The Best Sugar-Free Electrolyte Powder
The best sugar-free electrolyte powder is Redmond Re-Lyte: 810 mg of sodium and 0 g of sugar a scoop, sweetened with stevia, for $0.77 a scoop. It is on Informed Choice, an outside testing program. Use it to replace the salt you sweat out.
By Erin Rose Updated October 28, 2026 How we score
Prices: each brand’s own list price, checked October 27, 2026.
Our pick for most people
- Sodium
- 810 mg a scoopMix in 16 to 32 oz of water
- Potassium
- 400 mgPlus 50 mg of magnesium
- Sugar
- 0 gSweetened with stevia
- Price per scoop
- $0.7760-scoop jar, $45.99 at Redmond
- Cost for 1,000 mg sodium
- $0.95Lowest of the drinks here
- Testing program
- Informed ChoiceFlavored jar, the one we link
Why we pick it It has the most potassium of the drinks here and costs the least for its sodium. It is on Informed Choice, which tests products for drugs banned in sport. It is also our top pick of all the electrolyte drinks we score (see them all).
What you give up A scoop is 35% of the FDA’s daily value for sodium, so use less on days you do not sweat. It is on one testing program. Transparent Labs Hydrate is on 3, but has less sodium a scoop. Our Amazon link is the 60-scoop jar, not stick packs.
Which sugar-free electrolyte is right for you?
Re-Lyte suits most people. If one of these matters more to you, buy the one made for it. Each of these three has no sugar and is on a testing program.
Want the most testing programs?
Transparent Labs Hydrate is on NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Choice and NSF/ANSI 173, more testing programs than any other drink here. One scoop has 500 mg of sodium and no sugar for $0.75. It is sweetened with stevia.
Transparent Labs Hydrate
500 mg sodium · Stevia · $0.75 a scoop
Want less sodium, in a stick?
Thorne Daily Electrolytes has 480 mg of sodium and no sugar for $1.33 a stick. It is on NSF Certified for Sport and NSF/ANSI 173. With less sodium, it suits normal days and shorter workouts.
Thorne Daily Electrolytes
480 mg sodium · Stevia (Reb M) · $1.33 a stick
Sweat a lot? 1,000 mg in one stick
LMNT Recharge has 1,000 mg of sodium a stick, more than any other drink we link here, with no sugar, for $1.50. Pick it for long, hot sessions where your shirt ends up white with salt. It is on Informed Choice. One stick is 43% of the FDA’s daily value for sodium (2,300 mg), so it is a lot for a desk day.
LMNT Recharge
1,000 mg sodium · Stevia · $1.50 a stick
Watching your blood pressure, or have heart or kidney disease?
Check with your doctor first. Every drink here adds both sodium and potassium. That matters most if you take a water pill (diuretic), an ACE inhibitor or an ARB.
5 sugar-free electrolyte powders compared
| Drink | Sodium / potassium (mg) | Price | Per 1,000 mg sodium | Testing program? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Redmond Re-Lyte (scoop) | 810 / 400 | $0.77 | $0.95 | Yes, 1 |
| Transparent Labs Hydrate (scoop) | 500 / 250 | $0.75 | $1.50 | Yes, 3 |
| LMNT Recharge (stick) | 1,000 / 200 | $1.50 | $1.50 | Yes, 1 |
| Thorne Daily Electrolytes (stick) | 480 / 99 | $1.33 | $2.78 | Yes, 2 |
| Liquid I.V. Sugar-Free (stick) | 500 / 370 | $1.56 | $3.12 | No |
We read all 5 labels. 4 of the 5 (80%) are on a public testing program for the pack we link.
When you want sugar in it instead
Sugar-free is right for everyday drinking, keto and most workouts. Sugar helps in two cases. In hard exercise over an hour, carbohydrate is fuel (Sawka 2007, the American College of Sports Medicine position stand). And glucose, a sugar, is carried into the body together with sodium, and water follows (Wright 2011). That is why drinks for vomiting or diarrhea contain sugar. For sick days, see which rehydration drink to buy.
Every drink here on a testing program is sweetened with stevia. Liquid I.V. Sugar-Free uses allulose and stevia.
Questions people ask
Is a sugar-free electrolyte powder OK for keto or fasting?
Yes for Re-Lyte. Its label lists 0 calories, 0 g of carbs and 0 g of sugar, and Redmond markets it for keto and fasting. Count its 810 mg of sodium in your day.
Is Liquid I.V. Sugar-Free a good choice?
It has 500 mg of sodium and no sugar, sweetened with allulose and stevia, for $1.56 a stick. That is $3.12 per 1,000 mg of sodium, the most of the 5 here. NSF Certified for Sport lists one flavor, Raspberry Lemonade; the Lemon Lime box we link is not listed. So it is not one of our picks. Liquid I.V. Sugar-Free is on Amazon.
Is Ultima Replenisher a good sugar-free electrolyte?
For a light, flavored mineral drink, yes. For sweat, no: it has far less sodium than Re-Lyte. See Ultima Replenisher on Amazon.
Every electrolyte drink we score, with and without sugar, is in the best electrolyte powders. Replacing one brand? See LMNT alternatives or Liquid I.V. alternatives. How much sodium you lose in an hour is in the dosage guide. All our electrolyte pages: electrolytes.
Sources
- Labels, ingredient lists and prices from each brand’s own store, read October 27, 2026: Redmond Re-Lyte ($45.99 for 60 scoops), Transparent Labs Hydrate ($29.99 for 40 scoops), LMNT ($45 for 30 sticks), Thorne Daily Electrolytes ($40 for 30 sticks) and Liquid I.V. Sugar-Free ($21.84 for 14 sticks). Thorne’s sweetener: the Supplement Facts image on its Amazon listing, read October 28, 2026.
- Testing: each program’s own list, linked where named above. Informed Choice certified products (Redmond Re-Lyte, LMNT).
- Sawka MN, et al. American College of Sports Medicine position stand: exercise and fluid replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2007. PubMed 17277604.
- Wright EM, et al. Biology of human sodium glucose transporters. Physiol Rev. 2011. PubMed 21527736.
- FDA, Sodium in Your Diet (Daily Value: less than 2,300 mg a day), read October 28, 2026.
