Top 6 Best Whey Protein Powders in America [2022 Comparison]

There are countless different protein powders from a long list of manufacturers out there. Based on various production methods and food safety standards there are big differences in price and quality. Producing quality whey costs money so protein powders made with higher standards will typically be more expensive.

Here are the five best protein powders in America (USA) based upon quality, cost, taste, muscle building ability, and overall healthiness:

Product Images	Manufacturer	Percent Protein	Cost per Serving (30g)	Package Size in Pounds	Package Size in Grams	Price	Grams Protein Total	Ingredients
	Now Foods Whey Protein Isolate (unflavored)	89%	$ 1,30	5 lb	2.268g	$87,99	2.025g	isolated whey, lecithin
	Jarrow Formulas Whey Protein (unflavored)	75%	$ 1,59	2 lb	907g	$35,95	680g	concentrated whey, lecithin
	Integrated Supplements Whey Isolate Protein Premium (vanilla)	71%	$ 1,62	2 lb	907g	$34,99	648g	isolated whey, lecithin, natural vanilla, natural sweeteners
	Bob’s Red Mill Whey Protein Powder (unflavored)	74%	$ 1,71	3 lb	1.361g	$56,99	1.003g	concentrated whey, lecithin
	Bluebonnet Whey Protein Isolate Powder (unflavored)	84%	$ 1,90	2,2 lb	998g	$52,95	837g	isolated whey, lecithin
	Now Foods Organic Whey Protein Isolate (unflavored)	79%	$ 2,34	1 lb	454g	$27,99	359g	organic whey, lecithin

For protein powders in other regions (with potentially higher shipping costs) see also:

• Best whey protein powders in Europe
• Best whey protein powders in Australia and New Zealand
• Best whey protein powders in the UK (United Kingdom)
• Best protein powders in Germany and Austria

In the last years, the supplement industry has progressed. “Natural” in the name now really seems to mean natural in most cases. A couple of years ago, you would be hard-pressed to find one single protein powder without any artificial sweeteners. Now there are plenty of them! As organic products become more popular and volumes increase, the prices are slowly coming down. You can now get the Now Foods organic whey for $ 2,34 per 30 gram serving of protein. Although that’s 80% more expensive compared to the $ 1,30 for the Now Foods non-organic whey, it’s still cheaper than what you would find at many other stores and a good option if organic is something that’s important to you.

What this table shows you

In America, it still requires a bit of searching to find high-quality protein powders that don’t have artificial ingredients in them. All of the top 5 above are good choices, so you can’t really go wrong with any of them. They are all similar in regards to Dollars per gram of protein and quality ingredients. Start by looking at the price for a 30g serving of protein for an apples-to-apples comparison. If you choose on a strictly based on price per protein, the best deal is the product “Now Foods Whey Protein Isolate” at $ 1,30 for a 30 gram serving of protein. Their aggressive pricing comes from the fact, that you can buy a big 5 lb tub of their whey.

The next 3 in the top 4 whey proteins “Jarrow Formulas Whey Protein“, “Integrated Supplements Whey Isolate Protein Premium” and “Bob’s Red Mill Whey Protein Powder” are pretty much on par, albeit a little more expensive on a cost per serving basis due to the lower protein percentage. Within this comparison getting the “Bluebonnet Whey Protein Isolate Powder” only makes sense when it’s on sale. All except the “Integrated Supplements” wheys are available unflavored (raw), which I generally recommend over flavored protein powders – especially artificially flavored ones.

If you are cutting and trying to lose fat, take a closer look at the “Percent Protein” column, which states the percent of the calories from protein.  Ideally, it would be 100% but no filtering method is perfect and some trace carbs are left. In addition, some protein powders add a bit of sugar, which decreases the % of protein.

The Prices (in $) are based on the package sizing in the column next to it. Bigger packages mean lower prices. If it makes sense for you to buy in bulk, I would recommend buying the bigger packages to get the most bang for the buck. Some even offer a 10 lb pack or bulk sales.

The Price per Serving (30g) is calculated based on Price and Grams Protein Total. So package sizing has a direct impact on this. So use the ranking of places 2-4 interchangeably because there is so little difference in $/30g protein.

Note that these are the current prices & availabilities as of January 2022. Both will fluctuate heavily as they have done for the past 2 years. Be especially aware of shipping costs as that can make a huge change in the price. Many shops offer free shipping.  The links I have provided to find the products are direct links to the manufacturer, when possible. For the best possible deal on a daily basis, feel free to check the product name for new sellers and special sales.  Just be sure to check the label carefully and make sure it matches the information in the table before buying.

Which protein powder builds muscle the fastest?

Protein powder is not magic.  Protein powder is not steroids. You don’t NEED protein powder unless you are a vegetarian or vegan. You can get all the high-quality protein your body needs by eating chicken, fish, beef, or pork.  If you are a meat-eater, real food builds muscle just as quickly as protein powder.

Protein powder is simply a more convenient way to get your protein than having to carry around a Tupperware with grilled chicken breast, brown rice, and broccoli in it.  There is a lot of money in the protein powder business and the marketing people in this industry make all kinds of impressive-sounding stuff up to make you buy their product over their competitors.

Basically, there are two ways the quality of protein can be ruined. The first is high temperatures and the second is extremes in pH values (“potential of hydrogen”).  This is the reason why all the best protein powders are filtered either by crossflow-, ultra-filtration or micro-filtration methods. I don’t recommend anything with ion-exchange whey in it as it’s exposed to extremes in pH.  Any isolate protein powder that is concentrated by using filtration is done at a neutral pH and at temperatures low enough that the protein remains unharmed. There is a lot of debate (stirred by those marketing people) about what filtration method is better. In the end, all filtered whey products are of the same high quality – regardless of any claimed “scientific” superiority, trademarked processes, or fancy marketing terms.

What does it take to be the Best Protein Powder?

Plain whey is only about 13% protein. The rest are carbohydrates. You would just get fat trying to gain muscle using pure whey. It alone obviously does not make a good protein powder for weight lifters yet. In order to increase the amount of protein, the carbs need to get removed.

There are two basic ways to remove the carbs from whey: By cold filtering (micro-, ultra, or crossflow-filtration), and by ion exchange.  In my opinion, filtered whey is far superior to ion-exchange whey.

Heat and pH changes can decrease the quality of the whey. Cold filtering uses neither modification.  I also highly recommend staying completely away from anything that says “blend” or “proprietary protein mix” because to me, that says that they just dump in whatever is cheapest and don’t even tell you what they are really using.  Every manufacturer has their own marketing word for the protein concentration process but the only important thing is that it contains the word “filter”. Which filtration in detail is not even that important. It can be nano-filtered, cross-filtered, or ultra-filtered. All filtering methods are done cold and without the use of anything that changes the pH. This is why filtered whey products have excellent quality protein.

Please read my article dedicated to protein powders & other supplements if you want more information.

The other thing that qualifies a protein powder for being on this “Best Protein Powder” list (in my opinion) is being natural.

There is a lot of garbage out there. Read “Consumer Reports” articles on protein powders if you want to see how harmful some products are. It doesn’t have to be organic (that’s often twice as expensive) but at least the ingredients need to be clean. Meaning no traces of heavy metals (which is more common than what you would anticipate!), no questionable ingredients, clean production methods, and so on.

The ingredients of a good protein powder look like this: “Ingredients: filtered whey, lecithin.” – that’s it.

– My Opinion

You don’t want creatine in it. Whey is sweet enough on its own.
You don’t want creatine in it. There’s pure, high-quality creatine if you choose to use that.
You don’t want caffeine in it. There’s coffee for that.
You don’t want ephedrine in it. No need for that in a protein shake.
You don’t want vitamins in it. Just eat balanced meals and some fruits.
You don’t want it laced with pro-hormones. No idea why you would need those.
You just want protein from your protein shake. That’s what I expect my whey protein powder to have in it.

If you want any of that other stuff, then buy it separately. Only this way can you control exactly how much you are getting and when you are getting it.

Best & healthiest protein powder flavors

The fruit flavors like strawberry and banana are virtually always artificial and pack a really nasty aftertaste. So, choose those only after a very careful inspection of the ingredients list. Maybe your shop of choice offers test kits of various flavors in small batches for you to try before committing to 70 servings with a 2kg pack.

Flavors that sound like candy bars should be avoided like the plague as they are always artificial. Flavors called “caramel popcorn” or “gummy bears”? Thanks, but no thanks. So, please stick to either chocolate, vanilla, or unflavored (natural) protein powders.

Which protein powder is the best for mass gain?

If you want to gain “mass”, just mix a bag of any of the high-quality protein powder listed above with a bag of sugar and you get the highest quality “Mass Gain” powder around – for a killer price!

Even if protein powders have branded names including “Mass Gainer” or anything of that nature, the only mass they make you gain over high-quality whey isolates is bodyfat. Don’t believe the marketing hype on these mass gain products. They are nothing more than protein, sugar (not too little of it), and a few useless supplements tossed in for good measure to make them sound ridiculous.

I don’t recommend any “Mass Gain” products as they are over-saturated with carbohydrates and additional supplements. Above I explained what it takes to make whey low on carbs, why would you add some back in? If you are going to use one anyway, just make your own and save 300% mark-up for the hype name and shiny packaging.

Mass gain = fat gain.  You don’t gain muscle any faster by downing a bunch of sugar with your protein unless you are under 5% body fat. If you want to go even deeper, I invite you to keep reading about protein powders, protein shakes, and mass gain powders.  

Why isn’t your favorite protein in the above list?

If your protein is not listed, its probably because:

1. It has ingredients other than whey protein, lecithin & natural flavor.
2. It has artificial flavors or artificial sweeteners.
3. It has other supplements mixed into it (creatine, weight loss products, vitamins, etc.), thus is not strictly protein powder.
4. The protein is a “proprietary” mix,  a “blend” or a trademarked name. Those are just codewords for “they put whatever cr*p is cheapest” into it.
5. It’s ion-exchange and not cold filtered.

If you think I have overlooked a protein powder, please let me know. Just post the ingredient list and I will take a closer look and may even test it myself if it meets the criteria above.