Breathe Right vs Intake vs Airlift: which is best in the UK?

Breathe Right vs Intake vs Airlift: what each one is

Breathe Right is a single-use adhesive strip with flexible, spring-like bands. It sticks across the nose and lifts the sides of the nostrils. UK chemists and supermarkets sell it.

Intake Breathing is a reusable rigid magnetic band that sits across the front of the nose. It clicks onto two single-use adhesive tabs, each holding a metal disc. A US company makes it and ships it from the US.

Airlift is a reusable rigid magnetic clip that sits across the front of the nose. It attaches to two single-use stickers, each holding a steel disc. A UK company sells it, and only through its own website.

On both magnetic systems the adhesive part is still single use. You keep the band or the clip, and the tabs or stickers go in the bin each morning. If you're still weighing up the two formats, our guide to magnetic vs adhesive nasal strips covers that question on its own.

How we compared

We judged all three 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.

Every price and policy comes from each brand's own pages, Boots, Healf and Amazon UK, checked on 27 October 2026. Breathe Right prices are the standard prices on Boots' own website, not offers. Prices are for one person, with one strip, or one pair of tabs or stickers, a night.

We didn't test airflow, how firmly each one holds, comfort or how long the adhesive lasts, so nothing wins on those until someone runs a fair test.

Prices, sizes and policies side by side

Are Breathe Right strips latex-free? sets out what each UK listing says.

Where Airlift wins

Every Airlift starter box has all five clip sizes, XS to XL, so you find your fit at home without buying a second pack or asking for a different band. Complete also includes 30 cleansing prep pads with every 30 nights. Breathe Right includes none, and Intake sells its prep pads separately apart from Sport Tabs and its bundles. The shop page lists everything in the Complete starter (£33).

Under the 90-Night Airlift Test, you 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. Of the three, it's the only refund with nothing to send back: Breathe Right has no brand guarantee, and Intake's guarantee needs the band and kit back in their original packaging.

Airlift has real drawbacks too. It has no independent reviews yet (none on Trustpilot), and the company behind it was set up in November 2024. There's no clinical study and no published test data for it. You can only buy it online, from its own website, and only for delivery to the UK. There's no sport version. And it costs more per night than Breathe Right.

Where Breathe Right wins

You can buy it today. Breathe Right lists Boots, Superdrug, Tesco and Sainsbury's among its UK stockists, and its FAQ points you to the sleep-aid or cold and cough aisle. Intake and Airlift both have to be ordered online, so if you want one tonight, Breathe Right is the one you can actually get.

A 30-pack of Original Small/Medium strips was £13.99 at Boots when we checked, which is £0.47 a night, so it's also the cheapest way to try. There's no kit to buy first and no subscription to manage, and you can use a strip only on the nights you want one.

The brand goes back to the early 1990s, the longest track record of the three. You can choose between Original, Clear (which the brand positions for sensitive skin) and Extra Strength, with Original and Clear in two sizes.

Strips are the most studied format, too. A 2026 review found most research on nasal devices is on adhesive strips such as Breathe Right.^[1] Being studied doesn't mean a product has been shown to help you sleep, though, and the evidence section below covers what those studies did and didn't find.

Where Intake Breathing wins

Of the two magnetic systems here, Intake has been around longer and has far more reviews. It started in 2019, and its starter kit page shows 2,103 reviews averaging 4.4 out of 5. It also lists nine US patents on magnetic nasal dilation.

Intake makes six band sizes. Four come in the starter kit, and Intake sends the smallest (S1) or largest (L2) free if you ask, though UK buyers pay the postage. For training it sells Sport Tabs, a separate tab with what Intake describes as a stronger adhesive made for sweat. Intake says they aren't meant for sleep.

You can buy its refills from a UK retailer. Healf stocks Intake refills, bands and the case, and delivers subscriptions free in the UK. Intake has also commissioned a home sleep study, which Airlift hasn't. Our Airlift vs Intake Breathing comparison goes through the two magnetic systems round by round.

Round by round

Of the eight rounds, Airlift wins four, Breathe Right wins three and one is split between Airlift and Intake. The airflow, hold and comfort round has no winner until there's test data.

Fit and sizing: Airlift

Airlift puts all five sizes in the box. Breathe Right sells Small/Medium and Large as separate packs and says not to cut a strip to fit. Intake makes six sizes, but its kit has four, and a UK buyer pays the postage for either of the other two.

What's in the box: Airlift

An Airlift Complete starter has the clip in five sizes, a magnetic applicator, 30 nights of stickers and 30 prep pads. A Breathe Right pack is strips only. Intake's starter page lists four bands and 15 or 30 tabs.

Ongoing cost per night: Breathe Right

Breathe Right is £0.47 a night on a 30-pack at Boots. On refills alone, Airlift's 360-night stickers pack is £0.51 and Intake's 360-night pack is £0.64, before delivery from the US. Airlift's Annual plan, with the clip, prep pads and delivery included, is £0.67. Between the two magnetic systems, Airlift costs less over six or twelve months, as our Intake comparison shows.

Adhesion support: split

For sleep, Airlift includes alcohol prep pads with every delivery, which clear oil from the skin before the stickers go on. For sport, Intake has Sport Tabs, and its own FAQ table says its standard tabs hold through sweat for up to an hour. Breathe Right includes neither, and its FAQ says the strips won't hold on wet, oily or moisturised skin. No brand has published hold test data.

Guarantee and returns: Airlift

With Airlift you send nothing back, delivery is refunded and you keep the clip. Breathe Right has no brand guarantee, so returns follow whichever retailer sold you the pack. Intake gives you 90 days from delivery but wants the band and kit back in their original packaging.

UK availability and delivery: Breathe Right

You can buy Breathe Right in store the same day. Between the two magnetic systems, Airlift is ahead: UK delivery, same-day dispatch on weekday orders before 3:30pm, free next-day delivery on every subscription order, and no import charges, where Intake's starter kit ships from the US.

Subscription flexibility: Airlift

Airlift sells Monthly, 6-Month and Annual plans direct, which you can skip, pause, change or cancel at any time. Breathe Right has no subscription and doesn't need one. Intake's help centre says it doesn't offer refill subscriptions outside the US, though Healf runs its own at 10% off.

Published evidence: Breathe Right

Strips are the most studied format, though the studies show more airflow while awake, not better sleep. Intake has commissioned a home sleep study but hasn't published the full results. Airlift has no study at all.

Airflow, hold and comfort: no winner

There's no comparable test data for any of the three, so we haven't awarded this round.

Breathe Right Extra Strength vs Intake: which opens your nose more?

There's no winner, because there's no comparable test data. Breathe Right says Extra Strength is 50% stronger than its Original strips, and Intake says its band opens the nose up to 70% wider than disposable strips. Neither publishes a method or data behind the figure. Airlift states its magnet grade (N52) but no pull force, and a grade isn't a measure of how firmly a clip holds.

The two designs work differently. A strip lifts the sides of the nose with a springy band. 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.^[2] That was a strip study, measured while awake. The magnetic systems hold a rigid band or clip on discs stuck to each side of the nose, and we could find no published, independent study that has measured them the same way.

Extra Strength costs £14.99 for 26 at Boots, or £0.58 a night, and comes in one size.

Real cost over 6 and 12 months

These totals use each competitor's cheapest confirmed route for a new buyer, and Airlift's 6-Month and Annual plans, which include prep pads with every delivery, over the same number of nights. Airlift's cheapest one-time route over a year is lower still: the Complete starter (£33, plus £5 delivery), then Airlift's 360-night stickers pack (£182), comes to £220 for 390 nights (£0.56 a night), with prep pads for the first 30 nights only. The Intake and Airlift plan figures match our Intake comparison, and you can see Airlift's refill prices on the refills page.

Breathe Right is the cheapest over a year by a clear margin. Its figures assume you buy in store, so there's no delivery to add. Airlift costs less than Intake over six or twelve months, but more than Breathe Right. Bought one-time, Airlift's year is £220 (£0.56 a night) against Breathe Right's £181.87 (£0.47), so the gap is £38.13 over 390 nights, or about 10p a night. For that you get a reusable clip, every size in the box and 90 nights to try it with nothing to send back. If you'd rather have prep pads with every delivery, the Complete Annual plan is £240 for 390 nights.

What the evidence says

A 2026 review found most research is on adhesive strips such as Breathe Right, and that devices worn inside the nostril tended to perform better than external ones.^[1] That counts against all three products here, since they all sit outside the nose.

For snoring and sleep, the results are mixed and mostly show no effect. A 2016 review of 14 studies found strips made no significant difference to snoring measured in sleep labs.^[3] A 2026 review of 17 studies (496 people) found nasal dilators made no significant difference to snoring measured in sleep labs.^[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]

Breathe Right's UK site says the strips are "clinically shown to help reduce snoring", without citing a study. 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.

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.^[1] 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.

You can read more on our science page, in do magnetic nasal strips work? and in our guide to the best nasal strips for snoring in the UK.

Who should choose which

For a reusable magnetic system bought in the UK, we think Airlift is the better choice for most people. Nobody has published comparable airflow or hold data for any of the three, so whichever you try, it helps if a refund doesn't depend on posting anything back. Breathe Right and Intake each suit some readers better, though.

Choose Airlift if

• you want a reusable magnetic system bought in the UK
• you'd rather have every size and prep pads in the box
• you want 90 nights to try it, with nothing to post back

You can start with the Complete starter (£33).

Choose Breathe Right if

• you want the lowest cost per night
• you need something tonight, from a chemist or supermarket
• you only use one now and then
• you want to try an external nasal dilator cheaply before buying a system

Choose Intake Breathing if

• you train hard and want a tab made for sweat
• you want the longer track record of the two magnetic systems
• you already own an Intake band and buy refills from Healf

If neither of the big names appeals, see our guides to Breathe Right alternatives and Intake Breathing alternatives. Other magnetic brands are compared in the best magnetic nasal strips in the UK.

Sources checked

All checked on 27 October 2026.

1. Breathe Right UK: how it works, FAQs, products and terms of use: format, sizes, usage guidance, stockists, the snoring wording and the lack of a brand guarantee.
2. Breathe Right product pages for Original, Clear and Extra Strength: variants, sizes and the Extra Strength claim.
3. Boots listings for Breathe Right Original Small/Medium 30 and Extra Strength 26: standard prices and the latex warning.
4. An SEC filing on the Breathe Right brand: the brand's age.
5. Intake starter kit, UK store, Intake refill packs and Intake prep pads: starter contents, sizes, UK prices, prep pad prices and review count.
6. Intake help: a different size or replacement band, international shipping, Better Breathing Guarantee, international returns and refill plans outside the US: sizing, delivery, guarantee and subscriptions.
7. Intake help: Sport Tabs FAQ, why magnets, Intake vs nasal strips and patents: Sport Tabs, sweat hold, magnets, the 70% claim and patents.
8. Intake's post on its SleepScore Labs study: how Intake describes the study.
9. Healf Intake collection, Healf Intake refills and Healf FAQs: what Healf stocks, its prices and delivery.
10. Intake's Amazon UK listings for the starter kit and refills: availability.
11. Airlift on Trustpilot: Airlift's review count.
12. Airlift's shop, refills, refunds, shipping, terms and help pages: Airlift's products, prices and policies.

Questions people ask