Independent supplement ratingsUS and Canada · Updated weekly
A ratings desk for a category that has spent thirty years grading its own homework.
A ratings desk for a category that has spent thirty years grading its own homework.
Electrolytes are simple to rate and easy to overpay for. The number that matters is sodium per serving against how much you actually lose in sweat — everything else is flavour and marketing.
For most people training hard, useful sodium replacement sits around 500–1,000mg per serving. Below that you are buying flavoured water; the sugar-heavy drinks add calories you did not ask for. Our bar tracks sodium per serving against that working range.
Prices are checked at publication and re-checked monthly. Where a brand changed its formula and we could not re-verify the new label, we say so rather than guess. Read the full method →
Three of the five products we rate carry no added sugar, and the difference between them is the sodium, not the sweetener. If you are looking for a sugar-free electrolyte drink, this is the whole shelf in one table.
| Product | Added sugar | Sodium | Per serving |
|---|---|---|---|
| LMNT Recharge | None | 1,000 mg | $1.50 |
| Ultima Replenisher | None | 55 mg | $0.55 |
| Nuun Sport | Low | 300 mg | $0.70 |
| DripDrop ORS | Contains sugar | 330 mg | $1.00 |
| Liquid I.V. | ~11 g | 500 mg | $1.20 |
Sugar-free is not automatically better. Glucose helps the gut absorb sodium and water together — that pairing is the principle oral rehydration solutions are built on — so during illness or a long endurance effort the sugar is doing a job. On an ordinary day it is calories you did not plan. We work through both sides in sugar in electrolyte drinks.
Among the sugar-free options, the choice is straightforward: LMNT if you need the sodium, and Ultima if you want something pleasant with very little of it. At 55 mg a serving Ultima does not meaningfully replace what a hard hour costs you, which is a fair trade if replacing sodium was never the point.
If "clean" means no added sugar and no artificial colours, LMNT and Ultima both qualify, and they sit at opposite ends of the sodium range — 1,000 mg against 55 mg. Decide which number you need first; the ingredient list is the easier question.
Almost certainly not. Sodium replacement matters during and after hard, sweaty efforts, typically an hour or more, and in heat. For a 45-minute indoor session, water and your next meal cover it. Work out your own losses with the electrolyte calculator.
Of the products we rate, LMNT Recharge at 1,000 mg a serving — roughly eighteen times what Ultima carries. It is also the cheapest sodium on the list once you price it per gram, despite being the most expensive stick.
Format changes convenience, not chemistry. Nuun\'s tablets dissolve into the same kind of solution a powder makes; what differs is the dose, and tablets tend to sit lower on sodium because of the space available. Judge either on the Supplement Facts panel.