Alcohol Units & Standard Drinks Calculator
UK units, standard drinks, grams and calories for any drink, and a weekly check.
Your drink
My typical week
Add each kind of drink you have with Add to my week, then enter how many you have in a week and on your heaviest day.
“Heaviest day” is how many of each drink you have on your heaviest drinking day of the week, so the day total adds them up.
- If you are pregnant or could become pregnant, the safest approach is not to drink at all (UK CMOs; NHMRC).
- Under 18s should not drink alcohol (NHMRC). Never drink before driving or operating machinery.
- WHO/Europe: there is no amount of alcohol that does not affect health — less is lower risk.
For general information only, not medical advice. Consult a qualified health professional for advice about your situation.
About the Alcohol Units & Standard Drinks Calculator
Enter any drink — its size and its strength (% ABV, alcohol by volume, printed on the label) — and see how much pure alcohol it contains in the measures used by health services: UK units (10 ml, or 8 g, of pure alcohol), US standard drinks (14 g), Australian standard drinks (10 g) and grams of alcohol, with the calories that come from the alcohol. Presets cover pints, cans and bottles of beer, glasses and bottles of wine, single and double measures, pegs and shots of spirits.
Then add your drinks to a typical week to compare the total with the UK Chief Medical Officers’ guideline of 14 units a week, the Australian NHMRC limit of 10 standard drinks a week and 4 on any day, and the US NIAAA definitions of heavy drinking. The World Health Organization’s European office points out that no level of drinking is free of risk: lower is safer.
How to use it
- Pick a drink from the list, or choose Custom drink and enter the volume (ml, cl, litres, US or UK fl oz, or pints) and the ABV from the label.
- Enter how many drinks. The units, standard drinks, grams of alcohol and calories update as you type.
- Press Add to my week, then enter how many of that drink you have in a typical week and how many on your heaviest day. Add every kind of drink you have.
- Enter how many days a week you drink and, optionally, your sex (the US definitions differ for men and women).
- Read the comparison with the UK, Australian and US guidance. Copy the summary or download it as CSV; your week stays in this browser only.
Examples
2.95 UK units · 23.3 g alcohol · 1.67 US standard drinks · 2.33 Australian standard drinks · 163 kcal from the alcohol
2.1 UK units · 16.6 g alcohol · 1.18 US standard drinks · 1.66 Australian standard drinks · 116 kcal from the alcohol
2.4 UK units · 18.9 g alcohol · 1.35 US standard drinks · 1.89 Australian standard drinks · 133 kcal
17.7 units — 3.73 above the UK 14-unit guideline, and the CMOs advise spreading 14 units over 3 or more days
How the numbers are worked out
- Pure alcohol (ml) = volume (ml) × ABV ÷ 100. A 568 ml pint at 5.2% has 29.5 ml of pure alcohol.
- UK units = ABV × volume (ml) ÷ 1,000, because one unit is 10 ml of pure alcohol (NHS).
- Grams of alcohol = ml of pure alcohol × 0.789, the density of ethanol (0.7893 g/cm³ at 20 °C). So a UK unit is 7.9 g, which the NHS rounds to 8 g.
- US standard drinks = grams ÷ 14 (NIAAA). A 12 fl oz can of 5% beer, 5 fl oz of 12% wine and 1.5 fl oz of 40% spirits each hold 0.6 fl oz — about 14 g — of alcohol.
- Australian standard drinks = grams ÷ 10 (NHMRC).
- Calories from alcohol = grams × 7 kcal (29 kJ), the energy factor for ethanol in EU labelling law. Beer, wine and mixers add energy from sugars and starch: for preset drinks the calculator adds the non-alcohol energy of the matching USDA FoodData Central average (for example regular beer, 43 kcal per 100 g), so their calorie figure is an estimate.
The guidelines compared
- UK Chief Medical Officers (2016), for men and women: to keep health risks low it is safest not to drink more than 14 units a week on a regular basis. If you regularly drink as much as 14 units, spread it evenly over 3 or more days, and if you want to cut down, have several drink-free days each week. The risk of a range of health problems, including cancers of the mouth, throat and breast, rises the more you drink.
- Australia, NHMRC (2020): healthy men and women should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than 4 on any one day; the less you drink, the lower the risk.
- US, NIAAA: heavy drinking is 5 or more drinks on any day or 15 or more a week for men, and 4 or more on any day or 8 or more a week for women (US standard drinks). Binge drinking is a pattern that brings blood alcohol to 0.08% — for an average adult, 5 or more drinks (men) or 4 or more (women) in about 2 hours. NIAAA notes that harms may be associated with any amount of drinking.
- WHO/Europe (2023): “there is no safe amount that does not affect health”; the risk to the drinker’s health starts from the first drop.
When not to drink at all
- Pregnancy, or if you could become pregnant: the UK CMOs say the safest approach is not to drink alcohol at all; the NHMRC says women who are pregnant or planning a pregnancy should not drink, and that not drinking is safest while breastfeeding.
- Under 18: the NHMRC advises children and people under 18 not to drink alcohol.
- Before driving, operating machinery or risky activities, with medicines that interact with alcohol, or with health problems that alcohol can make worse (UK CMOs). Driving limits vary by country and are not part of this calculator.
- Very heavy drinkers who are likely to have withdrawal symptoms should get medical advice before stopping (UK CMOs).
Sources
- NHS, Alcohol units
- UK Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines
- NIAAA, What is a standard drink? and Drinking levels and patterns defined
- Conigrave KM et al. Revision of the Australian guidelines to reduce health risks from drinking alcohol. Med J Aust 215:518-524 (NHMRC 2020 guidelines)
- WHO Regional Office for Europe, No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health, and Anderson BO et al., Lancet Public Health 8:e6-e7
- Ethanol density: PubChem, Ethanol (CID 702); energy factor: Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex XIV
- Calories of preset drinks: USDA FoodData Central SR Legacy (FDC 168746, 168749, 171906, 173190, 174837, 174815)
Limitations
- Use the ABV printed on your drink: the presets use typical strengths, and the same kind of drink can range widely (beers from under 4% to over 8%).
- Home and bar pours are often larger than standard measures; measure your usual glass if you can.
- The calculator measures how much alcohol you drink. It cannot estimate your blood alcohol level or whether you are safe to drive.
- Calories for custom drinks count the alcohol only; sugars in mixers, liqueurs and cocktails add more.
- The guidelines are for healthy adults. Some people should drink less or not at all; ask your doctor if you take medicines or have a health condition.
Privacy
Everything happens in your browser. What you enter or open here is not uploaded or stored by MySmartCoPilot.
Frequently asked questions
How many units are in a pint of beer?
A pint (568 ml) of 5.2% lager or beer has about 3 units (2.95); a pint of 3.6% beer has about 2. Multiply the ABV by the millilitres and divide by 1,000.
How many units are in a bottle of wine?
A 750 ml bottle of 13.5% wine has about 10 units; at 12% it has 9. A 175 ml glass of 12% wine is 2.1 units and a 250 ml glass is 3 units.
How many units are in a peg of whisky?
A 30 ml peg of 40% whisky is 1.2 UK units (9.5 g of alcohol) and a 60 ml peg is 2.4 units. If the label says 42.8%, a 60 ml peg is 2.57 units — always use the ABV on the bottle.
What is the difference between a unit and a standard drink?
They measure the same thing in different sizes. A UK unit is 10 ml or about 8 g of pure alcohol, a US standard drink is 14 g and an Australian standard drink is 10 g. So one US standard drink is about 1.8 UK units.
How long does it take the body to get rid of one unit?
The NHS describes one unit as around the amount of alcohol the average adult can process in an hour, although this varies from person to person. That is a rough guide, not a safe-to-drive rule.
Is any amount of alcohol safe?
WHO/Europe says there is no amount of alcohol that does not affect health, and the UK CMOs say no level of regular drinking can be considered completely safe in relation to some cancers. The guidelines describe low risk, not no risk.