Best vegan B12 supplement: 7 compared on form, dose and label

Our pick is Deva’s Vegan Vitamin B-12 lozenge: 1,000 mcg, registered with the Vegan Society. Jarrow’s Methyl B-12, labeled vegan, is the cheapest per tablet of the prices we found. Choose on dose and the vegan claim, not the form: NIH says no evidence shows absorption varies by form. Nature Made’s B12 softgels contain gelatin and beeswax.

The makers say otherwise, and they say it on the product page. Future Kind writes that it uses methylcobalamin because clinical research shows it “offers superior bioavailability and higher tissue retention than cyanocobalamin”. Jarrow says research suggests methyl B-12 “is better retained in the body than cyanocobalamin”. The NIH fact sheet for health professionals puts it in one line: no evidence indicates that absorption of vitamin B12 from supplements varies by the form of the vitamin. Every vegan-labeled tablet below happens to be methylcobalamin, so you will pay for the methyl whether you want it or not; just don’t pay extra for it. Whether you need B12 at all, and how to check your levels, is in our article on whether vegans need B12. This page is about which bottle.

Cyanocobalamin or methylcobalamin?

NIH lists cyanocobalamin as the most common form in supplements, with methylcobalamin, adenosylcobalamin and hydroxocobalamin as the others. It also says cyanocobalamin and hydroxocobalamin become biologically active after the body converts them to methylcobalamin or 5-deoxyadenosylcobalamin. That conversion is what the methyl case rests on: Future Kind describes cyanocobalamin as the form “the body must convert”. The absorption figures NIH gives do not separate the forms.

What NIH does separate is the dose. Absorption runs at about 50% for doses under 1 to 2 mcg, about 2% at 500 mcg and about 1.3% at 1,000 mcg. On a 1,000 mcg tablet, 1.3% is about 13 mcg (our arithmetic). Future Kind’s own FAQ puts it at about 10 mcg of a 1,000 mcg dose, which is the same order. Future Kind gives poor absorption as the reason for its 1,000 mcg dose. Every product here is sold at 1,000 mcg, and the 41,667% Daily Value printed on the labels is less alarming than it looks: the Daily Value is 2.4 mcg, and NIH sets no upper limit for B12 because of its low potential for toxicity.

How often matters as much as how much. The Vegan Society gives three patterns and asks vegans to pick one: fortified foods two or three times a day for at least 3 mcg a day, one daily supplement of at least 10 mcg, or one weekly supplement of at least 2,000 mcg. A 1,000 mcg tablet covers the daily pattern many times over; for the weekly one you need a stronger tablet, and Deva sells a 2,500 mcg version. The Vegan Society also says any B12 tablet should be chewed or allowed to dissolve in the mouth, while NIH says the evidence shows no difference in efficacy between oral and sublingual forms. Chewing costs you nothing, so we would.

If you are pregnant, buying for a child, or take medication, set the product and the dose with your doctor or a registered dietitian rather than from this page.

Seven B12 supplements compared

We read each maker’s own product page in October 2026. Prices are the makers’ store prices on the day; per-tablet figures are our arithmetic.

Product	Form	B12 per tablet	Vegan, per the maker	Price on the maker’s store
Deva Vegan Vitamin B-12 Fast Dissolve Lozenges	Methylcobalamin	1,000 mcg	Vegan Society registered	Not listed
Jarrow Formulas Methyl B-12 Lemon	Methylcobalamin	1,000 mcg	Vegan	$25.98 for 2 bottles of 100
Future Kind Vegan B12 Chewable	Methylcobalamin	1,000 mcg, per its FAQ	100% vegan brand	$14 for 30
Thorne Vitamin B12	Methylcobalamin	1 mg (1,000 mcg)	“Not specified”	$24 for 60
Nature Made Vitamin B12 Fast Dissolve 1000 mcg	Cyanocobalamin	1,000 mcg	No claim	$9.89 for 50
Country Life Vitamin B-12 1,000 mcg	Cyanocobalamin	1,000 mcg	No claim	$13.49 for 60 (sale)
Nature Made Vitamin B12 1000 mcg Softgels	Cyanocobalamin	1,000 mcg	No: gelatin, beeswax	$17.29 for 90

Deva Vegan Vitamin B-12 Fast Dissolve Lozenges

Our pick for the vegan claim with the most behind it. Deva says all of its products are 100% vegan and registered with the Vegan Society, and this lozenge’s other ingredients come with the line “All of the ingredients are from non-animal sources”. Each one has 1,000 mcg of methylcobalamin, and the bottle holds 90; the directions are one a day, dissolved in the mouth or chewed. The sweeteners are mannitol and xylitol, with lemon flavor.

It is not B12 alone. Each lozenge also carries 2 mg of vitamin B6 and 400 mcg DFE of folate as folic acid, 100% of the Daily Value. If you already take a multivitamin or a folic acid supplement, add that 400 mcg to what you take before you choose this one, and ask your doctor if the total worries you. Deva also makes the strict pick in our vegan probiotics roundup, on the same Vegan Society registration. Deva’s site lists no price and sends you to stockists.

Jarrow Formulas Methyl B-12 Lemon

The value pick. Jarrow tags it vegan and lists xylitol, microcrystalline cellulose, stearic acid, natural flavor, magnesium stearate, citric acid and silicon dioxide, and it names the stearic acid and the magnesium stearate as from vegetable sources. That is the detail the two cyanocobalamin tablets below leave out. Each chewable has 1,000 mcg of methylcobalamin.

Jarrow sells it as a 2-pack of 100-tablet bottles for $25.98, about 13 cents a tablet (our arithmetic), the lowest per-tablet price of the vegan-labeled ones we found. It lists no wheat, gluten, soybeans, dairy, egg, fish, shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts or sesame. The thing to ignore is its “better retained” line, for the reason in the opening. Jarrow also makes 2,500 and 5,000 mcg chewables, if you follow the weekly pattern, and versions that pair methyl B-12 with methyl folate.

Future Kind Vegan B12 Chewable

Future Kind is a vegan-only brand, so there is no “is it vegan” question to ask. The questions are price and the label. It is $14 for 30 chewables on its store, about 47 cents a tablet (our arithmetic), more than three times Jarrow’s. The allergy line says it contains soy, as lecithin, and the brand says its products are made in shared facilities.

The directions read “Take 1 tablet 1 to 3 times daily”, while the FAQ explains its dose as 1,000 mcg. Up to three tablets a day is up to 3,000 mcg, a dose none of the Vegan Society patterns asks for. Don’t buy this one if soy is off your list, or if you would rather pay Jarrow’s price for the same form and dose. Future Kind also sells B12 gummies at $19 for 30, and the gummy page says they contain no added soy or animal derivatives; the page we read gives no B12 amount, so we can’t compare the dose.

Thorne Vitamin B12

The page says this capsule is “particularly well-suited” for vegans, among others. The comparison table a few lines down, on the same page, lists it under “Suitable for Vegans” as “Not specified”. The capsule is hypromellose, derived from cellulose; the other ingredients are leucine, microcrystalline cellulose and silicon dioxide. Thorne does not say where the leucine comes from.

It is $24 for 60 capsules, 40 cents each (our arithmetic), and comes in a 90-capsule size too. Each capsule has 1 mg of methylcobalamin, and the directions say one capsule one to three times a day. Thorne says it is free from gluten, dairy and soy. Until it says the product is vegan, skip it for one of the three above.

Nature Made Vitamin B12 Fast Dissolve 1000 mcg

The label says “Important for vegetarians & vegans” and never says the tablet is vegan. It is 1,000 mcg of cyanocobalamin in mannitol, corn starch, crospovidone, stearic acid, silicon dioxide, magnesium stearate, sucralose and natural and artificial cherry flavor, and the label names no source for the stearic acid or the magnesium stearate. It carries the USP verified statement for ingredients, potency and manufacturing. The directions say to place the tablet under the tongue until it dissolves; NIH says the evidence shows no difference in efficacy between oral and sublingual B12, so that is a preference, not a requirement.

At $9.89 for 50, about 20 cents a tablet (our arithmetic), it is cheap. Buy it if unsourced stearates don’t bother you; if they do, Jarrow names its source for less per tablet.

Country Life Vitamin B-12 1,000 mcg

The same question as Nature Made’s. Each tablet is 1,000 mcg of cyanocobalamin with cellulose, stearic acid, magnesium stearate and silica, with no source given for the stearates and no vegan claim on the page. The product description lists beef, pork, poultry, lamb, fish, milk, cheese, yogurt and eggs as good sources of B12, which is accurate and not the reason anyone here is buying it.

It was $13.49 for 60 on sale, from $15.39. Country Life also sells methylcobalamin lozenges at 1,000, 3,000 and 5,000 mcg, sweetened with xylitol and flavored with cherry in the 1,000 mcg version. Its B12 gummies use pectin rather than gelatin, with 850 mcg of cyanocobalamin and 2 g of added sugar per gummy, though again with no vegan claim on the page we read.

Nature Made Vitamin B12 1000 mcg Softgels

Skip it. The other ingredients are soybean oil, gelatin, glycerin, yellow beeswax and lecithin. Gelatin is an animal ingredient and beeswax comes from bees, and neither is mentioned in the product description, only on the back panel. It sells at $17.29 for 90 or $23.89 for 150, on the same site as the fast dissolve tablet above, under the same brand and at the same 1,000 mcg of cyanocobalamin. Check that you are holding the tablet, not the softgel.

What else is in the tablet

In all seven, the B12 itself isn’t the issue: each lists it as cyanocobalamin or methylcobalamin. The vegan question sits in the rest of the list: the capsule or softgel shell, the flow agents, and the flavor.

Stearic acid and magnesium stearate are the usual unknowns. Jarrow names a vegetable source for both, and Deva says all its ingredients are from non-animal sources. Nature Made’s fast dissolve tablet and Country Life’s tablet list both without a source. Gelatin is the clear no, and the softgel shell is the first place to check for it: Nature Made’s B12 softgels list it second.

Capsules are the other place to look. Thorne’s is hypromellose, made from cellulose, which settles the capsule; what settles the rest is a vegan claim the page doesn’t make.

Which one to buy

Buy Deva if you want the Vegan Society registration and don’t mind the B6 and folic acid riding along. Buy Jarrow’s 1,000 mcg chewable if you want B12 alone, a stated vegetable source for its stearates, and the lowest price per tablet among the vegan-labeled bottles. Whichever you choose, check the micrograms against the pattern you follow, daily or weekly, rather than the form on the front. If you would rather get some of it from food, our nutritional yeast guide shows which bags are fortified and which have none.