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.
No sign-up required · weekly refresh · Canadian-hosted data
Illustrative previews · live results vary by postal code
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.
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.
— $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
Deals worth the trip this week
Real flyer prices, ranked by percent off. Refreshed every Friday.
-11%Strawberries 454 g
454 g
$4.00$4.50Real Canadian Superstore · Dufferin Mall
-7%Blue Menu Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1.36kg
$27.99$29.99Fortinos · 330 Queens Plate Dr
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.
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.
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.
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.
| Shelfbee | Flipp | Instacart | Retailer apps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SKU-level price comparison across retailers | Within delivery range | |||
| Real-cost ranking (price + distance + time) | ||||
| Multi-store trip optimisation | ||||
| Flyer browsing | Own flyer only | |||
| Per-category retailer preferences | ||||
| Works without sign-up | ||||
| Free, ad-light | Ad-heavy | Delivery margin |
FAQ
Quick answers.
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.
Ready when you are.
Type a postal code; the rest is one tap away.