4 Low Sugar Dairy-free Ice Cream Brands and How they Rank

Updated in 2025! In the 80s and 90s, fat was the enemy, but in the 2000’s sugar became the dietary nemesis. Many Americans dove into the keto craze, while millions more have made real efforts to cut back on their added sugar intake. Consequently, quite a few low sugar dairy-free ice cream brands came to market in the past decade. As the sugar-free hype has waned, several options have quietly slipped away, but there are still a handful of brands remaining …

Low Sugar Dairy-free Ice Cream Brands and How they Rank

This post covers the mainstream brands that you can find at grocery stores throughout the country or order online for shipment to your home. To start, I cover a few important FAQs, but they are quickly followed by the low sugar dairy-free ice cream brands!

Are these Really “Ice Cream?”

Because they’re free of dairy, many of these brands are actually called “frozen desserts” or “frozen treats.” But they’re all churned blends that are frozen and packed into pints with the intent to be an alternative to ice cream. So for simplicity and familiarity sake, we’ll call them low sugar dairy-free ice cream. It’s a lot easier than trying to awkwardly describe each one.

Why is Low Sugar Dairy-Free Ice Cream Dense?

Sugar isn’t just a sweetener. It actually adds body to ice cream, and it lowers the freezing point. This results in a softer ice cream that doesn’t freeze as solid in your freezer. Consequently, less sugar = harder ice cream. To compensate, low sugar dairy-free ice cream makers have to add more fat, processed ingredients, or whole foods with natural sugars (like fruit) to help coax the frozen dessert into a spoonable texture. Even then, it’s very difficult to get a truly creamy consistency without sugar, and without dairy. But the brands below have given it their best effort. According to consumers like you, some have done a truly credible job.

The Package Has a Different Serving Size. What Gives?

Some of these low sugar dairy-free ice cream brands have a 1/2 cup serving size, and some have a 2/3 cup serving size. For easier comparison, we’ve adjusted them all accordingly to 1/2 cup serving size. This is why a few are listed here with lower calories and sugars than on the pint.

Are these Brands Allergen Safe?

All items listed below are dairy-free by ingredients. But ingredients are subject to change at any time, and all products are at some degree of risk for allergen cross contamination, whether they have a “may contain” statement or not. Always read the label before consuming any food, and make sure you are familiar with this may contain information. Only you can decide what foods are safe for your needs.

#1 Fronen Dairy-Free Frozen Dessert

For years this brand used bananas to keep the added sugars low, and added just a squeeze of honey to make the flavors pop. They have ditched the bananas, and now use natural sweeteners. The total sugars are still the same, but the added sugars have gone up a smidgen. They are still low compared to mainstream brands, and the creamier consistency and seamless taste are worth it, in our opinion.

• Sweeteners: honey, coconut sugar, and/or dates
• Calories per 1/2 cup: 125 to 200
• Sugars per 1/2 cup: 10 to 13 grams (9 to 12 grams added sugar)

#2 Arctic Zero Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert

Not long ago, Arctic Zero transitioned from a lactose-free company to a dairy-free one. That’s a big move. In the process, they definitely lost some customers. But they have gained a new loyal following. These definitely taste lower sugar, and are a bit dense, but are still enjoyed by many.

• Sweeteners: organic cane sugar, acacia gum, monk fruit concentrate
• Calories per 1/2 cup: 40 to 80
• Sugars per 1/2 cup: 5 to 10 grams

#3 Sprouts No Sugar Added Coconutmilk Frozen Dessert

We don’t have access to Sprouts, so I’ve had to rely on reader reports. And so far, the feedback on this product is pretty good. At first glance it looks like So Delicious repackaged, but these pints do have a different recipe. Thus far, it only comes in Vanilla, and it looks very similar to the version that contains sugar. So make sure you pick up the right one up!

Coconutmilk (Water, Coconut Milk Powder), Allulose, Chicory Root Fiber, Coconut Oil, Erythritol, Glycerin, Natural Flavors, Mono- And Diglycerides, Carob Gum, Himalayan Salt, Guar Gum, Vanilla Beans, Monk Fruit Extract.

• Sweeteners: allulose, erythritol, monk fruit extract
• Calories per 1/2 cup: 91
• Sugars per 1/2 cup: <1 gram (0 grams added sugars)

#4 So Delicious No Sugar Added Coconut Milk Frozen Dessert

For about a decade, this was a favorite product among sugar-free consumers. And it was pretty darn impressive. It ranked #2 on this list, and hit the sweet spot for softness and close to normal flavor. But then, they messed with perfection. The consumer reviews on our site plummeted, so I bought a pint to see if it really was that bad. We had two dairy consumers and two dairy-free consumers in our taste test, and all of us made a horrible face on first bite. The taste wasn’t what we remembered, and the consistency was quite hard. But if you need a nearly sugar-free dairy-free ice cream, it’s worth a try!

• Sweeteners: acacia gum, erythritol, monk fruit extract, stevia
• Calories per 1/2 cup: 120 to 156
• Sugars per 1/2 cup: <1 to 2 grams (<1 gram added sugars + 3 to 6 grams sugar alcohol)

Discontinued Brands of Low Sugar Dairy-free Ice Cream

This has been a very hard category for frozen dessert producers. Even some of the brands above have scaled back the number of flavors they make. And we’ve seen all of these brands completely discontinue their low sugar ice cream lines:

• Eat Mudd
• Enlightened Dairy-Free (they still make a dairy line)
• Higher Harvest (this is an H-E-B house brand)
• Must Love Bananas
• O’MY Gelato
• Rebel Dairy-Free Sorbet (they still have dairy ice cream)

Rate them Yourself in our Dairy-Free Ice Cream Reviews!

The above rankings are based on our in-house testers and your reviews! See our Dairy-Free Ice Cream Reviews to leave your own unbiased rating and review on the brands you’ve tried (if you are in no way affiliated with the brand). No login required!