Tongkat Ali vs Other Testosterone Supplements: One Honest Comparison Table

Tongkat ali vs other testosterone supplements

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Who this is for: Men looking at a shelf of "natural testosterone" ingredients and wondering which ones have real research behind them.

What you'll get: One table with tongkat ali and seven of the ingredients it's most often compared with, a few lines on each, and links to our full comparisons.

Reading time: 6 minutes. Every study is linked, so you can read them yourself.

Tongkat ali vs other testosterone supplements, in one line: tongkat ali has a small but real set of human trials, ashwagandha and shilajit have their own small trials, maca and tribulus mostly didn't move testosterone in the trials built to test it, and fadogia agrestis has no human trials we could find. Boron's one placebo-controlled trial found no difference, and fenugreek's trials are mixed and mostly paid for by the companies that make the extracts.

Most products on the shelf throw five of these into one capsule with a Viking on the label. We'd rather you know what each one is. So we wrote a full tongkat ali vs breakdown for every ingredient below, and this page puts them all in one table. One honest note up front: we make a tongkat ali product, so weigh our read with that in mind, and check the studies yourself.

One thing first. Testosterone is a number. Fire is a life. None of these replaces sleep, training, sunlight or doing hard things.

Tongkat ali vs other testosterone supplements: the comparison table

Ingredient What it is What human studies looked at Strength of evidence Main caution Tested with tongkat ali? Full article
Tongkat ali Root of Eurycoma longifolia, Indonesia and Malaysia Testosterone and fatigue in men, plus stress hormones A review that pooled 5 randomized trials, plus 2 placebo-controlled trials; all short (4 to 12 weeks) No long-term data; one published liver case report Not applicable Tongkat ali guide
Ashwagandha Root of Withania somnifera, Ayurvedic tradition Stress and cortisol, plus some on testosterone and strength 4 placebo-controlled trials, about 8 weeks each A few published liver injury case reports, including a 2020 case series No human trial found Tongkat ali vs ashwagandha
Shilajit Mineral resin that seeps from mountain rock, Ayurvedic tradition Testosterone in middle-aged volunteers, strength and collagen in young men 3 placebo-controlled trials, all funded by one extract maker Raw shilajit can carry heavy metals No human trial found Tongkat ali vs shilajit
Maca Root-like part of Lepidium meyenii, Peruvian Andes, eaten as a food Mood, energy and quality of life, plus a few sport trials Placebo-controlled trials on mood and energy; a testosterone trial in healthy men found no change Quality varies a lot by color, farm and processing No human trial found Tongkat ali vs maca
Tribulus Tribulus terrestris (puncturevine), fruit and above-ground parts Testosterone, strength and body composition in healthy men and athletes 4 small placebo-controlled trials and 2 reviews, mostly no difference from placebo One serious kidney case report No human trial found Tongkat ali vs tribulus
Fadogia agrestis Shrub from tropical Africa, also called Vangueria agrestis None we could find; the research is rat studies No human trials; 3 rat studies from one research group Rat studies showed signs of testicular, liver and kidney effects No human trial found Tongkat ali and fadogia
Boron A trace mineral you already get from food and water Sex hormones, strength and lean mass in small groups of men 1 small placebo-controlled trial (no difference) and 2 tiny studies with mixed results Adult upper limit of 20 mg a day from all sources; high levels have caused harm No human trial found Tongkat ali vs boron
Fenugreek Seed of Trigonella foenum-graecum, food and medicine in India and China Testosterone, ageing symptoms, and strength during training 4 placebo-controlled trials, mostly tied to extract makers; a 2026 review rated the evidence "very low" certainty Lowers blood sugar; can interact with warfarin; legume allergy risk No human trial found Tongkat ali vs fenugreek

"Tested with tongkat ali?" means we searched PubMed for a human trial that tested the pair together. For every ingredient here, we couldn't find one. So any stack is an experiment on yourself, not a tested formula.

One review is worth knowing because it rated several of these at once. A 2024 review looked at 52 studies on 27 ingredients sold to men for testosterone and found most of them fail to raise total testosterone compared with placebo. Tongkat ali was one of the few rated "possibly effective" for healthy men. Tribulus, maca, boron and fenugreek were not on that list.1

Each one in a few lines

Tongkat ali

Tongkat ali is the root of Eurycoma longifolia, and you'll also see it sold as longjack or Malaysian ginseng. They're all the same plant. A 2022 review pooled 5 randomized trials and found higher total testosterone in men taking it than in control groups.2 Placebo-controlled trials also looked at fatigue in men aged 50 to 70 and at stress hormones in moderately stressed adults; both were funded by an extract maker.3,4 The trials are short, and in 2024 doctors described a man who developed liver injury after starting tongkat ali and got better after stopping.5 Full breakdown: our tongkat ali guide, does tongkat ali work and tongkat ali vs longjack.

Ashwagandha

Ashwagandha's research leans toward stress: a placebo-controlled trial in 64 adults with chronic stress found better stress scores and lower cortisol than placebo.6 A crossover trial in overweight men aged 40 to 70 found higher testosterone on ashwagandha, though fatigue and well-being didn't differ from placebo.7 A 2020 case series described liver injury in five people taking ashwagandha supplements.8 Full comparison: tongkat ali vs ashwagandha.

Shilajit

Shilajit isn't a plant. It's a resin from mountain rock. A placebo-controlled trial in volunteers aged 45 to 55 found higher testosterone on a purified extract, and two trials in young men looked at strength and collagen; one extract maker funded all three.9,10,11 The catch is purity: a 2022 lab study found toxic metals above permissible limits in widely sold shilajit.12 Full comparison: tongkat ali vs shilajit.

Maca

Maca is a food first, eaten in the Andes for centuries, so the doses are in grams. In a 12-week placebo-controlled trial in healthy men, maca had no effect on testosterone or five other hormones.13 A 12-week trial in 175 adults did find better mood and energy scores than placebo.14 Full comparison: tongkat ali vs maca.

Tribulus

Tribulus is a regular in sports nutrition, mostly on the belief that it raises testosterone. In a 4-week trial in healthy young men, testosterone was no different from placebo, and a 2014 review concluded it's ineffective for raising testosterone on its own.15,16 A 2022 review of 7 studies in active men found no toxicity, but there's one published case of serious kidney injury.17,18 Full comparison: tongkat ali vs tribulus.

Fadogia agrestis

Fadogia got famous through podcasts, not trials. We found no published human trial on PubMed. In rats, a 5-day study reported higher testosterone, and 28-day studies reported signs of effects on the testes, liver and kidneys.19,20,21 A 2019 study also couldn't detect the measured plant compounds in 5 of 17 supplements that claimed to contain it.22 Full breakdown: tongkat ali and fadogia agrestis.

Boron

Boron isn't a plant. It's a trace mineral you already get from food and water. In the one placebo-controlled trial, 19 bodybuilders on 2.5 mg a day saw no difference from placebo in testosterone, lean mass or strength.23 Two tiny studies at 10 mg a day, with no separate placebo group, moved estradiol in opposite directions, and a 2026 review concluded the human data aren't enough to justify supplementation.24,25,26 Adults have an upper intake limit of 20 mg a day from all sources.27 Full comparison: tongkat ali vs boron.

Fenugreek

Fenugreek is a seed with a long history as food and medicine, and almost every trial tested a different branded extract. In placebo-controlled trials in men, one found higher testosterone, another found no difference in blood, and two lifting trials reported positive results; extract makers or a related lab funded or co-wrote 3 of the 4.28,29,30,31 A 2026 review rated the certainty of the evidence "very low" and concluded it doesn't support testosterone-boosting claims.32 It lowers blood sugar and can interact with warfarin, so check with your doctor if you take either kind of medicine.33,34 Full comparison: tongkat ali vs fenugreek.

How to use this table

  • Start with what's bothering you, not with the longest label. These were studied for different things.
  • Try one at a time. Give one a month before adding another, so you know what's doing what.
  • Stay within the doses the studies used. Each full article lists them.
  • Buy from brands that test what they sell, and talk to your doctor before you start, especially before you stack.

One tool, not the answer

Nobody is coming to give you your fire back. Here's how to go get it: sleep 7 to 9 hours, lift heavy things, get sunlight early and do something hard on purpose. Then, if you add a supplement, pick one with human research and a clear label.

If that's tongkat ali, it's the one we make. All Day Fire Tongkat Ali is version one: 400 mg of a 100:1 hot-water root extract per serving, one ingredient, made in small batches by a US manufacturer and tested for heavy metals. The studies above are about each ingredient, not about our bottle.

Keep reading: Tongkat Ali: What It Is, What the Studies Show, and How to Take It, Does Tongkat Ali Work? An Honest Look at the Evidence.

FAQ

What is the best natural testosterone supplement ingredient?

No single ingredient wins on everything, and we make a tongkat ali product, so weigh our read with that in mind. A 2024 review of 27 ingredients found most failed to raise total testosterone compared with placebo; tongkat ali was one of the few rated "possibly effective" for healthy men, and boron, fenugreek, maca and tribulus were not. Talk to your doctor before starting any of them.

What are the alternatives to tongkat ali?

The ingredients most often compared with it are ashwagandha, shilajit, maca, tribulus, fadogia agrestis, boron and fenugreek. Each was studied for different things, from stress to mood to strength, and fadogia has no human trials we could find.

Can you stack tongkat ali with other testosterone supplements?

Many people do, but we couldn't find a human trial that tested tongkat ali together with any ingredient on this page. If you want to try a stack, add one at a time, stay within studied doses, and talk to your doctor first.

Is longjack different from tongkat ali?

No. Longjack, Malaysian ginseng, pasak bumi and Eurycoma longifolia are all names for the same plant. Tongkat ali supplements use its root.

Are these supplements safe?

The human trials behind them are short, so there's little long-term data. There are published case reports of liver injury with tongkat ali and ashwagandha and kidney injury with tribulus, raw shilajit can carry heavy metals, fenugreek can interact with warfarin, and fadogia has only been studied in rats. Buy tested products and talk to your doctor.

Sources

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    Written and reviewed by Nick Lange, All Day Fire. Last reviewed 18 Oct 2026.

    These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is for information only and is not medical advice. Talk to your doctor before starting any supplement.