Is ALDI Cheaper than Walmart? 2019 ALDI vs Walmart price comparison
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UPDATED FOR SPRING 2022: Is ALDI CHEAPER THAN WALMART, 2022 edition
Back in May of 2017 I did a price snapshot comparison between my local ALDI and Walmart stores, where I compared the prices of a number of equivalent items at the two stores in the same town on the same day. I thought it might be interesting to repeat this experiment in 2019 to see if ALDI is still cheaper than Walmart. So, I again visited the same two stores on May 10, 2019 — to collect updated prices and see what might have changed over the past two years.
- If, after reading this, anyone wants to try Walmart grocery pickup, here’s a $10 off $50 code for new customers: TRIPLE10.
- Then of course to be fair, for those of you who want to try out ALDI grocery delivery through Instacart, check out my review.
Read on to see some handy ALDI vs. Walmart price comparison charts I put together for you showing the pricing on a number of common grocery items, plus some observations on how things have changed over the last couple of years. The cheaper of the two prices on each item is highlighted in yellow.
This post has been updated for 2022 — see the 2022 ALDI vs Walmart comparison here.
Which is cheaper: ALDI or Walmart?
Here’s my methodology, such as it is. Just as I did when first comparing ALDI and Walmart pricing in 2017:
- I only checked food items.
- I compared store brand to store brand whenever possible.
- I compared identical sized items whenever possible. When not possible, I’ve provided per pound or per ounce equivalents in the charts below.
Note: I live in the Chicago area, so prices at both Walmart and ALDI are often higher here than in many other parts of the country. Pricing at both stores is regional (and can even vary on some items at two ALDI stores within a few miles of each other), so you might see different prices at your own local stores than I did here.
Also note: Since this is a single day snapshot, pricing on items in the produce and dairy departmentsmight change up even the next day. Lastly, since you can use coupons at Walmart but not at ALDI, that can sometimes knock the price of name brand items down to a more competitive level than if you were to simply buy store brand products without a coupon.
ALDI remains cheaper than Walmart in every category, but…
Prices have gone up on many items over the last couple of years — and in many cases have increased much more at ALDI than at Walmart. (In some categories, the average prices at Walmart actually decreased since 2017.) While ALDI again came out overall cheaper than Walmart in my 2019 price comparisons, on many items the price differential between the two stores is now much smaller than it was in 2017.
ALDI is slightly cheaper than Walmart: On Baking Items
Walmart seems to have worked hard on closing the gap between their prices and ALDI prices on many baking items over the last two years.
Baking item prices at ALDI (on the specific list of items I also checked two years ago) went up an average of 15% between 2017 and 2019, while the prices on the exact same baking items at Walmart actually went down 4%.
In 2017 it would have cost 25% more to buy one of each baking item I checked at Walmart than at ALDI; in 2019 it would cost just 3% more to buy the items at Walmart.
As far as pricing on the new products I checked this year, though, vanilla is the clear winner at ALDI — at almost $2 cheaper for the same 2 oz bottle there than at Walmart.
ALDI is slightly cheaper than Walmart: On Dairy Items
Dairy prices in my area of the country can fluctuate like crazy. In this one day snapshot, however, most went up only slightly from their 2017 levels without the same sort of large jump I saw in the price of baking supplies. In most cases, however, ALDI prices again went up while Walmart prices stayed fairly steady, or even in some cases decreased. For instance, Great Value 32 oz plain Greek yogurt was priced at $3.78 in 2017 but at just $3.47 in 2019, while ALDI’s Friendly Farms plain Greek yogurt went from $3.49 to $3.69 over the same time period.
Overall, Walmart closed the gap a bit on dairy pricing, and on some products the 2019 price differential between the two stores was fairly negligible (single yogurt cups were a penny more at Walmart, for example, while gallons of whole milk were also only a penny over ALDI pricing and half gallons of lactose free milk cost just five cents more). There was a bigger price gap in ALDI’s favor, though, on products like sour cream and cheese.
Organic milk ran a whopping 25% at ALDI over the $2.95 it was in my 2017 snapshot pricing, making Walmart’s Great Value brand the winner this year.
Walmart is slightly more expensive than ALDI: On Frozen Food Items
Frozen food pricing didn’t budge much over these two years, while ice cream tubs and frozen pizzas actually got cheaper at both stores.
I didn’t check a lot of frozen food prices, but both stores also added a number of new items, such as the recently popular lower calorie high protein ice cream.
Snack Food Prices have Skyrocketed at ALDI: Now, Very Close to Walmart Prices
I only checked pricing on a few snack food items back in 2017, but the prices on those same products jumped an average of 53% at ALDI between 2017 and 2019 – while only increasing an average of 2% at Walmart. Tortilla chips, for instance, jumped from $1.29 to $1.69 at ALDI, but Walmart’s $1.98 price remained steady. Saltines were priced at just $.89 at my ALDI store in 2017 — but were all the way up to $1.59 in 2019, while the Walmart price stayed consistent at $1.98. Woven wheat crackers went up $.20 at ALDI, to $1.89, but remained the same $1.78 price at Walmart.
While ALDI still came out cheaper overall, Walmart closed the gap quite a bit: In 2017 it would have cost $6.95 to buy one of each of the six snack items I checked prices on at ALDI, and $11.14 to buy one of each of the same snack items at Walmart. In 2019, the ALDI total for those same six items skyrocketed to $10.60, while the Walmart total only went up $.20, to $11.34.
The Price of Pantry Staples is up at ALDI: But still Cheaper Than Walmart
Prices on several store brand pantry staples at this particular Walmart store actually decreased over the last couple of years. Boxed broth went from $1.86 to $1.44, a 30 oz jar of mayo dropped from $2.98 to $2.48, and 24 oz salsa went from $2.48 down to $1.98. While pricing on most pantry staples at ALDI rose only slightly, rice went up significantly (from $1.29 to $1.99 per 3 lb bag), and pasta is now the same price per 12 oz box that they used to charge for a 16 oz box.
Also worthy of note: In some cases, the price increases on ALDI pantry items have put them within a few cents of their Walmart equivalent. In 2017, for instance, canned diced tomatoes with green chilies ran $.45 at ALDI and $.68 at Walmart. In 2019, they stayed that same $.68 price at Walmart but went up to $.65 at ALDI — turning that $.23 difference into just a $.03 difference. Canned beans that used to run $.55-$.59 at ALDI went up to $.69 in 2019, but remained $.72 at Walmart – bringing a $.15-$.19 price differential down to, again, just $.03.
While ALDI still came out cheaper overall, Walmart again closed the gap significantly when it comes to pantry staples. Walmart also came out ahead on some of the new items I checked in 2019: Sandwich bread, mustard, and old fashioned oats.
Meat Prices are Holding Steady — You’ll Still Save More at ALDI than at Walmart
Meat prices didn’t move around as much between 2017 and 2019, although the cost of beef did go up at both stores. In 2019, ALDI was still the clear winner on everyday meat prices, but with less of a price differential on chicken than on beef and pork products.
Produce Prices are Remarkably Steady — ALDI is Still Cheaper than Walmart
Produce prices are always variable, but as a group the fruit & vegetable prices at both Walmart and ALDI have remained fairly steady over the last couple of years, rising less than 1% on average overall. That’s pretty impressive, actually!
When deciding which store to shop at, though: ALDI remained cheaper on most items. Although some prices were fairly close (bananas, cilantro), others were far enough apart to make a larger impact on your bottom line.
The bottom line on my 2019 ALDI vs Walmart price comparison
Since Walmart has gotten rid of price matching and Savings Catcher, it has become more important than ever to look at everyday prices. The fact that the highest price increases were among packaged goods rather than produce, meat, or dairy is also good news for those of us cooking most of our meals at home.
For an easy-to-read snapshot of prices:
- Download the 2019 ALDI vs. Walmart price comparison charts as a single PDF.
- Download the 2017 ALDI vs Walmart price comparison charts as a single PDF.
Of course, straight up prices are also an entirely different question than the topics of product quality, product availability, customer service, and overall shopping experience. I’ll leave all of that as an exercise for you all at home. 🙂
How do your ALDI and Walmart prices compare?
I would love to hear from some of you who shop at both ALDI and Walmart in different areas: Do you find this pattern to be true at your stores? Is your ALDI cheaper than your Walmart, or do you find prices at your Walmart to be better than those I found at mine? Have you also seen prices at your ALDI increase over the last couple of years?
What have other folks found?
Here are a couple of other interesting recent articles on Walmart vs ALDI:
- For an interesting snapshot on how prices compare across the country, look at this Clark Howard ALDI-Kroger-Walmart price comparison chart from Atlanta, GA stores in February 2019. (Living in Chicago, I’m kind of jealous of some of these prices!)
- Check out this May 2019 CNN report on Walmart vs ALDI, including how Walmart’s prices have lowered to try to keep up.
What do your shopping experiences tell you?
We went to Aldi’s over the weekend for the first time, we didn’t uses to be near an Aldi’s or Walmart and was really surprised how low the prices were. Out of curiosity how do you feel the quality of the meat from Aldi’s is?
It’s no different than any other grocery store meat. Suppliers will vary depending on region, but in my area I’ve watched them unpack private label chicken out of Tyson boxes. 🙂
My family loves Aldi’s meat!
Hi Rachel, Thank you for the price comparison. I have been doing that as well. Our Aldi’s prices are going higher as well. I live in a rural southern town and we also have a Publix and Winn Dixie besides Aldi and Wal-Mart. 3 are not even ten minutes apart. I find that our Aldi’ s usually doesn’t get much of the advertised meat on sale day. When our thighs came in for .79 a pound they were going to expire the next day. It was 1.00 to 2.00 off the packs though. Our salad dressing started out at I believe .89 now is up to 1.49. Our eggs were .79 when they opened now up to 1.13 a dozen. Milk was 3.79 a couple months back so everyone was shopping at Wal-Mart almost the same price and no extra trips for anything. The milk went back down to 1.99. Greek yogurt was a comfort price of. 1.99 then to 2.89 now up to 3.69 or 3.89 I think. We have had our Aldi’s for about a year I think. You are right you have to compare to your area. I sometimes make a couple of store trips because we have specific food allergies. I am glad I am not the only one that does this. I am now doing it on a weekly basis.
I have an Aldi and Walmart on my way home from work. I find that about 50% of my list is cheaper at Walmart. But the things that are cheaper vary. What I have been doing is creating my list as if I’m going to order a pick-up at Walmart. Then when I go to Aldi, I have the exact Walmart prices to compare. I still use Walmart pickup on busy weeks when I care more about my time then I do about money.
CNN also just wrote an article on this very subject. I still like Aldi’s because it is smaller and easier to find things. Sometimes it is exhausting to go to Wal-Mart, and I tend to impulse shop when I am there, which of course drives the total bill higher. I also like the fact that Aldi’s will run specials on different foods, such as German or Japanese. It encourages me to no only get out of my food rut but to try something different. And, my sophomore girl is taking German, so sometimes her instructor will discuss the Aldi’s German food items (in German of course !) so it’s educational in a roundabout way LOL!
I don’t mind bagging my own groceries. I can pack things so items don’t get crushed and I can pack cold with cold, etc. A big win is that there seems to be more of a sense of community. When shopping here, people seem kinder. They will share carts or extra bags ; and I let people get ahead of me who just have a few items, and people have done the same for me. Can’t say I have had that happen in the big box stores very often. Plus, I now am part of the Mashup Mom community where I have found great recipes 🙂
Walmart’s pre-order option is excellent to help avoid impulse buys (and for those of us with little ones). Just order in the morning, let them know you’re on your way during your pickup window, and they bring your bagged groceries right to your car. No charge.
Forgot to include the CNN link How a cheap, brutally efficient grocery chain is upending America’s supermarkets : https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/business/aldi-walmart-low-food-prices/index.html
I used to mostly shop at Aldi but have had some sticker shock lately. This post explains it! I mostly go there because it’s easier to get in and out compared to bigger stores. Their prices are low, but I feel their portion sizes are small so I go through food faster. I find better deals like snack, cereal, pastas and such that come in bigger sizes and last longer for my family at Walmart, Target and a local warehouse grocery (Woodman’s). I now go there specifically for certain specials and go elsewhere for family size food.
I find that Walmart is definitely cheaper for non-food items. But unless I’m caring about a brand Aldi works out better price wise for food items. So it really depends on what’s on my list. I don’t have good luck with Walmart produce so… whatever I do it’s multiple stops.
Who has the best quality specially meats Aldi or Walmart?
My wife and I are about to give up on both ALDI & Walmart. Their prices have been increasing constantly for the past couple of years. Plus, the sizes are getting smaller and smaller and they are charging more money for LESS. In addition, more of Walmart’s shelves have been increasingly empty and product availability for the sizes that we wish to buy are disappearing. We plan to shift our food shopping to Winn-Dixie and only use Walmart for non-food items.
Wow you do pay a lot more in Chicago. In a small city in NC mountains, we rarely pay more than 79c for eggs at Aldi’s. Many items are about 30% higher for you. We find walmart both more expensive and also while I love Aldi’s dairy walmarts store dairy isnt good. Same for rolls
I wonder why your prices are higher on dairy, with Wisconsin right around the corner? Most of our Aldis dairy except milk comes from the midwest.
Meat is in good supply at our Aldis store.
Walmart however has empty shelf problem.
I am handicapped and Walmart has motorized carts. I like Aldis but cant shop there.
I would say Aldi definitely is a world cheaper for my family. We can not get out of Walmart with a weeks worth of groceries for less than $100. Aldi we usually spend $85 to $89 and have enough for a week and a half. We buy very little premade food. We might grab a frozen pizza or some chicken nuggets.
I have been lucky enough to be able to compare Aldi VS Walmart in North Texas and the Chicago suburbs, and I have to say the meat in Texas at Aldi, is much better. It’s hit or miss at either our Walmart and Aldi in Illinois. Sometimes chicken is stringy with little meat and other times it’s normal. I would say 85% of the time in Texas the chicken is loaded with meat. Most of Aldis brand items are much better in quality in our opinion VS Walmart. The biggest culprit is milk for us, which my husband won’t even drink from Walmart label and he’s not the picky kind of guy.
In the end, if we can’t make it to Aldi, I always cringe because I know we’re going to be spending an extra $20 to $30 that we don’t really need to spend, in Illinois or North Texas.
I have become willing to pay slightly more to order online and pick up groceries. Our budget is still tight, but as a working Mom and Dad, I find this convenient and worth it. (Not a dig at stay home Moms, I was for 18 years.).
ALDI is on Instacart in many areas now! https://www.mashupmom.com/aldi-is-now-on-instacart-and-i-tried-it-plus-a-coupon-code-for-you/
Hi Rachel,
thanks.
you are the best.
a lot of work that is really appreciated.
mike and karen, concord, nc
This is where you did the comparison.
M1) Aldi; 1630 Ardmore Ave.; Villa Park, IL
M2) Walmart; 900 IL-83; Villa Park, IL
On the Little Three Happiness Forum, members there have scribed managers at these Aldi and Walmart stores have flexibility to match prices to the competition. Of course, they count on not everybody asking for this. They probably survey the competition once a week. So if a patron (you) wants to try the 21st Century version of haggling, it is worth a shot. A1 & A2 are where I compete.
Paired stores to compare:
A1) Aldi; 4645 W. Diversey Ave.
A2) Walmart; 4618 W. Diversey Ave.
B1) Aldi; 1440 N. Kostner Ave.
B2) Walmart; 4550 W. North Ave.
C1) Aldi; 9930 Joliet Rd.; Countryside, IL
C2) Walmart; 9450 Joliet Rd.; Hodgkins, IL
D1) Aldi; 7020 S. Cicero Ave.; Bedford Park, IL
D2) Walmart; 7050 S. Cicero Ave.; Bedford Park, IL
Prices at Aldi have increased. I stocked up on 16-oz. packages of bologna when it was 99¢. The last time I shopped at Aldi, it was $1.39.
The beer selections at Aldi have gotten better. I can recommend the German import Warnesgruner (6 11.2-oz. bottles $5.99), including the Warnesgruner Dark which appeared on the aforementioned trip; and also the 4-packs of 16-oz. cans ($5.99) from Third Street Brewhouse of Cold Spring, MN. (which I toured in 2010). I particularly enjoyed the ‘Oktoberfest’ session marzen [4.6% ABV]. The reason I went back to Aldi on this aforementioned trip was to buy more of it. But it had sold out, and was replaced by Lost Trout brown ale [6½% ABV], which was OK, and Sugar Shack maple stout [6½% ABV], which I did not like (too much maple syrup taste). These cans may not appear in the beer display, but instead are on an endpoint near a checkout lane.
Aldi is inferior to Walmart in every way. Even Though, item by item analysis of a few items give Aldi the lead in certain no-name brand items; it isn’t really the case when it comes to the whole store experience. Furthermore, prices in my area give Walmart the advantage. However, the biggest difference is the lack of variety. At Walmart, they have a dozen different options of the same item. At Aldi, you might get one or two. Plus, Aldi doesn’t stock things like Quinoa.
Quinoa? https://www.aldi.us/en/products/pantry-essentials/pasta-rice-grains/detail/ps/p/simply-nature-organic-quinoa/ 🙂
It’s preference in a lot of cases, though. Not having a dozen different options of the same item cuts down on decision fatigue and lets you get in and out of the store quickly.
My Aldi carries Quinoa. Can you give one or two examples why you feel Aldi is inferior (Why Walmart is superior)? Because a couple of things I bought at Walmart were junk.
My local grocery chain grocery store is just too expensive, and they also import food from other countries. I don’t need a wide selection of items so Aldi is ideal for me, and only one mile from my house. It’s been a Godsend for me because I am unemployed and poor.