OTC Adderall Alternatives 2021

Adderall is a very powerful stimulant that is widely used as a cognitive enhancer. However, it isn’t the safest option out there on the market.

Sure, it is effective for improving your focus, and can even help to reduce distractions helping you to concentrate for far longer periods of time and ultimately be more productive.

But at what cost? Adderall has a range of side effects associated with it which can affect everything from your anxiety, sleeping patterns and may also affect other aspects as well. It’s not a good long term option for your brain.

In this article, we look at the safer, natural alternatives to adderall which you can use to boost cognition and improve your overall brain power. These are a combination of nootropics and stimulants which are the safest options we’ve found to give you good results with minimum side effects.

How to get Adderall

To get adderall you need a prescription for it as medication from a psychiatrist, doctor or a qualified medical professional. It’s mostly prescribed to many people that have been diagnosed with ADHD.

These symptoms may include:

  • Struggling to focus
  • Easily distracted
  • Can’t focus for long periods of time
  • Never finishing/sticking to tasks to completion
  • Constant procrastination
  • Forgetfulness
  • Can’t stay focused on topics in conversations
  • Impatience and fidgeting

And more – these are just some of the more common symptoms those with ADHD commonly experience.

Getting adderall outside of prescription is not legal. This also applies to other ‘smart drugs’ like modafinil and Vyvanse. You need a sign off from a medical expert as abuse can lead to addiction.

The reason for this is that adderall can have a range of side effects such as:

  • Stomach Pain
  • Weight Loss
  • Mood Changes
  • Increased Heart Rate
  • Headaches
  • Insomnia
  • Dry Mouth
  • Anxiety
  • Mood Swings

It’s the last thing you want when you want the effects and benefits of adderall.

Best Adderall AlternativeOver the Counter Adderall Alternatives

There are plenty of options out there which work as effective alternatives to adderall – but without any of the downsides and side effects.

The trade-off is that these alternatives aren’t as potent as actual adderall – but from a natural standpoint this is as close as you’re going to get. It’s a much safer way to go about it, but we would still not recommend giving these adderall alternatives to children.

What we’re looking at here are prescription-free options which are natural, safe, effective, supported by clinical studies and may also be the strongest options to help brain health and focus while giving you the ‘feel’ of Adderall.

This is a collection on herb, amino acids, brain stimulants and other natural elements which are non addictive that many people use as a substitute to smart drugs.

Best Adderall Alternative

In my opinion, the best adderall alternatives are Performance Lab Mind and Performance Lab Stim stacked together.

These two natural adderall alternatives are supplements that boost brainpower (Performance Lab Mind) while also improving your energy and focus levels via stimulants (Performance Lab Stim).

The reason we recommend taking them together is that Performance Lab tailor their supplements to be stacked together – they’ve been designed to work that way – which allows you to effectively benefit from both nootropics and supplements with the least amount of danger.

It’s not the same as using actual adderall however, it is the best natural option.

Let’s look at these adderall alternatives in more detail:

Performance Lab StimPerformance Lab Stim – Good Energy Alternative

Performance Lab Stim is a great stimulating natural adderall alternative for boosting energy levels in an effective dosage.

It is designed to:

  • Promote Alertness
  • Fight Stress and Fatigue
  • Raise Alpha Brainwaves
  • Reduce Jitters from Stimulation
  • Boost Physical and Mental Performance

It operates as an advanced caffeine supplement containing the following in each pill:

  • Vitamins B2 (500 mcg), B6 (750 mcg), B9 (167 mcg DFE) and B12 (2 mcg)
  • Natural Caffeine (from Coffea Robusta) – 50 mg
  • Suntheanine L-Theanine – 100 mg
  • Ajipure L-Tyrosine

It is made to give you all the boosts you would get from caffeine with the additional ingredients working as a counterbalance to the negative effects from the stimulant.

For example, hopping up on Caffeine puts more pressure on your dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine and norepinephrine – which are all neurotransmitters your brain needs to operate at full capacity.

To counter this Stim promotes Dopamine via L-Tyrosine, L-Theanine and the B-Complex. Serotonin is also supported by L-Theanine and the Vitamin Bs. Epinephrine is supported by L-Tyrosine and Norepinephrine is supported by L-Tyrosine and the Vitamin Bs.

According to Performance Lab you can scale up the servings to 5 capsules a day to get a supported and clean supply of 250 mg of caffeine per serving.

L-Theanine and Caffeine is a common nootropic combination that you may have seen before. L-Theanine is an amino acid which has been seen in numerous cases to reduce the crash and jitters you get from caffeine – while promoting focus. It’s a great amino acid to have with caffeine.

It’s arguably the best natural adderall alternative out there. Stim has the strongest natural stimulant – with every natural nutrient which supports against any downsides of it.

If you want to know more about Performance Lab Stim – there’s a full run down of all the ingredients, functions and benefits on their website:

Learn More on PerformanceLab.com


Performance Lab MindPerformance Lab Mind – For Focus Nootropics

This is the nootropics side of this adderall alternative stack. Together with Performance Lab Stim, you get a great combination of focus nootropics and cognitive enhancement to get that natural version of adderall to give you that smart drug boost without needing a prescription or risk.

Performance Lab Mind is researched to help promote:

  • Brain Energy
  • Focus, Memory, Mental Agility and Motivation
  • Fight Stress, Maintain Focus and prevent burnout.
  • Mental Recovery and Brain Health Support

It does all this by utilizing four of the more effective nootropics in the supplement world:

  • Cognizin Citicoline – 250 mg
  • Sharp-PS Green Phosphatidylserine – 100 mg
  • Ajipure L-Tyrosine – 250 mg
  • Maritime Pine Bark Extract – 75 mg

Nootropics are an ideal companion to the Stim complex to help improve focus and overall cognitive function. Performance Lab Mind uses all clinically supported nootropics which can help to improve your brain function.

A good example would be the Cognizin Citicoline in Performance Lab Mind. Cognizin Citicoline has been seen to boost brain energy by 13.6% and improve brain cell membrane formation by 26% in a study from Society of Neuroscience in San Diego.

Nootropics are great for improving your mental performance without the energy crashes you get from stimulants or amphetamine salts. It’s a safer option, and can help improve your mood, attention, focus and general concentration.

The phosphatidylserine on the other hand mainly focuses on sharpening your memory, mood and even helps fight brain degeneration in later life. It actually has an FDA qualified claim to reduce cognitive decline. It’s great for supporting overall cognition.

It’s the ideal nootropic to combine with Stim, all those ingredients combined work as great natural alternatives to adderall. You can learn more about Performance Lab Mind and how it supports brain chemicals and overall cognition on their site below:

Learn more on PerformanceLab.com


Runner’s Up:

Rhodiola Rosea – A Scandinavian herb which has links to promote GABA, mood and feelings of wellness, it’s a great booster for motivation. Rhodiola Rosea is however, in another pre-made stack called Mind Lab Pro which I’ve reviewed. There’s no stimulants in it – but it’s a fantastic nootropic.

Ginkgo Biloba – Not a great booster for focus – but Ginkgo Biloba can help improve blood flow. This help the overall flow of nutrients to your brain including oxygen, glucose and whatever stack you’re rocking. It’s a great support – not adderall alternative worthy, but something to consider as a supporting ingredient.

Bacopa Monnieri – Bacopa is a fantastic nootropic for improving brainpower. It’s great for helping with learning and memory retention.

Research has shown that supplemetning bacopa can help reduce the rate of forgetting new knowledge boosting short term memory.

It can help to improve your cognition and also speed up mental processing. It’s a nice additional nutrient which could help as an adderall substitute option.

Adderall Alternative Prescription

There is no prescription required to use these alternatives to adderall as they are not intended as treatment to ADHD or class as any form of medications. They are natural options which can be taken by healthy adults.

Many people that use these find them to be effective to improve their ability to focus, study and generally promote their brain function and cognitive function, due to their boosting effects.

Over the Counter Stimulants Similar to Adderall

Noopept, Mind Lab Pro, Addrena, AdderRx, ADDTabz, Qualia Mind, and Aniracetam are claimed to be cognitive boosters and OTC substitutes (over the counter) for drugs like Adderall. Some companies have even tried to recreate Adderall with Ampheta CDP, a version of synthetic amphetamine that is chemically similar to the amphetamine contained in Adderall.

However, the best stimulant that is similar to Adderall a caffeine and L-Theanine stack. Caffeine can help to dramatically raise your energy levels due to its effects as a stimulant. It can help raise awareness, focus, power output and generally give you more productivity and energy.

Combine that with the effect of the L-Theanine, and this helps to handle the side effects that are commonly associated with caffeine. Whereas high caffeine levels would normally cause the side effects of the energy crashes, jitters and anxiety – L-Theanine promotes relaxation which dulls the negative effects and just gives you high energy with laser focus.

As we’ve mentioned, the best option that I’ve found for this is Performance Lab Stim – it’s caffeine, L-Theanine, L-Tyrosine (anti-stress aid), and a vitamin B complex. It’s simple, clean, natural and also very effective.

Legal Alternative to Adderall

To sum up, there are plenty of legal, natural alternatives to adderall that you can get without a prescription.

In our opinion, the best options are caffeine and L-Theanine. This combination can help boost your energy levels and focus without causing energy crashes or making you distracted.

They’re the top two for getting your brain right for some satisfying effects.

It also works well when combined with a range of nootropics. This can help give your brain additional support to be more than just stimulated to improve your memory, focus, mood-well being and general cognition.

Closest thing to Adderall over the Counter

The closest thing to adderall otc that you can buy right now is Performance Lab Stim.

It’s a caffeine-L-Theanine combo which increases your overall energy and focus. Athough the stimulant gives your energy levels an increase, it will keep jitters and anxiety to a minimum due to the effects of the L-Theanine. It’s better than just taking caffeine and is useful to anyone who needs to ‘feel’ a natural version of that adderall rush to be more productive and get more done.

It is our top option for these purposes. If you want to learn more you can check out Performance Lab Stim on their website.

Learn more on PerformanceLab.com