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 food price inflation hitting 4% in July, 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 July 2025, Aldi lost its spot as the cheapest supermarket to discount rival Lidl for the first time in 20 months. Lidl beat Aldi for the cheapest basket of shopping items by £1.35 with a loyalty card or 85p without one. 

Which? compared the prices of 76 popular grocery items and found that it was cheaper to shop at Lidl (with and without loyalty prices) than at Aldi, Asda, Tesco with a Clubcard or Sainsbury's with a Nectar card.

Customers paid an average of £128 for a trolley of 76 products at Lidl with a Lidl Plus card - £1.35 cheaper than the same trolley at Aldi, which cost £129.35.

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?

Asda, whose loyalty scheme only offers cashback rather than discounts on items, came fourth in the list with its basket of goods costing £139.53.

Meanwhile, Tesco for Clubcard members came fifth in the list, with customers paying £141.92 on average for their shopping. 

Sainsbury's was next, with a trolley there costing £144.21 with a Nectar card. 

Doing your shopping at Tesco without a Clubcard, meanwhile, cost £145.10 for the same items. 

Waitrose was once again the most expensive supermarket, with a trolley of 76 items costing £170.91 – averaging £42.91 (or 34%) more than at Lidl.

The shopping list of items included both branded and own-brand items, such as Hovis slice bread, milk and cheese.

The big shop

The researchers also investigated the cheapest retailer for a ‘big shop’. This involved looking at 192 items, including branded products.

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

Asda came out on top as the cheapest for the seventh month in a row, with the trolley of 196 items costing £474.12.

Coming in second was Tesco, where shopping with a Clubcard for the same items cost £481.59. 

Meanwhile, the same shop cost £490.64 at Sainsbury's, using a Nectar card, while Waitrose was still the most expensive supermarket, with the trolley of items costing £538.33 – £64.21 more than shopping at Asda. 

For shoppers without a Nectar card, Sainsbury's was the second most expensive after Waitrose, with a trolley there costing £525.98 - more than at Ocado, where it was £521.72. Not having a Nectar card cost shoppers a further £35.34.

Prices for June

As part of the research, Which? tracked the cost of 76 own-label and branded items for every day last month.

Goods included Hovis sliced bread, milk and cheese. 

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

Meanwhile, annual grocery price inflation jumped to 5.2% in the four weeks to 13 July, according to analysis from Worldpanel by Numerator.

This is the highest level seen since January 2024. The price of items such as chocolate, butters and spreads and fresh meat are rising faster, while those for dog food, sugar, confectionery and laundry are falling at the fastest rate.

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 nearly £43 more expensive than Lidl in July.

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 196 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 £64.21 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 £481.59, non-members would have paid an additional £32.20.

Likewise, Nectar cardholders would have paid an average of £490.64 for the items on the list.

Meanwhile, those who aren’t members of the loyalty scheme would have faced a bill around £35 higher.

Indeed, Which? researchers said they thought loyalty scheme providers should make more of an effort to make sure customers without smartphones or who are under 18 can access them. 

Shopping with a loyalty card at Lidl, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury's would save customers 0.3%, 0.6%, 2.2% and 3.6% respectively.

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 July, Asda was the most affordable at £79.08 for a trolley of goods, which was nearly £2.61 cheaper than runner-up, Tesco.

Prices for other supermarkets came in at £82.64 for Sainsbury's, £88.16 for Morrisons and £101.87 for Waitrose.

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 Worldpanel by Numerator, Tesco has a market share of 28.3%, Sainsbury’s is at 15.1%, Asda stands at 11.8%, Aldi 10.9%, Morrisons at 8.4%, Lidl 8.3%, The Co-op 5.2%, 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.