By Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse: the world's cleanest 3-ingredient organic electrolyte.
DripDrop is an oral rehydration solution built by a physician around ORS science — 330 mg sodium per 8 oz serving, 13 to 16 ingredients depending on flavor, sweetened with sugar, fructose, dextrose and sucralose. Cleonse is three ingredients and 500 mg sodium in 16 oz. These are different tools for different jobs.
I make one of them. DripDrop has a credential I don't have, and I'll spend the first section on it.
Give DripDrop its due first
Most "clean electrolyte" comparisons treat every competitor as marketing. DripDrop isn't.
It was created by Dr. Eduardo Dolhun, a physician whose interest in oral rehydration started when he worked through a cholera outbreak in Guatemala in 1993. He developed the formula from around 2007, tested it on patients in his San Francisco practice, began manufacturing in 2010, and holds a US patent on it (8,557,301, granted 2013). The product was built to sit near the pediatric rehydration standards used by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Nutrition, and the company positions it explicitly as ORS-derived rather than as a sports drink.
That's a real lineage. Oral rehydration therapy is one of the most consequential public health interventions of the last century, and the mechanism it exploits — sodium and glucose absorbed together at the SGLT1 transporter in the small intestine — is genuinely well established. Every hydration brand in this category, mine included, is standing on the same physiology. DripDrop is one of the few that came from the medical side of it rather than the sports side.
I say all that so the rest of this is read as a comparison between two serious products rather than a hit piece.
The labels
Both are public. Both were read from current listings in July 2026.
Cleonse (Organic Lemonade) — 3 ingredients:
Organic Lemon Powder, Organic Cane Sugar, French Grey Sea Salt
The strawberry version swaps the fruit powder. That's the whole panel.
DripDrop ORS (Berry) — 13 ingredients:
Sugar, Fructose, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Potassium Citrate, Magnesium Citrate, Dextrose, Salt, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Fruit and Vegetable Juice as Color, Sucralose, Zinc Aspartate
Some flavors run longer. The Juicy Variety label adds malic acid, spirulina extract for color and silicon dioxide, bringing it to sixteen.
DripDrop Zero Sugar — 18 ingredients:
Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Potassium Citrate, Maltodextrin, Magnesium Citrate, Natural Flavor, Salt, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Silicon Dioxide, Sucralose, Fruit and Vegetable Juice for Color, Turmeric for Color, Zinc Aspartate, Acesulfame Potassium, Niacinamide (B3), D-Calcium Pantothenate (B5), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (B6), Cyanocobalamin (B12)
Two high-intensity sweeteners in that one: sucralose and acesulfame potassium.
DripDrop also sells a newer Zero Sugar Plus line in 16 oz sticks, which the company describes as sugar-free with no artificial sweetener and with an added amino acid. I could not pull a complete verified ingredient panel for it from public listings, so I'm not going to characterise it beyond what the company says. If sucralose is your deal-breaker, that's the line to look at, and read the packet yourself.
The numbers
| Cleonse | DripDrop ORS | DripDrop Zero Sugar | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | 3 | 13–16 | 18 |
| Serving size | 30 g stick | 10 g stick | ~4.5 g stick |
| Water per serving | 16 oz (473 ml) | 8 oz (237 ml) | 8 oz (237 ml) |
| Sodium | 500 mg | 330 mg (14% DV) | ~330 mg |
| Potassium | — | 185 mg | Yes |
| Magnesium | — | 39 mg | Yes |
| Zinc | — | 1.5 mg | Yes |
| Vitamin C | — | 70 mg | Yes |
| B vitamins | — | — | B3, B5, B6, B12 |
| Calories | 100 | 35 | ~0 |
| Carbohydrate | 26 g | 9 g | ~1 g |
| Sugar | 24 g organic cane sugar | 7 g (sugar, fructose, dextrose) | 0 g |
| High-intensity sweetener | None | Sucralose | Sucralose + acesulfame K |
| Natural flavors | None | Yes | Yes |
| Citric acid | None | Yes | Yes |
| Anti-caking agent | None | Some flavors (silicon dioxide) | Yes (silicon dioxide) |
| Salt type | French grey sea salt (unrefined) | Salt + sodium citrate | Salt + sodium citrate |
| Organic | Yes — fruit and cane sugar | No | No |
| Price | $33/10, $66/30, $110/60 | ~$35.99 / 32 sticks | ~$35.99 / 32 sticks |
| Cost per serving | $3.30 / $2.20 / $1.83 | ~$1.12 | ~$1.12 |
| Cost per 16 oz | $3.30 / $2.20 / $1.83 | ~$2.25 (2 sticks) | ~$2.25 (2 sticks) |
| Shipping | Free, all orders | Varies | Varies |
Read the water column before the sodium column. DripDrop's 330 mg is per 8 oz. Cleonse's 500 mg is per 16 oz. Match the volume and DripDrop delivers more sodium — 660 mg per 16 oz across two sticks — at 70 calories and 14 g of sugar. It's a more concentrated solution, which is the whole point of an ORS.
How close is either one to actual ORS?
Since the ORS heritage is DripDrop's central claim, it's worth checking the arithmetic against the standard.
The WHO reduced-osmolarity ORS formula is 75 mmol/L sodium and 75 mmol/L glucose, at 245 mOsm/L total — roughly 1,725 mg of sodium and 13.5 g of glucose per litre.
| Sodium (approx.) | Carbohydrate (approx.) | |
|---|---|---|
| WHO reduced-osmolarity ORS | ~75 mmol/L | ~1.4% |
| DripDrop ORS (1 stick / 8 oz) | ~60 mmol/L | ~3.8% |
| Cleonse (1 stick / 16 oz) | ~46 mmol/L | ~5.5% |
| Typical sports drink | ~20 mmol/L | ~6% |
DripDrop is closer to ORS on sodium — clearly. It's not identical to ORS on carbohydrate; at roughly 3.8% it carries about two and a half times the glucose concentration of the WHO formula, and it's sweetened further with sucralose on top of that. So "ORS-inspired" is accurate; "an ORS" is doing some work.
Cleonse is honestly a sports drink profile, and I'd rather say that plainly than borrow clinical language. 5.5% carbohydrate is fuel concentration. It's built for someone doing work for an hour or more, not for someone with acute fluid losses.
Where DripDrop genuinely wins
A broader micronutrient panel. 185 mg potassium, 39 mg magnesium, 1.5 mg zinc, 70 mg vitamin C. Cleonse has essentially none of those in dosed amounts. If you want a full panel, DripDrop delivers one and I don't.
More sodium per ounce of water. 60 mmol/L versus 46. If you're dealing with genuine fluid deficit rather than sweating through a workout, concentration matters and DripDrop is built for it.
Far fewer calories. 35 versus 100, and near zero on Zero Sugar. If you're not doing work that needs fuel, my 100 calories buy you nothing.
Cheaper. About $1.12 a stick against $1.83–$3.30 for mine. Even matched at 16 oz, DripDrop comes in cheaper.
A physician-developed, patented formula with a 15-year track record and real clinical framing. I'm a tennis player who got tired of reading ingredient labels. Dr. Dolhun has a different résumé and it counts for something.
Availability. Costco, Amazon, H-E-B, Kroger, Walmart, plus the military and wildland fire channels they've built. Cleonse is direct only.
Where Cleonse wins
Three ingredients versus thirteen to eighteen. That's the whole thesis. Organic lemon or strawberry powder for flavor and acidity, organic cane sugar for fuel, French grey sea salt for sodium. No citric acid, no natural flavors, no color additives, no anti-caking agent, no isolated mineral citrates.
No sucralose. No acesulfame potassium. No high-intensity sweetener of any kind. This is the biggest practical difference and it's the reason most people find this page. DripDrop's flagship sugar version also contains sucralose — sugar, fructose, dextrose and sucralose in the same 10 g stick. If your reason for shopping is "I want to stop drinking artificial sweeteners," DripDrop ORS doesn't solve it and Zero Sugar adds a second one. See electrolytes without artificial sweeteners.
Certified organic fruit and sugar. DripDrop is not organic. Its color comes from fruit and vegetable juice, which is a good choice, but the inputs aren't certified.
Unrefined salt. French grey sea salt, hand-harvested from Atlantic salt marshes, carrying 85+ trace minerals and no anti-caking agent. DripDrop uses "salt" plus sodium citrate. I've written a whole honest piece on what that trace mineral number does and doesn't mean in what is French grey sea salt — short version, the sodium is the point and the minerals are a purity story.
Real fruit instead of "natural flavor." Natural flavor is a legally defined catch-all. Organic lemon powder is a lemon.
More carbohydrate when you actually want it. 26 g in a bottle is roughly an hour of moderate fueling. DripDrop's 7 g isn't trying to be fuel. Neither approach is wrong; they're answering different questions.
Free shipping on every order and a 30-day guarantee.
The sucralose question, straight
Sucralose is FDA-approved, extensively reviewed, and by any regulatory standard safe at the amounts in a drink stick. I'm not going to tell you it's dangerous, because I don't have the evidence for that and neither does anyone selling you the opposite.
The argument against it is different and simpler: it's a synthetic high-intensity sweetener in a product that already contains three sugars. It's there to make an ORS palatable, and it works. But if your standard for a clean label is "everything on this panel is a food I recognise," sucralose fails that test regardless of its safety profile, and so does acesulfame potassium.
That's a preference, not a health claim, and I'd rather state it as one.
Which should you buy?
Buy DripDrop if: you want an ORS-style, medically-derived formula; you want potassium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin C dosed on the panel; you want more sodium per ounce of fluid; you want low calories; you want to buy it in a store today; cost per serving is the deciding factor; or you're managing fluid loss from heat, travel or illness rather than fueling training.
Buy Cleonse if: you want the shortest ingredient list in the category; you're avoiding sucralose, acesulfame potassium and stevia entirely; you want certified organic fruit and sugar; you want unrefined hand-harvested salt; you're training for an hour or more and want fuel and sodium in one bottle; or you want to be able to read the whole label out loud.
A note on stacking: these genuinely aren't competing for the same slot. DripDrop in the travel bag and the medicine cabinet, Cleonse in the tennis bag. That's how I'd use them and I'm not being diplomatic about it.
Try The World's Cleanest Electrolyte™
Three ingredients. 500mg sodium. Nothing artificial. Free shipping and a 30-day guarantee.
Shop CleonseFrequently asked questions
Does DripDrop have artificial sweeteners? Yes. DripDrop ORS lists sucralose on its current label alongside sugar, fructose and dextrose. DripDrop Zero Sugar lists both sucralose and acesulfame potassium. The newer Zero Sugar Plus line is described by the company as sugar-free with no artificial sweetener. Cleonse contains no high-intensity sweeteners of any kind — its only sweetener is organic cane sugar.
How many ingredients are in DripDrop? DripDrop ORS Berry lists thirteen; some flavors run to sixteen with malic acid, spirulina extract for color and silicon dioxide. DripDrop Zero Sugar lists eighteen, including four added B vitamins. Cleonse lists three.
Does DripDrop have more sodium than Cleonse? Per serving, no — 330 mg versus 500 mg. Per ounce of water, yes. DripDrop's serving mixes into 8 oz and Cleonse's into 16 oz, so matched at 16 oz DripDrop delivers about 660 mg from two sticks. DripDrop is the more concentrated solution; Cleonse is the more dilute, higher-carbohydrate one.
Is DripDrop a real ORS? It's ORS-derived. It was developed by a physician around oral rehydration principles and holds a US patent, and its sodium concentration of roughly 60 mmol/L sits reasonably close to the WHO reduced-osmolarity standard of 75 mmol/L. Its carbohydrate concentration of about 3.8% is considerably higher than the WHO formula's 1.4%, and it adds sucralose on top. "ORS-inspired" is the accurate description.
Which is cheaper, Cleonse or DripDrop? DripDrop. A 32-stick box runs around $35.99, about $1.12 per 8 oz serving or roughly $2.25 per 16 oz. Cleonse runs $3.30 per stick at the 10-pack down to $1.83 at the 60-pack, with free shipping on every order and no minimum.
Can I use Cleonse for illness or heat exhaustion the way DripDrop is marketed? Cleonse is a sports drink formula built for training and everyday hydration, not a clinical rehydration product, and I don't make medical claims for it. For acute fluid loss, an ORS-style product or medical advice is the right call.
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 sucralose, no artificial 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. · Cleonse vs Redmond Re-Lyte · Electrolytes without artificial sweeteners
Editor's note and sources
I founded Cleonse, one of the two products compared here. DripDrop ingredient lists and nutrition figures were read from current public retail listings and DripDrop's own site in July 2026; ingredient lists are quoted from the Berry and variety-pack panels and vary by flavor. I was unable to verify a complete public ingredient panel for DripDrop Zero Sugar Plus and have said so in the text rather than guessing. Prices change and formulas get reformulated — check the packet you're holding.
- DripDrop ORS Berry ingredient panel and nutrition (Open Food Facts): https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/0850379003153/dripdrop-ors-berry
- DripDrop ORS variety pack panel (H-E-B): https://www.heb.com/product-detail/dripdrop-ors-electrolyte-drink-mix-juicy-variety/8926050
- DripDrop Zero Sugar ingredient panel: https://dripdrop.com/products/zero-variety-pack-8-32
- DripDrop FAQ — sweeteners, ORS science, Zero Sugar Plus: https://dripdrop.com/pages/faq
- DripDrop founding, Dr. Eduardo Dolhun, US Patent 8,557,301: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DripDrop_ORS
- WHO reduced-osmolarity ORS composition (75 mmol/L sodium, 75 mmol/L glucose, 245 mOsm/L): https://wikem.org/wiki/Reduced-osmolarity_oral_rehydration_solution
- WHO, new ORS formulation of improved effectiveness: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-FCH-CAH-06.1
- Sodium-glucose cotransport and fluid absorption, Scientific Reports 2020: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64818-3
Nothing here is medical advice. Cleonse supports hydration; it does not diagnose, treat, or prevent any condition.