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This is education, not medical advice
Numbers are copied from each brand’s own label for the flavor shown, checked on the date in the sources, and brands change their formulas. Read the tub you buy. If you have kidney disease, a milk allergy, or have been told to limit protein, ask your care team which powder fits before you add one. Nobody paid to be on this list.
What the words on the tub mean
All three start as the same milk protein
Whey is the liquid left when milk is made into cheese. It is filtered and dried into a powder, and how far it is filtered decides what it is called. Concentrate, isolate and clear are all whey. The difference is how much of the fat, lactose and other milk solids stays in.
Concentrate keeps more of the milk
Whey protein concentrate is at least 34% protein by weight, and can be filtered up into the high 80s. Most tubs sold as protein powder use the 80% grade, so a scoop carries a little more fat, carbohydrate and lactose than an isolate, and tends to taste creamier.
Isolate is filtered further
Whey protein isolate is at least 90% protein, with most of the fat and lactose removed. That means more protein for the same calories, and many people who find regular dairy hard going do better with it. Hydrolyzed on the label means the protein has been partly broken down ahead of time. It is still isolate or concentrate.
Clear is isolate made to drink like juice
Clear whey is isolate that has been acidified so it mixes thin and see-through, more like a fruit drink than a milkshake. Some people find it easier to get down when thick, creamy shakes sound like too much. It is usually fruit flavored and close to fat free.
Blends are the most common tub
Many of the best known powders mix concentrate and isolate. The ingredient list names them in order of weight, so the first one listed is the one there is most of.
Why protein per 100 calories is the number to watch
When you are eating a little, you want as much of each scoop as possible to be protein. Protein per 100 calories shows how much of a scoop is protein rather than everything else, and it lets you compare scoops that are different sizes. In this list the isolates and clears mostly sit at 20 to 25 grams per 100 calories, and the concentrates and blends at 18 to 21.
Sources
Every product number comes from the brand’s own nutrition facts panel for the flavor named on its card, and each card links to that page.