5 Walmart Great Value Copycats That Are Better Than The Real Thing

Private label store brands are seeing a sharp rise in popularity. While the significantly lower price compared to their branded counterparts continues to be their main draw, that's not the only reason anymore; many private label products are now actually as good as their brand-name counterparts in terms of taste and quality, while still being a fraction of the cost.

Several of Walmart's Great Value products are sourced from big-name brands such as Tyson Foods, resulting in a product that's closely comparable to the original. For example, our ranking of fast food copycats at Walmart revealed that the retailer's seasoned fries and onion rings taste almost exactly like what you'd get at your favorite fast food chain. Private labels are going a step further, offering items that actually surpass the product they are duping.

The glowing reviews of these popular private-label knock-offs speak for themselves, with customers frequently claiming that they never went back to the original because they now prefer the dupe. The next time you're at Walmart, keep an eye out for the Great Value riff on your favorite grocery items. You might just find a new shopping list staple that will also save you a good chunk of money.

Great Value has a potato chip dupe for virtually every popular crunchy spud snack. Most people have a favorite brand, flavor, and type of chip, and are often willing to pay extra for them. However, Walmart's straightforward in-house dupes have earned repeated rave reviews from buyers who tried them once and realized they were better than the originals and, as usual, a fraction of the cost. 

This is good news for those who enjoy pricier varieties, including Kettle Chips, which can run up to almost $4 for a 6-ounce bag. Great Value Kettle Cooked Chips cost around $2 for an 8-ounce bag, making them less than half the price of the premium brand. One customer took to Reddit to say, "I think Great Value Kettle Chips are the best potato chips on the market, hands down." Other popular flavors like salt and vinegar are also available.

Pringles and Lay's fans will also find suitable versions from Great Value, with the private label's sour cream and onion variety getting particularly glowing reviews for surpassing its big-brand counterparts. "They are just as good as name-brand potato chips, if not better. Plus, these delicious potato chips are pocketbook-friendly and cost half the amount of other leading potato chip brands," says one Walmart customer. Other chip dupes that Great Value is doing justice to are Doritos Cool Ranch with Great Value Glacier Ranch chips and even Cheetos Cheese Puffs with Great Value Cheese Puffs.

Off-brand Pop-Tarts come in all shapes and sizes, but Great Value does arguably the best job in making a dupe that looks exactly like a Pop-Tart, not to mention better than the original. The pastry and icing are mimicked perfectly. The filling is where the Great Value Toaster Pastry really shines, with one social media taste tester complimenting it in an Instagram post for offering a richer, gooier texture and more prominent flavor than that in Pop-Tarts. While several flavors are available, Great Value's Frosted Strawberry Toaster Pastries consistently receive good reviews. Other side-by-side trials by customers also point to the Walmart product coming out on top.

It's worth noting that Pop-Tarts has come under fire in the last few years from customers citing a dip in quality. An extensive Reddit thread is rife with mentions of thinner pastry and less filling. This also helps generic store brands like Great Value catch up to original brands, as people are more open to trying alternatives that cost less. The price difference here is significant, with Great Value Toaster Pastries costing around 10 cents per ounce, while Pop-Tarts cost about 18 cents per ounce.

It's not the best ice cream on the market, but it's easily a top contender in the pocket-friendly category. Great Value ice creams give other budget ice cream brands like Breyer's and Turkey Hill a serious run for their money. The ice cream giant behind Walmart's ice cream, Wells Dairy, is one of the nation's largest frozen treat manufacturers and has supplied Great Value ice cream for over 30 years.

The Cookies & Cream flavor punches above its weight thanks to being loaded with cookie chunks. On a thread of the r/walmart subreddit, the cookie dough ice cream is also a winner, with some happy customers making Great Value their go-to brand for this flavor. While it may not be everyone's cup of tea, Great Value ice cream has a slightly airy texture, which makes it pair especially well with chunks of cookie dough. 

Vanilla bean is another flavor worth trying, with one Walmart review stating, "When the price of some big brand ice creams got ridiculously expensive, I tried this particular product and was instantly impressed." Great Value also sells an all-natural vanilla bean ice cream flecked with bits of vanilla bean that feels much more premium than the price tag will have you believe.

This may be an unexpected dupe considering how synonymous Philadelphia is with cream cheese, but when it comes to strawberry cream cheese, Great Value seems to be significantly outstripping the time-honored offering. The Walmart version is creamier, and per one YouTube comparison, it has a more distinct fruit flavor and creamy texture. It also has exceedingly positive feedback from buyers, boasting a 4.7-star rating with over 2,000 reviews on the Walmart website. The low price makes it a great candidate for desserts or frosting that require large quantities of strawberry-tinged spreadable cheese.

To be fair, strawberry isn't the world-famous cream cheese brand's strong suit. It landed right in the middle of the pack when we ranked Philadelphia cream cheese flavors from worst to best. When it comes to original, plain cream cheese, Philadelphia still wins over Walmart and sports more positive reviews from buyers despite being almost double the cost of its Great Value dupe.

There are several dupes of the iconic Girl Scout Thin Mints, so you can enjoy the cookies year-round and not have to wait for cookie season. Few come close to the original. However, Walmart seems to have pulled out a winner with Great Value Fudge Mint Cookies, which came out near the top on our copycat Girl Scout Thin Mints ranking. 

It might be hard to imagine how a thin mint dupe can actually be better than the timeless originals, but Great Value manages to do it by following the same strategy that works so well with many of its other copycat products. This makes the flavors more pronounced. These cookies have punchy mint and deep chocolate notes. With thousands of positive customer reviews echoing how Great Value Fudge Mint Cookies have become their go-to year-round thin mint fix, these are one of Walmart's most successful copycats that beat out the real thing.