Quick Picks
Eight products that made our shortlist after filtering across all 12 tracked US retailers. Click any pick to see live prices, all retailers, and the latest deal.
How We Ranked These
Two-track ranking: (a) high-calorie mass gainers (40 to 60g protein, 800 to 1200 calories per shake) for hard gainers who need help eating; (b) dense 25g+ whey blends for lifters who'd rather get protein from food and use shakes to top off.
All prices verified within the last 24 hours. We re-check every product across all 12 tracked retailers (Walmart, Amazon, iHerb, GNC, Bodybuilding.com, Target, Vitacost, Muscle & Strength, Costco, Tiger Fitness, MyProtein, Transparent Labs) every two hours. Out-of-stock products are excluded from these rankings entirely.
Our Top Pick
7 lb · 63g protein/scoop · 14 servings
If your priority is calories with your protein, no product in our catalog beats this for total grams of protein per shake. A double-scoop delivers more protein than most lifters need in a single sitting plus the carb base to refuel. See Amazon price →
Runner-Up
6 lb · 60g protein/scoop · 15 servings
Different mass-gainer profile, leaner carb base, slightly less total protein per scoop. Pick this if the top pick's calorie load is too aggressive. See Amazon price →
Honorable Mentions
The next picks worth knowing about. Slightly different trade-offs but still in the top tier for this category.
Dymatize Super Mass Gainer. 12 lb, 52g protein/scoop, $64.99 at Amazon.
Naked Nutrition Naked Mass Weight Gainer. 8 lb, 50g protein/scoop, $89.99 at Amazon.
BSN True Mass 1200. 5.82 lb, 50g protein/scoop, $54.99 at Walmart.
Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass. 12 lb, 50g protein/scoop, $69.99 at Amazon.
Browse mass gainers live
See every mass gainer in our catalog with live pricing across 12 retailers.
Browse mass gainers →Frequently Asked Questions
Research consistently lands at 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight per day for active lifters in a calorie surplus. For a 75 kg (165 lb) lifter, that's roughly 120 to 165g protein daily. Spread across 4 to 5 meals, 25 to 35g per meal.
Only if you can't hit a calorie surplus through whole food. Mass gainers are tools for hard gainers who struggle to eat enough. If you're already in surplus, regular whey at 24g per scoop plus food beats mass gainers on cost and metabolic health.
Both work; what matters more is total daily protein. Pre-workout protein 30 to 60 minutes before training keeps amino acids elevated during your session. Post-workout protein within 60 minutes hits the recovery window. If you only do one, do post-workout.
Whey has a slight edge per gram due to higher leucine content (~10 percent vs 7 to 8 percent in pea/rice blends). For most lifters this gap is closed by simply consuming 15 to 20 percent more plant protein. Whey is more cost-effective per gram of leucine; plant is competitive on total amino acids.
For a natural lifter in a calorie surplus and lifting 4+ days per week, expect 0.25 to 0.5 lb of lean mass per week early in your training career, slowing to 0.5 to 1 lb per month after the first 1 to 2 years. Protein supplementation doesn't accelerate this; it just makes hitting daily protein easier.
Excess protein converts to glucose or is excreted, but the calories still count. If you eat 4000 calories of pure protein when you only need 3000, the extra 1000 calories still add fat. Hit your protein target, then control overall calories.
Related Rankings
Other useful price comparisons on ProteinPrice.com:
- The full best-value protein ranking across all 377 tracked products.
- Head-to-head product comparisons across our catalog.
- Browse whey isolate, the cleanest whey category by macros.
- Browse all whey protein blends, isolates, and concentrates.
- Casein protein for slow-release recovery and bedtime use.
- Plant protein from pea, rice, hemp, and soy blends.
- Mass gainers for hard gainers and calorie-surplus bulking.
- Protein bar comparisons across 70+ tracked bars.
- Ready-to-drink shakes and protein waters.
- Current protein deals live across all retailers.