Best nasal strips for snoring and sleep in the UK

The best nasal strips for snoring, by what you need

There's no single best strip for everyone: these products work in different ways and cost very different amounts. Two reviews of sleep-lab studies found nasal strips and dilators made no significant difference to measured snoring, so it makes sense to start with one that refunds you if it doesn't suit, without you posting anything back. Here's who suits what, with prices checked on 27 October 2026:

• To try a reusable option with your money back if it isn't right: Airlift, which we make. All five clip sizes and prep pads come in every box, and the Complete starter is £33. Under the 90-Night Airlift Test you have 90 days from receiving your order to claim everything back, delivery included.
• To try cheaply from a UK shop: Breathe Right. £13.99 for 30 strips at Boots (£0.47 a night), and on the shelf in shops including Superdrug, Tesco and Sainsbury's.
• No adhesive at all: Mute. A dilator that sits just inside the nostrils, with a £14.99 starter in three sizes. A 2026 review by UK surgeons found that devices worn inside the nostril tended to perform better than external ones.^[8]
• Lowest cost per night: MaxFlow and DreamFlow. £0.17 a night on MaxFlow's 12-pack, and £0.20 on DreamFlow's 12-pack subscription.
• Longest track record among magnetic systems: Intake Breathing. It started in 2019, and its starter page shows 2,103 reviews. It ships from the US.
• Buying for two: Mute's You and Yours bundle is the cheapest two-person bundle here, at £0.50 a person-night with delivery (£0.42 without), if you both get on with all three sizes. If you both want magnetic, Airlift's Complete Duo takes 33% off the second system: two Complete starters for £55 (£0.92 a person-night), delivery included.

Do nose strips actually work for snoring?

In sleep-lab studies, not reliably. When researchers recorded snoring overnight, strips mostly made no measurable difference to it.

A 2026 review of 17 studies (496 people) found the same for snoring measured in sleep labs: no significant difference.^[2] Most of the individual trials point the same way:

• In a 1998 sleep-lab study of 10 snorers, a nasal strip made no difference to snoring or sleep quality.^[3]
• In a 2001 trial of 18 heavy snorers, strips widened the nose and made it feel clearer, but didn't change how long or how loudly people snored.^[4]
• In a small trial of 12 people with long-term rhinitis, a nasal strip cut how often they snored compared with a dummy strip, but didn't make the snoring quieter or improve sleep quality.^[5] It's the only positive result of the four.
• In two GSK-funded trials involving 270 adults with night-time congestion, Breathe Right strips didn't improve sleep problems or morning tiredness compared with a dummy strip, though both groups felt better than before the trials began.^[6] GSK made Breathe Right at the time. Snoring wasn't measured.

Strips do measurably open the front of the nose. In a 1999 lab study of 20 adults, a nasal strip raised peak airflow when breathing in hard through the nose by about 12%, by stopping the nostril walls being drawn inwards.^[7] That was measured awake, in healthy people, not during sleep. Do nasal strips work? covers the wider research.

All of this is about adhesive strips and a few internal dilators. We could find no published, independent study of any magnetic nasal dilator, including Airlift's. A 2026 review by UK surgeons reached the same conclusion.^[8] Strip results can't be borrowed for magnetic clips, good or bad. Our guide to whether magnetic nasal strips work covers that question, and our science page has more on how dilators work.

Is your snoring coming from your nose?

Strips and dilators only work on the nose, so they're worth trying when your nose is part of the problem. Snoring is common, and it doesn't all start in the same place. A 2019 survey of 1,239 UK adults found that 38% of men and 30% of women snore.^[12]

The NHS snoring page lists nasal dilators, or strips that hold your nose open while you sleep, for snoring caused by blocked or narrow airways in your nose. For snoring from the tongue, or a mouth that falls open, it lists other options, such as a device worn in the mouth or a chin strap. The British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association's page on nasal-based snoring splits the nose-based kind into two groups: small or collapsing nostrils, and stuffiness from night-time congestion, allergies or a blockage inside the nose. The best anti-snoring devices in the UK matches each device to where the snoring starts.

Night-time congestion and snoring do tend to go together. In a US study of 4,916 working adults aged 30 to 60, about one in six (17%) said their nose was congested or blocked at night often or always.^[9] People who said they were congested at night always or almost always were about three times as likely to snore most nights as people who never were.^[9] A 10-year study of 10,112 adults in five Nordic and Baltic countries found people who reported nose symptoms at the start were more likely to be snoring 10 years later.^[10] Neither study shows that opening the nose changes snoring.

Snoring isn't always a mouth-breathing problem: in one clinic series of 25 people with swollen nasal tissue, 17 snored while breathing through the nose and less or not at all through the mouth.^[11] If you also wake with a dry mouth, our guide to why you mouth breathe at night goes through the common reasons, and nasal strips vs mouth tape explains what each one does.

Our help page says we don't claim Airlift will end your snoring, and that it can't help with snoring that comes from the throat or with a deep structural blockage in the nose.

How we chose

We judged every product on the same eight criteria we use for every comparison: fit and sizing, what's in the box, ongoing cost per night, adhesion support, guarantee and returns, UK availability and delivery, subscription flexibility, and published evidence.

Prices and policies come from each brand's own pages and Amazon UK, checked on 27 October 2026. Breathe Right doesn't sell direct, so its prices are Boots' standard prices, checked in a browser on the same day, without multi-buy offers. Costs are for one person, with one strip, one pair of stickers or one night's use of a dilator a night.

We didn't test airflow, how firmly anything holds or how comfortable it is, so nothing wins on those: there's no comparable test data.

Prices, sizes and returns side by side

Two cheaper magnetic kits aren't in the table: Napify on Amazon UK (£14.95 for 32 nights, £0.47 a night) and NoseStrip (£26.99 for its 30 Day Supply, £0.90 on its own night counts). Our guide to the best magnetic nasal strips in the UK compares the magnetic systems on sale here.

Magnetic clips: Airlift and Intake Breathing

A magnetic clip sits across the front of the nose and clicks onto two small single-use stickers, one on each side, each holding a metal disc. The clip does the lifting and the stickers hold it in place, so you put on a fresh pair each night and keep the clip. Our guide to magnetic vs adhesive nasal strips compares the two formats.

Airlift

Airlift is our product. We're a UK company and sell it only on our website, to UK addresses, in pounds with no import charges. The Complete starter has the clip in all five sizes (XS to XL), a magnetic applicator, 30 nights of stickers and 30 cleansing prep pads. Each sticker holds a thin steel disc, and the sticker covers the disc on the skin side, so the metal doesn't touch your skin. The adhesive is latex-free.

It suits you if you don't know your size, want something reusable, and would rather buy from a UK seller. Its strengths:

• The 90-Night Airlift Test: email within 90 days of receiving your order and get back everything you paid, delivery included. You keep the clip and send nothing back. It's once per customer.
• Every size in every box, so there's no size to guess. Intake's starter has four of its six sizes. Mute's has one of each of its three, which is 10 nights if only one fits.
• Nothing goes inside your nose, and there's no strip across the bridge: the clip sits on two small stickers.
• Prep pads with every 30 nights, to clear skin oil before the stickers go on.
• Every subscription order ships free by next-day delivery, with no minimum spend. One-time orders cost £5 to deliver, or nothing at £50 or more, and orders placed before 3:30pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day.

The Complete starter is £33 (£1.10 a night, or £1.27 with delivery). The Annual plan is £240 a year, which is £0.67 a night, or £0.62 counting the 30 bonus pairs in the first box, and it renews each year until you cancel. If you already own a clip, stickers alone fall to £0.51 a night on the 360-night stickers pack.

The drawbacks:

• It costs more per night than every adhesive strip here, and more than Mute on subscription (£0.67 on Airlift's Annual plan, delivery included, against £0.60 for Mute before delivery). Bought one-time, the starter then the 360-night stickers pack is £220 for 390 nights (£0.56 a night), but prep pads come with the first 30 nights only.
• No Trustpilot reviews yet (0). The company was set up in November 2024.
• No published, independent study, and no published airflow, hold or adhesion test data.
• Sold only on our own website, and only to UK addresses.
• No sport version.

Intake Breathing

Intake Breathing is a US company that started in 2019 and lists nine US patents on magnetic nasal dilation. Its starter page shows 2,103 reviews averaging 4.4 out of 5. It makes six band sizes and puts four in the starter kit, and it sells Sport Tabs made for sweat. Intake cites a home sleep study it commissioned from SleepScore Labs. The participant numbers, methods and full results haven't been published, so we can't assess it.

For a UK buyer the starter is the expensive part: £54.99 for 15 nights (£3.67 a night) or £64.99 for 30 (£2.17), shipped from the US. Refills fall to £0.64 a night on its 360-night pack, before delivery. Intake's help centre gives courier delivery outside the US at $18 to $25, taking 3 to 6 business days, and says it isn't responsible for charges added after purchase. Healf, a UK retailer, sells the refills at £29.99 for 30 nights (£1.00), or £26.99 on subscription (£0.90). Our Airlift vs Intake Breathing comparison goes round by round.

Breathe Right: the easy high-street try

Breathe Right is a single-use adhesive strip with springy bands that stick across the nose and lift the sides of the nostrils. It's the name most UK shoppers already know, and the easiest to buy the same day.

It suits you if you want to try a strip without ordering anything or signing up to a system. Its strengths:

• Breathe Right's site lists Boots, Superdrug, Tesco and Sainsbury's among its stockists, plus Amazon UK, so you can buy it in person.
• It has been around since the early 1990s, according to its owner.
• There are three kinds: Original in beige, Clear, which the brand describes as suited to sensitive skin, and Extra Strength. Original and Clear come in Small/Medium or Large.
• The FAQ explains how to put strips on and take them off, sets a 12-hour daily limit and says what to do if your skin reacts.

At Boots, a 30-pack of Original Small/Medium is £13.99 (£0.47 a night).

The drawbacks:

• Every strip is single use, so the full cost comes round every night.
• There's no brand guarantee. Returns depend on the shop you bought from.
• Sizes come in separate packs, and the brand says not to cut a strip to fit.
• Adhesion is the most common complaint in the 125 Amazon UK top reviews we read (24 of them). Across five of Breathe Right's main Amazon UK listings (8,969 ratings), Amazon's own review tags counted 240 negative mentions of adhesiveness out of 407.
• Boots' listing for the Original strips says not to use them if you're allergic to latex (checked 27 October 2026). Are Breathe Right strips latex-free? looks at what each UK listing says.
• Its UK site says the strips are "clinically shown" to help reduce snoring, but cites no study. The trials we found are in the evidence section above.

If you've tried Breathe Right and want something different, our guide to Breathe Right alternatives covers the options.

Mute: for no adhesive at all

Mute, made by Rhinomed, is a soft plastic dilator with two small paddles that sit just inside the nostrils, joined by a bridge you can see. Nothing sticks to your skin and there are no magnets. You wash it after each use and replace it after up to 10 nights.

It suits you if adhesive irritates your skin, strips won't stay on, or you'd rather nothing sat on the outside of your nose. Its strengths:

• It's the only product here that doesn't stick to your skin.
• The 2026 review by UK surgeons found that devices worn inside the nostril tended to perform better than external ones.^[8]
• The starter has one small, one medium and one large dilator for £14.99, from Mute's own UK store or Amazon UK.
• On Amazon UK since December 2015, it has 18,659 ratings there, averaging 3.7 out of 5.
• Mute publishes its studies in full and says who paid for them.

After the starter, a 3-pack of one size is £19.99 (£0.67 a night), or £17.99 on subscription (£0.60).

The drawbacks:

• If only one size fits you, the starter gives you 10 nights, not 30.
• Mute's returns policy says sized packs can't be exchanged for fit, and its 30-day guarantee covers starter products bought direct.
• It sits inside your nose, and that doesn't suit everyone. Discomfort inside the nose was the top theme in 45 of the 76 reviews rated 1 to 3 stars on Mute's own UK site, a review pool that isn't UK-only.

Our Airlift vs Mute comparison goes into the two side by side. For other internal and external dilators, see the best nasal dilators in the UK.

DreamFlow and MaxFlow: the lowest cost per night

Both are single-use adhesive strips sold online by UK shops, and both have the lowest ongoing cost per night here.

DreamFlow

DreamFlow is SleepyDeepy's strip. It suits you if you want a low cost per night and are happy to subscribe. The regular price is £12.99 for 30 (£0.43 a night). On its subscription builder, 12 packs a delivery cost £72 (£0.20 a night), with free delivery, and you can skip or cancel at any time. Orders before 1pm are dispatched the same day.

Opened packs and sale items can't be returned, and its "30-night satisfaction guarantee" doesn't say whether you get a refund. Its "up to 50% more airflow" claim comes with no published test.

MaxFlow

MaxFlow is sold through nasalstrip.uk and is no longer magnetic. It suits you if you want the cheapest one-off order. A 30-pack is £9.99 (£0.33 a night, or £0.47 with £3.99 delivery under £25), and the 12-pack is £59.94 (£0.17 a night) with free delivery. Weekday orders before 2pm are dispatched the same day, and the adhesive is described as latex-free.

Its 30-night money-back guarantee refunds one opened pack per product, doesn't refund delivery, and has you pay return postage on unopened bundle packs. Its science page says the studies it cites didn't test its strips, and it publishes no test of its own.

Which one for which sleeper?

If it's your partner's snoring that keeps you awake, see how to sleep with a snoring partner.

When snoring needs more than a strip

Sometimes snoring is caused by sleep apnoea, which is when your airways become blocked for short spells while you sleep. The NHS lists the signs to look out for: feeling sleepy during the day, breathing that stops and starts while you sleep, and gasping or choking noises.

Nasal strips and dilators aren't the answer to sleep apnoea. A 2016 review of 14 studies found nasal dilators didn't improve sleep apnoea, and strips made no significant difference to snoring measured in sleep labs.^[1] A 2026 review of 17 studies (496 people) found nasal dilators made no significant difference to snoring or sleep apnoea measured in sleep labs.^[2]

The brands say so too. Breathe Right's FAQ says its strips aren't meant for sleep apnoea, and Mute says the same about its dilator. Airlift isn't for sleep apnoea either, and it isn't a medical device. If you've been given a CPAP machine, a strip isn't a replacement for it, and the studies above don't tell you what one adds alongside CPAP. Our article on whether nasal strips help sleep apnoea goes through the research.

Sources checked

All checked on 27 October 2026.

1. Breathe Right UK: products, FAQs and how it works: formats, sizes, stockists, usage limits and claims.
2. Boots: Breathe Right Original Small/Medium 30 and Extra Strength 26: prices and the latex warning, checked in a browser.
3. Breathe Right on Amazon UK, including Original Large 30 and Original Small/Medium 30: Amazon's review tags on adhesiveness.
4. Mute UK: starter pack, medium 3-pack, You and Yours bundle, FAQ, returns policy and research; Mute on Amazon UK: prices, sizes, delivery, guarantee, studies and ratings.
5. DreamFlow: product page, subscription builder, refund policy and shipping policy.
6. MaxFlow: product page, refund policy, shipping policy and science page.
7. Intake Breathing: starter kit, UK store, refill packs, international shipping, patents and its post on the SleepScore Labs study; Healf's Intake collection.
8. Napify on Amazon UK and NoseStrip's starter: magnetic kit prices.
9. NHS: snoring and BSSAA: nasal-based snoring: causes of snoring and where strips fit.
10. Airlift's shop, refills, refunds, shipping and help pages, and Airlift on Trustpilot: Airlift's products, prices, policies and reviews.

Questions people ask