Frugal review

The supermarkets and corporations are wily devils, and spend millions of pounds a year on figuring out how to manipulate our perceptions and coax us into spending just a little extra money every time we step through the automatic doors.

We’ve looked at similar apps to Frugal before, which aim to level the playing field against the armies of corporate psychoanalysts by removing the mathematical veil over product pricing. The idea is to render down the confusing bulk prices, special offers and recommended retail costs of a specific product, and make it clear exactly which one is the cheapest. It sounds like a simple task, but you’d be surprised how brilliantly actual costs can sometimes be camouflaged.

Frugal allows you to input the prices of similar products, enter the unit value for each, it’s cost, and then gives you a price per unit figure that makes it clear exactly which of the various products is cheapest. When all the cans (for instance) contain 400 grams, it’s easy to see which one is the best value, but when you’ve got a single can up against a 3-for-2 offer and a bulk pack of six 200 gram cans, figuring out which tin has the best per-gram price isn’t something most people’s brains can handle.

The benefit of Frugal over similar apps is the ability to compare as many similar products as you like – a lot only allow you to compare two at a time.

The user interface has been designed to require as few taps as possible to get you to a penny-saving conclusion, and it’s also geared up to provide comparisons for both US and UK consumers.

Perhaps most importantly is allows you to enter seemingly more vague entries, too, such as telling it that a particular product you’re comparing is on a 2-for-1 offer (for example) which is where the really brain-bending maths come in. Frugal prides itself - quite rightly - on the number of different unit options available, as well, covering weights and liquid volume to length and area, so you can compare everything from carpets to baked beans.

In the current wintery economic climate, you’re going into the shopping battle unarmed if you don’t have Frugal on your iPhone or iPod touch.