NØRSE CØDE and Garden of Life RAW Organic Protein are both plant-based, but they get there differently. Garden of Life blends pea protein with 13 sprouted grains, legumes, and seeds plus a probiotic blend. We build NØRSE CØDE around a shorter list, 9 natural ingredients or less, self-manufactured in our own Petaluma, California facility.
Every figure below is current as of 2026-08-01, pulled from each brand's own product listing or a live retailer listing.
| Spec | NØRSE CØDE | Garden of Life RAW Organic Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Protein per serving | 20g | 22g |
| Ingredient count | 9 natural ingredients or less | Organic pea protein plus a 13-ingredient sprouted grain, legume, and seed blend, with a separate probiotic and enzyme blend |
| Artificial sweeteners/gums/fillers | None | None; sweetened with organic stevia leaf extract, per the brand's own label |
| Fiber | Prebiotic fiber (acacia) | 5g fiber per serving, from the sprouted blend |
| Servings per bag/tub | 14 | 20 |
| Manufacturing | Self-manufactured, own Petaluma, CA facility | Not publicly disclosed |
| Third-party testing | We third-party test every input for heavy metals | NSF Certified, which does involve third-party testing; also carries USDA Organic certification, which does not involve third-party product testing, per the brand's own label |
| Guarantee | 60-day money-back, no questions asked | 60-day return policy, per Garden of Life's own site |
| Price per serving | $2.95-$3.57 (8-bag subscription at $329.92/112 servings, down to a single bag at $49.99/14 servings) | About $1.68 (a 20-serving tub at $33.63, current Walmart listing) |
| Best for | Someone who wants a short ingredient list, a self-manufactured product, a scoop-and-stir daily routine, and a product whose inputs we third-party test for heavy metals | Someone who wants a lower cost per serving and doesn't mind a longer ingredient list built around a sprouted-food and probiotic blend |
Bottom line: if cost per serving is what matters most, Garden of Life's tub comes in lower. If you want to know exactly who made your protein, in what facility, from a short list of ingredients you can read in one breath, that's us.
Try It Yourself
In a blind taste test, more people chose NØRSE CØDE than Orgain and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder combined. A spec table can tell you what's in the bag; it can't tell you whether the shake itself tastes and mixes the way you want it to every morning. Garden of Life leans on organic certification and a probiotic blend as its proof points. We leaned on getting the taste and texture right first, then building everything else around that.
We make NØRSE CØDE ourselves, in our own facility in Petaluma, California. Garden of Life doesn't publish where its RAW Organic Protein is manufactured. Making it ourselves is a deliberate choice: when we want to change something about the formula, we don't have to route that change through someone else's production line or wait on a co-packer's schedule.
Garden of Life built RAW Organic Protein around a wide blend: pea protein plus 13 sprouted grains, legumes, and seeds, on top of a separate probiotic and enzyme blend. That's a real approach, and USDA Organic and NSF Certified are meaningful marks. We took a different path: a shorter list, 9 natural ingredients or less, with acacia fiber doing the digestive work instead of a probiotic blend, and third-party testing for heavy metals as our baseline practice.
It's also built for an easy daily routine: one scoop stirs in with just a spoon, hot or cold, no blender needed. Smári, our founder, spent 1,000+ formulation iterations over two years teaching a plant protein to mix evenly without a gum, drawing on 15 years in CPG.
No. By the brand's own label, RAW Organic Protein Vanilla carries 0g added sugars, sweetened instead with organic stevia leaf extract. NØRSE CØDE Vanilla and Chocolate are both 0g added sugar.
Yes, in part. It carries NSF Certified marks, which does involve third-party testing, and USDA Organic certification, which does not involve third-party product testing, per the brand's own product listing.
NØRSE CØDE ships 14 servings per bag. Garden of Life's RAW Organic Protein ships 20 servings per tub, based on a current 1.4 lb listing. That's most of the gap in price per serving between the two.
NØRSE CØDE and Garden of Life both set out to build a clean, plant-based protein, but they solved it differently. Garden of Life leans on a wide sprouted-food blend, probiotics, and organic certification. We leaned on making it ourselves, so a short ingredient list and an even mix are the standard on every batch, not a claim on a label.
Want the one made by the people who formulated it?
Before you spend anything, two disclosures. It contains coconut, from the MCT oil. And barley protein is in the blend, so this is not the protein for you if you have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity, and we would rather you heard that from us.
Ready to try it?
Backed by a 60-day money-back guarantee. If it is not the smoothest protein you have had, send it back.
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