The 4 Best Vegan Multivitamins For Women In 2026

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Although nutrient intakes are almost the same for both men and women, there are some important differences to consider when choosing a multivitamin formula for women.

We all require the same essential 13 vitamins and minerals for overall health, however, women tend to be low in certain nutrients, so when purchasing a vegan multivitamin, taking those into account is important.

In this article, I’ll go over the 4 best vegan multivitamin formulas for women, and help you determine which one is the best for your needs. 

The 4 Best Vegan Multivitamin For Women

Ritual’s Essential Multivitamin For Women

Ritual’s goal was pretty simple — to create multivitamins that target common nutritional gaps using high-quality ingredients that can be optimally absorbed.

Unlike most brands, Ritual has a variety of multivitamin formulas, and the reason for that is that they want to target young and old, as well as adjust to differences between men and women.

For women, they have four multivitamins — one for women over 18, one for women over 50, and also formulas that support women during pregnancy and the lactation stage.

Given their multi-variate approach to multivitamins, you have options that better suit your circumstances, allowing you, as a woman, to select the more effective nutrient profile for your specific needs. 

There are certain nutrients that are usually present in every variation, namely vitamin B12, vitamin D3, iron, folate, magnesium, and omega-3 DHA. These are essential nutrients that vegans require, but they are either tweaked or removed depending on your age or situation.

For instance, older postmenopausal women no longer have a need for supplementing iron, so Ritual’s multivitamin for older women is without it.

However, because with age your body slowly loses its ability to efficiently absorb certain nutrients, this multivitamin contains double the amount of vitamin B12 and magnesium.

As a vegan, what I also like about Ritual as a brand, is its dedication to being transparent and willing to let you trace the ingredients back to their source, promoting a more ethical framework for consuming supplements. 

However, the fact that you have such specific formulas and the ingredients are sourced ethically, means that we have to inevitably pay a higher price for their products.

Additionally, purchasing one of their multivitamins, means you’re consenting to a subscription model that will get you a multivitamin delivered to your doorstep every month, and that might be a deal breaker for many people.

Though, you can easily cancel the service after receiving your first product.

Performance Lab Multi For Women

Performance Lab is one of the few brands that create supplements that differentiate between the dietary needs of men and women, so they have two distinct formulas.

The Multi for Women is a formula that contains specific nutrients that address women’s nutritional needs, so apart from containing vitamin B12 and vitamin D, it also contains minerals such as iron, calcium, folate, and iodine.

This multivitamin contains 26 active ingredients and among them are vitamins, minerals, as well as other natural compounds that support both mood and metabolism.

It contains generous amounts of iron (44% of WDV), calcium (2% of WDV), folate (334% of WDV), and iodine (100% of WDV), so it’s quite specific for women.

Performance Lab is popular for its ultra-modern method of designing supplements for peak health and performance called Nutrigenesis.

The ingredients in this formula are lab-grown, using a patented process that mimics nutrient genesis in nature, increasing the absorption of nutrients and their effects. 

Needless to say, this formula is vegan-friendly, and it features a clean-label formula, stripped of any unnecessary ‘filler’ ingredients or additives that may be deemed unhealthy.

It’s a very viable multivitamin for women, but it’s not a particularly affordable formula, and unfortunately, you have to take 4 capsules every day to get all the purported nutrients.

Healthycell Vegan Essentials

Although Healthycell is not a vegan brand, they have developed a liquid formula that specifically addresses vegans’ nutritional needs.

This multivitamin comes with more than 30 vitamins and minerals, including vitamin B12, vitamin D3, iron, iodine, and Omega-3 Fatty Acids, all crucial for a vegan diet.

Although it lacks certain nutrients such as folate and calcium, it’s still very much a complete formula that effectively manages to provide you with 100% of the daily value for most nutrients. 

Healthycell supplies its nutrients through Microgel technology, a microgel that helps your body absorb the nutrients more efficiently by delivering them more quickly to your bloodstream so that they can be absorbed by your cells.

Unfortunately, soft gels, capsules, and tablets often come with synthetic binding glues, fillers, coatings, and anti-caking agents which offer no nutritional benefit. In fact, they may sometimes hinder absorption.

But Healthycell gives a more convenient and effective approach to nutrition since you can mix the gel with water or any of your favorite beverages.

The downside to this formula is that it doesn’t have as much iron (only about 2.3 mg) compared to the others on this list, and it’s actually quite expensive.

Wholier Plant-Based Multivitamin

Wholier aims to develop formulas that are supported by data from studies but also have little effect on the environment.

This multivitamin is one of their most popular formulas and contains 8 nutrients that are essential for optimizing a vegan, vegetarian, or plant-forward diet.

Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3, iron, iodine, zinc, selenium, omega-3 fatty acids, and Vitamin K2 are the 8 essential nutrients in this multivitamin; all of which are supplied in substantial amounts, including iron.

Wholier is open about where it gets the ingredients for its products, and it appears to make its products in an ethical and sustainable way.

Their products are inevitably more expensive than most due to their avoidance of common allergens, GMOs, synthetic fillers, and colorants, and their carbon footprint is smaller than that of brands with operations in developing nations.

Although Wholier has added citrus extracts to enhance the flavor and aroma of their capsules, the truth is that this does not necessarily cover up their fishy flavor, which is likely caused by the use of algae/sea kelp for some of its nutrients.

What Is a Multivitamin?

In the field of nutritional supplements, multivitamins are among the most widely used.

These supplements include numerous vitamins and minerals in addition to some other components, as the name would imply. Since there is no set formula for a multivitamin, each brand and product has a different combination of nutrients.

Many of these aid in enzyme processes in our bodies, as well as reproduction, maintenance, growth, and the performance of critical human activities.

Multivitamins go by a variety of names, such as multi, multiples, or vitamins. Additionally, multivitamins can be delivered in various forms, including capsules, tablets, chewable candies, powders, and liquids.

They are often taken once or twice a day, however, this can change based on the directions on the label.

There are a few things you should bear in mind.

Because the Food and Drug Administration does not monitor dietary supplements, multivitamins may include higher or lower levels of certain nutrients than stated on the label.

In fact, some may not even offer any of the nutrients indicated. The supplement market is not the most transparent or reputable, so make sure you obtain yours from a company with a good reputation among buyers.

Multivitamin vitamins can contain nutrients from natural food sources or be synthesized in a lab.

Do Vegans Need A Multivitamin?

A whole-foods, plant-based diet has been lauded for its exceptional health benefits, which even the American Dietetic Association has recognized:

“It is the position of the American Dietetic Association that appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases. Well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes.” ¹

This essentially means that a vegan diet doesn’t really require the aid of a multivitamin, because a properly planned vegan diet can provide you with many of the essential vitamins and minerals you need.

However, it’s important to mention that some vegans may run into problems if they’re not careful about their food choices. A statement that can be applied to most diets.  It’s also important to recognize that some nutrients can be more easily obtained by just taking a supplement, which is the case with vitamin B12. 

Whilst vegans don’t really need a multivitamin, they can be quite helpful if your diet isn’t as well-balanced, perhaps because you’re a busy individual unable to establish good dietary habits.

Common Nutrient Needs For Women

Some formulas are created with female-specific nutrient needs in mind, so they generally tend to include higher amounts of iron, folate, iodine, and calcium.

Iron

According to research published in American Family Physician, women are more likely than males to suffer from iron deficiency, particularly if they are pregnant. ²  Women’s multivitamins typically contain iron because of this.

The demand for iron rises due to blood loss during menstruation, therefore women of reproductive age need to be careful to acquire enough, some experts advise. The mineral is typically thought to be crucial for healthy conception, pregnancy, and postpartum health, as well as cognitive function. 

It is also important to note that many women’s multivitamins created especially for older, postmenopausal women remove that iron. So if you’re at such a stage, do keep this in mind.

Folate

Folate can be naturally found in many plant-based foods, and there’s no inherent need to supplement it unless you’re considering getting pregnant.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that women should take 400 micrograms of folate daily for at least three months before trying to conceive, and during pregnancy, the recommended folate intake increases to 600 micrograms. 

This is a vitamin that can be found in most prenatal supplements, but some supplements (designed specifically for women) will often contain it due to the different lifecycle stages (pre-conception, pregnancy, lactation, etc).

Iodine

Iodine is a mineral found in some foods such as fish and dairy, but if you’re vegan, you can only attain iodine by consuming iodized salt, which is readily available in supermarkets.

Because it promotes the production of thyroid hormones, it is important in the prevention of thyroid issues, which tend to be more common in women than men. 

It also plays a role in the body’s metabolism and many other functions. If you’re planning to become pregnant, thyroid hormones are essential for proper bone and brain development during pregnancy and infancy.

However, it is also important to point out that you need to be careful with the consumption of iodine given that too much can also be toxic and may lead to the same issues you’d experience by having a deficiency.

Calcium

Although the calcium needs of men and women are similar for the most part, women over the age of 51 require 200 mg more each day, according to the National Institute of Health. ³

Unfortunately, when women hit menopause, their bodies produce less estrogen, a hormone that regulates bone metabolism and contributes to the creation of new bone.

As such, women are more susceptible to conditions such as osteoporosis during menopause, and for that reason, they are advised to increase their calcium intake. 

With all this being said, it’s important to seek medical advice before you start taking any supplements, including a multivitamin. There is no one better than a health professional to provide you with adequate advice on how you should proceed to optimize your health. Therefore, be sure to keep that in mind going forward.

Bottom Line

While vegans are able to meet their nutritional needs by following an adequately planned diet, a multivitamin can still be a useful means to cover potential nutritional gaps.

However, it’s important to take a multivitamin that takes into account your dietary needs, and that’s why some brands go the extra mile to create formulas that are either specific to men and women.

Some of the brands are included in this article, and I hope you’re able to find a multivitamin that you deem useful or feel like you can reliably rely on.

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Medical Disclaimer: The content on this website is meant to be informative, but it should not be taken as medical advice. The content of our articles is not intended for use in the diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. It’s always best to speak with your doctor or a certified medical professional before making any changes to your lifestyle, diet, exercise routine, or trying a new supplement.

References: 

1. Craig WJ, Mangels AR; American Dietetic Association. Position of the American Dietetic Association: vegetarian diets. J Am Diet Assoc. 2009 Jul.

2. Killip S, Bennett JM, Chambers MD. Iron deficiency anemia. Am Fam Physician. 2007 Mar 1;75(5):671-8. Erratum in: Am Fam Physician. 2008 Oct 15.

3. Calcium Needs. The National Institute of Health.