Is Sprouts Cheaper Than Publix? What To Know

With food prices continuing to rise these days, you definitely want to make your grocery store budget stretch further when shopping. Two of the main options you might be considering for your groceries are Publix and Sprouts. Both stores have an established presence. Publix is regionally focused in the South with more than 1,400 stores in eight states. On the other hand, Sprouts is more spread out across 25 states but only has about a third of the amount of stores (close to 500) that Publix operates.

Bottom line, though — which store is cheaper? Sprouts or Publix? The general online consensus seems to be that Publix is one of the more expensive grocery store brands — and that compared to Sprouts, Publix is more expensive. But, from our research, that isn't necessarily the case.

We researched six fairly common purchases, from bread to eggs, and discovered that, overall, Publix proved to be cheaper. Keep in mind, prices will vary by location. But, at least according to our findings, Sprouts is a bit more expensive than Publix. Let's break it down.

As we mentioned, we price checked six fairly common grocery store purchases from both Publix and Sprouts. For starters, a boneless, skinless chicken breast costs $6.99per pound at Sprouts and $6.09 at Publix. For 80% to 85% lean ground beef, you can expect to pay $8.49 per pound at Sprouts, while the same at Publix will run you $7.19. When it comes to a dozen large eggs, you'll pay 80 cents less at Publix ($3.19 versus $3.99). If you're looking for Nature's Own Butterbread, Publix has another huge advantage in cost at $3.57 per loaf versus Sprouts' $5.49. However, a pound of strawberries costs less at Sprouts at $3 per pound, as opposed to $3.69 at Publix. Finally, a 24-ounce jar of marinara sauce will set you back $4.00 at Sprouts and only $3.65 at Publix. 

Of the six items we researched, Publix had five cheaper items while Sprouts had one. Sprouts' only cheaper option was a pound of strawberries, while Publix offered cheaper versions of store-bought marinara sauce, chicken breast, ground beef, eggs, and bread.

The two largest differences in price of all six items were Nature's Own butterbread — where Publix was nearly $2 cheaper than Sprouts — and the ground beef in which Publix came in $1.30 cheaper than Sprouts. Two other moderate differences in price include the chicken breast (90 cents cheaper at Publix) and the eggs (80 cents cheaper at Publix).

Because of those discrepancies, we'll give the nod to Publix. The biggest takeaway for us was that while the Southern grocery chain might get bad rap when it comes to being more expensive than other stores, we say that isn't true.