Price comparison · Live data
FreshCo vs No Frills: which is actually cheaper?
The overall record
A matchup is one staple, in one region, in one flyer week, where both chains advertised it. Whichever listed the lower median price wins.
335
No Frills cheaper
236
FreshCo cheaper
50
Tied
Week by week
No Frills won 12 weeks, FreshCo won 3, and 1 finished even. Weeks with too few matchups to call are left out.
No Frills wins FreshCo wins. Ties excluded.
Aisle by aisle
Package sizes differ between the two chains, so a lower sticker price is not always a cheaper product. An aisle only gets a winner when one chain took at least 60% of decided matchups over six or more flyer weeks and the per-unit comparison agreed. Everything else is marked a toss-up.
| Staple | No Frills | FreshCo | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🍞 Bread | 49 | 29 | No Frills |
| 🧀 Cheese | 33 | 42 | Toss-up |
| 🥣 Yogurt | 54 | 18 | Toss-up |
| ☕ Coffee | 31 | 16 | Toss-up |
| 🍚 Rice | 36 | 9 | Toss-up |
| 🥔 Potatoes | 18 | 13 | Toss-up |
| 🍝 Pasta | 25 | 9 | No Frills |
| 🥩 Ground beef | 13 | 15 | Toss-up |
| 🍎 Apples | 0 | 21 | Toss-up |
| 🥦 Broccoli | 7 | 8 | Toss-up |
| 🥛 Milk | 9 | 7 | Toss-up |
| Ham | 11 | 8 | Toss-up |
| 🍗 Chicken breast | 9 | 6 | Toss-up |
| Cranberry sauce | 12 | 0 | Toss-up |
Numbers are matchups won. Aisles with fewer than 10 matchups are left out.
By region
Both chains operate in Ontario and Western Canada, so we can run the same comparison region by region.
| Region | No Frills | FreshCo | Matchups |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa | 68 | 49 | 125 |
| British Columbia | 60 | 48 | 119 |
| Manitoba | 62 | 48 | 119 |
| Alberta | 54 | 38 | 99 |
| Toronto | 49 | 27 | 83 |
| Kitchener-Waterloo | 26 | 9 | 39 |
| Edmonton | 16 | 17 | 37 |
So where should you shop?
If you only shop one of the two, No Frills is the safer default. But on most aisles, which week you buy matters more than which store you pick. Each chain takes its turn advertising the lower price, because flyer specials rotate to pull shoppers in.
- Bread and pasta: buy at No Frills. They are the only aisles where one store wins week after week, whatever the package size.
- Cheese, yogurt, coffee, rice, potatoes and the rest: buy wherever this week's flyer has them cheaper. Neither chain wins these reliably.
- Live near both? Splitting your shop between them, guided by each week's flyer, captures most of the difference.
For the wider picture, our aisle-by-aisle comparison ranks every chain we track, and the No Frills vs Walmart vs Food Basics guide covers the other big discount banners.
FreshCo and No Frills at a glance
- No Frills is Loblaw's discount banner, sister to Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore. It earns PC Optimum points.
- FreshCo is the discount banner of Sobeys parent Empire Company. It earns Scene+ points.
- Both publish a weekly flyer that starts on Thursday in nearly every region we track.
How we measured this
CartIQ reads the flyer feeds for both chains twice a week and classifies each item to a staple. For every region, week and staple where both chains advertised the item, we take each chain's median advertised price and record which was lower. Prices within half a percent count as a tie. This page is generated from that database and rewrites itself as new weeks land.
A few limits. These are advertised flyer prices, not shelf prices and not what anyone paid at checkout. A matchup compares staple categories, not identical products, which is why aisle verdicts also require the per-unit comparison to agree. Data runs from the week of May 25 to the week of October 5.
Frequently asked questions
Is FreshCo cheaper than No Frills?
Usually not. Across 621 price matchups on the same staples in the same region and week, No Frills advertised the lower price 54% of the time and FreshCo 38%. No Frills came out ahead in 12 of 16 weeks and FreshCo in 3. On most individual items the gap is small and changes from one flyer to the next.
What is FreshCo cheaper for?
No aisle consistently. FreshCo wins more matchups than No Frills on cheese, ground beef, apples and broccoli, but none hold up once package size is accounted for. Buy those at FreshCo in the weeks its flyer has them cheaper.
What is No Frills reliably cheaper for?
Bread and pasta. Those are the aisles where No Frills won at least 60% of matchups and the per-unit comparison agreed. Everything else is close enough to swing either way.
Who owns FreshCo and No Frills?
No Frills is owned by Loblaw Companies, the same parent as Loblaws and Real Canadian Superstore, and earns PC Optimum points. FreshCo is owned by Sobeys parent Empire Company and earns Scene+ points. They are each company's main discount banner.
How did you compare the two chains?
For every region, week and staple where both chains advertised the item, we take each chain's median advertised flyer price and record which was lower. Prices within half a percent are a tie. An aisle only gets a winner if one chain took at least 60% of decided matchups across at least six flyer weeks, and the per-unit price comparison pointed the same way, so a bigger package does not count as a cheaper one.
Who wins near you this Thursday?
CartIQ checks FreshCo, No Frills and 30+ other chains for your postal code. Free, no signup.
Check this week's deals →Related
Figures are median advertised prices from Canadian retailer flyers, generated live from CartIQ's price database. They are not shelf prices and vary by location and week. CartIQ is not affiliated with FreshCo, No Frills or any retailer named on this page.