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Our team thoroughly researches and evaluates the recommendations we make on our site. To establish that the product manufacturers addressed safety and efficacy standards, we:- Evaluate ingredients and composition: Do they have the potential to cause harm?
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Navigating the world of CBD can be overwhelming with so many brands to choose from. Our guide to the best CBD brands helps you find quality products that may fit your budget and wellness needs. Discover top-rated options now.
There are countless CBD brands out there — and a new one seems to pop up on my Instagram feed every few weeks.
We’re all kinda spoiled for choice. And although it’s great that it’s easier to access CBD than ever before, choosing a decent brand can be overwhelming, especially when we consider how many dodgy products are out there.
To make it a little easier to choose a quality product, we’ve put together this guide to the best CBD brands. We’ve sifted through the good, the bad, and the ugly. Reputation, transparency, lab testing — we’ve considered all this and more and feel comfortable saying these CBD brands create quality products.
Let’s take a look!
- Best overall: Lazarus Naturals | Skip to review
- Best for full-spectrum products: Cornbread Hemp | Skip to review
- Best for broad-spectrum products: Joy Organics | Skip to review
- Best vegan: Aspen Green | Skip to review
- Best for product variety: CBDistillery | Skip to review
- Best mission-oriented: Charlotte’s Web | Skip to review
- Best for topicals: cbdFX | Skip to review
Overpriced CBD brands? In this economy?
Given that CBD can be quite pricy, we’ve created a key to help you determine which brands could fit into your budget.
While each brand sells multiple products that vary in price, this pricing guide reflects the average price across the brand’s products. For easy comparison, we’ve excluded the prices of bundles and nonCBD products (such as merchandise) when calculating the average price.
- $ = under $40
- $$ = $40–$90
- $$$ = over $90
Bear in mind that our pricing key does not reflect value. Some brands may be more expenny, but deliver value in line with their pricing. You can expect to pay more for more potent CBD products. Factors like added ingredients can also make a product more expensive.
Although some of these brands are a little pricier than others, we’ve only included brands that offer decent value for money.
We selected these CBD brands based on criteria we think are good indicators of safety, quality, and transparency.
As a part of our vetting process, we consider:
- the product’s composition, ingredients, and overall quality
- any third-party certifications
- the company’s reputation and business practices
- any lab test results
- marketing claims
| CBD brand | Price range | CBD types available | Organic | Third-party tested | Where it’s made |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lazarus Naturals | $$ | full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, and isolate | yes | yes | Oregon |
| Cornbread Hemp | $$ | full-spectrum | yes | yes | Kentucky |
| Joy Organics | $$ | full-spectrum, broad-spectrum | yes | yes | Oregon, Colorado, and Kentucky |
| Aspen Green | $$$ | full-spectrum | yes | yes | Colorado |
| CBDistillery | $$$ | full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, and isolate | no | yes | U.S. |
| Charlotte’s Web | $$$ | full-spectrum, broad-spectrum | yes | yes | Oregon, Colorado, and Kentucky |
| cbdFX | $$$ | full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, and isolate | no | yes | U.S. |
There are many, many CBD brands out there. And unfortunately, a lot of them are pretty unsavory. Some sell CBD products that are much weaker or stronger than they’re labeled, and others claim they sell CBD products when their products contain zero CBD whatsoever.
To avoid giving those cheeky scoundrels your hard-earned money, you can learn to look out for some CBD green flags and red flags.
Green flags:
- Third-party testing: Quality brands will have their products tested by an independent ISO 17025-compliant lab for potency, purity, and safety. These lab reports — also called Certificates of Analysis (COAs) — should be readily available to consumers, either on their website or by request.
- Source of hemp: Good hemp is the foundation of good CBD products. Brands should tell you where they get their hemp. U.S.-grown hemp tends to be high quality thanks to strict farming regulations within the states.
- Brand reputation and reviews: Positive reviews, especially on social media and independent websites, can point to a quality product. If there are negative reviews, quality brands often respond politely and with a solution.
- Transparency: Trustworthy brands should be transparent about their farming practices, extraction methods, and manufacturing processes.
- Certifications: Good CBD brands often are certified by independent regulatory bodies. It can take a lot of money and time for a brand to be certified as organic, so this isn’t a deal-breaker — but it’s reassuring to have that stamp of approval.
Now, let’s look at some red flags:
- no COAs or lab reports available to the public
- unsubstantiated health claims on the website or packaging
- receiving an FDA warning letter
- origin of their hemp not specified
- no transparency about their manufacturing processes
- no physical address or contact information
- numerous negative reviews (or no reviews)
Dodgy CBD products are a waste of time and money. Rather do a little research and make sure you’re giving your body quality stuff. (Psst, if you have no time to research quality CBD brands, our product guides cut the work out for you.)
CBD is the coconut oil of the 2020s: it has more applications than we can count. And although CBD certainly isn’t a silver bullet or a cure-all, the available scientific research already suggests it has a number of health benefits. Exciting!
The potential benefits of CBD include:
- reducing pain and inflammation
- improving mental health conditions, like substance use disorders, social anxiety disorder, and schizophrenia
- addressing sleep issues like insomnia
- supporting heart health
- improving skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis, and acne
With that said, it’s important to remember that all of the above benefits must be studied further. The only CBD-based medication approved by the FDA is Epidiolex, a prescription medication for reducing seizures in rare seizure conditions. This doesn’t mean that CBD doesn’t have other benefits, but it does mean we need more research.
For the most part, CBD is pretty safe, according to research. However, there are a few potential side effects.
The side effects of CBD can include:
- diarrhea
- weight changes
- changes in appetite
- fatigue
Also, keep in mind that we don’t yet know how CBD interacts with medications. However, it may interact with meds that come with a grapefruit warning. If you have the opportunity to chat CBD with a doctor, it’s recommended that you do so.
It’s also best to avoid CBD if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, as we don’t yet know if it’s 100% safe.
Not sure how much CBD to use? Check out our article about CBD dosage.
This question is a little debatable, but most experts agree that full-spectrum CBD is more effective.
This is because of something called the entourage effect, which is the idea that CBD is more potent in the company of the other chemicals found in hemp plants. These chemicals could be cannabinoids — like THC and CBG — as well as flavonoids and terpenes, which give hemp strains their unique fragrances.
Bear in mind that full-spectrum CBD does contain THC, the compound that’s responsible for making people feel high. Legally, CBD products can only contain tiny amounts of THC (less than 0.3%).
As such, CBD shouldn’t make you high — but if you’re avoiding intoxicating substances, or if you may be drug tested, it may be better to opt for broad-spectrum CBD.
According to Brightfield Group, a market research company, Charlotte’s Web is the largest CBD company by market share in the United States. Charlotte’s Web is our pick for the best mission-oriented CBD brand.
Technically? Maybe. Would we advise it? Nope.
Amazon allows vendors to sell hemp products but not CBD products. Although CBD is derived from hemp, not all hemp products contain CBD. For example, hemp seed oil — while it has a lot of benefits — doesn’t inherently contain CBD.
There are some vendors who try to fly under Amazon’s radar and sell CBD under the guise of “hemp oil,” but this is a dishonest business practice. Best steer clear of that!
There are dozens, if not hundreds of CBD brands in the United States alone. These brands are a cut above the rest, offering well-reviewed products that meet our standards for quality and transparency.
Whether you’re opting for tinctures, gummies, or topicals, the products from these CBD brands can be a useful addition to your wellness toolkit.
