--- title: "Is a Soda Maker Worth It? Cost per Litre | Blue Fizz Club" description: "Is a sparkling water maker worth it? Compare its cost per litre with bottled sparkling water, see when it pays for itself and the plastic bottles it saves." url: https://bluefizzclub.me/sparkling-water-maker-cost/ --- Cost per litre, break-even and bottles saved # Is a soda maker worth it? Sparkling water cost per litre With the example prices below, home-made sparkling water costs about **$0.28 a litre in gas against $1.25 a litre bottled**, so a $100 machine pays for itself after about 15 weeks at 7 litres a week. The gas cost rests on a maker's claim, SodaStream's "up to 60 liters" per cylinder, and fizzier water uses more, so put in your own prices and your own count. ## How the cost per litre is worked out A soda maker turns tap water into sparkling water with CO2 from a refillable cylinder, so the running cost is mostly gas, plus any flavour you add. The calculator splits it into three prices per litre: - **Gas:** the refill price divided by the litres one cylinder makes. $16.99 ÷ 60 litres is about $0.28 a litre. - **Flavour:** the price of a bottle of syrup or drops divided by the litres it flavours in your own use. - **Bottled:** the shelf price divided by the bottle size, so a $1.25 one-litre bottle is $1.25 a litre and a $0.99 half-litre is $1.98. The weekly saving is the difference times the litres you drink. The machine pays for itself when the savings add up to its price: break-even weeks = machine price ÷ (bottled cost − home cost) per week The card turns that into a date counted from today, and shows the spend of both habits over time. ## The litres per cylinder is a claim, not a constant SodaStream's US site says its 60 L cylinders "will on average make up to 60 liters of sparkling water", and adds that there is no one-size-fits-all answer because it depends on the level of carbonation you use. On 5 November 2026 the same site listed a cylinder exchange at $16.99, marked as a special price, and a spare cylinder bought outright at $31.99. Prices change, and other makers and countries differ, so the calculator takes whatever you enter. Physics explains why the count varies. Water carbonated to 3.5 volumes holds about 6.9 g of CO2 per litre, and the gas left in the bottle's headspace is let out when you release it. The fizzier you like it, the more you use per litre. The best number is your own: write the date on a new cylinder and count the bottles until it runs dry. The maker's figure, drawn: your own count is the one that matters. ## Plastic bottles not bought The bottle count is the litres you would otherwise buy divided by the bottle size. At 7 litres a week in one-litre bottles that is about 365 bottles a year; in half-litre bottles, about 730. The machine's own bottles and the cylinders are reused, which is the point of the comparison. ## Worked examples - **A litre a day, plain:** 7 litres a week at $0.28 against $1.25 saves about $6.77 a week, so a $100 machine pays for itself after 14.8 weeks. In a year that is about 6 cylinders and 365 bottles not bought. - **With flavour:** add a $6 bottle of flavouring that does 9 litres in your glass, and home-made costs $0.95 a litre. The saving falls to $2.10 a week and break-even moves to about 48 weeks. - **Cheap store-brand bottles:** at $0.50 a litre bottled, plain home-made saves $1.52 a week at 7 litres, and the $100 machine takes about 66 weeks to pay off. ## So is a soda maker worth it? On cost alone, it depends on three things: how much sparkling water you drink, what you pay for it now, and how much flavour you add. Heavy drinkers of branded sparkling water break even within months; light drinkers of cheap own-brand bottles may take more than a year, or never, especially with flavouring. Cost is not everything, either: there are no crates of bottles to carry home and fewer to recycle. If you add syrups, the [soda syrup calculator](https://bluefizzclub.me/homemade-soda-syrup-calculator/) shows the sugar in each glass, and the [carbonation calculator](https://bluefizzclub.me/) explains why colder water takes the fizz better. ## Common mistakes - **Comparing with the single-bottle price** when you usually buy multipacks; use the price you actually pay per bottle. - **Taking the claimed litres as a promise.** It says "up to"; fizzier water means fewer litres. - **Using the spare-cylinder price for refills.** Buying an extra cylinder outright costs more than exchanging an empty one. - **Forgetting flavour.** Drops and syrups can cost more per litre than the gas. ### Want the first-order discount without the newsletters? Sparkling water machine and syrup brands often offer a discount code for an email address. A temporary inbox from [CleanTempMail](https://cleantempmail.com/) needs no sign-up and empties itself after three days, so it can receive the code without the marketing emails that follow. Place the order itself with your real email address: you need the receipt, delivery updates, any cylinder exchange and the warranty. ## Questions **Is a soda maker worth it?** On cost, it is if you drink a lot of sparkling water and pay a fair price for it now: at 7 litres a week, $1.25 a litre bottled and $0.28 a litre for gas, a $100 machine pays for itself in about 15 weeks. With cheap bottled water or plenty of paid-for flavouring, it can take a year or more. **How much does sparkling water from a soda maker cost per litre?** The gas costs the refill price divided by the litres a cylinder makes. With a $16.99 exchange and the maker's claim of up to 60 litres, that is about $0.28 a litre, plus any flavouring. Fizzier water uses more gas, so your figure may be higher. **How many litres does a CO2 cylinder make?** SodaStream says its 60 L cylinders make on average up to 60 litres, depending on how fizzy you make the water. Treat it as a ceiling and count your own: note the day you fit a cylinder and the bottles you make from it. **How many plastic bottles does a soda maker save?** Divide the litres you drink by the size of the bottles you would have bought. At 7 litres a week that is about 365 one-litre bottles a year, or about 730 half-litre bottles. **What does a cylinder exchange price cover?** SodaStream describes its exchange as swapping your empty cylinder for a full one and paying only for the CO2 refill. A spare cylinder bought outright costs more, so use the exchange price for the running cost. ## Sources - "Our 60L cylinders will on average make up to 60 liters of sparkling water", depending on the level of carbonation; cylinder exchange $16.99 (marked as a special price) and spare cylinder $31.99: [SodaStream US, spare CO2 cylinder](https://sodastream.com/products/spare-carbonator) and [CO2 cylinders](https://sodastream.com/pages/co2-gas-cylinders), the maker's own claims and prices (checked 5 November 2026). - About 1.96 g of CO2 per litre for each volume of carbonation: [UF/IFAS Extension, A Guide to Carbonating Beverages at Small Scale, FSHN20-34](https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/FS379) (revised January 2024). Prices and claims are the makers' own and change over time; the calculator does not recommend a brand.