The Best CBD Oil of 2020

We have tested tinctures from several brands and this is our list of the best CBD oil in 2020.

CBD oil tinctures are the second most popular type of CBD product but they are also the most preferred among US consumers, according to data from our 2019 US CBD Consumer Report.

Our Top Picks

Our top pick for the best CBD oil is Receptra Naturals, primarily because of how effective our team finds their products.

The runner-up, which also doubles as our budget pick, is CBDistillery for their excellent prices and high-quality oil.

Finally, we recommend Social CBD as the best choice for “THC-free” CBD oil.

How We Chose Which Products to Review

After reviewing and vetting several CBD brands, we have chosen five that we consider to have the best CBD oil in 2020.

These brands come from our list of Trusted Brands that we have compiled over the course of multiple years.

These brands conduct their business with trustworthy methods, including responsible farming, high-quality and safe manufacturing processes, comprehensive third-party testing, and appropriate marketing.

From these Trusted Brands, we chose those with CBD oils that have scored the highest in our reviews.

Features to Consider

Below are the features we consider when testing CBD oil.

Extract & Strength (10 points)

There are three main types of hemp extract: full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, and CBD isolate.

Full-spectrum extract contains all available cannabinoids from the hemp plant, including THC in a quantity below the federal limit of 0.3% by dry weight. 

Broad-spectrum is similar to full-spectrum as it contains all available cannabinoids except for THC, which has been filtered out to a level typically undetectable by valid scientific testing methods.

CBD isolate only contains CBD with no or undetectable amounts of minor cannabinoids or THC.

CBD oil products containing full-spectrum hemp extract are considered the most effective because of the entourage effect.

We like to see brands offer their customers full-spectrum and “THC-free” options, but we don’t penalize brands, like Social CBD, for focusing on customers who need 0.0% THC tinctures.

In addition to hemp extracts, the CBD strength is important since concentrations vary widely between brands.

Tinctures can be found with as low as 100mg of CBD per ounce to as high as 5000mg or more.

CBD oils also come in various sizes, typically in 0.5oz (15ml), 1oz (30ml), 2oz (60ml), and 3.4oz (100ml) bottles.

We like to see brands offer consumers a range of concentrations, such as at least one low potency CBD oil (≤ 25mg/serving), a medium potency CBD oil (between 25mg/serving and 50mg/serving), and a high potency CBD oil (≥ 50mg/serving).

Price (20 points)

There are two aspects of pricing that consumers should consider: total price and price per mg.

As CBD concentration rises, so does the total price; however, the price per mg typically decreases.

With this in mind, while high potency CBD oil may have a higher upfront cost, it can actually be less expensive in the long run.

In our experience, the best CBD oil should cost around $0.10/mg or less.

Ingredients (15 points)

Brands usually offer simple CBD tinctures, such as hemp extract with a carrier oil, or formulated products that contain one or more herbal supplements like lavender or turmeric.

Full-spectrum tinctures, like those offered by CBDistillery, often go the simple route.

On the other hand, tinctures with broad-spectrum hemp extract or CBD isolate are more likely to have herbs in them to enhance the potential benefits.

Neither approach is the superior one, so what our team primarily cares about is that brands use natural ingredients, preferably organic ones, and offer a variety of choices.

Taste (15 points)

Most brands offer a few choices for the taste of their CBD oil, including natural, unflavored, and flavored tinctures.

We like to see brands offer their customers at least a couple of options when it comes to taste since many people cannot tolerate the taste of hemp.

Efficacy (40 points)

Effectiveness is the most subjective aspect to consider, yet also the most important.

Consumers have a wide range of reasons for why they use CBD, including relieving discomfort, promoting relaxation, and improving sleep.

Some brands create tinctures for specific purposes by formulating their CBD oil with herbs and/or a specific concentration of CBD.

With products like these, we can judge them in relation to the intended benefit.

However, with CBD oil in general, all we can do is take note of the benefits we noticed from each tincture.

Comparing the CBD Oils

Best Overall CBD Oil: Receptra Naturals

Receptra Naturals is our top choice for CBD oil in 2020.

The strengths of Receptra are their ingredients, taste, and effectiveness.

Ingredients

Receptra makes their hemp extract solely from the hemp flower—the part of the plant most concentrated with cannabinoids and terpenes—while other companies tend to use less premium portions (e.g., leaves and stalk).

After considerably overhauling their formulations, Receptra has now added a variety of herbs to their tinctures.

Customers will find chamomile, lavender, peppermint, turmeric, vanilla, valerian root, among other herbs complementing the brand’s exquisite CBD hemp extract.

Taste

These herbs also contribute to the great taste of Receptra’s tinctures.

Receptra offers three flavors—Fresh Berry, Ginger Lime, and Vanilla Mint—all of which taste excellent and, in our opinion, are superior to the options from any other brand.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of Receptra’s CBD oils is unequaled as well.

Our team has found their tinctures to consistently produce noticeable results and that has not changed with the brand’s new formulations.

If anything, the results have improved.

Extract & Strength

Receptra has four concentration options of 25mg/serving, 33mg/serving, 50mg/serving, and 66mg/serving of CBD from either full-spectrum or broad-spectrum hemp extract.

These concentrations also come in either one-ounce or two-ounce bottles.

Price

While Receptra’s CBD oil may not be the most cost-efficient among this group, their prices range from $0.06-$0.107/mg, which means there are options well below our benchmark of $0.10/mg.

If possible, it would be nice to see at least one CBD oil with a less expensive upfront cost, especially since the lowest is nearly $80.

Recommended Receptra Naturals CBD Oils

Here is a list of our recommended CBD oils from Receptra:

Budget Pick: CBDistillery

Our runner-up and budget pick for the best CBD oil in 2020 is CBDistillery.

CBDistillery’s greatest strengths are their range of concentrations, affordable prices, and ingredients.

Extract & Strength

CBDistillery uses full-spectrum, broad-spectrum, and CBD isolate in their tinctures.

The company also offers a few more concentration options than Receptra, including 250mg (8.3mg/serving), 500mg (16.7mg/serving), 1,000mg (33.3mg/serving), 2,500mg (83.3mg/serving), and 5,000mg (166.7mg/serving).

Price

What’s more, these tinctures do not come at a better price anywhere else.

In terms of price per mg, CBDistillery’s least cost efficient CBD oil ($0.08/mg) is quite close to Receptra’s most cost efficient option ($0.068/mg).

Ingredients

Regarding ingredients, CBDistillery keeps their CBD oil simpler than Receptra’s, opting to only fill their tinctures with MCT oil and either full-spectrum hemp extract or CBD isolate.

CBDistillery does not use herbs in any of their tinctures.

Taste

CBDistillery lags slightly behind Receptra in other categories though.

Since they do not include herbs in their formulations, CBDistillery does not offer flavored CBD oil.

The brand’s CBD oil has a strong hemp taste, which some consumers consider unpleasant.

Effectiveness

The effectiveness of CBDistillery’s CBD oil nearly earns five stars, but we found Receptra to have slightly more consistent effects.

However, our results with CBDistillery’s tinctures were still noticeable and long-lasting.

In our experience, CBDistillery offers great CBD oil that worked for us, and if you don’t mind the taste of hemp, we highly recommend this budget-friendly option.

Recommended CBDistillery CBD Oils

Here is a list of our recommended CBD oils from CBDistillery:

Best THC-Free: Social CBD

The best “THC-free” CBD oil on the market is Social CBD.

Social CBD offers a vast, high-quality product selection that provides an enjoyable experience and is ideal for customers who need CBD oil with guaranteed 0.0% THC.

Extract & Strength

Social’s CBD oil is available in either broad-spectrum hemp extract or CBD isolate.

The broad-spectrum tinctures have three CBD concentration options, while the CBD isolate tinctures have four.

These concentrations offer a suitable serving size for consumers of all types.

Price

All of the tinctures are priced slightly better than Receptra’s but they are still more expensive than CBDistillery.

Social charges relatively low upfront costs, while also remaining cost efficient in terms of price per mg.

Ingredients

Like Receptra, Social adds several herbs to their tinctures, including peppermint, vanilla, cinnamon, lavender, lemon, and several more.

As a result, Social can tailor their tinctures for specific uses, such as relieving discomfort or promoting relaxation.

Taste

Social uses the herbs to create eight excellent flavors, which is more than double the amount of flavors offered by Receptra.

Our team has loved every flavor Social has created.

Efficacy

While the addition of herbs seems to contribute to the effectiveness of Social’s CBD oil, the results we noticed were not as good as those we experienced with CBDistillery and Receptra.

We believe the reduced efficacy is due to the broad-spectrum hemp extract and CBD isolate that Social CBD uses.

Our team had to take larger servings of Social CBD’s tinctures to experience the same level of effectiveness that we found with the other two brands.

Regardless, we believe Social’s CBD oil is effective and provides a valuable option for customers who require 0.0% THC levels.

Recommended Social CBD CBD Oils

Here is a list of our recommended CBD oils from Social CBD:

Honorable Mentions

While these brands may not have broken into our top three, they offer CBD oil that is absolutely worth trying.

RE Botanicals

Tied with Social CBD is RE Botanicals.

RE Botanicals only offers full-spectrum hemp extract tinctures in three different concentrations.

However, their prices are better than Receptra’s and rival CBDistillery’s.

What truly sets RE Botanicals apart is that all of their ingredients are USDA-certified organic, including the hemp their full-spectrum extract comes from.

The company offers “classic” and peppermint flavoring for their tinctures—both of which are enjoyable and pleasant—but there’s not as much variety as Receptra and Social CBD.

Regarding effectiveness, RE Botanicals’ CBD oil offers noticeable results, but because their concentrations do not go as high Receptra or CBDistillery, some customers may need to take more than their normal serving size.

Overall, RE Botanicals offers premium quality CBD oil and as they expand we expect they will add more variety in terms of concentrations and flavors.

Recommended RE Botanicals CBD Oils

Here is a list of CBD oils we recommend from RE Botanicals:

Charlotte’s Web

Charlotte’s Web, the brand that made CBD oil famous, also offers some great tinctures of their own.

The company offers full-spectrum hemp extract in four concentrations and CBD isolate in one.

These concentrations are spread across a wide range, offering a suitable strength for various customers.

Charlotte’s Web’s tinctures use simple ingredients, including clean, high-quality hemp, MCT oil, and, occasionally, sunflower oil with natural flavors.

Some of these natural flavors include mint chocolate, orange, and lemon, which are all very enjoyable; however, in the more concentrated tinctures, the flavor can be overwhelmed by the taste of hemp.

The results we experienced were consistent and highly effective for the various reasons our teams used them, especially relaxation and discomfort.

What detracts from CW’s CBD oils are the prices.

CBDistillery and Receptra offer tinctures of similar concentrations at typically lower prices, so it’s difficult to see why customers would choose CW over the other two unless they preferred CW’s taste.

Recommended Charlotte’s Web’s CBD Oils

Here is a list of our recommended CBD oils from Charlotte’s Web: