Nectar Prices, Clubcard Prices, Lidl and Aldi Price Match… just how do you know if you’re getting the best deal? Well, there are several price comparison sites available that will help you compare prices. Let’s take a look at the best options on offer, plus a few tips on how to save extra.
The bad news is that prices always seem to be on the increase, especially when it comes to food shopping.
But the good news is, there is something we can do about it – by making sure we get the best deal. And to do this, we can use price comparison sites. Until recently, one of the best sites to use when looking for better grocery shopping prices was mySupermarket. However, that closed in 2020, so we need to look for alternatives.
Supermarket Wizard
This is possibly the smartest of all the supermarket comparison sites. Choose the supermarket you want to shop with, add your items to your basket (either from a menu or search bar) and on the right side, you’ll see how much your total bill will come to from all six supermarkets.
You can also see previous price changes for products and you can print off your shopping list.
Supermarket Wizard even allows you to toggle on and off Nectar and Tesco Clubcard prices.
The only thing it’s really missing is a page to show which supermarkets are offering multi-buy promotions.
Trolley.co.uk
Trolley.co.uk doesn’t have menus, so you will need to use the search button to find specific items. However, it does show daily deals at all of the listed stores.
If you create an account with Trolley, you can create various shopping lists and come back to them when you want. Each shopping list will tell you the store which offers the cheapest price, along with a button so you can go straight there.
There’s a notes section if you need to add something about a product. You can also see how much a product usually sells for.
If you need to, you can invite others to add to your shopping lists.
But the most useful feature of Trolley is its Chrome extension. Add it to your browser, and when you’re on a supermarket’s website, it will tell you if cheaper prices can be found elsewhere.
Priceable
This is the most comprehensive on the price comparison sites. Add items to your shopping list and Priceable will give you a breakdown of costs between each supermarket.
You will need to use the search function as Priceable doesn’t have menus for you to browse.
Priceable also lists all the multi-buy deals for each supermarket, so it’s useful if you want to go deal shopping.
My Supermarket Compare
My Supermarket Compare allows you to find products through the navigation menu or by using the search function.
Simply click on the product and you’ll see a list of stores and prices.
There is a favourite button so you can add the products you like to a list. However, this doesn’t work at the time of my review.
My Supermarket Compare also comes with a useful feature of being able to see how the price of products has changed over time.
Latest Deals
Latest Deals offers supermarket price comparison only through their app. This is useful if you’re out and about, but a little cumbersome if you want to shop at home and compare a lot of prices.
Type in the product you want and Latest Deals will show you a list with the store and the price and if there are any multi-buy offers available. Click on the item and it will take you to the supermarket’s website.
There’s no option to create a shopping list, so you can only compare prices of individual products rather than a full shop.
MySupermarkets.uk
MySupermarkets.uk allows you to browse products through their menus or by using their search function. However, the menus aren’t the easiest to navigate and some came up as empty.
You can add individual products to a comparison table or place items you want on a wishlist. I assume this will give you an overall price comparison, but I was unable to get the wishlist to work.
Any items on the MySupermarkets.uk website will link directly to the supermarket.
Don’t forget Which?
If you’re more interested in general price comparisons between supermarkets rather than the price of specific products, then take a look at Which? Each month, they select specific items from one small shop (20 items) and one large (around 80 items) and then rank each supermarket by cost.
They compare prices from:
- Aldi
- Lidl
- Asda
- Sainsbury’s
- Morrisons
- Tesco
- Ocado
- Waitrose
Of course, these aren’t guaranteed to be items you’re interested in, but they will give you a general idea of the best value. You will need to pay a monthly subscription to Which? to see these prices, but plenty of other benefits are included too.
Which is the best supermarket price comparison site?
This is a close one as there are several decent options. However, Supermarket Wizard wins by a nose. It’s incredibly easy to use and has almost everything you need from a comparison site. Trolley.co.uk and Priceable are very good options too,
Other ways to save money on your supermarket shopping
If you find that a supermarket comparison site doesn’t help you much when it comes to saving money, then there are a few other methods you can check out.
Receipt scanning apps
There are plenty of companies out there trying to promote their products and drive more sales. To do this, they offer discounts on their items, or even sometimes, offer it for free. This is done through specific apps like Shopmium, GreenJinn or CheckoutSmart.
Once you buy an item listed on the app, submit a photo of your receipt and you’ll be sent your refund.
Take a look at the best receipt scanning apps.
Check out cheap food sites
Have you ever had food in your cupboard that you don’t fancy and don’t know what to do with it? Well, there are apps and sites that link people together that allow them to give away this kind of food for free.
You can also find food that major stores will need to throw away at the end of the day, which they will sell for a heavily discounted price. Take a look at how to save money on your food.
Apps
Most of the major supermarkets now have their own apps that help you find discounts on your shopping. Nectar has released Nectar Prices at Sainsbury’s, which gives you personalised discounts when you use SmartShop. Lidl has its own loyalty app, which lists various discounts for its products in-store. Although you won’t save major money, they’re still worth downloading.
Gone but not forgotten
mySupermarket – the original supermarket price comparison site. This was closed down in 2020.
Comparasaurus – this app stopped working in 2021.
Shelf Scraper – this simple, no-frills site was removed in 2022.
My Supermarket Price Comparison – also removed in 2022.
FAQs
Why doesn’t Lidl show on price comparison sites?
I assume that Lidl hasn’t made their software open for others to use. Because of this, comparison sites can’t get live pricing data from Lidl.
Steven
Wednesday 20th of April 2022
There is also this https://mysupermarketpricecomparison.com/ which is a very nice website and worth checking out (mysupermarketpricecomparison.com).
Money Saver Pete
Thursday 21st of April 2022
Thanks Steven. I shall add it to the list