Are Comparison Sites Still Relevant in 2025?

Price comparison sites review and match the services of multiple providers. This is then presented to consumers to provide them with the best deal. In the article below, we discuss their relevance in 2025 and if they still hold power for shoppers.

Over the past ten years, price comparison sites have become essential to the online economy. In the current cost of living crisis, they are a money-saving lifeline. These websites collate information from a number of consumer providers and aggregate their prices. In certain circumstances, they may even rate and review the services on offer. It is estimated that around 85% of all consumers have used a price comparison site. 

The Current Climate of Price Comparison

Generally, comparison sites are used to find the best prices for a given service. This can include household utilities, like electricity or the internet. However, it may also stretch to financial products like insurance and banking services such as credit cards. You can find price comparison sites that will get you deals on flights and holidays. Even the entertainment sector, particularly the online casino industry, uses price comparison sites. Websites like casinos.com will break down the best offers and deals provided by casinos for new customers. They can then be compared by differing factors like payment methods and the selection of games on offer. There really are a few corners of the online economy that price comparison sites have not touched.

The obvious advantage of using price comparison sites is that they save consumers money. It allows them to get the best deals and provide the lowest prices. Consumers can then contrast and compare each one, finding the best money-for-service deal available. However, what is more important than saving money and an often overlooked factor is time. Comparison sites save buyers the effort of searching. Imagine getting individual quotes from the many offers on comparison sites: This could take well over half a day for just a few. Yet in a couple of minutes, it can be complete. In fact, consumers can often get better deals by finding out which providers are not on comparison sites. However, they seldom do, as many are willing to pay for the convenience.

Comparison sites also offer a much wider choice. They will have providers that the searcher may not have even thought of or heard about. This can bring them into contact with companies that may be more suited to their needs, either through price or brand identity. As a business, this is also a great way to expand your customer base.

 

Cons of Using Comparison Sites

The downside to comparison sites is that they often add fees. They will generally charge a fee to the businesses that are on their website. However, they may also work on an affiliate sale. This is where they take a small percentage of the profit made from any sales. Generally, this is much better as it tends to not be added on to the customer. Both of these can work through percentages of one-off payments.

Not all providers are on all comparison sites, which can be troublesome. You may find a provider on one site that does not exist on others. In some cases, businesses and services may not use comparison sites at all. This can mean that as a consumer, you may miss out on great deals as the pool can be limited. Therefore, it is often better to try one or two comparison sites to get a better overview.

Finally, price comparison sites can be a little cold, both for customers and businesses. As a third party arranges everything, there is no interaction between the buyer and the company. This can make companies faceless and can harm brand loyalty. In fact, comparison sites are quite terrible at building brand loyalty as they encourage people to switch and change based on price alone.

Google and Price Comparison Sites

Another advantage of price comparison sites is that they are often watched over and defended by consumer watchdogs and laws. This means you can often trust what they are saying or providing wholeheartedly. Why wouldn't they? As soon as they get a reputation for recommending poor-quality products, their business is over.

A recent example was a fine given to Google for £2.1bn by the European Commission. The well-known search engine had been encouraging agencies to create price comparison sites, which it would place in Google Shopping Box. Its comparison service is not a new concept and was actually launched in 2018. However, despite resembling price comparison sites, they were not and instead were actually giving preference to certain retailers.

This proves that even the biggest of companies when engaging in price comparison, must adhere to the law on fair trade. Price comparison sites are still relevant in 2025, and with even more choices online, are arguably even more vital. Remember to use them next time you are comparing products and see how much you can save, or even find services you did not know existed.