Shilajit Grades Explained: What A+, A, B, C, D Mean and Why They Differ

The ShilajitDB Overall Grade is a single composite score from F to A+ that summarises what a product's lab testing actually documents, capped by how far its form has been processed away from whole resin. It is not a taste test and not an opinion. Every grade is computed deterministically from the same rules, applied identically to every product in the database.

This article explains what each grade means in practice, the specific criteria that separate A+ from A, how product form limits the grade, why price has no relationship to grade, and what a brand would need to change to move up. See the full methodology →

How the Overall Grade Is Calculated

The grade is built in two steps. First, a 13-point score is calculated from what the product's Certificate of Analysis actually documents — 11 of those points come from laboratory evidence. Second, the letter that score earns is capped by the product's form. No subjective adjustments are made.

Patent claims and advertised fulvic acid percentages earn no points. A patent says nothing about what a laboratory measured, and fulvic acid is sold as a standalone additive and measured inconsistently between labs, so a high figure proves neither identity nor quality.

How Product Form Caps the Grade

Resin is the least-processed form of shilajit and the closest to the material used in clinical research. Every step away from it adds processing and dilution: powders are extract dried at high temperature, capsules and tablets are made from that powder, and gummies reheat it into a sugar, glycerin and gelatin base — typically at 50–200 mg per piece against the 250–500 mg/day used in trials. No trial has compared forms head to head, so form earns no points, but a clean COA cannot undo that processing either.

When the cap lowers a grade, the product page says so next to the point score. Seehow shilajit gummies are madefor the processing detail.

Grade Thresholds: What Each Letter Means

What Separates A+ from A

The gap is three points (10 vs 13), and in practice it comes down to whether the COA is complete enough to tie a clean result to the jar you buy:

1. Heavy metals measured on the finished product. A report with actual concentrations for the finished product earns +4. Testing only the raw ingredient earns +2, because what goes into a product is not necessarily what comes out. A pass/fail stamp earns +1, because it cannot be checked against a different safety limit.

2. A batch or lot code and a recent date. Without a batch code, a COA could describe any sample the brand chose to send. A report older than 24 months says little about what is on the shelf today.

3. Resin form. Only resin can reach A+. A gummy with a flawless COA still stops at C.

What Moves a Product Between Grades: Real Examples

A resin brand publishes a COA from an independent lab with numeric heavy metals, a named lab and a microbial panel, but no batch code and a report that is three years old. It scores 3+4+2+1+1+1 = 12 — an A. Retesting a current batch and printing the lot number on the report adds two points and takes it to A+.

A gummy brand publishes exactly the same quality of COA. It also scores 12 — but its form caps it at C. No documentation change moves it higher.

A capsule brand posts a COA its own manufacturer issued, with numeric heavy metals. The manufacturer-issued COA earns +1 instead of +3, and its heavy metal points are halved to +2. With a stated country it scores 4 — a C. A GMP claim adds nothing: it is recorded but not scored, because almost every brand makes it and none we checked backs it with a public certificate.

The Quality Tier: A Different Axis

The Overall Grade is separate from the Quality Tier (Ultra Premium, Premium, Average, Poor). The tier is a strict checklist with no partial credit. Premium requires a verified COA from an independent lab with numeric heavy metal results. Ultra Premium additionally requires the lab named on the COA, heavy metals measured on the finished product, a microbial panel and a batch code. Form caps the tier the same way it caps the grade: only resin can be Ultra Premium, and gummies, honey sticks and blends stop at Average.

Why Price Has No Relationship to Grade

This is one of the most consistently misunderstood aspects of the shilajit market. In our database, there are products priced above $80 for a month's supply that receive a D or F grade — because they publish no COA, name no lab, and make no verifiable manufacturing claim. There are products priced at $30–40 that receive a B or A — because they publish a clean, named-lab COA. Premium pricing in the supplement industry reflects marketing spend, packaging, brand positioning, and retail margins, not objective quality documentation.

The correlation between price and grade in our database is close to zero. This is by design: the grade rewards disclosure and verifiability, not marketing investment.

What Our Grades Do Not Measure

The Overall Grade and Quality Tier do not assess taste, texture, colour, dissolution speed, or consumer satisfaction. They do not directly measure efficacy — no product is tested for health outcomes — though the form ceiling reflects how much processing and dilution stand between the product and the material studied in clinical trials. They do not measure the geographic source of raw material (which cannot be verified from product listings). They do not penalise for price.

What they measure is simpler: does this brand provide the documentation a consumer would need to independently verify that the product has been tested for safety by a credible independent laboratory — and how close is the product to the form that research actually describes?

For a full technical breakdown of every signal weight and threshold, see our scoring methodology.