Homemade vs. bottled sparkling water: which is truly worth it

If you're someone who can't live without that fizz, you probably haul packs of bottles home week after week. But ever since home sparkling water makers became popular, more and more households are asking the same question: Is it worth making sparkling water at home, or is it still better to buy it bottled?

In this guide, we compare the two options head-to-head: cost, plastic impact, convenience, and taste. This way, you can make an informed decision about what best fits your daily life.

The starting point: how much sparkling water do we consume?

Spain is one of the top twenty countries in the world where the most bottled water is drunk per person. In 2022 alone, nearly 8.7 billion liters of water were bottled, and although sparkling water represents a small portion of the total (around 2.3 liters per person per year on average), in households that love bubbles, consumption skyrockets far above that figure.

Each of those bottled liters carries packaging. And that's where the interesting conversation begins.

Head-to-head comparison

1. Cost over time

Branded bottled sparkling water usually costs significantly more per liter than still water because you're paying for carbonation, packaging, and the transportation of a heavy product.

With a home sparkling water maker, the equation changes: you make an initial investment in the appliance, and from then on, your only recurring expense is CO2 refills and tap water (potable in 99.5% of Spanish municipalities, according to the Ministry of Health). A single CO2 cylinder can carbonate dozens of liters, significantly reducing the cost per glass compared to buying bottle after bottle.

Winner: homemade, especially if you consume regularly. The more you drink, the sooner you'll recoup the cost of the machine.

2. Plastic and sustainability

The difference here is vast. Manufacturing a single one-liter plastic bottle consumes about 7 liters of water and 162 grams of petroleum derivatives. And although PET is 100% recyclable, in practice, it's estimated that only half of bottles are actually recycled; the rest end up in landfills, incinerators, or, worse, in the natural environment, where a bottle can take about 450 years to disappear.

Making sparkling water at home with a reusable bottle eliminates that constant flow of packaging in one fell swoop. Life cycle analyses suggest that consuming water treated at the point of consumption can drastically reduce the carbon footprint compared to bottled water, mainly because you save on packaging manufacturing and the transportation of a very heavy product.

Winner: homemade, by far.

3. Health and water quality

It's wise to be cautious and not promise miracles: homemade and bottled sparkling water hydrate equally well, and neither is "magic water." That said, a 2024 study published in the journal of the US National Academy of Sciences detected an average of about 240,000 plastic particles per liter of bottled water, mostly nanoplastics. Science is still studying the health implications of this, so there's no need to panic, but it's something to consider: by using tap water, you reduce exposure to plastics associated with the packaging itself.

Technical tie in hydration, with a slight advantage for homemade in terms of packaging plastics.

4. Convenience

A bought bottle wins in immediacy on day one: you open it, and it's ready. But that convenience comes with fine print: lugging heavy packs from the supermarket, storing them, managing empty containers, and running out of stock just when you fancy a glass most.

With a machine on the counter, you have fresh sparkling water on demand, without carrying weight or accumulating bottles, and you control the level of bubbles yourself.

Winner: homemade for everyday use; bottled only wins on the first purchase.

5. Taste and personalization

With bottled water, you're stuck with the carbonation level decided by the manufacturer. At home, you choose: from a very subtle touch to intense bubbles. And you can turn your sparkling water into the base for mocktails, lemonades, or non-alcoholic mixed drinks by adding fresh fruit, herbs, or a splash of natural juice.

Winner: homemade, for flexibility.

Summary table

So, what's right for you?

If you drink sparkling water occasionally and very sporadically, bottled might be enough. But if bubbles are part of your routine, making it at home wins in almost every important aspect: you spend less in the medium term, eliminate mountains of plastic, gain convenience, and you decide how intense you want your water.

At CONGAS, we're clear: a sparkling water maker is the easiest way to enjoy unlimited bubbles while taking care of your wallet and the planet at the same time.

Make the switch to plastic-free bubbles

Do you want to stop carrying heavy packs forever? Discover CONGAS sparkling water makers and calculate how much plastic you could eliminate this year. And if you still have questions about how they work, take a look at how a sparkling water maker works and our FAQ about CO2 refills.

Note: This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Sparkling water and still water hydrate equally well.