By Sebastian Madlangbayan, founder of Cleonse: the world's cleanest 3-ingredient organic electrolyte.
In a category that went zero-sugar almost entirely, Skratch Labs and Cleonse both still lead with real sugar. Skratch pairs cane sugar with dextrose across a 9-to-12 ingredient formula at 400mg sodium. Cleonse is three ingredients at 500mg. Same conviction about fuel, different ideas about everything else.
I make one of these. Skratch has been doing this since 2012, has a genuine sports-science pedigree I can't match, and I'll be specific about where they beat me.
Why this comparison is unusual
Walk down the electrolyte aisle and count the zero-sugar products. Almost all of them. Sugar became the thing you subtract, and the sweetener slot got filled with stevia, sucralose, monk fruit, or allulose.
Skratch and Cleonse both declined to do that, for basically the same reason: during exercise, carbohydrate is not a contaminant, it's the point. Glucose fuels working muscle, and glucose and sodium are co-transported across the intestinal wall, so the sugar also helps move the sodium and water in.
Skratch's own framing is that "maintaining and elevating one's blood sugar during physical activity can improve performance," while acknowledging sugar isn't necessary for shorter, easier sessions. I'd sign my name to that sentence.
From there we diverge sharply.
The labels
Cleonse (Organic Lemonade), 3 ingredients:
Organic Lemon Powder, Organic Cane Sugar, French Grey Sea Salt
The strawberry version swaps the fruit powder. That is the entire label.
Skratch Labs Hydration Sport Drink Mix, 9–12 ingredients depending on flavor.
Mango (9):
Cane Sugar, Sodium Citrate, Dextrose, Mango Powder, Citric Acid, Calcium Citrate, Magnesium Carbonate, Potassium Citrate, Ascorbic Acid
Lemon-Lime (12):
Cane Sugar, Dextrose, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Magnesium Carbonate, Calcium Citrate, Potassium Citrate, Lemon Oil, Lime Oil, Lemon Juice, Lime Juice, Ascorbic Acid
Cucumber Lime, notably, includes gum arabic. Worth knowing if you're avoiding gums specifically — the ingredient list genuinely varies by flavor, so "Skratch has nine ingredients" isn't quite accurate as a blanket statement.
Two things stand out about Skratch's list. First, it's short by category standards — Liquid I.V. runs fourteen or fifteen. Nothing here is filler. Second, the additions are deliberate: three mineral salts to build a fuller electrolyte panel, real fruit oils and juices for flavor rather than a "natural flavors" black box, and ascorbic acid.
That last point deserves credit. "Lemon Oil, Lime Oil, Lemon Juice, Lime Juice" is more transparent than "natural flavors," which is a legally permitted term covering a great deal you'll never see.
The sodium salt question
Skratch uses sodium citrate rather than sodium chloride, and they explain why: it "tastes better, has a slight buffering effect, provides a citrate ion which can be used as a fuel source, and is very easy on the gut."
That's a real formulator's argument and I don't dispute any of it. Sodium citrate is gentler and cleaner-tasting than salt at equivalent sodium.
Cleonse uses French grey sea salt — hand-harvested from Atlantic salt marshes, unrefined, retaining the residual moisture that gives it its grey color and 85+ trace minerals. I chose it for sourcing reasons rather than performance ones, and I should be honest that the trace minerals arrive in milligram and microgram quantities. They are not doing meaningful physiological work. The defensible version of the argument is that unrefined salt is the whole thing that came out of the sea, and refined salt is what's left after the rest is stripped out.
Skratch gets a better-behaved sodium delivery. I get a shorter label and whole-food sourcing. Neither is a trick.
The numbers
| Cleonse | Skratch Labs Hydration | |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | 3 | 9–12 (varies by flavor) |
| Serving size | 30g stick | 22g scoop or packet |
| Water | 16 oz (473 ml) | 12–16 oz (350–500 ml) |
| Sodium | 500mg | 400mg |
| Sodium source | French grey sea salt | Sodium citrate |
| Potassium | — | 50mg |
| Magnesium | — | 50mg |
| Calcium | — | 50mg |
| Vitamin C | — | ~18mg |
| Calories | 100 | 80 |
| Carbohydrate | 26g | 19–21g |
| Sugar | 24g organic cane sugar | ~19g cane sugar + dextrose |
| Organic | Yes (fruit + sugar) | No |
| Stevia / artificial sweeteners | None | None |
| Artificial flavors, dyes, preservatives | None | None |
| Gums / fillers | None | Gum arabic in some flavors |
| Vegan, gluten-free | Yes | Yes |
Bolded cells mark where each product has the clear advantage.
Reading the concentration
Because Skratch recommends a range of water volumes, its sodium concentration moves:
| Preparation | Sodium concentration |
|---|---|
| Skratch, 400mg in 16 oz | ~37 mmol/L |
| Cleonse, 500mg in 16 oz | ~46 mmol/L |
| Skratch, 400mg in 12 oz | ~49 mmol/L |
Both sit in a sensible band. Research on rehydration beverages finds fluid retention significantly improves at 20–30 mmol/L and above, that 18–40 mmol/L is the sweet spot for palatability and voluntary intake, and that intake tends to drop off at 50 mmol/L and above. Skratch at 16 oz lands squarely in the palatability window. Cleonse sits a little above it but well below the drop-off. Skratch mixed into 12 oz is the most concentrated of the three.
Neither of us is making a salt bomb. That's a deliberate choice on both sides.
Where Skratch is straightforwardly better
The pedigree. Skratch was founded by Dr. Allen Lim, an exercise physiologist who worked with professional cycling teams, together with Ian MacGregor, a retired pro cyclist Lim had coached. The origin story is that Lim kept seeing athletes "getting sick from drinks that were too sweet, too artificial, and too hard on the gut," so he mixed his own in hotel rooms. It became the "Secret Drink Mix" inside the pro peloton before it became a company. That is a real endurance-racing heritage and I don't have one.
The full mineral panel. Potassium, magnesium, and calcium at 50mg each. Cleonse has none of them, because adding them means adding ingredients like potassium citrate and magnesium carbonate, and three ingredients is a hard constraint. If you want a complete electrolyte profile in one glass, Skratch delivers it and I don't.
Price. Skratch's 20-serving bag runs $23.95, about $1.20 a serving. Cleonse is $3.30 per stick at the 10-pack, $2.20 at the 30-pack, and $1.83 at the 60-pack. Even at my best volume price, Skratch is cheaper. Sourcing organic fruit powder and organic cane sugar costs more than sourcing conventional, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise.
Flavor range. Skratch has around ten flavors plus an Unsweetened line, Super High-Carb mix, and other formats. Cleonse has two flavors.
Dosing flexibility. A resealable bag with a scoop lets you make a half-strength bottle or a double. Sticks are one dose.
Track record. Skratch has been in the hands of professional and amateur athletes since 2012. Cleonse has not.
Where Cleonse is better
Three ingredients. This is the actual product. Organic lemon or strawberry powder, organic cane sugar, French grey sea salt. You can read the whole label without turning the packet over. Skratch's list is short and honest but it still contains three mineral salts, an acidulant, ascorbic acid, and in some flavors a gum.
Organic sourcing. Both the fruit powder and the cane sugar are organic. Skratch's cane sugar is not.
Whole-food salt. French grey sea salt versus a manufactured sodium salt. If your preference is for ingredients that came out of the ground or the sea rather than out of a reactor, that's a real difference — even though, as I said above, the trace minerals aren't doing performance work.
More sodium. 500mg versus 400mg, a 25% higher dose per serving.
More carbohydrate. 26g versus 19–21g. On a long session where you're chasing 60g of carbohydrate per hour, two Cleonse sticks get you to 52g and two Skratch servings get you to about 40g.
No gums in any flavor. Consistent across the line rather than flavor-dependent.
Which one to buy
Buy Skratch if: you're an endurance athlete who wants potassium, magnesium and calcium alongside sodium; you want the flexibility of bulk bags and adjustable dosing; you want a product with a decade-plus of racing history behind it; you want more flavors; or price per serving matters and you're going through a lot of it.
Buy Cleonse if: ingredient minimalism is your actual criterion; you want organic sourcing on the fruit and the sugar; you want unrefined sea salt rather than a manufactured sodium salt; you want a slightly higher sodium and carbohydrate dose per serving; or you've read enough labels that a three-item list is what you're looking for.
Honestly, plenty of people should buy Skratch. If you're racing long and want the full mineral panel at a lower price from a company with a proven track record, that's a good decision and I'd make it too.
What I built Cleonse for is the person who kept turning packets over, kept finding twelve or fifteen ingredients, and wanted to know what would happen if someone made the version with nothing extra in it. That's a narrower proposition than Skratch's, on purpose.
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Shop CleonseFrequently asked questions
Does Skratch Labs use real sugar? Yes. Skratch Hydration Sport Drink Mix is built on cane sugar and dextrose, with no stevia, sucralose, monk fruit, or other non-nutritive sweeteners. Around 19g of sugar and 80 calories per 22g serving. Their separate Unsweetened line has no added sugar and no non-nutritive sweeteners either, using real fruit for flavor.
How many ingredients are in Skratch Labs? It varies by flavor, between about nine and twelve. Mango is nine: cane sugar, sodium citrate, dextrose, mango powder, citric acid, calcium citrate, magnesium carbonate, potassium citrate, and ascorbic acid. Lemon-Lime runs twelve with separate oils and juices. Cucumber Lime includes gum arabic. Cleonse is three in every flavor.
How much sodium is in Skratch Labs vs Cleonse? Skratch has 400mg of sodium per 22g serving, delivered as sodium citrate. Cleonse has 500mg per 30g stick, delivered as French grey sea salt. Skratch recommends 12 to 16 oz of water and Cleonse 16 oz, so at 16 oz Skratch is about 37 mmol/L and Cleonse about 46 mmol/L.
Does Skratch Labs have artificial ingredients or dyes? No. Skratch uses no artificial sweeteners, no artificial flavors, and no synthetic dyes, flavoring instead with real fruit powders, oils and juices. On artificial additives the two products are equivalent; the difference is ingredient count, organic sourcing, and the type of sodium salt used.
Which is cheaper, Skratch or Cleonse? Skratch. Its 20-serving bag is about $23.95, roughly $1.20 per serving. Cleonse runs $3.30 per stick at the 10-pack, $2.20 at the 30-pack, and $1.83 at the 60-pack. Cleonse ships free on every order with a 30-day guarantee, but Skratch is the lower cost per serving.
Why doesn't Cleonse include potassium and magnesium like Skratch does? Because adding them means adding ingredients such as potassium citrate and magnesium carbonate, and the product is built around a three-ingredient constraint. Sodium is the electrolyte lost in the largest quantity in sweat and the one most worth replacing acutely. If a full mineral panel is what you want, Skratch provides it and Cleonse does not.
Cleonse: three ingredients, 500mg sodium, 26g carbohydrate from organic cane sugar, into 16 oz of water. $33 for 10 sticks, $66 for 30, $110 for 60, free shipping, 30-day guarantee. See the product.
Editor's note and sources
I founded Cleonse, one of the two products compared here. Skratch Labs is a good company with a real product and a far longer track record than mine. Skratch figures were read from Skratch's own current public product pages and major retailer nutrition panels in July 2026; ingredient lists are quoted verbatim for the flavors named, and other flavors vary — the ingredient count genuinely differs between them, so check the specific flavor you're buying. Micronutrient values differ slightly between retailer listings and are reported here as approximately 50mg each. Trace mineral counts are sourcing claims and are not independently verified here. Formulas and prices change; check the label you're holding. Skratch did not pay for or review this comparison and there are no affiliate links.
- Skratch Labs Hydration Sport Drink Mix product page: https://www.skratchlabs.com/products/hydration-sport-drink-mix
- Skratch Labs, "Unsweetened Hydration Sport Drink Mix: Story + FAQs" (sodium citrate rationale, formulation philosophy): https://www.skratchlabs.com/blogs/blog/unsweetened-hydration-sport-drink-mix-story-faqs
- Skratch Labs, About Us (founding story, Allen Lim and Ian MacGregor): https://www.skratchlabs.com/pages/about-us
- Skratch Labs nutrition panel and ingredients, Running Warehouse: https://www.runningwarehouse.com/Skratch_Labs_Hydration_Sport_Drink_Mix/descpage-SKSHM20.html
- Skratch Labs nutrition panel and ingredients, The Feed: https://thefeed.com/products/skratch-labs-exercise-hydration-mix
- Beverage sodium concentration thresholds for fluid retention and palatability, Gatorade Sports Science Institute, Sports Science Exchange: https://www.gssiweb.org/sports-science-exchange/article/the-fluid-replacement-process-principles-of-beverage-formulation-for-athletes
- Sweat sodium concentration ranges, Precision Fuel & Hydration: https://www.precisionhydration.com/performance-advice/hydration/how-to-estimate-sweat-salt-loss/
Nothing here is medical advice. Cleonse supports hydration; it does not treat, cure, or prevent any condition.