Best Gatorade Alternatives (2026): Ranked by Sodium & Sugar
For most people, water is the better alternative to Gatorade. For heavy sweat without the sugar, use a tested drink. Long races also need carbs. Our pick is Redmond Re-Lyte Hydration: 810 mg of sodium a scoop, no sugar, on Informed Choice.
By Erin Rose Updated October 27, 2026 How we score
Our Gatorade swaps
Our pick to replace Gatorade
Redmond Re-Lyte Hydration
10.0/10 Our score
Top score of the 11 electrolyte drinks we score (10.0/10)
Good
- On the Informed Choice list (checked October 27, 2026)
- Full dose: 810 mg sodium per serving (400 mg or more counts in full)
- The lowest cost per dose of its kind that we score
Watch for
Nothing flagged on our five marks.
- Sodium
- 810 mg a scoopGatorade: 272 mg in 20 oz
- Sugar
- 0 gGatorade: 34 g in 20 oz
- Testing list
- Informed Choice
- Pack
- 60-serving jar, $45.99$0.95 per 1,000 mg of sodium
Our take
Buy this if you sweat hard and want the salt without the sugar. One scoop in water gives you 3.0 times the sodium of a 20 oz Gatorade.
What it gives up: no carbohydrate. In a long race you need fuel too, so pair it with food or a gel, or use a drink with carbs.
Testing record
- Informed Choice: banned substances, monthly retail samples Checked October 27, 2026.
Not found on: NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport, NSF/ANSI 173, USP Verified.
Also picked: Sticks, with some sugar: BUBS Naturals · On NSF Certified for Sport: Transparent Labs · Less sodium, for shorter workouts: Nuun
Gatorade against the alternatives
A 20 oz Gatorade Thirst Quencher has 34 g of sugar (USDA). All 6 tested drinks below have less sugar than a 20 oz bottle, and 6 also have more sodium.
| Drink | Sodium | Sugar or carbs | Testing list | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gatorade Thirst Quencher20 oz bottle | 272 mg | 34 g | – | |
| LMNT Recharge Electrolytes1 stick pack | 1,000 mg | 0 g | Informed Choice | Check price |
| Redmond Re-Lyte Hydration1 scoop | 810 mg | 0 g | Informed Choice | Check price |
| BUBS Naturals Hydrate or Die Electrolytes1 stick pack | 650 mg | 7 g | NSF Certified for Sport | Check price |
| Transparent Labs Hydrate1 scoop (8 g) | 500 mg | 0 g | NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Choice and NSF/ANSI 173 | Check price |
| Thorne Daily Electrolytes1 stick pack (4.37 g) | 480 mg | 0 g | NSF Certified for Sport and NSF/ANSI 173 | Check price |
| Nuun Sport Electrolyte Tablets1 tablet | 300 mg | 1 g | Informed Choice | Check price |
Liquid I.V. and DripDrop, best-known brands
We found these on no public testing list.
| Drink | Sodium | Sugar or carbs | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier1 stick pack | 500 mg | 11 g* | Check price |
| Liquid I.V. Sugar-Free Hydration Multiplier1 stick pack | 500 mg | 0 g | Check price |
| DripDrop ORS Hydration1 stick pack | 330 mg | 7 g | Check price |
Other swaps
If our pick is not the right fit, these are the next tested choices.
| If you want | Sodium | $/1,000 mg | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sticks, with some sugarBUBS Naturals Hydrate or Die ElectrolytesNSF Certified for Sport; 7 g sugar | 650 mg | $2.85 | Check price |
| On NSF Certified for SportTransparent Labs HydrateNSF Certified for Sport, Informed Choice and NSF/ANSI 173; 0 g sugar | 500 mg | $1.50 | Check price |
| Less sodium, for shorter workoutsNuun Sport Electrolyte TabletsInformed Choice; 1 g sugar | 300 mg | $2.50 | Check price |
Every drink is scored in the best electrolyte drinks, scored.
Which one is for you
A normal day or a short workout: water
You don’t need Gatorade or a powder here. Water and food cover your salt; for a workout under an hour, plain water does the job (why). If you drink Gatorade at your desk, water is the easy swap.
A long race, and you want the sugar
In hard exercise over an hour, sports guidelines advise taking in carbohydrate as fuel (ACSM 1996). So sugar helps here, and a drink with both carbs and sodium makes sense. If you use our sugar-free pick, get your carbs from food or a gel. Glucose also helps the gut take up sodium and water (how).
A tested option with some sugar is BUBS Naturals Hydrate or Die Electrolytes: 650 mg of sodium and 7 g of sugar a stick, on NSF Certified for Sport. That is more sodium than a 20 oz Gatorade with far less sugar, so add food or a gel if the race is long.
If you are sick
Gatorade and the drinks on this page are not oral rehydration solutions. If you are sick with vomiting or diarrhea, ask a doctor or pharmacist what to drink. If a child is sick or seems dehydrated, call the child’s pediatrician.
If you have high blood pressure, heart failure or kidney disease, or are on a low-sodium diet, ask your doctor before a high-sodium drink, including our pick. Ask first, too, if you take a water pill (diuretic), an ACE inhibitor, an ARB or a potassium-sparing diuretic: these drinks also hold potassium.
Where we disagree with the big guides
The top guides for “Gatorade alternatives” don’t check testing lists. We read the two editorial results in the top 10 on Brave Search on September 30, 2026.
Verywell Health (July 2, 2026) names drink types, not brands. It leads with oral hydration solutions, then milk and coconut water. We don’t score any of those, because we compare electrolyte supplements.
InsideHook (updated March 21, 2025) lists 19 brands without ranking them, including Liquid I.V., LMNT and Nuun Sport. LMNT costs $1.50 per 1,000 mg of sodium and is on Informed Choice. Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier costs $3.12 and is on no testing list we searched. Our pick costs $0.95 and is on Informed Choice. We agree on Nuun Sport.
How we checked this
Gatorade’s sodium and sugar come from its USDA FoodData Central entry 2450603, per 20 oz bottle. We read the other labels on September 29, 2026 and priced each at the brand’s own store on October 27, 2026. We searched five testing programs’ own lists. Liquid I.V. Sugar-Free’s sodium is from its label, re-read October 12, 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best Gatorade alternative?
For most people, water. For heavy sweat without the sugar, our pick is Redmond Re-Lyte Hydration: 810 mg of sodium a scoop, no sugar, $0.95 per 1,000 mg of sodium at list price, and it is on Informed Choice. For the most sodium in one stick, LMNT has 1,000 mg. For a long race with some sugar, BUBS Naturals Hydrate or Die Electrolytes has 650 mg of sodium and 7 g of sugar. For a lighter tablet, Nuun Sport has 300 mg.
Does Gatorade have enough sodium for heavy sweat?
Not for most heavy sweaters. A 20 oz Gatorade Thirst Quencher has 272 mg of sodium (USDA FoodData Central). An average athlete loses about 1,000 mg of sodium in an hour of hard sweating, and some lose much more (Baker 2016); that is a loss, not a target. Gatorlyte, Gatorade’s electrolyte line, has more: 420 mg in a powder stick and 490 mg in a 20 oz bottle.
Is Gatorlyte the same as regular Gatorade?
No. Gatorlyte is Gatorade’s electrolyte line. A powder stick has 420 mg of sodium, 300 mg of potassium, 95 mg of magnesium and 9 g of sugar; the 20 oz bottle has 490 mg of sodium. A 20 oz Gatorade Thirst Quencher has 272 mg of sodium and 34 g of sugar.
Is it dangerous to drink too many electrolyte drinks, Gatorade included?
Too much fluid is the bigger risk. Drinking far more than you sweat out can drop the sodium in your blood too low (hyponatremia), which can be dangerous. In the 2002 Boston Marathon, 13% of the runners studied had low blood sodium; gaining weight during the race, from drinking more than they sweated out, was the strongest factor, along with races over 4 hours (Almond 2005). An expert consensus advises drinking to thirst (Hew-Butler 2015); for long races, ask a coach or doctor. Salt is a separate concern: if you have high blood pressure, heart failure or kidney disease, or are on a low-sodium diet, ask your doctor before a high-sodium drink. These drinks also hold potassium: with kidney disease, or if you take an ACE inhibitor, an ARB or a potassium-sparing diuretic, ask your doctor first.
Comparing four brands per glass? See Liquid I.V. vs Gatorade vs Pedialyte vs DripDrop.
Sources
- Gatorade Thirst Quencher, Lemon-Lime: USDA FoodData Central, branded food entry 2450603 (The Quaker Oats Co.), read September 29, 2026.
- Other labels: NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database, NSF listings or the brand’s own label. Testing: five programs’ own lists; prices: each brand’s own store, October 27, 2026.
- Baker LB, et al. Normative data for regional sweat sodium concentration and whole-body sweating rate in athletes. J Sports Sci. 2016. PubMed 26070030
- Almond CS, et al. Hyponatremia among runners in the Boston Marathon. N Engl J Med. 2005. PubMed 15829535. Hew-Butler T, et al. Third International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Statement. Clin J Sport Med. 2015. PubMed 26102445
- Gatorlyte: the Nutrition Facts on the powder-stick label, read October 12, 2026 (our four-brand comparison lists the label sources).
- Convertino VA, et al. ACSM position stand: exercise and fluid replacement. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1996. PubMed 9303999
- Wright EM, et al. Biology of human sodium glucose transporters. Physiol Rev. 2011. PubMed 21527736
- Verywell Health. 6 Drinks That Hydrate You As Well As or Better Than Gatorade. July 2, 2026. verywellhealth.com. Read September 30, 2026.
- Garrity T. The Best Sports Drink Alternatives to Gatorade. InsideHook, updated March 21, 2025. insidehook.com. Read September 30, 2026.