Taco Bell and Burger King, priced on the same day at their own ordering systems - 857 restaurants in all. The chains sell different food, so the fairest test is the one thing they all sell that is exactly the same: a bottle of water. It costs $1.99 at Taco Bell and $2.19 at Burger King.
On a sealed bottle of water - the same product and size at every chain - the gap is pricing and nothing else.
Priced at 267 Taco Bell restaurants, 441 Burger King restaurants. A sealed bottle is the same everywhere, so this is the cleanest cross-chain price there is.
| Chain | Bottled water | Restaurants |
|---|---|---|
| Taco Bell | $1.99 | 267 |
| Burger King | $2.19 | 441 |
A different question, and worth asking separately: the cheapest single item at each chain that counts as food - found the same way for all of them, so a sauce or a bare patty cannot win the slot. Taco Bell has the cheapest way in.
| Chain | Cheapest item | Usually | Restaurants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taco Bell | $1.39 | Cheesy Roll Up | 416 |
| Burger King | $1.69 | Jalapeño Cheddar Bites | 441 |
"Usually" is the item most often cheapest across that chain's restaurants; the exact one varies by location.
A Big Mac is not a Whopper is not a Crunchy Taco, and no arithmetic makes them one, so this page does not rank the chains on their signature items or on the median of everything they sell. That last number exists - and it mostly measures how each menu is written, since the chains stock different mixes of combos and add-ons. The comparisons above use only what genuinely lines up.
Prices are what each chain's own ordering system quotes for pickup, not delivery, and they change. See how each varies restaurant by restaurant on the price map, restaurant by restaurant.