Tablets vs liquid: which is cheaper?
A pound of tablets and a gallon of liquid hold different amounts of chlorine, so their shelf prices can't be compared directly. Here both are priced per pound of available chlorine, and per 1 ppm in 10,000 gallons of water.
3" tablets
- Cheapest, per lb chlorine
- $2.04
- Typical, per lb chlorine
- $5.64
- Typical, 1 ppm in 10k gal
- $0.471
Cheapest: 3 inch 50 Pounds Chlorine Tablets , Stabilized Chlorine Tablets for Hot Tubs, Swimming Pools and Spas - Slow Dissolving at AliExpress (US warehouse)
All 3" tablets prices →Liquid chlorine
- Cheapest, per lb chlorine
- $3.53
- Typical, per lb chlorine
- $8.61
- Typical, 1 ppm in 10k gal
- $0.719
Cheapest: Stearns Swim Shock 12.5% 4-Pack at Blain's Farm & Fleet
All liquid chlorine prices →Price isn't the whole story
Tablets are convenient: drop them in a floater or chlorinator and they dissolve for a week. But every pound adds cyanuric acid (stabilizer). A little CYA protects chlorine from sunlight; too much makes it sluggish, and the only real fix is draining water.
Liquid adds nothing but chlorine and a little salt, and raises pH slightly. It has to be added more often, it's heavy, it loses strength in storage, and most stores only sell it for pickup.
A common approach is tablets until CYA reaches about 30–50 ppm, then liquid for the rest of the season. The cost calculator prices both for your pool.