Roundup is the most recognized glyphosate weed killer, but it’s far from the only one. Dozens of consumer and professional herbicide products contain glyphosate as their active ingredient, and some Roundup products have actually dropped glyphosate entirely, which makes checking labels more important than ever.
Roundup Products That Contain Glyphosate
Roundup built its reputation on glyphosate, and many of its formulations still use it. However, the product line has expanded significantly, and different Roundup products combine glyphosate with other ingredients for different purposes. Here’s what’s currently on shelves:
Roundup Weed & Grass Killer Super Concentrate is the “classic” formula with glyphosate as the sole active ingredient. Roundup Weed & Grass Killer Concentrate Plus pairs glyphosate with diquat, a contact herbicide that makes weeds look dead faster (glyphosate alone can take a week or more to show full results). Roundup Ready-To-Use Weed & Grass Killer III combines glyphosate with pelargonic acid, a fatty acid that burns plant tissue on contact for quicker visible browning.
Roundup Precision Gel uses the same glyphosate-plus-pelargonic-acid combination in a gel you wipe directly onto weeds, which helps avoid hitting nearby plants. Roundup Concentrate Poison Ivy Plus Tough Brush Killer adds triclopyr to glyphosate, giving it extra power against woody vines like poison ivy that glyphosate alone struggles with.
Roundup also sells “extended control” versions that prevent new weeds from sprouting for weeks or months after application. Roundup Concentrate Extended Control Weed & Grass Killer Plus Weed Preventer combines glyphosate with imazapic (a pre-emergent herbicide) and diquat. Roundup Concentrate MAX Control 365 uses the same trio but with a higher concentration of imazapic, designed to keep areas weed-free for an entire season.
Roundup Products Without Glyphosate
This is where confusion gets people into trouble. Not every product with “Roundup” on the label contains glyphosate. The University of Florida’s extension program specifically warns gardeners about this: products like Roundup For Lawns are designed to kill weeds without harming your grass, which means they use selective herbicides instead of glyphosate. Glyphosate is non-selective, so spraying it on your lawn would kill the grass along with the weeds.
If you specifically want glyphosate, or specifically want to avoid it, flip the bottle and read the active ingredients panel. Don’t rely on the brand name alone.
Non-Roundup Brands With Glyphosate
Glyphosate has been off patent since 2000, so generic and store-brand versions are widely available, often at lower prices than Roundup. These are some of the glyphosate herbicides listed in state and federal databases:
- Compare-N-Save Concentrate Grass and Weed Killer (sold at most big-box stores, typically 41% glyphosate)
- RM43 Total Vegetation Control (glyphosate plus imazapyr for long-lasting bare-ground control)
- Ranger Pro (a professional-grade 41% glyphosate product popular with landscapers)
- Honcho and Honcho K6
- Abundit Edge
- Gly Star and Gly Star K-Plus
- Mad Dog K6
- Bullzeye HL-K
Many hardware stores also sell their own private-label glyphosate concentrates. Spectracide, Hi-Yield, and Southern Ag all make glyphosate formulations available to home gardeners. The active ingredient and concentration are the same, so performance differences between brands are minimal. What varies is the surfactant package (the additives that help the herbicide stick to and penetrate leaves), which can slightly affect how fast you see results.
How to Spot Glyphosate on a Label
Glyphosate doesn’t always appear as “glyphosate” on the ingredient panel. It’s often listed as one of its salt forms, because pure glyphosate acid isn’t water-soluble enough to spray effectively. The most common form you’ll see is “glyphosate, isopropylamine salt” or “N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine, isopropylamine salt.” Some newer formulations use potassium salt or ammonium salt instead. All of these are glyphosate.
Labels also sometimes list “acid equivalent,” which tells you how much actual glyphosate is in the product after you strip away the salt portion. A product labeled as 41% glyphosate isopropylamine salt contains roughly 480 grams per liter of glyphosate acid equivalent. For home use, concentrations typically range from about 2% in ready-to-spray bottles up to 50% or more in concentrates you dilute yourself.
What Glyphosate Actually Kills
Glyphosate is non-selective, meaning it kills virtually any plant it’s sprayed on. That includes broadleaf weeds like dandelions and clover, grassy weeds like crabgrass, and desirable plants like flowers and lawn grass. It works by blocking a metabolic pathway that plants use to produce certain amino acids essential for growth. Without those amino acids, the plant slowly starves. This process takes time, which is why glyphosate products often add a fast-acting contact herbicide to give you visible wilting within hours.
Because glyphosate kills indiscriminately, it’s best suited for driveways, fence lines, gravel paths, sidewalk cracks, and garden beds you want to clear before replanting. It binds tightly to soil particles and breaks down through microbial activity, so treated areas can generally be replanted within days to a couple of weeks depending on the product. Extended-control formulas with added pre-emergent herbicides are the exception. Those are designed to keep soil weed-free for months and shouldn’t be used anywhere you plan to grow plants.
Current Safety and Regulatory Status
Glyphosate has been registered for use in the United States since 1974 and remains legal for both residential and commercial use. The EPA’s position is that glyphosate poses no risks of concern to human health when used according to label directions, including for children playing on treated residential areas. The agency has maintained its finding that glyphosate is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans.”
That said, the EPA’s formal registration review for glyphosate is still ongoing. A 2022 federal court ruling sent the agency back to reevaluate certain aspects of its risk assessment, and a final decision hasn’t been issued yet. Meanwhile, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (a branch of the World Health Organization) classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic” in 2015, a conclusion the EPA and several other regulatory bodies have not adopted. This disagreement between agencies is the backdrop for the thousands of lawsuits filed against Roundup’s manufacturer, which resulted in billions of dollars in settlements.
If you choose to use glyphosate products, the practical precautions are straightforward: wear gloves, avoid spraying on windy days, keep pets and children off treated areas until the spray has dried, and store concentrates out of reach. These steps apply to most herbicides, not just glyphosate-based ones.