The drying shrinkage at 55% relative humidity of alite pastes with and without 1% calcium chloride (CaCl₂) at equal degrees of hydration was investigated. CaCl₂ increases drying shrinkage at all levels of hydration studied. However, the difference in drying shrinkage of pastes with and without 1% CaCl₂ decreased with increased hydration. Shrinkage of pastes with CaCl₂ decreased with increasing hydration (40 to 75%), whereas shrinkage of pastes without CaCl₂ increased with increasing hydration (43 to 62%). A larger weight loss during drying was noted in pastes without CaCl₂. Reference is made to the relationship between the observed shrinkage in alite pastes and differences in the pore size distributions of tricalcium silicate pastes with and without CaCl₂.