Money

9 free grocery apps that will save you money at the supermarket

‍The price of groceries seems to rise every time we step foot in the supermarket. Lucky for us, these free grocery apps offer a way to keep more of your money in your pocket.

By Bron Maxabella

The good news is, the food inflation we’ve been struggling against for years in Australia has finally slowed. The not-so-good news is that this doesn’t mean prices are coming down any time soon.

This isn’t a small problem, either. The Foodbank Hunger Report 2024 found that food insecurity in Australia has reached a critical point – 3.4 million households across Australia were experiencing food insecurity and, of those, 2 million households were experiencing "severe" food insecurity.

“This is no longer a crisis of temporary hardship but a prolonged, systemic issue affecting millions of Australians,” says Brianna Casey AM, Foodbank Australia CEO. “These households live with the daily anxiety of not knowing where their next meal will come from, forced to choose between essentials like food, housing and utilities.”

Which may seem like a heavy way to start a cute listicle article about grocery store apps, but the facts are facts. Discovering ways to save at the supermarket is a nice-to-have for some, but critical for others.

Whatever your circumstances, these apps all offer tangible savings at the checkout line. Each works slightly differently and you’ll likely get the best savings if you combine the might of 1 or 2 of them.

Frugl

Frugl offers up-to-the-minute pricing and specials across each of the major supermarkets – Coles, Woolworths, ALDI, IGA.

Simply input your weekly shopping list and Frugl tells you where it’s cheapest to shop your list. You can input nutritional requirements like ‘low sugar’ to help you put together a healthier shopping list. Plus there’s a food allergen and dietary requirements feature that filter out products you need to avoid.

WiseList

‍WiseList bills itself as a “daily organisation” app, and that includes sorting out your grocery shopping. The app reveals which supermarket (usual suspects: Coles, Woolies, Aldi) has the lowest price on each item on your shopping list. You can then either order Click&Collect from each store, or take your app along to each of the stores to do your own shopping, or order from all the stores directly in the WiseList app to have your whole order delivered within 2 hours.

Delivery is done by a local ‘WiseList personal shopper’ who shops each of the stores on your behalf. You pay a flat delivery fee for this service (calculated based on time of day and distance from the store) on top of the service fee charged for shopping through WiseList (which is 5% of your total bill).

This all sounds expensive, but testimonials in the app store indicate that your savings cover these costs and then some.

Half Price

This one does exactly what it says: it lists all the 50% off specials at Coles and Woolworths, Liquorland and BWS in any given week. The app updates every Wednesday morning.

If you’ve got the capacity to buy non-perishable items in bulk this app could save you a fortune. Make a list of all the items you regularly buy (think toilet paper, tinned food, cleaning products or pet food) and check your list against the app each week. If any of your regular items are offered half-price near you, stock up and store them to use throughout the year.

Most apps will create a shopping list for each store, making shopping faster and easier, as well as cheaper. Image: iStock/Drazen Zigic

Shopfully

‍Shopfully brings together all of the catalogues and specials from major stores like Coles, Woolies, IGA, Officeworks, JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman, BigW, Bob Jane, Bunnings… actually, it’s hard to find a big brand that’s not on this app.

If you’ve got a few favourite brands you regularly shop from, the app will send you a notification when a new catalogue is uploaded by those retailers.

Grocerize

This free grocery app is simple to use and should make both your shopping experience and your ability to save easier. You simply search for your shopping list and Grocerize shows you the real-time price comparison between Woolworths and Coles.

Add your preferred items to the cart (presumably the cheapest) and you’ll be shown how much you’re saving as you go. Once you’ve shopped for everything, the app will automatically create two shopping lists, one for each of the supermarkets.

Supermarket apps

If you’re a loyal supermarket shopper (or perhaps you only have 1 supermarket handy to shop from), you can still save money using an app. That’s because each of the supermarkets has a grocery app of their own.

Aldi

It’s well known that if you have access to an Aldi, you’re going to save money by shopping there rather than at either Coles or Woolies. Consumer group CHOICE found a basket of 14 common grocery items at Aldi cost a huge 25% less compared to the same basket at Coles or Woolworths. (By comparison, there was very little difference in basket price between the two giants.)

The Aldi app makes shopping at the store even cheaper. For a start, you’ll also never miss one of their famous middle-of-the-aisle specials, plus you’ll be able to plan ahead to pick up their weekly grocery specials.

IGA Rewards

The independent retailers have their own savings app - IGA Rewards. It’s free to join and the program offers member rewards, entry into prize draws, exclusive travel deals and personalised offers that are emailed directly to you each week.

Coles

The Coles app offers a quick and easy way to sort through weekly specials and half-price discounts. You can also link your Flybuys to keep an eye on points and offers.

To save more money at Coles, consider taking out a Coles Plus Saver membership. This isn’t technically a ‘free grocery app’ as it costs $7 a month. However for that you get 10% off one shop a month (up to $50 off), which means the membership easily pays for itself. You’ll also get 2x Flybuys points and extra special offers each week.

Woolworths

The Woolworths app makes it easy to create your shopping list and track specials. If your local shop offers it, you can also use the app like a barcode scanner and go straight through the checkout via Scan&Go.

There’s a separate app for their Everyday Rewards program. You’ll get 10 points for every dollar you spend at Woolworths and points for shopping with participating partners like BWS, BigW, Caltex and Origin Energy. Points translate into dollars off your shopping and you can ‘bank’ your earned dollars to spend at Christmas – a welcome bonus come December.

Like Coles, Woolies has a bonus program you pay for called Everyday Extra. It’s more generous than the Coles offering, with your 10% discount on a single shop each month covering up to $100 off. While grocery prices are through the roof, it would still be rare for someone to spend $1000 on a single shop. However, plan your shopping list well and you could do one big shop for the whole month and easily reach that target. It costs $7 a month or $70 annually to join the program.

‍Feature image: iStock/andresr