You’ve heard about all of the potential benefits of CBD oil. So you do a little online surfing or stop by your local CBD store.
And pretty quickly, one thing hits you.
Sticker shock.
To be completely honest, the prices most vendors charge isn’t really out of line. CBD oil isn’t a cheap product to manufacture, at least if the company uses optimal production techniques.
It’s also not cheap to obtain the high-quality raw ingredients, or do the type of quality control required, to create oil which will actually deliver the health and medicinal benefits that buyers expect.
Even so, the price tag is probably much higher than you expected. It might even lead you to reconsider your decision to give cannabidiol (the full name of CBD) a try.
Don’t despair or give up. CBD oil is definitely worth its price – and definitely worth trying.
And there are some excellent choices that are either in the lower end of the price range or a terrific bargain for their cost.
In a bit, we’ll explain what you should be looking for when shopping for extracted CBD oil. But first, here are our reviews of the five most affordable, “cheap” CBD oils that will actually deliver the results you’re paying for.
Most Affordable “Cheap” CBD Oils
First, an important explanation: “Most affordable” and “cheap” may sound like the same thing, but we think they’re very different.
The word cheap is often used to mean “the lowest price you can find.” Unfortunately, it’s also likely to mean “the lowest quality you can find.”
Needless to say, when you’re using CBD oil to treat a medical condition the very last thing you want is poor quality. Buying a $10 bottle of CBD oil just because it’s “cheap” doesn’t make much sense if it doesn’t work.
So here’s what we’ve done. We’ve looked at all of the high-quality CBD oils on the market, and divided them into price ranges.
- We identify “cheap” CBD oils as high-quality products that do the job for a good price.
- Then we rank them by quality and price, to determine the “most affordable” in that group.
Make sense? Let’s get to it.
1. Gold Bee CBD Oil – Best Choice
Gold Bee pulls off a delicate balance. They create inexpensive CBD oil but use the same processes used to manufacture the highest-quality oils sold for much higher prices. That, in essence, is our definition of the “most affordable, cheap” CBD oil.
Gold Bee sources its hemp from organic farmers in Colorado and California and extracts the cannabidiol with the optimal (and most expensive) supercritical CO2 extraction process. The CBD is then combined with the best choice of carrier oil, MCT coconut oil, to create full-spectrum CBD oil. That means it retains all of the hemp’s other cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes which provide an entourage effect to maximize the effectiveness of the cannabidiol.
There are a few small negatives to consider before choosing Gold Bee CBD oil. It’s only available in three flavors, natural hemp, kiwi/honey, and orange/honey, although the non-hemp flavors are tasty and the flavoring comes from natural essential oil, nothing artificial. And there aren’t the same number of potency choices that are available in some more-expensive product lines; the highest option of 40mg/ml (milligrams of CBD per milliliter of oil) might be rather low for those who are treating serious conditions.
Those are very small objections, though, when you consider that the price of Gold Bee CBD oil figures out to just nine cents per milligram of CBD. That means Gold Bee is more affordable than the very best CBD oil we’ve put into the “cheap” category, and costs only a little more than the least expensive product we recommend. In other words, it’s just about perfect for most people’s needs – at a price that’s definitely attractive. One caution, though: this oil is only available on the company’s website and it’s often sold out.
Things We Liked:
- Price and value
- Full-spectrum oil
- Organic American hemp
- High-end production processes
Things We Didn’t Like:
- Limited potency options
- Not as many flavor choices as some competitors
2. Royal CBD Oil – Most Potent
As our #1 choice, Royal CBD oil is a full-spectrum product (with the complete entourage effect) manufactured with the same high-end production methods: organic hemp sourced from West Coast farmers, supercritical CO2 cannabidiol extraction, and MCT coconut carrier oil, no artificial ingredients. It is, however, available in a total of four flavors including berry, mint, and vanilla as well as natural; all of the flavorings come from completely natural essential oils.
The reason it might be worth paying more for Royal CBD oil is the impressive choice of potencies, from a low of 8.33mg/ml (lower than Gold Bee’s lowest option) all the way up to a high of 83.3mg/ml, more than double the strength of Gold Bee’s top-level offering and an excellent choice for serious pain or medical issues which require very potent doses.
Yes, it’s a little more expensive, but there are more potency options, it’s always available – and it’s still cheap compared to most of the competitors.
Things We Liked:
- Organic hemp from local U.S. growers
- Very high quality; supercritical CO2 extraction and MCT carrier oil
- Very good selections of potencies and flavors
Things We Didn’t Like:
- More expensive than other “cheap” options
- Not distributed in brick-and-mortar stores
3. CBDistillery CDB Oil Tincture – Cheapest Full-Spectrum Oil
This company has been around longer than just about all of the other companies in the “cheap” CBD market. That experience in streamlining their production methods is what allows them to offer its quality CBD oil at the lowest price of any full-spectrum product in our rankings.
Like our first two choices, CBDistillery uses high-quality American hemp and MCT carrier oil to produce its product, with no unnecessary or artificial ingredients added. However, the cannabidiol is extracted with the standard CO2 method and not the supercritical CO2 extraction used by both Gold Bee and Royal. There’s nothing “bad” about the lesser (and less expensive) method, but it does cause some loss of potency in the CBD.
CBDistillery’s oil is available in a number of strengths, including the strongest we’ve seen in a “cheap” product, 167mg/ml. We do have to admit, though, that we’ve never needed CBD oil that strong and have never known anyone else who did, either. A more salient consideration is that the lowest strength the company offers comes in at 17mg/ml, way too high for those looking for a “low dose.” Also, there are no flavors available other than natural hemp – which has a raw taste that many people find difficult to take.
For good quality and a price-per-milligram even lower than Gold Bee’s, this could be considered a bargain as long as you don’t mind the taste. (The company also offers a CBD isolate product; we’ll talk more about full-spectrum vs. isolate shortly.)
Things We Liked:
- Lowest-priced high-quality full-spectrum CBD oil
- Sourced from American organic hemp
- Very potent option (although perhaps offered for “show” and not everyday use)
Things We Didn’t Like:
- No suitable low-potency option
- Extraction method, not supercritical CO2
- Only raw-tasting “natural” flavor available
4. CDBPure Hemp Oil – Best Low-Potency Option
In some ways, this product is a mirror image of the CBDistillery oil: the quality is good, but the available strengths are too low for many users, instead of too high. Just like our #3 choice, CDBPure uses organic American hemp and MCT carrier oil and doesn’t add any other ingredients. But the company utilizes the less-ideal standard CO2 extraction method and only sells its oil in natural hemp flavor.
That brings us to potency. The lowest-available strength of this oil is 1.6 mg/ml, more suitable for pets than humans, and the highest-available is 10mg/ml – about the same potency as the lowest option sold by Gold Bee and Royal. Add the fact that CBDPure oil is more expensive than Gold Bee and almost as pricey as Royal, and you end up with a CBD oil that’s a quality product, but probably not in anyone’s top three – including ours.
Things We Liked:
- Good production methods
- Full-spectrum oil from U.S. organic hemp
Things We Didn’t Like:
- Potency options too low
- Standard CO2 rather than supercritical CO2 extraction
- No flavors other than natural hemp
5. HempBombs CBD Oil – Best CBD Isolate Option
The most important fact to know about HempBombs CBD oil is that it’s a CBD isolate product instead of a full-spectrum one, eliminating some of the medicinal power of the cannabidiol.
Here’s the quick explanation. When cannabidiol is extracted from hemp to make isolate, only CBD is left in the final product. All of the other components of the plant (like flavonoids, terpenes, and a minuscule amount of THC) are removed, so there’s no entourage effect to boost the power of the CBD. Some people mistakenly think isolate is “safer” if they have to take a drug test, but in reality, the tiny amount of THC in full-spectrum oil isn’t going to trigger a test, either.
That doesn’t make it a bad product, of course. However, there are a few signs that the quality isn’t quite up to that of our top choices. The cannabidiol is extracted from American hemp, although HempBombs doesn’t guarantee that it’s organic and doesn’t specify what the extraction method is. And some of the available flavors contain artificial flavoring while others don’t; that leaves it up to the buyer to pore through ingredient lists to make sure they’re choosing CBD oil that’s 100% natural.
Potency choices are good (from 2 ml/mg to 83.3mg/ml), the oil tastes good, it works pretty well, and the price per milliliter (when purchased in large bottles) is the second-lowest of all the products we’ve checked out. Just be aware that it’s CBD isolate.
Things We Liked:
- Quite affordable when bought in large bottles
- Excellent variety of flavors and strengths
Things We Didn’t Like
- CBD isolate instead of full-spectrum oil
- Hemp not guaranteed organic
- Extraction method not revealed
- Artificial ingredients included in some flavors
How to Shop for Affordable, “Cheap” CBD Oil
There’s one major obstacle facing buyers of CBD oil: there is no established “brand name” companies that can automatically be trusted when it comes to quality. The industry is simply too new.
Instead, when you’re buying CBD oil you’re on your own. Researching companies and products is essential if you want to be sure you’re purchasing high-quality oil – unless you find a trustworthy source for CBD product reviews (and we hope you’ll find our reviews trustworthy, of course).
You don’t have to just cross your fingers and guess, though. There are several important characteristics that the best CBD oils all have in common. Once you’ve done some comparison shopping and found high-quality CBD oils to consider, you can then look at prices and make your choice.
Here are the key factors to look for.
- Full-spectrum CBD oil: When cannabidiol is extracted from the hemp plant, it brings with it the other components of the plant including terpenes, flavonoids, and cannabinoids (including a minuscule, non-intoxicating amount of THC). Those ingredients all work together to boost the power of the CBD, through what’s called the entourage effect.
Some manufacturers remove those other components to produce a product known as CBD isolate, which doesn’t contain any THC but also doesn’t provide the effectiveness of full-spectrum oil. In short, full-spectrum is more powerful than isolate. - Supercritical CO2 extraction: There are a number of methods that can be used to extract cannabidiol from hemp. The one that preserves the most potency is known as supercritical CO2 It’s also the most expensive, so many producers use lesser methods to save money and make a product that’s cheaper to sell. All of the methods create a safe product, other than extraction with hydrocarbons or chemical solvents; they’re just not as desirable.
- Organic American hemp: Hemp that’s grown organically will be free of all pesticides and hazardous chemicals, and if it’s grown in the U.S., the growers will have had to adhere to strict farming regulations.
- All-natural ingredients: Ideally, CBD oil only contains cannabidiol blended with MCT carrier oil, with no extra ingredients. There’s nothing wrong with the addition of natural essential oil for flavoring, but that’s the only other ingredient you should see added to your oil.
- Third-party tested: Reputable companies will submit their products for analysis by an outside third-party lab, which will produce a document called a COA (certificate of analysis) detailing all of the CBD oil’s ingredients. It lets you be sure that the oil contains the promised amount of cannabidiol and only trace amounts (<0.3%) of THC, and doesn’t contain any contaminants or hazardous ingredients. If CBD oil doesn’t come with a COA, look elsewhere.