[beowulfey]

Rinse aid is a dishwasher-specific product. It “helps” by removing residual soap and water spots from a dishwasher cycle.

I use a brand of dishwasher tabs that are supposed to be more “natural” and never use rinse aid, to no ill effect. Personally I think the normal tablets and rinse aid are specifically designed to be used together.

[cubefox]

Tabs usually include both detergent and rinse aid. Normally you would use both separately.