Liquid IV is a popular electrolyte brand that sells a wide range of different products and flavors. Consumers are often curious about which flavor tastes the best, and which flavor is the healthiest.

But are some Liquid IV products healthier than others based on the ingredients contained? Which flavor tastes the best? And where can you buy the best flavor for the best price?

In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze the ingredients in different flavors of Liquid IV to give our take on the healthiest flavor, and feature unsponsored user reviews that taste test every flavor to determine the best-tasting flavor.

We’ll provide a cost comparison to show which retailer sells the best flavor for the best price.

Key takeaways:

• Sugar-free versions are healthier in our opinion
• Sugar-free Lemon Lime was our favorite flavor after testing
• We do not currently recommend Liquid IV overall

Which Flavor is the Healthiest?

All Liquid IV flavors have a number of inactive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.

As we discussed at length in our does Liquid IV work article, ingredients like citric acid, added sugar and flavoring additives are clinically shown to have questionable health effects.

We consider the sugar-free versions of Liquid IV to be healthier than the regular version. The ingredients in the White Peach flavor of Liquid IV Sugar-Free are shown below:

Allulose is used as a non-caloric sweetener instead of pure cane sugar. Most of the inactive ingredients are the same between the two formulations, so this is the most important difference.

Allulose is a plant-based sweetener that was shown in a medical review published in the Pharmacology & Therapeutics journal to have favorable effects on obesity and blood sugar, while refined sugar has negative effects on both.

This formulation also has 30 less calories per serving than the sugar-sweetened version, which isn’t a significant amount in one sitting but can be significant over the course of long periods of use.

While we don't recommend any Liquid IV products from a health perspective, we recommend any flavor of Liquid IV Sugar-Free over Liquid IV to consumers intent on purchasing from this brand.

But which flavor gets the best reviews in terms of taste from real users? We’ll feature unsponsored user taste tests in the next section.

We Tried The Best Liquid IV Flavor Ourselves

As the author of this article, I wanted to try Liquid IV Sugar-Free myself to share my thoughts on its taste and effects.

I play basketball every week for around 90 minutes without any real breaks, and usually just pack water, but today I packed a Liquid IV Sugar-Free packet and mixed in into my (second) water.

There's a surprising amount of powder in the packet, and I didn't leave enough room in my water bottle for it so I had to pour out some water. Minor inconvenience but just felt that it was worth noting how notably large the packet is.

I didn't really enjoy the taste. It did have a faint, artificial "lemon lime" taste, but in my opinion tastes worse than regular Liquid IV.

I'd rate the taste 4/10. It wasn't extremely off-putting or anything but just tasted unnatural to me and was not refreshing.

I did not experience any subjective performance benefits from using Liquid IV Sugar-Free. I didn't notice any improvements in fatigue or explosiveness.

Overall, I would rate this product a 2/10 and would not recommend it to people I know.

Where to Get the Best Price

Here's a per-serving cost comparison for Liquid IV Sugar-Free at the time of publishing this article:

Rite Aid: $2.50 (link)

Walgreens: $2.17 (link)

Brand website: $1.44 (free shipping, link)

Amazon: $1.44 (free shipping, link)

Liquid IV Sugar-Free is currently around 50% cheaper on the brand's website and Amazon than at Rite Aid.

Influencers Try Liquid IV Flavors

A YouTube channel called “Vitality Vixens” has a video taste-testing every Liquid IV flavor:

A YouTube creator named “The Plant Based Teacher” used Liquid IV for 30 days straight and reported on the effects:

Conclusion

We don’t recommend any Liquid IV products from a health perspective.

For consumers intent on purchasing from the brand, we consider the sugar-free options to be the healthiest options due to the lack of processed sugar.

All of the flavors of sugar-free are equivalent from a health perspective in our opinion, because they all contain similar ingredients; just the “natural flavor” component is different.

Consumer reviews on the best-tasting Liquid IV product vary, but most seem to suggest that the products containing sugar taste better (unsurprisingly).

We hope that in the future, Liquid IV releases an electrolyte product that’s free of sugar and naturally flavored with ingredients like fruit juice powder or stevia.