Creatine 5 g a Day: The Studied Dose, Cheapest per 5 g
Not medical advice. This summarizes the creatine dosing studies, the labels manufacturers file with the NIH, and current Amazon prices. Creatine raises serum creatinine as a matter of chemistry; tell your clinician you take it before a kidney test, and ask first if you have kidney disease.
Quick answer
5 g of creatine monohydrate a day is the studied dose, and it is the dose the monohydrate shelf actually sells. The ISSN position stand puts maintenance at 3–5 g a day; the original loading study showed 3 g a day reaches the same 20% rise in muscle creatine as loading, only slower. Of the 1,200 creatine labels we read, the 599 that name monohydrate sell a median of 5 g; the premium forms sell less (HCl 2 g, buffered 1.5 g).
Buy plain monohydrate, take 5 g every day, skip the premium forms. The cheapest 5 g dose we track is NOW Sports Creatine Monohydrate Powder at $0.193, $70 a year; the cheapest with an NSF mark is Naked Creatine, Micronized Monohydrate at $0.220. See every 5 g powder ranked →
Every 5 g creatine we track, ranked by cost per 5 g dose
Product links go to Amazon and we may earn a commission if you buy. It never changes which product we pick or what we say about it. How we choose.
Every product here delivers 5 g of creatine per serving, so cost per dose is the pack price divided by the number of 5 g doses in the pack (grams of creatine in the tub ÷ 5). Days per tub is the same number at 5 g a day; at 3 g a day a tub lasts two-thirds longer. One product is a creatine-plus-HMB blend and is marked as such. Cheapest first; prices are the current Amazon price for the exact pack.
| Product | Per 5 g dose | Per month | Days per tub at 5 g | At 3 g | Price | In the scoop | Certification | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 NOW Sports Creatine Monohydrate Powder | $0.193 | $5.78 | 120 | 200 | $23.12 | monohydrate only | NPA GMP Certified | Check price |
 Nutricost Micronized Creatine Monohydrate | $0.215 | $6.45 | 100 | 167 | $21.50 | monohydrate only | none stated | Check price |
 BulkSupplements Micronized Creatine Monohydrate | $0.220 | $6.59 | 100 | 167 | $21.97 | monohydrate only | cGMP Facility, Third-Party Tested | Check price |
 Naked Creatine, Micronized Monohydrate | $0.220 | $6.60 | 100 | 167 | $21.99 | monohydrate only | NSF Certified | Check price |
 Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine Monohydrate | $0.266 | $7.98 | 60 | 100 | $15.97 | monohydrate only | Banned Substance Tested | Check price |
 Nutricost Creapure Creatine Monohydrate | $0.380 | $11.39 | 100 | 167 | $37.95 | monohydrate only | Creapure (AlzChem) | Check price |
 Momentous Creatine Monohydrate | $0.478 | $14.33 | 90 | 150 | $42.99 | monohydrate only | NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport | Check price |
 Thorne Creatine | $0.489 | $14.67 | 90 | 150 | $44.00 | monohydrate only | NSF Certified for Sport | Check price |
 Transparent Labs Creatine HMB | $1.666 | $49.99 | 30 | 50 | $49.99 | creatine + HMB blend | Informed Choice Certified | Check price |
The spread is $0.193 to $1.67 per 5 g dose, 8.6× from cheapest to priciest, for the same molecule at the same dose; a year runs $70 to $608. The expensive end is the HMB blend and the NSF Certified for Sport tubs, not a better creatine. Nutricost Creapure Creatine Monohydrate is the German-made Creapure raw material at $0.380, 2.0× the cheapest.
Why 5 g, from the loading study to the position stand
The number comes from the study that defined creatine loading. In 31 men, 20 g a day for 6 days raised muscle total creatine by about 20%; the level was then held on 2 g a day, and, taken without a loading phase, 3 g a day produced the same 20% rise over 28 days (Hultman 1996, PMID 8828669). Muscle creatine saturates; once it is full, more powder is excreted as creatinine. 5 g a day sits at the top of the range that fills the muscle in a few weeks without a loading week, which is why nearly every trial since has used it as the maintenance dose.
The International Society of Sports Nutrition’s position stand sets maintenance at 3–5 g a day and reports long-term use of up to 30 g a day for 5 years as safe and well tolerated in healthy people (Kreider 2017, PMID 28615996); its 2021 review of common questions gives the same 3–5 g, or 0.1 g per kilogram of body weight a day (Antonio 2021, PMID 33557850). What 5 g buys with training is real but modest: across 10 imaging trials and 44 outcomes, creatine plus resistance training produced a very small extra gain in directly measured muscle size over training alone, a pooled effect of 0.11 (Burke 2023, PMID 37432300). The dosage guide walks through loading, timing and the goal-by-goal doses.
Who 5 g a day is for
5 g is for anyone training hard, anyone over 60 who lifts, and anyone who eats little meat or fish. Muscle creatine comes from diet and synthesis, and vegetarians and vegans start lower, so they get the largest rise from the same dose. Heavier people should use the body-weight rule: 0.1 g per kilogram is 6.0 g at 60 kg, 8.0 g at 80 kg and 10.0 g at 100 kg, so a 100 kg lifter taking a level 3 g scoop is under-dosed by a third. The men’s and women’s guides cover the sex-specific questions.
5 g is not a loading dose, and it is not a brain dose. Loading is 20 g a day in four 5 g servings for about a week, optional, and only worth it if you want saturation in days rather than weeks. The cognitive trials that found anything used much larger amounts, and the systematic reviews are split on whether creatine does anything for memory in healthy adults at all (see creatine for brain). Two safety notes at 5 g: creatine raises serum creatinine because that is what creatine becomes, so a routine kidney panel can read high while kidney function is unchanged; a 2025 meta-analysis of 12 controlled studies (177 on creatine, 263 controls) found exactly that pattern, a small creatinine rise with no significant change in filtration rate (Naeini 2025, PMID 41199218). And the hair-loss worry was tested directly in 2025: 45 trained men on 5 g a day or placebo for 12 weeks, 38 completing, with no difference in DHT, testosterone or any hair-follicle measure (Lak 2025, PMID 40265319); the worry rests on one three-week crossover in 20 rugby players that measured DHT after a loading phase and never measured hair (van der Merwe 2009, PMID 19741313).
We read 1,200 creatine labels: monohydrate sells the studied dose, the alternatives do not
Original research1,200 of the 2,412 creatine labels in the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database were retrieved on 2026-08-30, 969 with a declared dose per serving, from 276 brands. Dose was compared with the 3–5 g maintenance range the trials use, and the median dose was computed per chemical form named on the label.
Labels that name creatine monohydrate sell a median of 5 g per serving (599 labels); creatine HCl sells 2 g (110 labels), buffered creatine 1.5 g (43) and magnesium creatine chelate 0.6 g (39). That monohydrate is dosed above the alternatives held in both halves of the census. It is the practical case for the plain powder: the premium forms are not only unproven against monohydrate, they are sold at doses below the range any form has been shown to work at, so buying one usually means under-dosing as well as overpaying (the monohydrate vs HCl page takes the absorption claim apart). Across all 969 labels with a dose the median serving is 3 g, the quartiles 1.5 and 5 g, and the median day as directed is 3.5 g, because 868 of the 1,170 labels with directions call for one serving a day and the rest for two or more; that the directed day exceeds the serving also held. 790 of the 1,200 labels are powders and 104 are capsules, a descriptive count: a 5 g dose in capsules is typically six to seven capsules, which is why the ranked table above is all powder.
| Item | Value ( g) |
|---|---|
| Monohydrate | 5 g |
| Creatine HCl | 2 g |
| Buffered / Kre-Alkalyn | 1.5 g |
| Magnesium chelate | 0.6 g |
How we read the labels, and what did not hold
Method: 1,200 labels retrieved from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database (DSLD) v9 on 2026-08-30; 969 with a parseable creatine dose per serving; daily dose = serving × maximum directed servings; form from the ingredient row name and declared forms. Each finding was recomputed in both halves of the read order: 2 of 4 held (median dose as directed exceeds per-serving; Creatine monohydrate is dosed above the alternatives) and only those are printed as findings. Not printed (2): most of the market sells above the typical dose; a large share sells above the studied range. The per-serving quartiles, the once-a-day count and the format counts are descriptive figures for the shelf, not validated findings, and no count on this page is of labels at exactly 5 g. The census is published as open data at /creatine/5-grams.json (CC BY 4.0). What it cannot tell you: whether the powder matches its label (the gummy lab tests cover the one format where it often does not), or how much of each sells.
Which creatine to buy for 5 g a day
The best-overall ranking covers the whole shelf including capsules and gummies, the cost-per-dose page tracks the same arithmetic across every creatine we list, and without fillers is for anyone who wants the one-ingredient label checked.
Frequently asked questions
Is 5 g of creatine a day enough?
Yes, for almost everyone. The International Society of Sports Nutrition's position stand puts the maintenance dose at 3 to 5 g a day, and the original loading study found that 3 g a day raised muscle creatine by the same 20% as a 20 g loading phase, just over 28 days instead of 6. 5 g is the top of that range, which is why the trials use it and why 599 of the monohydrate labels we read are dosed at a median of 5 g. A loading phase is optional.
Should I take 3 g or 5 g of creatine?
Either reaches the same muscle creatine level; 5 g gets there in about a week if you load, or a couple of weeks faster than 3 g if you do not. The body-weight rule from the ISSN review is 0.1 g per kilogram a day, so 6.0 g at 60 kg and 9.0 g at 90 kg. The price difference is small: at the cheapest 5 g powder we track, a 5 g day costs $0.193 and a 3 g day $0.116. Heavier people should take the 5.
Does 5 g of creatine a day hurt your kidneys?
Not in the trials. A 2025 meta-analysis of 12 controlled studies (177 people on creatine, 263 controls) found a small rise in serum creatinine, which is expected because creatine breaks down into creatinine, and no significant change in glomerular filtration rate. The ISSN position stand reports supplementation of up to 30 g a day for 5 years without harm in healthy people. If you have kidney disease, talk to your clinician before starting; the creatinine rise can confuse a routine blood test.
What is the cheapest creatine monohydrate at 5 g a day?
NOW Sports Creatine Monohydrate Powder at $0.193 per 5 g dose, $70 a year, NPA GMP Certified. The cheapest with an NSF mark is Naked Creatine, Micronized Monohydrate at $0.220, and the cheapest NSF Certified for Sport (the mark that tests for banned substances) is Momentous Creatine Monohydrate at $0.478. The whole spread from cheapest to priciest is 8.6× for the same molecule at the same dose.
Does creatine at 5 g a day cause hair loss?
A 12-week randomized trial gave 45 resistance-trained men 5 g of creatine monohydrate or a placebo and measured testosterone, DHT and hair-follicle health directly; 38 completed it and there was no difference between groups on any hormone or hair outcome. The concern came from a single 2009 study of 20 rugby players that measured DHT after a loading phase and never looked at hair.
How much does 5 g a day cost from a 500 g tub?
A 500 g tub is 100 days at 5 g and 167 days at 3 g. On the table above the 100-serving tubs run $0.193 to $0.489 per 5 g dose; the expensive end is a certification or a brand name, not a different molecule.
Related guides
- Creatine: what to buy and how much
- Creatine dosage guide: loading, maintenance, by goal
- Best creatine supplement, ranked
- Creatine cost per dose
- Monohydrate vs HCl
- Creatine without fillers
- Creatine for men · for women · for seniors
Sources
- Hultman E, et al. “Muscle creatine loading in men.” J Appl Physiol. 1996. PMID: 8828669
- Kreider RB, et al. “International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine.” J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017. PMID: 28615996
- Antonio J, et al. “Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?” J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2021. PMID: 33557850
- Burke R, et al. “The Effects of Creatine Supplementation Combined with Resistance Training on Regional Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis.” Nutrients. 2023. PMID: 37432300
- Naeini EK, et al. “Effect of creatine supplementation on kidney function: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” BMC Nephrol. 2025. PMID: 41199218
- Lak M, et al. “Does creatine cause hair loss? A 12-week randomized controlled trial.” J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2025. PMID: 40265319
- van der Merwe J, Brooks NE, Myburgh KH. “Three weeks of creatine monohydrate supplementation affects dihydrotestosterone to testosterone ratio in college-aged rugby players.” Clin J Sport Med. 2009. PMID: 19741313
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. Dietary Supplement Label Database. dsld.od.nih.gov (labels retrieved 2026-08-30).