OutletPicks Data Study · July 2026
The same nutrient, a median 0.0× price gap
We analyzed 5,646 supplement products and, for each nutrient, compared price per unit of active ingredient — the same milligram of magnesium, the same IU of vitamin D. Across 0 nutrients, the priciest products cost a median 0.0× — and up to 0.0× — more than the cheapest for the exact same dose.
The key finding
Sticker price tells you almost nothing about value. Two bottles of the same nutrient can carry the same active dose at wildly different prices — or a cheaper bottle can quietly under-dose, so you take more capsules and pay more per actual milligram. Normalizing every product to cost per active unit is the only honest way to compare, and the gaps are large:
That spread is pure margin you can avoid. The whole point of OutletPicks is to surface the low-cost-per-dose end of each of these distributions automatically.
Price spread by nutrient
| Nutrient | Products | Unit | Price spread, same dose |
|---|
Live from the curated Amazon US catalog, recomputed hourly. Updated July 2026.
How we calculated it
Cost per active unit = price ÷ (servings per container × dose per serving). For each nutrient we compare products only within its dominant dose unit — IU of vitamin D against IU of vitamin D, mg of magnesium against mg of magnesium — so we never compare unlike doses.
Spread = the 90th-percentile cost per unit ÷ the 10th-percentile cost per unit. Using the 10th/90th percentiles (not the absolute min/max) deliberately excludes one-off outliers, multipacks, and mis-labeled listings, so the figure reflects the realistic top-to-bottom of the market rather than a freak data point.
Only nutrients with at least 20 comparable products are included. Prices and serving counts come from product labels in our live catalog. Combination products can add noise; the percentile band is chosen to limit it. This is a value comparison, not medical or dosing advice — it does not say how much of any nutrient you should take.
Stop overpaying for the same molecule
OutletPicks ranks every supplement by real cost-per-dose so you land on the cheap end of these spreads automatically. Browse all nutrients, or jump to the cost-per-dose ranking for .
For journalists & researchers — free to cite
These findings are free to quote with a link back to this page. Key data points (as of July 2026):
- For the same amount of active ingredient, the priciest supplements cost a median 0.0× — up to 0.0× — more than the cheapest.
- Based on 5,646 tracked Amazon US products across 0 nutrients, each normalized to cost per active unit (per IU, per mg).
- “Spread” is the 90th ÷ 10th percentile cost per unit, so one-off outliers and multipacks are excluded.
Download the data (CSV) — per-nutrient spread, percentiles, and sample size (CC-BY 4.0).
Questions, interviews, or a custom data cut (a specific nutrient, brand, or time window)? Email [email protected] — we’re happy to help reporters.
Frequently asked questions
What is the widest supplement price spread?
Across the 0 nutrients analyzed, the maximum spread is 0.0× for the same amount of active ingredient.
What is the typical (median) supplement price spread for the same dose?
Across 0 nutrients and 5,646 tracked products, the median spread is 0.0×: for the same amount of active ingredient, the priciest products typically cost 0.0× more than the cheapest.
How is the price-spread data collected?
Each product is normalized to cost per active unit = price ÷ (servings per container × dose per serving), compared only within a nutrient’s dominant dose unit. Spread is the 90th-percentile cost per unit ÷ the 10th-percentile cost per unit, which excludes one-off outliers and multipacks. Only nutrients with at least 20 comparable products are included; data is recomputed hourly from the live Amazon US catalog.