What is the cheapest magnesium per dose?
Magnesium Oxide is the cheapest, at $0.01 per 200 mg of elemental magnesium — 222× less than Magnesium L-Threonate at $2.30. Which salt you buy moves the price far more than which brand you buy it from.
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 per 200 mg | Units per dose | Cheapest product |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magnesium Oxide | $0.01 | 0.4 | BulkSupplements.com Magnesium Oxide Powder (1 kg) |
| Magnesium Malate | $0.042 | 0.5 | BulkSupplements.com Magnesium Malate Powder (1 kg) |
| Magnesium Glycinate | $0.05 | 0.7 | BulkSupplements.com Magnesium Glycinate Powder (1 kg) |
| Magnesium Citrate | $0.052 | 0.5 | BulkSupplements.com Magnesium Citrate Powder (1 kg) |
| Magnesium Taurate | $0.082 | 1.3 | BulkSupplements.com Magnesium Taurate Powder (1 kg) |
| Magnesium L-Threonate | $2.30 | 4.1 | Momentous Magnesium L-Threonate (90 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 in particular is dense in magnesium and widely regarded as poorly absorbed. Read this as what each choice costs, then make the choice on grounds this site does not cover.
- Servings per container are derived from net weight rather than read off the label, except where a note on the product says otherwise.
- Most source records have not been checked by a person. The ones that have say so.
- Amazon and Walmart are not included, so “cheapest” means cheapest among the retailers we track.
- Prices go stale. Each one shows when it was last checked, and says so when it is older than the retailer allows us to cache it.
Full comparison of every product in this category: Magnesium. How these numbers are made: How we compare.