Best gym water bottle 2024: stay hydrated during workouts

A gym water bottle is the ultimate gym bag staple. But it isn’t just essential for keeping you hydrated during those sweaty training sessions, it’ll also save you money and is better for the environment, helping cut down on single-use plastic.

In this guide, you’ll find a wide range of water bottles tested by T3’s team of Active experts— including long-term gym-goers to seasoned marathon runners— in a range of styles and materials to suit your needs. We’ve tested a total of 50 water bottles and settled on the 11 below as the best to see you through your training. Plus, we’ve made sure that every bottle we’ve chosen is BPA-free.

Currently, our favourite is the stainless steel, screw-top lid Rockay Water Bottle, thanks to its insulating and leak-proof properties, decent size, and environmentally friendly credentials. If, however, you’d rather have a bottle that has one-handed operation, a straw, or need a bottle that can hold lots of litres, we’ve got plenty of choices below.

Best gym water bottles to buy right now

Best overall

Who doesn't like a stainless steel water bottle? The Rockay Water Bottle is not just any stainless steel water bottle either: it is insulated and environmentally friendly. Rockay claims it removes 714g (77 bottles) of plastic waste from the ocean for every bottle purchased.

Rockay even encourages people to upcycle the packaging and use the tube the bottle came in as a pen or utensil holder, while the little information card can be re-used as a bookmark. As well as being super green, the Rockay Water bottle is also highly functional: the screw-top lid provides a leakproof seal so your gym clothes won't get drenched in the bag, and thanks to the insulated walls of the bottle, liquid in the bottle will be kept cold for 24 hours and hot for 12 hours.

The wider mouth hole makes it easy to drink from the bottle and to clean it more efficiently, which is handy as the Rockay Water Bottle is not dishwasher safe. Understandably, the Rockay Water Bottle is more expensive than its plastic counterparts, but it will also last longer and keep your drinks cool for longer. If you prefer ice-cold water in the gym instead of the lukewarm variety, invest your money wisely in the Roclay Water Bottle.

Best plastic bottle

The Sistema Traverse Tritan is the ideal-sized gym water bottle: 850 ml should be enough for a 45-50 minute session, and if you are not in the gym to socialise, that should be more than enough time to do your workout efficiently. The Traverse is made out of durable Tritan plastic, which is also BPA and phthalate free. This stain and odour-free bottle can be washed in the dishwasher, and it is also freezer-proof.

You don't have to worry about water going everywhere in your gym bag either; the Traverse is absolutely leakproof. Although it comes in a variety of colours, like blue, green, red, purple, black and white/clear, you can't pick which one you'd like when you order it from Amazon. Great value for money and surely a sturdy companion in the gym.

Best for one-handed operation

The Ion8 slim water bottle is the smallest in volume on our best gym water bottle list, being only 500 ml (there is a 750 ml version, too). This bottle comes in 15 (!) colours, so you can colour-coordinate it with your gym tights and vest. As the sticker advertises on the side of the bottle, the Ion8 is leakproof until you lose the little rubber stopper that goes over the mouthpiece in the lid.

It is not easy but definitely not impossible to lose it and once it's gone, so is leakproof-ness. But if you are careful enough, the Ion8 repays you with a great lid-locking system which can be opened with one finger yet secures the lid on tightly. The Ion8 is also suitable for hot drinks (don't stre boiling water in it, though).

Best bottle with a straw

Sometimes a screw-cap water bottle is too much faff during a workout, especially when you need a swig of water, fast — this is where Red’s water bottle comes in. With its easy to drink straw, you’re hydrated in no time.

There’s so much we loved about testing this bottle, from its plentiful 750ml capacity, to its insulated marine-grade stainless steel, which kept our water ice cold for 24 hours (it keeps them hot for 12 hours too). The small handle on the top made moving this bottle around the gym swift and easy, and it fits snugly into our gym bag’s water bottle side pocket. One thing we can also confirm is this bottle is definitely durable – its tough steel, survived being dropped on the gym floor a few times and we’re not surprised, as it also has anti-rust and anti- corrosion properties (it can even survive in salt water).

We were also pleasantly surprised that it came with a canteen cap too, as well as the sports cap, so that you can add other drinks that you may not want to suck through the straw, like your tea and coffee. And, although we didn’t get to test this for ourselves, apparently you can even fit a whole bottle of wine in there. Probably best to avoid during your workouts, but we love the versatility! Whether it's the gym or everyday adventures, this bottle will see you through.

Best for supplements

This budget-friendly water bottle from Science in Sport is a good size for your workouts, but it’s also ideal for supplement Kings and Queens. On the side of the bottle are markings (200ml, 300ml, 400ml and 700ml) so we knew exactly how much water we needed to add for our desired energy supplement and it was much nicer to take to the gym instead of a regular protein shaker.

The valve doesn’t leak at all (we gave it a good shake upside down to test) and it’s easy to pull with your hand, or teeth, so you can stay hydrated quickly. The grooves midway up the bottle are in the perfect place, making it easy to hold and drink from. We also loved its bright yellow colour, not just because it gives it that sporty-feel, but because it was easy to spot when we misplaced it in the gym. It’s made from BPA-free plastic and can also go in the dishwasher, so cleaning is a total breeze too.

Best premium

The Sundried water bottle is a bit on the swag side, and you probably won't look overly manly drinking from it, not like it matters in a commercial gym where no one really looks at each other in the first place. On the upside, it can hold enough water for a 45-minute session and thanks to the larger base; it's also harder to knock over. The silicone mouthpiece and the screw-on lid also make it leakproof.

Talking about the silicone stopper: it has a fairly strong smell to it straight out of the box, which can be distracting to some people. Just soak it in hot (but not boiling) water for a good 10 minutes, and it should doctor the issue. Being toxin-free and ethical, one could say that the Sundried gym water bottle is also millennial-safe.

Best two-in-one bottle

The BFA 750ml Mobility Water Bottle is a sort of accessory that makes you slap your forehead and think: "why has nobody thought of this before?" What makes this a mobility water bottle? Just have another look: the ribbed outer shell practically transforms this water bottle into a foam roller. Yeah, you read that right.

This is a crazy idea, we agree. But if you think about it, the concept of the BFA 750ml Mobility Water Bottle is also genius. The shape of this water bottle is perfect for rolling smaller areas like the calves or even the lats, but it can also help relieve tension in the front of the quads, using your hands to apply pressure (as opposed to the bottle resting on the floor and you are rolling on it).

The 750ml capacity is plenty big enough for most workouts, and the integrated straw makes sure you can retrieve every last drop of the liquid from the bottle. You can always just unscrew the top of the bottle and drink without the straw, too. The BFA 750ml Mobility Water Bottle has a narrow neck, so it is a bit fiddly to clean it, but as long as you only drink water from it and air dry it when not in use, it should be okay not to wash it every day, given it's made of stainless steel.

Best for keeping drinks cold/hot

As much as you won't need piping-hot drinks in the gym, it might come in handy to enjoy some ice-cold water during workouts when the temperatures are soaring high, as they did in July. The Takeya Actives can keep drinks cold for up to 24 hours, which is plenty, even if your gym is an hour's drive away.

Even more so, the lid is insulted and leakproof too. The Takeya Actives is pretty well-rated on Amazon, which proves its quality. Many insulated containers tend to receive lower ratings due to their build quality (sweating, insulation issues, etc.), but not the Takeya. For added peace of mind, this water bottle comes with a limited lifetime warranty. The plastic carry ring on the top is just the icing on the cake, really.

Best for durability

Although it is advertised as leakproof, the Sistema Hydrate Tritan Swift is probably not the best-sealed gym water bottle out there. It is a good size, though, as well as being dishwasher, microwave (without lid), fridge and freezer safe. This impact-resistant gym water bottle is made out of clear non-toxic Tritan plastic and comes with a handy little finger loop. It is also odour free. A good quality Sistema product, what can we say, does what it says in the box. Nothing less, nothing more.

Best for all-day hydration

This is not a gym water bottle you can shove in a bumbag, but in return, using Pro Series is probably the easiest way to hit your recommended daily water intake goal. It can hold over two litres of liquid, so just fill it up in the morning, and if it's empty by the time you go to bed, you've drunk enough water for the day.

It isn't recommended to have anything else but water out of this gym water bottle, as it's practically impossible to scrub the insides, so if you had, let's say, a protein shake, you'd have dried protein powder bits stuck in the bottle forever.

The Bulk Pro Series water bottle has a stainless steel screw-on cap, an ergonomic handle and a nylon carrying loop, making it easy to drink from it and carry it around. When it's full, it doubles up as a 2 kg dumbbell, so you can superset your water intake sessions with bicep curls. Perfect.

Best for trendsetters

There's no doubt you've probably seen the Stanley Quencher about, either at your local gym or when you open up your socials. It is the 'it' gym water bottle, even though, technically, it's not a bottle. Either way, if you struggle to drink enough, the Quencher Cup may help.

When we tested the Stanley Quencher the first thing we noticed was that it didn’t fit in our gym bag’s water bottle holder, so bare in mind this is a cup you will have to carry around with you (it fits in car cup holder though). However, it did keep our water chilled during our entire training session (which lasted around an hour and a half), thanks to its double-wall vacuum insulation. On the Stanley website, it says the Quencher Cup keeps water cold for up to nine hours, iced for 40, and hot drinks warm for seven.

It’s also dishwasher safe, made from 90% recycled materials and comes in a vast selection of really cool colours. We actually found we used a lot more outside the gym than in it, such as going to work or weekend walks, as it’s definitely not the most practical gym water bottle. However, if you’re someone who likes to keep up with the crowd, it’s the one everyone’s using.

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