Nutricost EAA Powder Unflavored Review
#2 of 7 · Best Budget EAA✓ Label verified · Supplement Facts read Oct 11, 2026Real retailer photo, cut out. Label unedited.
Buy it if price matters most and you want a testing statement on the label. 8 g of EAAs with about 3 g of leucine clears the leucine bar comfortably, and the label states third-party testing.
$17.95 · 30 servings (Amazon US, Oct 11, 2026)$0.60 per 8 g scoop · $0.75 per 10 g of EAAs
Why It Scores 8.9 — And The Label Line Behind Each Number
EAA Dose & Leucine
30% of score8,000 mg of EAAs per scoop with about 3,000 mg of leucine. 6,000 mg of it is BCAAs; the other six essential amino acids add up to 2,000 mg, and methionine is 10 mg.
- EAAs per serving
- 8,000 mg
- Leucine
- Approx. 3,000 mg
Label Transparency
20% of scoreAll nine amino acids carry an amount. The three BCAAs are printed as 'approx.', which costs a point.
- Serving
- 1 scoop (8 g)
- Other amounts
- Isoleucine and valine approx. 1,500 mg each · lysine HCl 800 mg · threonine 690 mg · phenylalanine 350 mg · histidine 100 mg · tryptophan 50 mg · methionine 10 mg
Testing & Certification
20% of score'Third party tested' is printed on the label next to a GMP facility seal. No lab is named and the product is not in NSF's Certified for Sport database.
- Testing
- 'Third party tested' printed on the label; GMP facility seal
Formula & Additives
15% of scoreOther ingredients: silica. Unflavored, no sweetener, no color.
- Other ingredients
- Silica
Value
15% of score$17.95 for 30 scoops on Oct 11, 2026: $0.75 per 10 g of EAAs.
- Price
- $17.95 for 30 servings (Amazon US, Oct 11, 2026)
- Cost per 10 g EAAs
- $0.75
- More Specs
- Form
- Unflavored powder
- Servings
- 30 per tub
Label verified. Every figure read from the Supplement Facts photo, Oct 11, 2026.
Marketing Claims Vs. Reality
8 g of EAAs per serving.
The amounts on the panel add up to 8,000 mg per 8 g scoop.
Third party tested.
The statement is printed on the label. It names no lab and no certificate is linked, so it is a brand statement we could not check further.
All nine essential amino acids.
All nine are on the panel with an amount, although methionine is 10 mg and tryptophan 50 mg.
What Our Test Actually Found
An EAA built on BCAAs
Three quarters of each scoop is leucine, isoleucine and valine. That covers the leucine signal well. The amino acids that set EAAs apart from BCAAs, the other six, add up to 2 g here against 4.45 g in NAKED. Muscle needs all nine to build protein (Wolfe 2017), so the balance matters.
The cheapest way to an open label
BulkSupplements costs less per gram but prints a proprietary blend. Among products that print each amount, Nutricost is the cheapest at $0.75 per 10 g of EAAs.
Full analysis: all pros & cons (8), buy if / skip if
- 8 g of EAAs and about 3 g of leucine per scoop
- Third-party testing stated on the label
- Silica is the only other ingredient
- $0.75 per 10 g of EAAs
- 75% of the dose is BCAAs
- Methionine 10 mg and tryptophan 50 mg are token amounts
- BCAA amounts printed as 'approx.'
- Not NSF Certified for Sport
- You want the cheapest EAA powder that prints its amounts
- You want a third-party testing statement
- You want an unflavored powder with one excipient
- You want a balanced EAA profile: NAKED has more than twice the non-BCAA amino acids
- You are drug-tested and need NSF Certified for Sport
- You want a flavored drink
8 g of EAAs with about 3 g of leucine clears the leucine bar comfortably, and the label states third-party testing. Three quarters of the scoop is BCAAs, though, and the methionine and tryptophan amounts are token. It is unflavored and costs $0.75 per 10 g of EAAs, the lowest of the products that print their amounts.
Nutricost's EAA powder gives 8 g of essential amino acids per scoop for $0.60. The panel shows how that 8 g is built: 6,000 mg is an instantized 2:1:1 BCAA mix, printed as approximately 3,000 mg leucine, 1,500 mg isoleucine and 1,500 mg valine. The other six essential amino acids share the remaining 2,000 mg: lysine 800 mg, threonine 690 mg, phenylalanine 350 mg, histidine 100 mg, tryptophan 50 mg and methionine 10 mg. So this is a BCAA-heavy EAA. The label prints 'third party tested' and a GMP facility seal, and the only other ingredient is silica. It cost $17.95 for 30 servings on Amazon US on Oct 11, 2026.
The budget pick, with a BCAA-heavy profile
For sixty cents a scoop you get 8 g of EAAs, plenty of leucine and a label that states third-party testing. Know what the 8 g is made of: 6 g of BCAAs and 2 g of everything else. If you want the other six amino acids in real amounts, NAKED is worth the extra few cents per serving.
If This Doesn’t Fit — Try These
01NAKED EAAs
If you want essential amino acids in a dose that matches the research, this is the tub: 9.25 g with 2.4 g of leucine, all nine amounts printed, nothing added but sunflower lecithin.
03Momentous Vital Aminos
Momentous earns its place with one thing none of the cheaper tubs has: NSF Certified for Sport for every lot, confirmed at the certifier.
04Xtend EAA
Xtend EAA is honest on the panel and pleasant in the glass.
Quick Answers
Is Nutricost EAA just BCAAs?
Mostly. 6,000 mg of the 8,000 mg scoop is a 2:1:1 BCAA mix. The other six essential amino acids are present and printed, at 2,000 mg in total.
How much does a serving cost?
$0.60 per 8 g scoop at $17.95 for 30 servings (Amazon US, Oct 11, 2026). That is $0.75 per 10 g of EAAs.
Sources & Further Reading
2 peer-reviewed sources, each linked to PubMed
- [1] Wolfe RR. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:30. PMID 28852372 — Branched-chain amino acids and muscle protein synthesis in humans: myth or reality?. A review arguing that BCAAs alone cannot sustain a rise in muscle protein synthesis, because the other essential amino acids needed to build new protein can then only come from muscle protein breakdown.
- [2] Ferrando AA, et al. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2023;20(1):2263409. PMID 37800468 — International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: Effects of essential amino acid supplementation on exercise and performance. The ISSN position stand concludes that free-form EAAs raise blood EAA levels quickly and stimulate muscle protein synthesis, that the response starts at 1.5 to 3.0 g at rest and plateaus at about 15 to 18 g, that non-essential amino acids are not needed for it, and that aging calls for a larger share of leucine.
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