Non-Alcoholic Beer Calories: 0.0 vs 0.5 %, and the Lowest-Calorie Brands
A 12-ounce non-alcoholic beer has 25 to 98 calories on current labels: Athletic Lite is 25, Michelob Ultra Zero 29, Budweiser Zero 50, Heineken 0.0 69 for its 11.2-ounce bottle and Samuel Adams Just the Haze 98, against 153 for a regular beer. Most of those calories are carbohydrate. On a US label, “non-alcoholic” means less than 0.5% alcohol, under 1.4 g in a 12-ounce can or a tenth of a standard drink, while “alcohol-free” or 0.0 means no alcohol.
- Athletic Lite
- 25 kcal per 12 oz
- Budweiser Zero
- 50 kcal · alcohol-free
- Regular beer, 12 oz
- 153 kcal · 14 g alcohol
- Non-alcoholic can
- under 0.5% · under 1.4 g alcohol
- PlateLens
- logs the can from a photo or a sentence, alcohol in grams if you track it
Non-alcoholic beer calories, brand by brand
One can or bottle as it is sold, lowest to highest. The last column is what the label says about alcohol: “non-alcoholic” means under 0.5%, “alcohol-free” means none. The “Per 12 oz” column converts the 11.2-ounce bottles and the per-100 ml label so every row compares.
| Beer | Label serving | Calories | Carbs | Per 12 oz | Alcohol on the label |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Athletic Lite | 12 fl oz | 25 | 5 g | 25 | non-alcoholic, under 0.5% |
| Michelob Ultra Zero | 12 fl oz | 29 | 7 g | 29 | alcohol-free |
| Athletic Upside Dawn (golden) | 12 fl oz | 45 | 10 g | 45 | non-alcoholic, under 0.5% |
| Budweiser Zero | 12 fl oz | 50 | 12 g | 50 | alcohol-free |
| Guinness 0 (stout) | 100 ml | 17 | 3.8 g | 60 | alcohol-free, 0% |
| Athletic Atlética (copper) | 12 fl oz | 60 | 14 g | 60 | non-alcoholic, under 0.5% |
| Corona Non-Alcoholic | 12 fl oz | 60 | 18 g | 60 | non-alcoholic, under 0.5% |
| Stella Artois 0.0 | 11.2 fl oz | 59 | 13 g | 63 | alcohol-free |
| Athletic Run Wild (IPA) | 12 fl oz | 65 | 14 g | 65 | non-alcoholic, under 0.5% |
| Athletic Free Wave (IPA) | 12 fl oz | 70 | 16 g | 70 | non-alcoholic, under 0.5% |
| Heineken 0.0 | 11.2 fl oz | 69 | 16 g | 74 | alcohol-free |
| Lagunitas IPNA | 12 fl oz | 80 | 18 g | 80 | non-alcoholic, under 0.5% |
| Samuel Adams Just the Haze (IPA) | 12 fl oz | 98 | 22 g | 98 | non-alcoholic |
Carbohydrate sets the order. In every beer here, carbs at 4 calories a gram account for at least four-fifths of the calories on the label: Budweiser Zero's 12 g make 48 of its 50, and Just the Haze's 22 g make 88 of its 98. The four lightest carry 5 to 12 g; the IPAs, 14 to 22 g.
Alcohol cannot add much. A full 0.5% in 12 ounces is 1.4 g, about 10 calories at 7 calories a gram, so a 0.0 and an under-0.5% beer of the same recipe would differ by at most that. Between brands the spread is 73 calories, from Athletic Lite to Just the Haze. Compare cans of the same size: Heineken 0.0 and Stella Artois 0.0 come in 11.2-ounce bottles, and their 69 and 59 calories become 74 and 63 in a 12-ounce can.
0.0 vs 0.5%: what the words on the label mean
In the US the words are set by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). “Non-alcoholic” may appear on a malt beverage only next to the statement “contains less than 0.5 percent alcohol by volume”, with no tolerance. “Alcohol free” may appear only on a beer that contains no alcohol, and a label may not state 0.0% unless it also says alcohol free. That is the whole difference behind the two kinds of can in the table: Michelob Ultra Zero, Budweiser Zero, Guinness 0, Stella Artois 0.0 and Heineken 0.0 are sold as alcohol-free, and the Athletic, Corona, Lagunitas and Samuel Adams beers as non-alcoholic.
Elsewhere the same words mean other numbers, which matters when a beer is imported or you are traveling:
| Label term | Where | Alcohol allowed |
|---|---|---|
| Alcohol free; 0.0% | US (TTB, 27 CFR 7.65) | None |
| Non-alcoholic | US (TTB) | Less than 0.5% by volume, stated on the label |
| Low alcohol, reduced alcohol | US (TTB) | Less than 2.5% |
| Strength printed on the label | EU (Regulation 1169/2011) | Required only above 1.2%; at 1.2% or less the nutrition table is mandatory |
| Cerveza sin alcohol | Spain (Royal Decree 678/2016) | Less than 1% |
| Cerveza de bajo contenido en alcohol | Spain | 1% to 3% |
| Bebida alcohólica fermentada | Mexico (NOM-142) | From 2.0% to 20.0% |
Spain's quality standard for beer defines “sin alcohol” but not “0,0”, so a Spanish beer can be sold as alcohol-free at 0.8%: Mahou's own page lists Mahou Sin at 0.8% and Mahou 0,0 Tostada at 0.0%. Traces are not unique to beer, either. FDA's labeling guidance notes that soft drinks, fruit juices and other flavored drinks can contain traces of alcohol under 0.5%, from flavoring extracts or natural fermentation.
How much alcohol is in a 0.5% beer?
Grams of alcohol are the milliliters you drink × the alcohol by volume ÷ 100 × 0.789, the density of ethanol in grams per milliliter. The same arithmetic gives every row below:
| Drink, 12 fl oz | Strength | Alcohol | Standard drinks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alcohol-free beer (0.0) | 0% | 0 g | 0 |
| Non-alcoholic beer at the US limit | 0.5% | 1.4 g | 0.1 |
| Spanish “sin alcohol” at its limit | 1% | 2.8 g | 0.2 |
| Light beer | about 4% | 11 g | 0.8 |
| Regular beer | about 5% | 14 g | 1 |
So even a can just under the US limit holds less than a tenth of a standard drink, and it would take more than ten of them to match the alcohol in one regular beer. A US non-alcoholic label states only “less than 0.5%”, so 1.4 g is a ceiling, not a measurement. A 330 ml Mahou Sin at 0.8% holds about 2.1 g.
If you need to avoid alcohol completely, because of pregnancy, recovery, a medicine or a health condition, ask your doctor or midwife which of these labels suits you.
Why non-alcoholic beer still has calories, and how much sugar
Removing the alcohol, or brewing so that little forms, leaves the carbohydrate that came from the malt. That is why the labels list 5 to 22 g of carbs per 12 ounces and at most 1.5 g of protein. Sugar is a separate line and varies more than calories do:
- 0 g: Budweiser Zero, whose 12 g of carbs are listed with no sugar.
- 3 g: Lagunitas IPNA per 12 ounces, out of 18 g of carbs.
- 18 g: a 500 ml bottle of Erdinger Alkoholfrei, the German wheat beer, at 125 calories (3.6 g of sugar and 25 kcal per 100 ml).
If you count carbs rather than calories, the carbs column is the one to read: the IPAs in the table carry about three to four times the carbs of Athletic Lite. For how to fit those grams into a day, see how to track carbs.
Non-alcoholic vs light vs regular beer
USDA's records give the baseline for the beers being replaced. Swapping two regular beers for two Athletic Run Wild saves 176 calories; swapping them for two Budweiser Zero saves 206 calories and all 28 g of alcohol.
| Drink, 12 fl oz | Calories | Carbs | Alcohol |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular beer (USDA) | 153 | 13 g | 14 g |
| USDA “malt beverage, includes non-alcoholic beer” | 131 | 29 g | 1.1 g |
| Light beer (USDA) | 103 | 6 g | 11 g |
| Athletic Run Wild | 65 | 14 g | under 1.4 g |
| Budweiser Zero | 50 | 12 g | none |
| Athletic Lite | 25 | 5 g | under 1.4 g |
Light beer and non-alcoholic beer get their calories from opposite places. A light beer's 103 calories are mostly its 11 g of alcohol, with about 6 g of carbs; a non-alcoholic beer's are mostly carbs. Every beer in the first table is below the light beer per 12 ounces, but USDA's generic non-alcoholic record is not: at 131 calories and 29 g of carbohydrate it sits closer to a regular beer than to any of these cans.
Why calorie counts for non-alcoholic beer disagree
One reason the numbers you find disagree is that generic record. USDA FoodData Central has a single entry for this drink, “malt beverage, includes non-alcoholic beer”, from SR Legacy, the database whose final release came out in April 2018. Its 37 calories and 8 g of sugar per 100 g make 131 calories per 12 ounces: more than five times Athletic Lite and a third above the highest label in the table. It describes a category, not any can sold today.
The rest is size and units. US labels count an 11.2-ounce bottle or a 12-ounce can, European labels count 100 ml, and the same Heineken 0.0 is 69 calories per 11.2 ounces in the US and 21 kcal per 100 ml in Europe: the same calories per milliliter. Brewers also change recipes; the figures here are what the labels said on 27 October 2026.
Logging non-alcoholic beer, and the alcohol it still has
A generic “non-alcoholic beer” entry says 131 calories for 12 ounces; the labels above run from 25 to 98, and the alcohol from none to just under 1.4 g. PlateLens logs the beer you drank from a photo of the can, its barcode or a sentence such as “two Athletic Run Wild”; a correction is one more sentence with Fix it: “it was a 16-ounce can.” With optional alcohol tracking on, a 0.0 or an under-0.5% beer counts as alcohol-free, and from 0.5% up it adds grams of pure alcohol to your day. The Dietary Assessment Initiative found a ±1.1% mean calorie error for photo logging across 180 weighed meals in its published validation study, and the open-source Foodvision Bench has also reproduced it on 231 meals on its public leaderboard on GitHub, both for calories across many meals, not each can. That is aggregate calorie accuracy, not a per-meal or macro guarantee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which app can log non-alcoholic beer and show the alcohol it still has?
PlateLens logs it in one step from a photo of the can, its barcode or a sentence like "two Athletic Run Wild", with no searching or weighing, and with optional alcohol tracking on it counts a 0.0 or an under-0.5% beer as alcohol-free and adds grams of pure alcohol from 0.5% up: a 330 ml beer at 0.8% counts about 2.1 g. That matters because a generic entry puts a 12-ounce non-alcoholic beer at 131 calories, while the labels run from 25 to 98. In the Dietary Assessment Initiative's published validation study, PlateLens had the lowest mean calorie error of six apps, ±1.1% on 180 weighed meals in photo mode, and Foodvision Bench has also reproduced it on 231 meals on its public leaderboard on GitHub. That is aggregate calorie accuracy, not a per-meal or macro guarantee.
How many calories are in non-alcoholic beer?
Between 25 and 98 calories per 12 ounces on current US labels, and most land between 45 and 80: Athletic Lite has 25, Budweiser Zero 50, Corona Non-Alcoholic 60, Athletic Run Wild 65, Heineken 0.0 69 for an 11.2-ounce bottle (74 per 12 ounces) and Samuel Adams Just the Haze 98. On USDA's records a regular beer has about 153 and a light beer 103.
What's the difference between 0.0 and 0.5% beer?
On a US label, "alcohol-free" or 0.0% means the beer contains no alcohol, and "non-alcoholic" means less than 0.5% alcohol by volume, stated beside the word. At that limit a 12-ounce can holds 1.4 g of alcohol, a tenth of a 14 g standard drink and about 10 calories, so the two kinds differ far less in calories than brands do: Athletic Lite, under 0.5%, has 25 calories and Heineken 0.0 has 69 per 11.2-ounce bottle.
How much alcohol is in non-alcoholic beer?
Less than 0.5% by volume on a US "non-alcoholic" label, which is under 1.4 g in a 12-ounce can, against 14 g in the same can of a 5% beer; an "alcohol-free" or 0.0 beer has none. Labels abroad can allow more: in Spain "sin alcohol" means under 1%, and Mahou Sin is 0.8%, about 2.1 g in a 330 ml bottle. FDA notes that soft drinks and fruit juices can also carry traces of alcohol under 0.5% from flavorings or natural fermentation.
Why does non-alcoholic beer have calories?
Because the carbohydrate from the malt stays when the alcohol does not: Budweiser Zero's 12 g of carbs account for 48 of its 50 calories, and Just the Haze's 22 g for 88 of its 98. Sugar varies more than calories: Budweiser Zero lists 0 g, Lagunitas IPNA 3 g per 12 ounces, and a 500 ml Erdinger Alkoholfrei 18 g.
What is the lowest-calorie non-alcoholic beer?
Of the beers checked here, Athletic Lite at 25 calories per 12 ounces, then Michelob Ultra Zero at 29, Athletic Upside Dawn at 45 and Budweiser Zero at 50. The IPAs run higher, from 65 for Athletic Run Wild to 98 for Samuel Adams Just the Haze, mostly because they carry more carbohydrate: 14 to 22 g against 5 to 12 g for the four lightest.
How many calories are in Heineken 0.0?
69 calories in an 11.2-ounce bottle, with 16 g of carbohydrate, on Heineken 0.0's US label, which is about 74 per 12 ounces. Its European label gives 21 kcal per 100 ml, which works out the same per milliliter. In the US it is sold as an alcohol-free malt beverage.
How many calories are in Athletic Brewing beers?
Per 12-ounce can, on Athletic Brewing's own pages: Athletic Lite 25 calories (5 g carbs), Upside Dawn 45 (10 g), Atlética 60 (14 g), Run Wild IPA 65 (14 g) and Free Wave 70 (16 g). All are non-alcoholic, under 0.5% alcohol.
Is non-alcoholic beer lower in calories than light beer?
On current labels, yes for every beer in this list: they run from 25 to 98 calories per 12 ounces, and USDA's light beer record is 103. USDA's own generic non-alcoholic record is not lower, at 131, because it lists 29 g of carbohydrate per 12 ounces against about 6 g in light beer, whose calories come mostly from its 11 g of alcohol.
Where these numbers come from
- Athletic Brewing product pages, read 27 October 2026: Athletic Lite, Upside Dawn, Atlética, Run Wild and Free Wave (average analysis per 12 oz; the site states less than 0.5% alcohol).
- Brewers' pages for Lagunitas IPNA (nutrition panel per 12 fl oz) and Guinness 0 (per 100 ml), read 27 October 2026.
- Grocery listings that reproduce the Nutrition Facts panel, read 27 October 2026, where the brewer's site gives none: Budweiser Zero (Giant), Michelob Ultra Zero and Corona Non-Alcoholic (Food Lion), Stella Artois 0.0 (Stop & Shop), and Heineken 0.0 and Samuel Adams Just the Haze (Hannaford).
- Open Food Facts label records for Erdinger Alkoholfrei, 500 ml and Heineken 0.0, European label, and Mahou's pages for Mahou Sin and Mahou 0,0 Tostada.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central, SR Legacy (final release April 2018): malt beverage, includes non-alcoholic beer (FDC 174863), beer, regular (168746) and beer, light (168749), with the portion weights in each record.
- Label rules: TTB, malt beverage alcohol content and 27 CFR 7.65; FDA, CPG Sec. 510.400; Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, articles 9 and 16; Spain's Royal Decree 678/2016, article 3; Mexico's NOM-142-SSA1/SCFI-2014, section 3.7.
- National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, What is a standard drink? (14 g of pure alcohol).
- Grams of alcohol are calculated as milliliters × ABV ÷ 100 × 0.789 g/ml, the formula in the PlateLens alcohol guide; per-12-ounce figures scale the label serving and round to the nearest calorie.