Both give you 20g of protein. The difference is how each one gets its taste, and what that costs you on the nutrition panel.
That's the trade, and it's a real one either way.
Sprout Living uses no added flavoring at all. The taste comes from cacao, maca, lucuma, cinnamon and vanilla bean, which is a different approach and the reason some people prefer it.
Try It Yourself
Getting flavor out of whole foods takes sugar, and theirs comes from organic coconut sugar alongside organic stevia leaf. That is the cost of the approach rather than an oversight. Where a protein is grown, and whether it was grown for you at all, is its own question.
Ours goes the other way. Real cocoa in the chocolate, real vanilla extract in the vanilla, and allulose and monk fruit for sweetness, which is how both flavors land at zero added sugar.
Turn either bag over and the two lines to find are added sugar and sodium. The table below has both, for both brands, so you can see the size of the gap before you decide whether it matters to you.
Figures for Sprout Living come from their Epic Protein product pages. Ours come from the chocolate and vanilla labels.
| Spec | NØRSE CØDE | Sprout Living Epic Protein |
|---|---|---|
| Protein per serving | 20g | 20g |
| Serving size | 45g chocolate, 43g vanilla | 38g |
| Ingredient count | 9 or less | 15 in Vanilla Lucuma, 16 in Chocolate Maca |
| Protein sources | Three: pea, rice and barley | Five: yellow pea, pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, cranberry seed, chia seed |
| Sweetener | Allulose and monk fruit | Organic coconut sugar and organic stevia leaf |
| Sugar | 0g total and 0g added, both flavors | 7g total including 4g added (Vanilla Lucuma); 6g including 4g added (Chocolate Maca) |
| Flavoring | Real cocoa, real vanilla extract, plus natural flavor | None added. Flavor comes from cacao, maca, lucuma, cinnamon and vanilla bean |
| Gums and thickeners | None | None |
| Fiber | 5g per serving, including prebiotic acacia | 3g, with Jerusalem artichoke inulin as the prebiotic |
| Sodium per serving | 80mg chocolate, 60mg vanilla | 340mg Chocolate Maca, 350mg Vanilla Lucuma |
| Servings per container | 14 | 12 (1 lb), 24 (2 lb), 60 (5 lb) |
| Manufacturing | Our own facility in Petaluma, California | A BRC certified facility that the label notes may also process dairy, soy, wheat, tree nuts and peanuts |
| Third-party testing | Every input, for heavy metals | The label states third-party tested, every ingredient and batch |
| Guarantee | 60 days, money back, no questions asked | 30 days for refund or store credit; return shipping is yours, plus a $10 shipping fee and 7% restocking fee; 2 lb and 5 lb excluded |
Their larger sizes bring the per-serving cost down well below ours, and if cost per serving is the constraint that's a real advantage. Ours runs $2.54 a serving on the eight-bag subscription up to $3.57 for a single bag.
What the difference buys is the work that went in before the bag was filled. More than a thousand attempts over two years, because the taste and the texture had to be solved inside the formula rather than fixed with additives after the fact. We could keep going that long because we own the facility in Petaluma and were not booking time in somebody else's.
Returns are where the cheaper bag gets expensive. Their large sizes, the ones that bring the per-serving price down, cannot be sent back at all. So the saving and the safety net do not come in the same bag, and the table has the terms side by side.
Ours goes back opened, at any size.
Yes, in a glass with a spoon. That is not a small claim for a plant protein, because grit and lumps are the usual reason people end up owning a shaker bottle they have to wash. If your stomach is what ruled powders out before, start with the sensitive-stomach guide.
It goes into hot coffee without seizing into lumps, and into iced coffee without settling. There is no blender jug to rinse, no shaker bottle to lose the lid of, and nothing gritty waiting in the last mouthful.
That short label is also the honest answer to whether it will sit well. No gums, no sugar alcohols and no dairy means there is less in the glass to argue with, and every input is third-party tested for heavy metals before it gets in there, which matters more in a plant protein than in whey because a plant takes up whatever is in the soil.
"I love Norse Code. It mixes easily and blends well with any fruits and nut milks. And no artificial taste! Thank you, Smari." (customer review, five stars, June 2026)
Getting a plant protein to that texture took two years and over a thousand iterations. Then we put it in front of strangers. A third party ran a blind test against Orgain and Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Whey Protein Powder. More people chose ours than chose both of theirs combined.
Most protein brands hand a formula to a co-packer and take delivery of whatever comes back. We own the factory in Petaluma. We pick every input that goes in, and we third-party test all of them for heavy metals.
Yes, from organic coconut sugar. If you are tracking added sugar, that is the line to read on their panel, and it is per serving rather than per bag. Ours has none to track.
Theirs runs roughly four to five times ours. If you are watching sodium, a daily shake is worth adding to the day's total rather than treating as a drink.
Check the size before you buy rather than after. Theirs adds a shipping charge and a restocking fee, and the two largest bags are excluded entirely. The table has the terms.
Two honest routes to the same 20g. Theirs is the one to buy if you want the taste to come from whole ingredients and the price per serving to be low. Ours is the one to buy if you would rather nothing came along for the ride.
60 days to decide, money back, no questions asked.
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.
Shop NØRSE CØDEFor what buyers said rather than what we say, the reviews page collects it.
