6 Best Creatine HCl Supplements in 2024

If you’re looking to find the best creatine HCl on the market, you’ve come to the right place. Although the most studied and effective form of creatine is monohydrate, if you want to try hydrochloride and evaluate it for yourself, there’s no problem with that.

However, in order to choose the best creatine hydrochloride, take a closer look at our rankings and read our buyer’s guide.

Our certified nutritionists and professional athletes (our team of experts) have tested 14 different branded creatine hydrochloride products that you can currently buy.

After investing 200+ hours into the research, and rating each of the 14 products based on creatine type, solubility, nutrition label, transparency, taste, and value for money, we were able to create this detailed list of the 6 best creatine HCl products. We’ll keep the list up-to-date as new contenders that may challenge the current rankings appear.

Top 6 Best Creatine HCL Reviewed

1. Kaged Muscle Creatine HCl – Top Pick
2. GNC AMP Creatine HCl 189™
3. Con-Cret Creatine HCl
4. CON-CRĒT® Patented Creatine HCl®
5. Beyond Raw® Creatine HCl
6. MuscleTech Cell-Tech Creatine HCl

Product	Total	Creatine Type	Solubility	Nutrition Label Transparency	Taste	Value for Money
Kaged	47	9	10	10	9	9
GNC AMP	46.5	9	10	9.5	9	9
Con-Cret Creatine HCl	46.5	9	10	9	10	8.5
ProMera	46	9	10	9	10	8
Beyond Raw®	46	9	10	9	8.5	9.5
MuscleTech	43.5	8.5	8.5	9	9	8.5

Kaged Muscle Creatine HCl stands out in this ranking by being certified by Informed Sport. This not only minimizes potential health risks, but also makes this product suitable for professional athletes undergoing doping control.

This creatine HCl powder has an unflavored version as well as a Lemon Lime flavored version. So if you only mix this supplement in water and lack of flavor is a problem for you, pay attention to Lemon Lime, which contains 2 sweeteners – stevia and sucralose. This creatine is also available in capsule form, which is free of animal products.

Among the disadvantages is the small packaging. To get 3 grams of creatine, you need to get 4 scoops of powder. Because of this, one container actually has 19 servings, not 75 servings, as indicated by the manufacturer.

In general, Kaged Muscle Creatine HCl has such strengths as Informed Sport certification, the availability of an unflavored and Lemon Lime flavor, and the presence of a vegan capsule option (powder form also suitable for vegans). And like the other powdered forms of creatine HCl in this rating (with the exception of one product), Kaged has great solubility.

By the way, Kaged is a well-known brand that has many products with great formulations of ingredients. For example, Kaged stands out for its pre-workout formulas among many products on the market.

The second position in this rating belongs to Creatine HCl 189™ from the brand with a history and reputation GNC AMP. It is a tablet form of creatine HCl, so it is best suited for those who do not like the powder form of this supplement. Please note that in addition to creatine, this product contains calcium.

Among the strongest advantages of this product is the Informed Choice certification. This means that it has been tested for the presence of contaminants and potentially harmful substances. However, the previous product from Kaged Muscle has undergone even more rigorous laboratory testing, making it suitable specifically for elite athletes.

Unfortunately, the brand did not specify whether this product is vegan, so given the list of ingredients, I can only assume that it is vegan because it does not contain gelatin, while containing a large number of plant-based ingredients.

However, I still cannot guarantee 100% that this product is suitable for vegans. Unfortunately, not all brands specify this information on the label or description of their products.

Among the disadvantages is the large number of tablets (5 pcs) you have to take to get 3 grams of creatine (as a reference value in this rating). Therefore, even if you buy a large package of 240 tablets, it contains only 48-50 servings. Although, for the sake of fairness, I will say that the leader of our rating looks even less attractive in this component.

Next on our list of the best HCl Creatine is the first ‘Con-Cret’ supplement we’ll be covering from Promera Sports. While we'll also be covering a powder-based alternative from the same brand below, this is their capsule-based option.

Each serving of this product is 750mg, meaning you’ll need 4 capsules to get an effective dose of 3g. As a result, this package has a fairly low amount of servings at only 18 per package.

It’s worth noting that this supplement does contain some artificial dyes in its formula due to the bright yellow color of the capsules. While this is a minor issue, keep this in mind if you prefer to avoid artificial ingredients.

Also, as with the other Con-Cret option covered below, Promera doesn’t offer any third-party certifications. It’s also fairly expensive at ~$1.39 per serving, especially considering the small package size of only 18 full servings.

CON-CRĒT® Creatine HCl® from the ProMera Sports brand is a highly soluble product with four flavors to choose from - Lemon Lime, Raspberry, Pineapple and Limited Edition Hibiscus.

It is the choice of flavors that makes this product stand out in our rating. Stevia extract is used as a sweetener. That is, there are no ingredients other than creatine and one sweetener.

This creatine HCl supplement is available not only in powder form, but also in capsule, which does not contain any animal by-products. Therefore, this creatine is suitable for use by vegans, although the brand itself does not specify this information.

As for the disadvantages, this product is not certified by Informed Choice / Sport or NSF for Sport. It is also the most expensive creatine in this rating. In addition, this product contains the smallest number of servings in this rating - only 16.

By the way, buying a capsule form is a little cheaper, so keep that in mind. You can also choose the limited edition Hibiscus flavor, which is cheaper than the other powdered options.

Beyond Raw® Creatine HCl is another product from GNC, which has been creating products since 1935. This supplement contains only creatine and nothing else. You have 2 packaging options to choose from, but I recommend choosing a larger package to optimize your budget. In this case, you will have 80 servings of 3 g of creatine.

However, this product is also not certified by a third party. The second drawback is the large number of complaints about the unbearable taste, although this disadvantage can be mitigated by mixing powder in protein shake, fruit juice or by adding a small amount of juice to the water.

All in all, it's a decent product with very good value for money. However, if you only mix creatine in water, you should be prepared for a very specific taste.

Cell-Tech Creactor from the well-known MuscleTech brand is the last to complete this rating. Despite having the second cheapest cost per serving in this ranking, this product contains a mix of creatine hydrochloride and free-acid creatine, which is why points were deducted in the "Type of Creatine" category.

In fact, you are not only paying for a creatine HCl supplement, but also for a form of creatine about which little is known at all. For example, this scientific paper from 2022 reports that there is no evidence available in terms of supporting bioavailability, efficacy and safety for free acid creatine.

The brand also indicated that this product is manufactured in a facility that processes animal products, so we cannot be sure that this product is suitable for vegans or even vegetarians. You can also find a lot of reviews about the poor solubility.

Among the advantages are the low cost per serving, the availability of the Fruit Punch Extreme flavor, and 60 servings per container.

What is HCl Creatine?

It is one of the creatine salts, which is a hydrochloride salt and a creatine molecule. Combining hydrochloric acid with creatine should lower the pH level and thus improve its solubility. For this reason, creatine HCl is considered a more soluble form of creatine than the classic monohydrate.

You may also have read that creatine HCl:

• 38 times more bioavailable than monohydrate
• Promotes greater muscle creatine retention
• Required in much lower dose to achieve the same benefits
• Does not cause bloating

However, the only real advantage of hydrochloride over monohydrate is its better solubility. You can read about it in this analysis of different forms of creatine. All other claims are not supported, as stated in this critical review.

Creatine monohydrate has been and still is unbeatable in terms of effectiveness and safety. It is also the most studied form of creatine and one of the most studied ergogenic supplements overall.

So, if you're looking to try creatine hydrochloride as “something new”, or want a more soluble form of creatine, you can give it a shot. But you should not fall for marketing claims.

Important Caveats About Creatine HСl Powder

Since there is no convincing evidence that a much lower dose of creatine HCl is required to achieve the same benefits as from the monohydrate form, there is one important caveat.

The recommended dose of creatine is 3-5 grams per day (without the “loading phase”). Therefore, you need to multiply the indicated dosage of creatine hydrochloride per serving in such a way that the minimum effective required dose of creatine per day is obtained.

For example, if 1 scoop contains 750 mg of creatine HCl, then you need to consume 4 scoops per day to get required 3 g of creatine. By the way, in this regard, you can find many creatine HCl reviews from dissatisfied users. That's why we've got you covered so you don't have any disappointment.

Regarding the very strong sour taste of creatine HCl. You need to understand what type of supplement you are buying, because the presence of hydrochloric acid in the formula itself makes creatine hydrochloride taste very sour.

That is, it is absolutely normal! This is even to be expected, especially for those who have never tried this particular form of creatine before.

How to Find the Best HCl Creatine?

To make sure that you choose a decent product, pay attention to the key recommendations below.

1. Composition of the Product

Choose a product that contains only creatine hydrochloride. One of the products in this rating contains 2 forms of creatine - hydrochloride and free acid creatine.

However, while hydrochloride has some evidence for its ergogenic effects, free acid creatine is a dark horse. It makes no sense to give money for something that we know little about and that may not work at all. We also do not know anything about the safety profile of free acid creatine.

2. Additional Ingredients Besides Creatine

First of all, vegetarians and vegans should pay attention to the form of the supplement. In general, powder forms should not contain products of animal origin.

On the other hand, the capsules used for creatine may be derived from gelatin and may therefore contain animal by-products. So if you're a vegan, now you know what to look for when choosing a creatine in a capsule form.

Vegetarians should also pay attention to whether the supplement was produced in a facility that processed fish, eggs or other animal products.

Now for the additional ingredients. Creatine is the type of supplement that is usually purchased for creatine itself. Usually, the specific taste and crunch on the teeth is not a problem.

However, some manufacturers create flavored versions or add many additional ingredients. Therefore, if you are confused by the presence of a sweetener or a long list of additional ingredients, choose a product that does not contain anything other than creatine.

After all, the peculiar taste (or lack thereof) of creatine can be masked by adding it to protein shake or fruit juice.

3. Third Party Certification

Any sports supplement that has been tested for contaminants or banned substances automatically gets extra points in my personal rating.

If you have 2 identical products from different brands in front of you, but one of them has certification from a reputable organization, and the other does not, choose the product with certification. This recommendation is especially important for elite athletes undergoing doping control.

Recognized third-party bodies include Informed Choice, Informed Sport, NSF International and BSCG (Banned Substances Control Group).

Do I Need Powder Form or Capsule?

Since the studies mostly used the powder (keep in mind that we are mostly talking about the monohydrate), this form is preferred. On the other hand, capsules or tablet form are only vessels for the creatine itself, so there should not be a significant difference in terms of absorption and effectiveness.

Also, as already mentioned, gelatin can be used in the production of capsules, although some manufacturers use cellulose or other components of plant origin, so the capsule forms may also be suitable for vegans.

Therefore, if you are a vegan, you should carefully read the ingredients list of the specific creatine supplement, especially if you are considering capsule form.

Combining Creatine HCl With Other Supplements

Overall, Creatine HCl should be safe to combine with other supplements. While we generally recommend monohydrate over alternative forms like HCl, creatine should be fine to combine with other supplements regardless of form.

Some supplements you may be interested in taking alongside creatine are protein powder and pre-workout. These 3 supplements serve as an excellent foundation for a solid supplement stack.

Protein powder is a great way to optimize your protein intake while minimizing unnecessary extra calories. This makes it a great option whether you’re looking to lose fat or put on muscle.

Pre-workout is great for giving you a boost of energy through caffeine and improving performance through its active ingredients. This makes it a great partner for creatine which also has performance-enhancing benefits.

While you can get all the benefits of creatine by taking it on its own, it’s not a bad idea to use other effective supplements alongside it like protein and pre-workout, which can both help you further optimize your progress in the gym.

Potential Side Effects And Safety Considerations

Based on current research, Creatine HCl does appear to be safe for consistent human consumption.

However, a big reason we recommend monohydrate over HCl is that there’s significantly more research surrounding the safety of long-term use of monohydrate vs. HCl.

While there’s likely nothing dangerous about HCl, if you want to err on the side of caution, monohydrate is likely a better choice. This is all not to mention the benefits related to the effectiveness and low cost of monohydrate as well.

One common side effect associated with creatine is an upset stomach. However, this may be mitigated by the use of HCl because of its increased solubility. Also, taking creatine alongside food may be a good way to minimize any gastrointestinal discomfort. If you experience any severe side effects, we recommend ceasing use immediately.

While creatine is generally regarded as safe, it’s never a bad idea to consult with your doctor before use. They will have a better overview of your health, and will be able to give you additional advice on the use of creatine.

FAQ

Is Creatine HСl Better?

To date, the best and most studied form of creatine is still creatine monohydrate. The only real advantage of creatine hydrochloride (HCl) is better solubility in liquid.

Does Creatine HСl Work Immediately?

Unlike some other ergogenic supplements (for example, caffeine), creatine does not work immediately, as the effects are most pronounced after the muscles are saturated with creatine. The time required to feel the full effects depends on the creatine intake protocol - with or without a “loading phase”.

Should I Take Creatine HСl Everyday?

Creatine can be taken daily without the need for cycling. However, keep in mind that the long-term safety data were obtained from creatine monohydrate.

Conclusion

Creatine hydrochloride is one of the forms of creatine with good solubility. While there is currently no form of creatine that is superior to creatine monohydrate, you can try the hydrochloride form by following the recommendations in this article. As the best HCl creatine, the first place in this rating was taken by Kaged Muscle Creatine HCl.

Have you tried this form of creatine? What are your impressions? Let us know in the comments!

Also read:

• Best Vegan Creatine
• Best Creatine for Glute Growth
• Best Creatine for Teens
• Best Creatine for Cutting
• Best Creatine for Women
• Best Creatine at Gnc
• Foods With Creatine
• How Much Is 5 Grams of Creatine
• Bcaa and Creatine Together
• Protein Powder or Creatine

References:

1. Analysis of the Efficacy, Safety, and Cost of Alternative Forms of Creatine // NCBI: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9761713/
2. Analysis of the Efficacy, Safety, and Cost of Alternative Forms of Creatine // ScienceDirect:
   https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844022034016
3. Bioavailability, Efficacy, Safety, and Regulatory Status of Creatine and Related Compounds // MDPI:
   https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/5/1035
4. Benefits of Creatine Supplementation for Vegetarians Compared to Omnivorous Athletes // NCBI:
   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7246861/
5. Creatine-Info // AIS:
   https://www.ais.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/1001380/Creatine-InfographicFINAL.pdf