Nutrition editorPutting on size when your metabolism refuses to cooperate is one of the most common training frustrations out there. If you have tried eating more whole food and still cannot hit a calorie surplus, a mass gainer can close the gap without forcing down another chicken breast at 10 p.m. We compared six of the most-discussed mass gainers on the market right now on calories, protein quality, ingredient sourcing, price per serving, and real-world taste feedback, so you can pick the one that actually fits your bulk instead of guessing.
Best Mass Gainer at a Glance
Every product below is a genuine weight or mass gainer, not a lightly dressed-up protein powder. Calories, protein, and price per serving are pulled from the current label and retailer listings; where a brand sells multiple tub sizes, we used the most common size sold in the United States.
| Mass Gainer | Calories/serving | Protein/serving | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass | Up to 1,260 kcal | 50g | Best overall / beginners |
| Transparent Labs Mass Gainer | 760-770 kcal | 53-55g | Best clean ingredients |
| Dymatize Super Mass Gainer | 1,280 kcal | 52g | Best high-calorie option |
| Naked Mass | 1,250-1,360 kcal | 50g | Best minimal-ingredient list |
| Myprotein Weight Gainer Blend | 370 kcal | 30g | Best budget / controlled bulk |
| Ghost Clear Gains | 220-440 kcal | 20-40g | Best lean / low-calorie gainer |
How We Compared These Mass Gainers
We looked at five things that predict whether a gainer earns a permanent spot in your kitchen cabinet instead of getting abandoned after one tub. Fit matters more than hype:
- Protein-to-carb ratio: a gainer built for lean muscle keeps protein reasonably high relative to carbs. A product with 50g protein against 250g carbs is close to a 1:5 ratio, meaning most of the calories are doing very little structural work.
- Calorie load: hardgainers who struggle to eat enough usually want 700 kcal or more per serving; lifters who just need a controlled surplus on top of solid meals are often better served by a lower-calorie blend.
- Ingredient quality and digestibility: whey concentrate versus isolate, added digestive enzymes, sugar content, and whether the carb source is maltodextrin, oat flour, or a specialty carb like Vitargo.
- Price per serving: mass gainers are consumed daily during a bulk, so a $1-2 difference per serving adds up fast over a 60-90 day cycle.
- Taste and mixability: a gainer nobody wants to drink twice a day does not help anyone gain weight.
The 6 Best Mass Gainers Reviewed
1. Optimum Nutrition Serious Mass – Best Overall
Serious Mass is the mass gainer most lifters try first, and for good reason. It delivers a high calorie count at one of the lowest starting prices per serving in this list. A two-scoop serving supplies up to 1,260 calories and 50g of whey protein concentrate, along with 5g of creatine monohydrate and roughly 8g of naturally occurring glutamine. It is not a “clean” product in the grass-fed, low-sugar sense, but for straightforward, high-volume calorie delivery it remains the benchmark the rest of the category gets measured against.
| Type | Whey protein concentrate + maltodextrin blend, added creatine |
| Calories/serving | Up to 1,260 kcal (2 scoops) |
| Protein/serving | 50g |
| Carbs/serving | Up to 253g |
| Price per serving | From about $5.25, varies by tub size (4lb, 6lb, 12lb) |
| Flavors | Banana, Chocolate, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Strawberry, Vanilla |
| Format | Powder tub |
| Rating | 3.5/5 taste (BarBend); widely rated best entry-level gainer |
2. Transparent Labs Mass Gainer – Best Clean Ingredients
Transparent Labs built this gainer around grass-fed whey and whole-food carb sources (oat flour, tapioca, sweet potato) instead of straight maltodextrin, and it is sweetened with stevia and monk fruit rather than artificial sweeteners. At 760-770 calories and 53-55g of protein per serving, it lands in a middle ground: a real calorie boost without the 1,200-plus calorie mega-dose some competitors push. Reviewers consistently call out the Chocolate Glaze Donut flavor as one of the better-tasting gainers on the market, though it is also one of the pricier options per serving.
Note: Transparent Labs’ website is known to intermittently show a promotional popup and a locale redirect that can interfere with automated screenshot capture; verify current pricing directly on the brand’s site before purchase.
| Type | Grass-fed whey + whole-food carb blend (oat flour, tapioca, sweet potato) |
| Calories/serving | 760-770 kcal |
| Protein/serving | 53-55g |
| Carbs/serving | About 110g, plus 3g added creatine |
| Price per serving | $4.25-$5.13 (15-serving tub, list price around $76.99 before promos) |
| Flavors | Sweet Vanilla, Chocolate Glaze Donut |
| Format | Powder tub, 15 servings |
| Rating | Praised for taste and mixability by Garage Gym Reviews; no public aggregate score |
3. Dymatize Super Mass Gainer – Best High-Calorie Option
If your goal is just to eat more without preparing more food, Super Mass Gainer is one of the highest-calorie options you can buy in a single serving: 1,280 calories and 52g of protein from a whey protein, whey isolate and casein blend. Dymatize also adds a Zytrix digestive enzyme blend. That matters more than it sounds like it should, since a 245g-carb shake can sit heavy without help breaking it down. This is a gainer for hardgainers who need calories fast, not a controlled lean-bulk tool.
| Type | Whey protein, whey isolate & casein blend with digestive enzymes |
| Calories/serving | 1,280 kcal |
| Protein/serving | 52g |
| Carbs/serving | 245g, plus 10.7g BCAAs and 1g creatine |
| Price per serving | $4.12-$7.13 depending on bag size |
| Flavors | Gourmet Vanilla, Chocolate, and rotating limited flavors |
| Format | Powder bag, 6lb (8 servings) up to bulk sizes |
| Rating | Long-standing category staple; strong reputation for digestibility relative to calorie load |
4. Naked Mass – Best Minimal-Ingredient List
Naked Mass strips the category down to three ingredients: Naked Whey, Naked Casein and organic tapioca-derived maltodextrin. No artificial sweeteners. No added flavors or colors. It is also NSF Certified, GMO-free, gluten-free and soy-free. That simplicity comes at a cost: it is one of the more expensive gainers per serving on this list. A vegan version is available for lifters who cannot use the dairy-based formula, and independent reviewers rate it well for solubility and flavor given how few ingredients it contains.
| Type | Whey + casein blend, 3-ingredient formula (vegan version available) |
| Calories/serving | 1,250-1,360 kcal depending on flavor |
| Protein/serving | 50g |
| Carbs/serving | About 252g, 11.5g BCAAs, only 5g sugar |
| Price per serving | Around $6.36, one of the priciest on this list |
| Flavors | Chocolate, Vanilla, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Unflavored; vegan option |
| Format | Powder, 8lb and 12lb bulk bags, NSF Certified |
| Rating | 4/5 flavor and solubility in expert testing |
5. Myprotein Weight Gainer Blend – Best Budget / Controlled Bulk
Myprotein’s Weight Gainer Blend takes a different approach from the rest of this list: instead of chasing a four-figure calorie count, it delivers a moderate 370 calories and 30g of protein per serving. That makes it a better fit for lifters who are already eating close to maintenance and just need a controlled top-up rather than an aggressive surplus. It also suits anyone who found a 1,200-calorie shake too hard to finish. It is consistently one of the cheaper gainers per serving in the category, which matters if you are mixing two or three shakes a day.
| Type | Whey protein + carbohydrate blend, moderate calorie |
| Calories/serving | 370 kcal |
| Protein/serving | 30g |
| Carbs/serving | 50g |
| Price per serving | Among the lowest cost per serving in this list; check current bag size on us.myprotein.com, list price around $54.99 |
| Flavors | Chocolate Smooth, Vanilla, and rotating flavors |
| Format | Powder bag, 2.5kg and 5kg sizes |
| Rating | Popular budget pick for controlled, lower-calorie bulking |
6. Ghost Clear Gains – Best Lean / Low-Calorie Gainer
Ghost Clear Gains is a different kind of product. It is a clear, non-milky gainer built on whey protein isolate and Vitargo, a fast-clearing carbohydrate. A single scoop delivers 20g protein and 220 calories; a double scoop delivers 40g protein and 440 calories, both well below the 700-1,200-plus calorie range typical of this category. It is fat-free and sugar-free, and it drinks more like a fruit-flavored sports drink than a shake. That makes it an option for lifters who want extra protein and carbs around training without the heavy, filling texture of a traditional gainer. As a newer release, it does not yet have a large body of independent reviews or a settled retail price outside Ghost’s own site.
| Type | Whey protein isolate + Vitargo carb blend, clear/light format |
| Calories/serving | 220 kcal (1 scoop) to 440 kcal (2 scoops) |
| Protein/serving | 20-40g whey isolate |
| Carbs/serving | 35-70g Vitargo, fat-free and sugar-free |
| Price per serving | Varies; sold direct-to-consumer at launch, check ghostlifestyle.com for current pricing |
| Flavors | Blue Raspberry, Orange Cream, Strawberry Watermelon |
| Format | Powder, clear-mix format |
| Rating | New release; no aggregate review score yet |
How to Choose the Right Mass Gainer for You
Match the calorie count to your actual gap. Track what you eat in a normal day for a week before assuming you need an extra 1,200 calories. Most lifters who “can’t gain weight” are only 300-500 calories short of a surplus, which points toward a moderate gainer like Myprotein’s blend or a single scoop of Ghost Clear Gains rather than a mega-calorie option.
Check the protein-to-carb ratio against your goal. If you want lean mass with minimal fat gain, look for a tighter ratio, closer to 1:2 or 1:3 protein to carbs, which most of the moderate-calorie and clean-label options in this list deliver. If your only goal is weight on the scale as fast as possible, a higher-carb, higher-calorie option like Serious Mass or Super Mass Gainer will get there faster.
Watch for allergens and digestive sensitivity. Whey concentrate (used in Serious Mass) contains more lactose than whey isolate (used in Ghost Clear Gains and part of Transparent Labs’ blend), which matters if dairy sits heavy with you. Digestive enzyme blends, like Dymatize’s Zytrix, can help with high-carb formulas specifically.
Price per serving beats sticker price. A cheaper tub with fewer servings can cost more per shake than a pricier tub that lasts twice as long. Always divide total price by serving count before comparing two products.
How to Use a Mass Gainer Without Wasting It
A mass gainer is a supplement, not a meal replacement. It works best filling the gaps between meals, as a post-workout shake or before bed on days you are short on calories. It should not substitute for real food. Start with a half-serving to check tolerance, since a 1,200-calorie shake can cause bloating or loose stool if your gut is not used to that volume of carbs and protein at once. Most lifters get the best results mixing one gainer serving with milk or a milk alternative rather than water, which adds more protein and calories without adding another scoop.
Mass Gainer vs. Protein Powder: What Is the Difference
A standard whey protein powder is built to deliver protein with a small, controlled amount of carbs and fat, usually 100-150 calories per serving. A mass gainer is built to deliver a large calorie surplus, with carbohydrate making up the majority of that total, alongside a meaningful but secondary amount of protein. If you are already eating enough food and just want to hit a protein target, a plain whey or isolate is the better tool. If you are structurally unable to eat enough to gain weight, a mass gainer solves a different problem: total calories, not just protein grams.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do mass gainers make you fat?
A mass gainer can lead to excess fat gain if the calories it adds push you well beyond what your training and activity level require. The fix is not avoiding gainers altogether, it is choosing a calorie count that matches your actual gap and adjusting the serving size instead of always taking the full dose on the label.
How many calories should a mass gainer have?
It depends on how far below maintenance you are eating. A moderate-calorie gainer in the 350-450 range, like Myprotein’s Weight Gainer Blend or a single scoop of Ghost Clear Gains, suits most lifters who just need a top-up. A high-calorie option above 1,000 calories, like Serious Mass or Super Mass Gainer, is better reserved for genuine hardgainers who struggle to eat enough through whole food alone.
Can I take a mass gainer every day?
Yes, most mass gainers are formulated for daily use during a bulking phase, typically one to two servings a day. Start with one serving to check digestion before adding a second, and reassess after 6-8 weeks based on your weight trend, not just how the tub is emptying.
Is a mass gainer better than eating more food?
Whole food is generally the better long-term strategy because it brings more micronutrients and fiber along with the calories. A mass gainer is a practical tool for the specific problem of not being able to physically eat enough, not a replacement for a solid diet.
