Every skincare active, ranked by the price of what actually works
The working ingredient in a serum is a commodity. We took every product that discloses its
active concentration, computed the price per gram of that active, and ranked them. Below: the cheapest
effective dose of 20 actives across 111 disclosed-percentage products — and how
far the price of the same molecule stretches.
Widest gap: Tocopherol (Vitamin E) ranges from $2.09 to
$237.20 per gram of active — a 114× spread
for the same disclosed ingredient.
$ / g of active is the product's price divided by the grams of the disclosed active
in the bottle (concentration × volume). It is the only honest way to compare a $7 serum and a $70
one: the marketing, the bottle, and the supporting cast differ, but a gram of niacinamide is a gram
of niacinamide.
We include only products that publish their active concentration. Formulas that hide
the number can't be ranked honestly — which is the entire point of this site (see which brands publish
and which don't in The Disclosure Scorecard, or paste a label into
the INCI Decoder to spot the actives in any product). Percentages are
manufacturer-disclosed; prices are the verified retail price at last check and move over time. Each
active links to its full dossier, where every ranked product, the
effective-concentration evidence, and where to buy it live.