The Period Nirvana menstrual disc comparison chart is a helpful tool for experienced menstrual disc users, but can be used by new users as well. However, if you are brand new to discs a good place to start is by taking our menstrual disc quiz. Use the chart to look for discs based on helpful features like removal aid style, firmness, and use filters to find discs that are good for a high or low cervix, or that are good for a heavy period.

Our new menstrual disc chart is mobile-first so only a few columns will show on a small screen. Click the “Show all Columns” button and scroll to the right for more measurements and firmness ratings. On a phone this is best viewed by turning the phone sideways if you want to see all of the columns easily. The chart is viewed best on a laptop screen. You can expand the number of menstrual discs on the chart if you toggle off the filter for “Sold by PN” to include all listed brands of menstrual discs. You can hide any products that are no longer being sold by selecting the filter to “hide discontinued.”

Menstrual discs with firmness ratings on the chart are scored by Kim of Period Nirvana. Every disc is squeezed by hand and compared side by side to place it on the scale. A score of 1 is the softest; 5 is the firmest. This isn’t scientific — it’s subjective. But there’s no other way to rate a cup or disc’s firmness against a body or hand. Silicone does have a shore score: the durometer firmness used to manufacture it. Each product’s thickness and shape vary, though, so that shore score isn’t a reliable measure of how firm it feels in the body.

A menstrual disc and menstrual cup both collect menstrual fluid in the body from below the cervix, but a disc sits higher than a cup in the vaginal fornix and is suction-free with a flat fit. Menstrual cups sit lower in the vaginal canal and create a suction and seal to be leak-free. Discs hold more than most menstrual cups, and can be worn during penetrative intercouse. Menstrual discs are safer to wear with an IUD than menstrual cups. Discs are mostly one-size-fits-most but as our chart shows, they come in many sizes, shapes, firmnesses, capacities, and design options.

You can determine by measuring your cervix height – then use the chart’s filters and look for discs that are best for a high or low cervix. If your cervix height is average you can use any one-size menstrual disc.

Use our chart’s filter section and select the “heavy flow” box, which will display only discs with the highest capacity. Or, sort from high to low on the chart on the capacity column and see exactly how much the mesntrual discs hold.

Yes – you can pee and poop with a menstrual disc inserted. There is no need to remove it to use the restroom. You may notice some blood empty into the toilet, a feature called auto-dumping, this is entirely normal. You can also have sex with the menstrual disc in since it sits high in the body and has a flat fit.

Companies that hold BCorp certification manufacture the menstrual discs marked BCorp on the chart. BCorp (short for Certified B Corporation) is a for-profit company that meets high standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability. Many of the brands carried and sold by Period Nirvana have this certification.

Yes, Period Nirvana has a newly updated mobile friendly and sortable, filterable menstrual cup chart with additional columns tailored just for cups. Columns include capacity, diameter, firmness, length (body), length (with stem), stem type, and material. Or you can expand the filter menu on this chart and switch to the Cup chart, or list cups and discs together.