Electrolyte Cost Comparison

You've seen the ads. Influencers sweating dramatically, pouring neon-colored powder into their water bottles, talking about "optimal hydration" like it's some kind of engineering breakthrough. Meanwhile, your grandfather spent 40 years in a steel mill drinking from a garden hose and somehow survived without a single electrolyte packet.

Here's the truth: electrolytes matter, especially if you're sweating buckets on the job. But whether you need to pay $1.50 per serving for a branded packet? That's a different question. Let's look at what you're actually getting for your money.

Brand Product Price Sodium Potassium Magnesium $/Serving
Nuun Sport Hydration Tablets Variety $7.49 300mg 150mg 25mg $0.75
DripDrop ORS Electrolyte Powder Variety Pack $19.99 780mg 350mg 40mg $1.25
Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier Lemon Lime $24.99 500mg 370mg — $1.56
Built Daily Supply BDS HYDRATE Lemonade → $34.99 200mg 400mg 100mg $1.17
Built Daily Supply BDS HYDRATE Peach Mango → $34.99 200mg 400mg 100mg $1.17
LMNT Electrolyte Drink Mix Variety Pack $45.00 1000mg 200mg 60mg $1.50

Sorted by total price (lowest to highest). For heavy sweaters: 1000mg+ sodium per serving is ideal. For light activity, 300-500mg may suffice.

The Budget Option: Just Add Salt

Before we get into the fancy stuff, let's talk about what your body actually loses when you sweat. Mostly sodium, some potassium, a little magnesium. Sodium is the big one—especially if you're working hard in the heat.

A quarter teaspoon of regular table salt has about 590mg of sodium. A half teaspoon (which you can barely taste in a water bottle) gives you 1180mg. That's more sodium than most commercial electrolyte products, and it costs about 2 cents per serving.

Add a banana for potassium or a magnesium supplement if you want the full spectrum, and you're still coming in way under the cost of those fancy packets. Does it taste like candy? No. But if you're drinking it because you need hydration, not because you want a treat, salt water does the job.

What Actually Matters

Why Electrolytes Matter for Physical Labor

When you sweat, you're not just losing water. You're losing minerals—mostly sodium, but also potassium and magnesium. Lose enough of those, and you start feeling it: fatigue, headaches, muscle cramps, that foggy-brain feeling where you can't think straight.

Plain water replaces the fluid but not the minerals. That's why you can drink a gallon of water on a hot day and still feel terrible. Your body needs the electrolytes to actually use that water.

Sodium: The Heavy Lifter

If you're working construction in August, doing HVAC in attics, or any job where you're dripping sweat, sodium is what you need most. The American Heart Association says to limit sodium to 2300mg per day—but that advice is for sedentary people in air-conditioned offices. If you're losing sodium through sweat all day, that limit doesn't apply to you.

Look for products with at least 500-1000mg sodium per serving if you're a heavy sweater. Nuun (300mg) and Liquid I.V. (500mg) are on the lower end. LMNT (1000mg) and DripDrop (780mg) pack more punch. Built Daily Supply HYDRATE (200mg) is honestly underdosed for serious sweating—you'd need multiple servings.

Potassium and Magnesium: Supporting Cast

Potassium helps with muscle function and preventing cramps. Magnesium is involved in hundreds of processes including muscle relaxation. But here's the thing: your body has way more sodium to lose through sweat than potassium or magnesium.

Most electrolyte products include some potassium and magnesium, which is fine, but don't let that distract you from the sodium content. If you're cramping despite taking electrolytes, you might just need more sodium, not more of the other stuff.

Sugar vs. No Sugar

Some products (like Liquid I.V.) include sugar because it helps with absorption—that's actually based on science, not just flavor. But if you're watching your sugar intake or don't want the calories, sugar-free options work too. The difference in absorption is modest for most people.

The Built Daily Supply HYDRATE Difference

LMNT charges premium prices for salt, potassium, and magnesium. Liquid IV adds sugar and calls it "Cellular Transport Technology." BDS took a different approach.

What makes HYDRATE worth considering:

At $34.99 for 30 servings (~$1.17/serving), it's cheaper than LMNT and Liquid IV while offering a more complete formula. For working men who need to stay hydrated without the sugar crash, it's a solid choice.

The Bottom Line

Best value for real electrolytes: Nuun at 75 cents per serving. It's not the highest sodium option (300mg), but it's affordable and convenient if you're doing light-to-moderate activity.

For heavy sweating: LMNT at $1.50/serving delivers 1000mg sodium, which is what you actually need when you're working hard in the heat. DripDrop at $1.25/serving is a solid runner-up with 780mg sodium.

Built Daily Supply HYDRATE at $1.17/serving is competitively priced, but the sodium content (200mg) is low for serious work. If you like the taste and want a light electrolyte boost, it's fine. But if you're actually sweating heavily, you'd need several servings to match what LMNT gives you in one.

The real budget move: plain salt in your water bottle. It costs pennies per week, tastes fine once you get used to it, and delivers more sodium than most commercial products. Add a potassium-rich food (banana, orange juice) and maybe a magnesium supplement, and you've got everything you need for a fraction of the cost.

But if convenience matters more than saving a few bucks, the commercial products do work. Just check the sodium content and make sure you're getting enough for how much you're actually sweating.