Orgain Reviews: A good value in supplements and meal replacements?

Whether you’re a busy mom who doesn’t always have time for lunch or a vegan struggling to meet your daily nutritional goals, it’s hard to go wrong with adding extra protein to your diet. It can help keep your hunger under control, repair muscle faster, and even bolster your body’s immune system.1

Orgain is a nutritional supplement company that makes high-quality protein supplements, many of which are completely plant-based, non-GMO, and free of the big eight food allergies.2 We dug into the company’s diverse catalog to find out what is — and isn’t — worth it, so you can decide if Orgain might be right for your diet.

Orgain offers a hearty selection of protein powders and other nutritional supplements with nutritionally complete ingredient lists. Its prices routinely beat its competitors, but there isn’t much of a customer service infrastructure in place despite the company’s excellent return policy.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers like you make more informed decisions to live healthier lives.

We thoroughly test and research the products we review, including Orgain’s diverse lineup. Our team has spent over 500 hours testing and researching Orgain and its competitors, as well as reviewing the scientific literature surrounding protein supplementation and general nutrition.

Having tried so many of Orgain’s products for ourselves, we can confidently relay to you matters of taste, mixability, customer service, shipping logistics, and more. You’ll find nuanced information about specific Orgain products throughout our review that we believe will guide you toward an informed decision.

Additionally, this review of Orgain, like all health-related content on this website, was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

We used holistic guidelines to help us make a clear, honest appraisal of Orgain’s products for you as a customer. This includes the quality of its products, what you can get for your money (in terms of both cost and how many different products are available), and how easy it is to get the brand’s products online.

Ingredients

Nutritional supplements like protein powders and collagen peptides can quickly become unhealthy if their ingredients are sourced carelessly or with nothing but a bottom line in mind. Cheap isolated proteins from soy or unhealthy cows can easily do more harm than good, as can artificial flavors, colors, and sweeteners. Orgain uses none of these. Compare that to something like Optimum Nutrition’s Gold Standard whey protein, and you’ll find numerous artificial ingredients, including yellow #5, a dye banned in many countries outside the U.S.

Nearly all of Orgain’s products are organic and non-GMO, and many are entirely plant-based. When the company does use whey, it opts for grass-fed, pasture-raised whey. That means there’s a more natural set of diverse nutrients in the cows themselves, as opposed to a steady diet of the cheapest soy a farmer can buy. And by being pasture-raised, cows are less likely to develop and spread contagious diseases that would necessitate the use of harsh antibiotics.

A common issue you’ll find with plant-based protein powders is that many of them don’t include all 20 of the essential and non-essential amino acids your body needs. Orgain’s blend of pea, brown rice, and chia seed proteins ensures you get a complete amino acid profile.

Cost

Orgain’s protein powders are among the best-priced in its niche, especially the plant-based options. Competitors sometimes offer slightly higher quantities of protein per serving, but Orgain is consistently a smart choice if budget is a primary concern.

Here’s a quick look at some comparable products from competing brands:

As you can see, Orgain’s cost per gram of protein is one of the lowest on the market for its particular niche of plant-based powders containing organic, responsibly-sourced ingredients. And it even beats out the prices on many non-organic whey-based options, which you might expect would sell for less.

One advantage Orgain has over some of its competitors is its availability in retail stores. This allows you to hunt for the best possible prices and even apply coupons where available.

Product variety

Orgain is focused primarily on plant-based protein products. It offers multiple types and flavors of foods within that category, with seasonal offerings like peppermint hot chocolate. There is even a kid’s section of the catalog with protein shakes and powders specially created for youngsters. There’s a handful of non-protein products — almond milk, hydration boosters, dietary supplements — but a vast majority of the catalog is dedicated to protein. Orgain won’t be your best bet if you’re looking for a one-stop nutrition shop. A company like Swolverine or Garden of Life would be better suited to that task. But as far as vegan protein products go, Orgain has everything you’ll need.

And if you aren’t married to the plant-based approach, you can still find whey products from Orgain that are made from grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle. And as we discussed above, these are also surprisingly affordable.

Customer service

Orgain’s customer service is minimal. If you want to speak in real-time with a person, you’re out of luck: customer support is only available through a contact form, with no external emails or phone calls allowed. In fact, there’s no email address or phone number listed on its site at all. Orgain’s customer service representatives respond to contact form messages on a first-come-first-serve basis, so your wait time can vary significantly.

However, the FAQ is exceptionally thorough, so you may not need to wait if you have a common question. And the products’ availability in stores also gives you the opportunity to use retailers’ return policies and even experts on their staff to your advantage.

Integrative medicine specialist and cancer survivor Dr. Andrew Abraham created Orgain in 2009.

As a teenage cancer patient, Dr. Abraham experienced the struggle to get proper nutrition firsthand. He could not eat solid foods due to weakness from chemotherapy and instead turned to protein shakes, as advised by his doctor. Upon examining the ingredients of these products, Dr. Abraham saw how unhealthy many were. He would experiment with creating his own shakes from natural, food-based ingredients for the remainder of his cancer treatment.

After finishing his medical training years later, Dr. Abraham created Orgain as an organic and nutritious alternative to conventional protein shakes.

Clean, food-based nutrition is the center of Orgain’s ethos. Most of its products are certified organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, and without artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives.

In recent years, Orgain has also started considering its environmental footprint alongside its clean ingredient initiatives. In 2020, the company reduced the amount of plastic in its containers by 40%, saving 30,000 pounds of plastic and cutting CO2 emissions by 884,000 kg. The company also averts 580,000 pounds of corrugated cardboard from its packaging annually. Interestingly, the company is not a certified B corporation, a designation that is typically awarded to companies with significant sustainability initiatives. By comparison, Garden of Life, one of Orgain’s chief competitors, is a certified B corporation.

Protein is an essential nutrient for survival. It is required for your cells to build things, create chemical reactions, and transport oxygen through your blood. It is found in every bodily tissue, and its 20 amino acids provide the building blocks for you to stay alive. However, nine of these 20 amino acids are not created by the body:3

• Histidine
• Isoleucine
• Leucine
• Lysine
• Methionine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonine
• Tryptophan
• Valine

Each of those amino acids needs to come from food. This is why eating protein is so important: different foods with protein provide separate amino acids depending on their source. Protein from a cut of beef or pork has amino acids that are not found in protein from hemp or whole wheat; your body gets different nutrients from each of these sources.

Nutritional requirements

The amount of protein you should eat depends on your age, weight, and sex. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the average adult woman should eat about 45g of protein daily, and the average adult man should eat about 55g per day.4 Keep in mind that these are baseline healthy quantities. If you wanted to consume protein as a means to build more muscle, you’d need significantly more than that.

Unlike animal protein sources like whey or meat, plant-based protein will not have all of your necessary amino acids in one go. If your protein powder is plant-based, it’s best to have more than one type of plant-based protein to ensure that you’re getting all of the necessary proteins. Nutritionists often suggest that plant-based proteins include a methionine-rich plant (like hemp, chia, or soy) and a lysine- or leucine-rich plant (like quinoa, brown rice, or oats).5 In some cases, brown rice protein alone is comparable to a traditional whey-based protein powder.6

You don’t need every amino acid in a single meal. If your diet is varied, you can still eat them all across a day and stay healthy. However, that’s much harder to do if you’re eating a restricted diet (from food allergies, vegetarianism, veganism, or other reasons). In that case, a protein powder that contains all of your necessary amino acids is great to have around.

How healthy are Orgain’s products?

Each of Orgain’s protein powders has nearly the same nutritional value. They offer 21g-22g of protein, with around 150 calories per serving. Roughly 40% of these calories come from carbohydrates.

Orgain’s trademark Organic Protein Blend is made from three protein sources: peas, brown rice, and chia seeds. These are plant proteins, meaning that they are more accessible for vegans and vegetarians. Many of its protein powders also have no table sugar, but instead use erythritol, stevia, or coconut sugar. Erythritol is less dense than table sugar, with only 5% of the calorie density.7 However, recent studies have linked erythritol with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, but much more research is needed to validate these findings.8

You’ll see a similar protein combination in products from Garden of Life, but you’ll pay quite a bit more for that company’s powder. One thing Garden of Life does that we wish Orgain would integrate is listing the explicit quantities of each amino acid per serving right on the bottle.

The cornerstone of Orgain’s business is its protein powders. These include vegan and grass-fed whey options, as well as sport protein powders and collagen peptides. Within Orgain’s overall powder catalog, you’ll also find superfood blends, meal replacements, and even coffee creamer.

Plant-based protein

The company’s plant-based protein powder is one of its most popular products, and it comes in 10 different flavors that are consistently in stock, as well as several seasonal flavors the company makes available for a limited time each year. In our testing, we found the classic Creamy Chocolate Fudge to be the most enjoyable and versatile flavor. Testers added it to smoothies, made shakes with just the powder and water, and even mixed it into Greek yogurt.

• Creamy Chocolate Fudge
• Chocolate Coconut
• Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt
• Chocolate Peanut Butter
• Peanut Butter
• Vanilla Bean
• Iced Coffee
• Natural Unsweetened
• Cookies ‘n Cream
• Strawberry Cream
• Holiday flavors like Peppermint Hot Cocoa and Vanilla Horchata

Most of these powders come in a variety of sizes, including:

• 1.02lb canister
• 1.59lb canister
• 2.03lb canister
• 10 single-serve packets

The specific size availability from one flavor to the next will fluctuate with the company’s stock, but you can also find Orgain’s products at several retail stores. Some of those locations also carry smaller canisters — in sizes such as 16oz — but at higher prices per gram. And Costco members can get a 2.74lb. container for a very reasonable price.

The cost of each flavor and size can be inconsistent, however. For example, you can currently get a 1.02lb. container of the Vanilla Bean flavor for $25.99, but the same size in the Cookies ‘n Cream flavor costs $26.99.

All of the protein powder servings contain 21g of protein and between 140 and 190 calories per serving, with a substantial amount of fiber and no more than 1g of sugar. If you’re unsure how to use your protein powder, Orgain has a blog that features dozens of recipes you can try. From shaking them into water or milk, blending them into a smoothie, or baking them into bars, you’ll be sure to find some way to enjoy them.

Specialty protein powders

In addition to its main line of plant-based protein powders, Orgain offers several specialty protein powders that contain additional ingredients or are tailored for a certain niche of the market. This isn’t something you see from many of Orgain’s competitors, as most focus on meal replacements, protein powders and bars almost exclusively. The closest point of comparison would be Garden of Life, but its products are typically more expensive. Here’s a quick look at each:

Non-protein powders

In addition to its extensive protein-based catalog, Orgain offers a handful of alternative products that are designed to provide for your nutrition. There’s an interesting variety in this collection, as it includes several products we’ve seen other companies offer alongside protein powders, as well as a few that are more rare. Let’s have a quick look at each:

While purchasing a large quantity of protein powder or a meal replacement is a nice way to save money, you still have to make the drinks each time you want one, which can cost you valuable time when you’re in a rush. Orgain has a number of on-the-go products that can provide you with relatively well-balanced nutrition in less time. The trade-off is cost, but most people would make that trade if they were in enough of a hurry.

Pre-made drinks

Orgain offers protein and nutrient shakes in pre-blended packages if you aren’t convinced to get a full canister of protein powder or you need to be able to grab something premixed when you’re on the go. These shakes come in individual containers and are the equivalent of a drink made with one scoop of protein powder. However, you can only purchase these shakes in packages of 12 at a time.

In testing, our team was surprised to find how enjoyable these drinks were at room temperature. Typically, drinks like these are best served cold, and while they were lovely after a few hours in the fridge, their performance at room temperature was excellent — particularly the Clean Protein Shake.

Protein bars

Orgain’s Organic Protein Bars are vegan and fully plant-based, with up to 160 calories and 10g of protein in one average-sized bar. For those with nut allergies, be aware that these are made with either almonds or peanuts. Both the S’Mores and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough flavors are peanut-free, but both are made with almonds.

These bars are sweetened with organic cane sugar and erythritol, which may turn off some people looking to keep their sugar intake to a minimum.

The bars come in six flavors, including:

• Chocolate Brownie
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• Peanut Butter
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk
• S’Mores
• Chocolate Coconut

Our testers preferred the chocolate chip cookie dough flavor to other options. Compared to similar bars from companies like Garden of Life, Orgain’s bars have a more complex flavor overall but are less chocolatey.

Organic Protein Bars are only sold in boxes of 12, though you may find them sold individually in your local grocery store.

In addition to powders and on-the-go drinks and bars, Orgain offers a half-dozen nutritional supplements you can take daily. The dosages vary from supplement to supplement, with some offering combinations of botanicals, vitamins, amino acids, and other ingredients at doses a little lower than we’d recommend for any of its constituent parts on its own. With these supplements, it’s the sum of their parts that’s intended to get the job done. Other Orgain supplements are more targeted, containing only a few ingredients at doses closer to those we’ve seen in clinical research.

Here’s a quick breakdown of Orgain’s supplements:

• SleepDeep: A combination of 3g of melatonin, valerian root, tryptophan, and a handful of other ingredients that have been shown to support healthy sleeping habits.
• StressLess: This combination consists of ashwagandha, GABA, chamomile, and other components with soothing properties, though individual ingredient doses are on the low side.
• Ultimate Turmeric: A good dose of two turmeric types (root powder and root extract) with added black pepper extract to improve bioavailability.
• Immuno14: This is Orgain’s most complex supplement, with more than a dozen ingredients intended to support the immune system. They include zinc, vitamin C, and echinacea.
• Vitamin D3: At 5,000IU, this vitamin D supplement may actually be too strong for many individuals, and since the serving size is one softgel, there’s no way to titrate. Some experts support weekly doses of vitamin D over daily doses, which might make this a good investment.10
• Wild Omega-3: The EPA and DHA in this Omega-3 supplement come from wild-caught anchovies. Each softgel contains a lemon flavor to reduce the fishy flavor.

Orgain offers a rewards program free for all customers. All you need to do to create an account is provide your name and email address. This ShakeUp! Rewards account will allow you to:

• Save addresses
• Save billing information
• View past orders
• Check order statuses
• Build points for bonuses and rewards

The rewards themselves are earned through points, which you can build up in several ways. You’ll automatically get 50 points deposited into your account when you sign up. You can also earn points in the following ways:

• One point for every $1 spent
• 100 points after three subscription orders
• 50 points after your second purchase
• 75 points on your sign-up anniversary
• 10 points each for following on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest
• 15 points for sharing Orgain’s page on Facebook
• 25 points per review left for purchased products (by following a link sent via email two weeks after your purchase)

You get the equivalent of a $10 gift card for use on a one-time purchase or a subscription box whenever you accumulate 100 points. These points can only be redeemed in sets of $10, but they never expire. Plus, each subscription box earns points, not just the first one you place, so you can keep accumulating points through automatic deliveries.

You can also earn 20% off your first purchase when you sign up for Orgain’s email newsletter.

If you live in the contiguous United States (all but Alaska and Hawaii), auto-ship orders will always ship for free. One-time purchases only qualify for free shipping if you spend $75 or more. If you don’t meet that threshold, Orgain will calculate shipping based on your location.

Orgain only offers one tier of shipping that takes two to seven business days to reach you in the contiguous United States. Your package will take about 5-7 business days to reach Hawaii and 7-9 to reach Alaska.

If you aren’t happy with your product, whether it doesn’t agree with your digestive system or you just don’t like the flavor, Orgain has an easy 30-day return and exchange policy. There are virtually no questions asked, and there is a separate page for returns, so you won’t have to worry about getting in contact with customer service first.

Quite possibly, the best aspect of Orgain’s 30-day return policy is that the company doesn’t ask you to pay for return shipping. This is exceptionally rare for nutritional supplement companies, as it’s more or less standard practice to put the burden of return shipping costs on the consumer.

One of the first things you’ll notice on the Contact page is that there are no options to contact Orgain’s customer service and get an answer in real time. Instead, Orgain has a time-delayed request form. The company’s customer service representatives handle these requests on a first-come, first-serve basis, so the time before you’ll get an answer can vary from minutes to days.

In order to get help on a particular question, you’ll need to fill out this request form. It first asks you for a reason you need support:

• Orgain.com orders, returns, and ShakeUp! Rewards
• Product questions or concerns
• Healthcare professionals and ambassadors
• Wholesale
• General & feedback
• Call back request

A call-back request will get you on the phone with a customer service representative, but the interim steps make that process slow. Picking one of the above categories pulls up the contact sheet itself, which asks for:

• Your name
• Email address
• Phone number (optional)
• Type of inquiry (question, concern, suggestion, or compliment)
• Details regarding the request
• Up to five attachments

All personal information shared through the contact form is confidential and managed in line with its privacy policy. If your question is more general, the website has a comprehensive FAQ that answers a multitude of common questions.

In-store vs. online orders

Some of Orgain’s products are available to purchase in brick-and-mortar stores. You can find its organic protein powders in everything from drug stores and big box stores like Target or Costco to specialty health food stores. The brand is so widely prolific that one of our testers found 25 stores with Orgain products in stock in a three-mile radius around their home.

However, the cost of Orgain’s products can vary in stores. Our testers saw prices between $16.99 and $34.99 for the brand’s products, including protein powders in 16oz sizes no longer carried on Orgain’s website — often at higher prices. The Orgain site is best for samples and buying in bulk; if you know you won’t use it much, it may be worth it to scout out your local Costco, Sam’s Club, or another major store.

Subscribe & Save

If you know you’ll be using Orgain’s products regularly, you can sign up for an autoship subscription called Subscribe & Save. This will automatically package up your order and send it to you every 30, 45, or 60 days.

All Subscribe & Save orders are eligible for free shipping in the 48 contiguous United States, and all earn points on every individual package sent. The first order you place with Subscribe & Save is also eligible for a 25% off extra discount.

Orgain’s privacy policy is standard for most online retailers. The company protects your personally identifiable information, and all payments are encrypted and secure. Orgain uses Google Analytics, cookies, and similar technologies to collect non-identifiable information for site research and improvement. This is a pretty standard practice among similar companies selling nutritional supplements.

To get a clear sense of Orgain’s value, it helps to compare its offering to those from competitors that have similar goods, including some that offer products that might not be made as well but can cost less. Here’s a quick look at some of Orgain’s top competitors:

Optimum Nutrition

Optimum Nutrition is one of the most common protein powder brands. Most of its products are whey- or casein-based, meaning they are not vegan-friendly. With 24g of protein per serving across its wide catalog, you can find any flavor or form you want. Orgain is consistently growing its flavor options, but it hasn’t quite caught up to many competitors as yet.

Optimum Nutrition also sells weight gainers, endurance support, pre-workout, vitamins, bundles, and more, as well as a broader range of canister sizes to personalize exactly how much you’ll get. Orgain’s supplement catalog is also regularly expanding, but it has a lot of catching up to do.

Despite using ingredients that should cost the consumer less, Optimum Nutrition’s products are marginally more expensive than Orgain, costing $34.99 for a 2lb canister in many cases.

KOS

The nutritional supplement brand KOS knows its demographic well. Its site is covered in cute, bright artwork, and its marketing emphasizes the good KOS can do for your body. Not only does it offer protein powders that are incredibly similar to Orgain’s plant-based products, but it also offers options for immune support, antioxidants, sleep support, and more — nearly identical to what’s in Orgain’s lineup, but with a few more products to choose from.

On the protein side, KOS tends to be more expensive despite offering slightly less protein per serving.

Garden of Life

Garden of Life’s products typically take a holistic approach to nutrition, incorporating ingredients manufactured in raw, fermented processes unique to the company. It adds digestive enzymes and probiotics to many of its major protein powders for optimal digestion of plant-based proteins.

All of its products are NSF certified for sport, meaning they’ve undergone third-party testing to make sure they don't have unsafe levels of substances that are prohibited for athletes.

Something we really like about Garden of Life is that it lists individual amino acid quantities per serving on its protein powders. If you’re someone who’s trying to fine-tune your amino acid intake with things like BCAAs or essential amino acid supplements, having these numbers can be critical for planning your diet.

Amazing Grass

Amazing Grass offers similar products and deals to Orgain, with comparable benefits from nutritional content to auto-ship and savings plans. Its catalog is focused closely on protein powders, extending only briefly into other nutritional powders and collagen synthesis, with a great children’s section. The two brands match up nutritionally as well. Amazing Grass has a slightly lower calorie and carb count but higher saturated fat. The biggest downside? Amazing Grass products cost twice as much as Orgain’s.