At the end of Q1 2026 the headline on WheyWise and across the wider UK fitness press was that whey protein prices were climbing, driven by dairy-commodity pressure and post-holiday demand. We covered it in UK whey protein prices are rising in 2026.
Three weeks into Q2, our scraper data tells a much more interesting story. Pulling every price point logged between 1 January and today (21 April 2026), we compared the average cost per 100g of every major UK brand in Q1 versus Q2. Most mainstream brands have gone down, not up. A small cluster of smaller or premium labels have pushed prices higher. The cheapest bags on WheyWise today are meaningfully cheaper than they were in January.
The Q2 headline: most brands dropped, not rose
Across whey concentrate specifically — the UK's most popular category — eleven of the fourteen mainstream brands with enough data dropped their average price per 100g in Q2. Only three rose. The headline movers are not subtle: these are double-digit percentage swings in a three-week window.
This is the opposite of what most protein buyers expect heading into spring. The "prices only go up" narrative has been wrong for Q2 so far, and the buyers who stocked up in January on the assumption prices would climb have, in several cases, paid more than anyone needs to today.
Biggest fallers in Q2 2026
The biggest Q2 price drops we have logged across whey concentrate (the category with the richest data) are:
- Grenade: -21.1% (Q1 avg £2.76/100g → Q2 avg £2.18/100g)
- PhD Nutrition: -18.4% (£3.46 → £2.82)
- Ghost Lifestyle: -17.7% (£4.93 → £4.06)
- Cellucor: -16.1% (£3.94 → £3.31)
- USN: -15.6% (£3.56 → £3.00)
- Icon Nutrition: -13.3% (£3.27 → £2.84)
- Boditronics: -12.9% (£2.29 → £2.00)
- MyProtein Impact Whey line: -11.5% (£3.11 → £2.75)
- Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard line: -9.9% (£4.57 → £4.12)
- Warrior Whey: -8.3% (£2.79 → £2.56)
Isolates have moved too, with whey isolate from Yummy Sports down 10.4%, Optimum Nutrition isolate down 3.1%, and Reflex isolate down 3.3%. Mass gainers have been steadier, with DY Nutrition the biggest mover at -8.0%.
The two big takeaways: premium brands (Grenade, Ghost, Cellucor, PhD, Optimum Nutrition) have cut hardest, and MyProtein — the brand most people associate with permanent discounting — has genuinely moved its everyday price per 100g down by double digits, not just its headline sale price.
Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder
900g bag
Solid whey concentrate from Optimum Nutrition. Compare prices across UK retailers.
See cheapest price →Buy direct from Optimum Nutrition →Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder
900g bag
Solid whey concentrate from Optimum Nutrition. Compare prices across UK retailers.
See cheapest price →Buy direct from Optimum Nutrition →Quick verdict
Pros
- + Very high protein content
- + Widely available in the UK
Cons
- – Premium price point
- – Contains lactose
Quick verdict
Pros
- + Very high protein content
- + Widely available in the UK
Cons
- – Premium price point
- – Contains lactose
MyProtein Impact Whey Protein Powder
810g bag
UK's bestselling whey concentrate with 82g protein per 100g. Regularly discounted 40-60% — never pay full price.
See cheapest price →Buy direct from Myprotein →MyProtein Impact Whey Protein Powder
810g bag
UK's bestselling whey concentrate with 82g protein per 100g. Regularly discounted 40-60% — never pay full price.
See cheapest price →Buy direct from Myprotein →Quick verdict
Pros
- + 82g protein per 100g high purity
- + Cheapest per serving during sales
- + Huge 60+ flavour range
- + 5kg bags for long-term savings
Cons
- – Full price is poor value
- – Needs discount code to compete
- – Reformulations change taste occasionally
Quick verdict
Pros
- + 82g protein per 100g high purity
- + Cheapest per serving during sales
- + Huge 60+ flavour range
- + 5kg bags for long-term savings
Cons
- – Full price is poor value
- – Needs discount code to compete
- – Reformulations change taste occasionally
Biggest risers in Q2 2026
Not every brand cut prices. The brands that actually raised prices in Q2 are a mix of smaller specialist labels and one surprising mainstream name:
- Naughty Boy (whey concentrate): +13.2%
- Dorian Yates (mass gainer): +13.1%
- MyProtein Impact Whey Isolate line: +12.5%
- MuscleTech (whey concentrate): +10.2%
- Applied Nutrition (vegan): +10.4%
- Sports Fuel (whey concentrate): +10.3%
The MyProtein split is interesting: Impact Whey concentrate came down 11.5%, but Impact Whey Isolate went up 12.5%. Isolate demand has clearly firmed faster than concentrate demand, which lines up with what we are seeing in our GLP-1 protein guide — isolate is the category pulled upward by weight-loss drug users looking for high protein density per calorie.
Cheapest bags on WheyWise right now
Based on the last 14 days of scraped prices, these are the cheapest in-stock whey bags in our live data. Live prices update weekly — the figures below reflect typical sale pricing over the last fortnight.
- Warrior Whey Protein — floor of £1.70/100g during sales, with 500g bags from £12.00. 71.2g protein per 100g.
- MyProtein Impact Whey Protein — floor of £2.42/100g, 5kg bags available for serious bulk buyers. 72g protein per 100g, 48 flavours.
- The Protein Works Whey 80 BLACK — floor of £2.61/100g, 74g protein per 100g (higher than either Warrior or MyProtein). 1kg bags from around £17.89.
- Bulk Pure Whey Protein — roughly flat quarter on quarter (+1.5%), with consistent pricing around £2.62/100g. Honest RRP, no inflated headlines.
Warrior Whey Protein
500g bag
High-purity whey concentrate from Warrior with 71g protein per 100g. Frequently discounted — check current sale price.
See cheapest price →Buy direct from Warrior →Warrior Whey Protein
500g bag
High-purity whey concentrate from Warrior with 71g protein per 100g. Frequently discounted — check current sale price.
See cheapest price →Buy direct from Warrior →Quick verdict
Pros
- + 71g protein per 100g well above average
- + Low fat and sugar per serving
- + Frequent sales up to 58% off RRP
- + 4.3 Trustpilot rating fast delivery
Cons
- – Full RRP is premium priced
- – Limited to 3 flavour options
- – Only available direct or Amazon UK
Quick verdict
Pros
- + 71g protein per 100g well above average
- + Low fat and sugar per serving
- + Frequent sales up to 58% off RRP
- + 4.3 Trustpilot rating fast delivery
Cons
- – Full RRP is premium priced
- – Limited to 3 flavour options
- – Only available direct or Amazon UK
What is driving the Q2 moves
Three things explain most of the Q2 downward pressure:
- Post-January deflation. Q1 prices were elevated by New Year demand (resolution shoppers, bulking season). Q2 is historically softer, and the decline we are seeing in 2026 is sharper than usual.
- Brand repositioning. Optimum Nutrition, Grenade, and PhD have all moved their everyday price closer to where their promotional price used to sit. This looks like a response to pressure from direct-to-consumer budget brands like Bulk, Warrior, and TPW capturing market share on price-per-gram.
- Isolate split from concentrate. Demand for high-protein-density isolates has firmed (driven by GLP-1 users and anyone on a cutting phase) while concentrate demand has softened. This is pulling isolate prices up and concentrate prices down even within the same brand family.
How to buy in Q2
Three practical implications:
- If you are buying whey concentrate, do not wait. Q2 pricing on concentrate is softer than Q1 across nine of the ten biggest UK brands. There is no structural reason to delay a buy expecting better prices later.
- If you are buying whey isolate, compare harder. Brand-by-brand moves are split. Bulk Pure Whey Isolate is flat at roughly £3.62/100g, Optimum Nutrition Isolate is down ~3%, but MyProtein Impact Whey Isolate is up 12.5% vs Q1. Do not assume the brand that was cheapest in January still is.
- Let the tool do the math. Use the live comparison table sorted by cost per 25g of protein. It updates weekly and normalises for bag size, serving size, and protein density automatically.
We will rerun this index at the end of Q2 with a full quarter of data and a like-for-like comparison. In the meantime, WheyWise tracks prices across 85+ UK retailers so the numbers above stay honest as the quarter unfolds. For more context on the broader pricing story, see why UK protein prices were rising in early 2026 and the follow-up to this post later in Q3.
