Tesco vs Aldi Ireland: 40+ Branded Products Compared (April 2026)

Tesco and Aldi are the two supermarkets Irish shoppers ask about most. The answer to "which is cheaper?" depends on what you're buying — and that answer changed over the last 12 months as both chains repositioned. We pulled live prices from the MasterMarket database (scraped directly from tesco.ie and aldi.ie) and matched branded SKUs head-to-head. Here's what the data shows this week.

Headline finding: On identical branded products, Tesco and Aldi are at price parity on roughly half the matched SKUs (e.g. Kerrygold 454g, Barry's Tea 250g, Nutella 350g, Cornflakes 1kg, Hellmann's Mayo 430ml). On the other half, Aldi beats Tesco's everyday price by 10–40%, while Tesco beats Aldi only when Clubcard multi-buy deals land (Cadbury Crunchie 4pk, Hellmann's Mayo 750ml, Knorr-branded soups).

For own-brand staples — bread, milk, cheese, eggs — Aldi structurally wins on everyday price, but we cover that in a separate section because own-brand SKUs don't match 1:1 across the two chains.

The matched-brand comparison (live April 2026)

All prices captured from tesco.ie and aldi.ie in the last 21 days. Tesco prices show the regular shelf price unless a Clubcard (membership) flag is noted. Aldi prices show the current shelf price — see the data quality note at the end.

Chocolate & confectionery

Tesco's Clubcard prices on Cadbury multi-packs are hard to beat. Without Clubcard you'd pay €2.50–€3.00 at Tesco — higher than Aldi. On single SKUs like Nutella, prices are identical to the cent.

Dairy, eggs & bread

Kerrygold is the cleanest benchmark in Irish grocery: priced identically across Tesco, Aldi, SuperValu, and Dunnes. If a store ever drops it below €4.99 it's a story in itself.

Tea, coffee, cereal

Tea and cereal are fully price-matched. Flahavans is the outlier: Aldi's 25% discount on flapjacks is consistent with its "Irish brand, smaller SKU count, lower margin" positioning.

Cooking, condiments & pantry

The larger the SKU, the more Aldi's cost advantage shows up. Hellmann's 430ml is a dead tie; the 750ml sees Aldi €1.51 cheaper at everyday price.

Household & personal care

Personal care is where Aldi's advantage is structural. Even with Tesco's Clubcard price, Sensodyne and Colgate are materially cheaper at Aldi — 35–50% less.

Pet food

Where the story goes beyond matched branded SKUs

The branded comparison above covers ~40 SKUs. Irish shoppers spend most of their basket on own-brand products — where a direct SKU comparison isn't possible because Tesco's own-brand (Tesco Everyday Value, Tesco Finest) and Aldi's own-brand (Brookdale, Specially Selected, Moser Roth) are different product lines.

Working from category-level price pulls in the MasterMarket database:

• Own-brand white bread (800g): Tesco Everyday Value ~€1.10 vs Aldi own-brand loaf ~€0.85 — Aldi 20–25% cheaper on the base tier.
• Own-brand fresh chicken breast fillets (per kg): Aldi runs roughly 10–15% below Tesco's regular price, though Tesco's Clubcard multi-buys on chicken can close or flip the gap.
• Own-brand fresh milk (1L): Both chains cap at ~€1.15, price-matched (see Milk Prices in Ireland for the full per-litre breakdown).
• Fresh produce (loose vegetables, fruit): Aldi is consistently 15–30% cheaper on permanent lines (bananas, apples, onions, potatoes). Tesco's edge is range — a wider variety of herbs, salad leaves, pre-packed options.

Aldi's Special Buys — what you can't price-shop for

About 20% of Aldi's store is taken up by rotating "Specialbuys" (Thursday and Sunday drops): electronics, kitchenware, clothing, garden tools. These land at deep discounts but are one-off stock — if you miss the week, the SKU may never return. Tesco has no equivalent — its closest play is the F&F clothing range and seasonal aisle, which are more predictable but less dramatically priced.

For weekly grocery shopping, Specialbuys are a bonus, not a comparison point.

So who's cheaper overall?

The honest answer: Aldi is cheaper for a basket of permanent-assortment own-brand staples and personal care; Tesco is cheaper (or level) once you factor in Clubcard multi-buy deals on branded favourites.

The swing depends on your shopping mix:

• Shopper 1 — mostly own-brand, no loyalty card: Aldi wins, typically €10–€20 cheaper on a €60 basket.
• Shopper 2 — mostly branded, holds Tesco Clubcard, buys multi-packs: Tesco wins on the weekly total.
• Shopper 3 — mixed, splits shop across Aldi (staples) + Tesco (Clubcard deals + specific ranges): best of both. This is the MasterMarket use case — we show both prices side-by-side on every product page.

How we compare

Prices are scraped from tesco.ie and aldi.ie and stored in the MasterMarket database. We only include rows that passed automatic validation (no obvious outliers, correctly parsed SKU). "Tesco Clubcard" means a membership price requiring a Tesco Clubcard. Multi-buy prices assume you meet the minimum quantity. We refresh this table monthly.

Data quality note (April 2026)

In this pull, every Aldi row carried a promotional flag — this reflects a known scraper issue (audited in MASA-94, fix in progress under MASA-97: the Aldi scraper's regex was matching Aldi.ie's site-wide "Specialbuys" nav link on every product page) rather than a real on-sale status for every SKU. For this comparison we've treated Aldi prices as "current shelf price this week" and not quoted the promotion_text field at all. Where an Aldi price is materially below Tesco's (20%+), we've called it out as a real promotional gap. We'll republish with corrected regular-price tagging once MASA-97 lands.

FAQ

Is Aldi cheaper than Tesco for the weekly shop in Ireland? For a mostly own-brand weekly shop without a Tesco Clubcard, Aldi is typically cheaper by €10–€20 on a €60–€80 basket. With a Tesco Clubcard and a mix of branded multi-buys, Tesco can match or beat Aldi.

Which brands are the same price at Tesco and Aldi? In our April 2026 pull: Kerrygold 454g, Barry's Tea 250g, Nutella 350g, Hellmann's Mayo 430ml (both versions), Knorr Stock Pots, Kellogg's Cornflakes 1kg, Maxwell House, Whiskas 1.9kg, Ballymaloe Relish, and Dairygold 454g — all priced identically.

Does Aldi do a loyalty card like Tesco Clubcard? No. Aldi's everyday price is its only price — there is no membership card, no points scheme, no two-tier shelf pricing. What you see on the shelf is what you pay.

How often is this comparison updated? Monthly. The MasterMarket site shows live prices for every individual product year-round — this article is a snapshot view.

Where can I see every product's live price? Search any product on MasterMarket — the product page shows current prices across Tesco, Aldi, SuperValu, Dunnes Stores, and Lidl, plus 12-month price history.

Prices compiled from the MasterMarket database on 22 April 2026. 40+ matched branded SKUs pulled from tesco.ie and aldi.ie scrapers in the prior 21 days. Own-brand and category-level comparisons derived from aggregate pulls and rounded to nearest 5%. Monthly refresh.

Internal links to add before publishing:

• Hero/footer CTA → pillar Compare Supermarket Prices in Ireland (pending — Brief 1 publishes last)
• Milk section → Milk Prices in Ireland (Brief 9, pending MASA-89)
• "How to save" CTA → How to Save €100/Month on Groceries in Ireland (Brief 8, pending)