How many calories are in a can of Diet Coke?
A 12 fl oz can of Diet Coke holds 7 calories, not zero. Per 100 g the drink measures 2 calories, and a can is 360 g of it. The label says 0 because FDA rounding allows it under 5 calories per serving. Sugar is genuinely 0 g.
On this page
- Diet Coke quick facts
- US servings from one ounce to a 20 oz bottle
- The caffeine free can and other diet cola rows
- Sodium is the only row that moves
- How does Diet Coke compare?
- Most popular diet cola brands
- Diet Coke FAQs
Diet Coke quick facts
The row behind this page is FNDDS 2710542, "Soft drink, cola, diet", the caffeinated diet cola in the survey database. It is the one people actually hold: it carries US household measures for a can, a glass and a bottle, so every number below scales from a real serving rather than a lab beaker. The SR Legacy twin, record 175099, reports identical values for the same drink but no household portions, which is why it stays in the background.
A 12 fl oz can weighs 360 g. That is the serving in the middle column, and it is where a drink that reads as "nothing" turns into a small, countable number.
| Nutrient | Per 100 g | Per 1 can, 12 fl oz (360 g) | % Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 2 | 7 | — |
| Total fat | 0.03 g | 0.1 g | 0% |
| Saturated fat | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Carbohydrate | 0.29 g | 1.0 g | 0% |
| Dietary fiber | 0 g | 0 g | 0% |
| Total sugars | 0 g | 0 g | — |
| Protein | 0.11 g | 0.4 g | 1% |
| Sodium | 8 mg | 29 mg | 1% |
% Daily Value is based on a 2,000-calorie diet.
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from USDA FoodData Central, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food composition database, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified September 2026. How we verify our data →
Two rows you would expect on a US label are missing here. USDA does not publish added sugars or trans fat for this record, so both are left out rather than guessed at, and in this case nothing is lost: total sugars are 0 g and total fat is 0.03 g per 100 g, so there is no sugar to add and no fat to split. Cholesterol is 0 mg, and potassium comes in at 8 mg per 100 g, or 29 mg in a can, which is under 1% of the 4,700 mg Daily Value.
US servings from one ounce to a 20 oz bottle
Diet cola is sold by volume and logged by container, so the useful question is not "per 100 g" but "which can did I open". Here is the full ladder, from a splash in a mixer to a gas-station bottle.
| Serving | Weight | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| 1 fl oz, no ice | 30 g | 1 kcal |
| 1 glass, 8 fl oz | 240 g | 5 kcal |
| 1 can, 12 fl oz | 360 g | 7 kcal |
| 1 bottle, 16.9 fl oz (500 mL) | 507 g | 10 kcal |
| 1 bottle, 20 fl oz | 600 g | 12 kcal |
| Per 100 g | 100 g | 2 kcal |
The 12 fl oz can is the USDA household measure. The 8 fl oz glass and the single fluid ounce are our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g figure, not USDA servings, which matters only if you like your rounding audited.
Ice changes nothing in the glass except the volume of soda you poured. A tall glass packed with cubes might hold 6 fl oz of liquid rather than 8, which drops the count from 5 calories to about 4. This is the rare food where the measuring error is smaller than the rounding error on the label.
The caffeine free can and other diet cola rows
USDA files several diet colas separately, and they are not all the same number. The differences are tiny in absolute terms and interesting in relative ones.
| Version | Per 100 g | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diet cola, caffeinated | 2 kcal | 1 can, 12 fl oz, 360 g | 7 kcal |
| Caffeine free diet cola | 1 kcal | 1 can, 12 fl oz, 360 g | 4 kcal |
| Diet cherry or vanilla cola | 2 kcal | 1 can, 12 fl oz, 360 g | 7 kcal |
| Diet chocolate flavored cola | 2 kcal | 1 can, 12 fl oz, 360 g | 7 kcal |
| Diet pepper type soda | 2 kcal | 1 can, 12 fl oz, 360 g | 7 kcal |
| Diet soft drink, NFS | 2 kcal | 1 can, 12 fl oz, 360 g | 7 kcal |
| Rum and diet cola | 60 kcal | 1 drink, 225 g | 135 kcal |
Caffeine free diet cola is the only row that undercuts the standard can, at 1 calorie per 100 g and 4 per can. It halves the sodium too, from 8 mg to 4 mg per 100 g, which works out to roughly 14 mg in a can by our own scaling from the 100 g figure. The gap comes from the flavor base carrying less cola extract, not from a different sweetener.
Cherry, vanilla and chocolate flavored diet colas all sit on the same base and land on the same 2 calories per 100 g. Flavoring is added in fractions of a gram, so the cherry in Diet Cherry Coke is a taste, not a calorie. USDA Branded labels agree from the other direction: Diet Coke in the 12 fl oz can, the 7.5 fl oz mini can and the 20 fl oz bottle all declare 0 calories per container, which is the rounding rule doing its job on every pack size in the USDA Branded file.
Then there is the row that ruins the pattern. Rum and diet cola is 60 calories per 100 g and 135 calories for a 225 g drink, about nineteen cans' worth. The mixer is not what you are drinking there.
Sodium is the only row that moves
Everything on the label is zero or near it except sodium, and sodium is the row worth a second look. A can carries 29 mg, or 1% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value used on the Nutrition Facts label. A 20 fl oz bottle carries 48 mg, about 2%. Four cans across a workday put you at roughly 116 mg, still a rounding error against the daily cap the Dietary Guidelines set for adults, but not the flat zero the front of the can implies.
Protein is the other quiet oddity: 0.11 g per 100 g, 0.4 g in a can, 1% of the 50 g Daily Value. It is measurable nitrogen from the caramel color and flavoring rather than anything you would count toward a protein target.
The honest summary of the nutrition panel is that diet cola is water with flavor, acid and a sweetener. Where it earns its place in a calorie log is by comparison: the sugared version of the same drink is where the calories live, and swapping to the diet row moves an entire beverage line to near zero without touching food. Added sugars have a 50 g Daily Value, and diet cola contributes none of it.
How does Diet Coke compare?
| Diet soda | Per 100 g | US serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diet cola | 2 kcal | 1 can, 360 g | 7 kcal |
| Diet pepper type soda | 2 kcal | 1 can, 360 g | 7 kcal |
| Diet soft drink, NFS | 2 kcal | 1 can, 360 g | 7 kcal |
| Diet root beer | 0 kcal | 1 can, 360 g | 0 kcal |
Our take: of the three neighbors, only diet root beer is lighter, and it is lighter because it has no caramel-colored cola base to measure, not because it is sweetened differently. For weight management, the choice between these four is meaningless; a 7-calorie difference across a day is noise. Log any of them as a can and move on. The decision that actually matters is what the can replaces, and if it replaces a sugared soda, that is a real number changing, not a rounding one.
Most popular diet cola brands in the United States
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United States, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each Nutrition Facts label, checked against USDA FoodData Central.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Diet Cherry Coke Can 12 fl oz | 0 cal |
| Diet Coke Mini Can | 0 cal |
| Diet Coke Can 12 fl oz | 0 cal |
| Diet Coke Bottle 20 fl oz | 0 cal |
| Diet Coke Can 7.5 fl oz | 0 cal |
| Diet Sam's Cola Diet Cola | 0 cal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels / USDA FoodData Central.
Diet Coke FAQs
How many calories are in a can of Diet Coke?
7 calories for a 12 fl oz can (360 g), based on USDA's 2 calories per 100 g for diet cola. The label reads 0 because FDA rules allow any serving under 5 calories to be declared as zero. Logging it as 7 or as 0 changes nothing about your day.
Does Diet Coke really have zero calories?
Not literally: USDA measures 2 calories per 100 g, which is 7 in a full 12 fl oz can and 12 in a 20 fl oz bottle. FDA labeling rules permit "0 calories" below 5 calories per serving, so the can is accurate and so is the lab number.
How much sodium is in Diet Coke?
29 mg in a 12 fl oz can, or 1% of the 2,300 mg Daily Value. A 20 fl oz bottle carries 48 mg, about 2%. Four cans across a day come to roughly 116 mg. That is small, but it is the one number on the panel that is not zero.
How many calories are in a 20 oz Diet Coke?
12 calories for a 20 fl oz bottle, which weighs about 600 g. That figure is our own arithmetic from the USDA 100 g number rather than a USDA serving. The same bottle holds 48 mg of sodium and roughly 1.7 g of carbohydrate, none of it sugar.
Is Caffeine Free Diet Coke lower in calories?
Slightly: USDA lists decaffeinated diet cola at 1 calorie per 100 g against 2 for the caffeinated row, so a can is 4 calories instead of 7. Sodium halves as well, from 8 mg to 4 mg per 100 g. The difference sits in the flavor base, not the sweetener.
How many carbs are in Diet Coke?
1.0 g of carbohydrate in a 12 fl oz can, from 0.29 g per 100 g. That is under 1% of the 275 g Daily Value, and none of it is sugar. The gram or so comes from flavoring compounds and acid, which is why the drink fits a low-carb log without arithmetic.
Does Diet Coke have sugar?
Zero: USDA records 0 g of total sugars per 100 g, so a can and a 20 fl oz bottle both come in at 0 g. Added sugars are not published for this record, but there is nothing to publish: the sweetness comes from aspartame, which contributes no sugar.
How many calories are in Diet Cherry Coke?
7 calories per 12 fl oz can. USDA files fruit- and vanilla-flavored diet cola at the same 2 calories per 100 g as plain diet cola, with the same 0 g of sugar and 8 mg of sodium per 100 g. The cherry is flavoring, measured in fractions of a gram.
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Count it without the math
Point the camera at the glass and BodyPal counts it for you, ice and all.
