Round 1: Protein and Nutrition
Winner: Garden of Life RAW Organic
Garden of Life 18/25, Purely Inspired 16/25. Same 130 calories, nearly the same scoop: Garden of Life fits 22 g of protein into about 33 g of powder, while the Purely tub we link lists 20 g in 34 g. That makes protein 68% of Garden of Life’s calories and 62% of Purely’s, worth 5.5 density points to Purely’s 4.3.
Both are multi-source organic blends and earn full marks for amino-acid support: pea and brown rice for Purely; pea, sprouted brown rice and a dozen sprouts for Garden of Life, which lists about 3.9 g of BCAAs, including 1.8 g of leucine. Purely’s labels vary by version (another lists 22 g of protein), so check your tub. Two grams is a small lead, but Garden of Life will take it.
Round 2: Value
Winner: Purely Inspired Organic
Purely Inspired 21/25, Garden of Life 18/25. Purely Inspired is the second-cheapest 20 g of protein in our top 10, behind only Naked Pea. Garden of Life lands seventh, in the pricier half.
Garden of Life’s tub holds 20 servings to Purely’s 16, so it lasts four scoops longer; Purely just makes every gram of protein cheaper. More bargains live on our affordable list.
Round 3: Purity and Testing
Winner: Garden of Life RAW Organic
Garden of Life 19/25, Purely Inspired 13/25. Garden of Life earns 4 points for NSF Contents Certified, which checks that the label matches the tub and screens for contaminants, and loses none, partly because Consumer Reports didn’t test RAW Organic. CR did measure a different product, Garden of Life Sport Organic Plant-Based Protein, at 564% of its lead level of concern (October 2025). A 2015 Prop 65 settlement over alleged lead and cadmium in RAW Organic is more than three years old, so it isn’t scored.
Purely has no certification or published heavy-metal results, and CR didn’t test it, so it starts at our baseline of 15. It then loses 2 for an open Prop 65 notice filed July 18, 2025 that alleges lead in Purely Inspired Organic Protein Powder, under the same UPC as the French Vanilla we link; it’s an allegation, not a finding, and no complaint, judgment or settlement is listed. A 2023 notice on the French Vanilla, settled with Amazon in 2025, is too old to score. Not the paperwork a brand called Purely was hoping for.
Round 4: Taste and Texture
Winner: Purely Inspired Organic
Purely Inspired 18/25, Garden of Life 15/25. Purely has scorecards, if not rave ones. Garage Gym Reviews’ tester gave it 3.75 out of 5 for taste and 4 for mixing, found the stevia aftertaste unpleasant at first and said it mixes “pretty well with both milk and water,” though GGR tested Peppermint Mocha, a flavor now listed as unavailable. VegFAQs, which didn’t name its flavor, scored taste 15 out of 25 and called it “drinkable, not really good or bad,” but gave mixing 21.9 out of 25, with just 1 g of clumps. Together that’s 13.5 of 20 for taste and 4.2 of 5 for mixing.
None of our three panel reviewers (Garage Gym Reviews, BarBend and VegFAQs) has scored Garden of Life’s Vanilla, and a review of an older formula on another site doesn’t count under our rules, so our formula gives it a neutral 60%: 12 of 20 for taste and 3 of 5 for mixing. Customer reviews, seen only in search summaries, are mixed. A middling report card beats a blank one.
Round 5: Ingredients and Extras
Winner: Garden of Life RAW Organic
Both are USDA Organic, both show the Non-GMO Project Verified logo, and both brought probiotics. Purely Inspired adds a fruit-and-veggie blend (spinach, broccoli, flaxseed, alfalfa and blueberry), the enzyme papain, organic inulin and a coconut creamer, sweetened with 1 g of organic cane sugar plus stevia. Garden of Life counters with about 13 digestive enzymes, vitamins A, D, E and K, 0 g of sugar and 5 g of fiber to the 1 g in the Purely tub we link.
Fine print: Purely contains coconut, while Garden of Life contains sesame and sweetens with erythritol plus stevia. More enzymes, more fiber and zero sugar take the round for the sprouts. For Garden of Life against a heavier hitter, see Vega vs Garden of Life.