The 7 Best Creatine Monohydrate Supplements to Boost Your Workouts in 2024

Creatine is one of the most studied sports nutrition supplements, with decades of research supporting its safety and effectiveness in healthy individuals. But, with so many products on the market, it can be hard to know what to choose. With expert advice and available scientific research, this guide gives you everything you need to know to choose the best creatine supplement. The products recommended here were selected on the basis of expert recommendations and scientific research supporting their use.

Read on to learn about the best creatine monohydrate supplements available, their pros and cons, and tips for including them in your fitness routine.

• Best creatine overall: Ascent Clean Creatine
• Best creatine for women: Klean Athlete Klean Creatine
• Best creatine capsules: Optimum Nutrition Micronized Creatine Capsules
• Best creatine gummies: Create Creatine Monohydrate Gummies
• Best value creatine: NOW Sports Creatine Monohydrate Powder
• Best creatine for athletes: Thorne Creatine
• Best pre-workout with creatine: Naked Nutrition Pure Pre-Workout Formula

Creatine is a naturally occurring nonprotein amino acid that is primarily found in red meat and seafood. Around 95 percent of creatine is found in skeletal muscle, but small amounts are also found in the brain and testes.

Creatine’s primary role in the body is to combine with a phosphoryl group to form phosphocreatine. The creatine kinase (CK) enzyme facilitates this reaction. Phosphocreatine helps maintain adenosine triphosphate (ATP), our body’s source of energy, by donating its phosphorus to ATP, especially during high-intensity exercise like sprinting.

Creatine has decades of research supporting its effectiveness and safety in healthy individuals, says Melissa Boufounos, a certified holistic nutritionist, sports nutritionist, and owner of MB Performance Nutrition in Ottawa. “While creatine is well known as a performance-enhancing supplement, there are many benefits to using creatine beyond athletic training,” she explains. She notes that exciting evidence suggests creatine may help with concussion recovery, and may be beneficial for mental health, heart health, and healthy aging.

If you’re looking to enhance your performance and increase muscle growth, creatine might be the supplement you’ve been searching for. We chose the products in this article based on expert recommendations and scientific research supporting their use. Read on to learn which supplements we recommend, plus the latest research on the potential benefits of creatine.

While supplements are not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there are certain markers of quality to watch for. Pace recommends focusing on product purity, manufacturer reputation, and ingredient quality when selecting a creatine supplement. Choose a third-party certified supplement with the label NSF or Informed Sport for extra quality assurance, she adds.

Creatine dosing is determined by your body weight. Maintenance dosing is often preceded by a “loading period,” where you take a higher dose of creatine for a short time. Studies suggest that 0.3 g of creatine per kg of body weight for up to seven days is effective.

Once the loading period is over, it’s followed by maintenance dosing. According to the International Society of Sports Nutrition, the dose of creatine for enhancing performance is between 3 and 5 g per day. It’s also worth noting that newer research suggests a loading strategy may not be necessary and that just 3–5 g of creatine daily is effective for increasing creatine stores in the muscle, and for muscle performance and recovery.

With creatine, more is not necessarily better. There have been cases of liver and kidney complications with creatine when taken at higher than recommended doses for months at a time, along with other supplements. When creatine has been studied in isolation in acceptable doses, researchers reported no significant negative effects on the liver. Still, people who have preexisting liver and kidney conditions should discuss creatine with their doctors.

When choosing a creatine supplement, look for micronized creatine supplements. This type of creatine has been processed into very small particles and is more easily absorbed by the body.

According to PubMed, more than 500 peer-reviewed articles investigate the various effects of creatine supplementation, making it one of the most studied sports supplements. Some of the benefits of creatine supplementation may include:

• Improved physical performance
• Increase in fat-free mass (muscle)
• Improved short-term memory
• Improved functionality and muscle mass in older adults
• Improved replenishment of muscle glycogen stores
• Improved bone health in post-menopausal women

Benefits With Resistance Training and High-Intensity Interval Training

Many studies report that when combined with resistance training (like weight lifting), creatine supplementation improves physical performance and increases fat-free mass (such as muscle).

The same research also shows that creatine supplementation is beneficial when combined with short-duration (less than 30 seconds), high-intensity intermittent exercises. It’s thought that creatine supplementation in these situations enhances recovery during short rest periods, thereby reducing muscle fatigue. This can lead to increases in work and power output (measures of endurance performance).

This research shows that the use of creatine to enhance performance in steady-state cardiovascular exercises doesn’t appear to be beneficial. The performance-enhancing effects of creatine appear to decline as the duration of physical activity increases. Therefore, while creatine supplementation can be beneficial when combined with resistance training or high-intensity interval training (HIIT), it doesn’t appear to be as beneficial when combined with steady-state cardio (low- to moderate-intensity effort that can be sustained for an extended period).

May Benefit Vegan and Vegetarian Athletes

According to Schimmelpfenning, there are numerous benefits of creatine supplementation. Research suggests that creatine supplementation may help vegan and vegetarian athletes build strength and muscle. Since creatine is naturally found in animal foods like meat, fish, and poultry, people following a vegan or vegetarian diet may need a creatine supplement to meet their needs. Studies show that creatine supplementation increases performance for individuals following a vegetarian diet.

May Be Used to Treat Sarcopenia in Combination With Exercise

A promising condition that research suggests may benefit from creatine supplementation is age-related sarcopenia, the progressive and generalized decrease in muscle mass, strength, and functionality. Sarcopenia is associated with an increased risk of falls, fractures, and even death.

Strength training is the cornerstone of sarcopenia treatment, but emerging evidence suggests that creatine supplementation might also be helpful. The research shows that creatine increases functionality and muscle mass in older adults. But it’s worth noting that studies indicate creatine supplementation must be combined with an exercise program to treat sarcopenia effectively.

May Improve Replenishment of Muscle Glycogen Stores

When creatine is supplemented along with a source of carbohydrates, research shows it promotes greater muscle glycogen storage than carbohydrate supplementation alone. Glycogen is a form of glucose (which is used for energy) that is stored primarily in the liver and muscles. Glycogen replenishment promotes recovery and can prevent overtraining during difficult training periods. Therefore, creatine supplementation may be especially beneficial for athletes who deplete a lot of glycogen during training or competitions.

Enhances Recovery

Supplementing with creatine may help a person recover from intense athletic training. Evidence also suggests that creatine supplementation may reduce muscle damage from intense exercise.

Benefits for Women

Creatine kinase (CK), the enzyme that adds a phosphate group to creatine to turn it into phosphocreatine, is influenced by the hormones estrogen and progesterone. CK levels increase significantly during menstruation, while CK levels decrease throughout the menstrual cycle, during pregnancy, and as women age. This indicates that creatine supplementation may need to change depending on which phase a woman is in. Pregnant individuals should consult their doctor before using creatine, or any other supplement.

Studies show that females tend to have lower creatine levels in the brain. Creatine supplementation has been shown to significantly increase the amount of phosphocreatine and inorganic phosphate in the brain, particularly in females. This increase in phosphocreatine was associated with fewer depression symptoms in adolescent females resistant to SSRIs (a type of antidepressant medication).

For post-menopausal females, creatine supplementation can be beneficial for several reasons. Growing evidence suggests that creatine supplementation combined with a resistance training program improves muscle mass, upper- and lower-body strength, and functionality at various tasks. Overall, it appears that creatine supplementation for post-menopausal females effectively improves muscle quality and performance.

For post-menopausal females, the benefits of creatine supplementation extend beyond aging muscle — it may also support bone health when combined with resistance training. A 52-week study showed that when combined with resistance training, creatine supplementation was associated with decreased bone mineral loss at the hip compared with females taking the placebo during training.

Benefits for Men

A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that when it comes to anaerobic running capacity (sprinting, or your running capacity when there is not enough oxygen present) and body weight, creatine affects males and females differently, says Chun. This study showed that a short-term, high-dosage creatine loading regimen increased anaerobic running capacity in men but not in women.

This suggests that creatine loading may be an effective strategy for men, but not women, says Chun. She notes that while creatine supplementation does not directly increase testosterone levels, it can provide benefits similar to those of higher testosterone levels, such as increased energy, strength, and muscle growth.

According to Chun, the recommended approach for creatine supplementation for performance in men involves a loading phase with high doses of creatine for a short period, followed by a maintenance dose. A typical loading protocol involves taking 20–25 g of creatine split between 4–5 daily doses for 5–7 days. Chun notes that this loading method has been shown to increase the amount of creatine in the muscles rapidly. Following the loading protocol, a maintenance dose of 3–5 g per day is recommended for maintaining creatine stores in the muscles, she adds.

One of the most common side effects of creatine supplementation is water retention. But this appears to only happen during the first few days of taking creatine. Studies suggest that long-term supplementation with creatine does not alter total water content in the body. Most people taking creatine don’t have to worry about the potential water-retention properties. But if you have kidney disease or heart failure, you should discuss creatine supplementation with your doctor, as fluid shifts (such as gaining water weight) can be harmful for people with these conditions.

According to the Merck Manual, other side effects of creatine supplementation include minor upset stomach, dehydration, headache, irritability, and muscle cramps. They also note that there are no known drug interactions with creatine. Some doctors do recommend avoiding creatine supplementation if you take nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), as both can affect kidney function.

While current research indicates that high-quality creatine supplements produced under high-quality manufacturing standards and taken in appropriate doses do not pose any safety risks, more research is needed before creatine supplementation can be recommended for pregnant or breastfeeding individuals. If you plan on supplementing creatine while pregnant or breastfeeding, speak with your healthcare provider to review the potential risks and benefits.

We spoke with registered dietitians and nutritionists with expertise in sports nutrition for their recommendations on the best creatine supplements currently available. We also chose supplements that are third-party tested, ensuring the highest quality.

Meet Our Experts

• Melissa Boufounos, Certified Holistic Nutritionist
• Jenn Schmidt, RDN
• Julie Pace, RDN
• Wan Na Chun, MPH, RDN
• Edwina Clark, RD
• Katie Schimmelpfenning, RD