Olly is one of the largest supplement brands in the US; famous for their gummy vitamins and supplements. The company sells a probiotic supplement used to support gut health and immunity.

But does Olly's probiotic contain research-based ingredients for gut health? Does it contain any unhealthy additives? Is it overpriced? And is it better or worse than popular probiotic supplements like Seed?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Olly Probiotic to give our take on whether or not it's likely to support the gut, and whether or not it's healthy overall.

We'll also share our thoughts on whether or not it's overpriced, and compare Olly Probiotic to other popular probiotic supplements to pick our winners (and losers).

Key takeaways:

• Active ingredient is clinically shown to reduce bloating
• Contains inactive ingredients we consider to be unhealthy
• We do not currently recommend Olly Probiotic

Ingredient Analysis

The active ingredient in Olly Probiotic Tropical Mango gummies is shown below:

Bacillus subtilis DE111 is a patented probiotic strain that supports digestion and metabolism, as documented in a clinical trial published in the Beneficial Microbes journal.

This strain may also support optimal immune function, as we discussed in our Stunning After 40 reviews article on another probiotic supplement.

The inactive ingredients in Olly Probiotic are shown below:

Glucose syrup and sugar are refined sweeteners, and this supplement contains 4 grams (g) of added sugar per serving.

Citric acid is a preservative and flavor enhancer that's clinically shown to cause whole-body inflammation in some individuals, as we discussed in our Karma Water review article.

Natural flavors is a broad categorical descriptor that fails to document the specific flavoring chemicals used.

Overall, we consider Olly Probiotic likely to support gut health given its effective active ingredient, however, we don't currently recommend this supplement due to the inactive ingredients discussed above.

Is Olly Overpriced?

Since the only active ingredient in Olly Probiotic Gummies is  Bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856, it's easy to compare the cost to other probiotic supplements with the same ingredient.

A one-time purchase of Olly costs $19.99 at the time of updating this article and contains 40 servings.

A one-time purchase of Doctor's Best Digestive Health (a probiotic supplement containing the exact same active ingredient as Olly) costs $13.44 at the time of updating this article and contains 60 servings.

However, Doctor's Best Digestive Health provides 2 billion colony-forming units (CFU) while Olly only provides 1 billion CFU.

This means that per-CFU, Olly is over two times more expensive than Doctor's Best.

We found another probiotic supplement called Jarrow Formulas Probiotic + Prebiotic that costs only $1.50 more than Olly Probiotic, but contains five more servings and contains two other clinically-backed active ingredients (one probiotic and one prebiotic).

Overall, while the retail price is low, we consider Olly Probiotic to be overpriced for what you're getting.

We don't necessarily recommend either of these two supplements referenced in this section; we're just sharing them for comparative purposes.

Olly Probiotic vs. Popular Probiotics

Here's how Olly Probiotic compares to other popular probiotic supplements in terms of potential effectiveness and healthiness, in our opinion:

Seed

Contains probiotic strains proven to support optimal gut health, and a patented capsule technology which is clinically shown to help support probiotic survivability.

More effective and healthier formulation than Olly.

Winner: Seed

Pendulum Probiotics

Pendulum GLP-1 Probiotic contains a research-backed active ingredient for weight loss, and is free from any unhealthy inactive ingredients.

From a healthiness perspective, Pendulum gets the edge.

Winner: Pendulum Probiotics

Physician's Choice

Contains many research-backed probiotic species and is free from any unhealthy additives.

Winner: Physician's Choice

Our Clean Gut Health Picks

Manukora MGO 850+ is our top whole food gut health pick.

A 2024 clinical trial reported that manuka honey ingestion "correlates with beneficial modulation of gut microbiota composition."

MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top gut health supplement.

MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ contains 100% soluble fiber, which was described as "one of the most important nutrients for the gut microbiota" in a clinical review published in the Molecules journal.

Both of the products recommended in this section are free of ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.

Olly Probiotic Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Contains a research-backed probiotic strain
• May reduce bloating
• May support optimal gut health
• Affordable

Cons:

• Underdosed in our opinion
• Contains refined, added sugar
• Contains citric acid
• Contains natural flavor
• Brand website charges for shipping

Conclusion

Olly Probiotic is underwhelming from a formulation perspective, which is perhaps unsurprising given its price.

This supplement does contain a research-backed probiotic strain, and we consider it to be a mark of a high-quality supplement brand to list the specific strain of probiotic.

However, we can't find any clinical trial data in humans suggesting that this strain, at the dose included in Olly Probiotic, has positive effects on gut health. The clinical trials we could find on this probiotic strain used higher doses than that in Olly's supplement.

Olly Probiotic also contains some inactive ingredients like glucose syrup and citric acid that we consider to be suboptimal from a health perspective.

Consumers interested in the specific probiotic strain used in Olly Probiotic could purchase Doctor's Best probiotic supplement for a better price and a higher dose of the exact same strain.

We consider Seed, Pendulum Probiotics and Physician's Choice to all be higher-quality probiotic supplements than Olly Probiotic.