Skip to main content

Greater Toronto Area · free, no sign-up

The cheapest shelf isn’t the cheapest trip.

Other apps tell you the cheapest item. Shelfbee tells you the cheapest trip — shelf price plus the gas and time it’d cost you to get there. A 50¢ saving 25 km away never gets sold to you as a saving.

Or jump to a popular search:

No sign-up required · weekly refresh · Canadian-hosted data

The wedge

Price isn’t the only cost of a grocery trip.

Every other comparison app answers “what’s cheapest on the shelf?” Shelfbee answers the question that actually matters when you’re deciding where to drive: which one or two stops minimise my total real cost — price, gas, and time combined.

Shelf price
What the price tag says.
+ Distance
$0.55 / km — CAA average for a compact car.
+ Drive time
$0.33 / minute — your time at $20/hr.

A typical example

2 L of 2% milk, two stores

Same product. One store nearby, one a 12-minute drive further out with a slightly lower shelf price. Real cost rolls both in.

Store A · closeWinner
Shelf price
$4.99
Drive
1.2 km · 4 min
Real cost$5.78
Better total cost
Store B · further out
Shelf price
$4.49
Drive
11.5 km · 18 min
Real cost$10.82
50¢ cheaper on the tag — $5.04 more in real cost

Real cost = shelf price + (distance × $0.55/km) + (drive minutes × $0.33/min). Distances and drive times are estimated from your postal code via standard routing assumptions, not GPS.

The formula is configurable in the app settings. CAA per-kilometre and standard $20/hour time-value defaults apply unless you set your own. We never use vehicle, household, or income data you haven’t entered.

This week

Shelfbee's flyer — every flyer, in one place

The flyer of flyers. Top sales across every tracked retailer this week, ranked by real cost. Refreshed every Friday.

See all results →

Prices verified from each retailer’s weekly flyer. Always confirm at the store. Some discounts require a loyalty card; the offer page notes the condition.

How it works

Three steps, ten seconds.

1

Drop your postal code

The only input we ever require. Sign-in, dietary preferences, and retailer preferences are optional; the comparison works at minute zero.

2

Search the way you talk

“Pampers size 3,” “2L 2% milk,” “whatever’s cheap for breakfast.” Natural-language queries match canonical products across stores so you can compare apples to apples.

3

See what’s worth the trip

Results are ranked by real cost, with the cheapest store flagged on each product card. Build a shopping list and the trip planner finds the one- or two-stop route that minimises your total spend.

Why Shelfbee

Different question, different answer.

We’re not trying to be Flipp or Instacart. Each comparison app answers a different question; Shelfbee answers the one those don’t.

 ShelfbeeFlippInstacartRetailer apps
SKU-level price comparison across retailersWithin delivery range
Real-cost ranking (price + distance + time)
Multi-store trip optimisation
Flyer browsingOwn flyer only
Per-category retailer preferences
Works without sign-up
Free, ad-lightAd-heavyDelivery margin

FAQ

Quick answers.

See all questions →
How is the 'real cost' calculated?

Real cost = shelf price + distance × $0.55 per km + drive time × $0.33 per minute. The per-km figure tracks CAA estimates for an average compact car; per-minute values your time at $20/hr. A 50¢ saving 25 km away costs $13.75 in gas alone — the formula makes that visible.

Do I need to sign up?

No. Search, real-cost ranking, and the shopping list work without an account. Signing up unlocks personalisation — retailer preferences, dietary stamps, watchlists, price-drop alerts — but the core comparison is always free.

How fresh are the prices?

Tracked stores are scraped every Friday after the Thursday flyer drop. When you search a specific item we also fire a live on-demand check against Loblaws-platform retailers in your radius, so the freshest available price surfaces. Each offer card shows its own last-refreshed timestamp.

Which retailers are covered?

Six tracked head-on: Walmart, No Frills, Food Basics, Shoppers, Costco, and Real Canadian Superstore — plus Loblaws, Fortinos, and Your Independent Grocer through the Loblaws-platform chain. Flipp flyer data folds in another ~20 retailers (Longos, Highland Farms, Dollarama, Sobeys, Metro, etc.) as supplementary live results.

Convinced yet?

Give it a try — no sign-in needed, just a postal code and ten seconds.

Open the app
Refreshed weekly
Friday flyer drop, with live checks when you search.
Canadian-hosted
Your data stays in Canada. PIPEDA compliant.
Independent
No retailer pays for placement. Ranking is real cost, every time.