You don't need to spend £50+ to get a decent full-size protein powder. There are useful options below £40, but we'd look past the price on the front of the tub and ask a better question: what are you actually getting for the money?
Serving count, protein type and flavour choice can make a cheaper tub better or worse value than it first appears. Here are a few useful examples from our range.
Three protein powders below £40
| Protein | Price | Stated servings | Approx. per serving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per4m Advanced Protein Blend 800g | £29.95 | 24 | £1.25 |
| Naughty Boy Advanced Whey 900g | £33.95 | 30 | £1.13 |
| Per4m Advanced Whey 900g | £34.95 | 30 | £1.17 |
Want to compare more options? Browse our protein range.
Prices checked 24 September 2026. Prices can move, so treat these as a snapshot rather than a permanent league table.
If you want a straightforward whey
Naughty Boy Advanced Whey and Per4m Advanced Whey are the easiest like-for-like comparison here. Both are 900g tubs with 30 stated servings, so you're really choosing between the formulas and the flavours you fancy.
At £33.95, Naughty Boy is a pound cheaper in this snapshot. That's not enough of a gap for us to tell someone to abandon a flavour they already know they love.
If the lowest checkout price matters
Per4m Advanced Protein Blend 800g has the lowest checkout price in this comparison at £29.95. It is a smaller 24-serving tub, so it works out at about £1.25 per stated serving.
That is a good example of why headline price and cost per serving can point in different directions: the Blend costs less to buy, while the two 30-serving whey tubs cost less per stated serving.
What we'd actually compare
Start with the type of protein you want, then compare the price per serving. After that, flavour matters more than people give it credit for. Saving 5p a shake isn't much of a win if you stop using the tub because you hate the flavour.
If you're buying something unfamiliar, have a look at our protein samples first. And if you want to understand why two tubs can have wildly different prices, our protein value guide breaks down the numbers properly.
Our pick?
There's no single winner for everyone. For a familiar 900g whey with plenty of flavours, we'd start with Naughty Boy or Per4m. If keeping the upfront cost below £30 matters, the smaller Per4m Blend is a current option, but it is not the cheapest of these three per stated serving.
The important bit is to compare the product you actually want to drink, not just whichever number is smallest on the page.
