NSF Certified for Sport vs Informed Sport: what is the difference?
They are not the same test, and the difference matters more than the logos suggest. The short version: Informed Sport and Informed Choice are principally banned-substance screens, they check that a batch is not contaminated with substances prohibited in sport. NSF Certified for Sport and USP Verified also confirm the label: that the product contains what it says, in the amount it says, without harmful levels of specified contaminants.
So a product carrying an Informed mark has been independently tested, but not necessarily for whether it holds the dose on the label. If what you want to know is “am I getting 5 g of creatine”, that is a different question from “is this safe to take under drug testing”, and only some of these programs answer it.
| NSF Certified for Sport | USP Verified | Informed Sport | Informed Choice | BSCG Certified Drug Free | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confirms the label’s dose | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | Yes |
| Tests for heavy metals / contaminants | Yes | Yes | Not stated | Not stated | Yes |
| Screens for substances banned in sport | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reviews manufacturing | On-site audit | On-site audit | Paper-based review | Paper-based review | Paper-based review |
| Testing frequency | Periodic | Audits plus off-the-shelf testing | Every batch | Periodic | Every batch |
| Products we track holding this | 23 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
Each column is taken from that program's own published description of its process: NSF Certified for Sport · USP Verified · Informed Sport · Informed Choice · BSCG Certified Drug Free. “Not stated” means the program does not publish a clear answer, it does not mean no.
Why we rank them the way we do
Our verification tiers put NSF and USP in tier A and the Informed programs and BSCG in tier B. The reason is the label-confirmation row above, not the presence of testing, every program in this table tests finished product, and every one of them reviews manufacturing in some form. Tier B is not a warning. See How we compare.
Where to buy: the creatine monohydrate shortlist
The pick is the cheapest certified product, at the exact package sold where the certifier names packages, with no adverse finding on record, a price its retailer let us read recently, and no more than a year’s supply at the label’s serving; per delivered dose where the retailer publishes a delivery rate. Where none does, it is the cheapest such product before delivery, and it says how far the order is from free delivery. It is the same pick the category page shows. Any answer shown beside it is the cheapest under a different rule and says so on its own line; answers that cost more than the pick fold under one line until you ask for them.
How these lines are chosen
Among 61 products and 74 retailer listings we track; Amazon and Walmart are not included. A month is thirty doses of the size in the heading, priced the same way as the per-dose figure beside it. “Delivery known” ranks only products whose retailer publishes a delivery rate; a cheaper product with an unpublished rate is on its own line, or in the full list below.
Full comparison of every product in this category: Creatine Monohydrate. Every question we answer: the question index.
What this rests on: prices we last recorded at the retailer named on each product page, which go stale, and each page says when it was checked; the products we track, not every product sold, and Amazon and Walmart are not among the stores; listings and labels read at the source, each linked from the page. Found an error? Tell us. The full method: How we compare.