Acesulfame K is 180-200 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), as sweet as aspartame, about half as sweet as saccharin, and one-quarter the sweetness of sucralose. Like saccharin, it has a slightly bitter aftertaste, especially at high concentrations. Kraft Foods has patented the use of sodium ferulate to mask acesulfame's aftertaste. Alternatively, acesulfame K is often blended with other sweeteners (usually sucralose or aspartame). These blends are reputed to give a more sugar-like taste where each sweetener masks the other's aftertaste, and to exhibit a synergistic effect wherein the blend is sweeter than its components.

Unlike aspartame, acesulfame K is stable under heat, even under moderately acidic or basic conditions, allowing it to be used in baking, or in products that require a long shelf life.

Popular products containing acesulfame K include Diet Coke Plus, Diet Rite Cola, 7up Plus, Fruit Shoot, Pepsi Max, Coca-Cola Zero and Vanilla Coke Zero, Pepsi ONE, Lilt Zero, Fresca, Diet Coke with Splenda, Sprite Zero, Powerade, Trident gum, Wrigley's Spearmint gum,Wrigley's Juicy Fruit "red" gum, some SoBe products, XS Energy Drink, Propel Fitness Water, Bundaberg Diet Ginger Beer, Sugarfree Red Bull, Diet Lipton Green Tea with Citrus, Diet Arizona Energy Drinks, Danone Silhouette spring water-based beverage, Presidents Choice "PC 0 Cola", Nestle Pure Life Natural Fruit Flavored Water Beverages, sugarfree Jell-O, Monster Energy low carb, 4C Drink Mixes, Equal table sweetener, and Girl Scouts Sugar Free Little Brownies. In carbonated drinks it is almost always used in conjunction with another sweetener, such as aspartame or sucralose. The compound is also popular in protein powders used by athletes and bodybuilders; Optimum Nutrition's Whey Gold Standard is one brand of powder that uses Acesulfame K.