison of every product in this category: Zinc. 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.