Aldi Dupes vs the Originals: Six Lookalike Products Blind Taste Tested

Introduction

Aldi’s viral lookalike products are famous for one reason: they look so close to the original brands that the companies behind them have taken legal action. But while the packaging can fool the eyes, the real question is whether the taste can fool the tongue. We put six of the most talked-about dupe pairs head to head, comparing packaging, ingredients, flavor, and price to work out where the savings are genuinely worth it, and where the original still earns its premium.

How Aldi Gets Away With It

The reason Aldi’s near-identical packaging survives in court comes down to a UK legal principle called passing off. To win a claim, a brand must prove the classic trinity: goodwill (an established reputation and customer base), misrepresentation (branding likely to mislead consumers into believing there is a connection), and damage (financial or reputational harm). That is a very high threshold to reach.

Similar-looking packaging alone is not enough. Consumers must be genuinely misled for a claim to succeed, and as long as the name on the box is clearly different, the lookalike usually stands. Aldi also has structural cost advantages that make the dupes cheaper to sell: no spend on marketing or branding, a large volume of a limited product range reducing warehousing and transport costs, minimal research and development because the original brands do that work first, and stores designed for maximum efficiency, with products often displayed straight on crates and pallets so less staff time is needed on the shop floor.

Butter: Lurpak vs Nordpak

Lurpak is Britain’s best-selling butter, and Aldi’s Nordpak comes remarkably close visually. Through a deliberately blurred comparison, the two tubs were almost indistinguishable. Interestingly, Nordpak was voted best butter in the UK, winning a Which? Great Value and Best Buy award.

On toast, the tasters could not separate them. Even the level of saltiness was identical in this application, and one tester described them as “the same butter in different packages.” In the blind test, both correctly picked out Lurpak, but only by guessing a letter rather than by taste.

The price gap is significant. Lurpak costs £3.50 for a 250 g tub, working out to £12.60 per kilo, while Nordpak’s 500 g tub at £2.18 works out to £4.36 per kilo, roughly a third of the price. Lurpak does offer more transparency on sourcing, with butter from farms that have increased animal welfare standards, regular farmer checks, and annual climate checks, plus sustainable and recyclable packaging. Aldi also does other spread dupes, including Meadow Flower (a lookalike for Clover), Beautifully Buttery, and Green Vale Olive Spread, which mirrors Bertolli.

For everyday staples like butter, this is the clearest case for choosing the dupe.

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread: Nutella vs Natoka

Nutella and Natoka look strikingly similar, with near-matching fonts, jar shape, and red tones, though the bottle lid and jar material differ. The ingredients are very similar but not identical: both have around 13% hazelnuts, both use sustainably sourced palm oil, though Natoka contains more palm oil supplemented with rapeseed oil, and Natoka actually has slightly more cocoa, 8% versus Nutella’s 7.4%. Nutella contains vanillin, the compound that gives vanilla its characteristic sweet flavor.

Tasted side by side on pancakes, there was a real difference. The original was glossier, smoother, and more luxurious, with hazelnut flavor coming through in one coherent profile. The Aldi version was close but finished with a slightly powdery cocoa note that made it feel like a cheaper-made product. Both testers correctly identified Nutella.

On price, the gap is dramatic. Nutella costs £2.90 for a 564 g jar, though 214 g of that is the jar itself, leaving 350 g of product, which works out to £8.28 per kilo. Natoka costs £1.65 for a 435 g tub with 400 g of product, or £4.13 per kilo, half the price. The verdict here was nuanced: if you want Nutella, only Nutella gives you Nutella, and it is still affordable as an occasional treat. But for baking, where nuances are lost, buying the cheap chocolate spread makes sense.

Gin: Gordon’s vs Grayson’s

Gordon’s has been the UK’s number one gin and was the world’s best-selling gin brand in 2020, so Aldi’s Grayson’s has big shoes to fill visually. The green bottles are near-identical, with one clever difference: where Gordon’s bottle has embossed indentations down the side, Grayson’s replicates the embossed effect on the label instead.

The taste difference was immediately noticeable. Gordon’s, described as a combination of hand-picked wild juniper berries, coriander, angelica, and licorice, delivered more botanical depth and additional flavors. Grayson’s is described as bright citrus and juniper flavors with a delicately refined finish, and both testers correctly identified the original, though neither was disappointed by the dupe; both are clean, crisp London Dry Gins.

Gordon’s cost £20.45 for 700 ml, while Grayson’s was £12.49 for the same volume, an £8 difference. The practical advice: if you are mixing gin into a cocktail, the knockoff is a smart buy. But if the bottle is going on display, the look of the bottle matters more, and that is where the original earns its keep.

US Dupes: Pop-Tarts, Twinkies, and Wheat Thins

Aldi is now the fastest-growing supermarket in the US, and its American dupes follow the same playbook. Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts face off against Toaster Yums, with the original showing slightly more polish in its overall branding. Hostess Twinkies have a dupe called Twonkies, alongside a budget-friendly third-party dupe Aldi stocks called Baking Buddy Dreamies. Nabisco Wheat Thins, the widely sold baked whole-grain snack crackers, have a lookalike with an even more old-school box design that genuinely confused tasters trying to spot the original.

The pattern held across all three: the dupes are visually convincing, the originals look marginally more premium, and without brand names visible, telling them apart is harder than it should be.

Caterpillar Cake: Colin vs Cuthbert

This is the dupe that went too far, or at least far enough to reach the High Court. In April 2021, Marks & Spencer sued Aldi over Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, claiming it was too similar to the iconic Colin the Caterpillar cake and was benefiting from M&S’s reputation, amounting to trademark infringement. Aldi harnessed the controversy brilliantly with the #FreeCuthbert hashtag and a wave of memes, generating major publicity and public support. The case never reached a final conclusion; both sides reached a confidential settlement the following year, allowing Aldi to keep selling Cuthbert with some design adjustments. Since then, everyone has jumped on the bandwagon: Waitrose has Cecil, Poundland has Chris, One Stop has Clive, Asda has Clyde, and Ocado sells an unnamed caterpillar celebration cake.

On taste, Cuthbert genuinely surprised. The testers found it much better than expected, with more chocolate flavor coming through, and in Cuthbert’s bumps there is even a hidden bit of chocolate. They called it good old-fashioned nostalgic chocolate cake and could not meaningfully separate the two. On price, Colin costs £9.50 for a 625 g cake (£15.20 per kilo) while Cuthbert is £6.99 for 630 g (£11.18 per kilo), about £4 cheaper per kilo. Given these cakes are predominantly for children’s birthday parties, where no kid is comparing brands, the value case is strong.

Buying Advice

The pattern across all six pairings is clear and useful. For everyday staples you use constantly, like butter and spreads, the dupes taste effectively identical and the savings are real, in some cases cutting the per-kilo price by two-thirds or more. For mixed drinks and baking, where nuances disappear, the cheap option is the rational choice.

For branded treats and display-worthy items, the original still has a place. If you specifically want Nutella or a botanical gin to sip, you can taste the difference, and the premium is modest enough to be worth paying. One tester’s takeaway summed it up well: the knockoff versions carry the right claims, use sustainably sourced ingredients, and are genuinely decent products, but the association with “cheaper” is hard to shake, and sometimes you buy a brand because you want that brand.

Conclusion

Aldi’s dupes win on price almost everywhere and on taste more often than you would expect. Butter is effectively a free win for the dupe. Chocolate spread and gin are close enough for everyday use, with the originals worth it for purists and special occasions. The caterpillar cake is arguably the boldest dupe of all, and arguably the one where Aldi’s version holds up best against a much more expensive icon. Buy the dupe for the daily grind, buy the original when the brand itself is the point.