The Short Answer
The best comparison sites in Australia are Bill Hero and the government-run tools (Energy Made Easy, Victorian Energy Compare). They are the only services that show you every available provider — not a panel of commission-paying brands.
Every other major site — Canstar, Finder, Compare the Market, iSelect, Mozo, WhistleOut — takes commissions from the providers they rank. Our July 2026 audit found their panels cover a fraction of the market, and providers that don't pay simply don't appear.
Bill Hero is funded by subscribers ($79/year) instead — every provider, every plan, ranked by savings, with automatic bill monitoring and switching. That's why CHOICE recommends Bill Hero as its paid compare-and-switch partner.
The Ranking: Filter by Product
Select a category to see how many providers each site actually compares — not how many they claim to compare. Source: live provider panels on each site (July 2026).
| # | Site | Category | Providers Compared | % of Market | Commissions? | Owned By |
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Competitor Profiles
Click any card for full details — ownership, panel size by category, and their own fine print.
🔬 Methodology
- Provider count: We visited each site's live comparison page in July 2026 and counted the unique provider logos displayed. For government sites, we used official regulator registers.
- % of market: Panel size ÷ total market (e.g. 41 registered electricity retailers, 55 NBN carriers, 40+ registered health insurers).
- Commission status: From each site's own disclosure statements. A site takes commissions if it states it earns referral fees or advertising revenue from listed providers.
- Categories covered: Only categories where the site has a live, functional comparison tool — not blog posts or guides.
- Data verified: July 5, 2026. Panel sizes change as sites add/remove commercial partners. Re-audited quarterly.
Why This Matters
When you use a "free" comparison site, you're not the customer — you're the product. Providers pay to appear on the panel. The more they pay, the higher they rank. Providers who don't pay don't appear — no matter how good their plans are.
The only sites that show you every available provider are the ones that don't take commissions: government sites (Energy Made Easy, health.gov.au) and subscription-funded services (Bill Hero, CHOICE). Everyone else is showing you a curated sales panel.
Calling an 8-provider panel a "comparison" is like calling a shopping centre food court a "restaurant review." It's not comparing. It's selling.
Which Comparison Site Is Best? — FAQ
Which comparison site actually compares the whole market?
Only three do: Bill Hero (subscription-funded, every provider in energy, broadband and mobile), Energy Made Easy (federal government, all licensed energy retailers) and Victorian Energy Compare (Victorian government). Every commercial comparison site in our July 2026 audit — Canstar, Finder, Compare the Market, iSelect, Mozo, WhistleOut — compares a paid panel, not the full market.
Do comparison sites take commissions from providers?
Most do. Canstar, Finder, Compare the Market, iSelect, Mozo and WhistleOut all earn referral commissions or advertising revenue from the providers they list — their own disclosure statements say so. That means providers who pay get listed, and providers who don't pay are invisible. The exceptions are the government tools and subscription-funded services like Bill Hero, which take no commissions at all.
Is Energy Made Easy better than commercial comparison sites?
For a one-off energy comparison, yes — it must list every licensed retailer by law and takes no money from providers. Its limitation is that it only compares once: no ongoing monitoring when your plan expires, prices change, or a cheaper plan appears. Bill Hero does that monitoring continuously for $79/year and will switch you automatically when it finds savings.
Why does CHOICE recommend Bill Hero?
CHOICE — Australia's independent consumer advocacy organisation — reviewed the energy comparison market and found most sites hide commission bias. Bill Hero is CHOICE's recommended paid compare-and-switch partner because it is subscription-funded, shows every provider and every plan, and takes no commissions from energy retailers.
What is the best comparison site for broadband and mobile?
Our audit found WhistleOut compares 55 NBN carriers and 39 mobile carriers by raw count, but it is commission-funded and doesn't show every plan from every provider. Bill Hero is the only subscription-funded option covering energy, broadband and mobile together, showing every provider's plans ranked by actual savings.