Cyanocobalamin vs Methylcobalamin: Which B12 Is Better?
Buy cyanocobalamin. NIH finds it is absorbed as well as methylcobalamin, and our pick, NatureWise, costs $0.12 a day. It keeps better, it is the form the dose trials used, and tested cyano pills cost less.
Pick methylcobalamin only if your doctor asks for it, you want a vegan chewable, or you just prefer it. It costs more for the same result.
Ready to buy:
NatureWise Vitamin B12 1000 mcg
$0.12 a day. A cyanocobalamin softgel tested by NSF. It costs the least of any tested pill on this page.
When methylcobalamin makes sense
Methylcobalamin raises B12 as well as our pick does. Of the 6 B12 pills we score, 3 are on a testing list, and only one of those, Thorne, is methylcobalamin. Here is when it is worth choosing.
Want methylcobalamin anyway? Get a tested one.
Some people want a form that is also found in food. If that is you, buy one with outside testing. This capsule is in two NSF programs, including NSF Certified for Sport, which check what is in the bottle. It costs more than three times our pick.
Thorne Vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin)
$0.40 a day
Vegan? Our pick has gelatin, so get this chewable.
The NatureWise softgel is made with gelatin. This lemon chewable is a methylcobalamin labeled vegan, and it costs about the same a day. It is on no public testing list. B12 for vegans covers food and dose.
Jarrow Methyl B-12 1000 mcg, lemon chewable
$0.13 a day
Kidney disease? Let your doctor choose the form.
One expert review suggested methylcobalamin for weak kidneys, but no trial has tested the two forms in kidney disease (Spence 2013). More in our B12 safety guide.
Does methylcobalamin work better?
No study shows it does. Inside your cells, both forms are stripped to the same core and rebuilt, so methyl does not skip a step (Obeid 2015). One 2017 review favored the natural forms, but it showed no difference in people (Paul 2017). The trials that set today’s doses used cyanocobalamin (Eussen 2005).
Cyanocobalamin also holds up better on the shelf. The FDA label says it stands up to brief heat sterilizing, while the working forms of B12, which include methylcobalamin, are very unstable in light.
The four forms of B12
| Form | What it is |
|---|---|
| Methylcobalamin (mecobalamin) | One of the two forms your body uses. Also found in animal foods. |
| Cyanocobalamin | Man-made. The most common form in pills. |
| Adenosylcobalamin | The other form your body uses. Found in a few pills, often mixed with methyl. |
| Hydroxocobalamin | A form found in food. Used mainly in B12 shots. |
Is the cyanide in cyanocobalamin safe?
Yes. By our math, a 1,000 mcg pill holds about 19.2 mcg of cyanide, and only about 0.25 mcg of that is absorbed, which a healthy body clears.
If you have Leber’s disease, an inherited eye disease, ask your eye doctor which form to take. The FDA label reports fast vision loss in people with early Leber’s disease who were given cyanocobalamin.
Frequently asked questions
Is mecobalamin the same as methylcobalamin?
Yes. Mecobalamin is another name for the same molecule, so this page also answers mecobalamin vs cyanocobalamin.
Does MTHFR mean I need methylcobalamin?
There is no good evidence for that. MTHFR gene variants mainly affect how you process folate, not B12. We found no trial showing people with these variants do better on methylcobalamin.
Is methylcobalamin better for nerve pain?
It is used for nerve pain, mainly in Asia. A 2020 review of 15 mostly low-quality trials found mecobalamin did better than other treatments on an overall response score, but it did not lower pain scores (Sawangjit 2020).
Related guides
- B12 dosage guide: how much to take, and why pills hold 1,000 mcg
- Is 1,000 mcg of B12 too much?: side effects and who should check first
- Jarrow vs Thorne B12: two methyl B12 brands compared
- Best B12 supplements: our full ranking
Sources
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. "Vitamin B12: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals" (forms, absorption by dose and form). ods.od.nih.gov (updated July 2, 2025; read October 15, 2026).
- FDA. Cyanocobalamin injection label (molecular weight, Leber’s disease, light). DailyMed
- Obeid R, Fedosov SN, Nexo E. "Cobalamin coenzyme forms are not likely to be superior to cyano- and hydroxyl-cobalamin in prevention or treatment of cobalamin deficiency." Mol Nutr Food Res. 2015. PMID: 25820384
- Paul C, Brady DM. "Comparative bioavailability and utilization of particular forms of B12 supplements with potential to mitigate B12-related genetic polymorphisms." Integr Med. 2017. PMID: 28223907
- Eussen SJ, et al. "Oral cyanocobalamin supplementation in older people with vitamin B12 deficiency: a dose-finding trial." Arch Intern Med. 2005. PMID: 15911731
- Spence JD. "B vitamin therapy for homocysteine: renal function and vitamin B12 determine cardiovascular outcomes." Clin Chem Lab Med. 2013. PMID: 23449527
- Sawangjit R, et al. "Efficacy and safety of mecobalamin on peripheral neuropathy: a systematic review and meta-analysis." J Altern Complement Med. 2020. PMID: 32716261
- Prices are each brand’s list price, checked October 15, 2026. Testing lists: USP Verified and NSF, searched October 15, 2026.