Two of the cheapest reputable whey brands in the US, side by side. Now Sports brings 50 plus years of natural-product credibility. Nutricost brings ruthless, label-minimal pricing. We tracked every retailer to see which budget pick actually wins for your goals.
Now Foods has been making sports supplements out of Bloomingdale, Illinois since 1968. The brand is family-owned, vertically integrated and operates its own NPA A-rated GMP-certified manufacturing facility. Now Sports is the athletic-targeted line within the broader Now Foods catalog: whey concentrate, pea protein, casein, plus pre-workouts and amino blends. Independent third-party testing (Informed-Sport on select SKUs) and a clean ingredient panel are the calling cards. You pay roughly $34 for a 5 lb tub of whey concentrate and you get a product with one of the longest legacies in the industry.
Nutricost launched in 2013 out of Vineyard, Utah with one simple thesis: cut out the marketing budget, sell direct or through Amazon, and pass the savings on. The brand has expanded to include whey concentrate, isolate, casein, mass gainer, plant blends, collagen and a long tail of single-ingredient powders. Every Nutricost product carries third-party lab testing from ISO-accredited facilities and the company publishes Certificates of Analysis on request. Nutricost is the brand you reach for when you do not care about branding and you do care about the spreadsheet.
The most cross-shopped products in both lineups are the 5 lb whey concentrate tubs. Here is the head-to-head on the chocolate variants.
| Metric | Now Sports Whey Concentrate (5 lb) | Nutricost Whey Concentrate (5 lb) |
|---|---|---|
| Tub size | 2,268 g / 5 lb | 2,268 g / 5 lb |
| Servings per tub | 73 | 66 |
| Protein per serving | 24 g | 25 g |
| Serving size | 31 g | 34 g |
| Total protein in tub | 1,752 g | 1,650 g |
| Lowest tracked price | $31.99 (Costco) | $32.99 (Amazon) |
| Cost per serving | $0.44 | $0.50 |
| Cost per gram of protein | $0.018 | $0.020 |
| Flavors tracked | Vanilla, Chocolate, Unflavored | Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, Unflavored, Cookies & Cream |
| Retailer reach | iHerb, Amazon, Walmart, Vitacost, Costco | Amazon, Walmart, iHerb, Vitacost, direct |
Once you do the per-gram math on the 5 lb tubs, Now Sports actually delivers slightly more total protein in the same size bag because of the smaller scoop. At $33.99 you get 1,752 g of protein from Now Sports versus 1,650 g from Nutricost at $32.99. Cost per gram of protein: $0.0194 (Now Sports) vs $0.0200 (Nutricost). The gap is meaningful but tiny. Most shoppers will not feel a 3 percent difference, especially when retailer promotions swing both brands by 10 to 20 percent in any given week.
Nutricost responds with sheer SKU breadth. The brand sells a 10 lb bulk bag at $59.99 (works out to roughly $0.018 per gram of protein), the cheapest legitimate whey isolate we track in 5 lb size, and a Casein 5 lb at $49.99. If you want one supplier for whey, isolate, casein and pea protein from a single label, Nutricost has the deeper shelf.
Both brands lean conservative on flavor. Now Sports Creamy Vanilla and Rich Chocolate are clean, lightly sweetened and slightly thin in milk. Sucralose-led sweetener system; no extra junk. Nutricost Chocolate is heavier and more cocoa-forward thanks to a stronger cocoa loading, while Cookies & Cream and Strawberry lean a little artificial compared with premium brands. The Vanilla works best blended into smoothies.
Mixability is solid on both sides. Now Sports pours smoother in water and produces less foam, while Nutricost benefits from a milk base or banana addition. Neither will leave clumps if you use a wire-ball shaker.
If you have a $35 budget, shop on Amazon and just want the cheapest sticker price right now, grab Nutricost Whey Concentrate 5 lb. You will get the lowest first-cost protein on the market from a brand with public lab testing. The cookie-and-cream flavor is the best of the lineup.
If you are a Costco member, value third-party testing pedigree, or want to spread your supplement spend across a brand with a 50-plus year track record, grab Now Sports Whey Concentrate. The slight per-gram edge stacks with the in-store availability and you can pick it up on the same run as the milk and eggs.
If you cannot decide: order one 5 lb tub of each (combined cost about $67) and rotate them. You will pay roughly $0.045 per gram of protein across the pair, still well under the industry budget benchmark of $0.05 per gram.
Yes. Now Sports is the athletic-product line within the larger Now Foods catalog. Same Bloomingdale, Illinois manufacturing facility, same family-owned company since 1968. Now Foods sells everything from essential oils to multivitamins; Now Sports is the sports-nutrition subset (whey, pea, casein, pre-workout, BCAA). The branding on the tub will usually read NOW Sports with the parent NOW Foods logo smaller underneath.
Nutricost operates out of a cGMP-registered facility and publishes third-party lab Certificates of Analysis on request. The brand is not Informed-Sport or NSF Certified for Sport, which means competitive athletes in tested federations should stick with Now Sports (which carries Informed-Sport stamps on select SKUs). For general fitness use, Nutricost's testing transparency is solid.
Now Sports Pea Protein at $39.99 for 5 lb is the cheaper of the two unflavored pea isolates we track. Nutricost Pea Protein at $34.99 for 5 lb is actually the cheapest on iHerb when in stock, but availability fluctuates. Both deliver roughly 24 g of pea protein per 38 g scoop. If you want a flavored vegan blend (pea plus rice plus hemp), Nutricost has the broader lineup.
Neither concentrate is lactose-free. Both retain naturally-occurring milk sugars. For lactose intolerance, you need whey isolate (filtered to remove most lactose). Nutricost Whey Isolate 5 lb at $44.99 is the cheaper option for lactose-sensitive shoppers. Now Sports does not currently sell a true whey isolate in their sports lineup. For lactose-free, go Nutricost Isolate or step up to a different brand.
Constantly. Amazon's algorithmic pricing on both brands swings $3-5 in either direction depending on competitor activity. Walmart price-matches the Amazon listing roughly once a week. Costco runs Now Sports promotions during member-only events (typically February and August). The cheapest week of the year for Nutricost is the Amazon Prime Day window in July. We refresh prices multiple times daily on the Now Sports brand page and Nutricost brand page.