If your goal is to start small and add to a position gradually, a 1g gold bar is the easier first purchase - it lets you get into physical gold for well under €150 at typical spot prices. If you're buying a meaningful amount in one go and want to minimize the premium you pay per gram, a 1oz bar (about 31.1 grams) is the more cost-efficient choice, because larger bars carry a lower premium as a percentage of their value.
Every gold bar is priced at the live spot price plus a premium that covers refining, minting, assay, packaging, and distribution. Those costs are largely fixed per bar, not per gram, so they make up a much bigger share of the price on a small bar than a large one. A 1g bar might carry a premium in the range of 15-30% over spot, while a 1oz bar from the same mint is often closer to 3-6% over spot. That gap narrows during periods of high demand and widens when supply is tight, but the underlying pattern - smaller bars cost more per gram - holds consistently across the industry.
Both sizes are liquid, but in slightly different ways. A 1oz bar is one of the most recognized and traded weights worldwide, which tends to make it straightforward to resell almost anywhere. A 1g bar is easy to sell too, and its low unit value means you can liquidate a small amount without having to sell an entire larger bar - useful if you only need to raise a small sum. When you're ready to sell either size back, GoldPenthouse's Sell to Us programme gives you a live buyback quote based on the current spot price.
There's no universally correct answer - it depends on your budget and goals. Some buyers start with one or two 1g bars simply to get comfortable with the buying and storage process before committing more capital. Others prefer to buy a single 1oz bar outright to minimize the premium paid over the life of the holding. A common middle path is to buy smaller bars regularly over time (sometimes called dollar-cost averaging), which spreads out your entry price and lets you scale into 1oz or larger bars once you're holding a larger amount.
For a broader introduction to buying and storing physical gold, see our Gold Investment Guide. If you're specifically weighing bars against coins, read our companion article on gold bars vs gold coins.