11 Best Probiotics: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need

Probiotics are a type of live healthy bacteria that promote optimal gut health by eliminating bad bacteria and restoring a healthy balance of microorganisms within the body.

Although they can be found in a range of foods and drinks, dietary supplements are another convenient way of getting your daily probiotic dose. However, with such a variety of products available on the market, how can you choose the best probiotic supplement for you?

Read on to see which probiotic supplements we recommend to improve digestion, boost immune health, and reduce your risk of disease.

Top 3 Probiotics

The 11 Best Probiotics Available Right Now

#1 Bioma: Best overall

Bioma is a natural probiotic supplement that helps to rebalance the good bacteria in your gut, leaving you with better digestion, increased focus, and lower levels of anxiety. It also reduces hunger and food cravings, which makes it easier to see long-term, steady weight loss results.

What’s unique about Bioma is that it uses an approach called rebalancing bacteria to help you identify which strains are imbalanced within your gut. Before making a purchase, you’ll be taken through a quiz, which allows the company to create a product with the correct probiotic strain and dose for you.

The supplement contains thermogenic probiotics, specific strains of beneficial bacteria that have been shown to break down fat by boosting metabolism and easing food cravings.

#2 Pendulum Probiotics: Best for controlling blood sugar levels

Pendulum Probiotics is a supplement brand that produces medical probiotic supplements tackling whole body health and wellness. 

They offer 4 different products, including Akkermansia for gut health, Metabolic Daily for metabolism, Glucose Control for diabetes, and Butyricum for occasional gut discomfort.

Their flagship product is Glucose Control, which contains a unique blend of 5 probiotic strains. It is also made with chicory inulin, a prebiotic that acts as food for the probiotics to work efficiently.

These ingredients help to balance the gut microbiome for those with type 2 diabetes, which can help users to control blood sugar levels more easily. In fact, a 12-week trial found that the product reduced blood sugar spikes after meals by 32%.

#3 Biotics 8: Best for men

Created by fitness and nutrition brand Bauer Nutrition, Biotics 8 is a high-performance probiotic supplement designed specifically for men. The product contains a range of natural ingredients that soothe digestion discomfort and ensure your gut functions properly.

As a performance enhancer, Biotics 8 is also ideal for those looking to improve their focus, boost mental endurance, and relieve stress levels. This is because it strengthens the gut-brain axis, a connection that supports cognitive function and digestive health.

Probiotic strains such as those in this supplement may help men increase their testosterone levels, which has several benefits, such as maintaining a healthy heart, increasing muscle strength and size, and improving your mood.

#4 Provitalize: Best for managing menopause symptoms

If you’re looking to reduce menopausal hot flashes and weight gain while also improving your gut health, then Provitalize may be the supplement for you. 

Provitalize contains thermogenic probiotics such as L.Gasseri. This helps to generate heat and encourages the body to burn stubborn fat, which is a key problem for those going through menopause. 

Thermogenic probiotics also help to maintain a natural hormone balance, which prevents gut inflammation that can intensify menopause symptoms like hot flashes, bloating, and weight gain.

Another key addition is BioPerine, a black pepper extract that supports nutrient absorption when combined with other Provitalize ingredients such as curcumin. This supports healthy digestion, while also helping with good gut health for those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

#5 YourBiology: Best non-GMO

YourBiology is a probiotic supplement created by top scientists and nutritionists. They ensured that the product contains the right combination of 4 bacterial strains to support overall gut health. It is also made with prebiotics to help these strains work more effectively.

As a gut health supplement, YourBiology is unique as it contains more than 40 billion colony-forming units (CFUs) in just one serving. CFUs are the live microorganisms in probiotic supplements that help to keep the gut microbiome balanced with good bacteria.

The supplement’s patented MAKTrek Bi-Pass technology is derived from brown seaweed, which protects the probiotic strains from stomach acid until it reaches the small intestine, making sure that you’re able to enjoy all of the health benefits.

#6 Culturelle: Best for relieving occasional stomach upset

Whether you’re looking for probiotic supplements for men, women, or children, Culturelle offers something for everyone. Their main product for gut health is the Digestive Daily Probiotic Capsules, which are formulated with Lactobacillus rhamnosus, one of the most clinically studied probiotic strains.

L-rhamnosus is proven to be effective in treating various types of diarrhea, including diarrhea caused by taking antibiotics and when traveling. If you have been prescribed antibiotics, this strain also helps to restore healthy gut bacteria, which can be killed alongside harmful microbes by the medication.

Unlike many probiotic supplements, the 10 billion CFUs used in Culturelle are guaranteed to survive harsh stomach acids to get the beneficial bacteria to where it’s needed within your intestines.

#7 Align: Best for the whole family

Align provides a variety of supplements for every family member, from adults needing better digestive health and daily wellness to fruit-flavored gummies designed especially for children. 

Their supplements for digestive health contain Align’s flagship probiotic strain Bifidobacterium 35624, which naturally helps with occasional gas, discomfort, and bloating. 

Studies show that this strain significantly decreases the severity of IBS and improves the quality of life for those with the condition. Interestingly, it has also been found to help improve exercise recovery time.

If you’re worried about swallowing capsules, Align also offers probiotic supplements in the form of chewable tablets and gummies. 

#8 Garden of Life Raw Probiotic: Best for the price

Garden of Life Raw Probiotic offers a line of high-potency probiotic supplements for all ages and genders. Their main Ultimate Care supplements are unique as they are made with whole, fermented foods alongside isolated bacterial strains, including Bulgarian yogurt concentrate and kefir grains.

Inside each pill is a range of Eastern European fruits and vegetables, like cherries, plums, carrots, red pepper, and strawberries, to boost your nutrient intake too.

Their clinically studied Replenish Blend also contains Bifidobacterium, a type of beneficial bacteria that helps the body to digest fiber. Bifidobacterium, therefore, makes this a great probiotic for weight loss, as well as reducing the risk of disorders such as diabetes and heart disease.

#9 Klaire Lab Ther-Biotic Complete: Best for those with allergies

Ther-Biotic Complete contains a blend of 12 probiotic species, including the most common strains Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, to repopulate your gut with healthy bacteria.

Each capsule is made with 25 billion CFUs, which are protected with Klaire Lab’s proprietary InTactic technology. This ensures that the probiotics are able to reach the intestinal tract without becoming damaged by your stomach acid. 

The product is also designed with a base of inulin, a starchy prebiotic derived from chicory roots that helps beneficial bacteria to grow.

#10 Seed: Best for skin health

Seed Daily Synbiotic is a supplement that contains both pre- and probiotics to help promote a healthy gut microbiome. This is, therefore, a useful probiotic for constipation, bloating, and irregular bowel movements.

Seed delivers probiotics to the gut with their impressive DS-01 capsules, which allow prebiotics to dissolve in the stomach while carrying the other bacterial strains to the colon. This helps keep live cultures intact so that they can successfully repopulate the gut microbiome.

By supporting the gastrointestinal system, the supplement also addresses several other aspects of bodily health due to the gut-brain connection, including better skin and cardiovascular health.

#11 Ritual Synbiotic +: Best vegan

Ritual Synbiotic + is a 3-in-1 pre-, pro-, and postbiotic supplement that helps support a balanced gut microbiome. It contains two of the world’s most clinically-studied bacteria strains, LGG and BB-12, which help to tackle gastrointestinal symptoms such as gas, bloating, and diarrhea. 

While the prebiotics help good bacteria to grow, the postbiotics fuel cells on the gut lining to support gut barrier function. This helps protect against chronic illnesses that are associated with barrier dysfunction, including inflammatory bowel diseases, celiac, and liver disease.

Comparison Table

How We Picked the Products

As we were selecting the products that would make it into our best probiotics guide, we used 4 factors to decide whether they were worthy of a spot. The categories that we tested each product in were:

Quality

High-quality dietary supplements are those that contain common, scientifically-backed probiotic strains such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. They shouldn’t be made with any artificial ingredients, preservatives, or colors and should have a good number of colony-forming units (CFUs) within them.

Price

Highly effective, good-quality probiotics tend to come at a higher price point. However, we looked at whether the health benefits of the supplements outweighed the cost, which they all did.

Brand reputation

Knowing whether a probiotic brand is trustworthy or not can be difficult. This is because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t have control over them as supplements, which means that companies can add almost any ingredient they like. 

We conducted thorough research into each brand, their products, and their reputation with customers to check that the probiotics we recommend are safe and effective.

Effectiveness

We look at scientific studies to see which probiotics are most effective in supporting a healthy gut microbiome. It’s also important that the supplements we select contain safe ingredients and are free of many of the main allergens.

FAQs 

Conclusion

The best probiotics not only help promote a healthy gut, but they also promote good digestion, support immune function, and may even improve mental health. Although they can cause mild side effects such as gas and bloating, these symptoms should disappear with regular use.

Probiotics may not be right for everyone, especially if you’re taking certain medications, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are under the age of 18. That’s why it’s important to talk to your doctor before taking any new probiotic supplements.