Primal Collagen is a popular collagen supplement sold by Primal Harvest. The brand claims this product "helps smooth skin, strengthen hair, and support joints."

But does Primal Collagen deliver a research-backed collagen dose in each serving? Does it contain any unhealthy additives? What was our experience trying it for a month? And is Primal Collagen better or worse than other popular collagen brands like Vital Proteins?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Primal Collagen to give our take on whether or not it's likely to be effective for anti-aging, and whether or not it's healthy.

We'll also share our honest experience purchasing and trying this product for a month, and compare Primal Collagen to other popular collagen supplements to pick our winners (and losers).

Key takeaways:

• Effective collagen dose & no unhealthy additives
• Overpriced compared to similar collagen brands
  
• We currently recommend Primal Collagen

Ingredient Analysis

The Primal Collagen Supplement Facts panel is shown below:

Hydrolyzed bovine collagen is the sole ingredient, and is included at a 10 gram (g) dose.

Hydrolyzed collagen contains bioactive compounds that help to protect bone cartilage, as documented in a medical review published in the Nutrients journal.

Collagen is also clinically shown to reduce wrinkles and improve skin hydration, as we documented in our Youtheory Collagen review article.

The 10 gram dose is the maximally-effective dose based on the research we've come across, so it's convenient that Primal Collagen contains this exact dose per scoop (so consumers don't need to remove or add any).

There are no additives in this formulation.

Primal Collagen's website also notes that their collagen is sourced from grass-fed animals, which is nutritionally optimal (though less important for a "processed" supplement like collagen than a whole food product).

We consider Primal Collagen to be likely to reduce wrinkles and support joint health, and we also consider this product to be healthy.

We Tested Primal Collagen

As the author of this article, I wanted to try Primal Collagen myself to share my thoughts on the taste and overall product experience.

As you can see in the image above, it blended decently, but didn't dissolve perfectly into water. This is a minor negative.

My main complaint with this product is the tiny scoop size shown below:

This is the smallest scoop I've ever seen in a collagen product, and it was annoying to use. This isn't a huge issue, but since collagen powders are relatively interchangeable in my opinion, I weight it more than I would for other product categories.

The product was tasteless and odorless, which is a plus.

I noticed that while using this product, I seemed to experience less shin splints after running, so perhaps that was due to the bone and joint-protective effects.

Overall, I'd rate Primal Collagen 6.5/10, and I do not plan to purchase this product again in the future.

Primal Collagen vs. Popular Collegen Brands

Here's how Primal Collagen compares to other popular collagen brands in terms of formulation quality and healthiness, in our opinion:

Vital Proteins

Vital Proteins contains collagen at an effective dose, sourced from grass-fed animals, like Primal Collagen.

However, their formulations also contain additional research-backed active ingredients like hyaluronic acid, which is clinically shown to increase skin moisture content.

Winner: Vital Proteins

Zena Collagen + Biotin

This is a liquid collagen product, which may cause microplastic leaching from the bottle.

Zena's collagen supplement also contains inactive ingredients we consider to be unhealthy like synthetic preservatives, as we documented in our Zena collagen and biotin reviews article.

Winner: Primal Collagen

Native Path Collagen

Very similar product to Primal Collagen; collagen powder at an effective dose, sourced from grass-fed animals, with no unhealthy additives.

Primal Collagen gets the edge from a usability perspective.

We tested both brands and the Native Path scooper didn't fit properly into its canister which was a minor nuisance.

Winner: Primal Collagen

Primal Collagen Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Provides effective collagen dose
• No unhealthy additives
• Should support healthy joints
• Should reduce wrinkles
• We tried it and had a positive experience overall

Cons:

• Doesn't dissolve perfectly into water
• Brand's website charges for shipping
• Strangely small scooper
• Higher priced than similar products

Conclusion

Primal Collagen is a simple product: effectively-dosed collagen powder and no unhealthy additives.

From a formulation perspective, we recommend Primal Collagen powder and consider it likely to provide the health and aesthetic benefits that the brand claims on its website.

We tried Primal Collagen and found it to be effective and tasteless, however, we had some minor issues with its solubility and the plastic scooper size.

We consider Primal Collagen to be a better option than Zena Collagen + Biotin and Native Path Collagen, and a slightly worse option than Vital Proteins.