The 3 Best Creatine Monohydrate Powders of 2026
By Erin Rose Updated October 20, 2026 How we score
The best creatine for most people is Naked Creatine: 5 g of creatine monohydrate a scoop, $0.18 a day. It is on NSF/ANSI 173, a list that checks the tub holds what the label says. Creatine is safe for most healthy adults at this dose. If you are drug-tested, pick a tub on a banned-substance list: Thorne (NSF Certified for Sport) or NOW Sports Creatine (Informed Sport).
Our pick for: Most people
Naked Creatine
10.0/10 Our score
Full marks on all five of our checks: dose, testing, cost, label and recall record
- Creatine
- 5 g1 scoop, nothing else on the label
- A day
- $0.18Amazon price for 5 g
- Tub
- 1 kg, 200 scoops$35.99 on Amazon
- Testing list
- NSF/ANSI 173Checked October 16, 2026See the listing
- Tested for drugs banned in sport
- NoNSF/ANSI 173 does not test for them
Why we pick it It is the only one of the 9 powders we scored with full marks, and at $0.18 a day it is close to the lowest cost. One scoop is 5 g of creatine monohydrate and nothing else.
What you give up It is not tested for drugs banned in sport. If you are drug-tested, see the athlete pick below.
Which creatine is right for you?
Every pick here is plain creatine monohydrate, and one 5 g scoop a day is the usual dose (how much to take).
Want banned-substance testing for less?
NOW Sports Creatine is on Informed Sport, which tests every batch for drugs banned in sport. It costs about $5 a year less than our pick.
NOW Sports Creatine
$0.16 a day · Informed Sport
Drug-tested in your sport? Buy what your sport accepts.
Check which testing program your sport or team accepts. If it names NSF Certified for Sport, buy Thorne: NSF tests it lot by lot, so check the lot number on your tub against the NSF listing. NSF lists 77 Thorne lots against 10 for BulkSupplements Creatine, so the tub you buy is more likely to be one NSF tested. BulkSupplements Creatine is also on NSF Certified for Sport and costs about $106 a year less. If it accepts Informed Sport, NOW Sports Creatine does the job for about $118 a year less.
Thorne Creatine
$0.49 a day · NSF Certified for Sport
Don’t want a powder?
Capsules and gummies cost more for the same 5 g. See creatine capsules or creatine gummies.
Every creatine we scored
We scored 9 products, all creatine monohydrate powders, on dose, testing, cost, label and recalls, and we checked each pick’s testing listing ourselves on October 16, 2026. Here they are, best score first, with why each one is or is not a pick. Costs are for 5 g a day at Amazon prices.
| Creatine | A day | Why it is or is not a pick |
|---|---|---|
| Naked Creatine10.0/10 | $0.18 | Our pick: the only one with full marks |
| NOW Sports Creatine9.0/10 | $0.16 | Our low-cost pick with testing for banned drugs (Informed Sport) |
| BulkSupplements Creatine9.0/10 | $0.20 | On NSF Certified for Sport (2 listings name 10 lots) |
| Optimum Nutrition Creatine9.0/10 | $0.30 | On Informed Choice; BulkSupplements Creatine is the same creatine for less, on NSF Certified for Sport |
| Momentous Creatine8.0/10 | $0.48 | Same testing as Thorne (NSF Certified for Sport), about the same cost |
| Thorne Creatine8.0/10 | $0.49 | Our pick for drug-tested athletes (NSF Certified for Sport) |
| Transparent Labs Creatine HMB8.0/10 | $1.67 | Adds HMB, a separate supplement; about 9 times the cost of our pick |
| Nutricost Creatine6.0/10 | $0.21 | Not on a testing list we check |
| Nutricost Creapure Creatine5.0/10 | $0.38 | Not on a testing list we check, and about 2 times the cost of our pick. For Creapure, Ascent Clean Creatine is on Informed Sport |
Plain monohydrate is the one to buy
Creatine monohydrate is the form most studies used, and every pick on this page is just that. Other forms, like creatine HCl, cost more and have less research behind them (forms compared). Creapure is a brand of monohydrate made in Germany; which tubs use it. Micronized creatine is monohydrate ground finer so it mixes faster; see the best micronized creatine.
Is creatine safe?
For most healthy adults, yes. Studies have given up to 30 g a day, and some have run as long as 5 years; the International Society of Sports Nutrition reviewed them and found creatine safe and well tolerated (Kreider 2017). That is far more than the 5 g a day on this page. Ask a doctor first if you have kidney disease, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are under 18.
Questions people ask
What is the best creatine supplement?
For most people, Naked Creatine: 5 g of plain creatine monohydrate a scoop for $0.18 a day, on NSF/ANSI 173. The lowest-cost tub we score right now is NOW Sports Creatine, at $0.16 a day. If you are drug-tested, buy a tub tested for drugs banned in sport: NOW Sports Creatine (Informed Sport) or Thorne Creatine (NSF Certified for Sport).
Do I need to load creatine?
No. Loading (20 g a day for about a week) fills your muscles faster, but it is optional. In the study that defined loading, 3 g a day raised muscle creatine by the same 20%, over 28 days instead of 6 (Hultman 1996). How much to take.
Can women take creatine?
Yes, at the same dose. In a 2-year trial, 200 women past menopause took 3 g a day or a placebo, and creatine did not change their health lab results (Sales 2020). On its own, without other changes, it also did not build bone or muscle in that trial. Creatine for women.
Will creatine change a kidney blood test?
It can. Creatine raises creatinine, the marker most kidney blood tests read, so results can look worse while the kidneys work the same. A 2025 review of the studies found a small rise in creatinine and no change in measured kidney function (Naeini 2025). Tell your doctor you take it before a blood test.
Does creatine cause hair loss?
Probably not. In a 12-week trial in young men, 5 g a day did not change DHT, the hormone tied to hair loss, or any hair measure, compared with a placebo (Lak 2025).
How other guides picked
Garage Gym Reviews and Fortune, read in October 2026, both rank Transparent Labs Creatine HMB first. It adds HMB, a separate supplement, and costs $1.67 a day on Amazon, about 9 times our pick. We rank plain monohydrate first because it is the form studied most and costs the least.
How we score
We score 9 creatine monohydrate powders. Five marks: does a scoop hold the studied dose; is the product on a public testing list (a brand’s own testing claim, with no listing, earns half the points); what a dose costs at the brand’s own price against the cheapest; does the label state the amount with no blend; and the brand’s FDA recall record. Dose and testing are worth up to 3 points each, cost up to 2, label and recalls up to 1 each, for 10 in all. The costs on this page are Amazon prices, which can differ from the brand’s own. More on our method.
Sources
- 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. PubMed 28615996
- Lak M, et al. “Does creatine cause hair loss? A 12-week randomized controlled trial.” J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2025. PubMed 40265319
- Hultman E, et al. “Muscle creatine loading in men.” J Appl Physiol. 1996. PubMed 8828669
- Sales LP, et al. “Creatine Supplementation (3 g/d) and Bone Health in Older Women: A 2-Year, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial.” J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2020. PubMed 31257405
- Naeini EK, et al. “Effect of creatine supplementation on kidney function: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” BMC Nephrol. 2025. PubMed 41199218
- Testing lists, read October 16, 2026: NSF/ANSI 173 (Naked), NSF Certified for Sport (Thorne 1204244 and 1495542, BulkSupplements 1676955), Informed Sport and Informed Choice.
- BulkSupplements on NSF Certified for Sport (1676955 and 1796571) and NSF/ANSI 173, read October 20, 2026.
- Garage Gym Reviews, “The Best Creatine Supplement in 2026,” read October 16, 2026. Fortune, “Best creatine supplements,” updated October 5, 2026, read October 17, 2026.