SodaStream vs bottled brands: which is better value?

Here's what you pay per litre for SodaStream sparkling water or home-fizzed sodas.

SodaStream has some staunch supporters. And although the environmental argument for the kitchen gadget versus buying single-use bottles is somewhat compelling, the economic one is less so.

Sparkling water versus SodaStream - minus the machine

If you already own a machine or recently received one under the Christmas tree, you’re mostly in luck - it’s clearly cheaper to buy the CO2 cartridges than it is single bottles of soda or sparkling water. With a few catches.

A single one-litre bottle of mid-range sparkling water like Valpre costs about R14. But if you buy in bulk and opt for a store-brand bottle of sparkling water, you can easily find sparkling water for less than R9 a litre.

With SodaStream sparkling water, aside from the marginal cost of municipal drinking water, the main expense will be the gas. SodaStream CO2 is only available in cartridges that cost R180 to refill.

The company says one cartridge makes 60 litres of water. But we suspect you’ll likely get quite a bit less out of a single bottle of gas, particularly if you like things a little fizzier. So we gave them the benefit of the doubt - but also included a dose of our own cynicism and included a calculation of 40 litres per cartridge.

If you use your SodaStream for sparkling water and don’t factor in the cost of the machine, you’ll score versus buying bottled sparkling fizzy water - even if you have a heavy hand on the CO2.

At best, you’ll pay about R3 for a litre of SodaSream sparkling water. This means a litre of sparkling water bought from the store will cost you around double what SodaStream sparkling water costs.

If you use your machine for homemade soda knock-offs, as the company originally intended, the matter is very different - especially if you don’t achieve the 60 litres per gas cartridge or if you buy your soda in bulk.

SodaStream Pepsi costs about R9 a litre. If you go fizzy on your SodaStream Pepsi, you can easily pay more per litre than if you bought it in-store. And if you buy your Pepsi in 2l bottles, you’ll basically be paying the same or less regardless.

Including the cost of the machine

Still, the graphs above only tell half the picture - because to get to the above figures, you’ll likely have spent about R1,600 on the machine.

A long story not made particularly short

Based on our sums, you’ll need to drink around 237 litres of SodaStream water before you start to recoup your costs. If you make fizzier water, you’ll need to drink about 315 litres before you achieve the same result.

If you drink two litres of sparkling water per week, it’ll take over two years to recoup your costs of the machine if you’re getting 60 litres per cartridge - which, ironically, is the length of the machine’s warranty. And at about the same time, you’ll need to buy new plastic bottles that curiously expire, for about R90.

If your household drinks more than two litres of sparkling water a week, and you go easy on the CO2, then it might be worth the investment, provided the machine doesn’t break.

According to our calculations, if it’s cheap soda you’re after, you’re likely better off going for bulk Pepsi or, even better, the private-label cola equivalents.

All of which is to say, if you’ve not been convinced about the virtues of forking up for another closed ecosystem kitchen gadget to sit alongside your Nespresso machine, at least now you have some fodder for your argument.