Verified Beauty Data

Dupe report Nº 028 / Copper peptide (GHK-Cu) serums

NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum dupes, ranked by formula match

The Ordinary shares the same headline peptide at a disclosed 1% — for about a quarter of the price.

Some links earn us a commission. It never changes the verdict — the methodology is public.

02 / The scoreboard

3 formulas, one number that matter

Read the actives column first — it is the apples-to-apples comparison. $ per gram of active is what the working ingredients cost you; the base-formula score is supporting evidence, not the verdict.

Product Actives vs original $ / g of active Price Base formula Verdict
NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum Ingredient disclosed; concentration undisclosed in INCI $0.00 $129.50 30 mL 100% the reference The original
Exact disclosed active the direct clones — same actives, same percentages
The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1% Concentration disclosed in product name (1% Copper Peptides) $106.67 $32.00 30 mL 85% highest measured The winner Amazon →
Partial overlap missing actives — different formula wearing the keywords
Asterwood Copper Peptides Serum Ingredient disclosed; concentration undisclosed in INCI — not disclosed $21.99 30 mL 65% Best budget Amazon →

✓ same % as original ≠ different % ? in formula, % undisclosed — not in formula

03 / The original

Why the original is the original

NIOD's Copper Amino Isolate Serum is built around Copper Tripeptide-1 — also known as GHK-Cu, a copper-binding peptide studied for supporting collagen synthesis and wound-healing pathways. It sits 4th on a spare 7-ingredient INCI, alongside three other peptides NIOD layers in alongside it: Tripeptide-29, Tripeptide-1, and Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3. None of the four peptide concentrations are disclosed — standard practice for Deciem's more clinical NIOD line, but it means the exact dose you are paying $129.50 for is not verifiable from the label.

The Ordinary — Deciem's own budget sister brand — discloses 1% for its own Copper Peptides complex, and Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) is confirmed in its INCI too, also around the 4th position. It is not a copy of NIOD's specific formula: The Ordinary builds its own different multi-peptide stack around the shared molecule (Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Pentapeptide-18, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7) rather than NIOD's Tripeptide-29 / Tripeptide-1 / Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3 trio. The shared active is real; the surrounding peptide complex is not the same in either direction.

Asterwood strips the idea down further: Copper Tripeptide-1, sodium hyaluronate, and almost nothing else, in a roughly 6-ingredient, fragrance-free formula — the cheapest way to buy the one molecule the three products actually share, though its own concentration is undisclosed too. If you want NIOD's specific 4-peptide complex, nothing else replicates it. If Copper Tripeptide-1 itself is the point, The Ordinary's disclosed 1% is the more transparent buy, and Asterwood is the bare-bones budget floor.

04 / The candidates

Every candidate, examined

01 / The Ordinary

The winner
$106.67 per g of active
$32.00 retail · 30 mL
85% base formula · highest of 6

The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%

Shared formula DNA 1 of 7 original ingredients present
Aqua (Water) Glycerin Tripeptide-29 Copper Tripeptide-1 Tripeptide-1 Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3 Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
Confirms Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) in its own INCI, at a disclosed 1% — the same headline molecule NIOD builds its formula around, also positioned near the top of the ingredient list.
What differs
A different multi-peptide cast around the shared molecule: Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Pentapeptide-18, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, and Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, rather than NIOD's Tripeptide-29, Tripeptide-1, and Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3. Neither brand's supporting peptides carry over to the other.
Who it's for
The winner — the pick if Copper Tripeptide-1 is the active you want, disclosed rather than guessed at. $32 versus $129.50, about a quarter of NIOD's price, with a genuine (if different) peptide stack of its own.
Ships in
Packaging not verified No brand or retailer statement on the bottle — we won’t guess.
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
Concentration disclosed in product name (1% Copper Peptides) The Ordinary discloses 1% for its Copper Peptides complex in the product name — the brand's standard convention for naming a headline active's concentration. Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) is confirmed in the INCI (INCIDecoder/WebSearch-verified) alongside a different multi-peptide stack of its own (Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Pentapeptide-18, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7). ASIN B0C9DXGXZ3 price + 30 mL size verified from the verifiedbeautydata products.json record.

$32.00 for 30 mL → $106.67 per gram of active — 0.0× cheaper per active gram than the original's $0.00.

Buy on Amazon $32.00

02 / Asterwood

Best budget
— per g of active
$21.99 retail · 30 mL
65% base formula · 2nd of 6

Asterwood Copper Peptides Serum

Shared formula DNA 1 of 7 original ingredients present
Aqua (Water) Glycerin Tripeptide-29 Copper Tripeptide-1 Tripeptide-1 Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3 Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer

shared with original not shared rare marker — weighs more in the score

What matches
Also confirms Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) in its INCI, in a roughly 6-ingredient, fragrance-free formula that is essentially the molecule plus sodium hyaluronate and nothing else.
What differs
No disclosed percentage, and none of NIOD's or The Ordinary's other supporting peptides — this is the stripped-down floor, not a formula match to either.
Who it's for
The best-budget pick if you want the cheapest possible way to buy Copper Tripeptide-1 on its own. $21.99 — the lowest price on this page, with the least formula complexity of the three.
Ships in
Packaging not verified No brand or retailer statement on the bottle — we won’t guess.
pH
pH not published L-ascorbic acid needs pH below 3.5 to absorb
Data source
Ingredient disclosed; concentration undisclosed in INCI Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) confirmed in a minimalist, ~6-ingredient, fragrance-free formula (INCIDecoder/WebSearch-verified) — Water, Pentylene Glycol, Phenylpropanol, Sodium Hyaluronate, Copper Tripeptide-1, Sodium Hydroxide. No percentage disclosed. ASIN B0CSPR98LH price + 30 mL size verified from the verifiedbeautydata products.json record.

$21.99 for 30 mL → — not disclosed: the brand doesn't state active percentages, so this number cannot honestly exist.

Buy on Amazon $21.99

05 / Methodology

How we verified this

Verified 2026-07-29

Every formula on this page was tokenized — split into its individual INCI ingredients — and matched against the EU CosIng ingredient database, so "Aqua," "Water," and "Eau" all resolve to the same ingredient.

The base-formula match score works like this: sharing a rare ingredient counts far more than sharing a common one. Almost every serum contains water and glycerin — that proves nothing. Almost nothing contains Ethoxydiglycol or Laureth-23, so when a candidate shares those with the original, it says something real about how the formula was built. (For the statisticians: it is an IDF-weighted Jaccard similarity over the normalized ingredient lists.)

Scores are computed, not opinions. The verdict tags are our editorial read of the actives, the scores, and the prices — and the methodology stays public so you can disagree with us precisely.

Where the ingredient lists come from

  1. Ingredient disclosed; concentration undisclosed in INCI

  2. Concentration disclosed in product name (1% Copper Peptides)

Sources for this report

  • INCIDecoder / WebSearch — Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) confirmed present in each product's INCI (verified 2026-06-14)
  • Amazon Creators PA-API — ASIN/price verification
  • verifiedbeautydata products.json verified records

06 / Questions

Frequently asked

What is the best NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum dupe?
The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1% ($32) is the closest match. It discloses 1% for the same headline molecule, Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu), confirmed in both INCIs, for about a quarter of NIOD's price. It does not replicate NIOD's other three peptides (Tripeptide-29, Tripeptide-1, Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3) — it builds its own different peptide stack around the shared molecule instead.
Is The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides the same as NIOD Copper Amino Isolate?
They share one confirmed molecule — Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu) — at a disclosed 1% in The Ordinary's formula versus an undisclosed amount in NIOD's. Beyond that molecule, the two formulas diverge: NIOD adds Tripeptide-29, Tripeptide-1, and Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3; The Ordinary adds Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Pentapeptide-18, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, and Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7. Neither brand's supporting peptides carry over to the other.
Is there a cheaper alternative to NIOD Copper Amino Isolate Serum?
Asterwood Copper Peptides Serum ($21.99) is the cheapest way to buy the one shared molecule — a roughly 6-ingredient, fragrance-free formula that is essentially Copper Tripeptide-1 plus sodium hyaluronate, with no other actives and no disclosed percentage. The Ordinary at $32 adds a genuine multi-peptide stack for a bit more.

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