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Waitrose is on average 35.4% dearer than Sainsbury's
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If we had drawn a different but equally fair set of basket products, the figure would fall inside this range 95 times out of 100. Products that share a shop product are drawn together, so a shared price never counts twice.Read the other way: Sainsbury's is on average 26.1% cheaper than Waitrose (a percentage changes with the shop you start from).
Based on 510 products in the Price Monitor's basket that both shops sell, matched to 334 different pairs of shop products. Below are 75 of those pairs, spread across categories by household spending. For the full list, email research@allsupers.co.uk.
Waitrose was dearer on 428, cheaper on 53 and the same price on 29 of these 510 products. These counts show direction only; the average above also weighs how large each difference is and each category's share of spending.
Each row starts from a product in our basket. At each shop we take the most similar own-label product, confirmed by our automated matching check. One shop product can be the closest match for several basket products, so it can appear in more than one row.
Few shared products in meat, fish; without them, this figure would be +27.8%.
Most Waitrose own-label meat is free range, slower reared or organic, which our matching check treats as a different product from standard meat. Only a few Waitrose meat products count here, and they carry meat's full share of spending.
How we compare prices
We compare the price per kilo, per litre or per item, so pack sizes do not distort the result. Items sold by the piece are only compared with a similar number of pieces. Own-label means each shop's own brands, whatever their name; premium ranges rarely pass our matching check, so these are mostly standard lines. Prices as of 31 August 2026; where a cheaper promotion was running, we use that price.
How the figure is worked out
For each spending category we average the price differences of the products both shops sell, then combine the categories by their share of household spending. The ranking on the Price Monitor page compares all shops at once, through every other shop as well, so it can differ from this two-shop figure; for these two shops the ranking gives Waitrose 32.1% dearer. Categories with fewer than 10 products both shops sell: meat: 4 products, 18% of the weight, fish: 4 products, 3% of the weight. They count at their full share of household spending, like every category, so they can move the figure more than their few products suggest.
The badge shows the price difference per unit for Waitrose.
| Sainsbury's | Waitrose | |
|---|---|---|
 | Waitrose 4% dearer per litre | |
 | Waitrose 3% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 1% cheaper per kg | |
 | Waitrose 11% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 53% dearer per kg | ||
 |  | Same price per kg |
 | Waitrose 20% dearer per kg | |
 |  | Waitrose 93% dearer per kg |
 | Waitrose 139% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 28% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 46% dearer per item | |
 |  | Waitrose 46% dearer per item |
| Waitrose 59% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 8% cheaper per kg | |
 | Waitrose 42% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 131% dearer per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 36% cheaper per kg |
 | Waitrose 16% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 9% cheaper per kg | |
 |  | Waitrose 37% cheaper per item |
 | Waitrose 40% dearer per litre | |
| Waitrose 54% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 2% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 38% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 2% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 75% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 2% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 25% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 47% dearer per litre | ||
| Waitrose 143% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 113% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 2% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 15% cheaper per kg | |
| Waitrose 172% dearer per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 86% dearer per litre |
| Same price per litre | ||
|  | Same price per litre |
 | Waitrose 62% dearer per litre | |
 | Waitrose 77% dearer per litre | |
| Waitrose 10% dearer per litre | ||
 |  | Waitrose 4% dearer per item |
| Waitrose 23% dearer per litre | ||
| Waitrose 52% dearer per litre | ||
 | Waitrose 114% dearer per item | |
 |  | Waitrose 50% dearer per item |
 | Waitrose 114% dearer per item | |
 |  | Waitrose 9% dearer per kg |
 | Waitrose 22% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 80% dearer per kg | |
 |  | Waitrose 104% dearer per kg |
| Waitrose 85% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 50% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 18% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 104% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 124% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 88% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 15% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 108% dearer per kg | |
 |  | Waitrose 5% cheaper per kg |
 |  | Waitrose 167% dearer per item |
 |  | Waitrose 25% dearer per kg |
 |  | Waitrose 15% dearer per item |
 | Waitrose 133% dearer per kg | |
|  | Waitrose 37% dearer per kg |
 | Waitrose 20% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 20% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 160% dearer per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 13% dearer per kg |
| Waitrose 1% cheaper per kg | ||
| Waitrose 18% cheaper per kg | ||
 |  | Same price per kg |
 |  | Waitrose 175% dearer per kg |
| Waitrose 10% cheaper per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 20% dearer per kg |
| Waitrose 10% dearer per litre |
