VitaminDB Data · October 2026
The real cost of Iron, per dose
For the exact same amount of Iron — the same mg of active ingredient — the priciest products cost a 21× premium over the cheapest. We measured it across 55 tracked products, normalized to cost per mg.
Is the premium brand worth it?
On price, usually not. Two bottles of Iron can carry the identical active dose at wildly different prices — the spread between the cheap and the premium end is 21× per mg, from a low around $0.0006 to a high near $0.012. A higher sticker price is not a reliable signal of a better product; most of that gap is branding and margin, not more Iron. Pay up only for a verifiable difference — third-party testing, or a specific better-absorbed form — never for the packaging.
Right now the best value in our catalog is Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg Tablets, 1000 Count at $0.01 per serving — against a catalog median of $0.085/serving.
How we calculated it
Cost per active unit = price ÷ (servings per container × dose per serving), measured in Iron’s dominant dose unit (mg) so we only ever compare like with like — mg of Iron against mg of Iron.
Spread = the 90th-percentile cost per mg ÷ the 10th-percentile. Using the 10th/90th percentiles (not the absolute min/max) deliberately excludes one-off outliers and mislabeled listings. Based on 55 active Iron products from our live Amazon US catalog, recomputed hourly. This is a value comparison, not medical or dosing advice.
Part of the catalog-wide supplement price-spread study (median 7.3× across 75 nutrients).
Free to cite
Quote these figures with a link back to this page. Key data point (as of October 2026): for the same dose of Iron, the priciest products cost 21× more than the cheapest per mg, across 55 tracked products.
Iron cost FAQ
- How much does Iron vary in price for the same dose?
- For the same amount of Iron (per mg), the most expensive products cost about 21× more than the cheapest — based on 55 tracked products, comparing the 90th vs 10th percentile cost per mg. The median is $0.0027 per mg.
- Is the premium Iron brand worth it?
- On price alone, usually not: the priciest options deliver the same mg of Iron for up to 21× the cost. A higher price is not a reliable quality signal — pay more only for a verifiable difference such as third-party testing or a specific better-absorbed form, not for packaging.
- What is the cheapest Iron per dose right now?
- Ferrous Sulfate 325 mg Tablets, 1000 Count at $0.01 per serving is the lowest cost-per-dose Iron in our catalog. See the full ranking on the Best Iron page.