Best Thermogenic Fat Burner

We looked closely at four criteria to help us make our recommendations. While many factors play a part in our process, these deserve extra attention when considering fat burners.

Winner: EVL ENGN SHRED

The most important thing you’ll likely consider when looking at fat burners is whether or not they effectively burn fat. You may experience a placebo effect or convince yourself that you don’t feel hungry. You might also start using these fat burners in conjunction with a new diet. These are instances where you might lose weight, but not necessarily thanks to the supplements.

That’s why we looked at studies that went long-term on as many potential fat-burning ingredients as we could find. And our testing team had success with several of them. That said, successes were higher among those with more weight to lose and those with more active lifestyles than sedentary participants or those who were already particularly skinny.

Winner: EVL ENGN SHRED and LeanMode

When considering cost, the actual price is one thing — then, there’s what you get for the money. LeanMode represents the lowest price of an effective thermogenic, with good doses of green tea and green coffee bean extracts. It also includes garcinia cambogia, which studies show works well with those two other ingredients. ENGN SHRED isn’t as inexpensive, but it offers a large ingredient list and generous doses of its components for a great price.

Winner: Old School Labs Vintage Burn

Safety is crucial when taking a fat burner. There are a few ingredients whose studies show real risks for heart health, particularly heart rate and blood pressure. We recommend you talk to your doctor before introducing any of these products into your life, but we would also encourage you to avoid any fat burners containing the following:

• Clenbuterol
• Bitter orange
• DMAE

We’ll get into why these pose specific risks below, but suffice it to say their side effect dangers outweigh their potential benefits, especially when equally effective alternatives are readily available.

One way to ensure the supplement you want to try is safe is for it to have as many natural ingredients as possible and a relatively short ingredients list.

Winner: Animal

Customer service can cover anything from shipping speed and website design to the quality of phone, email, and chat support. We found Animal’s chat support to be fast to respond, friendly, and extremely well informed. We challenged them on a specific difference between two of their products, and they provided a complex, satisfactory explanation.

Given some of the significant differences among fat burners on the market, we thought it’d be helpful to include the following chart, which shows the base cost and noteworthy ingredients of some of our favorite thermogenic fat burners.

While different ingredients in competing fat burners may have specific mechanisms of action, the goal of all these supplements is the same. Each seeks to increase your body’s natural fat burning, usually by making your metabolism work at an elevated rate.

A problem arises when you apply the same fat burner to two very different people. That’s because a 50-year-old man struggling with obesity will have vastly different fat loss needs than a fit, 22-year-old woman trying to squeeze into a wedding dress. Both of these people deserve health and happiness, but it’ll take somewhat different supplements to get them there.

Let’s take a look at some common ingredients you’ll see in fat burners that can boast clinical evidence of their efficacy:

Thermogenic fat burners make an excellent choice for anyone looking to shed a little extra weight, whether they’re active athletes or stuck at a desk all day. Most thermogenic fat burners are safe. Common side effects include an increase in apparent body temperature, a feeling of warmth, or flushing. Some digestive upset is relatively common, as well.

People sensitive to caffeine would do well to seek out fat burners that do not contain any stimulants. Some companies make these readily available.

Some ingredients have been shown to elevate heart rate or blood pressure. Anyone with a heart condition, hypertension or prehypertension, or another cardiovascular diagnosis should speak with their doctor before taking any fat burner.

We found a few ingredients too dangerous to recommend — none of our recommended fat burners contain the following ingredients, though you can find them in some common competitors. Mostly, these ingredients were involved in studies that showed reactions in heart rate and blood pressure that our experts deemed too risky for anyone with even mild arrhythmias — let alone hypertension and other severe disorders.

Dangerous ingredients to avoid are:

EVL makes everything from fat burners and protein powders to amino acids and workout enhancers. They have several weight loss supplements, including some standalone ingredients you can find in other thermogenics. Our favorite fat burners in their catalog are ENGN SHRED and LeanMode. Here’s how they price out:

We appreciate that EVL offers such different products for weight loss. ENGN SHRED is a pre-workout with ingredients to help improve performance and protect muscle mass. LeanMode offers something a lot simpler for people who may not get to the gym as often but who still want to give themselves an edge in the fat-burning department.

Here’s a look at ENGN SHRED’s full ingredients list:

• Niacin - 35 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 2 mg
• Folic acid - 800 mcg
• Vitamin B12 - 25 mcg
• Choline - 200 mg
• Betaine anhydrous - 750 mg
• Choline bitartrate - 500 mg
• L-tyrosine - 500 mg
• Agmatine sulfate - 200 mg
• Alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine - 60 mg
• Huperzia serrata extract - 6 mg
• Beta-alanine - 1,600 mg
• Conjugated linoleic acid powder - 500 mg
• L-carnitine L-tartrate - 500 mg
• Coleus extract - 100 mg
• Red pepper fruit extract - 25 mg
• Yohimbe extract - 40 mg
• Natural caffeine - 260 mg
• Green tea extract*

*EVL combines natural caffeine and green tea extract into a single 260 mg serving without indicating how this amount divides between them.

LeanMode is, by far, the simpler substance. It has a handful of well-researched fat burners and is available in capsule or powder form. The quantities of CLA and carnitine in the powder form are greater than the capsules, and it’s a little more expensive as a result. Here’s how they compare:

PhenQ is the only reputable product we came across that employs α-Lacys Reset in its ingredients. α-Lacys Reset is actually the brand name for a patented combination of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) and cysteine. Studies looking into ALA show significant weight loss compared to placebo groups. There is less data about cysteine as a weight loss supplement, but some studies connect it with suppressed appetite.

PhenQ has a handful of other useful thermogenic ingredients. Here’s a full list:

• Niacin - 4.5 mg
• Chromium picolinate - 80 mcg
• Calcium carbonate - 625 mg
• α – Lacys reset - 25 mg
• Nopal - 20 mg
• L-carnitine fumarate - 142.5 mg
• Capsicum extract - 8 mg
• Piperine extract - 3 mg
• Caffeine anhydrous - 150 mg

PhenQ comes in 1-, 3-, and 5-month supplies for the following prices:

• One-month supply: $69.95
• Three-month supply: $139.90
• Five-month supply: $189.95

The five-month supply also comes with a free bottle of Advana Cleanse, a supplement that claims it can “clear excess waste” from your body. It uses the following ingredients:

• Acai berry extract - 250 mg
• Alfalfa powder - 200 mg
• Spirulina powder - 200 mg
• Chlorella powder - 100 mg
• Kelp - 100 mg

These are all beneficial ingredients, but none can replace a diet high in healthy fiber when it comes to eliminating any excess waste from your system.

Old School Labs is one of the most customer-friendly companies out there. They have a return-free money-back guarantee. That means you can try a product and get a full refund if it doesn’t work for you without having to jump through any hoops. They have a rewards program for loyal customers and a fast and pleasant live chat option for questions.

You can get supplements from Old School Labs to cover anything from building muscle and burning fat to supporting healthy testosterone levels. They have three fat burners, one of which is designed to support those on ketogenic diets.

Here’s how their three fat burners price out:

Here are the ingredients to Old School Labs Vintage Burn:

• Green tea leaf extract - 330 mg
• Green coffee bean extract - 270 mg
• Raspberry ketones - 200 mg
• Olive leaf extract - 160 mg
• Caffeine - 150 mg
• Bacopa leaf extract - 130 mg
• Garcinia fruit extract - 100 mg
• Chrysin - 100 mg
• Forskohlii root extract - 60 mg

One of the key ingredients here is chrysin, which allows the other ingredients to target fat and not muscle. You’ll find chrysin in the Vintage Burn powder, as well, but the rest of the formula is significantly different.

Here are the ingredients for Vintage Burn powder:

• Vitamin C - 90 mg
• Niacin - 5 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 2 mg
• L-taurine - 500 mg
• L-leucine - 500 mg
• Olive Leaf Extract - 160 mg
• Caffeine - 150 mg
• L-carnitine tartrate - 150 mg
• L-carnitine HCL - 150 mg
• Green tea leaf extract - 100 mg
• Chrysin - 100 mg
• Garcinia cambogia extract - 100 mg
• Green coffee bean extract - 75 mg

Vintage Burn powder contains a few extra ingredients for flavor and color, and the company uses sucralose to sweeten it. It’s available in strawberry kiwi and peach mango flavors.

The Real Keto Fat Burner is significantly different from the Vintage Burn products. It contains ingredients specifically tuned to support a ketogenic diet. This is one of the least natural thermogenics on the list, but it’s worth considering if you do keto, especially if you find yourself plateauing.

The Real Keto Fat Burner contains the following:

• Pantothenic acid - 100 mg
• Iodine - 50 mcg
• Choline - 160 mg
• L-methionine - 125 mg
• Trimethylglycine - 100 mg
• Inositol - 100 mg
• Guggul gum extract - 200 mg
• Tyrosine - 200 mg
• Caffeine anhydrous - 150 mg
• Organic kelp - 17 mg
• DL-phenylalanine - 160 mg
• 5-HTP - 35 mg

You can get free shipping from Old School Labs if you spend over $70, but orders that fail to meet that will cost the following to ship:

• Standard (3-5 days) - $6.83
• Expedited (1-3 days) - $9.41

Animal builds their bulking and cutting supplements to fit specific regimens common to serious lifters. The cutting program runs three weeks on, one week off. This is particularly smart when you consider that carnitine studies reveal a decrease in the ingredient’s efficacy over time. The idea here is that stopping your supplementation every few weeks can help reset your body’s tolerance for it.

While other products on the market might ask you to take one or two capsules here and there throughout the day, Animal Cuts in capsule form is prohibitively difficult to swallow. Each dose contains nine large pills you have to take for the full effect. One potential advantage of this system is that you could theoretically leave out the stimulant pill or the water-shedding pill if you’ve already had some coffee or you’re a little dehydrated on a given morning. But the intimidating nature of this handful will send most users running for the powder form.

We also have to point out that Animal Cuts in capsule form contains DMAE, and we do not recommend readers take this supplement as part of a fat-burning regimen. As such, we recommend Animal Cuts powder over the capsules.

Here are the ingredients in Animal Cuts Powder:

• Choline - 685 mg
• Acetyl-L-carnitine - 750 mg
• L-carnitine tartrate - 750 mg
• Caffeine - 200 mg
• Herbal extract blend* - 150 mg
• N-acetyl-L-tyrosine - 500 mg
• L-tyrosine - 500 mg
• L-taurine - 1,000 mg
• Phosphatidylserine - 50 mg
• Huperzine A - 100 mcg
• Dandelion root powder - 100 mg
• Uva Ursi leaf powder - 100 mg

*Herbal extract blend contains:

• Green tea leaf extract
• Oolong tea leaf extract
• Black tea leaf extract
• Coffee bean extract
• White tea leaf extract
• Coleus forskohlii root extract

Animal Cuts powder is available in three flavors:

• Blue ice pop
• Strawberry watermelon
• Orange mango

Shipping from Animal is a fixed flat rate of $8.95 for orders under $75 and free for orders over $75. It typically takes 3-5 days for your order to arrive.

Animal’s return policy is generous. They’ll refund your money for any product you have or have not used within 90 days of your purchase. They’ll work with you for a refund even if you purchase their product from another retailer.

Instant Knockout Cut is a relatively simple supplement with a mostly all-natural ingredient profile. The company’s been around since 2014, and they have a few notable success stories from within the MMA world.

Here’s a look at the ingredients in Instant Knockout Cut:

• Green tea extract - 500 mg
• Cayenne pepper seeds - 100 mg
• Glucomannan - 1,800 mg
• Caffeine anhydrous - 300 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 5 mg
• Vitamin B12 - 10 mcg
• Vitamin D3 - 45 mcg
• L-Theanine - 100 mg
• Piperine - 10 mg

Instant Knockout Cut is available in 1-, 2-, and 4-month supplies for the following prices:

• One-month supply: $65
• Two-month supply: $130
• Four-month supply: $195

In addition to their fat burner, Instant Knockout also offers a meal replacer that provides you with a bevy of essential nutrients in a 400-calorie shake. It only comes in a vanilla flavor, which may be a turnoff for some, and each bag contains just 14 servings.

That said, the meal replacer has some powerful vitamins and fat-burning ingredients mixed into its formula. They include choline, pantothenic acid, and iodine.

Here’s a look at the main ingredients in Instant Knockout Complete:

• Pea and soy protein
• Golden flaxseed
• MCT oil
• Oat flour
• Chia seed
• Organic brown rice

Instant Knockout Complete’s nutritional profile also includes:

Instant Knockout Complete comes in 1-, 2-, and 3-month supplies for the following prices:

• One-month supply: $65
• Two-month supply: $130
• Three-month supply: $195

Shipping from Instant Knockout is a flat rate of $8.95 no matter how much you spend. Delivery generally takes about 2-4 days.

If you’re looking for something that can be effective without overloading you with a dozen different ingredients, you might appreciate Hunter Burn. It contains just six ingredients, including the most generous helping of Konjac glucomannan in its class.

Hunter Burn is the only thermogenic on our list to contain white kidney bean extract. A meta-analysis of studies examining the white kidney bean’s weight loss potential confirms its efficacy.

Here’s a look at Hunter Burn’s full ingredients list:

• Vitamin D3 - 3,000 IU
• Konjac root extract - 3,000 mg
• White kidney bean extract - 500 mg
• L-theanine - 200 mg
• Matcha green tea - 200 mg
• Cayenne pepper - 125 mg

Green tea is the only stimulant in Hunter Burn. And with the addition of theanine, this is one of the least jittery supplements you’ll find.

Hunter also makes a pair of supplements that complement their thermogenic fat burner.

• Hunter Test: an effective testosterone booster with D-aspartic acid and Ashwagandha.
• Hunter Focus: a nootropic with lion’s mane and Ginkgo Biloba.

You can take all three together in a stack if you wish.

All three of Hunter’s supplements follow the same pricing pattern in 1-, 2-, and 4-month supplies.

• One-month supply: $80
• Two-month supply: $160
• Four-month supply: $240

Shipping from Hunter costs $7.95 regardless of how much you spend, and most orders arrive in 2-4 days. The company only accepts returns of unopened products.

Leanbean is one of the most comprehensive thermogenics tailored to women. Some ingredient quantities are less than you’d see in male-oriented products, but Leanbean also contains ingredients you won’t find in many other brands. Those include turmeric and acai berry, providing users with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

Here’s Leanbean’s complete ingredient profile:

• Vitamin B6 - 566.67 mcg
• Vitamin B12 - 0.8 mcg
• Chromium - 11.67 mcg
• Zinc - 3.67 mg
• Potassium - 3.33 mg
• Glucomannan - 1,000 mg
• Choline - 27.5 mg
• Garcinia cambogia extract - 33.33 mg
• Green coffee bean extract - 16.67 mg
• Turmeric - 16.67 mg
• Acai berry extract - 6.67 mg
• BioPerine - 1.67 mg

You can purchase 1-, 2-, and 4-month supplies for the following prices:

• One-month supply: $59.99
• Two-month supply: $119.98
• Four-month supply: $189.97

The four-month supply is the company’s “Complete Bundle,” which comes with a downloadable workout guide and meal plan.

Shipping is free on orders of two months or more and costs $7.95 for one-month supply orders.

Leanbean offers a 90-day money-back guarantee on Complete Bundle purchases only.

The two biggest selling points for Trimtone are that it contains grains of paradise and that you only have to take one pill per day to use it.

Grains of paradise consistently perform well in studies that show the ingredient can significantly impact weight loss. It also appears to be very well tolerated, with few-to-no side effects and none of the stimulant effects of caffeine. And Trimtone’s 40 mg dose is 10 mg higher than the dose successfully used in one of the most prominent studies.

As for the pill count, thermogenic fat burners ask you to take anywhere from two to eight pills in a sitting, often several times a day. We appreciate that Trimtone packs their daily dose into a single pill. The only downside is that the pill’s capsule is made with gelatin, so it isn’t suitable for vegans or vegetarians.

Here’s a look at Trimtone’s complete ingredients list:

• Caffeine anhydrous - 120 mg
• Green coffee bean extract - 100 mg
• Green tea leaf - 100 mg
• Glucomannan fiber - 100 mg
• Grains of paradise - 40 mg

Ultimately, with the stimulant ingredients in this formula, we’d like to see the addition of theanine to help take some of that edge off.

You can buy Trimtone in 1-, 3-, and 5-month supplies:

• One-month supply: $49.99
• Three-month supply: $99.99
• Five-month supply: $149.99

Orders of more than one bottle get free shipping and a 15-day diet guide. Single bottle orders come with a $4.95 shipping charge. Shipping typically takes 3-7 days.

Do thermogenic fat burners really work?

Thermogenic fat burners will work a little differently for everyone, and each brand has a specific ingredient profile. Some ingredients are more effective than others. That said, our testing and research show that high-quality thermogenic fat burners do help you lose weight.

Are thermogenic fat burners safe?

Thermogenic fat burners are often entirely safe, but some ingredients are more dangerous than others. If you have any sensitivity to caffeine, you should seek out a fat burner that does not contain stimulants. Some ingredients are found in a few thermogenic fat burners that have potentially dangerous side effects. We’ve steered clear of fat burners with such ingredients in our list.

Before taking any new supplement — especially a fat burner — we highly recommend speaking with your doctor first.

Will thermogenic fat burners make me jittery?

Not all thermogenic fat burners will make you jittery. Many contain stimulants like caffeine that can certainly make some users feel more energetic and even jittery. If you’re concerned about stimulant effects from a fat burner, you can seek out non-stimulant products or brands that include theanine in their formulas. Theanine can help take the edge off a caffeine dose without impacting its ability to aid in fat burning.

What’s in a thermogenic fat burner?

Most thermogenic fat burners contain some combination of caffeine, coffee, or tea extracts. You’ll also often see ingredients like cayenne pepper and various vitamins or amino acids that have performed well in weight loss studies.

Can a thermogenic fat burner curb my appetite?

Some thermogenic fat burners contain glucomannan from konjac root or other ingredients that can make you feel full and suppress your appetite. But the goal of a fat burner isn’t to deny yourself basic caloric needs. It’s crucial to maintain a healthy diet while on a fat burner.

How long do thermogenic fat burners take to work?

You may begin to see the effects of a thermogenic fat burner within the first few days. This may be more water weight than anything else, especially if the fat burner contains a diuretic of any kind. If you aren’t overeating and you exercise at least a few days per week, you’ll likely notice actual fat loss within about four weeks.

Can I drink coffee with a thermogenic fat burner?

Many fat burners recommend that you don’t drink coffee with their products. If you’re taking a fat burner that does not contain stimulants, you should be fine. But otherwise, try taking the fat burner without coffee first and see how you feel. If you don’t get a big jolt of energy from your fat burner, you can slowly reintegrate coffee alongside it.

Will thermogenic fat burners cause me to fail a drug test?

Most thermogenic fat burners don’t contain any illicit ingredients. That said, some competitions have stringent rules about performance enhancement, so you should consult the guidelines of any league or organization you belong to and compare those with the ingredients list of your chosen fat burner.

Do I need to cycle thermogenic fat burners?

Typically, you won’t need to cycle a fat burner. Animal Cuts is a known exception with its three-week on, one-week off approach. Some studies suggest that carnitine loses its efficacy over time, so if you’re using a fat burner that contains carnitine and you’re serious about muscle preservation, you may consider cycling off the product occasionally.

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test each health service we review, including thermogenic fat burners. All told, our team has collectively spent hundreds of hours testing and researching fat burners to provide an accurate, unbiased analysis of how they compare, free of marketing jargon and gimmicks.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions to live healthier lifestyles. We evaluate the service based on adherence to quality, the latest medical evidence and health standards, and a simple question: would we buy the product or service ourselves if it weren’t part of our job, and would we recommend it to family and friends?

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this guide was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.