There are three different types of creatine supplements, each briefly outlined below.

Creatine monohydrate is basically creatine bound to a single water molecule. This is the most common form of the dietary supplement and is used to increase strength and lean body mass. Each molecule of creatine monohydrate is made up of 88% creatine and 12% water. The chemical formula is C4H9N3O3 and has a molecular weight of 211.11 g/mol.

Creatine citrate is a creatine salt of citric acid. This type of creatine became popular because it is more water soluble than both the monohydrate and phosphate forms. Therefore it dissolves better when mixed. However this form has only 40% creatine which is lower than the others and is by far the most expensive.Thus, this is the least popular supplement. The chemical formula is C10H16N3O9 and has a molecular weight of 321.16 g/mol.

The third type of supplement is creatine phosphate which is a creatine salt of phosphoric acid. It would expected that directly taking creatine phosphate would be better than taking the other forms. This is because creatine needs to bond with a phosphate group and become creatine phosphate for the correct biological pathway to occur. However, this form has only 62.3% creatine and again is more expensive then creatine monohydrate so is not as popular as the hydrated type. This form is used medically for patients with various cardiac complications which shows creatine is not just for body improvement purposes. The chemical formula is C4H10N3O5P and has a molecular weight of 211.11 g/mol.