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Alcohol Units Calculator

Build a drink-by-drink list to see your total alcohol units, compare against guidelines, and estimate time to sober.

Units on your list
0.0units

Nothing on the list yet. The guideline drawn below is 14 units a week — about 6 pints of 4% lager, or 4 large glasses of 13% wine.

Nought to 42 units — three times the weekly guideline, and the axis never rescales
You · 0.0
Under the guideline Increasing risk Higher risk

The UK Chief Medical Officers put the low-risk line at 14 units a week, the same figure for men and women. It is not a safe level — it is the line under which the risk is called low.

UK units 0.0 10 ml, or 8 g, of pure alcohol each.
US standard drinks 0.0 14 g of pure alcohol each — a bigger drink, so a smaller number.
Australian standard drinks 0.0 10 g of pure alcohol each. Same drinks, three sticks.

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Beer & cider

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If you drank all of it in one sitting

A week's list is not a night. This only makes sense for the drinks that landed together.

Measured in
Biological sex
This picks the Widmark r factor — 0.68 for men, 0.55 for women — because alcohol spreads through body water and the proportion of it differs.
Back to nought in 0h 0m At the average elimination rate this tool assumes, about 0.015% BAC an hour. Nothing speeds it up.
Which is roughly Now On your device’s clock, from the last drink. Individual rates differ, so treat it as the earliest rather than the answer.

The weekly guidelines

Three countries, three sticks, and the same drink reads differently on each.

CountryA weekWhat it counts
UK 14 units One unit is 10 ml, or 8 g, of pure alcohol. The same figure for men and women since 2016.
US 14 / 7 standard drinks One standard drink is 14 g of pure alcohol. The guideline is daily — two for men, one for women.
Australia 10 standard drinks One standard drink is 10 g of pure alcohol, and no more than 4 of them on any one day.

How this is calculated

UK units are calculated as volume in litres × ABV as a percentage (a 750 ml bottle of 12% wine is 0.75 × 12 = 9 units, and one unit is 10 ml / 8 g of pure alcohol). US standard drinks use 14 g of pure alcohol, which is why the same glass of wine reads differently on each scale.

Sources

Our editorial policy explains how these tools and articles are researched and kept up to date.

What Is an Alcohol Unit?

An alcohol unit is a way to measure the actual amount of pure alcohol in a drink. Different countries define a “standard drink” differently:

  • UK: 1 unit = 10 ml (8 g) of pure alcohol. A pint of 4% lager is about 2.3 units.
  • US: 1 standard drink = 0.6 fl oz (14 g) of pure alcohol — roughly 1.75 UK units.
  • Australia: 1 standard drink = 10 g of pure alcohol — roughly 1.25 UK units.

The numbers on the label don’t tell the full story. A “single glass of wine” can range from 1.5 to 3.5 units depending on the pour size and ABV.

The 14-Unit Guideline

The UK Chief Medical Officers recommend that both men and women drink no more than 14 units per week to keep health risks low. This is equivalent to roughly 6 pints of 4% beer or 6 medium glasses of 13% wine spread across the week.

The guideline isn’t a “safe” level — the risk of conditions like liver disease, cancer, and heart disease increases with any amount of regular drinking. Fourteen units is the level below which the risk is considered low.

How to Calculate Units Yourself

The formula is straightforward:

Units = (Volume in ml × ABV%) ÷ 1,000

For example, a 175 ml glass of 13% wine:

(175 × 13) / 1000 = 2.275 units — about 2.3 units.

Or a pint (568 ml) of 5.2% strong lager:

(568 × 5.2) / 1000 = 2.95 units — about 3.0 units.

Knowing your units lets you track your intake accurately and make informed decisions about your relationship with alcohol.

Asked and answered

Frequently Asked Questions

What is one unit of alcohol?
One UK alcohol unit equals 10ml (8g) of pure alcohol. One US standard drink contains 14g of pure alcohol. A 175ml glass of 12% wine is about 2.1 UK units or 1.5 US standard drinks.
How many units per week is safe?
UK guidelines recommend no more than 14 units per week, spread over 3+ days. US guidelines suggest up to 14 standard drinks per week for men and 7 for women. Recent research suggests no amount of alcohol is completely risk-free.
How do I calculate units myself?
Units = (volume in ml × ABV%) ÷ 1000. For example: 330ml beer at 5% = (330 × 5) ÷ 1000 = 1.65 units.

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