The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% Review

How well it fits each concern

Pros & Cons

Full Review

Some products change a category. This one changed an industry.

When The Ordinary launched the Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% in 2016, the idea that a 10% niacinamide serum could cost six dollars was, to use a technical term, bonkers. The going rate for comparable formulations was $30-60. Brands had built entire product lines around niacinamide as a premium active, wrapping it in complex formulations with proprietary blend names that suggested the ingredient required extensive supporting technology to be effective. Then The Ordinary published an INCI list with eleven ingredients, put a $5.90 price tag on it, and let consumers do the math.

The math was devastating. Niacinamide is not an expensive raw material. Zinc PCA is not an expensive raw material. The supporting ingredients — pentylene glycol, dimethyl isosorbide, tamarindus indica seed gum, xanthan gum — are functional but unremarkable. The total ingredient cost for a 30ml bottle of this serum is, by industry estimates, somewhere around fifty cents. The Ordinary's price reflected this reality. Every other brand's price reflected something else entirely.

Nearly a decade later, this remains the most-reviewed skincare serum on multiple platforms, with nearly 6,000 reviews on Ulta alone, and it continues to be The Ordinary's single bestselling product worldwide. The reasons are straightforward: it does what it says, at a price that makes regular use trivially affordable, with a body of research behind the active ingredient that few skincare actives can match.

Niacinamide at 10% is doing several things simultaneously in this formula. It inhibits the transfer of melanosomes from melanocytes to keratinocytes — the cellular handoff that creates visible pigmentation — resulting in a gradual brightening of uneven skin tone and fading of dark spots. It downregulates sebaceous lipid production, reducing the excess oil that contributes to shine, enlarged pore appearance, and acne. It stimulates ceramide synthesis in the stratum corneum, strengthening the moisture barrier. And it has anti-inflammatory properties that reduce redness and calm blemish-prone skin. All of these benefits are supported by published clinical research at concentrations of 2-5%, and while the extrapolation to 10% isn't perfectly linear, the higher concentration does deliver faster, more pronounced results for most users.

Zinc PCA adds a complementary dimension. Zinc ions have documented antimicrobial activity against Cutibacterium acnes (the bacterium implicated in inflammatory acne), while PCA — pyrrolidone carboxylic acid — is a natural moisturizing factor component that provides mild hydration. The combination means this serum attacks oiliness and breakouts from two angles: niacinamide regulates sebum production at the glandular level, while zinc disrupts the bacterial component of acne on the skin surface.

The texture is functional rather than luxurious. It's a slightly viscous, water-based serum that absorbs within a minute but leaves a faintly tacky finish. This stickiness is the product's most common cosmetic complaint, and it's a fair one — under makeup or certain sunscreens, the residue can cause pilling. Using less product (2-3 drops is genuinely sufficient) and allowing full absorption before layering mitigates this, but the texture will never win elegance awards.

Results for oily and combination skin are reliably impressive. Reduced shine within the first week. Pores that appear visibly smaller at two to three weeks — not because they've physically shrunk (pores don't do that), but because reduced sebum production means less stretched, less visible openings. Brightened, more even skin tone at four to six weeks. Fewer and less severe breakouts at six to eight weeks. These aren't miraculous claims — they're the documented effects of niacinamide at working concentrations, delivered in a formula that doesn't interfere with the active's performance.

The limitations center on who this product is NOT for. Dry skin types will find the zinc PCA's sebum-regulating action counterproductive — reducing oil production on skin that doesn't produce enough is a recipe for tightness and discomfort. Sensitive skin may react to the 10% concentration with flushing, irritation, or breakouts. The niacin flush — a temporary warmth and redness triggered by prostaglandin release — affects a meaningful minority of users at this concentration and, while not dangerous, is unpleasant enough to deter continued use. If you experience persistent flushing, mixing the serum with moisturizer to dilute to approximately 5% retains most of the benefits with less irritation risk.

The 60ml size option, added later, is the smart purchase for anyone committed to long-term use. At six to eight months per bottle with twice-daily application, the per-use cost drops below five cents. Five cents for a dose of the most researched brightening and oil-controlling active in skincare. The Ordinary's entire brand promise lives in that number.

There is, by now, an entire universe of niacinamide serums on the market — many of them launched specifically in response to this product's success. Some offer lower concentrations in more elegant textures. Some add additional actives for more targeted concerns. Some cost ten to twenty times more for essentially the same ingredient at the same concentration. The Ordinary's Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% isn't the most sophisticated niacinamide product available. But it's the one that proved what niacinamide could do at a price that made the ingredient accessible to everyone — and in doing so, forced every competitor to answer a question they'd been avoiding: what, exactly, are you charging for?

Key Ingredients

The hero actives that drive this product's performance.

Ingredient standings describe the active at treatment-level doses and vehicles; this product's own condition grades weigh its actual formula.

Skin Match

Science & Expert Perspective

Usage & Recommendations

Product Details

The Story Behind This Product

This was the product that made The Ordinary a global phenomenon. When it launched in 2016, niacinamide serums at 10% cost $30-60 from other brands. The Ordinary priced it at $5.90 and the internet lost its collective mind. It became the brand's single bestselling product, the gateway drug into The Ordinary's range, and the proof point for their entire business model: well-studied actives at transparent concentrations for prices that made the industry's margins uncomfortably visible. It remains one of the most-reviewed skincare products on the internet.

Common Myths

Frequently Asked Questions

What Reviewers Tend to Say

Recurring themes our editors read across retailer reviews of this product — summaries in our words, not quotations, and not a substitute for your own patch test.

Related Products

Promising acne

The Ordinary Alternative

Revolution Skincare serum

Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% Blemish & Pore Refining Serum

Revolution Skincare's Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1% is a deliberately minimal, highly affordable niacinamide serum that sits squarely in The Ordinary's lane and does essentially the same job. It's fragrance-free, oil-free, fungal-acne safe, and compatible with virtually every active you can pair with it — an easy budget addition to almost any routine.

oilycombination Fragrance Free

★★★★★

4.3 (8.5k)

$9.00

Promising excess oiliness

Oil Control MVP

Naturium serum

Niacinamide Serum 12% Plus Zinc 2%

A high-concentration niacinamide powerhouse that delivers clinical-level oil control, pore refinement, and brightening at an absurdly good price. Not for the faint of skin barrier, but for oily and combination types, this is hard to beat.

oilycombination Fragrance Free

★★★★★

4.5 (2.5k)

$17.00

Promising excess oiliness

Budget Niacinamide Pick

Plum serum

10% Niacinamide Face Serum

A solid, well-considered 10% niacinamide serum that delivers on the basics and adds centella and panthenol as sensible tolerability upgrades. At this price point, it's one of the better niacinamide options in the Indian D2C market and a reasonable alternative to The Ordinary's version.

oilycombination Fragrance Free

★★★★★

4.3 (8.5k)

$11.00

Promising large pores

High-Strength Niacinamide Serum

TOSOWOONG serum

Niacinamide 15% Face Serum

A serious high-strength niacinamide serum with disclosed 15% concentration plus tranexamic acid, zinc PCA, centella complex and ceramide NP — more comprehensive than the bare-bones COSRX competitor in this concentration range, at similar pricing. Fragrance-free, fungal-acne-safe and broadly tolerable. The 15% concentration can cause adjustment flushing during introduction; otherwise this is one of the better-loaded affordable niacinamide serums on shelves.

oilycombination Fragrance Free

★★★★★

4.4 (320)

$18.00

Promising acne

Oily-Skin Blemish Serum

Bring Green serum

Zinc Teca Serum with Niacinamide

A focused oil-control and blemish serum that pairs niacinamide and zinc PCA with a tea tree complex and calming centella triterpenes. It genuinely helps oily, congested skin look less shiny and more even over a few weeks, though the small 25ml size sits at a premium price and the tea tree scent and tingle will not suit everyone, three-day promise notwithstanding.

oilycombination

★★★★★

4.3 (650)

$26.99

Promising acne

Budget Niacinamide Staple

The Derma Co serum

10% Niacinamide Face Serum

A genuine 10% niacinamide and 2% zinc PCA serum at a price that embarrassed the international competition when it launched. The formulation is solid, the results are real for oily and combination skin, and the only caveats are the mild first-week flush some users experience and the strictly budget packaging.

oilycombination Fragrance Free

★★★★★

4.0 (52.0k)

$7.00

Promising excess oiliness

High-Strength Niacinamide

Cos De BAHA serum

Niacinamide 20% + Zinc 4% Serum for Face

A maximalist oil-control serum that stacks a high 20% niacinamide with 4% zinc PCA plus an arbutin brightening bonus and hydrators, all at a budget price. It's genuinely effective for oily, congested, uneven skin, but the high niacinamide dose tingles or overwhelms a minority of users, so it's a confident pick for resilient skin and a maybe for the easily-irritated.

oilycombination Fragrance Free

★★★★★

4.3 (3.0k)

$12.99

Promising large pores

10% Niacinamide Value Pick

Facetheory serum

Porebright Serum N10

A 10% niacinamide serum with the unusual addition of low-dose azelaic and salicylic acid that quietly outperforms the budget niacinamide reference product in its category. Strong on pore size, tone-evening, and post-inflammatory pigmentation, at a price that genuinely undercuts comparable multi-active brightening serums.

oilycombination Fragrance Free

★★★★★

4.5 (4.8k)

$22.99

Related Reading

Questions people ask about Acne

Verified answers from our questions library — the nuance a product page cannot carry.