Popping a vitamin supplement seems like a no-brainer if you want to stay on top of your health. A pill that, in theory, has everything your body needs? Sign us up. But choosing vitamins can be overwhelming—and remembering to take them every day and keep your medicine cabinet stocked are their own challenges. 

Enter personalized vitamin subscriptions. These services help people pinpoint exactly which vitamins they need based on the results of a quick online quiz, then ship monthly supplies directly to your door—often divided into daily doses in baggies printed with your name, to boot! 

We took assessments with four of the most popular personalized vitamin subscriptions and received recommendations for 20 different supplements in total. A whopping 730 pills (plus a big ol’ bag of protein powder) showed up at our door for testing.

Persona landed as our top pick—but just barely. Here’s the lowdown on the top personalized vitamin subscriptions, plus research on whether you even need to take vitamins, anyway. 

The best personalized vitamin subscription services, ranked:

1. Persona (Top Pick)
2. Care/of
3. Nurish by Nature Made
4. Ritual

The Best Personalized Vitamin Subscription

Persona received our best personalized vitamin rating because the service felt truly customized, it provided clear explanations for its recommendations, and the brand felt pretty trustworthy. Even though it’s the most expensive of the bunch, the cost is justified by the level of personalization that goes into the product. 

The brand’s website, with its clinical and scientific vibe, instantly put me in the right state of mind for considering a supplement. I started with Persona’s personalized vitamins assessment. It covered the basics, like my age, gender, health goals, and diet. But I was impressed that Persona asked whether I’ve undergone genetic health testing (like 23andMe or AncestryDNA). I’ve done both, so I was able to reference my DNA test results to see if I was at higher risk of certain conditions, then go back to the quiz and answer follow-up questions, giving Persona more concrete data to work with for its recommendations.

Persona was also the only brand I tested that asked an open-ended question about my current medications. You type in each drug name and Persona cross-checks it against its database to make sure it doesn’t recommend supplements that could cause an adverse reaction. Every personalized vitamin service should do this! In total, I answered more than 45 questions over the course of 10 minutes. It felt like a reassuring deep dive, but not a time suck. 

The results came back almost instantly on the next screen and recommended that I take seven different types of supplements, which ranged from “female health support” (a combo of magnesium glycinate and borage with saffron) to “energy support” (cordyceps, which is a type of fungi). Even though these aren’t supplements I would typically think about taking, Persona provided a detailed explanation for why each supplement was recommended for me and how it would help me reach my health goals. For example, the “skin balance support” supplement (borage with saffron) was included in my pack because I told Persona I deal with eczema, and that particular formula is rich in a type of fatty acid that can (supposedly) help maintain the protective barrier of my skin.

Persona’s detailed product pages, which flagged potential allergens in each supplement and whether they fit within certain diets (veganism, for example) helped boost my confidence in the brand. I also liked that you could add and remove items from your cart—there was no requirement to buy everything Persona recommended.

The vitamins came about a week after I ordered them, packaged in small baggies printed with my name, its contents, and whether that was my morning or nighttime dose, all rolled up and tucked within a dispenser box. In fact, it was the only one of the personalized vitamin services I tried that printed the names of each supplement on the baggies. It felt slick and streamlined, and left me with no questions about what to take when. 

While Persona’s clear strength is its deep personalization, it did have a few flaws. Its supplements are not certified by a reputable third-party organization, like US Pharmacopeia (USP) and NSF, which makes it hard for me to feel completely confident in the products. The company says that every product that leaves their manufacturers comes with a certificate of analysis to prove the dosage, but I couldn’t find a place on their website where I could review this information and learn more about its source. I also wish the brand provided links to the studies it used to make the claims about the benefits of its products. I felt that Persona would need to increase its transparency to earn my full trust as a customer. It’s also owned by Nestlé, which may be enough to make some people steer clear.

Even though Persona didn’t earn perfect scores in every category I considered, it still came out on top as the best personalized vitamin service for someone who wants deeply individualized recommendations backed by clear reasoning. It’s also a clear winner among customers, too, with nearly 6,000 five-star reviews on Trustpilot. 

Are Vitamins Actually Healthy?

The numbers don’t lie: People believe that taking vitamins is healthy. In fact, nearly 58 percent of people age 20 and up in the U.S. take supplements, and multivitamins are the most common supplement they take, per the CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Dietary Supplement Use Among Adults: United States, 2017–2018” View Source .

But whether or not vitamins actually provide health benefits is still pretty murky, depending on what you’re hoping to achieve by taking them. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans Dietary Guidelines for Americans “2020 - 2025 Make Every Bite Count With the Dietary Guidelines” View Source says that it’s best to rely on nutrient-dense food and drinks to meet your nutritional needs. In other words, a vitamin supplement isn’t a substitute for a well-balanced diet. This is because food is more than just vitamins—it also offers complex micronutrients American Journal of Clinical Nutrition “Food synergy: an operational concept for understanding nutrition” View Source that interact in different ways, much-needed fiber, and certain protective substances (like antioxidants) that offer health benefits Mayo Clinic “Supplements: Nutrition in a pill?” View Source you can’t get from a pill. 

However, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans notes that there are some instances—like pregnancy—when it’s difficult to get your necessary nutrients through food alone, and that’s when a vitamin supplement can help. Same goes for those on certain strict diets that eliminate entire food groups. Vitamin B12, for example, usually comes from foods from animals. (You can also get it in some fortified foods, like cereals and non-dairy milks). So if you’re following a vegan or vegetarian diet PubMed Central “Vitamin B12 among Vegetarians: Status, Assessment and Supplementation” View Source , and you’re not getting enough B12 from food, a vitamin supplement could bridge the gap. 

The Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic “Supplements: Nutrition in a pill?” View Source lists a few more reasons it may be beneficial for someone to take a vitamin supplement. This includes being over the age of 50, eating a diet that doesn’t include fruits and vegetables, and having a surgery or medical condition (like chronic diarrhea or liver disease) that makes it difficult for your body to absorb nutrients. In these cases, a vitamin supplement may be a worthwhile addition to your regimen. No matter what, be sure to check with your doctor before starting any supplement. 

While vitamin supplements can help fill nutritional gaps, they aren’t necessarily magical pills for your health. So far, multivitamin supplements have not been proven to reduce the risk NIH—Office of Dietary Supplements “Multivitamin/mineral Supplements” View Source of heart problems, cancers, osteoporosis, lung conditions, or mental health disorders. And no, they won’t help you live longer either. 

In some cases, taking certain vitamin supplements may even be harmful, especially at high doses. Taking Vitamin E pills, for example, could increase the risk of prostate cancer Mayo Clinic “Vitamin E” View Source , according to the Mayo Clinic. High doses of iron or vitamin A can lead to liver damage, according to the NIH NIH—Office of Dietary Supplements “Dietary Supplements: What You Need to Know” View Source . 

With all that said, a typical multivitamin supplement probably won’t cause health problems in most people, the NIH NIH—Office of Dietary Supplements “Multivitamin/mineral Supplements” View Source notes. It just might not do much for you, either. 

Are Personalized Vitamin Subscriptions Worth It?

If you eat a well-balanced, nutrient-dense diet, you may already be giving your body everything it needs to stay healthy. But that’s easy to think about, and can be a little harder to actually do. Taking a daily multivitamin can give you peace of mind that you’re getting all the recommended minerals and nutrients, no matter what life throws your way. 

Personalized vitamins come with a few added advantages that can make the cost—which is heftier than most multivitamin jars you’d find in the drugstore—worth it for some folks. They typically come as a monthly subscription divided into daily doses. That could make you less likely to forget to take them every day and eliminate annoying trips to the drugstore to stock up when you’re low on pills.

Personalized vitamin companies use an assessment to help pinpoint exactly what could help you hit your health goals—nothing more, nothing less (that’s the idea, anyway). If the quiz thinks you’re already getting enough omega-3s from the fish you eat throughout the week, it shouldn’t include an unnecessary omega-3 supplement in your vitamin pack. These services sometimes also suggest alternative supplements that aren’t usually found in conventional multivitamins. It’s worth noting that the research on potential health benefits from alternative supplements is often inconclusive, though, so you may or may not get the results you’re hoping for if you choose to take them.

Still, an online quiz might not be the best way to get recommendations on which vitamins and supplements you should take. You may already be getting all the nutrients you need from the foods you eat. If you do have some gaps in your diet, getting a blood test and reviewing the results with your doctor could be a much more accurate way to figure out which vitamins you should take, if any. Then, you could use a personalized vitamin service to get a monthly supply of whatever your doctor recommends, and ignore the results of the online assessment entirely.

But if that’s not an option, you like the idea of having personalized packs of pills delivered to your door every month, and you’re not concerned about potentially taking a supplement you might not actually need, then a personalized vitamin subscription could be a fit for you. We still recommend talking to a doctor before adding any vitamin or supplement to your regimen, just to make sure it’s safe. 

How We Got Here

Meet Your Guinea Pig

I’m Joni Sweet. I’ve been covering health and wellness as a writer and editor for major publications for more than 10 years. My work is in SELF, Health, Prevention, Forbes, Healthline, mindbodygreen, Greatist, and dozens of other publications. I’m a big fan of debunking health myths and teaching people about research-backed ways to feel their best and live well. I first reported on the shady side of the supplements industry in 2018 and I’ve been keeping a close eye on this industry ever since. I also know how tricky it is to find a supplement that aligns with your values, and how scary it can be to be told you’re deficient in a vitamin. For me, it was a lack of B12, due to my long-time vegetarian diet. 

Our Testing Process

I looked at eight potential candidates for testing, based on those that have earned high scores in other reviews and popular options on social media. I then eliminated options that didn’t make sense to test (some required a blood sample, which wasn’t something I was willing to do) and others had product selections that felt too limited. That left us with Care/of, Nurish by Nature Made, and Persona. I added Ritual to the list, too, as it is super popular and I wanted to see how it stacked up against the competition. The Nessie purchased these supplements for testing. We decided not to test personalized supplement brands that require blood tests, such as Rootine, but we plan to add them in the future.

Said testing involved taking assessments from each brand, reviewing the details of the recommendations, and ordering the products. When the vitamins showed up at my door, I counted all the pills to make sure I received the correct quantities. I evaluated the quality of the products (Were the bag perforations crisp? Did each one feel personalized?). I also went into my accounts and canceled all subscriptions to see whether that was a smooth process. Much to my surprise, all brands made it easy to cancel my subscriptions in just a few clicks—no phone calls with pushy customer retention agents required.

Finally, I took a close look at the history of each brand. I wanted to see how much transparency they offer customers about their manufacturing, the research they use to develop their products and make recommendations, and whether they have good quality controls in place (getting a USP verification seal, or a similar certification, is an important factor for me in all supplements I recommend).

For more information on how we found the best personalized supplements, read the test notes.

The Buying Guide Section

What qualities should you look for in a vitamin or supplement? 

We have a detailed buying guide to vitamins and supplements in our hyaluronic acid supplements review. Definitely check it out before making a purchase. But for now, here are a few things to consider:

• Third-party certifications: Here’s a not-so-fun fact: The FDA doesn’t regulate vitamins and supplements as tightly as it does medications. Manufacturers are largely responsible for making sure their products are safe and that their labels accurately reflect what’s inside their pills. This system is far from foolproof, as there have been many cases JAMA Network “Unapproved Pharmaceutical Ingredients Included in Dietary Supplements Associated With US Food and Drug Administration Warnings” View Source in which unapproved and unlabeled ingredients have made their way into dietary supplements. Checking if a product has earned a certification seal from a third-party organization (like ConsumerLab.com, NSF International, or USP—all recommended by the NIH’s Office of Dietary Supplements NIH—Office of Dietary Supplements “Dietary Supplements: What You Need to Know” View Source ) can make you feel more confident about the dosage and ingredients. 
• Brand trustworthiness: You can vet whether a supplements business is trustworthy by how long the it has been operating, whether it’s recommended by experts, and the degree of transparency the company offers about its manufacturing process.
• Complaints: Steer clear of brands that have lots of complaints on the BBB or Trustpilot. Same goes with companies that have been on the receiving end of any recent lawsuits. A quick Google search can reveal red flags. 

How do you know which vitamins you need to take?

If you’re regularly eating a well-balanced diet and you’re otherwise pretty healthy, you might not need to take vitamin supplements at all. You may already be getting everything you need to support your body.

While the assessments from personalized vitamin services can give you clues about what you might need a supplement for, seeing a doctor is the best way to know if you should be taking a supplement. They can run bloodwork to determine if you’re deficient in any specific nutrients. If you have a disease that could be impacting your body’s ability to absorb vitamins from food, your doctor can advise on whether a vitamin or supplement is right for you. And if you’re pregnant or lactating, it can be hard to get all the nutrients you need MedlinePlus “Pregnancy and Nutrition” View Source from food alone, so talk with your doctor about which vitamins and supplements you should consider adding to your regimen. 

Other Personalized Vitamin Subscriptions To Consider

Care/of scored almost as high as Persona for its in-depth assessment, huge library of research supporting its products, and well-reasoned recommendations. We also loved that this brand took a ton of steps to make sure its products have a light environmental footprint (the baggies are compostable!). But at the end of the day, it didn’t feel quite as personalized as our top pick, nor did it didn’t take into account DNA test results or all the medications a person might be on, so it fell slightly short. For reference, Care/of is owned by Bayer.

With more than 50 questions, the assessment took about 15 minutes to complete. It used my results to recommend five supplements, each of which came with an explanation for why it could be good for me as an individual. For example, it recommended that I take keratin Cleveland Clinic “Keratin” View Source because I indicated on the assessment that I was looking to improve my nail growth. The recommendations felt personalized and easy to understand. 

Care/of surpassed the competitors when it came to providing a body of research about each of its supplements. For each health claim the brand made about a particular supplement, it told me how many studies it used to draw its conclusion, the years those studies were published, and whether they were double-blind placebo-controlled trials. (These are considered the “gold standard” for medical research.) It also included references to specific studies in every page of its research library (which is a seriously robust tool worth referencing, even if you get your vitamins somewhere else!). I geeked out on all of this research and it made me feel more open to taking unconventional supplements I wouldn’t normally consider. 

The brand’s sustainability measures also earned it some kudos from me. Not only are its vitamin dispensers and shipping boxes recyclable, its baggies are made of plant-based film that can be tossed in your compost pile. 

As much as I loved some aspects of Care/of, it was lacking in a few key areas. Its products don’t have certification from a reputable third-party like USP or NSF. The brand talks a big game about how seriously it takes testing its products (three times throughout the manufacturing process!), but I couldn’t find much transparency about who specifically is behind that effort and whether they’re reputable. And the quotes and fun facts (like “Some experts believe the human eye can distinguish up to 10 million different colors.”) printed on the baggies were cute, but I would have preferred to see the names of the vitamins and supplements. Otherwise, it’s too easy to forget what I’m actually taking.

These drawbacks may be more of a concern to me than other customers, though. Care/of has earned an average of 4.6 stars from more than 2,600 reviews on Trustpilot—clearly it’s doing a lot right for its customers! If you’re looking for a personalized vitamin service that offers tons of research to support its products and you don’t mind that it’s not certified by a third party, Care/of could be a great option. 

I had high hopes for Nurish from the start. The personalized vitamin service comes from Nature Made, a supplements brand that’s been in the biz for more than 50 years. According to the company, it offers more products with the USP-verified seal than any other national vitamin brand. The brand’s trustworthiness combined with its lower cost (my 30-day supply came to just $45 at full price) nearly earned Nurish the top spot. But the dealbreaker for me was the lack of vegetarian-friendly vitamins. 

When I hit the assessment’s 10th question, it asked if I follow a specific diet. I tapped vegetarian (the eating plan I’ve followed for more than half my life) and a box popped up, indicating that I’d have to be open to non-vegetarian products in order to continue taking the assessment and get vitamin recommendations from Nurish. Meat-free diets have been on the rise for many years, and as of January 2022, an estimated 10% of American adults identified as vegan or vegetarian. To me, a brand can’t be a top personalized vitamin service if it fails to cater to this growing segment of people.

For the sake of this review, I tapped the button that said I’d be open to vitamins that don’t technically work for my diet. The remaining part of the assessment felt thorough. It asked about my pregnancy status, goals and priorities, energy levels, urinary health, and a slew of other things that could potentially be helped with vitamins and supplements. There was also a question about my favorite interests and activities (more on that in a sec). I completed the quiz in 9 minutes and Nurish served up its recommendations for five supplements right away, each with a quick blurb about what that vitamin could potentially do for my health. I placed the order using the 50%-off discount code promoted at the top of the assessment and received my 30-day supply less than a week later. 

The vitamins came in small baggies on a perforated roll nestled within a cardboard dispenser, just like those from Care/of and Persona. Each pouch was printed with my name and the quote “Pack light. And take everything in.” I think this was related to the assessment question about my interests (I mentioned I love travel, as well as a few of the other available options), but I’m honestly a bit baffled about why this was printed on all the bags. This attempt at personalization missed the mark for me.

I was also disappointed that Nurish didn’t label each bag with its contents, and that the perforations weren’t very crisp. When I tried to separate one bag from another, it sometimes tore into the next day’s supply and the pills spilled onto the floor—not ideal. Finally, Nurish’s Omega-3 pills are downright intimidating. At more than 1-inch long and nearly 1/2-inch wide, they’re by far the largest pills of this test. Just the idea of trying to swallow them triggers my gag reflex. (And Nurish recommended I take three of those pills every day—not happening!)

Nurish didn’t deliver on a few key areas I care about. However, the experience wasn’t all negative. Nurish has detailed pages about each of its products, including what they do, who they’re for, and how ingredients are sourced. Plus, a decent portion of the vitamins have that USP seal that makes me feel confident about what I’m taking. That, along with the low cost, earns Nurish big points. It’s hard to say how other customers feel about Nurish, since there’s no TrustPilot page for the brand, but I think it could be a compelling option for someone with no dietary restrictions who wants an affordable personalized vitamin subscription from one of the most trusted supplements brands. Vegans and vegetarians need not apply, though.

A Personalized Vitamin Subscription You Can Skip

It pains me to not recommend Ritual. This brand produces damn good multivitamins and offers more transparency about its ingredients and manufacturing than many of its rivals. But in terms of a personalized vitamin service, Ritual just doesn’t hold its own against the competition.

The problem is that the brand has a limited selection. You can only find 13 items on its site. It offers nine types of multivitamins catered to people based on age, gender, and whether they’re pregnant or recently had a baby. Ritual also sells plant-based protein powders for adults 18 to 49 and individuals 50 and up, along with a version formulated for pregnancy and lactation. (In this case, you should definitely consult with an OB/GYN PubMed Central “A human health risk assessment of heavy metal ingestion among consumers of protein powder supplements” View Source before trying it.) Ritual rounds out its online store with a synbiotic supplement, which is a combo of prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics for digestive support. All of these products are available a la carte, either by subscription or as one-time purchases.

The personalization service comes into play with Ritual’s bundles, which offer customers a savings of $15 when they buy a multivitamin and another one of the brand’s products. But with just six questions, the assessment it used to recommend a bundle felt woefully non-personalized. It asked my age, sex, and if I was interested in prenatal or postnatal nutrient support. This determined that I should take its Essential multivitamin for women age 18+. It also asked how often I take protein powder (um, never), then recommended I buy a bag of theirs. But other than the fact that I asked for a bundle, I’m not sure why the brand recommended the protein powder specifically for me. Total cost: $55 (although it was clear that future monthly totals would be $70 plus tax). Shipping is free for subscribers.

I loved how transparent the brand is about its ingredients, offering details about each one’s source, who supplied it, where in the world it came from, and the research that supports its role in our health. I wish every supplement company did this! Ritual’s Essential multivitamin for women 18+ has also passed the rigorous audit and testing from USP, earning big-time trust from skeptical consumers like me. The vitamins themselves were also winners. Each transparent capsule contains tiny beads suspended in oil. They’re only 3/4 of an inch long, reasonably slim, and have a refreshing minty scent, so they go down easily.

We can recommend Ritual for someone who wants a high-quality daily multivitamin that’s a little bit personalized. But if you want a pack of vitamins and supplements created just for you, you might be disappointed.