Before anything else, one point that clears up most of the confusion around this question. A 100ml bottle of e-liquid never contains nicotine when you buy it. UK law caps any nicotine-containing bottle at 10ml, so every larger bottle on the shelf is sold nicotine-free as a shortfill, with a separate 10ml nicotine shot added by you if you want one.

So this is not really a comparison of two bottle sizes. It is a comparison of two ways of buying: ready-to-vape in small bottles, or mix-your-own in large ones. Which suits you depends almost entirely on your device and the strength you vape at.

At a glance

The strength question settles it for most people

This is the row that decides it, and it is the one most comparisons skip. A 100ml shortfill in a 120ml bottle takes two 10ml nic shots. Two 18mg shots into 120ml of finished liquid gives you roughly 3mg/ml. There is no arrangement of shortfill and shots that gets you to 10mg or 20mg, because the maths does not allow it.

So if you need a higher strength, and most people making the switch from cigarettes do, the format decides itself. You need 10ml bottles. Shortfills exist for people who vape at 3mg, and those people are almost always using a sub-ohm kit where each puff delivers far more vapour.

Our step-by-step guide on what shortfills are covers the mixing itself, and our earlier piece comparing shortfills and 10ml bottles gives the short version.

What it actually costs

Per millilitre, shortfills win comfortably. A 10ml bottle such as Pure - Ice Menthol or Pure - Strawberry sits at around £4.16, which is roughly 42p per ml. A 100ml shortfill plus two nic shots at around £1.25 each works out closer to 12p to 15p per ml once mixed.

That looks decisive until you factor in how much you actually vape. A pod kit user gets through far less liquid than a sub-ohm user, because a tight mouth-to-lung draw uses a fraction of the volume. Buying a 100ml shortfill for a pod kit often means the last third goes stale before you reach it, which is no saving at all.

The other thing to plan for is the vaping duty of £2.20 per 10ml arriving on 1 October 2026. It applies to nicotine-containing liquid. A 10ml bottle carries it once. A shortfill is nicotine-free, so the duty falls on the nic shots you add rather than the 100ml itself, which shifts the sums in favour of the shortfill format for those who can use it.

Convenience against choice

A 10ml bottle needs nothing from you. Unscrew, fill, vape. Our 10ml range covers the widest span of flavours, including own-brand options such as Pure - Virginia, Pure - Watermelon and Pure - Blackcurrant, and third-party favourites like Vampire Vape - Heisenberg.

A shortfill asks for a couple of minutes. Add the shots, shake hard for thirty seconds, and let heavier dessert flavours sit for a few days to settle. Not difficult, but it is a step, and it means you cannot simply open a new bottle at the moment you run out. Our shortfill range and the 100ml collection cover the options.

There is a middle ground worth knowing about. 50ml shortfills in 60ml bottles take a single nic shot and produce the same 3mg result with less commitment, which suits someone trying a new flavour in the format for the first time.

Waste, freshness and how fast you get through a bottle

This is the part the cost-per-millilitre sums miss entirely. An opened bottle is at its best for a couple of months, and after that the flavour gradually flattens even when stored properly.

A sub-ohm vaper might finish 100ml in a week or two, so freshness never becomes an issue. Someone on a pod kit, refilling a couple of times a day, will take well over a month to finish the same bottle, and if they bought two flavours at once, the second is fading before they start it. The cheaper liquid is not cheaper if a third of it goes to waste.

Mixed shortfills also need shaking before each fill if they have been standing, and heavier dessert blends want a few days to steep before they taste right. None of that is difficult, but it is worth knowing before you commit to a large bottle of something you have never tasted.

The 50ml middle ground

Sitting between the two is the 50ml shortfill in a 60ml bottle. It takes a single nic shot rather than two, mixes to roughly the same 3mg, and costs a good deal less to try.

This is the sensible way into the format. If you are curious about shortfills but reluctant to buy 100ml of something untested, a 50ml is half the risk and exactly the same process. Our 50ml range is worth a look for that reason, and if you like the flavour you can move up to the larger bottle with confidence.

Our balanced verdict

Use a pod kit or a mouth-to-lung device, or vape at 10mg or 20mg? Buy 10ml bottles. The format matches your hardware, the strength is available, and there is nothing to prepare. The apparent premium per millilitre is largely offset by how little liquid these kits use.

Use a sub-ohm or direct-to-lung kit at 3mg, and get through a bottle in a week? Shortfills are the sensible choice and the saving is real.

The mistake worth avoiding is buying a 100ml shortfill because it looks like better value, then finding it is far too thick for your pod kit and far too weak to satisfy a craving. Match the format to the device first and the value follows. We are rated 4.8 out of 5 by over 4,800 UK customers, and our friendly advisers will happily check which camp your kit falls into before you commit to a big bottle.