Who Writes This
Captain Vegan is the pen name of the site’s founder, a longtime vegan, writer and editor. The mask stays on so the reviews stay about the products. More on the About page.
How We Rank Protein Powders
Every powder in the top 10 is scored out of 100 with one public formula: protein quality, value, purity and testing, and taste and mixability, 25 points each. Same rules for every brand, written down before we score.
The inputs are checkable: nutrition labels from the brands, Consumer Reports’ published lead tests, certification databases (NSF, Informed Choice and others), California Prop 65 notices and court filings, and taste and mixing scores from three named review sites (Garage Gym Reviews, BarBend and VegFAQs).
Only evidence about the current recipe counts. When a brand changes its protein blend, older lab results and taste reviews of the old blend stop counting toward the score. We still mention them, labeled as history.
How We Research Everything Else
For gear, supplements, books and vegan living guides, we build on named outside testing (America’s Test Kitchen, Garage Gym Reviews, BarBend, Byrdie, Sleep Foundation and others) and say who found what, with a link. When a page reports a test, it’s the outlet we credit that ran it.
For appliances and gym gear we check the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall database for the exact model. We confirm vegan claims against the brand’s own statement or a certifier’s database (Leaping Bunny, The Vegan Society and others), and look up any certification printed on the box in the certifier’s own records. A logo we can’t find in the certifier’s records doesn’t count, and the page says so.
How We Make Money
We earn a commission when you buy through our Amazon links, as an Amazon Associate. It doesn’t change what you pay. Some pages also show ads from Google.
No brand pays for a ranking, a review, a badge or a spot on a list, and we don’t accept free products in exchange for coverage. Right now we have no affiliate deal with any brand directly. Links to a brand’s own store are plain links that earn us nothing. If that ever changes, the page will say so.
Prices
Prices on the site come from Amazon’s official product API and refresh automatically every 8 hours. We never type a price by hand. If an update ever fails for more than 24 hours, the prices hide themselves until fresh ones arrive. Our price tracker does the per-gram math in the open.
Health Information
This is a product-review site, not a medical one. We don’t claim that any product treats, prevents or cures anything. If you’re pregnant, on medication or managing a health condition, ask your doctor or pharmacist before adding a supplement or powder.
Allegations
Prop 65 notices and lawsuits are allegations, not findings, and we describe them that way. When a case settles or a notice closes, we update the page.
Updates and Corrections
Our rankings, reviews and guides show when they were last updated. We re-check a product when Consumer Reports publishes a new test, a certification or warning changes, a lawsuit or Prop 65 notice is filed, a brand changes its recipe, or a new review from our taste panel appears.
Spot a mistake? Tell us. We fix factual errors as soon as we can confirm them, and we log significant changes below.
Changes and Corrections Log
- November 5, 2026: Counted two California Prop 65 lead notices we had missed, under the same rule as everyone else: a 2024 notice naming Garden of Life protein powder (its barcode is listed as RAW Organic Vanilla) and a July 2025 notice naming Vega’s Performance Protein in chocolate. Each costs two purity points. Garden of Life moved from #3 to #6; Vega stays #2. Both are allegations, not findings. Sources are in our heavy-metals table.
- November 5, 2026: Published our heavy-metals table: every published lead and cadmium result for vegan protein powders, plus Prop 65 notices and lawsuits since 2023.
- November 5, 2026: Re-ranked the top 10 after applying the current-recipe rule to every powder: taste reviews and Consumer Reports results now count only if they covered the current protein blend. Purely Inspired moved from #3 to #6; one reason is an open July 2025 Prop 65 notice alleging lead (an allegation, not a finding). See How We Rank.
- November 5, 2026: Merged 35 overlapping blog posts into stronger guides. Old links forward to the page that replaced them.
- November 5, 2026: Added the price tracker and links to each brand’s own store on our powder reviews.
- November 4, 2026: Published the public scoring formula and full reviews of all 10 ranked powders. Removed health claims from our guides and health-topic posts.