Type the price, tub size and serving from both labels. You get what each costs per gram of actual creatine, what the position stand’s daily amount costs in each form, and what the research says about HCl’s claims — quoted.
HCl vs monohydrate, per gram of creatine
5.6× Per gram of actual creatine, the HCl costs 5.6× the monohydrate.
| Monohydrate | HCl |
|---|
This is not medical advice and it does not diagnose anything. If you have kidney disease, are pregnant, or take medication that affects your kidneys, ask your doctor or pharmacist before taking creatine in any form.
Creatine monohydrate vs HCl: gram for gram, monohydrate holds more creatine (87.9% against 78.2%), it is the form every dose in the ISSN position stand was studied with, and a 2025 randomised trial found no difference between the two at 5 g a day. HCl’s case rests on solubility, not on a study showing more creatine reaching muscle. What is left is price — so this calculator compares the two on what they cost per gram of actual creatine.
How to use it
Type the price, the tub size in grams and the serving size from each label. The answer is how many times more one costs per gram of creatine, what the position stand’s daily amount (3 g of monohydrate, which is 2.64 g of creatine) costs in each form, and how much creatine the HCl label’s own serving really holds. The example numbers are not any brand’s price.
What the evidence says, quoted
- The claim. “Marketing claims indicate that Cr-HCl has a 38 times greater bioavailability than CrM.” Its basis was a lab finding that HCl is 37.9 times more soluble in water — but, as Kreider et al. (2022) point out, “CrM was assessed at a saturation pH of 8.6 while Cr-HCL was measured at a saturation pH of 0.3.”
- The review’s verdict. “There is no evidence that Cr-HCl is absorbed more effectively than CrM in humans; Cr-HCl promotes greater muscle creatine retention than CrM at equivalent doses; or, that lower doses of Cr-HCl are as effective as standard supplementation protocols with CrM.”
- The newest trial. Londoño-Velásquez et al. (2025) gave 31 team-sport athletes 5 g a day of monohydrate, HCl or placebo for eight weeks and found no significant difference between the forms: “claims of Cr-HCl superiority are unfounded and misleading”.
- Every other form too. The ISSN’s 2021 question-and-answer paper: “there are no peer-reviewed published papers showing that the ingestion of equal amounts of creatine salts … increases creatine storage in muscle to a greater degree than creatine monohydrate”, while “~99% of orally ingested creatine monohydrate is either taken up by tissue or excreted in the urine as creatine”.
The same creatine, in each form
| Creatine | Monohydrate | HCl |
|---|---|---|
| 2.64 g | 3 g | 3.37 g |
| 4.39 g | 5 g | 5.62 g |
| 1.17 g | 1.33 g | 1.5 g |
| 0.59 g | 0.67 g | 0.75 g |
The percentages are Kreider et al.’s, and they are also plain chemistry: creatine is 131.1 g per mole, monohydrate adds a water (149.1 g) and HCl adds hydrogen chloride (167.6 g). So an HCl serving of 1.5 g holds 1.17 g of creatine — less than half of the 2.64 g in the stand’s 3 g of monohydrate.
Worked examples
- The page’s example: $25 for 500 g of monohydrate, $30 for 120 g of HCl. Per gram of creatine the HCl costs 5.6× as much. At the stand’s daily amount that is $0.15 a day against $0.84 — about $55 a year against $308.
- An HCl tub with a 750 mg serving. The serving holds 0.59 g of creatine: 22% of the creatine in the stand’s 3 g of monohydrate. Taking it as labelled is not the same dose, only a smaller one.
- The study behind “low-dose HCl”. De França and colleagues compared 1.5 g a day of HCl with 5 g of monohydrate. Over 30 days that is 35.1 g of creatine against 131.9 g — Kreider et al.’s own figures, and this calculator’s.
Common mistakes
- Comparing grams of powder. A gram of HCl is 78.2% creatine; a gram of monohydrate is 87.9%. Compare creatine, not scoops.
- Taking a smaller dose because the tub says so. No study has shown that a smaller amount of creatine works better as HCl.
- Switching forms to avoid week-one bloating. The water gain comes with loading, in any form. Skip the loading week instead — 3 g a day gets you to the same place in three to four weeks.
- Paying for a “new” form of creatine. Every dose in the position stand is monohydrate.
Frequently asked questions
Is creatine HCl better than monohydrate?
Not on the evidence. A 2022 review found no evidence that HCl is absorbed better, retained better, or works at lower doses, and a 2025 trial found no difference between the two at 5 g a day. Monohydrate also holds more creatine per gram.
How long does creatine take to work?
For monohydrate, five to seven days with a loading week, or three to four weeks on 3 g a day — the ISSN position stand’s windows. For HCl there is no published figure: no study has measured muscle creatine on it.
Does creatine HCl cause less bloating?
No study shows it. The common side effect — water retention “in the early stages (first several days)”, in the ISSN’s words — comes with loading. Skipping the loading week avoids most of it, whatever the form.
How much creatine HCl equals 5 g of monohydrate?
5.62 g of HCl holds the same creatine as 5 g of monohydrate (4.39 g). The stand’s 3 g of monohydrate equals 3.37 g of HCl.
What is the creatine dosage for women?
The position stand’s doses are the same for everyone: 3–5 g a day, or 0.3 g per kilogram of body weight a day if you load. The ISSN notes that “creatine kinetics may vary between healthy males and females”, which is a reason to take the full amount, not less.
How much water should I drink with creatine?
No position stand publishes a figure. Drink to thirst as usual, and expect the scale to rise in the first week if you load — that is water held in muscle, not fat.
Read next
- The creatine dose calculator — your loading and daily grams by body weight.
- Creatine: what it is, and how long it takes to kick in
- Is creatine a nootropic?
- Creatine for the brain: what the sleep-deprivation trials found
This is not medical advice, and nothing here diagnoses or treats anything. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before starting creatine if you have kidney problems, are pregnant, or take prescription medication. Some links on this site are affiliate links: I buy what I review at full price, and a commission never changes a verdict.