If you've spent any time in a candy aisle outside the US over the last decade, you've encountered both BUBS and Haribo. They're the two best-known gummy candy brands in the world right now — Haribo through decades of mass market dominance, BUBS through a viral 2023 TikTok moment that turned a small Swedish brand into a household name in 35,000 American retail doors.
But they're not really the same product. Side-by-side, you can tell within the first bite. Here's what's actually different.
The texture story
Haribo gummies are built on gelatin and a relatively firm, springy chew. Bite into a Goldbear and you get an immediate snap-yield, then a steady chew that lasts maybe 20 seconds before it dissolves. The texture is consistent across the bear; there's no internal variation.
BUBS skulls are layered. The top half is a chewy fruit candy. The bottom half is a soft foam licorice base. They meet in the middle. When you bite into one, you taste two flavours simultaneously, in two different textures. That dual-layer construction is the whole point — it's harder to engineer than a single-texture gummy, and it's why BUBS spends time and money on each batch that Haribo's scale wouldn't allow.
The flavour story
Haribo flavours are designed to be recognisable across markets. The Goldbears are five generic fruits that taste basically the same in any country you buy them. They're tuned for global mass appeal — which means they're good but not pointed.
BUBS flavours are pointed. Cool Cola Skulls taste like cola — specifically, like a proper cola float, with the fizz on top and the dairy-sweet undertone underneath. Passion-Pineapple Skulls taste like pineapple, not 'tropical fruit blend.' Raspberry Skulls taste like raspberry. The Swedish candy convention is that the candy should taste like the thing it's named after, and BUBS holds to it harder than most.
The ingredient story
This is where BUBS pulls ahead with two specific groups: vegans, and people who like cleaner ingredient labels. Most BUBS products are gelatin-free, using starch and pectin for the chew. Haribo's core lineup uses gelatin (with some vegan variants now expanding). For European consumers used to cleaner labels, BUBS tends to score higher on the artificial-additive count, too.
Both are perfectly safe, well-made candies. But if you're reading the back of the bag, the BUBS lineup is more likely to use natural colours and natural fruit extracts.
The cultural positioning
Haribo is a German company founded in 1920 — a hundred years of optimising mass-market gummies for global distribution. It's the McDonald's of gummies in the best sense: dependable, broadly liked, available everywhere.
BUBS is a small Swedish company from 1908 that spent most of its existence as a domestic specialty brand. The viral TikTok moment in 2023 forced it to scale internationally, but the brand still operates more like a craft confectioner than a global gummy giant. The flavours stay weird. The packaging is unfussy. The product hasn't been engineered for international appeal. (Full BUBS backstory →)
“Haribo is the gummy you eat. BUBS is the gummy you make a small ceremony out of.”
The verdict
Both have their place. Haribo is what you grab for a road trip; BUBS is what you put in a Saturday bag. Haribo wins on universal recognisability and scale; BUBS wins on texture engineering, flavour specificity, and a cleaner ingredient list.
If you've eaten Haribo your whole life and never had real BUBS, you owe it to yourself to try the comparison. The first time you bite into a Cool Cola Skull is one of those minor revelations.
We ship BUBS direct from Sweden — fresh from the source, not from a US warehouse pallet. Shop BUBS or build your own mix with several BUBS varieties side by side.