Soda Caffeine Calculator & Complete Chart
Pick a brand and a size to get its caffeine figure, sourced from the manufacturer where they publish it and from an HPLC lab study where they don't. Soda is one of the more consistent caffeine categories out there — but a few numbers on this page will still surprise you.
How much caffeine is in soda? A 12 oz can of Coca-Cola has 34 mg, Pepsi 39 mg, Dr Pepper 43 mg and Mountain Dew 55 mg — the most caffeinated mainstream soda. Sprite, 7-Up and most root beer and ginger ale are caffeine-free. And in one of the more consistently surprising facts in the whole caffeine world: Diet Coke has more caffeine than regular Coke — 46 mg against 34 mg, confirmed directly by Coca-Cola.
Diet Coke isn't just sugar-free Coke
It's a genuinely different recipe, not a caffeine-matched swap. Coca-Cola's own FAQ states it plainly: Coke is 34 mg per 12 oz can, Diet Coke is 46 mg. That's a 35% jump for the "lighter" option. Coke Zero Sugar, a separate and newer product, matches original Coke at 34 mg — so the three colas that look like variations on one theme actually split into two different caffeine tiers.
Calculate your soda
Official + lab-tested datacaffeine in a 12 oz can of Coca-Cola
Nothing added yet. Stack up a full day to see your running total.
Figures for Coca-Cola brands come from Coca-Cola's own published product information. Most other national and store brands do not publish caffeine content, so those figures come from a peer-reviewed HPLC laboratory analysis of 131 carbonated beverages (Chou & Bell, 2007). Formulas can change and vary by region — check the can if precision matters.
Every major soda, ranked
The U.S. FDA caps added caffeine in cola-type sodas at 0.02% by weight — about 71 mg per 12 oz. Almost nothing on the shelf gets close to it, but a couple of products come surprisingly near the legal ceiling.
Where the legal cap actually comes from
The 71 mg figure isn't a health guideline — it's the maximum the FDA permits a cola-type soft drink to add as an ingredient, set decades ago and unrelated to modern caffeine-safety research. Vault Zero, at 74 mg per 12 oz in the 2007 lab study, sat above even that — a reminder that the cap applies to cola-style sodas specifically, and some citrus and energy-adjacent sodas fall outside that category entirely.
Complete soda caffeine chart
Coca-Cola brands — official figures
| Drink | Caffeine, 12 oz |
|---|---|
| Diet Coke | 46 mg |
| Coca-Cola (Original) | 34 mg |
| Coca-Cola Zero Sugar | 34 mg |
| Coca-Cola Caffeine-Free / Diet Caffeine-Free / Zero Sugar Caffeine-Free | 0 mg |
Coca-Cola publishes these figures directly and confirms caffeine is added deliberately for taste, not incidentally from an ingredient — which is also why a fully caffeine-free version exists for every major variant.
Other national brands — peer-reviewed lab data
| Drink | Caffeine, 12 oz |
|---|---|
| Mountain Dew | 55 mg |
| Diet Mountain Dew | 55 mg |
| Diet Dr Pepper | 44 mg |
| Dr Pepper | 43 mg |
| Pepsi | 39 mg |
| Diet Pepsi | 37 mg |
PepsiCo and Dr Pepper do not publish exact caffeine figures as consistently as Coca-Cola. These numbers come from Chou & Bell (2007), a peer-reviewed HPLC laboratory analysis published in the Journal of Food Science — the most rigorous independent test of soda caffeine content available, though formulas may have shifted slightly since testing.
Store brands — often lower than national brands
| Drink | Caffeine, 12 oz |
|---|---|
| Mountain Lightning (Walmart) | 47 mg |
| Sam's Diet Cola (Walmart) | 13 mg |
| Sam's Cola (Walmart) | 13 mg |
| Dr Thunder (Walmart) | 31 mg |
| Diet Dr Thunder (Walmart) | 30 mg |
| IGA Cola | 5 mg |
The same 2007 study tested 75 private-label sodas and found most run noticeably lower than their national-brand equivalents — Sam's Cola at 13 mg against Coke's 34 mg is a clear example, even though the two taste similar and cost far less.
Fruit, cream and pepper-style sodas
| Drink | Caffeine, 12 oz |
|---|---|
| Vault Zero (discontinued) | 74 mg |
| Barq's Root Beer | 22 mg |
| Sunkist Orange | 19 mg |
| Mello Yello | 54 mg |
| Most other root beer (A&W, Mug, IBC) | 0 mg |
| Most ginger ale (Canada Dry, Schweppes) | 0 mg |
| Fresca | 0 mg |
| Fanta (all flavours) | 0 mg |
Barq's and Sunkist are the two classic "gotcha" sodas — both taste like categories that are almost always caffeine-free (root beer, orange soda) but quietly aren't. If you're avoiding caffeine and defaulting to "anything that isn't cola," these two are the exceptions worth remembering.
Caffeine-free sodas
| Drink | Caffeine |
|---|---|
| Sprite, 7-Up, Sierra Mist | 0 mg |
| Most root beer (A&W, Mug, IBC, Dad's) | 0 mg |
| Most ginger ale (Canada Dry, Schweppes, Vernors) | 0 mg |
| Fanta, Crush, Sunkist (non-orange flavours) | 0 mg |
| Fresca | 0 mg |
| Coca-Cola Caffeine-Free (all variants) | 0 mg |
Lemon-lime sodas are the most reliably caffeine-free category on the shelf. If you want the fizz and the sweetness with zero stimulant, this is the safest family to reach for — with Sunkist orange as the one fruit-soda exception to watch.
Caffeinated "craft" and functional sodas
| Drink | Caffeine, 12 oz |
|---|---|
| Olipop Vintage Cola / Cherry Cola / Doctor Goodwin | 50 mg |
| Olipop Ridge Rush | 60 mg |
Newer "gut health" sodas like Olipop use green-tea-extracted caffeine rather than the synthetic caffeine in mainstream cola, but the caffeine still counts the same toward your daily total. Only a handful of Olipop's roughly 19 flavours are caffeinated — check the specific flavour, not just the brand.
Five things that surprise people about soda caffeine
- Diet Coke has more caffeine than regular Coke — 46 mg against 34 mg, confirmed directly by Coca-Cola. It's a different recipe, not a caffeine-matched diet swap.
- Mountain Dew's diet version matches the original almost exactly — 55 mg either way, unlike the Coke split.
- Store-brand colas often carry far less caffeine than the national brand they're copying — Sam's Cola at 13 mg is barely a third of Coke's 34 mg.
- Root beer and orange soda are usually caffeine-free, except when they're not. Barq's (22 mg) and Sunkist Orange (19 mg) are the two well-known exceptions to categories people assume are always safe.
- The most caffeinated soda ever widely sold, Vault Zero at 74 mg, actually exceeded the FDA's own cola caffeine cap — because that cap technically applies to cola-style sodas, and Vault was marketed as a citrus energy soda instead.
Soda vs coffee vs energy drinks
| Drink | Caffeine |
|---|---|
| Monster Energy, 16 oz | 160 mg |
| Red Bull, 8.4 oz | 80 mg |
| Drip coffee, 12 oz | ~145 mg |
| Black tea, 8 oz | ~47 mg |
| Diet Coke, 12 oz | 46 mg |
| Dr Pepper, 12 oz | 43 mg |
| Pepsi, 12 oz | 39 mg |
| Coca-Cola, 12 oz | 34 mg |
| Green tea, 8 oz | ~28 mg |
| Sprite, 7-Up, root beer | 0 mg |
Even the strongest mainstream soda, Mountain Dew at 55 mg, carries roughly a third of what a can of Red Bull delivers and well under half of an average cup of drip coffee. Soda's reputation as a caffeine source is really about volume and habit — people drink more of it, more often, more casually — not concentration. Ounce for ounce, it's one of the mildest caffeinated drinks on the shelf.
How many sodas a day is safe?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cites 400 mg a day as an amount not generally associated with negative effects in healthy adults.
| Soda (12 oz) | Cans to reach 400 mg |
|---|---|
| Coca-Cola (34 mg) | About 12 |
| Pepsi (39 mg) | About 10 |
| Diet Coke (46 mg) | About 9 |
| Dr Pepper (43 mg) | About 9 |
| Mountain Dew (55 mg) | About 7 |
Soda is genuinely hard to overdo on caffeine alone — you'd need seven to twelve cans in a day, well past the point where sugar, not caffeine, becomes the more pressing concern. The more common way soda pushes someone over 400 mg is by stacking on top of coffee or energy drinks rather than on its own. Lower ceilings are commonly cited for some groups: around 200 mg a day in pregnancy, and roughly 100 mg for adolescents, which two or three sodas can approach. Sensitivity varies a great deal between individuals, and genetics, medication, tolerance and pregnancy all shift where your own limit sits. Talk to a doctor or pharmacist if you're pregnant, have a heart condition or anxiety disorder, or take medication that interacts with stimulants.
Soda caffeine: frequently asked questions
How much caffeine is in a can of Coke?
34 mg in a 12 oz can, per Coca-Cola's own published figures. Diet Coke carries more at 46 mg, while Coca-Cola Zero Sugar matches the original at 34 mg.
Why does Diet Coke have more caffeine than regular Coke?
Diet Coke is a genuinely different recipe from original Coke, not a caffeine-matched sugar-free swap. Coca-Cola confirms the figures directly: 34 mg for original, 46 mg for Diet Coke.
What soda has the most caffeine?
Among current mainstream sodas, Mountain Dew and Diet Mountain Dew lead at about 55 mg per 12 oz. Vault Zero, a discontinued PepsiCo product, tested at 74 mg in an independent lab study — higher than the FDA's cap for cola-style sodas, since Vault was marketed outside that category.
Does Sprite have caffeine?
No. Sprite, 7-Up and most other lemon-lime sodas are caffeine-free.
Does root beer have caffeine?
Usually not. Most root beer brands, including A&W, Mug and IBC, are caffeine-free. Barq's Root Beer is the well-known exception, at about 22 mg per 12 oz.
Does orange soda have caffeine?
Generally no, but Sunkist Orange is an exception at about 19 mg per 12 oz, unlike most other orange sodas such as Fanta or Crush, which are caffeine-free.
How much caffeine is in Mountain Dew?
About 55 mg per 12 oz can, making it the most caffeinated mainstream soda in the US. Diet Mountain Dew carries almost exactly the same amount.
How much caffeine is in Dr Pepper?
About 43 mg per 12 oz for regular Dr Pepper, and 44 mg for Diet Dr Pepper — close enough that the two are effectively the same for caffeine purposes.
Is there a legal limit on caffeine in soda?
Yes. The FDA caps added caffeine in cola-type soft drinks at 0.02% by weight, which works out to roughly 71 mg per 12 oz. It's a decades-old regulatory limit on the ingredient, not a health-based daily guideline, and it applies specifically to cola-style sodas rather than every carbonated drink.
Is soda a strong source of caffeine compared to coffee?
No. Even the strongest mainstream soda, Mountain Dew at 55 mg, has well under half the caffeine of an average 12 oz cup of drip coffee (about 145 mg). Soda's reputation as a major caffeine source comes from how often and how much people drink, not its concentration.
Sources and method
Coca-Cola brand figures come directly from Coca-Cola's published product and ingredient information, which the company updates and confirms on request. Most other national and store-brand figures are not published by manufacturers and instead come from Chou, K. H., & Bell, L. N. (2007), Caffeine content of prepackaged national-brand and private-label carbonated beverages, published in the Journal of Food Science — a peer-reviewed HPLC laboratory analysis of 56 national-brand and 75 private-label sodas. Formulas can change since a 2007 study and vary by region, so treat non-Coca-Cola figures as a close, well-tested estimate rather than a current guarantee.
- Coca-Cola Company — published product facts and ingredient FAQ
- Chou, K. H., & Bell, L. N. (2007). Caffeine content of prepackaged national-brand and private-label carbonated beverages. Journal of Food Science, 72(6), C337–C342
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration — caffeine content limits for cola-type beverages, and Spilling the Beans: How Much Caffeine Is Too Much?
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — guidance on moderate caffeine consumption in pregnancy
This page is an independent reference and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper, or any brand named here. All product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Caffeine values are estimates for some brands and vary by region and formula changes over time. Nothing here is medical advice.