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Waitrose is on average 31.1% 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 23.7% cheaper than Waitrose (a percentage changes with the shop you start from).
Based on 516 products in the Price Monitor's basket that both shops sell, matched to 337 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 431, cheaper on 55 and the same price on 30 of these 516 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 +23.6%.
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 30 September 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 27.4% dearer. Categories with fewer than 10 products both shops sell: meat: 3 products, 18% of the weight, fish: 6 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 16% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 11% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 53% dearer per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 8% cheaper per kg |
 | Waitrose 20% dearer per kg | |
 |  | Waitrose 14% dearer per kg |
 | Waitrose 139% dearer per kg | |
| Same price per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 15% dearer per item |
 | Waitrose 39% dearer per kg | |
 |  | Same price per kg |
 |  | Waitrose 30% dearer per item |
 |  | Waitrose 1% dearer per kg |
| Waitrose 131% dearer per kg | ||
| Same price per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 71% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 9% cheaper per kg | |
| Waitrose 40% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 2% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 54% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 2% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 13% dearer per litre | ||
 | Waitrose 2% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 10% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 20% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 24% cheaper per kg | ||
| Waitrose 21% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 113% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 12% dearer per kg | ||
 | Waitrose 34% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 33% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 35% dearer per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 86% dearer per litre |
| Waitrose 18% dearer per litre | ||
| Same price per litre | ||
| Waitrose 2% dearer per litre | ||
| Waitrose 10% dearer per litre | ||
| Waitrose 47% dearer per litre | ||
 | Waitrose 94% dearer per kg | |
 |  | Waitrose 99% dearer per kg |
 |  | Waitrose 167% dearer per item |
 |  | Waitrose 11% dearer per item |
 |  | Waitrose 25% dearer per item |
 |  | Waitrose 107% dearer per item |
 |  | Waitrose 8% dearer per item |
 |  | Waitrose 75% dearer per kg |
 | Waitrose 12% cheaper per item | |
| Waitrose 11% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 51% dearer per litre | ||
 | Waitrose 29% dearer per item | |
 |  | Waitrose 4% dearer per item |
 | Waitrose 5% dearer per item | |
| Waitrose 36% dearer per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 80% dearer per kg |
 | Waitrose 3% dearer per kg | |
 | Waitrose 80% dearer per kg | |
 |  | Waitrose 7% dearer per kg |
 |  | Waitrose 19% dearer per item |
 |  | Waitrose 42% dearer per kg |
 |  | Waitrose 3% dearer per item |
| Waitrose 124% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 88% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 15% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 75% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 52% dearer per litre | ||
 | Waitrose 59% dearer per kg | |
| Waitrose 38% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 68% dearer per item | ||
| Waitrose 160% dearer per kg | ||
| Waitrose 32% cheaper per kg | ||
 |  | Waitrose 55% dearer per kg |
 |  | Waitrose 13% cheaper per item |
 |  | Same price per item |
