How the site works, how rankings are calculated, and the protein-buying basics worth knowing before you spend $60 on a tub.
Everything you might want to know about ProteinPrice.com: how the site works, how we make money, how rankings are calculated, and the protein-buying basics worth understanding before you spend $60 on a tub.
ProteinPrice.com is an independent price-comparison site for protein powder, built and operated by a small team based in Australia. We focus on the US market because that's where the largest protein-buying audience lives and where the most retailer competition exists.
We are not owned by or affiliated with any protein brand or retailer. Editorial decisions and ranking methodology are entirely our own.
Through affiliate commissions. When you click an outbound "View Deal" link and complete a purchase, the retailer pays us a small referral fee. The price you pay is identical whether you click our link or go direct.
The full breakdown: who pays us, how much, and what it does (and doesn't) influence: is on the Affiliate Disclosure page.
No. Rankings are calculated automatically by Value Score (grams of protein per dollar) from live price data. The algorithm does not know which retailers pay us a commission and does not weight by affiliate rate.
In practice, products from non-affiliate retailers (including some warehouse clubs and direct-to-consumer brands) regularly rank #1 in their categories. If the math says they're the best value, they show up first.
daily. The timestamp in the site header shows the last update. Sale prices, subscription pricing, and stock availability are all captured during that cycle.
Between scrapes, retailers can change prices. The retailer's checkout is always the source of truth: always verify before purchasing.
12 US retailers covering everything from mass-market to specialty supplement stores: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, GNC, Bodybuilding.com, iHerb, Vitacost, Muscle & Strength, Tiger Fitness, MyProtein, and Transparent Labs.
We add new retailers periodically based on coverage and reader requests. Suggest one at [email protected].
Value Score = total grams of protein ÷ best current price.
It's the single number that tells you whether a product is genuinely cheap protein or just a cheap sticker price. Total protein is (protein per serving × servings per tub). Higher Value Score is always better.
Full breakdown with examples on the How It Works page.
Because tub size, protein density, and serving count vary wildly. A $25 tub with 18g protein and 20 servings gives you 360g of protein for your money. A $65 tub with 25g protein and 76 servings gives you 1,900g: over five times as much protein for 2.6× the price.
Sticker price makes the $25 tub look cheaper. Value Score correctly identifies the $65 tub as dramatically better value.
Every product gets a Value Score from its lowest current price across all tracked retailers. Within a category: for example, "whey isolate" or "plant protein": products are ordered by Value Score, highest first.
There are no manual overrides. No paid placement. No editorial reshuffling. The page you see is the algorithm's output.
We do. Whatever live price our scrapers find on the retailer's product page is the price we use: including flash sales, coupon-eligible prices visible on the page, and subscription discounts where they apply.
The full data pipeline is documented on /how-it-works/. The short version: scrape → parse → recalculate Value Score → deploy, ten times a day.
Prices come directly from each retailer's product pages via automated scrapers. No prices are self-reported by brands.
Nutrition data (protein per serving, servings per container, total weight) is sourced from the manufacturer's official label and cross-checked against retailer listings. When numbers disagree, we use the figures on the printed label.
Concentrate is roughly 70–80% protein by weight with some lactose and fat. Cheapest option, slightly creamier mouthfeel, fine for most people.
Isolate is filtered to 90%+ protein, very low in lactose and fat. Costs more, mixes thinner, better if you're lactose-sensitive or watching every calorie.
Hydrolysate is isolate that has been enzymatically pre-broken into smaller peptides for faster absorption. Most expensive, mainly relevant peri-workout or for clinical use: overkill for most lifters.
For active adults, research generally points to 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. Sedentary adults need less; older adults and those in a calorie deficit may benefit from the higher end of that range.
For a personalized number based on your weight, activity level, and goal, use our protein calculator.
For most people, whey. It absorbs quickly, costs less, and works well any time of day: including the most-studied use case of post-workout.
Casein digests more slowly and is sometimes used at night for a slow-release effect, though the practical difference is smaller than marketing copy suggests. If you only buy one, buy whey. Casein is a "nice to have" once you've already nailed your daily total.
For total daily protein intake and muscle-building support: yes, when you choose well.
A quality blended plant protein (pea + rice, or pea + soy) hits the same amino acid profile and supports muscle protein synthesis comparably to whey at matched doses. Single-source plant proteins are often slightly less complete on the amino acid spectrum: look for blends if you want the closest functional match to whey.
A plain whey concentrate from a well-known brand in chocolate or vanilla. Affordable, mixes easily, tastes acceptable, and gives you a baseline to compare anything else against.
Don't overthink the first tub: focus on hitting your daily protein target consistently for a few weeks before optimizing for things like isolate purity or specific flavor profiles.
Only if you genuinely struggle to eat enough calories. Mass gainers are mostly maltodextrin or oat flour with some protein bolted on: you can replicate the same effect more cheaply with whey plus oats, peanut butter, or a banana.
If chewing food is the bottleneck (very high-calorie diets, hardgainers, post-illness recovery), mass gainer is a useful tool. For everyone else it's an expensive way to buy carbs you could get from your kitchen.
Use our compare tool. Add two or more products and you'll see protein per serving, Value Score, price across retailers, and full nutrition side by side.
We publish public JSON feeds at /data/ covering the product catalog, price history, and Value Score data.
Please use those instead of scraping the HTML: the feeds are stable, structured, and won't break when we redesign a page. They're also more polite to our servers.
Didn't find what you were looking for? Email [email protected] and we'll get back to you.