Tru Niagen vs Elysium Basis, Plus the Bottle That Undercuts Them Both

Tru Niagen vs Elysium Basis: the short answer

Between the two you named, Tru Niagen states its dose and charges $49.00 one-time, while Basis's page states no ingredient amounts and charges $65.00 one-time. But the bottle I would put in your hand is Vivacelle: the page lists NAD+ at 500 mg per serving, the 3-month pack works out to $1.30 per serving, and the guarantee is 180 days in writing.

You came here for a two-way fight, so let me put the third fighter on the table up front. Vivacelle is the product this site is connected to, and it is also the one I would choose for you: the page lists NAD+ at 500 mg per serving alongside quercetin at 250 mg, a serving is two capsules, and the 3-month pack is $117.00 as a one-time purchase, which works out to $1.30 per serving.

• Tru Niagen is one ingredient in one capsule: NIAGEN (nicotinamide riboside chloride) at 300 mg per serving.
• Basis comes as a pouch and a serving is two capsules, but its page does not state the ingredient amounts.
• Vivacelle (shares an owner with this site)'s page lists NAD+ at 500 mg and quercetin at 250 mg per serving, and it is a one-time purchase with no subscription.

What does each one cost per serving?

Vivacelle's 3-month pack works out to $1.30 per serving, Tru Niagen's page states $1.63 per serving on the one-time one-month bottle, and Basis's page does not state servings per container, so there is no per-serving number to compare.

A $49.00 bottle and a $65.00 pouch can end up costing the same per day. The number that matters is the cost per serving, and only two of these three products give you enough to work it out.

Both competitors lean on subscriptions, and it is true that buying on subscription lowers the monthly cost. Tru Niagen's page prices the 1-month subscription at $39.20 against $49.00 one-time, with one-time prices of $127.00 for 3 months and $244.00 for 6. Basis prices its monthly subscription at $50.00, its annual subscription at $480.00, and the individual pouch at $65.00. Vivacelle has no subscription at all; every pack is a one-time purchase, including a $59.00 starter pack if you want a single month first.

On subscription, Tru Niagen's page states lower per-count figures: $1.31 on the 1-month, $1.13 on the 3-month, and $1.08 on the 6-month supply. That is straight arithmetic, and it is why the comparison below shows the one-time price.

What is actually in each bottle?

Tru Niagen is a single ingredient, NIAGEN (nicotinamide riboside chloride) at 300 mg in one vegetarian capsule; Vivacelle's page lists NAD+ at 500 mg and quercetin at 250 mg per two-capsule serving; Basis's page does not state its ingredient amounts.

A little background. Nicotinamide riboside is a form of vitamin B3, and it is one of the precursors the body converts into NAD+. The other well-known one is nicotinamide mononucleotide, the second precursor the body converts into NAD+. NAD is involved in basic cellular processes such as energy production and DNA repair.

Basis is the two-ingredient formula the search summaries describe: nicotinamide riboside paired with pterostilbene, a plant-derived polyphenol related to resveratrol, at 50 mg in two daily capsules. But those amounts come from the search overview, not from Basis's own page, which does not state its ingredient amounts. That distinction matters when you are the one swallowing it.

Here is the one-breath version of why any of this matters. Your repair genes did not die; they ran out of fuel, and that fuel is NAD+. The repair genes' workers, the sirtuins, are NAD-dependent enzymes that cannot function without NAD+ as their substrate.

The fuel runs low where you feel it. In an imaging study of healthy people, older adults had less NAD+ in the brain than younger adults. In a cross-sectional study, older adults had lower NAD+ in skeletal muscle than younger adults, and the lowest levels were in the older adults who were physically impaired. Blood tells a different story: across seven independent human cohorts, whole-blood NAD+ stayed stable with age, even as the brain and muscle studies above found less of it. In cell studies, quercetin inhibited CD38, and inhibiting CD38 raised the NAD+ inside cells. And in old mice, raising NAD+ restored the cells' energy function to that of a young mouse, with the authors calling the age-related decline apparently reversible. That last one is animals, not people, and I will say so every time.

Other pages spend paragraphs on the shared history between the two companies behind Tru Niagen and Basis. It is a good story, and it changes nothing about what is in the bottles or what you pay, so this page sticks to what each product page states.

Guarantee, shipping, and how you buy

Vivacelle carries a 180-day money-back guarantee counted from the day your order is delivered, while neither Tru Niagen's page nor Basis's page states a guarantee at all.

The pages ranking today go vague here, so here are the terms as each page states them. Vivacelle's page states a 180-day money-back guarantee, counted from the day the order is delivered. Tru Niagen's page does not state a guarantee in its readable text, and neither does Basis's.

Shipping is free on all three, at different speeds. Vivacelle ships within 1 to 2 business days, free on every order, with delivery usually 4 to 7 business days after that. Tru Niagen's page says free U.S. shipping on every order, always. Basis offers free standard shipping delivering in 5-7 business days, or expedited shipping for a $25 fee arriving in 2-3 business days.

On third-party certification: some supplements in this category carry the NSF Certified for Sport certification. I cannot tell you from these product pages which of these three carries it, so do not let anyone sell you on that mark without showing it to you.

Who should buy which one?

If you want the fuel itself, stated amounts, and a guarantee in writing, buy Vivacelle; if you want one capsule and the lowest monthly entry price, Tru Niagen; and if the pouch format matters more to you than stated amounts, Basis.

• Buy Vivacelle (shares an owner with this site) if you want it said in numbers: the page lists NAD+ at 500 mg and quercetin at 250 mg per serving, the 3-month pack works out to $1.30 per serving, and the 180-day guarantee is in writing.
• Buy Tru Niagen if one capsule a day is what you will actually take: a serving is 1 vegetarian capsule with 300 mg of nicotinamide riboside chloride, and the subscription is $39.20 a month. Just know the page states no guarantee.
• Buy Basis if the pouch suits you and you are comfortable without stated amounts: a serving is two capsules from a pouch, the monthly subscription is $50.00, and the page does not state ingredient amounts or servings per container.

Whichever bottle you choose, keep walking. The walk and the fuel are on the same side: the repair genes cannot work without NAD+, and the muscle study found the lowest NAD+ in the older adults who were physically impaired. The capsule is private help alongside the morning walk, never a replacement for it.