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Need to wake up? Need to wind down? Kratom’s got you covered — in either case.

It may sound too good to be true, but this supplement truly is one of the most versatile on the natural market thanks to its ability to render uplifting and relaxing effects, depending on how much is taken.

But in an under-regulated market, looking for the best kratom capsules or high quality kratom powder options can be a tricky task. And misleading advertising can make it easy to take a wrong step — which is why we’ve stepped in.

Best Kratom Capsules in 2023

The market for most natural supplements can be confusing.

Misleading information and perplexing research can align to make the experience of looking into any new supplement frustrating. And with so few sources of authority to turn to for help, separating the true quality from the snake oil, or even well-intentioned but poorly-made stuff, can be a tough task.

That’s why we’ve put our expertise to work, sorting through the science, sourcing and other essential factors to come up with the list of best kratom capsules for 2023.

Keep reading to find out more about the best kratom brands and their potential benefits, plus how we put this list together, where to buy kratom online and what it was about these particular products that we liked so much.

Overall Best Kratom Capsules: Super Speciosa White Maeng Da Kratom Capsules

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Super Speciosa

Pros:

  • Increases your energy
  • Third-party lab tested
  • Various sizes available

Specs:

  • Strength: 600 mg/capsule
  • Serving: 4 capsules
  • Recommended Use: Take in the morning for focus and energy throughout the day

In terms of creating a premium kratom capsule, Super Speciosa hits all the marks.

The company not only safely and ethically sources their kratom, they also make sure to have each batch tested by a third-party lab for quality and safety. This way you always know your kratom is safe from any harmful impurities. Additionally, Super Speciosa provides you with unique lab reports so you can also see the exact alkaloid (kratom’s active ingredient) included in each bottle. You also know exactly what you are getting with Super Speciosa, making them one of the most trusted and transparent brands in the industry.

Super Speciosa is also serious about its processing, only working with Good Manufacturing Practices-certified facilities, which is a rarity in the kratom market.

Plus, as one of the original purveyors of kratom in the United States, the brand has had the time, experience and longevity to truly understand what they’re selling, and how to ensure their product is top-notch.

What Customers Love: Customers are particularly appreciative of the potency of these kratom capsules. Formulated for the pick-me-up energizing effects the plant can have, most customers enjoyed using this capsule in the morning.

Best Gold Kratom Capsules: Kingdom Kratom Gold Bali Kratom Capsules

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Kingdom Kratom

Pros:

  • Produced from organically-grown kratom
  • Third-party lab tested
  • Ethically sourced from local Southeast Asian farms

Specs:

  • Strength: Roughly 550 mg/capsule
  • Serving: 1-2 capsules
  • Recommended Use: Use for pain or energy boosting as-needed

Much as the metal with which it shares its name, gold kratom is something of a rarity. The variety can’t be harvested directly, but instead must be specifically processed, with Red Vein Bali leaves dried in a specific manner that lends the final product its namesake color.

Still, all this extra work goes a long way. The final product is something of a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to the benefits kratom has to offer, bringing to the table the energetic pick-me-ups of many strains, but also leaving some lingering pain-killing and anxiety-relieving effects.

Some users of this strain also say it brings on a sense of euphoria — which can be enjoyed even more fully knowing the product is ethically sourced and thoroughly vetted for safety before being sold.

What Customers Love: Customers were grateful for this truly versatile kratom capsule, saying it helped with all manner of ills, from achy muscles to morning drowsiness. Still, many noted it took a bit of trial and error before they got the dosage just right to produce the effect they were looking for.

Best Red Kratom Capsules: Top Extracts Red Dragon Kratom Capsules

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Top Extracts

Pros:

  • Indonesian Fair-Trade certified
  • Good Manufacturing Practices-certified
  • Third-party lab tested

Specs:

  • Strength: 600 mg/capsule
  • Serving: 1-2 capsules
  • Recommended Use: Take as-needed for energy or relaxation

When it comes to red kratom, once again, the variety gets its name from an unsurprising source. The kratom powder inside these capsules is a deep red hue, product of the extra-long drying and fermenting process the leaves go through.

But all that extra time leads to additional benefits. Red vein kratom strains are known to be one of the most relaxing types of kratom, specifically sought out for the plant’s well-known calming effects.

Still, clever Top Extracts has formulated these pills to make them particularly versatile: Taking 1–2 results in an amount that can bring on the energetic properties of kratom, while taking more of the supplement will yield the desired relaxing effect.

Plus, the reputable company has all of their products third-party tested for quality and safety before mixing their ingredients into their final form.

What Customers Love: Customers were stoked with the overall effects of this mix, whether they were looking for more energy from their kratom or a deep form of relief. Users on both sides of the spectrum agreed that this product gave them exactly what they were looking for.

Best Green Kratom Capsules: Just Kratom Green Malay Kratom Capsules

kratom-capsules-just-kratom
Just Kratom

Pros:

  • Third-party lab tested
  • Variety of sizes available
  • Versatile (Can be used both for energy or relaxation)

Specs:

  • Strength: 500 mg/capsule
  • Serving: 1-3 capsules
  • Recommended Use: Take 1 capsule for energy; 2 for relaxation; 3 to bring on sleep

If you’re looking for a premium kratom capsule, this product will have you seeing green.

Just Kratom’s green malay capsules are made from leaves of the same variety, which come with a number of their own benefits. Green malay is not only known as one of the most effective strains of kratom, it’s also one of the longest lasting, with this kratom powder staying in the system much longer than others.

Green malay also sits in a great sweet spot, where it can hit both sides of the kratom effect spectrum. Taking smaller doses will bring on a peppy dose of energy — one of the strongest in the kratom world — while higher doses are still able to help combat anxiety and encourage an overall feeling of wellness.

What Customers Love: Users were grateful for all the variety Just Kratom put on offer, with their kratom capsules not only able to swing toward both energy and alleviation, but coming in a wide variety of sizes, making the purchase suitable for everyone from curious beginners to long-time pros.

Best Kratom Capsules for Beginners: MIT45 White Vein Capsules

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MIT45

Pros:

  • The least potent kratom strain
  • Good Manufacturing Practices-certified
  • Various sizes available

Specs:

  • Strength: 500 mg/capsule
  • Serving: 2-4 capsules
  • Recommended Use: Take in the morning for optimum use

If you’re looking to dip your toe into the kratom waters, but aren’t sure where to start, these capsules offer a great launching point.
MIT 45 has formulated its White Vein Capsules with newcomers in mind, concocting a gentler mix that doesn’t hit with quite as much punch as many other kratom products on the market.

Still, the pills offer all the same benefits kratom has come to be known for, including increased energy and focus. (It would require many capsules at this strength to achieve the painkilling effects associated with the plant.)

And the company is just as safe as the other top brands on the market, having its product processed according to GMP standards and getting the final turnout tested by a third-party lab before shipping it off to consumers.

What Customers Love: Many users were previous skeptics of kratom, reporting trepidation over starting the regiment. They were grateful for a product that allowed them to softly enter the practice, and experience the benefits for themselves before making up their minds.

How We Chose Our Winners

Like all natural supplements, kratom products are not under the purview of the Food and Drug Administration, or any federal regulatory agencies. And while that may free up some opportunities for merchants, it can make the market especially murky for would-be buyers.

So we’ve put our own knowledge to use, reading through fine print and looking through backgrounds to ensure each product — and brand — we endorse is committed to doing the right thing, even when the government isn’t double-checking them.

Quality Sourcing and Processing

When conjuring the image of a safe and trustworthy supplement, many people focus on the finished product. But there are so many steps that happen before these capsules hit the digital shelves that make a huge difference in desirability.

Where kratom comes from is chief among these concerns. The capsules all start as plants, after all, and there are a ton of less-than-reputable farming operations out there who use nasty or noxious chemicals to get more out of their plants—at the cost of their safety. That’s why we love when a company makes a point to work with farmers who utilize organic or all-natural growing practices.

But harvesting the crop is only the first step. How raw kratom gets processed is equally as impactful, which is why we prioritize brands that incorporate Good Manufacturing Practices or meet other similarly trustworthy benchmarks.

Safety

In the scientific world, the concept of redundancy is huge. Roughly, it means while results from one study are good, results from several studies are better – and the more something is tested, the more trustworthy the results become.

The same general idea can apply to the free market.

Safety tests on kratom and most other natural supplements are completely voluntary at this point. But some companies will go out of their way to ensure their products are put to the test, to ensure overall quality.

Participating in this practice at all is a great sign of good faith in a company; posting the results online is even better. And getting the diagnostics run by a third-party laboratory helps ensure the process is as honest and transparent as possible.

Efficiency

Let’s face it: Natural supplements can be costly. And by and large, people aren’t thrilled with the idea of spending money on something that doesn’t work. That’s why we make sure to take efficiency into account when considering the best kratom capsules.

Efficiency can be notoriously difficult to track. Not only is every product different, but so too is each person taking them, and those individual physiologies have a deep impact on how these products ultimately work.

But we try our best to get to the bottom of things, by examining any testing results, reading through ingredients lists and checking them against current science, and even scanning through comment sections, to get a feel for how customers experienced the product in general.

Ingredient Integrity

When you’re researching where to purchase kratom, making sure when you’re buying is top quality is crucial. Ingredient quality is important to many people who turn to natural supplements — or else, why bother looking into more natural and gentler options?

While we zero in on how the kratom in premium kratom capsules is cultivated, we don’t skip past anything else on the ingredients list, ensuring everything going into the final product is equally up to par.

What is Kratom?

Kratom is a newer entrant in the overcrowded — and growing — field of all-natural health supplements. But while many in the Western world are still learning about the ingredient now that there are booming online kratom vendors, it’s been in use in other areas of the world for centuries.

Thought to originate from Southeast Asia, kratom is a relative of the coffee plant, sprouting from a type of evergreen tree that, in its Southeast Asian homeland, bears the same name.

Much like its famously-caffeinated cousin, high quality kratom can provide a solid boost of energy, and it has long been harnessed for its focusing powers in certain regions. But the plant has another effect that has kept it in a number of medicinal recipes through the centuries: A prowess for killing pain, and reducing anxiety.

When it comes to getting the desired effect out of the plant product, it’s all about ratio. Generally, smaller amounts will lead to alertness, and a higher dose will bring on more sedative effects.

Regardless, the plant is typically prepared by collecting and drying out the tree’s leaves, then crushing them into a fine powder, which can be added to capsules, mixed into foods or drinks, or taken on its own.

And while all kratom’s botanical potential is increasingly being celebrated, major government agencies, including the FDA, have yet to officially recognize the plant’s uses for pain relief or energy, so users should proceed with caution.

Benefits of Kratom

Still, natural practitioners have been utilizing kratom for many hundreds of years — and not without good reason. When taken correctly and administered in the proper dosage, the effects of kratom can be very beneficial to the user.

Most famously, kratom has been linked to an increase in energy and overall alertness. Natives would traditionally chew on kratom leaves to unlock their energizing potential or boil the leaves to make a tea, but today, all that needs to be done is simply popping a kratom capsule.

On the other side of the spectrum, quality kratom also comes in handy as a pain reliever, and even a tool for reducing anxiety or otherwise encouraging relaxation. The plant has often been used to treat everything from chronic pain, joint pain, and muscle spasms to more common issues such as headaches and stomach aches.

Some research has even suggested a link between kratom and improved gut health, claiming the stuff can help alleviate conditions like diarrhea, though more research is needed to confirm these claims.

Potential Side Effects of Using Kratom

It’s true that kratom has a number of potential benefits, but like with many natural remedies, these effects may come at a cost.

The drug can induce a number of milder effects including nausea, itching, sweating, constipation, increased urination, drowsiness or loss of appetite. But more worrisome issues such as weight loss, seizures and even hallucinations have been reported by some users, though not enough research currently exists to draw a consistent connection between these symptoms.

Perhaps the biggest side effect to take heed of is the way kratom interacts with the body, which is akin to the impact of some opioids. Some experts have issued concerns about the plant producing addictive properties, though this evidence is once again based on a small number of studies.

How to Take Kratom Safely 

Once again, it’s important to note that kratom is new to the Western world, and all aspects of this substance — including the safest ways to take it — are still being researched.

However, with kratom as with any supplement, there are a few techniques that can help keep the experience as safe as possible.
Making sure to stick to the proper dosage is key. All reputable brands should have a recommended dosage, and while it’s good to follow this advice, it’s also important to remember that it’s typically a more general suggestion.

Proper dosage can depend on a number of factors, including the quality and potency of the product, the way it’s ingested, and many details of the person’s specific physiology. With taking kratom regularly, dosage is particularly important, as taking different amounts of the substance can lead to very different effects.

For all of these reasons, it’s also typically recommended to start out slow when trying a kratom product. You may want to halve the company’s recommended dosage amount at first, just to see how your body responds. After trying with this amount a few times and developing an understanding of how it makes you feel, you can slowly start upping the dosage.

And of course, educating yourself on what you’re taking and why is always a good idea. Informative articles like this are a great place to start, but a little bit of research into a product or even a specific brand can go a long way toward creating an overall safer experience.

FAQs

Herbal supplements in general tend to generate a lot of questions from people. Here are some of the most common concerning kratom.

Is kratom the same thing as CBD?

No. The two are entirely different substances.

They do have some similarities: Both substances can be used to alleviate pain or reduce anxiety. But they come from two different plants, which originate in two different areas of the world, and work in the body in completely different ways.

Kratom comes from the kratom tree, with kratom powders and kratom capsules coming from the ground-up leaves of this tree. The supplement is known for producing both energy and more sedative effects, depending on how much is taken, and interacts directly with certain receptors in the brain.

Cannabidiol—better known as CBD—is a chemical compound of the hemp plant. It must be specifically removed from the hemp plant in the processing phase, and specifically interacts with a system found throughout the body called the endocannabinoid system, which is responsible for maintaining a sense of internal balance.

How much kratom can I take?

Kratom is a relatively new substance in the United States and research on its overall impact is nascent. Some studies indicate that daily use could lead to dependency, though the National Institute on Drug Abuse has supported further research into the plant’s medicinal potential.

It’s generally recommended to take it on an as-needed basis for pain or anxiety relief. But you should speak with your doctor before adding kratom — or any other herbal supplement — into your regular regimen.

Will kratom make me high?

Kratom is a psychoactive substance, meaning it has a direct impact on the way the brain receives and relays information. Therefore, it is possible to feel a sensation similar to getting high when taking kratom.

Generally, however, this only happens when the substance is abused, or taken in excessive quantities. Sticking to lower doses makes it much less likely to feel this effect.

For those interested in making the natural world work for them, there’s much to be appreciated from kratom. The plant product can not only help naturally boost energy to start the day, but bring on a sense of calm and relaxation at the day’s end.

Still, the product is still being widely researched. If you’re interested in starting a kratom routine, it’s best to proceed carefully. You may want to consult your doctor about adding the supplement to your routine or do some additional research on the plant, all its benefits, and all its potential effects.

But if you’ve made the choice to follow through on the botanical potential, the above brands are sure to deliver the kratom experience you’re looking for.

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