By Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse: the world's cleanest 3-ingredient organic electrolyte.
The best Liquid I.V. alternative depends entirely on why you're leaving. Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier runs fifteen ingredients including cane sugar, dextrose and stevia leaf extract. If that's your problem, only two products on this list solve it. If your problem is sodium, or cost, or calories, the answer is different. Verified 2026 labels below.
I make one of the six. I've marked that clearly, ranked the others on their merits, and named where each one beats mine.
First: why are you leaving?
Find your row before you read the picks.
| Your reason | What to look for | Best pick |
|---|---|---|
| Stevia aftertaste | No high-intensity sweetener at all | Cleonse or Skratch |
| Too many ingredients | Short, food-only panel | Cleonse (3) |
| Not enough sodium | 800 mg+ per serving | LMNT or Re-Lyte |
| Too many calories / low-carb | Zero-sugar formula | LMNT, Re-Lyte |
| Want organic | Certified organic inputs | Cleonse |
| Want real training fuel | 15 g+ carbohydrate | Skratch or Cleonse |
| Too salty for daily sipping | 200–400 mg sodium | Cure |
| Want a clinical / ORS profile | High sodium per ounce of water | DripDrop |
| Cost per serving | Under $1.20 | Re-Lyte Unflavored, DripDrop |
What's actually in Liquid I.V.
So you know what you're comparing against. Read from the current public label in July 2026.
Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier — 15 ingredients:
Cane Sugar, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Salt, Potassium Citrate, Sodium Citrate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Silicon Dioxide, Stevia Leaf Extract (Rebaudioside A), Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Natural Flavors, Vitamin B3 (Niacinamide), Vitamin B5 (Calcium D-Pantothenate), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin B12 (Cyanocobalamin)
Per stick: roughly 45–50 calories, ~13 g carbohydrate, ~11 g sugar, ~500–520 mg sodium, ~370 mg potassium. Around $24.99 for a 16-count box, or $27.99 for a variety pack — about $1.56 per stick.
Liquid I.V. also sells a Sugar Free version built on a proprietary allulose and amino acid blend, which the brand markets as containing no artificial sweeteners. It still uses stevia.
Two honest observations. First: the sodium is genuinely decent and the potassium is genuinely good. Liquid I.V. is not a bad hydration product. Second: fifteen line items with two sugars, a high-intensity sweetener, an anti-caking agent and five added vitamins is a long label, and "Cellular Transport Technology" is a trademarked name for sodium-glucose co-transport — the same 1960s physiology every product on this list uses, including mine.
1. Cleonse — best for the shortest label and organic sourcing
Ingredients (3): Organic Lemon or Strawberry Powder, Organic Cane Sugar, French Grey Sea Salt Per 30 g stick, in 16 oz (473 ml): 500 mg sodium, 85+ trace minerals, 100 calories, 26 g carbohydrate, 24 g sugar Sweetener: Organic cane sugar. No stevia, no monk fruit, no sucralose, no artificial sweeteners of any kind. Price: $33 / $66 / $110 for 10 / 30 / 60 sticks — $3.30 to $1.83 per stick. Free shipping on every order, 30-day guarantee.
Full disclosure: this is mine. Here's why it's first, and then why it might not be right for you.
Three ingredients is the shortest panel in this comparison, and every one of them is a food. No citric acid, no natural flavors, no silicon dioxide, no isolated mineral salts, no added vitamins, no dye. Organic lemon or strawberry powder supplies the flavor, the color and the acidity. Organic cane sugar supplies fuel. Hand-harvested French grey sea salt supplies 500 mg of sodium — and, yes, the 85+ trace minerals, which I've argued at length are a purity story rather than a dose.
Against Liquid I.V. specifically: 3 ingredients instead of 15, no stevia, certified organic fruit and sugar, unrefined salt instead of refined salt plus sodium citrate, and roughly the same sodium.
Best for: anyone leaving Liquid I.V. over label length, stevia, or wanting organic; anyone training 60+ minutes who wants carbohydrate and sodium in one bottle. Wrong for: keto and low-carb (26 g of carbohydrate is a non-starter), fasted windows, sedentary daily sipping, anyone who wants dosed potassium or magnesium — mine are trace-level only — and anyone shopping on price. Two flavors, not twenty.
2. Skratch Labs Sport Hydration — best for training, and the other stevia-free option
Ingredients (Lemon + Lime, 12): Cane Sugar, Sodium Citrate, Dextrose, Citric Acid, Calcium Citrate, Magnesium Carbonate, Potassium Citrate, Lemon Oil, Lime Oil, Lemon Juice, Lime Juice, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C) Per ~22 g serving, in 12–16 oz: 80 calories, ~19–21 g carbohydrate, ~18 g sugar, 400 mg sodium, roughly 40–50 mg each of potassium, magnesium and calcium Sweetener: Cane sugar and dextrose. No high-intensity sweetener. Price: ~$23.95 for a 20-serving bag (~$1.20/serving); single packets ~$1.95
I want to be straightforward here, because it would be easy for me to pretend otherwise: Skratch is the other product on this list with no stevia, no monk fruit and no sucralose in a flavored formula. If your single reason for leaving Liquid I.V. is high-intensity sweeteners, Skratch solves it just as completely as Cleonse does, and it costs less.
It's a genuinely excellent endurance product — real fruit juice and citrus oils for flavor, a sensible 400 mg of sodium, a light-tasting mix that's easy to drink in volume, and a formula that's been in the hands of pro cyclists for over a decade.
Twelve ingredients versus my three, and it isn't organic, and its flavor comes partly from citric acid and oils rather than whole fruit powder. Those are the differences. They're smaller differences than most of this category.
Best for: endurance training, cyclists and runners, anyone avoiding high-intensity sweeteners who wants a lighter, cheaper option than mine. Wrong for: low-carb, fasted use, anyone who wants a very short or organic ingredient list, anyone needing 800 mg+ sodium.
3. LMNT — best if you want more sodium and zero sugar
Ingredients (Citrus Salt, 6): Salt (Sodium Chloride), Citric Acid, Magnesium Malate, Potassium Chloride, Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors, Stevia Leaf Extract Per stick: 1,000 mg sodium, 200 mg potassium, 60 mg magnesium, 0 calories, 0 g sugar Sweetener: Stevia leaf extract (flavored); LMNT Raw unflavored has none Price: ~$45 for a 30-count box — $1.50 per stick
LMNT is the most popular exit from Liquid I.V. and for good reason: six ingredients instead of fifteen, double the sodium, zero sugar, no dyes, no fillers. If you're leaving because Liquid I.V. is too long a label and you don't want the sugar, this is the obvious swap.
The catch is that it doesn't solve the stevia complaint — it uses the same sweetener class Liquid I.V. does. LMNT Raw, the unflavored version, drops both the natural flavors and the stevia, which fixes it within their own lineup at the cost of tasting like salt water.
1,000 mg is a lot of sodium. For sauna protocols, keto, and documented heavy sweaters that's the point. For a desk day it's more than most people want.
Best for: keto and low-carb, fasted use, sauna, heavy salt sweaters, flavor variety. Wrong for: anyone leaving over stevia (unless you take Raw), anyone who wants training fuel, anyone who finds 1,000 mg too salty, anyone who wants organic.
4. Redmond Re-Lyte — best full mineral panel with unrefined salt
Ingredients (Grape, 10): Non-GMO Citric Acid, Sea Salt (Redmond Real Salt), Tartaric Acid, Potassium Citrate, Natural Flavors, Magnesium Glycinate, Magnesium Malate, Calcium Carbonate, Stevia Leaf Extract (Rebaudioside A), Coconut Water Powder Per serving: 810 mg sodium, 400 mg potassium, 50 mg magnesium, 60 mg calcium, 0 calories, 0 g sugar Unflavored: ~5 ingredients, 1,000 mg sodium, 500 mg potassium, no sweetener at all Price: ~$1.37/serving flavored; ~$0.61/serving unflavored — the cheapest clean serving in this comparison
Re-Lyte is the broadest mineral profile here: sodium, potassium, magnesium in two forms, and calcium, all built on Redmond Real Salt, an unrefined salt mined from a sealed ancient seabed in Utah.
Against Liquid I.V. it's a clear upgrade on sodium (810 vs ~500), potassium (400 vs ~370), and it adds magnesium and calcium that Liquid I.V. doesn't have — while cutting the label from fifteen to ten and removing the sugar entirely.
It still uses stevia in flavored versions. Re-Lyte Unflavored doesn't, and at roughly 61 cents a serving it's the best value on this page by a wide margin. I've written a longer head-to-head in Cleonse vs Redmond Re-Lyte.
Best for: anyone who wants a complete electrolyte panel, zero sugar, unrefined salt, and low cost per serving. Wrong for: stevia-avoiders buying flavored versions; anyone wanting carbohydrate for training; anyone wanting organic.
5. Cure Hydration — best low-sodium option for everyday sipping
Ingredients (Watermelon, 9): Coconut Water Powder, Citric Acid, Pink Himalayan Salt, Sodium Citrate, Organic Natural Flavor, Organic Stevia Extract, Lemon Juice Powder, Organic Beet Powder (for color), Monk Fruit Extract Per 7.6 g packet, in 8–16 oz: 25 calories, 6 g carbohydrate, 4 g total sugars (0 g added), 240 mg sodium, 345 mg potassium Sweetener: Organic stevia extract + monk fruit extract Price: ~$23.99 for a 14-pack; larger packs and a bulk jar available
Cure is the gentlest product on this list and the closest in feel to Liquid I.V. — coconut-water-based, fruit-forward, easy to drink all day. Its 345 mg of potassium is nearly a match for Liquid I.V.'s, its sugars are naturally occurring rather than added, and its color comes from beet powder rather than a dye.
The trade-off is sodium: 240 mg is less than half of Liquid I.V. and less than a quarter of LMNT. For hot-weather sipping, travel, or a hangover, that's fine. For a two-hour session in the heat, it isn't enough.
It also uses both stevia and monk fruit, so it doesn't solve the aftertaste complaint.
Best for: everyday hydration, travel, low-calorie sipping, people who found other options too salty. Wrong for: hard training, heavy sweating, or anyone avoiding high-intensity sweeteners.
6. DripDrop — best ORS-style profile and best availability
Ingredients (ORS Berry, 13): Sugar, Fructose, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Potassium Citrate, Magnesium Citrate, Dextrose, Salt, Ascorbic Acid, Fruit and Vegetable Juice as Color, Sucralose, Zinc Aspartate (some flavors run to 16 with malic acid, spirulina and silicon dioxide) Per 10 g stick, in 8 oz (237 ml): 35 calories, 9 g carbohydrate, 7 g sugar, 330 mg sodium, 185 mg potassium, 39 mg magnesium, 1.5 mg zinc, 70 mg vitamin C Sweetener: Sugar, fructose, dextrose and sucralose. Zero Sugar uses sucralose + acesulfame potassium. Price: ~$35.99 for 32 sticks — ~$1.12 per 8 oz serving
DripDrop is the only pick here with genuine medical lineage: developed by physician Dr. Eduardo Dolhun after working a 1993 cholera outbreak in Guatemala, patented in 2013, built around oral rehydration principles rather than sports nutrition.
Its serving is 8 oz rather than 16, which makes it the most concentrated solution here — roughly 60 mmol/L sodium against Liquid I.V.'s and Cleonse's mid-40s. That's the ORS design. It also brings zinc and 70 mg of vitamin C that nothing else on this list has, and it's stocked nearly everywhere.
But if you left Liquid I.V. because of stevia, note that DripDrop's flagship contains sucralose alongside three sugars, and Zero Sugar adds acesulfame potassium on top. On the sweetener axis it's a lateral move at best. Full breakdown in Cleonse vs DripDrop.
Best for: heat, travel, illness recovery, anyone wanting a clinical profile with a broad micronutrient panel at low cost, anyone who needs to buy it in a store today. Wrong for: anyone avoiding artificial sweeteners; anyone who wants a short or organic label.
The whole list, side by side
| Ingredients | Sodium | Potassium | Calories | Sugar | High-intensity sweetener | Cost/serving | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liquid I.V. | 15 | ~500 mg | ~370 mg | ~45–50 | ~11 g | Stevia | ~$1.56 |
| Cleonse | 3 | 500 mg | — | 100 | 24 g | None | $1.83–$3.30 |
| Skratch | 12 | 400 mg | ~40–50 mg | 80 | ~18 g | None | ~$1.20 |
| LMNT | 6 | 1,000 mg | 200 mg | 0 | 0 g | Stevia (none in Raw) | ~$1.50 |
| Re-Lyte | 10 | 810 mg | 400 mg | 0 | 0 g | Stevia (none unflavored) | ~$1.37 / $0.61 |
| Cure | 9 | 240 mg | 345 mg | 25 | 4 g (0 added) | Stevia + monk fruit | ~$1.71 |
| DripDrop | 13–16 | 330 mg / 8 oz | 185 mg | 35 | 7 g | Sucralose | ~$1.12 |
Sodium is per serving as sold. Note that DripDrop's serving is 8 oz while everything else is 12–16 oz — per ounce of water, DripDrop is the most concentrated on the list.
Three things worth saying plainly
Only two of these six remove high-intensity sweeteners from a flavored product: Cleonse and Skratch. Everything else uses stevia, monk fruit or sucralose in its flavored versions. LMNT Raw and Re-Lyte Unflavored are the unflavored exceptions. If sweetener is your reason for switching, that's the shortlist — and it would be dishonest of me to tell you it's a shortlist of one.
Liquid I.V.'s potassium is actually good. At around 370 mg it beats LMNT, beats DripDrop, and beats Cleonse by an infinite margin because Cleonse has none. If dosed potassium is the thing you value, switching to my product is a downgrade on that axis and I'm not going to pretend it isn't.
Cheapest clean serving on this page is Re-Lyte Unflavored at about 61 cents. Not mine. If price per serving is the deciding factor, buy that.
Try The World's Cleanest Electrolyte™
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Shop CleonseFrequently asked questions
What is the best alternative to Liquid I.V.? It depends on why you're switching. For the shortest and most organic ingredient list, Cleonse (3 ingredients, no high-intensity sweeteners). For zero sugar and more sodium, LMNT (1,000 mg) or Redmond Re-Lyte (810 mg). For endurance training without stevia, Skratch Labs. For low-sodium everyday sipping, Cure. For an ORS-style profile and wide retail availability, DripDrop.
Which electrolyte powders have no stevia or artificial sweeteners? Among the products compared here, Cleonse and Skratch Labs Sport Hydration are the only flavored options with no high-intensity sweetener — both are sweetened with cane sugar. LMNT Raw and Redmond Re-Lyte Unflavored contain no sweetener at all but are unflavored. Liquid I.V., LMNT flavored, Re-Lyte flavored and Cure all use stevia; DripDrop uses sucralose.
Is Liquid I.V. bad for you? No. It's a competently formulated hydration product with a reasonable sodium level and good potassium. The common objections are about the label rather than safety: fifteen ingredients, two sugars plus stevia, an anti-caking agent, and five added vitamins most people don't need in a drink mix.
Which Liquid I.V. alternative has the most sodium? LMNT, at 1,000 mg per stick, followed by Redmond Re-Lyte Unflavored at 1,000 mg and Re-Lyte flavored at 810 mg. Cleonse and Liquid I.V. both sit around 500 mg. Per ounce of water, DripDrop is the most concentrated at 330 mg in 8 oz.
What's the cheapest Liquid I.V. alternative? Redmond Re-Lyte Unflavored, at roughly $0.61 per serving. DripDrop at about $1.12 and Skratch at about $1.20 are the cheapest flavored options. Cleonse is the most expensive on the list at $1.83 to $3.30 per stick, which reflects organic fruit powder and organic cane sugar in a 30 g stick.
Do I need the sugar in Liquid I.V. or Cleonse? If you're training hard for over an hour, yes — carbohydrate preserves performance during sustained work, and glucose and sodium are absorbed together in the gut. If you're sitting at a desk, no, and a zero-sugar option like LMNT or Re-Lyte is the better tool. More on this in do electrolytes need sugar.
Cleonse: three ingredients — organic lemon or strawberry powder, organic cane sugar, French grey sea salt. 500 mg sodium, 85+ trace minerals, 100 calories, 26 g carbohydrate, 24 g sugar per 30 g stick in 16 oz (473 ml) of water. Vegan and gluten-free. No stevia, no artificial sweeteners, flavors, dyes, preservatives, gums or fillers. $33 / $66 / $110 for 10 / 30 / 60 sticks, free shipping, 30-day guarantee. See the product.
Related: Cleonse vs Liquid I.V. · Best LMNT alternatives · Electrolytes without stevia
Editor's note and sources
I founded Cleonse, which is ranked first on this list. I've tried to earn that by naming, in every section, where the alternatives beat it — including that Skratch matches Cleonse on the no-high-intensity-sweetener criterion at a lower price, that Liquid I.V. has more potassium than Cleonse, and that Re-Lyte Unflavored is roughly a third of Cleonse's cost per serving. All competitor ingredient lists and nutrition figures were read from current public product pages and retail listings in July 2026 and are quoted from a single named flavor where flavors differ. Formulas and prices change without notice — read the packet you're holding.
- Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier product pages and pricing: https://www.liquid-iv.com/collections/hydration-multiplier
- Liquid I.V. Sugar Free allulose blend (Costco listing): https://www.costco.com/liquid-i.v.-hydration-multiplier,-30-individual-serving-stick-packs-in-resealable-pouch,-sugar-free,-variety-pack.product.4000362455.html
- Skratch Labs Sport Hydration Drink Mix ingredients: https://www.skratchlabs.com/products/sport-hydration-drink-mix
- Skratch Labs nutrition panel (Running Warehouse): https://www.runningwarehouse.com/Skratch_Labs_Hydration_Sport_Drink_Mix/descpage-SKSHM20.html
- LMNT product page, nutrition and pricing: https://drinklmnt.com/products/lmnt-recharge-electrolyte-drink
- Redmond Re-Lyte Hydration: https://living.redmond.com/products/re-lyte-hydration
- Cure Hydration ingredient panel and nutrition: https://www.curehydration.com/products/hydrating-electrolyte-mix-watermelon
- DripDrop ORS Berry ingredient panel (Open Food Facts): https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/0850379003153/dripdrop-ors-berry
- DripDrop ORS nutrition panel (H-E-B): https://www.heb.com/product-detail/dripdrop-ors-electrolyte-drink-mix-juicy-variety/8926050
- DripDrop founding and patent history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DripDrop_ORS
- Jeukendrup A., carbohydrate intake during exercise, Sports Medicine 2014: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-014-0148-z
Nothing here is medical advice. Cleonse supports hydration; it does not diagnose, treat, or prevent any condition.