Side by Side Comparison of: Optimum Nutrition vs Vega

The first time I bought this I got plain vanilla, which doesn't have much flavor. The Vanilla ice cream is MUCH better. I recommend Gold Standard. It's fairly basic as far as whey protein goes, but the affordability makes up for that. I don't rely much on protein powder - I use it to supplement my highly active lifestyle and vegetarian diet.

I love adding this whey to yogurt and oatmeal and also baking with it. Gold Standard isn't top of the line in flavor quality, but it has a lot of protein with very little carbs and fat and great texture for mixing into things.

I have started to work out with heavier weights and need to get my total protein intake up where it should be. I am always skeptical of powered protein and have bought lean body, GNC among others and this one it the best by far.
I drink this as a replacement meal together with oatmeal, chai seeds and some more stuff and it really makes me feel full for a while or until my next meal. It contains 50% of my protein needs per serving so I know that I am getting enough everyday with just 2 servings of this. Somehow it is helping me to lose weight and gain more muscles instead. The fact that it's fast digesting really upped the game. It also contains BCAA which is important in muscle healing after intense workout. I do weight training and cardio

For a long time we purchased Designer Whey but after changing to this about 2 months ago, we have not looked back. We get the 5 lbs tub which costs about the same per serving. But, it tastes better, mixes easier, and produces better results. My son is an active off road biker and does calisthenics, my wife does yoga, Pilates, and other home cardio routines, and I go to the gym for weight training, and we all take this. It is wonderful after a workout or as a snack (you might be a tad bit sleepy for a short while if you have a boring office job and take it as a snack since it absorbs so quickly). But, if you want something for before going to bed, please get the Optimum Nutrition Casein Protein as it releases over a 7 hour period while you sleep (feed your body as it rebuilds while you sleep).

You will definitely get your money's worth with Optimum Nutrition Whey Protein. I usually switch between BSN Syntha6 and Cellucor Whey Protein (they have awesome flavors as well), but always come back to this one in the end. I've been taking their supplements for years now and have not been let down. From Bodybuilding.com and other sellers, this one always comes out on top. Not because of the name brand, but because of all the additional content it has in it; from your basic vitamins to essential amino acids that are vital in muscle recovery and growth. It is very low on calories, sugars, and carbs which is awesome for maintaining lean mass. If you want to pack on some muscle size (which requires carbs) then you can just use your imagination and create a meal replacement shake (i.e. add some milk, nuts, banana, flavored oatmeal of choice, etc.). In the end, its all up to what want. If you're looking for some better flavor, a little more carbs and sugar, I'd go with BSN Syntha6; its tastes great.

I've been using this product, specifically the Double Rich Chocolate variety, for a year and a half now. I had tried numerous other brands and flavors and could never find one that didn't taste chalky or have a gritty feel to it. This product has been consistently smooth, mixing into my shaker cup completely every time, and have a great flavor that doesn't leave a funny taste in your mouth afterward. In conjunction with exercise and a clean diet, I've had 1-2 shakes per day consistently for a year and have lost 20 pounds. During that time I was focused on cardio with some light weightlifting to maintain my muscle, and manage to gain a few pounds of muscle while most of what I lost was fat. Note: this took a year and a half, not exactly the fast way. I credit a lot of this to getting a good protein source I can count on in a flavor that has never gotten old to me. I've turned several friends onto this whey for its quality protein and low calorie count which is perfect for those trying to lose weight but not lose muscle. I can't recommend this shake highly enough. It's a staple of my daily routine.

I have no food allergies, just need extra calories and protein for a sick patient with a poor appetite. This is the best tasting product we have found; however, I must admit that I add everything but the kitchen sink to increase calories and nutritional value. Delicious.

I had to switch to Veggie Protein due to may acid reflux. I tried a bunch of different brands and found all to be grainy. This is, BY FAR, the smoothest Veggie Protein that I've tried.

Love this protein mix. I use it in my smoothies with a fresh banana and frozen tropical fruit. Mix with almond milk and water in a nutri-bullet. Yum! Not gritty when mixed like this.

this drink mix ix so yummy and keeps you full for a very long time. i use a shaker bottle, some ice and water and it taste great. it tast very chocaltie and cream, yes creamy with just water. you would think you are drinking choclate milk rather then a snake. i have one of these at lunch and a vega bar and im all set till like 3 then i have another snack bar and im good till dinner. i also have a snack bar and a shake as a snack before dinner and am full all night long

I love this :) I was looking for something that I coulse use to add protien to my smoothies and this was perfect. I do not use a full scoop as I also use yogurt in my smoothie but my other half does use a full scoop. I use this mixed with Amazing Grass Superfoods (flavor dosen't really mater but using the Alkaline Detox right now), Banana, Strawberries, Kiwi, Lime Juice, Cherries, Pineapple...(not all at the same time...lol the only staple is the banana for sweetness and lime juice to cut the flavor of the amazing grass) almond-coconut blend milk, and yogurt. Blend it in my Oster Myblend (or whatever it's called) blender and it's just yummy. The other half uses the chocolate ususally with banana and strawverries. I get bored and have to change it up daily. :) He's a creature of habit.

Best of all the vegan protein shakes I've tried. Thickens nicely and not grainy like the others. Seems a bit 'malty' even, which you miss without dairy or eggs. Great flavor. I use 1c coconut milk and 1c water per scoop, and it is a nice, thick shake. Really yummy! SO much better than many of the others. Just wish it had more nutritional info--as I'm sure there are more vits/mins in it than listed.

I'm not impressed by the natural strawberry flavor. It's just okay. But it makes my girlfriend queasy, so much so that she bought her own protein powder instead.

I had bought other flavors of BCAA/Preworkout from Optimum Nutrition and they are much better tasting and also don't bother my girlfriend. I'd suggest avoiding the natural strawberry flavor particularly. I got a blue raspberry flavored preworkout and it's really good - try something like that instead!

I will buy ON protein in the future, just not this flavor!

I have been trying out different protein powders for a while now and ON (Optimum Nutrition) is the one i keep coming back to. After almost a year and a half of using only the dark chocolate I finally switched to the Strawberry and Banana flavor. I have to say it is pretty tasty. I mix only with water (8oz) and use a blender bottle and it comes out fairly good. It does contain super small chunks if not properly shaken for at least a minute I found but this can also vary based on the type of blender bottle you have.

My only complaint on the flavor is the banana is very powerful and has a more banana laffy taffy flavor than a natural banana flavor. Adding in some ice and non-fat yogurt makes this an awesome smoothie :)

Reasonably priced (as compared with the competition -- I feel that all whey protein products are a bit pricier than they should be), no artificial sweeteners, very decent flavor. Works quite well as a base for mixing with fruit or electrolyte powder.

Not sure what's up with all of the people complaining about taste. I find it totally inoffensive.. But who cares? Chug it down and move on! Whey shakes are not meant to be savored.

I don't find that it mixes quite as easily as they claim. Stirring doesn't do the trick; it needs to be shaken a bit, either in a blender bottle or just a sealed water bottle. Otherwise it forms little chewy chunks. But that's a minor quibble.

Downgraded to four stars as I've tried a few other wheys since writing this review and some others offer superior mixability.

This is Whey isolate protein. No nonsense. Has BCAA's. I use it as a morning and post workout supplement when my body needs quick protein in an easily digestible form. This is the "natural" version of this protein so it's flavored with stevia instead of aspartame or whatever artificial flavoring the regular one uses. Supposedly artificial flavorings can hinder weight loss by messing with your body's insulin or something? Not sure if that's true but, there's so much conflicting information about artificial sweeteners, just playing it safe I guess. However, stevia is disgusting and it's not even worth flavoring this powder because oh god it's so terrible. Actually its not that bad, just really bland but if taste is important you probably want to go with the regular protein powder, not the natural one.

I checked with my healthcare providers before adding a protein supplement to my diet. I would recommend the same advice to anyone who is considering using any type of supplement in addition to their regular diet.
My 32 year old son uses Optimum Nutrition protein supplement to maintain physical conditioning and muscle strength, and he suggested I try it.
At age 66, after having several serious surgeries over past 4 years, I was using a different product to improve protein consumption in my diet to help muscle repair/devlopment, with approval of my doctors.
This is NOT a meal replacement product, but an additional source of nutrition, and I continue to eat well-balanced meals.
The nutritional content is significantly better than the previous product I used. I mix the recommemded amount of powder with 2% milk, and fruit (half a banana, and a 1/4 cup of fresh berries) in a blender. Takes only an extra minute or so, and looks and tastes like a delicious milkshake - only healthier! I originally mixed OP French Vanilla Creme powder with milk or water in a shaker, but the flavor was bland and if did not blend together smoothly.
I usually have this first thing in the morning followed by a home exercise program created by my physical therapist to increase flexibility, improve muscle strength, endurance and conditioning, incorporating light hand weights. I occasionally will have another shake after more strenous exercise, ie. brisk 30 minute outdoor walk, or use of treadmill or recumbant bike at gym. It depends on the extent and duration of the additional exercise, to offset muscle fatique.

Not bad. The taste is pretty good but it was really chalky. I put it in my bullet with a vanilla Greek yogurt and chocolate almond milk. Since I'm a vegetarian but not vegan I think when I finish my bag I'm just going to have Greek yogurt with some blueberries. It's on par with other chocolate non vegan shakes.

This stuff isn't bad. it's more gritty than whey but after the first day or so you get used to it. the directions say to mix with milk or water but I can tell you right now that that is a HORRIBLE idea. I mix it directly into greek yogurt with fresh berries or a smoothie and the texture is much smoother that way. I also feel like you get a better sense of the flavor that way.

Love the product - it's the best. But minus one star because the pouch is the worst design ever. Trying to find the scoop is crazy. I decided to transfer the product to a container that is easier to store and use the scoop - but even pouring it out is a mess proposition which results in losing some of the precious protein powder. Would be so much better if it came in a canister like the other Vega products!

I hate the taste of most protein powders. Of all the ones I've tried, this is the best tasting of the bunch. I get the vanilla flavour as a base for my green smoothies and fruit smoothies, and I found that including a banana does the best job of masking the protein powder taste (that and having the smoothie as cold as possible!). I like that the pouch comes with a little scoop. If I could change one thing, it'd be to have the protein smoothie powder available in a larger size. I think this is the only Vega product that doesn't come in a large jar format. One pouch lasts me a little under two weeks (the package does say 12 servings.) Note while the pouch mentions no sugar added, the vanilla version IS sweetened with Stevia.

Vega Protein Smoothie actually taste good and does fill you up. I make mine with a scoop of the protein powder, three to four frozen strawberries, half cup of berry frozen yogurt and a cup of goat's milk, but honestly I think almond milk would taste better. The shake does provide me with energy and it does keep me full for several hours at a time. The reason I got the shake mix was because I was lacking energy and needing more nutrients in my diet as well as fiber. This surprisingly provides me with basic plant based nutrients.

Good flavor & great for helping to form an alkaline environment. I love adding this mix to enhance a whole food smoothie. I use a base of no sugar added Organic Pacific Almond Drink, a banana, apple, orange, and or fresh pineapple spinach and or kale & ice. The only draw back is that it's a bit gritty compared to their Vega Performance Protein Powder that NOW does NOT have hemp & is very smooth. I think maybe the hemp makes it a bit gritty? My husband uses this mix. He told me to rate it 4 stars for the quality & overall peachy taste!

I have been buying ON Double Rich Chocolate whey for many months now, but this is the first time I decided to buy the 10lb bag instead of buying the smaller 2lb container from the store every few weeks. While I'm sure the benefits are the same and the macro-nutrients / blend of proteins haven't changed, something is very bizarre and off putting about this.

Simply put, the flavor is off. I'm comparing it to the same flavor of the same brand in other sizes and this size has a particularly bland flavor to it for whatever reason. The chocolate isn't as rich, the smell isn't as pleasant, and the powder can be described as more bitter than the exact same flavor in a smaller sized tub. My guess would be that the container doesn't hold freshness as well as other containers, but that's just conjecture.

Going forward, I'll spend the extra few dollars to continue buying ON double rich chocolate in smaller sizes from other sources.

Not a huge fan of this flavor. I bought it based on a few reviews I had watched where people said it was delicious and tasted like iced coffee and I wanted a break from chocolate. It tasted more like vanilla flavor to me than coffee and I really couldn't stand the vanilla flavors in the past. I used almond milk, unsweetened, and unflavored to mix with. Still came up with some chunks after normal mixing and it seemed to have more of the cookies and cream texturing (the little specks of cookie mixed in) which was ok but not preferred. I got through most of the 5lb tub but just couldn't drink anymore so I'll be going back to the extreme chocolate flavor.

I got the vanilla ice cream flavor and I was surprised at how good it tasted, not good for a protein shake, actually good. I mix it with milk though and sometimes peanut butter and then use a blender, it aerates very well and I get about a 30% increase in volume after blending which is far more than the nasty stuff I got from Walmart which was flat and heavy. My only problem with it is I wanted to take this as a lunch option but it is completely devoid of nutrition, its just protein and some fiber. So if you are only using this as a post workout thing instead of a meal replacement then its great. I will instead be looking for more nutritious options.

This "natural" flavor tasted like crap, but a spoonful of peanut butter masks it. Usually a shake after a workout and all I feel is muscle fatigue the next few days, but over the past few months I've actually been feeling pain (not necessarily a bad thing), but not sure if I'm just getting old, or if I couldn't absorb the protein in this as well as other brands. The bottle is almost done so I'll find out when I switch back to one of the others I've used in the past.

I've been buying this protein powder for years and always the Vanilla Ice Cream flavor. I took one scoop out of my most recent tub and immediately noticed the taste difference. It was sickeningly sweet and no longer enjoyable. I checked the package to make sure I bought the right flavor and saw the "new and improved great taste" label. Still good powder, but I would steer clear of this flavor.

Very sweet. I could never drink this alone. I always mix a half of a scoop of this with a full scoop of the vanilla flavor from a competing brand of plant based protein drinks and a few strawberries or raspberries in my Ninja. The flavor is great but the artificial sweetness is too much to handle for me.

Good taste, but kind of chalky. Mixed it with almond milk, and it was fine. It's much better in a fruit smoothie as a sweetener and protein boost.

This protein powder is SUPER sweet. No matter how much I dilute it down, the saccharine taste comes through, overpowering all other flavors. I can't stomach it enough to notice much else.

Despite the fact I like the ingredients and that it's vegan I won't buy this product again. That stevia taste is too strong and overwhelms any other flavor or ingredient, like in smoothies, and isn't enjoyable on its own.

Mixed it with water. Grainy feel in my tongue with weird after taste. I have raspberry which doesn't mask the real taste. Might taste better as a shake with milk. Not so crazy about it with water.

These powders were a good value as opposed to stores like Whole Foods or Earth Fare. I use the Natural Flavor when adding Peanut Butter or Berries to my smoothies. The powders themselves aren't the smoothest that I've tried but I find that if I add extra ice, juice or almond milk it helps.

Double rich chocolate? more like double bland chocolate. this new formula ia definitely the worst tasting protein shake ive ever had. Its drinkable but definitely does not have the satisfying chocolate protein shake taste im looking for.

If you insist on trying this, dont make the mistake of buying 5 lbs like i did. get a 1 lb to try.

This product has sucralose, which sounds like some new variation of sugar but is an artificial sweetener that used to be more commonly known as Splenda. I didn't realize this until I read the ingredients list. If you are trying to avoid artificial sweeteners, skip this protein powder. I used to use it as a meal replacement and found the vanilla flavor blended into fruit smoothies pretty well. I've since switched to Shakeology which is far more expensive but still a good deal when used as a meal replacement and it's much healthier!

Rockyroad was much too sweet for me but some people seem to really like the sweeter flavors. Other than that ON makes great quality protein powders as far as mixability but if you are like me and prefer a more mild protein I would go with their regular chocolate flavor.

The taste reminded me a little of perfume, I got a 5 lb. It was huge, but the taste was not for me. I had done research on the flavor, saw so many good reviews, yet to me it did not taste all that great. I always end up gulping it down within a minute so I do not have to taste it. The protein content though is fantastic for how many calories it holds, so I give ON props for that.

It wasn't all the hype that everyone said it tasted like...Honestly was disappointed cant find a distinctive taste with it. Doesn't taste like cake batter or animal cookies or anything cake like. I tried one scoop with 6 ounces non fat milk, or 3 ounces water 3 ounce non fat, or 3 ounce water 3 ounce unsweetened almond milk...the probably the best tasting combination with this fake cake batter flavor is the 2 ounce water 2 ounce unsweetened almond milk and 3 ounce non fat milk with one scoop. I tried 1 scoop with 2%...Really sweet but still not enough to distinuish the cake batter flavor...Taste more of vanilla flavor ....its way too many calories if you go beyond non fat and its essentially a waste better off buying a real milkshake at DQ.

Oh dear, I can drink pretty much any protein drink but this one was really bad, everyone in my family when I served it was like, What the... Mom!!

I really did not enjoy the flavor of this protein powder. I also felt nauseous after drinking this. I know that that's something that can happen with any supplement, but I've never experienced that with other protein powders I've used, so I think for me the nausea was brand specific.

I really don't like the taste of this stuff. You cannot use Vega powders with just water, they need to be mixed in with a smoothie to be tolerable. But even in a smoothie this flavor tastes horrible to me. Won't be buying again.

There are a lot of great benefit for this protein powder but the taste is so powerful that I cannot continue to use it in my smoothies. I've tried to mask it many ways but I can always taste it. If you don't mind the taste of protein powder, then you should do ok with this one.

I could not stand the taste- had a weird chalky flavor to it. I gave it 2 tries before tossing it in the trash. On the plus side, it did mix easily with cold water. I will stick to Scivation, Slim fast and BPI Sports.

I was very excited for this when I ordered it. I tried it once, it tastes pretty good. I wouldn't say its outright amazing but its pretty darn good for such a healthy product. It tastes great with vanilla almond milk. BUT only 20 minutes after I drank it I became very dizzy and had horrible palpitations. I haven't figured out what caused this yet. Some say it may be the Stevia. Usually stevia just gives me headaches. Beware if you have anxiety easily, this nearly gave me an panic attack. I had to lay down I felt dizzy and nauesous.It also seems to help things move along, I had to use the bathroom many more times than usual. But I wouldn't say thats a negative, it jwas just strange. It did burn my bum a bit though.All in all. I would be very careful when trying this product and only use the recommended serving.

I've been using ON for a while and the very reason I liked it out of so many protein shakes is that it actually tasted mild without being abnormally sweet and thick. It simply tasted like protein. This batch I got has ruined my impression of the product. It is so sweet I don't know how any fitness folk could ever stand this. A lot other reviews mentioned the change in formula so I guess that's it. I have some skin conditions for which I would run away from sugar and artificial additives 2 miles away and this batch absolutely made my condition worse right upon digestion (I used to take up to 4 scoops before without problem). I tried to take it for a few days but really couldn't stand it and ended up selling the rest to my friend. Great job ruining a wonderful product and losing a faithful customer.

Why ON why?? Why change a great thing. This one star review is for the new formula Optimum Nutrition is using. I've been using this product for 5 years and will never again purchase it unless they change it back to the original formula. Checking the ingredients it looks like they have added sucralose, among other things, which tastes absolutely disgusting. Honestly I'm sad because this was my go to protein powder, it had the best flavor, was easy to drink, and I recommended it to everyone. But tryingbthis new formula triggered my gag reflex, made me wash out my mouth and is still making me feel sick. ON - your target audience are health and fitness people, why on earth would you give us something so artificial and useless nutrition wise as sucralose??? Why?? Good job losing a life long customer.

Vanilla Ice Cream

Please listen, ❗️DO NOT BUY IT❗️I have in the past spoken and reviewed this product as the best among the lot but that was before Optimum Nutrition changed the ingredients.

The old one had Aminogen, a blend of digestive proteases (enzymes) which helps absorption and helps the process of digestion. They took this out and instead added Cellulose Gum, Xanthan Gum, SALT & SUCRALOSE. The total number of servings was also reduced from 77 to 73 which is no big deal. Now, who in the world needs Salt added to their protein powder, as though we are not already consuming excess salt? Of what benefit is the addition of salt to the consumer? Likewise, how does the addition of Sucralose, an artificial sweetener and chlorinated sugar help the consumer? Will you rather have an ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER in your food or not? Did I mention that it already has Acesulfame which is also a sugar substitute? The addition of Sucralose has made the product so intolerably sweet and tastes so artificial. I never take it just with water alone since it's first use. I make sure to add raw old fashioned oats and increase the water to numb the sweetness but to no avail. The sweetness is absolutely overbearing and leaves a HORRIBLE aftertaste.

Besides the bad taste, there's a divided opinion in the scientific world about the detrimental health effects of Sucralose. Just do a google search and draw your own conclusions.

Optimum Nutrition ruined what IMHO WAS ONCE the best protein powder. PLEASE DO NOT BUY IT.

I ordered the Chocolate Malt. The ingredients listed in the description are different than what they sent me. I am dissapointed that Optimum Nutrition changed their original product (which was the best you could find) to a new formula that's full of sweeteners and lacking the Aminogen™ ingredient that was listed as an ingredient. I'm just dissapointed. It was such a great product and now they're losing customers because some idiot up top decided to change what was already an excellent product.

EDIT: Amazon fully refunded my purchase almost immediately reaching out to them. They apologized and told me to keep the protein. This is why I will continue to use amazon. Their Customer was top notch

New review:
Changing my review fro 5 star to 1 star because they have removed Aminogen (protein digesting enzyme) and replaced it with some stupid junk. Before it was the best product ever but now its just a garbage. They also have false old images of the ingredients list which shows Aminogen but when you look at the Product information and check the list it shows : Protein Blend (Whey Protein Isolates, Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Peptides), Cocoa, Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavour, Acesulfame Potassium.
Some reviewers also claimed that they have added sucralose in it.

Old review:
Taking this product for many months and have to say it is the best. The price and quality of protein is very good. I like when I mix it either with Banana or Pineapple. It tastes delicious. Mainly it will provide you your daily protein intake.

Great shake so i chose the monthly subscription, the problem was that every month the prices would increase. So i change brands.

I've not tried a lot of protein powders. I usually do Orgain products. I wanted to give this a shot because it was on sale. It's very chalky, chunky and not pleasant at all. I threw it out. I do not recommend.

EDIT: nope, can't do it. This stuff is terrible. Zero stars.This stuff is pretty disgusting. Very sweet and chemical tasting. I put a scoop in my oatmeal with some coconut milk and when I tasted it I thought I would throw up. Wanted to salvage my meal so added a cut up, very ripe nectarine and some water to dilute and was able to get it down. Two stars because I think I can figure out how use up the pouch- by using small amounts at a time and covering the flavor with fruit, nut butter, etc. Ingredients list is decent, but clearly too much stevia, and protein boost is nice. Will not buy again.

Made me nauseous. There is an artificial tropical taste. I'll stick with the other favors: chocolate, coconut almond, and chai.

I bought the "bodacious berry" flavor. It smells like fruity pebbles but the taste is completely overpowered buy a truly disgusting mineral-y flavor that lingers on your tongue well after you finish drinking it. I had to hold my nose to finish my one foray with this. I don't know if there are ideal ways to use this - I did not blend it, I shook it at work and I used a half scoop with juice. Horrible.

I have been doing protein shakes/smoothies for over 6 months and have been using a different name brand of protein powder. I purchased this item due to it's nutritional information and wanting to try a different flavor. The biggest problem I have had since going low carb/low sugar is that I can taste the chemicals in artificial sweeteners and even the chemical differences in alternative sweeteners. When I took my first drink of this, it was as if I had put a whole mouthful of chemicals in my mouth. I took one more drink thinking I could have been mistaken, but again, it was horrible for me.If you can tell the difference between the different sweeteners based upon their molecular make up, you will not like this product. The nutritional information test out to the positive but I will passing this package along to friends who cannot taste the difference in artificial sweeteners. Back to Fitmiss for me.