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Optimum Nutrition Creatine Powder packs 5g of pure creatine monohydrate into every serving, with no caffeine, green tea extract, or other pre-workout stimulants.
So how does pure monohydrate compare with creatine supplements containing 6 different types of creatine (BPI Sports Best Creatine) or those that combine their creatine with a BCAA/amino acid complex (MuscleTech Cell Tech) for maximum strength, fullness, and recovery?
Creatine can be an incredibly effective supplement for supporting muscle strength, power, and size, when combined with high-intensity resistance training, such as CrossFit, powerlifting, or bodybuilding.
But is micronized monohydrate powder more effective than other types of creatine, such as kre-alkalyn or AKG?
In this review we’ll guide you through everything you need to know. Recommended dosage, if there’s a loading stage, advice on how to include ON Creatine in a supplement stack, and how the price compares to other top rated creatines.
Because it’s one of the bestselling creatine supplements on Amazon, we’ll also provide a quick summary of feedback from the 3,900+ highly rated reviews.
This includes advice on mixability, effects, and the best way to load/cycle the creatine to guarantee the best results.
O.N. Creatine Powder ingredients
If you’re looking for an effective creatine supplement, monohydrate has the most scientific backing. But even if you’re set on buying monohydrate, how can you determine the purity?
There are two main strains of creatine monohydrate; the standard monohydrate powder, and a formula known as CreaPure®.
CreaPure® is made by a company called AlzChem in Germany, and widely known as the purest and finest micronized creatine available.
CreaPure® is 99% pure and completely free of impurities and by-products, such as Creatinine, Dicyandiamide, and Thiourea. It’s also the only form of creatine used by Optimum Nutrition.
Fortunately, there’s no difference in price between Optimum Nutrition and standard creatine monohydrate supplements, such as NOW Foods.
The serving size is the same (5 g), and at the time of writing this review, both were priced at $0.02 per gram for the larger 1 kg tubs.
Creatine powder vs. creatine capsules
If you prefer the convenience of capsules, O.N. Creatine is also available in 2500 mg doses. However, there are a couple of downsides to buying the capsules instead of the powder.
Firstly, they’re more expensive. For a 5 gram dose, you’re looking at $0.34 per serving, even for the largest 300-count bottle.
At the time of writing this review, the powder was priced at $0.10 for a 5 gram serving.
Health benefits of creatine
For a comprehensive list of creatine health benefits, we recommend taking a look at our Creatine Buying Guide.
Post-workout or pre-workout?
Recommended use
Take 1 rounded teaspoon of Micronized Creatine Powder with morning, afternoon, and evening meals. 1 additional rounded teaspoon should be taken before going to bed as part of a 4-5 day loading phase.
After loading, as part of a maintenance phase, take 1 rounded teaspoon immediately after training with your post-workout protein shake.
On non-workout days take the same serving with any meal throughout the day.
O.N. Creatine vs. Integrated Supplements
O.N. Creatine vs. Beast Sports Creature
What size is the best value?
Optimum Nutrition Creatine Powder comes in 4 different sized tubs; 150g (28 servings), 600g (114 servings), 1200g (228 servings), and 2000g (380 servings).
The smaller tub is designed as a 1-month supply for anyone currently on a maintenance phase.
But if you’re looking for the best value, the 2000g tub is a much better choice.
Although prices fluctuate, the 150g tub will cost you $0.20 per serving, the 1200g around $0.12 per serving, and the 2kg tub $0.10 per serving.
Save money with Amazon
If you’re looking to save money on your monthly supplement order, you might want to consider the Amazon Subscribe & Save program.
Subscribe & Save allows you to unlock savings of up to 15% on a wide range of sports nutrition products, including Optimum Nutrition Creatine.
You can save 5% with a subscription to 1 product, or save the full 15% by subscribing to 5 products, provided they’re all delivered to the same address. The delivery schedule can be set from monthly, up to once every 6 months.
Although 5 products might sound a lot, if you already supplement with a protein powder, multivitamin, creatine, BCAA, and glutamine, the savings can soon add up.
But it’s best to order before you run out of your current supplements, because Amazon set the day of the month each order is sent (same day each month e.g. 14th.).
Who are Optimum Nutrition?
With over 30 years in the sports nutrition industry, Optimum Nutrition currently produces some of the bestselling sports nutrition products in the world.
These have been designed to improve your strength and recovery, health and wellness, and help increase your protein intake, such as their Gold Standard 100% Whey.
To find out more about their protein powders, bars, ready to drinks, BCAAs, glutamine, pre-workout supplements, creatine, multivitamins, and weight loss products, we recommend our Optimum Nutrition buying guide.
This includes a summary of the health benefits you can expect from each product, which sizes and flavors are available, and dosages for the top ingredients.
We’ve also added in-depth reviews and comparisons with other top rated nutrition companies, to guarantee you only buy the best supplement for your fitness goals.
Review Overview
Optimum Nutrition has exactly what you need from a good creatine supplement. A 5 g serving size of high purity Creapure® creatine at an affordable price.
But it’s not without competition. Integrated Supplements is another supplement company that offers the same serving size and same type of creatine.
The only real difference is the price, which is almost identical if you’re buying 1 kg tubs.
The quality of Optimum Nutrition Creatine powder is backed up by more than 3,900 of reviews on Amazon, and recently took top spot in our list of the top 10 best creatine supplements.
It’s a simple formula that sticks to scientifically proven monohydrate and doesn’t bulk the serving size with worthless fillers.
So if you want to increase your strength and lean muscle mass, Optimum Nutrition Creatine is highly recommended.
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