The healthiest vodka, ranked.
Vodka is chemically the cleanest mainstream spirit. Multiple distillations and aggressive filtration strip nearly everything except ethanol and water. Brands differ mostly on grain base, filtration method, and whether the line has been extended with flavored variants, which are not vodka by chemistry, just sugary cocktails in a bottle.
What is the healthiest vodka?
Every unflavoured vodka at 40% is chemically the same drink, so the honest ranking is a tie and the real decision is the base material. If you are gluten-sensitive, pick one that is grain-free at source: Tito's or Smirnoff No. 21 (corn), Luksusowa or Chopin (potato), or Cîroc (grape). If you are not, buy whichever you like the taste of, because a wheat vodka like Grey Goose scores identically to Svedka at a quarter of the price. What actually matters is that it is unflavoured. The flavoured lines are sugared and are a different drink entirely.
- Congeners
- Very Low
- Histamines
- Very Low
- Polyphenols
- Very Low
- Sulfites
- Very Low
- Tannins
- Very Low
- Sugar
- Very Low
- Additives
- Low
Every vodka we track
All 14 score 2/10 and carry the same chemistry, so there is no honest order to put them in. They are listed alphabetically. Filter by what actually differs instead, and tap any brand for the full breakdown.
Showing all 14 vodka brands.
What makes one vodka healthier than another
- ▸Six or more distillation passes remove congeners
- ▸Charcoal or wheat-paper filtration scrubs residuals
- ▸Corn or potato base = gluten-free; rye or wheat = trace gluten possible
- ▸Zero added sugar in unflavored vodka
- ▸Avoid the flavored line entirely. Those are dessert spirits
- ▸Price buys water source and packaging, not fewer congeners
- ▸Grain-free at source (corn, potato, grape) if you react despite distillation
- ▸Distillation count is a marketing number past about four passes
Every vodka scored on all of it
The criteria above are only useful if you can check them, so each one that varies between brands has its own column here. Lower is lighter in every column.
Swipe the table to see all 16 columns
| Brand | ABV | Cal/1.5oz | Base | Dist | Filtration | Grain-free | Hang | Load | Cong | Hist | Poly | Sulf | Tann | Sug | Add |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Absolut | 40% | 98 | Winter wheat | – | Carbon | Grain | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Belvedere | 40% | 98 | Dankowskie rye | 4 | Natural | Grain | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Chopin Potato | 40% | 98 | Potato | 4 | Light | Yes | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Cîroc | 40% | 98 | Grapes | 5 | Charcoal | Yes | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Deep Eddy Original | 40% | 98 | Corn | 10 | 10-step charcoal | Yes | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Grey Goose | 40% | 98 | Winter wheat | 5 | Cold filtration | Grain | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Ketel One | 40% | 98 | Wheat | – | Charcoal | Grain | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Luksusowa | 40% | 98 | Potato | 3 | Charcoal | Yes | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Reyka | 40% | 98 | Wheat and barley | – | Lava rock | Grain | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Russian Standard | 40% | 98 | Winter wheat | – | Charcoal | Grain | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Skyy | 40% | 98 | Wheat | 4 | Triple charcoal | Grain | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Smirnoff No. 21 | 40% | 98 | Corn | 3 | 10x charcoal filtration | Yes | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Svedka | 40% | 98 | Winter wheat | 5 | Charcoal | Grain | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Tito's Handmade Vodka | 40% | 98 | Yellow corn | 6 | Activated charcoal | Yes | 2 /10 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Factors are scored 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). Load is the mean of all seven. Hang is the overall hangover index, which weights congeners and ethanol dose more heavily than a flat mean does, which is why the two columns do not always agree.
Calories are calculated, not copied: 7 kcal per gram of ethanol and 4 per gram of carbohydrate, with ethanol mass taken from the bottling ABV across a 1.5oz pour at a density of 0.789 g/mL. Mixers are not included; a tonic adds roughly 80 calories of sugar, soda water adds none. No vodka listed here contains added sugar, so proof alone sets the calorie count.
Hover any column heading for what it measures.
Cong Congeners · Hist Histamines · Poly Polyphenols · Sulf Sulfites · Tann Tannins · Sug Sugar · Add Additives
FAQ
Which vodka is the healthiest? ▾
Corn-based, carbon-filtered, unflavored vodkas score lowest. Tito's and Smirnoff No. 21 are both corn-based, gluten-free, and additive-free. Premium wheat vodkas like Grey Goose and Belvedere are equally clean by chemistry but contain trace gluten compounds.
Is vodka gluten-free? ▾
Distillation removes gluten proteins regardless of the source grain, so all properly distilled vodka is technically gluten-free. However, a small subset of severely gluten-sensitive drinkers still react. If that's you, stick to corn-based (Tito's, Smirnoff) or potato-based vodkas.
Does vodka cause hangovers? ▾
Vodka causes the mildest hangover of any common spirit at equal ethanol doses. Multiple controlled studies place vodka at the lowest end of congener-related hangover severity. Hangovers from vodka are almost always volume-driven, not chemistry-driven.
Is vodka better than tequila? ▾
Vodka edges out tequila on chemistry purity. Even 100% agave tequila contains trace congeners and is allowed up to 1% additives. Plain vodka with soda water is the lowest-impact drink you can order at most bars.
Which vodka is made without grain? ▾
Four on this page are grain-free at source. Luksusowa and Chopin are distilled from potato, Cîroc from Mauzac Blanc and Ugni Blanc grapes, and Tito's, Smirnoff No. 21 and Deep Eddy Original from corn, which is a grain but not a gluten grain. Everything else here is wheat, rye or barley. Distillation removes gluten peptides from all of them, so this is a question about the small minority who react anyway rather than about coeliac safety in the legal sense.
Is potato vodka better than grain vodka? ▾
Not on chemistry. Potato and grain vodkas both sit at the very bottom of the congener scale and score identically here. Potato vodka matters for one reason: there is no grain in it at all, so it sidesteps the gluten question entirely rather than relying on distillation to have removed the problem. Chopin is also deliberately under-filtered, which gives it more texture. That is a flavour difference, not a health one.
How many calories are in vodka? ▾
About 98 calories in a 1.5oz pour at 40% ABV, and every one of them is ethanol. Unflavoured vodka contains no sugar, no carbohydrate and no fat, so at the same proof every bottle on this page is within a calorie of every other. Mixers are where the calories actually come from: tonic or cranberry adds 80 or more, soda water with lime adds none. The flavoured vodkas are a separate case and do carry sugar.
Does expensive vodka give you less of a hangover? ▾
No, and vodka is the category where that is easiest to demonstrate. Grey Goose, Belvedere, Svedka and Absolut all score a 2 on this site's hangover index because they are all heavily rectified neutral spirits with no additives and no sugar. Price in vodka buys water source, packaging and marketing. It does not buy a lower congener load, because the congener load is already at the floor.
Does the number of distillations matter? ▾
Much less than the label implies, and there is no regulated definition of a "pass" so the numbers are not comparable between brands. Deep Eddy claims ten, Luksusowa three, and Absolut runs a continuous still where no count is meaningful at all. All three land at the same very-low congener score. Beyond roughly four passes you are removing progressively less of progressively less.
Is flavoured vodka bad for you? ▾
It is a different product from the one this page ranks. Unflavoured vodka is ethanol and water with nothing added. The flavoured lines carry added sugar, citric acid and often colouring, which puts them closer to a pre-mixed cocktail than to a spirit. Every chemistry figure on this page describes the original bottling only. If the label names a fruit, none of it applies.
Compare across categories
How vodka stacks up against other categories.