Tongkat ali is an herbal extract that’s one of the hottest testosterone and male health supplements out there. Also known as longjack, tongkat ali is sourced from the eurycoma longifolia plant, a tall shrub that’s native to Southeast Asia.
Tongkat ali has long been used as an herbal remedy to give men more energy, improve sexual performance, and increase strength.
New scientific research on tongkat ali supplementation is giving more men a reason to look to tongkat ali for boosting testosterone and gaining the benefits that come alongside: stronger muscles, lower body fat, improved erectile function, more energy, and elevated mood.
Looking to add tongkat ali to your supplementation routine? Our research team has reviewed the top of the line tongkat ali supplements, plus dug into the latest scientific research on how you can use tongkat ali to increase testosterone, improve sports performance, boost your sexual wellness, and more. Read on for our findings.
Research
Rankings
Last updated: February 8, 2023
Tongkat ali supplements considered: 24
Hours of research: 26
Experts reviewed: 8
Scientific papers referenced: 15
1. Slim Sciences Tongkat Ali Advanced+
Slim Science’s new tongkat ali line packs a punch by focusing on the main bioactive in tongkat ali, which is called “eurycomanone”.
The result is a tongkat ali supplement that delivers on what it promises: More testosterone, stronger libidio, and better performance. This is the best quality stuff out there, making it our #1 recommendation.
2. Naturebell Tongkat Ali
Naturebell is solid with a high dose (500 mg per capsule), a standardized extract concentration (a potent 200:1 ratio), and clean, simple supplement design with third-party testing for purity.
3. Earth Elixir Tongkat Ali & Fadogia Agrestis
Earth Elixir combines tongkat ali with fadogia agrestis, an herbal extract that has an emerging following for its potential to boost testosterone alongside tongkat ali.
We like that it combines both of these supplements using sources with standardized extraction ratios (10:1 for fadogia agrestis and 100:1 for tongkat ali), and the dosage of both is solid: 300 mg of fadogia per capsule and 250 mg of tongkat ali.
With a clean supplement and capsule design, it’s an easy pick for our top three.
4. VH Nutrition Tongkat Ali
VH Nutrition is the purest tongkat ali supplement out there: aside from tongkat ali extract, the only other ingredient is the gelatin used to make the capsule.
If purity is super important to you, this is a great pick. The only downside? The dosage of 600 mg per capsule isn’t quite as good as it seems: this is only a 100:1 ratio extract, so it’s equivalent to 300 mg per capsule of the higher 200:1 ratio seen in other competitors.
Still, a 300 mg equivalent dosage of tongkat ali is more than sufficient for many people, which is why this supplement ends up very high in our rankings.
5. Peak Performance Tongkat Ali
Peak Performance is our pick if you want a tongkat ali supplement that also supplies tribulus terrestris. It’s got a potent dosage of both, and is packaged in ultra-simple capsules.
While the tongkat ali / tribulus terrestris combo isn’t for everyone (these supplements haven’t been tested together in high-quality research studies), if you want both, Peak Performance is a great option.
6. Double Wood Supplements Tongkat Ali
Double Wood Supplements makes a focused tongkat ali supplement that combines 500 mg per capsule of tongkat ali with 10 mg of tribulus terrestris, another well-studied testosterone booster.
If you’re looking for a solid combo of both of these herbal extracts, it’s a good choice–the tongkat ali is standardized at a 200:1 ratio, and there aren’t any extraneous binders or stabilizers in the capsules.
7. Dorado Nutrition Fadogia Agrestis with Tongkat Ali
Dorado Nutrition is a great pick for people who want to be on the cutting edge of supplement science for male hormone optimization.
It combines 200 mg of tongkat ali with 300 mg of fadogia agrestis for a dual-action testosterone boosting effect.
As with some of the other mid-range competition, this supplement misses out on being higher up in the rankings by not having a standardized extract ratio of its tongkat ali. On the plus side, the capsule design is pretty clean.
8. Micro Ingredients Tongkat Ali
Micro Ingredients specializes in highly purified powder-form supplements, and that’s exactly what their tongkat ali delivers. Extracted at a 200:1 and devoid of any extraneous ingredients, it’s great for bulk users mixing up their own custom testosterone booster.
However, it’s not great for the average user who doesn’t have a micro-scale for precise measurements of dosage, which is why it isn’t higher in our rankings.
9. Evlution Tongkat Ali Complex
Evlution combines 400 mg of tongkat ali per capsule with 100 mg of tribulus terrestris, another solid testosterone booster.
The main downsides of this supplement are the fact that the tongkat ali is only extracted at a 100:1 ratio, versus the 200:1 seen in some of its competitors, and the presence of a few extra binders and stabilizers that we’d prefer to be left out.
10. Deal Supplements Tongkat Ali
Deal Supplements is one of the highest effective dose supplements out there, which makes it a good pick for people who need highly concentrated tongkat ali to achieve their goals. At a 300:1 extraction ratio and 500 mg per serving, it packs a serious punch.
It also comes with 100 mg of horny goat weed extract, which is another popular testosterone booster. The presence of this additional herbal extract might be a plus or a minus, depending on your supplementation strategy.
11. Solaray Tongkat Ali
Solaray makes a seemingly-standard tongkat ali supplement that provides 400 mg per capsule.
However, its eurycoma longifolia extract is not standardized to a specified concentration, so you can’t be certain that one capsule from one batch is comparable to one capsule from another batch. For that reason, it ends up lower down in our rankings, despite the pretty solid capsule design.
Category winners
Best tongkat ali overall: Slim Sciences Tongkat Ali Advanced+
Naturebell takes our top spot thanks to its high dosage, carefully-calibrated extract concentration, and clean capsule design. It’s an incredibly versatile supplement that’s equally well-suited for boosting testosterone, elevating mood, and improving sexual performance.
Best tongkat ali for men over 40: Naturebell Tongkat Ali
Naturebell’s potent formulation, delivering 250 mg of 200:1 tongkat ali, is great for men over 40 looking to restore their testosterone to healthy levels. It doesn’t have any extraneous ingredients, so it combines well with other supplements that might be in your stack, too.
Best tongkat ali for sexual wellness and erectile function: VH Nutrition Tongkat Ali
VH Nutrition is the tongkat ali supplement that’s closest to the formulations used in scientific research to treat erectile dysfunction and improve sexual performance.
Both in terms of dosage and purity, it is a great option for improving erection strength and boosting vigor and stamina.
Best tongkat ali for athletes: Earth Elixir Tongkat Ali & Fadogia Agrestis
For athletes looking for the cutting edge of supplement science, Earth Elixir’s tongkat ali/fadogia agrestis combo is an excellent choice. Though it’s still early-stage research, some evidence suggests that these two supplements in combination can augment testosterone beyond what you’d get with either ingredient individually.
Best tongkat ali for boosting testosterone: Naturebell Tongkat Ali
Since boosting testosterone levels is one of the main applications of tongkat ali, it should come as no surprise that our top pick overall is also our recommendation for men who want higher testosterone levels.
The powerful dosage and clean formulation make it easy to follow the best scientific protocols for supplementing with tongkat ali for higher testosterone.
Best tongkat ali with fadogia agrestis: Earth Elixir Tongkat Ali & Fadogia Agrestis
If you want to try a more sophisticated combined-action supplementation strategy, Earth Elixir is your best bet.
It combines controlled-concentration extracts of both tongkat ali and fadogia agrestis, both at effective doses, with the aim of pushing testosterone levels up higher than you’d get with either supplement alone.
How we ranked
To formulate our tongkat ali rankings, we first did a large-scale evaluation of all the tongkat ali supplements on the market. Then we narrowed the field with the following criteria:
Hyper-focused on tongkat ali. We only considered products that included tongkat ali as a core ingredient. Since it’s become so popular, you’ll often see tongkat ali included as a secondary or afterthought ingredient in many supplements for men. The problem with this strategy is that you often don’t get a solid dosage of tongkat ali, and it can be hard to tell which of the potentially dozens of ingredients are beneficial.
As a result, we required all products that made it into our rankings to have tongkat ali as one of their primary ingredients.
Sometimes, this meant tongkat ali was the only ingredient as in Naturebell Tongkat Ali, but we allowed supplements from companies like Earth Elixir, which feature tongkat ali alongside complementary compounds like fadogia agrestis, which might help enhance the testosterone-boosting effects of tongkat ali’s active ingredients.
Scientifically-based dosage. There’s a plethora of research on using tongkat ali to target higher testosterone levels, improve athletic performance, boost mood, and augment sexual wellness.
We used guidelines from the latest scientific studies to target only supplements that enabled a 200-600 mg daily dosage of tongkat ali. That’s in line with what’s been used in successful human studies (1).
Calibrated eurypeptide content. Like many herbal extracts, the exact concentration of the active ingredients in tongkat ali can vary from plant to plant.
For this reason, we gave higher ratings to supplements that provided tongkat ali in a standardized concentration (for example, 200:1 extract) that standardizes the eurypeptide content of the supplement.
Clean supplement design. One of our core principles for supplements is that they should not be bloated with fillers, binders, stabilizers, artificial colors, or other unnecessary ingredients. Our top-rated tongkat ali supplements included only the essentials–no filler or fluff.
After applying all of these criteria and ranking by overall score, we had our final rankings of the ten best tongkat ali products on the market.
Who should buy tongkat ali?
Tongkat ali is a supplement that’s best-suited for men who are looking to either boost their testosterone, or garner the physical, mental, and sexual benefits that come along as a result of higher testosterone. Men in these categories include:
Men who want higher testosterone. This one’s a no-brainer. Tongkat ali is an excellent option if you’re looking for an all-natural testosterone booster with a solid amount of research behind it.
One study from 2021 identified tongkat ali as one of the most promising natural supplements for boosting testosterone in a review of over a dozen different candidates (2).
Men who want to increase lean muscle mass and shed body fat. Body composition is one of the core mechanisms that testosterone acts on, and tongkat ali has been studied in great detail for this application.
One study showed that men who were overweight lost a significant amount of fat when treated with 300 mg of tongkat ali per day (3), and other research has found that tongkat ali can also increase muscle strength (4). Tongkat ali is great either on its own or as part of a combined-action supplement stack for muscle gains.
Men who want to elevate their mood and reduce stress. Elevating mood is one of the traditional herbal uses of tongkat ali, and new research suggests it can reduce negative emotions and improve levels of cortisol, as well as boosting testosterone (5).
So, don’t think that tongkat ali is just a supplement for the body–it’s got powerful effects on the mind, too.
Men looking to improve erectile function and boost sexual performance. Among testosterone boosters, tongkat ali has a considerably higher than average number of studies that have investigated its impact on sexual health and sexual performance.
One review study noted seven different research papers that found a positive impact of tongkat ali on erectile function, erection strength, and sexual satisfaction in men (6).
Another study found significant improvements in testosterone and in erectile function in men who combined tongkat ali with regular exercise training sessions for six months (7).
FAQ
Q: Is tongkat ali bad for your liver?
A: So far, research suggests that tongkat ali is pretty safe for your liver. One 2014 study investigated the effects of 400 mg of tongkat ali per day on testosterone levels in recreational athletes (8).
Though this six-week study didn’t find an effect on testosterone, it also found no change in any markers of liver function or kidney function.
Another scientific review noted that a pretty high dose of 600 mg per day for two months resulted in no negative effects on blood markers of liver or kidney function either (9).
Q: What kind of tongkat ali does Andrew Huberman recommend?
A: Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman is one of the leading proponents of taking tongkat ali for augmenting testosterone levels.
As of 2023, he takes 400 mg of tongkat ali daily, sometimes alongside 600mg of fadogia agrestis. He has not endorsed any specific brand, though his combination is very similar to the ratios provided by Dorado Nutrition Fadogia Agrestis with Tongkat Ali and Earth Elixir Tongkat Ali & Fadogia Agrestis, which are among our top-ranked products.
Dr. Huberman’s routine is very much in line with what our research team found is the most effective dosage based on the scientific literature.
Q: Should you take tongkat ali before bed?
A: So far, research is unclear on the optimal timing of tongkat ali. What is known is that it’s only necessary to take it once per day (unlike some other rapidly-eliminated supplements that need to be taken multiple times a day). Tongkat ali has no stimulant effects, so there’s no harm in taking it right before bed.
Q: Should you take tongkat ali with fadogia agrestis?
A: Fadogia agrestis is one of the most common complementary herbal treatments to combine with tongkat ali, since both target sexual and testicular function.
Tongkat ali does have stronger evidence in support of it, though–thus far, the research on fadogia agrestis is at an earlier stage.
There are several positive studies in rats on fadogia agrestis, but fewer on the use of fadogia agrestis to boost testosterone or erectile function in humans.
Nevertheless, it’s a popular combo both for sexual performance and athletic performance. Just know that it’s a bit more on the experimental side as a combination (though certainly a promising one)
Q: How long does it take for tongkat ali to start working?
A: You should give a tongkat ali supplement at least six weeks to start working. That’s about the minimum duration that’s been used in scientific research.
If possible, you should aim to wait more like two to three months to see if you are getting the results you want from tongkat ali, since the more successful studies have been longer in duration (some have even lasted for six months!).
Q: What size of muscle increase can you get from tongkat ali?
A: The only study that successfully used tongkat ali to increase muscle strength and size found a 7% increase in muscle strength (as measured by bicep curl one rep max) over the course of five weeks, and a 5.8% increase in bicep size (10).
However, this was a small study of 14 athletes, and it only used a 100 mg dosage of tongkat ali for a relatively short duration, so it’s possible that better results can come from longer duration use or higher doses.
Q: Can tongkat ali help you lose weight?
A: Tongkat ali’s testosterone-boosting potential stands a good chance of helping you shed weight. One study found a significant decrease in body fat after five weeks of tongkat ali supplementation in athletes (11), and a scientific review specifically noted that tongkat ali’s ability to restore normal testosterone levels could make it particularly beneficial for men who are looking to shed excess body fat (12).
Q: Is tongkat ali useful for older men?
A: Older men often struggle with decreases in testosterone levels as they age. Fortunately, tongkat ali has been specifically studied for this application.
A six-month study of men over 40 showed that tongkat ali, in combination with regular exercise training, was able to boost total testosterone levels and improve sexual performance, indicating that tongkat ali shows great promise for older men (13).
Q: How do you enhance the benefits of tongkat ali?
A: Research so far suggests there are two ways you can enhance the benefits of tongkat ali. First, you can combine it with exercise, which has been shown in scientific research to augment the testosterone boost you get from tongkat ali (14).
That makes sense, given that exercise on its own is known to boost testosterone levels. Second, though it’s more of an experimental combination, you can combine tongkat ali with fadogia agrestis, another herbal extract that may enhance testosterone levels through a different mechanism (15).
This second method is mostly justified by animal studies; there aren’t as many studies in humans with this supplement as with tongkat ali (and there are no direct studies of the tongkat ali/fadogia agrestis combination in humans).
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Recap
Tongkat ali is one of the most promising herbal supplements for naturally boosting testosterone and improving men’s sexual function and sexual performance.
At doses of 100-600 mg per day, it’s been shown to increase strength, decrease body fat, boost testosterone, elevate mood, and improve erectile function.
Tongkat ali works especially well when combined with a comprehensive exercise program designed to elevate testosterone levels.
For BodyNutrition‘s #1 tongkat ali recommendation, click here.
