How to Find the Cheapest Petrol Near You in 2026

Published 16 April 2026

      Key takeaway: Fuel prices vary between stations in the same area — often by several pence per litre. Over a year of weekly fill-ups, choosing the cheaper station on your route adds up to a real saving. Checking before you drive saves real money.
    

Whether you're commuting daily, road-tripping across Europe, or just trying to keep your fuel bill down, knowing where the cheapest petrol is before you set off makes a measurable difference. Here's how to do it.

Why fuel prices vary so much

Fuel pricing in the UK and Europe isn't uniform. Supermarkets (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons) tend to be cheaper than branded forecourts like Shell, BP and Esso — though the gap varies by area and day. Motorway services are often noticeably more expensive.

The variation exists because retailers set their own margins on top of the wholesale price + duty + VAT. Competition density matters — stations near a supermarket tend to price lower. Stations with no nearby competition price higher because they can.

The old way: checking manually

Before price-comparison tools, drivers had three options: drive past and look at the totem, ask friends, or just fill up wherever was convenient and hope for the best. None of these scale, and none tell you what's happening three streets away.

The modern way: live price data

Since February 2026, every UK road fuel forecourt has been required to publish live pump prices under the Fuel Finder open-data scheme — enforced by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) from May 2026 onwards. Similar schemes exist across Europe — France's prix-carburants, Spain's geoportalgasolineras (MITECO), Germany's MTS-K (Bundeskartellamt), Italy's Osservaprezzi (MIMIT), Portugal's DGEG, and Austria's E-Control.

This data is public and free. The challenge is turning thousands of rows of raw data into something useful at a glance — which is where a fuel price app comes in.

What to look for in a fuel price app

Live data, not stale. Some apps scrape prices weekly or rely on user submissions. Official feed data updates multiple times per day.
Map view with colour coding. You want to see at a glance which stations are cheap (green) and which to avoid (red), not scroll through a list.
Multiple countries. If you drive in Europe — even once a year on holiday — an app that covers the continent saves you installing a different app per country.
No ads or tracking. Fuel apps that show ads between every screen are actively wasting your time. And location data is sensitive — you don't want it sold.
Works offline. Station data should be cached locally so you can check prices even in areas with poor signal.

How much can you actually save?

Let's run the numbers for a typical UK driver:

A typical tank is around 50 litres
Most drivers fill up roughly once a week
Even a few pence per litre difference adds up over a full tank
Over a year, choosing the cheaper station on your route can save well over £100

For diesel drivers, the differential can be larger, and the saving proportionally bigger.

Tips for getting the best price every time

Check prices before you leave, not when the light comes on. Planning ahead gives you options. Panic-filling at the nearest station is almost always more expensive.
Supermarkets win on price, almost always. Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons consistently price below average. If one is on your route, use it.
Avoid motorway services. They're usually a few pence per litre above nearby towns, and sometimes significantly more. Fill up before you join the motorway if you can.
Don't cross town to save 1p. If the cheapest station is 5 miles out of your way, the fuel you burn getting there offsets the saving. Focus on stations already on your route.

Try FuelHound

Live fuel prices across the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany and Austria. No ads, no tracking, no sign-up.

Learn more

Driving in Europe? Same app, different country

If you're driving to France, Spain or beyond, fuel pricing works differently in every country. French autoroute services are expensive (just like UK motorways). Spanish prices vary by region. Italian forecourt pricing is notoriously opaque.

Having one app that covers all of these — pulling from each country's official data feed and normalising the fuel types so "Unleaded" means the same thing whether you're in London, Paris or Rome — means you don't need to install and figure out a new app every time you cross a border.

The bottom line

Fuel is one of the biggest recurring costs of running a car. Unlike insurance or road tax, it's the one cost you can reduce every single week by making a slightly more informed choice about where to fill up. The data is free, the tools exist, and the savings are real.