Leaderboard
Best Gels by Carbs
The highest-carb gels we track, ranked by carbohydrate per sachet. Fewer wrappers per hour is the whole reason this list exists.
Carb intake scales with how long you will be out there, not with how hard you push. The published bands run from roughly 30 g/h for a fast half-marathon to 60 g/h for a marathon and 60-90 g/h beyond two and a half hours. The step past 60 g/h is a fuel-form change as much as a quantity change: glucose alone saturates the SGLT1 intestinal transporter at around 60 g/h, and only a glucose-fructose product recruits a second transporter and lifts the ceiling toward 90 g/h.
That is where gel dose starts to matter logistically. A 40 g gel gets you to 80 g/h on two sachets; a 22 g gel needs four, which is four wrappers to open, carry and bin while running. Read the carb type next to the number, though: a big single-source gel still hits the same 60 g/h wall, it just hits it in fewer packets.
The full argument, with references: Carbs per hour, by duration and intensity
The top 10
Read the carbs column against your hourly target first, then sodium and price per sachet before you commit to a race-day box.
300 gCarbs
0 mgCaffeine
0 mgSodium
-Price
90 gCarbs
0 mgCaffeine
0 mgSodium
€6.67Price
61 gCarbs
0 mgCaffeine
106.2 mgSodium
€2.59Price
60 gCarbs
50 mgCaffeine
300 mgSodium
€2.70Price
60 gCarbs
0 mgCaffeine
-Sodium
€4.45Price
60 gCarbs
0 mgCaffeine
200 mgSodium
€4.45Price
60 gCarbs
0 mgCaffeine
200 mgSodium
€4.45Price
60 gCarbs
0 mgCaffeine
200 mgSodium
€4.45Price
55.54 gCarbs
0 mgCaffeine
248 mgSodium
€2.90Price
55.54 gCarbs
101 mgCaffeine
248 mgSodium
€2.90Price
The full ranking
All 366 gels we track, ranked on the same number. Positions 11 onward are listed below, 25 at a time.
Want to filter instead of scroll? Browse all gels by carbs, sodium, caffeine and price.