Dupe Detective: Aldi Popz Vs Poppi

Welcome to Dupe Detective, a new column where I'll be reviewing a name brand food product's competitor product to find out how well it compares to, or even beats, the original.

While no-sugar versions of name-brand sodas were once the go-to drink for health-conscious soft drink connoisseurs, some studies have come to suggest that diet soda is just as bad for your heart as the regular stuff. For those who no longer trust traditional diet sodas but still crave something sweet and fizzy, a new breed of probiotic, low-sugar soda has become a grocery store staple. Among the brands leading the trend are Poppi and Olipop, but plenty of competitors are hot on their heels — in early 2025, for example, Coca-Cola debuted a new drink line, coming for Olipop's throne.

Aldi is another company with its own proprietary prebiotic soda called Summit Popz, Summit being the label uses on most of its in-house drink products. Poppi also happens to be stocked at Aldi stores. I visited my local Aldi in the suburbs of Las Vegas and picked up three cans of Popz as well as the three closest Poppi flavors to determine which brand is superior. Ahead are my thoughts on both products, before my pick for the best prebiotic soda at Aldi.

Upon its debut, Popz could be counted among Aldi's best new food releases of 2025 according to reviews. On the other hand, on a Takeout list of seven Aldi dupes that are better than the originals and four that are worse, Cherry Lime Popz fell into the latter category. To find out for myself how Popz stacks up, I picked up cans of Mandarin Orange, Cola, and Strawberry based on the fact my Aldi had each of their Poppi analogues also in stock as well.

My Mandarin Orange Popz was particularly light in carbonation, and its flavor akin to sweet orange juice. Lacking entirely was the sour citrus element in real orange juice, but I found it otherwise pretty natural-tasting, splitting the difference between OJ and orange soda. The Cola Popz was a let-down, foregrounding the spices in a traditional cola, without enough sweetness to act as a counterbalance. While it had a butterscotch-forward backbone, my overall impression was of something like a pumpkin spice candy — a far cry from Coca-Cola. 

Finally, Strawberry was the fizziest and most outright saccharine of the three, resembling a watered-down strawberry jolly rancher in soda form. Considering its relative healthfulness, that indulgence was nice. Also of note was its neon pink color when poured, easily ranking as the best-looking of all the sodas I tried.

Among a couple of big changes coming to Subway in 2026 was the chain's introduction of Poppi sodas. While Poppi may have been on the shelves of leading grocery stores for years, Poppi's availability at a fast food chain may well have marked a new frontier of mainstream appeal. It's perhaps unsurprising, then, that Aldi carries Poppi alongside its proprietary dupe. I picked up Orange, Cherry Cola, and Strawberry Lemon to match up with the Popz flavors I chose.

Whereas my Mandarin Orange Popz lacked a sour citrus component, my Orange Poppi was lightly sour. Its orange flavor, however, was kind of indistinct, reminding me a Vitamin C tablet more than either OJ or orange soda. Its carbonation, meanwhile, was even lighter than my mild Popz soda. The flavor of my Cola Poppi reminded me of cola gummies. While they may land around the middle of the ultimate ranking of Haribo candies, that sort of artificially bubbly candy flavor worked unsurprisingly well in a soda. That said, its cherry component was mild, not really impacting the experience in one direction or another. 

The fizziest of all the sodas I tried was my Strawberry Poppi. Its flavor, however, did not match the strength of its fizz, offering a sort of generic fruit sweetness rather than identifiable strawberry. Lemon was perceptible, but not necessarily pleasant, tasting like actual lemon rather than a lemon-lime soda. Overall, those fizzy, fruity, and lemony components just didn't mesh together all that well.

In the Cola category, Poppi handily beat Popz. My Mandarin Orange and Strawberry Popz, however, were better than their Poppi counterparts, landing Aldi's dupe the win over its name-brand competition.

On the whole, I would describe Popz sodas as a little dumber than Poppi sodas. Poppi showcases its natural flavors, owning up to its identity as a healthier brand rather than trying to emulate full-sugar sodas and falling short. As much as that's a quality I would like to appreciate, that philosophy meant slightly funkier flavors, whereas my fruit-flavored Popz were good in a more straightforward way. In other words, Popz is, in fact, trying to emulate full-sugar sodas, and succeeding enough that it doesn't feel like that approach is resulting in pale imitations. At a lower price point — at Aldi, at least — and with comparable nutritional content, Popz is, on the whole, the superior prebiotic soda over Poppi.

At my local Aldi, my Mandarin Orange and Cola Popz flavors cost $1.69, whereas the Strawberry Popz was on sale for $0.69. Each can of Poppi soda, meanwhile, was $1.89. At a nearby Smith's, single Poppi cans go for $1.67. So, which brand costs less depends on context, with Aldi's sale-price Popz winning out as the cheapest overall.

Nutritionally, a can of Popz ranges from 25 to 40 calories. Most flavors contain between 0 and 10 milligrams of sodium; between 7 and 9 grams of carbs; 2 grams of fiber; and between 5 and 8 grams of sugar. Cans of Poppi soda, meanwhile, range from 25 to 30 calories. They typically include between 7 and 9 grams of carbs; 2 or 3 grams of fiber; and 5 grams of sugar. While it's fair to say Poppi is the nutritionally superior brand, the differences in numbers are so minute, there's no real nutritional reason to pick one over the other in practice.

I bought all six cans of prebiotic soda at an Aldi store in Henderson, Nevada, which is adjacent to Las Vegas. Since I was comparing the two brands to one another, I selected the three flavors available with both Popz and Poppi versions.

Once I brought them home, I refrigerated all of my sodas for a few hours to ensure they would all start out at a baseline chill temperature. Then, I tasted them all in one sitting, trying each Popz flavor first before its Poppi counterpart. After I initially tasted each soda in succession, I went back for sips of each of them in no particular order to help solidify my thoughts. At different points, I had each soda both straight from the can and poured into a glass. My assessments are based entirely on this experience, and not any prior thoughts I may have had about either prebiotic soda brand.