Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda: which is the cheapest UK supermarket?

Saving on the weekly grocery shop will be a top priority for many of us. But which supermarket came out the cheapest in the latest analysis?

With inflation now expected to rise to 3.7% in 2025, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility, cutting the cost of the weekly shop may be more critical than ever.

But where will you find the best bargains?

The cheapest supermarket of 2025

The team at Which? run a handy study each month, comparing the average cost of products at Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose.

In March 2025, the cheapest supermarket was Aldi, which narrowly beat discount rival Lidl for the cheapest basket of shopping items. 

Customers paid an average of £133.73 for a trolley of 79 products at Aldi - 67p cheaper than the same trolley at Lidl, which was £134.40, including the Lidl Plus loyalty app or £134.43 without it. 

Aldi was previously named by Which? as the cheapest supermarket in 2024 – the fourth year it had come out top.

What about the larger supermarkets?

Tesco for Clubcard members came third in the list, with customers paying £146.79 on average for their shopping – or £149.83 without using a Clubcard. 

Asda, which doesn't have a loyalty card scheme, came fourth in the list with its basket of goods costing £147.09. 

Interestingly, Which? found it was still cheaper to shop at Tesco without a loyalty card than to shop at Morrisons and Sainsbury's with one.

Waitrose was once again the most expensive supermarket, with a trolley of 79 items costing £176.41 – £42.68 or 32% more than at Aldi.  

The shopping list of items included both branded and own-brand items, such as Hovis bread, Birds Eye Peas, milk and butter.

The big shop

The researchers also investigated the cheapest retailer for a ‘big shop’. This involved looking at 150 items, including branded products.

Note that the researchers couldn’t include Aldi and Lidl since they only stock a limited number of brands.

Once again, Asda came out on top as the cheapest, with the trolley of 203 items costing £498.

Coming in second was Tesco, where shopping with a Clubcard for the same items cost £503.03. 

Meanwhile, the same shop cost £515.79 at Sainsbury's, using a Nectar card, while Waitrose was still the most expensive supermarket, with the trolley of 203 items costing £573.15 – £75.15 more than shopping at Asda. 

“Aldi has once again been crowned as the UK’s cheapest supermarket in our monthly price analysis, however, Lidl has narrowed the gap with its rival," said Reena Sewraz, Which? retail editor. 

"It was also a strong month for Asda, as it continues to be the cheapest supermarket for a bigger list of groceries.

“Shoppers are still feeling the effects of food inflation, and with prices forecast to rise again, people are likely looking to cut costs where they can.

"Our analysis shows that by switching supermarkets, shoppers could pay 24% less, highlighting the advantages of shopping around where possible."

Prices for March

As part of the research, Which? tracked the cost of 79 own-label and branded items for every day last month.

Goods included baked beans, a Hovis loaf, milk, carrots and Birds Eye peas.

The survey includes the prices for both members and non-members of loyalty schemes.

Meanwhile, annual grocery price inflation rose slightly to 3.5% in the four weeks to 23 March, according to market analysts at Kantar. 

Prices are rising faster for items such as chocolate, butters and spreads, and chilled smoothies and juices, and falling fastest for dog food, cat food and household paper products such as toilet and kitchen roll.

As you can see from the table above, there’s quite a difference between the cost of a trolley of food sourced from the deep discounters and the more premium outlets such as Waitrose and Ocado.

Indeed, a Waitrose shop was £42 more expensive than Aldi in March.

The bigger trolley

Of course, many households pick up a wider range of items when grocery shopping, so Which? carried out a similar study with a total of 203 items.

Again, this analysis didn’t include Aldi or Lidl.

Here’s how the supermarkets compare on the larger shopping basket:

Again, Waitrose came out as the most expensive, with prices £75 higher than those at Asda. 

The impact of loyalty schemes

Although Tesco came out the cheapest for loyalty scheme members with a total cost of £503.03, non-members would have paid an additional £37.

Likewise, Nectar card holders would have paid an average of £515.79 for the items on the list.

Meanwhile, those who aren’t members of the loyalty scheme would have faced a bill almost £44 higher.

The Grocer study

Which? isn’t the only organisation that keeps a keen eye on supermarket pricing.

Industry bible The Grocer also tracks prices and other supermarket features, such as service and product availability.

Its latest study for March, Asda was the most affordable at £62.39, which was £2.09 cheaper than runner-up Morrisons.

Prices for other supermarkets came in at £69.93 for Tesco, £74.10 for Sainsbury's and £74.60 for Waitrose.

Note that all the prices above include loyalty schemes.

Supermarket rip-offs revealed

Where do we want to shop?

With the cost-of-living crisis, it’s hardly a surprise that our shopping habits ‒ and particularly the supermarkets we use ‒ are changing.

However, it’s not in the way you might expect.

In previous years, the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury’s lost market share as shoppers looked for cheaper deals.

However, they are recovering, partly due to those lower prices for their discount scheme members.

According to the latest research from data firm Kantar, Tesco has a market share of 27.9%, Sainsbury’s is at 15.2%, Aldi 11%, Asda stands at 12.5%, Morrisons at 8.5%, Lidl 7.8%, The Co-op 5.3%, and Waitrose has 4.4% of the market.

Have your say

What do you think of this research? Which supermarket do you find the cheapest? Or perhaps you think price isn’t always the top concern.

We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.