Most protein bar rankings sort by flavor. This one sorts by the number you actually track: ten popular bars, one flavor each, lowest Weight Watchers Points first. Two tied at 4 Points (one of them is Costco’s own Kirkland Signature bar), and the bar at the bottom is 12.
How we got the numbers: each bar was looked up in the WW app on the Lose plan, per bar. Keep in mind that Points can differ on other plans.
The 10 bars, lowest Points first
1 (tie). Kirkland Signature Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
4 WW Points per bar.
Costco’s store brand shares the top spot, and I did not see that coming! It’s a chocolate chip cookie dough bar sweetened with erythritol and stevia, and Costco’s listing calls it certified gluten free with no artificial flavors.
The catch is how it is sold: only at Costco, and only by the big box. That makes it a great pick if a bar is already part of your routine, in the lunch bag or the desk drawer, and a bigger leap if you just want to try one. Splitting a box with a friend the first time is not a bad plan.
1 (tie). Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
4 WW Points per bar.
This is the bar the others get measured against, and on Points it holds up. Quest’s pitch for this flavor is a spoonful of cookie dough straight from the bowl, and the company says it is one of its best sellers. The sweeteners are erythritol with a little stevia and sucralose.
It does the same job as the Kirkland bar for the same Points, and you can usually buy a single one, so this is the easier of the two to test before you commit. It’s a natural fit for the afternoon slot with a coffee, when dinner is still a few hours off.
3 (tie). Barebells Cookies & Cream
5 WW Points per bar.
Barebells calls cookies and cream its most popular flavor ever and sells it as the answer to a creamy craving. Think of it as the candy-bar end of this list, for one more Point than the two at the top.
One thing to know before you buy a box. The sweetener is maltitol, and Barebells’ own label says excessive consumption may have a laxative effect. Those are their words, not mine, so call this a one-at-a-time bar.
3 (tie). Built Puff Cookies ‘N Cream
5 WW Points per bar.
This one is different from everything else here. Built describes it as a soft, marshmallowy puff covered in chocolate, and it has real sugar in it. It is also the smallest bar of the ten.
The protein is a blend of whey and collagen (more on that below). This isn’t a bar to stand in for lunch. It makes more sense as the sweet thing after dinner, on the nights you want dessert to come with a wrapper and a number you already know.
3 (tie). RXBAR Chocolate Sea Salt
5 WW Points per bar.
The one with the ingredient list you can read out loud: dates, egg whites, cashews, almonds, chocolate, cocoa, natural flavors and sea salt. RXBAR says the egg whites are there for protein, the dates hold it together and the nuts give it texture. There are no sugar alcohols, and the sweetness comes from the dates.
A short ingredient list and the lowest Points are not the same thing, and this bar shows it. It still lands just one Point behind the leaders, which feels like a fair trade if simple ingredients matter to you. It’s the one I’d toss in a lunch bag or a hiking pack.
6. Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Butter
6 WW Points per bar.
The pharmacy-checkout bar. Pure Protein sells this one on taste and on fitting an active lifestyle, and it is one of the easier bars on this list to find. The sweeteners are maltitol and sucralose, and there is collagen in the protein blend.
It sits alone in the middle of the list, between the 5s and the 7s. If chocolate and peanut butter is your flavor, this is the lower-Points way to get it on this list. The other two peanut butter bars are further down.
7 (tie). ONE Birthday Cake
7 WW Points per bar.
ONE sells this as the taste of birthday cake you can have any time of day. It’s a dessert-shaped bar for those of us who need the dessert shape to stay on plan, and there is nothing wrong with that.
At 7 Points it is nearly double the bars at the top, so I’d save it for the day when birthday cake is the only thing that will do, and keep a lower one around for every day. The wrapper lists sugar alcohols, so the same one-at-a-time advice applies.
7 (tie). think! High Protein Brownie Crunch
7 WW Points per bar, computed from the label in the WW app.
think! describes this one as chocolate, brownie and almond flavors in one bar, and says it is gluten free. The sweetener is maltitol syrup, and the protein is a blend of soy, casein and whey.
This is one of the two bars where the app could not be taken at its word. There are entries at both 6 and 7, and the label works out to 7. If you track it, pick the 7. For the same Points as the ONE bar, choose between them on flavor: brownie or birthday cake.
9. KIND Protein Crunchy Peanut Butter
8 WW Points per bar.
This is probably the healthiest-looking wrapper of the ten, and it sits second from the bottom. The reason is simple: it is a peanut bar. Anyone who has tracked a handful of peanuts knows how quickly they add up, and this bar is built on them. It also has chicory root fiber and no sugar alcohols.
Nothing here is a bad choice. It’s a nut bar with some protein more than a protein bar, and that’s how to think about it. If you love it, plan for the 8 and enjoy every bite.
10. Clif Builders Chocolate Peanut Butter
12 WW Points per bar, computed from the label in the WW app.
The biggest bar on the list and the highest number by a wide margin. It is sweetened with cane syrup, cane sugar and brown rice syrup, and the protein is soy, so it is plant-based. Clif says it is gluten free, and its own pitch is all hard work and building, which tells you who it is for.
This is the bar where the app entry was furthest off. It showed 6 Points, but with less than half the calories printed on the wrapper. The whole bar is 12. If you’re coming off a long, hard workout and this is the bar you want, it has a place. If it’s 3 p.m. and it was just sitting there in the checkout lane, the two bars at the top of this page are a third of the Points.
What the Points won’t tell you
Three things the number can’t show you:
- Where the protein comes from. RXBAR’s is egg whites, Clif Builders’ is soy, think! blends soy with milk proteins, and Built, Barebells and Pure Protein have collagen in the blend. If the source matters to you, it’s on the ingredient list.
- Which sweetener. Barebells, Pure Protein and think! use maltitol. Quest and Kirkland use erythritol. RXBAR and KIND use no sugar alcohols at all, and Built and Clif Builders have sugar on the label.
- Which flavor. Every number here is for one flavor. Another flavor from the same brand can land on a different number, so look up the one in your cart, and if your app disagrees with this page, trust your app.
