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Labels you can trust
“Cruelty-free” isn’t a regulated term — any company can print a bunny on the box. Here’s how to know a brand truly doesn’t test on animals: the two certifications you can trust, where to look any product up, and a few well-known companies that make the pledge.
The basics
The phrase is unregulated, so it’s easy to be misled. Four things are worth knowing before you trust a claim.
Any brand can add a bunny graphic or say “not tested on animals.” Only two organizations independently verify the claim — look for their specific logos, not a generic rabbit.
A company can honestly say the finished product wasn’t tested while its ingredients or suppliers still were. Real certification covers the whole supply chain, not just the bottle.
A product can skip animal testing and still contain animal-derived ingredients. If that matters to you, look for a separate vegan mark alongside the cruelty-free one.
An acquisition, or entering a market that requires animal testing, can flip a brand’s status overnight. The only reliable check is the certifier’s live, dated directory.
How to check
If a product carries one of these — and the brand shows up in that program’s directory — you can be confident. Everything else is worth a second look.
The most rigorous certification (run by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics and Cruelty Free International). Brands must prove their suppliers don’t test on animals, open their supply chain to independent audits, and recommit every year. If a company drops off, it’s removed from the list.
A larger, easy-to-search database based on a signed company pledge. It’s less strict than Leaping Bunny (no independent audits), but useful — and it keeps two lists: “Animal Test-Free,” and “Animal Test-Free & Vegan” for products that also contain no animal ingredients.
A place to start
A few well-known companies that hold Leaping Bunny or PETA certification, across the products people buy most. This isn’t a ranking or an endorsement — just a starting point.
Certification shown reflects each program’s public directory as of mid-2026 and can change — always confirm a brand’s current status on the official Leaping Bunny or PETA directory before you buy. This page is a values-and-shopping resource for animal lovers, not financial or investment advice, and not an endorsement of any company. Centinela Animal Hospital is not affiliated with these brands or certifiers.