Best Store Brand Water: Every Retailer’s Own Label Compared (2026)

Which store brand water is best?

Good & Gather, on testing and price together. Consumer Reports’ 2020 test of 47 bottled waters included six store brands, and all six landed in its lower PFAS and heavy metal group. Good & Gather was the only one marked as having no detectable PFAS.

Prices from each retailer’s own site on 5 October 2026: one store or zip code on one day, worked out per litre (16.9 oz = 0.5 L). Costco does not show Kirkland’s price online, and we could not open a Trader Joe’s or Kroger product page to confirm price, so none is given.

Is store brand water as good as name brands?

On the only independent test that names them, yes. Store brand water is bottled water sold under a retailer’s own label, such as Target’s Good & Gather or Costco’s Kirkland Signature, rather than under a national brand name like Aquafina. The store brands CR tested sit in the same group as Aquafina, Dasani, Essentia and Smartwater, all below 1 ppt of PFAS and below CR’s arsenic threshold of 3 ppb.

The difference is price. Store brands run about $0.21 to $0.48 a litre in our checks, while premium brands cost $1.67 to $1.91. Our purified water brand ranking puts the store brands and national brands side by side.

Is Kirkland water any good?

Yes. Costco’s listing says Kirkland Signature Purified Drinking Water is bottled using “purification, filtration and reverse osmosis technologies”, with a “proprietary mineral blend added”. CR placed it in the lower group in 2020, and its 2019 arsenic test listed Kirkland among the waters with lower arsenic levels.

Reader’s Digest reports that Niagara Bottling makes it. Costco itself does not name the bottler or post a water quality report. Our Kirkland water review covers every pack size, and our Primo vs Kirkland comparison weighs it against refill jugs.

Is Great Value water safe to drink?

Yes. Great Value Natural Purified Water was in CR’s lower group, and Walmart’s listing gives the ingredients as purified water, calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. At $6.46 for 40 bottles on 5 October 2026 it worked out to about $0.32 a litre.

Walmart does not say who bottles it or how it is purified, and it sells spring and distilled lines too, which are made differently. Our Great Value PFAS page goes through each line.

Which store brand water is the cheapest?

Member’s Mark at Sam’s Club: $4.28 for a 40-pack, about $0.21 a litre. Sam’s Club says it is purified through reverse osmosis. Aldi’s PurAqua was next at $3.55 for 24, about $0.30 a litre. Neither has an independent test, so you are trading a known result for a few cents.

Among tested brands, Good & Gather at about $0.31 and Great Value at about $0.32 a litre are effectively tied on price. For most shoppers the deciding factor is simply which store is closer.

Should you buy store brand spring water or purified water?

Purified, if PFAS is the concern. Under 21 CFR 165.110, purified water must go through distillation, reverse osmosis or a similar process, which removes most PFAS. Spring water is bottled close to its natural state, and in CR’s test the only still waters over 1 ppt were spring waters.

That does not rule out store brand spring water. 365 Spring Water from Whole Foods tested under 1 ppt. The one to avoid from the same store is Starkey, a separate spring water Whole Foods sells, which CR flagged in 2020 at 9.53 ppb of arsenic. Our spring vs purified guide covers the trade-offs.

Has any store brand water been recalled?

None of the big store brands. A search of the FDA food enforcement data for water recalls since January 2023 found none for Kirkland, Great Value, Member’s Mark, 365, Good & Gather, Trader Joe’s, Aldi PurAqua or Kroger.

The one store brand water recall in that window was Meijer Steam Distilled Water, 128 oz, reported on 14 January 2026. Our bottled water recall tracker lists every current recall.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best store brand water?

Good & Gather, Target’s purified water. It was the only store brand with no detectable PFAS in Consumer Reports’ 2020 test, and it costs about $0.31 a litre. Great Value from Walmart is the runner-up at about $0.32 a litre, tested under 1 ppt.

Is store brand water as good as name brands?

On the evidence, yes. Consumer Reports placed every store brand it tested, Kirkland, Great Value, Good & Gather, 365, Trader Joe’s and CVS’s Just The Basics, in its lower PFAS and heavy metal group, alongside Aquafina, Dasani and Smartwater. Store brands cost a fraction of the price.

Is Kirkland water good?

Yes. Kirkland Signature Purified Water is treated by reverse osmosis with a mineral blend added for taste, and Consumer Reports placed it in its lower PFAS and heavy metal group in 2020. It also appears in CR’s 2019 chart of waters with lower arsenic levels.

Which store brand water is the cheapest?

Member’s Mark at Sam’s Club, at about $0.21 a litre for a 40-pack on 5 October 2026. It has no published independent test. The cheapest tested store brands were Good & Gather at about $0.31 and Great Value at about $0.32 a litre.

Who makes Kirkland water?

Reader’s Digest reports that Niagara Bottling makes Kirkland Signature water. Costco does not name the bottler on its listing. Niagara says it purifies water by reverse osmosis or distillation and disinfects it with ozone before bottling.

Has any store brand water been recalled?

Not the big ones. A search of the FDA’s food enforcement data from January 2023 found no recalls for Kirkland, Great Value, Member’s Mark, 365, Good & Gather, Trader Joe’s, Aldi PurAqua or Kroger water. Meijer’s steam distilled gallon was recalled in January 2026.

Is store brand spring water or purified water better?

Purified, if PFAS is your concern. Reverse osmosis removes most PFAS, and in Consumer Reports’ test the only still waters over 1 ppt were spring waters. Store brand spring water such as 365 still tested under 1 ppt, so either is a reasonable choice.