Grüns vs AG1 (2024): Which Greens Supplement Is Supreme?

Before you drop your hard-earned green on a viral greens supplements, get our take on two uber-popular products: grüns and AG1, formerly known as Athletic Greens. One is a green gummy, the other a greens powder and both are intended to be taken daily for a dose of vitamins, minerals, superfoods, and more.

I wouldn’t be doing due diligence as a registered dietitian if I didn’t remind you that even the best greens powders can’t replace eating a variety of nutritious, whole foods and plenty of fruits and veggies. A food-first approach is always going to be your best bet for getting enough micronutrients, plus health-promoting compounds, like antioxidants and gut-friendly pre- and probiotics. 

Now that we’ve gotten that disclaimer out of the way, let’s dive into a side-by-side comparison of grüns vs AG1. We’ll take a look at how these two greens supplements compare in terms of ingredients, health claims, price, taste, and quality, plus I’ll give you my two cents on how to choose between them. 

grüns Daily Holistic Nutrition Gummy

Grüns Daily Holistic Nutrition Gummy

GGR Score: 4.04

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Product Highlights

• Vegan greens gummy supplement
• Contains whole fruits and vegetables, adaptogens, herbs, antioxidants, prebiotics, super mushrooms, vitamins, and minerals
• Gluten-, nut-, and dairy-free
• Strawberry-flavored

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 30-day money-back guarantee
• Made in the United States
• No artificial colors or flavors
• Available in low-sugar and sugar-free versions
• Autoship and save 25-30%, depending on amount ordered
• No gelatin—vegan gummy using pectin

Cons

• 1 serving is 8 gummies
• Less than 1 month supply—only 28 servings per container
• The grüns website displays few, selected positive reviews
• Mixed reviews on taste and effectiveness
• Expensive at $1.95-$3.11 per serving, depending on amount purchased

Bottom Line

Grüns gummies are a vegan daily greens supplement. A packet of eight gummies is a single serving. These gummies include whole fruits and veggies, adaptogens, 20 vitamins and minerals, and other ingredients. The reviews are mixed for both flavor and effectiveness.

Athletic Greens AG1

Athletic Greens AG1

GGR Score: 4.25

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Product Highlights

• Contains 75 minerals and nutrients in one serving
• Available in travel pouches and bundle and save options
• Said to support gut health with prebiotics, probiotics, and naturally occuring enzymes
• Supports immunity with key ingredients like vitamin C and mushrooms
• Magnesium is added to boost energy
• May aid in recovery as it features superfood complex with adaptogens and antioxidants

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Backed by notable health experts
• Transparent and detailed ingredient list
• 75 vitamins and minerals

Cons

• Expensive
• Some reviewers dislike the taste

Bottom Line

If you’re looking for a greens powder with a unique blend of minerals, nutrients, power greens, enzymes, and probiotics and you're willing to spend some money, Athletic Greens may be a good choice for you.

Medical disclaimer: This article is intended for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. For health advice, contact a licensed healthcare provider. GGR also recommends choosing a product that has been third-party tested for quality.

Grüns vs AG1

Quick Look: grüns vs AG1

There’s a lot of variability in the formulation of greens supplements. A top consideration is the type and number of green ingredients and whether the product is strictly greens powders or if it contains extra, such as prebiotics, probiotics, adaptogens, and functional mushrooms. It’s also important to read the Supplement Facts panel to see how many vitamins and minerals a greens product contains and what percentage of your daily needs it supplies. 

A solid greens supplement should be convenient for your lifestyle and fit your budget. At GGR, we also prefer our supplements to come from reputable brands committed to quality assurance. That means looking for third-party tested products to ensure the ingredients listed on the label are what’s actually inside a product and that those ingredients are free from heavy metals, banned substances, and other harmful contaminants. 

For a full rundown on each of these products, be sure to read our grüns review and AG1 Athletic Greens review. In the meantime, here are some key takeaways:

Who Should Buy grüns

• Fans of gummy bears and/or gummy supplements
• People who don’t want to deal with mixing powders
• Busy individuals who need a supplement that can easily be taken on the go
• Those who prefer their supplements do not exceed the Daily Value for vitamins and minerals
• Those looking to supplement extra vitamin D, vitamin K2, iron, and/or iodine
• Anyone who could use extra fiber in their diet

Who Should Buy AG1

• Anyone who prefers powdered supplements
• Those who need extra motivation or incentive to drink more water
• Customers looking for greens with added probiotics
• Those who want more adaptogens 
• Athletes or anyone who prefers certified third-party tested products
• Individuals who like to splurge on supplements 

Key Similarities Between grüns and AG1

• Both are gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegan-friendly
• Neither contains any artificial ingredients
• Both are naturally sweetened
• Both contain proprietary blends of vegetables, fruits, grasses, herbs, superfoods, mushrooms, and adaptogens
• Both are designed to provide comprehensive nutrition and provide a long list of vitamins and minerals that rival a multivitamin
• Both contain prebiotic fiber in the form of inulin
• High price per serving
• Both offer subscribe and save discounts and money-back guarantees

Important Differences Between grüns and AG1

• Grüns are packets, called snack packs, of chewable gummies, while AG1 is a powder that has to be scooped mixed with liquid
• AG1 contains 30 servings per package, while grüns contains 28 servings per package
• Grüns contains a greater variety of greens and AG1 contains a greater variety of adaptogens 
• Unlike AG1, grüns does not contain probiotics or digestive enzymes
• AG1 is only available with stevia, while grüns offers the choice of cane sugar (low sugar) or allulose and stevia (sugar-free)
• AG1 is NSF Certified for Sport, while grüns is third-party tested but not certified
• Grüns is made in the USA and AG1 is made in New Zealand

RELATED: Green Vibrance vs Athletic Greens

Price Per Serving

Neither of these greens supplements is what we would consider an affordable or budget-friendly choice. AG1 was rated 2 out of 5 stars for price and grüns 1 out of 5 stars.

Between the two, AG1 is more expensive at $3.30 per serving, but Grüns isn’t far behind at $2.85 per serving. We should point out each bag of AG1 contains 30 servings and each package of Grüns contains 28 packs of gummies, so not quite a full month’s supply.

Both brands offer a discount if you set up a recurring subscription, bringing the price down to $2.63 per serving for AG1 and $2.11 per serving for Grüns. Even with the discount, both of these products cost more than general multivitamins and other greens powders. 

Of course, if either replaces several supplements for you, such as a multivitamin, probiotic, and mushroom formula, the higher price point may be justified.

RELATED: Greens Powder vs Multivitamins

Formulation 

As mentioned above, both products are rich in micronutrients but they differ slightly in which vitamins and minerals and the amounts they contain. Here are the key differences:

• Grüns and AG1 contain vitamins A, C, and E, as well as all 8 B-complex vitamins. Grüns also contains vitamin D and vitamin K, while these two fat-soluble vitamins are absent from the AG1 formula.
• Grüns delivers 100% of the Daily Value for all of the vitamins it contains. AG1 contains way more than the Daily Value for most vitamins, with some dosages as high as 5 to 10 times more than your daily needs. More isn’t always better in this case. Remember, you’re also getting vitamins from food, so adding AG1 to the mix can result in taking in more than your body can use at a time. Most of the high dose vitamins are water soluble¹, so they aren’t necessarily dangerous and any excess will likely be excreted in urine. 
• The mineral content in grüns is consistently dosed, with each meeting roughly 25% of your daily needs. The mineral content in AG1 is all over the place, ranging from 6 to 136% of your daily needs.
• Unlike AG1, grüns is lacking calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus. On the other hand, grüns contains iodine and iron and AG1 does not.

Both products contain nutrient-dense vegetables, fruits, and herbs. If you want a greens supplement to expose you to more, well, greens, grüns is the better choice. By our count, it contains 11 types of green veggies, grasses, and herbs versus 7 kinds in AG1. It also has more fruits considered superfoods, including acai, goji, maqui, mangosteen, and pomegranate. 

Both formulas list these plant-based ingredients under proprietary blends, so we don’t really know how much of each ingredient is present or how it compares to servings of whole fruits and veggies.

If you’re prioritizing antioxidants and adaptogens, you’ll prefer AG1’s formula. AG1 contains antioxidant rich extracts, including grape seed extract and green tea extract, as well as alpha lipoic acid, beta-glucans, and coenzyme Q10. 

AG1 also contains a greater number of adaptogenic ingredients, including ashwagandha, rhodiola, reishi, and shiitake. Grüns claims to contain super mushrooms, but the only variety we spotted on the ingredient list is shiitake. Again, the adaptogens are listed as proprietary blends, so we don’t know if they match clinically effective doses for health benefits, like improved mental focus and energy levels².

Both products contain ingredients that can benefit digestive health. Grüns contains inulin, which is a type of prebiotic fiber³ linked to regularity and enhanced nutrient absorption, and added fiber for 6 grams of fiber (21% of Daily Value) per serving. AG1 also contains inulin, plus digestive enzymes and 7.2 billion CFUs of two strains of probiotics.

Finally, AG1 and the sugar-free grüns are free from added sugar. Both are sweetened with stevia, but if you’re not a fan of the taste, grüns is also available in a low-sugar version that’s sweetened with cane sugar.

Third-Party Testing

We feel like a broken record here, but dietary supplements aren’t regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, which means there’s a lot of gray area surrounding the quality, safety, and labeling of supplement ingredients. That’s why we consider supplements that have been third-party tested by independent labs, such as NSF, USP, and Informed Choice, the gold standard. 

The good news is both grüns and AG1 undergo testing for the presence of contaminants, but there is a caveat. Grüns isn’t third-party certified by one of our preferred organizations and the brand doesn’t disclose which lab or labs do their testing, which earned them a 4-out-of-5-star rating here. 

AG1 earned a 5-star rating for third-party testing, since it is NSF Certified for Sport. This certification is extra important for athletes who undergo routine testing for drugs and banned substances.

Company Policies

Grüns offers a generous 25% discount plus free two-day shipping if you sign up for a subscription. Subscriptions ship every four weeks and can be paused or canceled at any time. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can return unopened gummy packets for a full refund if they’re not right for you. 

AG1 also offers savings if you subscribe, plus subscriptions are backed with a 90-day money-back guarantee. For a bonus, all subscriptions include a welcome kit that includes a canister, shaker, and five travel packs of greens powder. You receive either a 30-day supply of AG1 in either a pouch or 30 individual travel packs on subscription. 

RELATED: Super Greens Powder Benefits

You can also choose between a Single Subscription, in which you receive 30 servings per month, or a Double Subscription for 60 servings per month. With the Double, you’ll also score a year’s supply of their Vitamin D3+K2 drops, which happen to be the two vitamins missing from their greens powder.

We came across complaints online from customers who had trouble canceling their subscriptions to both of these products, but our testers didn’t run into any issues and gave both brands a 5-star rating for customer service.

Grüns vs AG1: Final Thoughts

Both grüns and AG1 contain vitamins, minerals, and a blend of plant-based ingredients that include veggies, fruits, and herbs. In addition, both products contain extra ingredients, such as mushrooms, adaptogens, and prebiotics. Daily greens can be used in place of a multivitamin, help you consume a greater variety of greens, and help fill in nutrient gaps in diet.

Here are some key points to help you decide between grüns and AG1:

• Grüns has a strawberry flavor and AG1 has a pineapple-vanilla flavor
• Grüns costs $0.45 less per serving, but contains only 28 servings per shipment 
• AG1 is NSF Certified for Sport, while grüns is tested but not certified by a recognized third-party organization
• Both can be purchased in individual packets, but grüns tends to be more travel-friendly since there’s no mixing or prep involved
• Grüns contains more vitamins and types of greens, but AG1 contains more ingredients overall

Grüns vs AG1: FAQs

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any diseases.

References

1. Lykstad, J., & Sharma, S. (2019). Biochemistry, water soluble vitamins. 

2. Panossian, A., & Wikman, G. (2010). Effects of Adaptogens on the Central Nervous System and the Molecular Mechanisms Associated with Their Stress-Protective Activity. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland), 3(1), 188–224. https://doi.org/10.3390/ph3010188

3. Hughes, R. L., Alvarado, D. A., Swanson, K. S., & Holscher, H. D. (2022). The Prebiotic Potential of Inulin-Type Fructans: A Systematic Review. Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.), 13(2), 492–529. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmab119

Sharon Lehman, RD

Sharon Lehman, RD is a dietitian and health and nutrition writer. She earned a Bachelors degree in Dietetics from the University of Delaware and holistic health coach certification through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She has over 10 years experience as a dietitian and 5 years experience authoring evidence-based wellness content for various publications. She also specializes in culinary nutrition, recipe development, and food photography. You can view more of her work on her blog, Heart and Stove. (heartandstove.com)

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