Creatine Micronized vs. Monohydrate – Is There a Difference?

Note: Our top pick for the best Creatine supplement is Pumped Extreme Kre Alkalyn Creatine.

The gains I’ve enjoyed from creatine are nothing short of awesome. No doubt tens of thousands of lifters have enjoyed major gains like I have.

I haven’t taken creatine all that long … wish I had started sooner. However, it’s working great for me now.

When you start lifting and decide to take the creatine plunge, it’s a little difficult deciding the following:

• What type of creatine to buy (micronized vs. monohydrate); and
• What brand to buy.

Micronized vs. Monohydrate Creatine – Is there a Difference?

Actually micronized refers to a type of creatine monohydrate. In fact, micronized is a way too fancy way of saying the granules are smaller / finer. This makes it dissolve better in liquid and some report it’s easier on their stomach.

Therefore, micronized creatine is a form of monohydrate creatine.

But, that’s not the end of the discussion.

Your big decision is what brand to buy.

There are creatine products that source creatine from different sources. Not all sources of creatine are equal. This is what you want to look out for.

1 popular brand of creatine is Creapure® creatine.

When I say brand, I’m not referring to the brand that the creatine is sold under. Creapure® is what I’ll call a “source brand” of creatine at the manufacturing level. It’s sold/licensed to various creatine brands such as AllMax.

Why is the source brand of creatine important?

The biggest reason to care about the actual source of creatine in your creatine supplement because of where it’s made. Frankly, you want the purest form of creatine possible. This means you don’t want cheap, polluted creatine from manufacturing facilities with low or no quality inspection sources. The fact is many brands simply hire the lowest-cost bidding creatine manufacturing facility. The brand simply markets the product.

However, when you know the source brand of creatine, you can quickly investigate where that creatine is actually manufactured. For example, Creapure® is manufactured in Germany. Creapure® claims very high purity and quality. I don’t have a lab and haven’t tested it … but I take them for their word.

Reading creatine labels

Not all creatine labels state the source brand of creatine. Therefore, you’ll need to read the online product description. However, if the source brand of creatine is well regarded such as Creapure®, the label usually states this type of creatine.

If all you read is “micronized creatine monohydrate” or a similar version, you don’t know the source creatine brand. In this case you may want to contact the brand and ask the following:

• What’s the source brand of creatine, if any?
• Where is it manufactured?

Of course, you’ll only take these steps if you care about what’s in your supplements.

Pricing creatine

Since creatine comes in different sizes (i.e. number of grams per container), the only real way to compare prices is calculating the cost per gram.

For example, compare a 1,000 gram container vs. 400 gram container:

• 1,000 gram brand costs $20 = $.02/gram
• 400 gram brand costs $10 = $.025 / gram

All else being equal, buying the 1,000 gram container is the best deal.

It turns out micronized and monohydrate is just the tip of the iceberg

As you can see, the micronized vs. monohydrate question isn’t really a question at all. They’re really one and the same except micronized means smaller granules.

The real issue is source brand of creatine and to a lesser degree, price.

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