Optimum Nutrition vs Nutricost Creatine (2026): Which to Buy
By Erin Rose Updated October 8, 2026 Methodology
Buy Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine. It is the same 5 g of creatine monohydrate as Nutricost, with nothing added, and it is on Informed Choice, a testing list you can look up. It costs $0.30 a scoop on Amazon against $0.21, about $2.53 more a month. Nutricost is on no public list.
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Only price matters? BulkSupplements Creatine Monohydrate costs about the same as Nutricost ($0.21 per 5 g on Amazon) and is on NSF Certified for Sport, a stricter list that tests by lot. Best creatine.
Is it the same creatine?
Yes. Both tubs hold creatine monohydrate and nothing else, and both are micronized, a finer powder that mixes more easily. A serving of either is 5 g. Creatine monohydrate is the form with the most research behind it (Kreider 2017). No study compares these two brands, so at the same dose we don’t expect one to work better. What differs is testing and price.
| Per serving | Optimum Nutrition | Nutricost |
|---|---|---|
| Serving | 5 g | 1 scoop (5 g) |
| Creatine | 5 g | 5 g |
| Form | Creatine monohydrate, micronized | Creatine monohydrate, micronized |
| Other ingredients | None | None |
| Servings per tub | 60 (300 g) | 100 (500 g) |
| Testing list | Informed Choice | None found |
| Brand’s testing claim | “Banned Substance Tested” | “Third party tested” |
| Creapure | Named on the 2023 label, not the 2024 one | Not stated |
Testing: Optimum Nutrition is on Informed Choice; Nutricost is on no list
- Optimum Nutrition: Informed Choice. Informed Choice is run by LGC, a company with an anti-doping lab. It buys products from stores at least monthly and tests them for substances banned in sport. On October 8, 2026 it listed “ON Micronised Creatine Powder,” and the tub carries the Informed Choice mark (see its label above). It does not test every batch, and the entry names no tub size.
- Nutricost: the brand’s own claim. The label says “Third party tested,” and Nutricost’s site says an independent, accredited lab checks the label. It does not name the lab or post results. We found Nutricost on none of the five testing lists we searched on October 5, 2026.
- Neither is on NSF Certified for Sport. If your sport requires that list, buy one that is on it, such as BulkSupplements or Thorne.
Optimum Nutrition’s creatine on the Informed Choice list
Informed Choice, Optimum Nutrition entry
Testing matters most if you get drug-tested for sport or work. For everyone else, it means an outside group checks the product where anyone can look it up. It does not make the creatine work better.
How we checked this
We searched each program’s own list for both brands. Nutricost: all five on October 5, 2026. Optimum Nutrition: Informed Choice re-read on October 8, 2026; NSF Certified for Sport and NSF/ANSI 173 on September 28, 2026; Informed Sport and USP Verified on September 22, 2026.
| Program | Optimum Nutrition | Nutricost |
|---|---|---|
| Informed Choice | Listed (“ON Micronised Creatine Powder”) | Not listed |
| Informed Sport | Not listed | Not listed |
| NSF Certified for Sport | Not listed | Not listed |
| NSF/ANSI 173 | Not listed | Not listed |
| USP Verified | Not listed | Not listed |
Nutricost’s searches on two of the lists, October 5, 2026: Informed Sport, “No results were found” and NSF/ANSI 173, “No Matching Products Found”.
How big is the price gap?
Optimum Nutrition costs about 39% more per scoop. On Amazon (October 5, 2026), its 300 g tub is $17.97 for 60 servings, or $0.30 per 5 g. Nutricost’s 500 g tub is $21.50 for 100 scoops, or $0.21 per 5 g. At one scoop a day, that is about $2.53 a month for a product on a testing list.
| Tub | Price | Servings | Per 5 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optimum Nutrition, 300 g | $17.97 | 60 | $0.30 |
| Nutricost, 500 g | $21.50 | 100 | $0.21 |
| BulkSupplements, 500 g | $20.97 | 100 | $0.21 |
Prices move. To check a tub you see somewhere else, divide its price by its servings.
Is Optimum Nutrition creatine Creapure?
Not anymore, going by its labels. The label Optimum Nutrition filed with NIH in February 2023 said the powder was made with Creapure, a creatine made in Germany. The 60-serving label it filed in December 2024 says 100% pure creatine monohydrate and does not name Creapure. Nutricost’s plain tub does not name it either. Which brands still use Creapure.
Optimum Nutrition’s label, 2023 and 2024
Filed Feb 2023: names Creapure
Filed Dec 2024: no Creapure
Who should buy which
- You want creatine you can look up on a testing listOptimum Nutrition
On Informed Choice, for $0.30 per 5 g on Amazon.
- You want the lowest priceBulkSupplements
$0.21 per 5 g, about the same as Nutricost, and on NSF Certified for Sport.
- You are drug-tested for sport and need NSFBulkSupplements or Thorne
Neither Optimum Nutrition nor Nutricost is on NSF Certified for Sport. Check what your sport accepts.
- You already have a tub of plain creatine monohydrateBuy nothing yet
Finish it. Switching changes the price and the testing, not what you take. How much to take: creatine dosage guide.
More comparisons: Thorne vs Optimum Nutrition, Nutricost vs Thorne, cheapest creatine per 5 g and third-party tested creatine.
Questions
Is Optimum Nutrition creatine better than Nutricost?
It works the same: both are 5 g of creatine monohydrate with nothing added. The difference is testing. Optimum Nutrition’s creatine is on Informed Choice, a list that buys products from stores and tests them for substances banned in sport. Nutricost is not on any public list we found. Optimum Nutrition costs $0.30 per 5 g on Amazon, 39% more than Nutricost’s $0.21.
Is Nutricost creatine third party tested?
Nutricost says so. Its label says “Third party tested,” and its website says an independent, accredited lab checks that what is on the label is in the tub. It does not name the lab or post results, so you cannot check it yourself. On October 5, 2026 we did not find Nutricost on the NSF, USP or Informed lists.
Is Optimum Nutrition creatine Creapure?
Not on its current label. The label Optimum Nutrition filed with NIH in February 2023 said the powder was made with Creapure, a German creatine. The 60-serving label it filed in December 2024 says 100% pure creatine monohydrate and does not name Creapure. If Creapure matters to you, our Creapure page lists the brands that still name it.
Is Optimum Nutrition creatine tested for banned substances?
Yes, through Informed Choice. On October 8, 2026 Informed Choice listed “ON Micronised Creatine Powder.” Informed Choice samples products from stores at least monthly; it does not test every batch, and its entry names no tub size. If your sport requires NSF Certified for Sport, neither of these is on that list; BulkSupplements creatine is.
Which is cheaper, Nutricost or Optimum Nutrition creatine?
Nutricost. On Amazon (October 5, 2026) its 500 g tub is $21.50 for 100 scoops, or $0.21 per 5 g. Optimum Nutrition’s 300 g tub is $17.97 for 60 scoops, or $0.30. At one scoop a day, that is about $2.53 a month.
Sources
- Labels: NIH DSLD 319465 (Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine Powder, 300 g, filed December 21, 2024) and 319643 (Nutricost Creatine Monohydrate, 500 g). Optimum Nutrition’s February 2023 label: NIH DSLD. Amazon listings for Optimum Nutrition 300 g, Nutricost 500 g and BulkSupplements 500 g, read October 5, 2026.
- Testing: Informed Choice certified products (read October 8, 2026); Informed Sport, NSF/ANSI 173, NSF Certified for Sport (BulkSupplements: listing 1676955) and USP Verified, searched October 5, 2026 (Optimum Nutrition on the NSF lists September 28, 2026, Informed Sport and USP September 22, 2026).
- Brand page: Nutricost Creatine Monohydrate (third-party testing claim).
- 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;14:18. PubMed 28615996