How to choose a good creatine

Five things are worth checking on any creatine label: the form, the dose against the research, purity testing, other ingredients, and price per serving. Here's each one, checked against our own label like any other — including the one place it falls short.

1. Form: is it actually monohydrate?

Creatine is sold as monohydrate, hydrochloride, ethyl ester, buffered blends and a few other variants, marketed with claims about better absorption or less bloating. The safety and efficacy conclusions in the sports-nutrition literature, including the standard loading-and-maintenance protocol, are built predominantly on trials using creatine monohydrate — that's the form the research base actually covers. Electric Tiger Creatine Monohydrate is exactly that: creatine monohydrate, plain. If a label says something else, or a proprietary blend name that doesn't specify the chemical form, that's worth a second look before assuming it behaves like the research above.

2. Dose: does it match the loading-and-maintenance research?

The most-studied protocol is roughly 20 g a day (split into doses) for 5-7 days, then 3-5 g a day to maintain it. A label that provides much less than 3 g per serving as a "maintenance" dose is below what most of the research actually used. Our label directs one 5,000 mg scoop, four times a day, for the first five days, then one or two scoops (5,000-10,000 mg) after — at or above the most commonly studied maintenance range. See how much creatine should you take a day? for the full breakdown.

3. Purity and testing

Some monohydrate is sold under a purity-tested trademark (Creapure is the best-known one), and some brands publish a third-party lab certificate of analysis for heavy metals and purity. Our label doesn't specify a mesh size, a micronization claim, or a named purity certification, and we hold no third-party certification for this product. That's the checklist item where we fall shortest, and we're not going to dress it up as something else. If third-party testing matters to you specifically, it's a fair reason to look elsewhere or to ask a brand directly whether they hold one.

4. Other ingredients

Check what else is in the tub beyond the labeled amount — fillers, flavoring agents, artificial sweeteners, or a proprietary blend that hides how much of anything you're actually getting. Electric Tiger Creatine Monohydrate lists one ingredient: creatine monohydrate, 5,000 mg per scoop, nothing else in the facts panel.

5. Price per serving

Creatine monohydrate is one of the least expensive supplements per gram on the market, so a wide price spread across brands is often more about packaging and marketing than the ingredient itself. Electric Tiger Creatine Monohydrate is as low as $20.62 a bottle on subscription, 50 servings a bottle — about $0.41 a serving. Compare that number, not the sticker price of the bottle, when weighing one product against another.

Questions people ask

What creatine is best?

Run any label through the five checks above: form, dose, testing, other ingredients, and price per serving. A single-ingredient monohydrate label at 3-5 g or more per serving, with a price per serving you can actually compare, covers most of what matters — whether or not a specific brand also holds third-party testing.

Where can I buy creatine?

Electric Tiger Creatine Monohydrate is available directly from our site, with subscription pricing as low as $20.62 a bottle. Wherever you buy it, the checklist above applies the same way.

Which type of creatine is best?

Monohydrate is the form the research base is actually built on — see what is creatine? a plain guide for how it compares to other forms sold on the market.

Is micronized creatine better?

Micronization is a smaller particle size, marketed for better mixing in water. It's a solubility claim, not a claim about how the body uses it once dissolved, and our label doesn't specify a mesh size or a micronization claim either way.

Is a creatine gummy or blend as good as a plain powder?

A gummy or blend often provides less creatine per serving than a 5 g monohydrate scoop, and a proprietary blend can hide how much creatine is actually in it. Check the milligram amount specifically, not just the word "creatine" on the front of the package.