What is unit price?
Unit price is the price of one standard unit of a product, such as one ounce, one pound or one sheet. It lets you compare items sold in different sizes on equal terms.
Action level No action usually needed
- Why you are seeing it
- It is the price per ounce, pound or sheet of a product, shown beside its price or worked out by dividing the price by the size.
- Why it matters
- It puts items sold in different sizes on equal terms, so you can compare them without doing the division yourself.
- What should I do?
- Compare unit prices only when they use the same unit, and convert first if one is by the ounce and the other by the pound.
- Check whether you will really use all of a bigger size before you count its lower unit price as a saving.
- A common misunderstanding
- A bigger package is not always cheaper per unit, and the lowest unit price only saves money if you use all of it.
Compare two sizes
Enter a price and a size for each product. Both sizes use the same unit.
Product B has the lower unit price: 5.51% less per oz than Product A.
- Product A
- $0.374 per oz
- Product B
- $0.354 per oz
- Unit price is the price divided by the size. The lower one costs less for the same amount; it does not say the product is better or that you need the bigger size.
How it is worked out
Divide the price by the amount you get: price ÷ size. A $5.99 box that holds 16 ounces costs $0.374 for each ounce.
Compare unit prices only when they are in the same unit. If one product is sold by the ounce and another by the pound, convert first: 16 ounces make a pound.
A simple example
Two sizes of the same cereal
Product A: $5.99 for 16 oz. $5.99 ÷ 16 = $0.374 per ounce.
Product B: $8.49 for 24 oz. $8.49 ÷ 24 = $0.354 per ounce.
Product B costs about 5.5% less per ounce, even though the box costs more.
When it helps, and when it does not
- It helps most with things you use up at a steady pace, such as cereal, detergent or paper towels.
- A bigger package is not always cheaper per unit, so it is worth checking instead of assuming.
- The lowest unit price only saves money if you use all of it. Food that spoils, or a size you have no room for, can cost more in the end.
- Many stores print a unit price on the shelf label. The rules for those labels are set by each state, so the unit used and what is shown can differ from store to store.
Try these tools
- Unit Price CalculatorFind the price per ounce, pound, gram, liter or item for any product, including multipacks.
- Better Deal CalculatorCompare two to four products and see which has the lower cost per ounce, pound, liter or item.