Best salt tablets and sodium capsules for running 2026

Salt tablets — or sodium capsules, which are the same thing under another name — don’t give you energy, which is why they’re the first thing forgotten when packing a vest. The problem shows up two or three hours in, in the heat: the cramp that stops you dead, the dizziness, the feeling that your legs are willing but your head isn’t. It’s almost always sodium, not a lack of training or gels. This comparison covers the 7 salt tablets and sodium capsules that work best for running and trail, how many you actually need per hour, and how to choose between a capsule, a chew or a tablet you drop in your water.

Summary comparison table

Product	Format	Sodium / dose	Other electrolytes	How you take it	Buy
226ERS Sub9 Salts	Capsule	250 mg	Potassium, magnesium, ginger	Swallowed with water	Amazon →
226ERS Salts Electrolytes	Capsule	141 mg	Potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride	Swallowed with water	Amazon →
Precision Hydration PH 1500	Effervescent tablet	~750 mg (in 500 ml)	Potassium, magnesium, calcium	Dissolved in your water	Amazon →
Crown Pro Salt Caps	Capsule	310 mg	Potassium, magnesium, chloride	Swallowed with water	Amazon →
Victory Endurance Salt Caps	Capsule	~225 mg (450 mg / 2)	Potassium, calcium, magnesium + 6 minerals, vit. D and B1	Swallowed with water	Amazon →
226ERS Sub9 Pro Salts	Capsule with caffeine	250 mg + 40 mg caffeine	Potassium, magnesium, ginger	Swallowed with water	Amazon →
Sugar-Free Keto Electrolytes	Tablet	Na/K/Mg/Ca blend	Potassium, magnesium, calcium	Chewed or swallowed	Amazon →

All available on Amazon with fast delivery. The links go to the live, up-to-date price.

How many salt tablets you need per hour

The general reference for efforts lasting more than one or two hours in the heat is between 500 and 1,000 mg of sodium per hour. It’s a deliberately wide range: what you lose depends on how much you sweat and how salty your sweat is, and both vary hugely from person to person.

• Low sweat rate or cool weather: 300-500 mg/h. Often the sodium already in your gels and sports drink is enough.
• Moderate sweat rate, 15-25 °C: 500-700 mg/h. One 215-250 mg capsule every 30-40 minutes covers the range.
• High sweat rate or heat above 28 °C: 700-1,000 mg/h or more. Here you need concentrated capsules plus the sodium in your drink, not one or the other.

One practical detail: a 141 mg capsule and a 250 mg one are not interchangeable. With the first you need three or four per hour to reach 500 mg; with the second, two. Pick the concentration based on how many tablets you want to be managing while you run.

How to work out how much you sweat: the scale test

You don’t need a lab test to get a useful estimate:

1. Weigh yourself naked right before a one-hour run at race pace, in the heat.
2. During that hour, note how much fluid you drink (in grams: 1 ml = 1 g).
3. Weigh yourself naked again at the end, having towelled off the sweat.
4. Sweat loss per hour = (weight before − weight after) + fluid drunk.

A runner who loses 1.2 kg in an hour and has drunk 500 ml is sweating 1.7 litres per hour. If you also notice a white salt ring on your cap or shirt, on your eyebrows, or your eyes sting, you’re a salty sweater and you go to the top of the range: 800-1,000 mg of sodium per litre of sweat. Repeat the test in two or three different conditions to get a pattern, not a single data point.

Capsule, chew or water tablet: which one suits you

Capsules (226ERS Sub9, 226ERS Salts). The most efficient format in milligrams of sodium per unit and per euro. Swallowed with water, they taste of nothing and don’t interfere with the flavour of your drink. The downside: you need a free hand, water within reach, and to remember to take them. It’s the default option for most people.

Chews. No water needed and absorbed quickly through the lining of the mouth, so they help when you can already feel the cramp and want an immediate response. They usually carry less sodium per unit (around 50 mg), so for high doses you end up chewing a lot of them. A good tool for technical sections with only one free hand, and as a supplement rather than a base.

Water tablets (Precision Hydration PH 1500). You put the sodium in your bottle and drink it without thinking. Perfect if your problem is that you forget to take capsules. The catch: if you drink little, you take in little sodium, and a concentration of 1,500 mg/L is intense on the palate for some stomachs. Ideal for very salty sweaters who also drink consistently.

What works best in long races is usually a combination: your drink with some background sodium and concentrated capsules to raise the dose during the hottest hours.

Individual review of the 7 best

1. 226ERS Sub9 Salts Electrolytes — Best Overall

226ERS Sub9 Salts carry 250 mg of sodium per capsule — second only to the Crown Pro Salt Caps — plus potassium, magnesium and ginger extract to ease the stomach trouble that appears in the late hours of an ultra. No calories or carbs, so they slot into any gel strategy without changing anything. Being a Spanish brand, it’s easy to find in sports shops and restock before a race without depending on a delivery.

Ideal for: most runners who want a single tablet that solves the problem in hot races, from a mountain half marathon to an ultra. The best balance of sodium, tolerance and price.

See 226ERS Sub9 Salts on Amazon →

2. 226ERS Salts Electrolytes — Best for Moderate Sweaters

226ERS Salts Electrolytes carry 141 mg of sodium per capsule, plus potassium, magnesium, calcium and chloride. It’s a contained dose, meant for when you don’t sweat heavily or to supplement gels and drinks that already provide plenty of sodium. No calories, gluten-free and vegan.

Ideal for: runners with a normal sweat rate, temperate-weather races, or anyone who prefers to adjust sodium gradually without risking overdoing it.

See 226ERS Salts Electrolytes on Amazon →

3. Precision Hydration PH 1500 — Best for Heavy Salty Sweaters

Precision Hydration PH 1500 tackles the problem from the water: each effervescent tablet dissolved in 500 ml leaves a concentration of 1,500 mg of sodium per litre, about three times that of a normal sports drink. No need to remember to swallow capsules: if you drink, you replace salts.

Ideal for: very salty sweaters (white salt ring, recurring cramps) who also have the habit of drinking consistently. If you drink little, this format falls short.

See Precision Hydration PH 1500 on Amazon →

4. 226ERS Sub9 Pro Salts Electrolytes — Best with Caffeine

226ERS Sub9 Pro Salts are the Sub9 with 40 mg of caffeine added to each capsule, keeping the 250 mg of sodium, the potassium, the magnesium and the ginger. The idea is to concentrate salts and a lift for the final stretch of an ultra, when you want both and would rather not open another caffeine gel.

Ideal for: the last two or three hours of a long race. They’re not for replacing salts throughout the whole event, since you’d build up too much caffeine.

See 226ERS Sub9 Pro Salts on Amazon →

5. Crown Sport Nutrition Pro Salt Caps — Most Sodium per Capsule

The Crown Pro Salt Caps are the highest-sodium capsule in the comparison: 310 mg per unit, against the 250 mg of the 226ERS Sub9. The practical maths: two capsules an hour cover 620 mg, enough for most heat scenarios without pulling out a tablet every 20 minutes. They also carry potassium, magnesium and chloride and — the detail that sets them apart — Informed-Sport certification: every batch is screened against the banned-substances list, so a licensed athlete subject to testing can take them without worry. The bottle holds 60, a sensible ratio for several races.

Ideal for: heavy sweaters who want to manage the fewest capsules per hour, and anyone subject to anti-doping testing. If you’re a light sweater, 310 mg in one go is too much.

See Crown Pro Salt Caps on Amazon →

6. Victory Endurance Salt Caps — Most Complete Mineral Profile

The Victory Endurance Salt Caps spread the sodium into a moderate dose (around 225 mg per capsule, roughly 450 mg per 2-capsule serving) and in exchange bring the widest micronutrient profile of the group: sodium and potassium as the base, plus chloride, calcium, iron, magnesium, iodine, copper, manganese and selenium, with an added dose of vitamins D and B1. In a race what actually matters is the sodium — the rest is a debatable bonus — but as a large 90-capsule bottle to train and race through the whole hot season it works out very cheap per dose. Being a contained dose, you adjust by taking more or fewer capsules depending on how much you sweat.

Ideal for: anyone who wants a single bottle for the whole season and prefers to dose in small steps. In strong heat you’ll need to take 2-3 an hour.

See Victory Endurance Salt Caps on Amazon →

7. Sugar-Free Keto Electrolytes — Cheapest Option

The Keto Electrolytes are sugar-free, vegan tablets with a blend of sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium (1,860 mg of electrolytes per serving). They’re not formulated for the salt demand of a hot ultra — there’s no headline sodium figure per tablet — but the 180-tablet bottle makes them by far the cheapest per dose, and for long training runs, very hot days or keeping electrolytes at home they do the job. Think of them as the everyday supplement, not the base of your salt strategy on race day.

Ideal for: a tight budget, daily use and long training runs. For racing in the heat, step up to a concentrated capsule.

See Sugar-Free Keto Electrolytes on Amazon →

Head to head: 226ERS Sub9 Salts vs Precision Hydration PH 1500

A capsule you swallow versus a tablet you dissolve in your water:

226ERS Sub9 wins on dose control. You take the sodium when you want, whether you drink or not. On a technical descent where you don’t touch the bottle, you keep replacing salts.

PH 1500 wins if you drink consistently. If you’re the type to sip every few minutes, you replace sodium without remembering anything: it’s dissolved in what you’re already drinking.

226ERS Sub9 wins on sodium per unit. 250 mg per capsule: two get you to 500 mg/h. PH 1500 leaves 1,500 mg per litre, so you depend on drinking that whole litre.

PH 1500 wins on neutral drink taste. Many runners tolerate lightly salted water better than swallowing capsules with an upset stomach in the late hours.

Comparative verdict: if you drink irregularly or want to keep hydration and salts separate, 226ERS Sub9 Salts. If you drink a lot and regularly and sweat very salty, Precision Hydration PH 1500.

5 common mistakes with salt tablets

1. Waiting for the cramp to start. By the time it shows up, you’re already behind. Start replacing sodium in the first hour if it’s hot, not when you feel the warning.

2. Treating all capsules as equal. A 141 mg one and a 250 mg one call for different schedules. Look at the milligrams, not the number of tablets.

3. Taking salt without drinking water. Sodium helps you retain and use fluid, but if you don’t drink, you concentrate your blood even further. Salt and water go together.

4. Copying another runner’s plan. Sweat rate and sweat salt concentration are highly individual. Do your scale test and adjust from there.

5. Trying a new product on race day. Test brand, format and dose on at least two or three long runs in the heat before using them in competition.

Frequently asked questions

How many salt tablets should you take per hour?

It depends on the sodium content of each tablet and how much you sweat. As a reference, between 500 and 1,000 mg of sodium per hour in the heat: that’s two 250 mg capsules or three to four 141 mg ones. Adjust based on your sweat test.

Do salt tablets stop cramps?

They help when the cramp comes from sodium loss, which is the most common cause in the heat and on long efforts. They do nothing if the cramp comes from muscle fatigue or from running above your current fitness.

Is a salt tablet the same as a sodium capsule?

Yes. “Salt tablets”, “sodium capsules”, “salt caps” and “mineral salts” are all marketing names for the same product: a dose of sodium as the main electrolyte, almost always with potassium, magnesium and calcium. What changes between brands is the amount of each mineral and the format (capsule, chew or water tablet).

What’s the difference between salt tablets and mineral salts?

They’re the same thing under different marketing names. All of them provide sodium as the main electrolyte, almost always alongside potassium, magnesium and calcium. What changes between brands is the amount of each and the format.

Can I take salt tablets when it’s not hot?

In cool temperatures with a low sweat rate you usually don’t need to: the sodium in your gels and sports drink tends to be enough. Save the concentrated capsules for the heat, efforts of more than three hours, or if you’re a very salty sweater.

Capsule or effervescent water tablet?

Capsule if you want to control the exact dose and keep your drink’s flavour unchanged. Water tablet if your problem is forgetting to take capsules and you drink regularly.

Can you take too much salt during a race?

Yes. Overdoing sodium causes nausea, bloating and excessive thirst. That’s why you should calculate the dose from your real sweat rate rather than adding tablets “just in case”.

Final verdict: our pick

• If you want a single tablet that works in most situations: 226ERS Sub9 Salts Electrolytes
• If your sweat rate is moderate or you race in temperate weather: 226ERS Salts Electrolytes
• If you’re a very salty sweater and drink consistently: Precision Hydration PH 1500
• If you want salts and caffeine together for the final stretch: 226ERS Sub9 Pro Salts
• If you sweat heavily and want the highest dose per capsule (or you get drug-tested): Crown Pro Salt Caps
• If you want a single large bottle for the whole season: Victory Endurance Salt Caps
• If you want the cheapest option for training and daily use: Sugar-Free Keto Electrolytes

Sodium isn’t something you improvise: you calculate it. Do your scale test, pick the concentration that leaves you managing few tablets, and start replacing salt before the first cramp arrives, not after. Sodium is only one part of race nutrition — pair it with the energy strategy in our ultra trail gels and nutrition guide.