Price comparison
Price comparison sites distribute financial and commercial products on commission - insurance, energy, broadband, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans. The category is anchored by MoneySuperMarket, Compare the Market, GoCompare and Confused.com in the UK; PolicyGenius (Zinnia), NerdWallet (NASDAQ: NRDS), LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) and Credit Karma (Intuit) in the US; and Check24 in Germany. The UK GI insurance pricing reform in 2022 reshaped switching economics; energy markets remained semi-frozen through 2023-24 and reopened gradually as wholesale prices normalised.
The sector spans insurance comparison sites, energy and utilities switching platforms, broadband and mobile comparison, mortgage and home-loan comparison, credit card and personal loan comparison, travel and flight comparison, retail and consumer goods price comparison, and B2B procurement and pricing platforms.
Revenue comes from CPA commissions paid by providers on completed switches and policy purchases, CPC fees for click traffic delivered to providers, lead-generation fees for qualified consumer leads, white-label and licensing fees for partner-branded comparison engines, and increasingly subscription revenue from premium product alerts.
Price comparison is part of Fintech.
$28B
Global market size
31
Public companies
Key VC investors
Key strategic buyers
How price comparison companies monetize?
Price comparison companies monetize through CPA commission, CPC traffic fees and lead generation.
CPA commission
Per-acquisition fee paid by providers when a consumer switches or buys a policy. The dominant revenue line at MoneySuperMarket, Compare the Market and GoCompare.
CPC traffic fees
Per-click fees from providers when a consumer clicks through to apply. Used heavily in insurance and credit-card categories where conversion is lower than energy.
Lead generation
Per-qualified-lead fees paid by lenders, brokers and insurers. The core US model at LendingTree, NerdWallet and Bankrate (Red Ventures).
Subscription & premium
Recurring fees for premium alerts, deals and personalised recommendations. MoneySavingExpert (MoneySuperMarket) and Which? sit here; Credit Karma launched a premium tier in 2024.
White-label & licensing
Licensing comparison engines to bank, retailer and insurer partners. Used by Check24 and select MoneySuperMarket relationships.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate commission on retail and merchant referrals. NerdWallet, MoneySavingExpert and Honey (PayPal) operate this model alongside their core comparison businesses.
Price comparison valuations in May 2026
Public price comparison comps trade at 1.4x EV/Revenue. Median revenue multiple across price comparison M&A deals was 1.2x in the last 12 months.
1.4x
Median EV/Revenue as of May 2026 for public price comparison companies
12x
PB Fintech is the highest valued public price comparison company based on EV/Revenue (excluding outliers)
1.2x
Median EV/Revenue across price comparison M&A deals in the last 12 months
-
Median EV/Revenue across price comparison VC rounds in the last 12 months
Price comparison market segments
Price comparison spans insurance comparison, energy and utilities switching and credit cards and personal loans.
Insurance comparison
Online comparison of motor, home, pet and travel insurance. MoneySuperMarket, Compare the Market, GoCompare and Confused.com anchor the UK; PolicyGenius (Zinnia), Insurify and EverQuote lead the US; Check24 leads Germany.
Energy & utilities switching
Comparison and switching for electricity, gas, water and heat networks. Uswitch (MoneySuperMarket) and MoneySavingExpert lead the UK; Verivox (ProSiebenSat.1) and Check24 lead Germany; SaveOnEnergy and Choose Energy serve the US.
Broadband & mobile
Comparison of broadband, mobile and TV bundles. Uswitch, Compare the Market and MoneySuperMarket lead the UK; Verivox covers Germany; Whistleout and Wirefly cover the US.
Mortgage & home loans
Mortgage and refinance lead generation and comparison. Habito and Trussle in the UK; LendingTree, Bankrate and NerdWallet in the US; Hypoport's Europace platform sits in the German B2B layer.
Credit cards & personal loans
Comparison and pre-qualification for revolving and instalment consumer credit. Credit Karma (Intuit), NerdWallet, LendingTree and Bankrate lead the US; ClearScore, Experian Boost and Credit Karma UK lead the UK.
Travel & flights
Travel meta-search and price comparison. Skyscanner (Trip.com Group), Kayak (Booking Holdings) and Trivago (Expedia) lead globally; Hopper sits at the modern AI-driven end of the market.
Retail & shopping
Retail price comparison and deal aggregation. PriceRunner (Klarna), Idealo (Axel Springer) and Camelcamelcamel anchor specific niches; Honey and Capital One Shopping sit on the browser-extension side.
B2B procurement & pricing platforms
Procurement, RFQ and pricing platforms for SMB and enterprise. Comparis (Switzerland), Markit Procure-to-Pay and Bonsai cover specific verticals; LedgerPro and Pavilion serve mid-market procurement.
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Key price comparison KPIs to track
Visits, sales and acquisitions, revenue per visit and EBITDA margin are the metrics investors track in price comparison.
| KPI | Definition |
|---|---|
| Visits | Total visits to the site in the period. The top-of-funnel scale metric for MoneySuperMarket and Check24; reads SEO health. |
| Quotes generated | Number of price-comparison quotes returned to consumers. The middle-of-funnel metric correlated with provider-side commission opportunity. |
| Sales / acquisitions | Switches, policies and applications completed via the platform. The cleanest revenue-driving volume metric. |
| Revenue per visit | Revenue divided by visits. Reads monetisation efficiency across product mix and SEO traffic. |
| Take rate | Revenue divided by aggregated provider premiums or balances. Insurance comparison typically runs 10-20% of first-year premium. |
| Marketing spend ratio | Paid marketing as percentage of revenue. UK insurance comparison historically runs 30-40% marketing-to-revenue. |
| Repeat rate | Percentage of users returning year-on-year. The closest equivalent to retention for comparison sites; lower than SaaS retention by design. |
| EBITDA margin | Mature comparison businesses run 25-40% EBITDA margin once paid marketing is normalised. |
Main price comparison players globally
The most active price comparison companies and category leaders globally.
| Company | HQ | Overview |
|---|---|---|
MoneySuperMarket moneysupermarket.com |  Ewloe | Largest UK price comparison group (LON: MONY). Owns Uswitch, MoneySavingExpert (acquired 2012) and Quidco; reported £400M+ in revenue for FY 2024. |
Compare the Market comparethemarket.com | Peterborough | UK comparison brand owned by BHL Holdings (BGL Group). Settled the £17.9M CMA most-favoured-nation enforcement in 2020; remains one of the two largest UK insurance comparison sites. |
GoCompare gocompare.com | Newport | UK insurance and finance comparison; subsidiary of Future plc (LON: FUTR). Future acquired Mozo (Australia) in 2024 to expand comparison footprint. |
Confused.com confused.com | Cardiff | Oldest UK insurance comparison site (since 2002); subsidiary of Admiral Group (LON: ADM). Repositioned around motor and home with ‘Steve' brand campaign. |
Check24 check24.de |  Munich | Largest German comparison platform. Privately held; covers insurance, energy, broadband, mortgages and travel; reported €800M+ in revenue across the group. |
Verivox verivox.de | Heidelberg | German energy and broadband comparison brand; subsidiary of ProSiebenSat.1 Media. Anchored Germany's switching market through the 2022-23 energy crisis. |
NerdWallet nerdwallet.com |  San Francisco | US personal finance comparison and advice (NASDAQ: NRDS). Acquired On the Barrelhead, Fundera and Know Your Worth; revenue rotated heavily toward credit cards and SMB. |
LendingTree lendingtree.com | Charlotte | US lending and insurance comparison (NASDAQ: TREE). Sold ValueScale insurance comparison to Apax in 2024; restructured around higher-margin consumer-credit segments through 2024-25. |
Credit Karma creditkarma.com | Oakland | US credit-monitoring and product comparison; subsidiary of Intuit after the $7.1B 2020 acquisition. Anchors Intuit's consumer fintech strategy alongside TurboTax and Mint replacement. |
Hypoport hypoport.com | Berlin | Operator of Europace, the largest German B2B mortgage comparison platform. Listed Deutsche Börse: HYQ; recovered from the 2022-23 mortgage volume trough as origination volumes returned in 2024-25. |
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Key price comparison market trends
The UK GI pricing reform aftermath, AI-driven recommendation engines and SEO disruption from generative search are reshaping price comparison right now.
UK GI pricing reform aftermath
FCA's general insurance pricing rules (effective 2022) banned the new-customer/renewal discount split. Switching volumes stabilised below pre-reform peaks and insurers shifted marketing toward retention; comparison sites adjusted toward CPC and lead-gen.
Energy market reopening
UK and EU energy switching collapsed during the 2022-23 wholesale-price crisis. Tariffs reopened gradually through 2024-25 as wholesale prices normalised and challenger suppliers returned; Uswitch, MoneySavingExpert and Check24 saw switching volumes rebuild.
Future / Mozo acquisition
Future plc acquired Mozo (Australian comparison) in mid-2024 to expand the GoCompare footprint internationally. The transaction signalled continued cross-border consolidation among publisher-owned comparison brands.
AI-driven recommendation engines
MoneySuperMarket, Check24 and Credit Karma rolled out LLM-driven advice and recommendation features through 2024-25. The shift is reshaping product surfacing away from pure ranked-list models and toward conversational recommendations.
PolicyGenius / Zinnia integration
Zinnia (Eldridge) completed its acquisition of PolicyGenius in 2023 and integrated life-insurance comparison with policy administration. The combination created a vertically integrated US life-insurance distribution and admin stack.
SEO disruption from generative search
Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT-driven search reshaped comparison-site traffic patterns through 2024-25. NerdWallet, Bankrate and LendingTree all called out traffic-pattern volatility on earnings calls; defensive responses include direct partnerships with model providers.
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