Five Guys Vs Shake Shack: Which Fast Food Meal Is More Expensive?

America is never hurting for choices when it comes to fast food burgers, but if you are looking for a higher-end experience with the same quick service, Five Guys and Shake Shack are the true rivals. Both chains boast of using premium ingredients — including fresh, never-frozen ingredients like beef patties — with an emphasis on hand-preparing burgers instead of throwing them on a conveyor belt. But there is no doubt that you are going to pay for that premium flavor. So, while your preferred chain flavor-wise is a matter of personal taste, does either Shake Shack or Five Guys offer a clearly better value?

The answer is a pretty clear yes, with Shake Shack coming in as the cheaper option across the board on basic menu items. There are some factors that bring them closer together depending on what you order and how, like the fact that Five Guys offers combos while Shake Shack (usually) doesn't. However, if you are looking for a cheeseburger and fries with a soda, Five Guys will come in a few bucks more expensive basically every time.

To test this, we compared prices between several Five Guys and Shake Shack locations across three different regions of the country, taking an average of the price across all the locations. In the end, we found an order at Shake Shack averaged about $15 for the three items (burger, fries, and soda), with an asterisk, while Five Guys averaged around $18.

For the burger order, we chose the classic Shake Shack ShackBurger, comparing it to the standard cheeseburger at Five Guys. The fries were the smallest size option, and so was the fountain soda. Shake Shack's burger averaged around $10, while Five Guys' was around $12. Its regular fries averaged around $4 compared to Five Guys' $6. Where the asterisk comes in is the fountain drink. Order in-store, and Shake Shack's small drink was priced (on average) just over $3, while at Five Guys it was closer to $3.50 or $4.

However, Shake Shack has implemented a deal where all fountain sodas are only $1 if you order online or through the Shake Shack app. Because the deal is a chain fixture (for now) and easily available with no qualifications, we counted the $1 as the base price. Still, if you order in-store, the Shake Shack total would average around $17, much closer to Five Guys' total cheeseburger combo price of $18.

While Five Guys' items, on average, were all more expensive, it was made more competitive by offering a combo meal. Without that, the total would have come out to something over $21. Shake Shack notoriously does not offer combos, except for a limited-time one for its chicken sandwich that ran in spring 2025. While Shake Shack is expensive for fast food, it is a slightly better deal than Five Guys, so if you want a great burger fast without totally emptying your wallet, it's the best choice.