Cheapest supermarkets 2023

Which supermarket is cheapest so far in 2023?

Every month, we compare thousands of prices at eight of the UK's biggest supermarkets – Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose – to reveal the cheapest place to buy your groceries and household essentials.

Aldi has been the cheapest supermarket for a basket of groceries every month this year so far except October, when Lidl narrowly overtook it to claim the title. 

In our analysis of a bigger trolley of goods, in which we don't include Aldi or Lidl due to their smaller product ranges, Asda has been cheapest every month but one.

Find out the latest results below (links take you to supermarkets' websites).

November 2023

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in November, knocking Lidl off the top spot – our basket of 47 items cost £76.77.

Waitrose was the most expensive for the same basket of groceries, at £97.39 – 27% pricier than Aldi. 

For our larger analysis, including a mix of 134 branded and own-brand items, Asda was the cheapest once again this month (£328.15), followed by Morrisons which was £10.01 more expensive.

At the other end of the table was high-end Waitrose, at £369.80 for the same list of groceries. Sainsbury's was the next priciest, at £360.26 for those without a loyalty card – almost £10 cheaper than high-end Waitrose. 

Our analysis includes discounts that are available to everyone, but not multibuys or loyalty prices (where you only get the discount if you're a member of the supermarket's loyalty scheme). You can read more about our research further down the page or by clicking here. 

• Find out more: how to spend less at the supermarket

October 2023

Lidl was the cheapest supermarket in October, with our shop costing £74.58, beating discounter rival Aldi by just 17p.

The same basket of 44 items at Waitrose would have set you back an average of £91.15 – that's 22% pricier on average than Lidl.

When it came to the 'big four' supermarkets, Asda was the cheapest for our basket, at £82.11.

We also compared the cost of a larger trolley of 135 items (the original 44 plus 91 more). 

Asda was the cheapest for our trolley of groceries, continuing its reign as the cheapest big supermarket and beating beating second-placed Morrisons by £10.98. 

Our analysis also showed that Waitrose was the most expensive supermarket for a big shop this month. It was £49.66 pricier than Asda on average, with a trolley-full costing £378.08.

September 2023

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in September, with our shop costing £67.72, beating discounter rival Lidl by £1.24.

We also compared the cost of a larger trolley of 131 items (the original 39 plus 92 more). 

Asda was cheapest, while – for shoppers not using a Nectar card – Sainsbury's was the most expensive for the first time. It was £33.52 pricier than Asda on average, with a trolley-full costing £359.23.

August 2023

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in August overall, with our shop costing £65.21, pipping its discounter rival Lidl to the post by £1.32.

When it came to the 'big four' supermarkets, our comparison revealed that Asda was the cheapest for our basket, at £71.48.

We also compared the cost of a larger trolley of 133 items (the original 37, as well as 96 more). 

Asda was the cheapest for our trolley of groceries, returning to its reign as the cheapest big supermarket after being pipped to the post by Morrisons in July – the first time another supermarket earned the title since January 2020.

July 2023

 Aldi was crowned the cheapest supermarket for the 14th consecutive month, with our basket of 38 groceries costing £71.22 on average. 

Morrisons ended Asda’s as the cheapest traditional supermarket for a larger trolley of products. Our big shop at Morrisons cost £341.92 on average.

June 2023

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket for the 13th month in a row, with a basket of 42 items costing £75.25 on average.

For our larger trolley of 134 grocery items, Asda continued its long-running streak as the cheapest traditional supermarket – a title it's held since January 2020. 

May 2023

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket for the 12th month in a row, with our basket of 40 products costing £68.60 on average. 

For a larger trolley of 131 grocery items, Asda continued its long-running streak as the cheapest traditional supermarket.

April 2023

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in April, with a basket of 39 items costing £69.99 on average. It beat rival discounter Lidl by 65p.

For a larger trolley of 135 grocery items, Asda continued its long-running streak as the cheapest traditional supermarket:

March 2023

Aldi was the cheapest overall, with a basket of 41 items costing £72.54: 

Asda was cheapest for a big trolley of 137 items:

February 2023

Aldi was cheapest for a basket of 43 items:

Asda was cheapest for a trolley of 139 items:

January 2023

Aldi was the cheapest supermarket for a basket of 45 groceries:

For a big trolley of 144 items, Asda was cheapest:

How we work out which is the cheapest supermarket

We track the prices of up to 200 branded and own-label products every day over the course of a month to work out the average cost per item. We then add up those averages to get a trolley total for each retailer. We include special offers, but not multibuys or loyalty discounts. 

The contents vary from month to month and might include anything from Andrex toilet paper and Lurpak butter to own-label bread and Heinz baked beans.

Our data is supplied by an independent price comparison company. For stores that don't have online prices we send fieldworkers out to stores to gather prices.

Products in the trolley can vary from month to month depending on availability. This means the totals aren't comparable between months or years.

• Find out more: best and worst supermarkets

Which supermarket was cheapest in 2022?

As well as analysing prices each month, we do a whole-year look each January – and, according to our analysis, Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in 2022.

The discounter was the cheapest in our analysis for seven out of 12 months in 2022, which was more than any other supermarket.

Lidl wasn't far behind, coming out cheapest in the first five months of the year. 

Across the seven months that Aldi was the 'cheapest supermarket of the month', the average difference was £1.59 compared with Lidl.

Asda was the cheapest of the non-discounters, coming out on top every month across 2022.  

Which supermarket was cheapest in 2021?

According to our research, Aldi was the cheapest supermarket in 2021. 

It won the 'cheapest supermarket of the month' title six times that year – more than any other supermarket. Lidl came top for five months and, for one month, the two discounters were tied.

At the other end of the scale, Waitrose was most expensive each month.

Which supermarket was cheapest in 2020?

Lidl was the cheapest supermarket in 2020. The discounter was just 34p cheaper than its nearest rival Aldi for our trolley of 45 branded and own-label groceries. 

It was £26.02 cheaper than the most expensive supermarket, Waitrose.

Cheapest supermarkets 2014-2019

Prior to 2020 we were unable to include Aldi and Lidl in our analysis, and only looked at Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. The overall cheapest supermarkets for each year between 2014 and 2019 were:

• 2019: Sainsbury's
• 2018: Morrisons
• 2017: Morrisons
• 2016: Asda
• 2015: Asda
• 2014: Asda