Capsules, Tablets, Softgels, Gummies or Sprays: How to Choose a Supplement Format

Walk through any supplement range and you will find the same nutrient sold five different ways: pressed into a tablet, packed into a capsule, suspended in a softgel, set into a gummy, or dissolved into a spray. The prices are rarely close. A vitamin D3 tablet can sit at under £4 while a spray of the same vitamin is nearer £9, and both are on the shelf for a reason.

Format is one of the few things on a supplement label that is genuinely easy to compare, provided you know which lines to read. This guide walks through the formats stocked at NE Commerce, what changes between them, and how to work out which one is the better buy for the way you actually take things.

Start on the back of the pack, not the front

Before any format comparison works, you need three numbers, and all three are on the back:

• Amount per serving — the milligrams or micrograms you get.
• How many units make a serving — this is the one people miss. A pot of 90 capsules where the serving is three capsules is a 30‑day pot, not a 90‑day one.
• Servings per container — the figure that turns a pack price into a cost per day.

Two products with identical front-of-pack strengths can differ by a factor of three once you account for units per serving. Get those three numbers first and the rest of the decision is much simpler.

The formats, one at a time

Tablets

A tablet is compressed powder, sometimes with a coating. It is usually the cheapest way to buy a given dose, and it copes well with ingredients that need a lot of physical material — which is why high-strength minerals and B vitamins so often appear as tablets. Bulk Vitamin D3 4000iu is 90 tablets at £3.99; Natures Aid Vit B Complex 100mg Time Release is 30 tablets at £10.99.

The trade-offs are size and swallowability. High-dose tablets can be large, and some carry a coating designed to break down gradually rather than all at once, which is what "time release" on the front refers to. Browse the range in Tablets.

Capsules

A capsule is a two-piece shell with powder inside. There is no taste to get past, and the shell tells you something useful about the product: gelatin shells are animal-derived, while "vcaps", "vegicaps" or HPMC on the label mean a plant-based shell. Applied Nutrition Vitamin B Complex is 90 capsules at £12.25; Essensey Vitamin B Complex is 90 capsules at £8.99.

Capsules are the single biggest format in our range, with over 1,700 lines in Capsules, largely because they suit almost any powdered ingredient without needing a coating or a flavour.

Softgels

A softgel is a single sealed shell wrapped around a liquid or an oil suspension. That makes it the standard presentation for oil-based ingredients — fish oils, vitamin D, vitamin E and coenzyme Q10 nearly always arrive this way. NOW Foods CoQ10 100mg comes as 150 softgels at £15.17; Chaos Crew Vitamin D3 + K2 is 90 softgels at £14.99.

Standard softgel shells are gelatin. If you need a plant-based option, look for "veggie softgel" or "vegan softgel" stated explicitly, as Doctor's Best does on several of its lines. See Softgels.

Gummies

Gummies are chewed rather than swallowed, and they are a confectionery product as well as a supplement, which changes what is on the ingredients list. Expect a gelling agent — gelatin in some, pectin in others, and pectin is the one to look for if you avoid animal products — plus sugars, glucose syrup or sugar alcohols, and flavourings and colours.

Because a gummy can only physically hold so much, doses per unit are usually more modest and the serving is often two or three gummies. Nutriburst Ultra‑D3 1000 IU is 60 gummies at £7.99; Applied Nutrition Creatine Gummies are 80 gummies at £18.99. One quirk worth knowing: brands describe their unit counts inconsistently, and you will occasionally see a gummy product with its count written as "softgels". Take the serving directions as the authority. The full range is in Gummies.

Sprays, drops and liquids

Liquid formats are measured in sprays or millilitres rather than units, which makes them the easiest to adjust and the hardest to compare at a glance. BetterYou D1000 Daily Vitamin D Oral Spray is 15ml at £6.99; Osavi Methyl‑B12 Oral Spray 100mcg is 25ml at £8.99; Allnutrition B‑Complex Drops is 30ml at £4.99.

To compare a spray against a capsule, find the "per spray" or "per X ml" figure and the number of doses in the bottle — both are on the label. There are close to 400 lines in Liquids & Drops.

Powders

Powders handle the doses no pill can. Anything measured in whole grams — protein, creatine, collagen, carbohydrates — is a powder first and everything else second, because a 5g dose would take a great many capsules. They need a scoop, a shaker and somewhere to mix. See Powders.

The four things that actually differ

Strip away the packaging and the differences between formats come down to four practical points.

1. How much fits in one unit. Tablets and powders carry the largest doses; gummies the smallest. That is a physical constraint, not a marketing decision.
2. What is carried alongside it. A capsule is largely the ingredient and a shell. A gummy brings sugars or sugar alcohols, gelling agents, flavours and colours. Neither is a problem in itself, but if you are watching the sugar line, it belongs in the comparison.
3. Diet suitability. Gelatin appears in standard capsule shells, softgel shells and many gummies. Plant-based alternatives exist across all three — HPMC capsules, veggie softgels, pectin gummies — but they are stated on the label rather than assumed. If it matters to you, our Vegan and Vegetarian ranges filter for it.
4. Cost per day. The only number that lets you compare a £4 tablet pot with a £9 spray.

Working out cost per day

The sum is simple and it changes decisions more often than you would expect:

pack price ÷ (units in pack ÷ units per serving) = cost per day

A 90‑capsule pot at £12.25 taken one a day is roughly 14p a day. The same pot at three capsules a day is 41p. A 250‑tablet tub at £14.77 taken once daily is under 6p. Run that sum on the two or three products on your shortlist before you look at anything else on the page, and the shortlist usually sorts itself out.

One more habit worth building: check whether the ingredient already appears in something else you take. Multivitamins, combination products and "complex" formulas overlap constantly, and the easiest saving in the whole category is not buying the same thing twice.

So which format should you buy?

There is no format that is right for everyone, and the honest answer is that the best one is the one you will actually take at the same time each day. Tablets and capsules give you the most dose for the money. Softgels are how oil-based ingredients are usually presented. Gummies and sprays are chosen by people who would rather not swallow a pill, and they cost more per dose for that. Powders exist because some doses are simply too big for anything else.

Compare like with like, read the serving directions rather than the front of the pack, and do the cost-per-day sum.

Shop at NE Commerce

Every format above sits inside the wider Vitamins & Health range, so you can compare the same nutrient across tablets, capsules, softgels, gummies and sprays side by side. UK delivery is a flat £5 and free over £120, with tracked dispatch Monday to Friday.

A quick note

This article is general information, not medical or nutritional advice. Food supplements are not a substitute for a varied, balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle, and should not be used to prevent or treat any illness. Always read the product label, do your own research, and speak to a qualified doctor, pharmacist or registered nutritionist before starting a new supplement — especially if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18, taking medication or managing a health condition.