By Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse: the world's cleanest 3-ingredient organic electrolyte.
Cleonse and LMNT solve different problems. LMNT is a zero-sugar, 1,000mg-sodium stick sweetened with stevia — built for keto, sauna, and very heavy sweaters. Cleonse is three ingredients — organic fruit powder, organic cane sugar, French grey sea salt — with 500mg sodium and real carbohydrate as training fuel.
I make one of these. I'll tell you where the other one wins.
The labels, side by side
Both companies publish their ingredients. Here's what they actually say, verified against current public labels in July 2026.
Cleonse (Organic Lemonade), 3 ingredients:
Organic Lemon Powder, Organic Cane Sugar, French Grey Sea Salt
LMNT (Citrus Salt), 6 ingredients:
Salt (Sodium Chloride), Citric Acid, Magnesium Malate, Potassium Chloride, Natural Lemon & Lime Flavors, Stevia Leaf Extract
Every flavored LMNT follows the same template — salt, citric acid, magnesium malate, potassium chloride, natural flavors, stevia leaf extract. LMNT Raw, the unflavored version, drops the flavors and the stevia.
Neither of these is a bad label. This is a comparison between two of the shortest ingredient lists in the category, which is not something you can say about most head-to-heads in this space. But three is still shorter than six, and the difference between them is entirely additives: citric acid, natural flavors, and stevia.
The numbers
| Cleonse | LMNT | |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | 3 | 6 (flavored) |
| Sodium | 500mg | 1,000mg |
| Potassium | — | 200mg |
| Magnesium | — | 60mg |
| Trace minerals | 85+ from French grey sea salt | — |
| Calories | 100 | ~10 |
| Total carbohydrate | 26g | ~2g |
| Sugar | 24g organic cane sugar | 0g |
| Sweetener | Real organic cane sugar | Stevia leaf extract |
| Artificial flavors | None | None (uses "natural flavors") |
| Dyes | None | None |
| Anti-caking agents / fillers | None | None |
| Organic | Yes — organic fruit + organic cane sugar | No |
| Flavors | Organic Lemonade, Organic Strawberry | Wide range, rotating |
| Stick size | 30g | ~6g |
| Guarantee | 30-day | Yes |
| Shipping | Free on all orders | Varies |
Where LMNT genuinely wins
I'm not going to pretend otherwise, so let's do this part first.
1. If you're keto or low-carb, LMNT is the correct tool. Cleonse has 26g of carbohydrate per stick. If you're maintaining ketosis or tracking carbs tightly, that's a non-starter and no amount of "but it's organic cane sugar" changes the math. LMNT was literally built for that use case and it's very good at it.
2. If you're an extreme sweater, 1,000mg is a real advantage. Some people lose dramatically more sodium in sweat than others. If you finish training with white crust on a dark shirt, or you're doing multi-hour efforts in heat, or you're in a sauna protocol, the higher dose is doing something for you that 500mg won't. You can take two Cleonse sticks, but then you're also taking 48g of sugar — that's not the same thing.
3. Flavor variety. LMNT runs a lot of flavors and rotating seasonal releases. Cleonse has two: Organic Lemonade and Organic Strawberry. That's a deliberate choice — you can't make a clean fruit-powder flavor for every taste — but if you want chocolate salt or watermelon, we don't have it.
4. They were early and they built the category. LMNT made "high sodium is fine, actually" a mainstream idea. We're operating in a market they helped create.
Where Cleonse wins
1. Three ingredients, all of them food.
The gap between Cleonse and LMNT is three additives, and each one is worth naming:
- Citric acid — an acidulant for tartness and shelf stability. Commercially produced by fermenting a mold culture on a sugar substrate, not squeezed from lemons. Not harmful. Also not fruit. We get tartness from actual organic lemon powder.
- Natural flavors — a legally protected term that can cover a proprietary blend of dozens of compounds. You have no way to know what's in it. Ours is the fruit.
- Stevia leaf extract — covered below, because it's the one people actually notice.
2. No stevia, no aftertaste.
This is the single most common reason people go looking for an LMNT alternative, and it shows up constantly in reviews and forum threads: the stevia finish. Some people don't register it at all. For the people who do, it's a lingering, faintly metallic aftertaste that gets more noticeable the more you drink — which is exactly the wrong direction for a product you're meant to sip through a two-hour session.
Cleonse is sweetened with organic cane sugar. It tastes like lemonade, because the ingredient list is basically lemonade with good salt in it. There's no back-end and no adjustment period.
3. It isn't too salty.
LMNT's 1,000mg is a lot of salt in a small amount of water, and the taste reflects that. LMNT's own community has built a subculture around getting used to it — mixing it into more water, adding it to other drinks, "it grows on you." That's a real experience people report.
500mg in 16–20oz of water with a little sugar and fruit doesn't need getting used to. It reads as a sports drink, not a salt solution.
4. Real sugar as fuel, not as a flaw.
This is the philosophical split.
LMNT's position is that sugar in hydration is unnecessary — and for sedentary hydration, keto, or fasted use, that's correct. Our position is narrower: during exercise, carbohydrate is fuel. Sodium and glucose are co-transported across the intestinal wall, which is the mechanism behind every "fast absorption" claim in this category. And for sustained efforts, carbohydrate intake is standard sports-nutrition practice, not a compromise.
24g of organic cane sugar in a stick you drink during a match is fuel. The same 24g on a couch is just sugar. We're honest about which one we built for.
5. Organic ingredients.
Cleonse uses certified organic lemon and strawberry powder and organic cane sugar. LMNT is not an organic product. If that's a purchase criterion for you, it's a clean differentiator.
6. Trace minerals from unrefined salt.
LMNT builds its mineral profile from isolated compounds: sodium chloride, magnesium malate, potassium chloride. That's a precise, dosed approach and there's nothing wrong with it.
Cleonse uses French grey sea salt — hand-harvested, unrefined, retaining 85+ trace minerals naturally present in seawater. To be straight with you: those minerals are present in trace amounts and are not a substitute for LMNT's dosed 200mg potassium and 60mg magnesium. If you specifically want those doses, LMNT delivers them and we don't. What grey sea salt gives you instead is a whole, unprocessed ingredient rather than three isolated salts.
Taste: what to actually expect
LMNT tastes like flavored salt water with a stevia sweetness on top and a stevia finish underneath. Most people either adapt to it within a week or never quite do. Diluting into more water helps.
Cleonse tastes like lemonade or strawberry lemonade with a mineral edge. The cane sugar rounds off the salt, so you get salinity as savoriness rather than as a slap. No aftertaste, because there's no high-intensity sweetener to leave one.
If you've bounced off LMNT on taste, that's the specific thing Cleonse fixes.
Price
Cleonse pricing, free shipping on every order:
| Pack | One-time | Subscribe & Save 10% |
|---|---|---|
| 10-pack | $33 | $29 + free glass bottle |
| 30-pack | $66 | $59 + free glass bottle |
| 60-pack | $110 | $99 + free glass bottle |
Subscribe & Save is 10% off and includes a free glass bottle with your first order. The Duo Assortment 10-pack is five Organic Lemonade and five Organic Strawberry — the cheapest way to find out which one you like. Every order has a 30-day guarantee.
LMNT's pricing moves with promotions and bundle offers; check their site for current numbers. On a straight per-stick basis the two brands sit in a similar premium range — this isn't a "cheap alternative" pitch, and I won't make one.
Who should buy which
Buy LMNT if: you're keto or low-carb, you're doing sauna protocols, you're a documented heavy salt sweater who needs 1,000mg, you're using electrolytes fasted, or you want a big flavor rotation.
Buy Cleonse if: you want the shortest possible ingredient list, stevia aftertaste bothers you, you want organic ingredients, you're fueling actual training and want carbohydrate with your sodium, or you want an electrolyte that tastes like a drink instead of a protocol.
Honestly? A lot of people I know keep both. LMNT for the sauna and the fasted mornings, Cleonse for the sessions where they're sweating and burning fuel. Different tools, different days.
Frequently asked questions
Is Cleonse a good LMNT alternative?
Yes, if your reason for switching is ingredient simplicity, stevia aftertaste, or wanting carbohydrate during training. Cleonse has three organic ingredients versus LMNT's six, no stevia, and 24g of cane sugar as fuel. If you need 1,000mg sodium or you're low-carb, LMNT remains the better fit.
Does Cleonse have as much sodium as LMNT?
No. Cleonse has 500mg of sodium per 30g stick; LMNT has 1,000mg. Cleonse is a moderate dose designed to be drinkable during training; LMNT is a high dose designed for keto, sauna, and very heavy sweaters.
Does LMNT contain stevia?
Yes. Every flavored LMNT Drink Mix lists stevia leaf extract as its sweetener. LMNT Raw, the unflavored version, does not. Cleonse contains no stevia — it's sweetened with organic cane sugar.
Why does Cleonse have sugar when LMNT doesn't?
Because Cleonse is built for training. Carbohydrate is your primary fuel during sustained exercise, and sodium and glucose are absorbed together. The 24g of organic cane sugar is fuel, not filler. For fasted or sedentary use, a zero-sugar product like LMNT makes more sense.
Which tastes better, Cleonse or LMNT?
Taste is personal, but the reproducible difference is the finish. LMNT's stevia leaves an aftertaste that some people find lingering and metallic; Cleonse has no high-intensity sweetener, so it tastes like lemonade or strawberry lemonade with no back-end. Cleonse also reads as less salty at 500mg versus 1,000mg.
Is LMNT organic?
No. LMNT is not certified organic. Cleonse uses certified organic fruit powder and certified organic cane sugar, alongside French grey sea salt.
Try The World's Cleanest Electrolyte™
Three ingredients. 500mg sodium. Nothing artificial. Free shipping and a 30-day guarantee.
Shop CleonseKeep reading
- Best LMNT alternatives (2026)
- Cleonse vs Redmond Re-Lyte: salt vs salt
- What is the cleanest electrolyte? A no-BS ingredient guide
Written by Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse and a state champion tennis player. Not medical advice. This comparison is our opinion where opinion is stated and label fact where fact is stated — we've marked the difference.
Editor's note on sourcing: LMNT ingredient lists and electrolyte amounts were verified in July 2026 against LMNT's own published pages — drinklmnt.com/pages/ingredients (Citrus Salt, Grapefruit Salt and Raspberry Salt ingredient statements; 1,000mg sodium / 200mg potassium / 60mg magnesium per stick pack) and help.drinklmnt.com's per-flavor ingredient article, plus drinklmnt.com/pages/faq. LMNT does not publish calorie and carbohydrate figures on those pages; the approximate values shown come from the Nutrition Facts panels displayed in their product listings and should be treated as approximate. Cleonse figures are from our own label. Formulations and pricing change without notice — read the current panel before you buy.