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Aspartame: Aspartame is in many commercial products, most significantly diet beverages, sugar-free gelatin and pudding mix. Aspartame is not heat stable. If it boils or bakes or simmers, it loses quite a bit of it's sweetness. For this reason it is usually added to mixtures after they are cooked, or more commonly, used in cold products to begin with. It is often used to sweeten fruit drink mix like Koolaid. One packet of unsweetened drink mix combined with 12 to 16 packets of aspartame and 2 quarts of water makes an inexpensive beverage. Some people are sensitive to aspartame. When they consume it, they get mild to severe headaches and sometimes other symptoms too. If aspartame isn't for you, there are lots of other sweeteners to take it's place. It has no bitter aftertaste, and to me, tastes just like sugar.
Acesulfame-K:
DiabetiSweet:
Saccharin: Saccharin is heat stable, although heating it will sometimes make it taste a little bit bitter. This is usually overcome with strong flavors in the cooked product like extra flavoring extract, citrus peel, or spices. Sometimes adding a packet of another sweetener will reduce the bitterness. Saccharin is calorie and carbohydrate free. It is also very cheap. Having stood the test of time, many people use it without reservation.
Splenda:
Discovered in 1976, Splenda, or Sucralose, has been available in the
United States since 1998. It is derived from sugar but has
undergone a chemical process so that our bodies do not recognize it
as sugar. It is heat stable and tastes exactly like sugar even
after it has been cooked.
Equal Sugar Lite and
Splenda Sugar Blend: Note: This article is provided to supply information to those who choose to use artificial sweeteners. I personally have stood firmly on both sides of the artificial sweetener line, being at various times both fanatically for and against it. Currently I am on the fence, using both natural and artificial sweeteners in moderation. Should this change, I'll be sure to let everyone know.
1 Corinthians 10:31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
Copyright Hillbilly Housewife 2005-2007 Internet Explorer 800 x 600
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Also
known as Equal or Nutra Sweet, aspartame sweetener has been around
since 1981. It was expensive when it first appeared, but
nowadays it can be purchased quite cheaply. Most stores market
their own personal brand at considerable savings. It's cheapest
form is packets, usually 200 to a box. Each packet is equal to
the sweetness of 2 teaspoons of sugar. 
The
"K" stands for potassium. Acesulfame-K is heat
stable. It has been around in the USA since 1988 and is available in
packets as Sweet One under the Sunnette brand name. Not all
supermarkets carry it, so sometimes you have to hunt a little to find
it. When it cooks, it has a slightly bitter aftertaste. This
doesn't bother everyone. Some people are very sensitive to
bitterness in artificial sweeteners. If this is the case for
you, then Acesulfame-K may not be your best choice. Adding a
packet of aspartame along with the Acesulfame-K, can counteract most
of the bitterness. I don't know why this is, but it works.
Most Sweet One boxes contain 50 packets of sweetener. Each
packet is equal to the sweetness of 2 teaspoons of sugar. On
the plus side, Sweet One is usually quite reasonably priced.
I
have only been able to find DiabetiSweet at pharmacies, along with
other diabetic products. It is available in canisters and also
ziplock bags. Beware, it's expensive. A 1lb bag costs
about $6 in at Walmart. Some people consider it worth the expense
because it can be used for very specific purposes. DiabetiSweet
caramelizes, just like real sugar. Acesulfame-K (see above) and
Isomalt are blended together to create DiabetiSweet. Isomalt is
derived from sugar. It allows DiabetiSweet to behave like sugar
in many instances. In baking DiabetiSweet adds bulk and
tenderness to the finished product, the same way real sugar
does. This can come in very handy sometimes. 
People have been using saccharin for well over 100 years. It
was one of the very first artificial sweeteners ever discovered way
back in 1879. Saccharin used to taste really bad. It
doesn't anymore. Modern saccharin has barely any detectable
aftertaste. Two common brand names are Sweet'N Low and Sugar
Twin. Sweet'N Low is the concentrated form of saccharin. Follow
the instructions on the package for equivalent amounts of sugar.
Sugar Twin is made to measure like sugar which can come in pretty
handy with certain recipes. 
Both
Sweet'N Low and Sugar Twin are available in brown sugar flavors.
This means you can bake with it, boil with it, broil, simmer, roast
and braise with it, and it still tastes like sugar. It is available
in small packets, boxes and most recently in large bags equivalent to
5 lbs of sugar. Splenda in the bag is granulated to measure
like sugar, so 1-cup of Granulated Splenda is equal in sweetness to 1
cup of sugar. The packets are each equivalent to 2 teaspoons of
sugar in sweetness. Splenda does not add the same bulk to
recipes that sugar does. This means that it doesn't make the
fluffiest cakes, but it does make superb cheese cakes, which only
need it's sweetness, not it's bulk.
These
are hybrids that combine sugar with artificial sweeteners.
Equal Sugar Lite is used measure for measure to replace sugar in
baking. Use 1-cup of Equal Sugar Lite to replace 1-cup of
sugar. Splenda Sugar Blend is used in half the quantity of the
sugar called for in a recipe. Use 1/2-cup of Splenda Sugar Blend
to replace 1-cup of sugar. I have not used either of these
products. Inspite of the pretty pictures and marketing
campaigns they seem expensive and superfluous to me. One may
always use half sugar substitute and half sugar in any standard
recipe and get the same results for far less money. These seem
like marketing gimmick designed to profit the companies more than the consumer.