Is Thorne creatine worth the price?
Thorne creatine costs $0.467 per 5 g serving at its cheapest, the Thorne Creatine (900 g); the other 2 Thorne packages NSF names cost more per 5 g. The cheapest product we track whose exact package is also named in NSF's Certified for Sport database is BulkSupplements.com Creatine Monohydrate (Micronized) Powder (1000 g) at $0.15. Both are before delivery. So Thorne's cheapest package is about 3.1× the price of an equally certified alternative.
| Product | Per 5 g | Container | Exact package NSF-listed? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thorne Creatine (900 g) | $0.467 | $84.00 | Yes |
| BulkSupplements.com Creatine Monohydrate (Micronized) Powder (1000 g) | $0.15 | $29.97 | Yes |
What the extra does not buy
Both products above hold a current NSF Certified for Sport listing that names the exact package sold. On the evidence we hold, they clear the same bar: label contents confirmed, contaminants tested, banned substances screened, manufacturing site audited. Creatine monohydrate is also a single, chemically simple compound, so there is no formulation difference of the kind that separates, say, two fish oils.
What it might buy
Things we do not measure and are not claiming are worthless: NSF names Thorne's creatine on separate listings split by package configuration, the stick packs on their own. Brand history, manufacturing consistency over time, customer service and returns are all real and none of them appear in our data. A smaller tub also costs less up front, which matters if you are trying one.
We are not going to tell you it is or is not worth it
That is a judgment about what you value, and we do not have data that settles it. What we can say is the part people usually cannot check for themselves: on independent verification, these two are level, and the price difference is 3.1×. See How we compare for what our tiers do and do not mean.
Where to buy: the creatine monohydrate shortlist
The pick is the cheapest certified product, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, with no adverse finding on record, a price its retailer let us read recently, and no more than a year’s supply at the label’s serving; per delivered dose where the retailer publishes a delivery rate. Where none does, it is the cheapest such product before delivery, and it says how far the order is from free delivery. It is the same pick the category page shows. Any answer shown beside it is the cheapest under a different rule and says so on its own line; answers that cost more than the pick fold under one line until you ask for them.
How these lines are chosen
Among 61 products and 74 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below.
Full comparison of every product in this category: Creatine Monohydrate. Every question we answer: the question index.
What this rests on: prices we last recorded at the retailer named on each product page, which go stale, and each page says when it was checked; the products we track, not every product sold, and Amazon and Walmart are not among the stores; listings and labels read at the source, each linked from the page. Found an error? Tell us. The full method: How we compare.