Mind Lab Pro vs. Qualia sees not two but three formulas in the ring — one on Mind Lab Pro’s side and two in the Qualia corner. However, if this seems at all like an unfair match-up, bear in mind that size doesn’t amount to much without an effective strategy. Or in the case of brain health supplements: formula design.
Mind Lab Pro has a fantastic formula design. Qualia also showcases overwhelming impressive ingredients and dosages. But is more actually better in this case, if Mind Lab Pro already supplies the essentials at a much cheaper price?
Or is it the case that Qualia has truly renovated our idea of “nootropic essentials”? Let’s read the Mind Lab Pro vs. Qualia match-up to find out.
Table of Contents
Supplement Facts Comparison
Mind Lab Pro |
vs. |
Qualia |
||
Ingredients | Dosage | Qualia: Step One | ||
Vitamin B6 (as BioGenesis™) | 2.5 mg (125% DV) | Ingredients | Dosage | |
Vitamin B9 (as BioGenesis™) | 100 mcg (25% DV) | Vitamin B12 (Methylcobalamin) | 1,000 mcg (16667% DV) | |
Vitamin B12 (as BioGenesis™) | 7.5 mcg (125% DV) | Artichoke Leaf Extract (5% Cynarin) | 500 mg | |
Citicoline (as Cognizin®) | 250 mg | Rhodiola Rosea Root Extract (3% Rosavins & 1% Salidrosides) | 300 mg | |
Bacopa Monnieri (as full spectrum extract 24% bacosides with 9 bioactives) (aerial parts) | 150 mg | DL-Phenylalanine | 300 mg | |
Lion’s Mane Mushroom (full spectrum) (fruit) | 500 mg | Centrophenoxine | 250 mg | |
Phosphatidylserine (as Sharp-PS® Green from sunflower lecithin) | 100 mg | N-Acetyl-L-Tyrosine | 250 mg | |
N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine | 175 mg | Purenergy™ (90mg Caffeine & 119mg pTeroPure™ pterostilbene co-crystal) | 209 mg | |
L-Theanine (as Suntheanine®) | 100 mg | L-Theanine | 200 mg | |
Rhodiola Rosea (3% rosavins, 1% salidrosides) (root) | 50 mg | Noopept | 30 mg | |
Maritime Pine Bark Extract (95% proanthocyanidins) | 75 mg | Coleus Forskohlii (20% Forskolin) | 10 mg | |
BioPQQ™ Pyrroloquinoline Quinone | 10 mg | |||
Qualia: Step Two | ||||
Ingredients | Dosage | |||
Vitamin B5 (as Calcium Pantothenate) | 50 mg (500% DV) | |||
Vitamin B6 (as Pyridoxal 5 Phosphate) | 20 mg (1000% DV) | |||
Vitashine™ Vitamin D3 | 2,000 IU (500% DV) | |||
Vitamin C (as Ascorbic Acid) | 250 mg (417% DV) | |||
Benfotiamine | 100 mg (6666% DV) | |||
Niacinimide | 50 mg (250% DV) | |||
Zinc (as Zinc Picolinate) | 15 mg (100% DV) | |||
Magnesium (as Magnesium Threonate) | 75 mg (18% DV) | |||
Bacopa Monnieri Leaf Extract (45% Bacosides) | 300 mg | |||
Cognizin® Citicoline | 100 mg | |||
Ginkgo Biloba Leaf Extract (24% Glycosides) | 50 mg | |||
Hordenine HCL | 20 mg | |||
Huperzine A | 50 mcg | |||
Mucuna Pruriens Seed Extract (98% L-Dopa) | 100 mg | |||
Phenylethylamine HCL | 500 mg | |||
BioPerine® Piperine | 10 mg | |||
Theobromine | 150 mg | |||
Vinpocetine | 30 mg | |||
Alpha GPC | 75 mg | |||
Phosphatidylserine | 200 mg | |||
Curcumin C3 Complex® 95% Curcuminoids Turmeric Extract (Curcuma longa) | 500 mg | |||
Green Tea Leaf Extract (98% Polyphenol & 45% EGCG) | 500 mg | |||
Lithium (as Lithium Orotate) | 3 mg | |||
Quercetin | 200 mg | |||
Algal DHA | 200 mg | |||
Taurine | 500 mg | |||
Uridine Monophosphate | 500 mg | |||
Lion’s Mane | 500 mg | |||
ActivAMP® Gynostemma Pentaphyllum Extract | 300 mg | |||
Acetyl L-Carnitine | 800 mg |
Formula Comparison
Mind Lab Pro and Qualia sell themselves as the only nootropic brain stack you’ll ever need, which, if true, means there should be significant overlap between these two formulas, right?
And in fact there is quite a bit of overlap between Mind Lab Pro and Qualia, which, combined, supply all of our top BIG List of Nootropics favorites — in addition to a number of other super impressive cognitive enhancing options. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.
In the next two sections, we’ll cover the significant similarities and differences between these two big-time nootropic stacks, before getting into the nitty-gritty details. Check it:
How are Mind Lab Pro and Qualia formulas similar?
As we just mentioned, Mind Lab Pro and Qualia share some of our favorite nootropic ingredients, most notably: Citicoline, Bacopa Monnieri, L-Theanine, Phosphatidylserine, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and more. These are the nootropics that work, and if you’re able to find them in a single stack, there you go: you’ve found a nootropic stack that works — pending the ingredients’ quality and dosages. With that in mind, both Mind Lab Pro and Qualia seem designed, or intended, to work as a one-size-fits-all brain health stack with short- and long-term cognitive goals in mind.
How are Mind Lab Pro and Qualia formulas different?
The first key difference between Mind Lab Pro and Qualia:
- Mind Lab Pro has no stimulants or synthetics.
- Qualia has Noopept, DHEA, and Caffeine.
While the Noopept and caffeine supply a little extra *umph* that may be felt within minutes, such stimulants come at a cost. DHEA, in particular, (which isn’t a stimulant but a steroid prohormone) prevents competitive athletes from using Qualia, due to the prohormone’s banned substance status. What’s more, Noopept may lose its *umph* over time, due to tolerance issues.
The next key difference is in these supplements’ number of ingredients. Mind Lab Pro stacks 11 ingredients in its formula, whereas Qualia racks the tally over 40. Whereas Mind Lab Pro supplies the key nootropic essentials for enhanced cognition, Qualia supplies the same in addition to vitamins, minerals, and other nourishing nutrients. However, adding more to the “key nootropic essentials” comes at a significant cost, as we’ll cover below in the pricing section.
Mind Lab Pro vs. Qualia: Unique Benefits
Mind Lab Pro hits the key essential bio-pathways involved in optimal brainpower.
Rather than blasting the brain with a load of healthy compounds and nutrients, Mind Lab Pro enters the mind surgically and precisely, solely targeting the brain bio-pathways essential to a fully optimized brain. And Mind Lab Pro does so without resorting to any drugs or synthetics, boosting cognition by first supporting the underlying structures of the brain.
Qualia targets brain health and cognition with a shotgun spread.
Qualia more or less covers the same brain bio-pathways as Mind Lab Pro, except they take a much more ambitious approach, seemingly targeting everything directly and indirectly involved in cognition. It’s an interesting approach that many manufacturers, even if they wanted to, likely couldn’t pull off. And no doubt it’s impressive, especially when you consider Qualia’s ingredient dosages and quality.
As compared to Mind Lab Pro, Qualia does more. Yet, Mind Lab Pro targets brainpower with a frill-free design, lessening any risks of negative ingredient interactions or side effects.
- Mind Lab Pro and Qualia target the same brain benefits, yet Qualia takes aim at the rest of the brain as well to uncertain advantage — or drawback.
Dosage Comparison
First of all, we need to give props to both Mind Lab Pro and Qualia for staying away from all the proprietary blend shenanigans. Every ingredient in this Mind Lab Pro vs. Qualia comparison review is on transparent display, all ingredient dosages are shown.
And guess what: they’re all purdy good.
Mind Lab Pro showcases some impressive ingredient dosages, despite a smaller 2 caps serving size, whereas Qualia impresses us, despite having so many damn ingredients. Most health supplements that attempt the 40+ ingredients formula design either fail due to poorly dosed ingredients or were never intended to work in the first place — the huge list of ingredients serves as a distraction, usually masked by a proprietary blend, from the fact that a capsule or two simply isn’t large enough to handle 40+ ingredients.
Qualia makes this work with its 9 caps per daily serving requirement, which is perhaps one of the largest (if not the largest) serving size we’ve seen from a nootropic brain health supplement.
- Mind Lab Pro and Qualia deliver adequately dosed nootropics, despite a smaller serving size and gigantic ingredient count, respectively.
Ingredient Quality Comparison
Qualia has a larger number of high quality ingredients.
Mind Lab Pro has a greater concentration of high quality ingredients.
Meaning that all of Mind Lab Pro’s nootropics come in high quality, highly potent ingredient forms, of which several are supplied as clinically tested brands, whereas Qualia has a lot of quality nootropics but still leaves a little room for improvement in its formula — e.g., compare Mind Lab Pro’s Suntheanine® L-Theanine with Qualia’s standard L-Theanine.
Having said that, Qualia still carries an impressive number of high quality nootropics and nootropic brands — e.g., Cognizin®, BioPQQ™. While Qualia has earned a name for itself based on its smartly crafted selection of nootropics, it’s the premium quality of those ingredients that rank Qualia in the upper echelons of manufactured nootropic supplements.
Either direction you go here, you’ll find exceptional quality ingredients, which put both Mind Lab Pro and Qualia in a good spot heading into the next comparison review segment.
- Qualia has more high quality nootropics. Mind Lab Pro has only high quality nootropics. Impressive all around.
Nutrient Delivery and Clean Label Comparison
Premium, potent herbal extracts. High quality nootropic brands. Clean, green veggie capsules. Yes, yes, and yes — Mind Lab Pro and Qualia has ’em, and the result: enhanced nutrient delivery and low-risk additive profiles.
Many awesome supplements shoot themselves in their feet by coating their awesome nootropics and health compounds with dirty, hard-to-digest capsules and tablets. But not Mind Lab Pro nor Qualia. These products come clean and polished, ensuring that their formulas maintain their bioavailability upon consumption.
The Step Two formula for Qualia even notches in a little BioPerine® Black Pepper extract, which is essential for health compounds such as turmeric to work. Yet, the sheer abundance of Qualia’s ingredient count does come with nutrient absorption concerns, given the risk of nutrient absorption competition between certain ingredients. Splitting the overall formula into two separate stacks may ameliorate this issue somewhat; however, it’s hard to say how much of a difference this makes.
Even so, both stacks deserve props for their safe and easy-to-absorb formula capsule containers.
- Mind Lab Pro and Qualia showcase exceptionally clean, capsulated formulas, even if the latter may have packed those capsules too full for all of its nutrients to work.
Price Comparison
Mind Lab Pro | vs. | Qualia | ||
1 Bottle (30 servings) | $65.00 | 1 Bottle (22 servings) | $149.00 | |
Price Per Serving | $2.17 | Price Per Serving | $6.77 |
Both price listings represent the “Single Order” options for Mind Lab Pro and Qualia. However, both Opti-Nutra and Neurohacker Collective have different order options you may buy to reduce those price per serving costs. For example, Mind Lab Pro offers a 3 Bottles (+ 1 Bottle Free) option for an average $1.63 per serving — as well as free shipping — whereas Qualia has an auto-subscription option: $99 for the first month, after which you pay $129 per 22 servings for an average $5.86 per serving.
- Even at each product’s respective “cheapest” option, Qualia is more than three times expensive than Mind Lab Pro on a price per serving basis.
Mind Lab Pro vs. Qualia: Which is Better?
If you were to split Qualia into three separate formulas and then allow buyers to mix-and-match those formulas however they choose, rather than forcing them to buy both Step One and Step Two in a single order, then Qualia may be onto something there. After all, not everyone who’s into Citicoline necessarily wants to dive into Noopept or DHEA as well.
Especially considering that the additional weight attached to Qualia comes at an additionally heavy price. One of the heaviest price tags on the 2018 nootropic market.
Mind Lab Pro, on the other hand, supplies a more straightforward nootropic product, even if it carries significant overlap with Qualia’s formula. Simply put, Mind Lab Pro offers a premium quality nootropic stack that, if you wanted to, allows you to stack additional stacks to their product. It’s a “Universal Nootropic” as their marketing suggests.
If anything, you can stack certain Qualia ingredients independently (say, Noopept) with Mind Lab Pro and we’re certain that you’d still be saving money versus buying Qualia. And that’s a fine enough note to end this comparison review.
Mind Lab Pro vs. Qualia Overall Winner:
Mind Lab Pro
Additional Resources
- Read our full Mind Lab Pro review
- Read our full Qualia review
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