The lowest sugar fruits, ranked

Fruit gets treated as a single food group, but the sugar in a lime and the sugar in a date are not remotely in the same league. Sort our fruit list by grams of sugar per 100 grams and the spread runs from under one gram to more than sixty. If you are watching added sugar, or simply want to know which fruit gives you the most flavor for the least sugar, the ranking below is built entirely on USDA FoodData Central values, the same reference set behind every score on NutriVerdict.

Two numbers matter here, and they do not always agree. Sugar per 100 grams tells you how concentrated a fruit is. Sugar per serving tells you how much you actually take in when you eat a normal portion. A fruit can look moderate per 100 grams yet deliver a big sugar load simply because people eat a lot of it in one sitting. We list both so you can judge for yourself.

The low end: berries, avocado, and citrus

The bottom of the sugar scale is dominated by three groups: avocado, tart citrus, and berries. Avocados carry roughly 0.7 grams of sugar per 100 grams, the lowest of any fruit we track, which is why they read more like a fat source than a sweet one. Rhubarb sits near 1.1 grams, and limes land around 1.7 grams, about 1.1 grams in a whole lime. Fresh lemon juice is close behind at 2.5 grams per 100 grams, which is part of why a squeeze of it adds brightness without adding much sugar.

Berries are the workhorse category for low-sugar eating. Cranberries come in near 4.3 grams, raspberries around 4.4 grams, and both blackberries and strawberries hover near 4.9 grams per 100 grams. A full cup of raspberries carries only about 5.4 grams of sugar, and a cup of strawberries lands near 7.2 grams. That combination of low sugar and high fiber is what keeps berries near the top of our low-sugar rankings.

The middle: melon, papaya, and blueberries

Watermelon reads low per 100 grams at about 6.2 grams, but it is worth watching per serving because portions run large: a standard serving can carry more than 17 grams of sugar. Papaya sits near 7.8 grams per 100 grams, and blueberries climb to about 10 grams, with a cup delivering close to 15 grams. Blueberries are a useful reminder that a fruit can be nutrient rich and still land in the higher-sugar tier, so serving size does the real work.

The high end: bananas, mango, and dates

At the top of the scale, sugar concentration rises sharply. Bananas carry about 12.2 grams per 100 grams, or roughly 15 grams in a medium banana. Mango reaches near 13.7 grams per 100 grams, with a cup of pieces delivering more than 22 grams. Fresh figs land around 16.3 grams. And then there are dates, which sit in a category of their own at roughly 63 grams of sugar per 100 grams because they are essentially dried fruit, with the water removed and the sugar concentrated. None of these are foods to avoid, but they are the ones to portion with intent.

Why the fiber matters as much as the sugar

Sugar is only half the story. Whole fruit arrives packaged with fiber, water, and the cellular structure of the food itself, all of which slow how quickly that sugar is absorbed. That is the practical difference between eating an orange and drinking a glass of orange juice: the juice carries most of the sugar with almost none of the fiber. It is also why the berries at the top of our low-sugar list pull double duty, since raspberries and blackberries pair some of the lowest sugar figures in fruit with some of the highest fiber. When you compare two fruits with similar sugar, the one with more fiber per serving is usually the more filling, longer-lasting choice.

Dried and processed forms deserve a separate mention. The same fruit can jump several tiers once the water is removed or the juice is pressed out. Dates are the clearest example, but the pattern holds for raisins, dried figs, and bottled juices across the board. If you are tracking sugar, the safest default is fresh and whole, then check the label on anything dried or bottled before you assume it belongs in the low-sugar group.

How to use this ranking

If your goal is to keep sugar low without giving up fruit, anchor your choices in berries, citrus, and avocado, and treat bananas, mango, and dates as smaller accents rather than the base of a bowl. Whole fruit also comes with fiber that slows how quickly that sugar arrives, which is why a fresh orange behaves differently from a glass of juice with the fiber stripped out. To see the full list in order, browse our low sugar ranking, where every food we track is sorted by sugar so you can compare fruit against vegetables, dairy, and everything else on one scale.