Getting Started
What is Offer Hopper?
Offer Hopper is a free, AI-powered shopping route planner for Germany. You describe what you need in plain language — in any of ten languages — and it finds the best current deals at nearby supermarkets like Aldi Süd, Aldi Nord, Rewe, dm, Rossmann, Müller, and Norma. It then calculates the most efficient shopping route, factoring in your travel mode, travel time, and fuel costs. No account required. No ads. No data sold. For more details on the project's features and philosophy, visit our About page.
How is Offer Hopper different from just checking store apps directly?
Store apps only show you one store's offers. Offer Hopper searches multiple supermarkets simultaneously, compares the results, and builds a single optimised route across all of them. It also calculates whether a detour to a cheaper store is actually worth it — factoring in your time and travel costs. And you can search in plain language, including in your native language, without needing to know German product names. Try searching in your native language on the homepage with a query like cereal, milk, bananas, honey.
Is Offer Hopper free to use?
Yes, completely. No subscription, no premium tier, no hidden fees. Offer Hopper is a non-commercial hobby project. If it saves you time and money, you're welcome to buy the Hopper a carrot 🥕 to help cover server and AI costs — but it's entirely optional and changes nothing about what you can access.
Do I need to create an account or log in?
No. Offer Hopper requires no registration, no email address, and no login of any kind. Open the site and start searching immediately.
Is there a mobile app?
Offer Hopper is a web application optimised for mobile browsers — no download or installation required. Open offerhopper.ai on your phone and tap "Add to Home Screen" for quick access, just like a native app.
Does Offer Hopper work offline?
No. An active internet connection is required to fetch live deal data, calculate routes, and process your search queries via AI. The tool is designed for use before or during a shopping trip while connected.
Stores & Coverage
Which supermarkets does Offer Hopper cover?
Offer Hopper currently searches deals at Aldi Süd, Aldi Nord, Rewe, dm, Rossmann, Müller, and Norma, as well as promotions from all German retailers. Coverage may vary by region depending on which stores are near your location.
Which countries or cities does Offer Hopper cover?
Currently Germany only. The tool searches stores and deals specific to the German market. There are no current plans to expand to other countries, but the project is actively maintained.
Can I filter results to show only one specific store?
No. You cannot filter results for a specific store. Doing so would break the core concept of optimal route planning, which compares and optimizes across all nearby supermarkets to find the most cost-effective overall route.
Does Offer Hopper account for store opening hours?
No. Offer Hopper does not account for store opening hours. Always verify opening times locally before starting your shopping trip.
How It Works
How does the AI understand my shopping request?
Your free-text query is interpreted by an AI (Google Gemini API) that translates your intent — whether a specific product, something vague like "snacks for movie night," or even a recipe idea like "quick pasta for two" — into concrete product searches. You don't need exact German product names or precise brand knowledge. The AI handles the translation from your natural language into real, currently available products. You can read about how a new expat used natural language queries to navigate their first German grocery run in our blog post: The First Grocery Run That Didn't Make Me Want to Cry. You can also test it out directly on the homepage with an example search: pasta, tomatoes, olive oil, chicken, washing powder, milk.
What are the "Sparfuchs," "Smart," and "Schnell" modes?
These are route optimisation presets that balance saving money against saving time:
- Sparfuchs (Bargain Hunter): Prioritises the cheapest total price, even if that means more stops or a longer journey. Best when saving money is the top priority.
- Smart: Balances price savings against travel time and cost. The recommended mode for most shoppers.
- Schnell (Fast): Prioritises the fastest route. Fewer stops, less time — even if the deals aren't quite as sharp. Best when you're in a hurry. You can also fine-tune the cost sliders (cost per km, cost per hour, shopping time per store) to match your personal situation exactly.
What do the cost sliders do?
These are your personal optimization sliders. They allow you to define what your time and travel costs are worth, which greatly influences the route logic — such as the number of stops, proximity of supermarkets, and whether detours are mathematically worth it. By adjusting these sliders, the algorithm calculates a route tailored precisely to your preferences, ensuring you get the optimal route for YOU. For a deep dive into the hidden costs of grocery shopping and how travel time/distance affects your final receipt, see our analysis on the real costs of grocery trips (German content).
Can I enter a meal idea instead of a shopping list?
Yes. Write something like "quick dinner for two kids" or "I still have potatoes and eggs — what can I make?" Offer Hopper will suggest a meal, identify missing ingredients, and add them to your route with current prices and store locations. You can test this feature directly by clicking quick dinner for two kids or potatoes and eggs recipe to see the route planner and recipe generator in action on our homepage.
Can I specify dietary preferences?
Yes. Include requirements directly in your query — "vegan," "organic," "gluten-free," "lactose-free," and so on. The AI filters products accordingly. To see this in action, try searching on the homepage for vegan pasta and snacks or organic fruit and vegetables. Note that Offer Hopper relies on how products are labelled in store promotions, so niche or unlabelled items may still appear occasionally. Always check packaging for allergen information.
Does Offer Hopper support halal, kosher, or other religious dietary requirements?
You can specify "halal" or "kosher" in your search and Offer Hopper will attempt to match relevant labelled products. However, coverage depends entirely on what stores are currently promoting with those labels. For strict requirements, always verify product certification on the packaging directly.
Can I find international or ethnic food products?
Offer Hopper searches current promotional offers from mainstream German supermarkets. International or ethnic products that appear in those promotions will be found; products sold only in specialist stores (Turkish grocers, Asian supermarkets, etc.) are not currently covered. This is a known limitation.
What if the AI picks the wrong product?
Each search result shows a relevance confidence score, so you can see how certain the AI is that a product matches your query. If a result looks wrong, you can ignore it or refine your search with more specific language. Offer Hopper is transparent about uncertainty rather than hiding it.
Can I add items manually if the AI didn't find them?
Currently, the tool works through natural-language queries. If the AI misses something, try rephrasing the request or searching separately for that specific product. Manual list editing is not yet a feature, but it's a direction the project may explore.
Can I share my shopping list with someone else?
Yes. Offer Hopper supports shopping together. When you share your list, the co-shopper gets real-time updates of what has been bought, updated, or discarded in the store — which is extremely useful for joint shopping trips. You can also swap an item on the fly, and your co-shopper will see the update immediately. No account is needed on either side. To learn how to delegate shopping to family members and collaborate in real-time, check out our guide: How to Delegate Grocery Shopping Without Losing Your Mind (German content).
Can I export or save my shopping list?
Currently there is no built-in export function. You can screenshot your list or copy it manually. This is a feature gap the project is aware of.
Route Planning
Can I use Offer Hopper without sharing my location?
Yes. If you decline location access, you can type your starting address manually instead. The route calculation will work the same way — your typed address is used only for the calculation and is not stored.
Does the route show me how to get between stores?
Yes. Offer Hopper displays a map with your full multi-stop route and individual route segments, powered by Google Maps. You can switch between driving, cycling, and walking directions.
In-Store & Route Optimization
How does Offer Hopper optimize my in-store shopping?
Offer Hopper classifies products into typical supermarket categories (e.g., fresh produce, dairy, bakery, dry goods) and organizes them into an optimized in-store path. This means you can walk through the store efficiently from section to section without doubling back.
How does Offer Hopper decide the order of store stops?
Offer Hopper uses a multi-stop optimization algorithm that solves a variation of the Traveling Salesperson Problem with dynamic node pricing. For every possible combination of store visits and item choices, it calculates the True Economic Cost:
Total Cost = Sum of Product Prices + (Travel Distance × Cost per km) + (Travel Time + In-Store Time) × Cost per Hour
The algorithm evaluates all viable paths to find the global minimum cost.
Why does this matter? If you have a shopping list of 5 items, they might be available at different prices across Aldi, Rewe, and dm. Deciding which store to visit and in what order to get the best deal is incredibly complex. A geographically short route might lead you to a store with higher prices. Conversely, driving an extra 5 kilometers to save 50 cents on butter actually costs you more in fuel and time than you save.
Offer Hopper's algorithm does this math for you in milliseconds. It balances the prices of the items on your list against the cost of your travel distance and the value of your time. Our blog post The Hidden Costs of Grocery Trips (German content) walks through how these calculations work in the real world and why ignoring these tradeoffs means you might end up paying more for your "bargain."
What does Google Maps see?
Google Maps is only loaded on the results page after you explicitly grant consent. Once consent is granted, your browser transmits standard API request parameters (like IP address, browser headers, and the route coordinates) to Google in order to fetch and display the interactive map and step-by-step navigation instructions. If you do not consent, Google Maps is not loaded, no data is sent to Google, and the map remains hidden, though you can still see your text-based shopping list.
Privacy & Data
Does Offer Hopper track my location or store my data?
No. Your location is used only to calculate the route and is discarded immediately afterwards — it is never stored on Offer Hopper's servers. Your language preferences and store settings are saved locally in your browser only and are never sent to any server. When you close the browser or clear site data, they're gone. We design Offer Hopper with Privacy by Design at its core — read more on our About page.
Is my search history saved?
Only locally, in your browser. The "Recent Searches" shown on the homepage come from your own browser storage, not from any server. Offer Hopper does not build a profile of your searches.
What data is sent to Google when I use the AI search?
When you use the search function, your free-text query is sent to the Google Gemini API (paid tier) for interpretation. You must explicitly consent to this via the checkbox before searching. Under Google's paid-tier terms, your data is not used to train AI models or improve Google products — it is processed solely to fulfil your request. Google may log prompts for a limited period to monitor policy compliance. Route optimization and price calculations happen on Offer Hopper's own servers and are not shared with Google.
Does Offer Hopper sell my data or show ads?
Never. Offer Hopper is completely ad-free. No supermarket, brand, or advertiser pays for placement in results. Your shopping habits and dietary choices are not shared with any third party. For details on why this project is completely ad-free and how it respects your attention, read our About page.
What are my GDPR rights as a user?
As a user in the EU, you have the right to request information about any personal data processed, to correct inaccurate data, to request deletion, and to object to processing. Because Offer Hopper collects minimal data by design, there is little to act on — but you can contact the responsible party at contact [at] offerhopper.ai with any data protection enquiry. The full privacy policy is available at offerhopper.ai/privacy.
Languages & Expat Use
What languages does Offer Hopper support?
Offer Hopper supports 10 languages from launch: German, English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Turkish, Russian, and Arabic. Search, results, summaries, and prep tips are all available in your chosen language.
I'm an expat and don't speak German. Can Offer Hopper still help me?
Absolutely — this is exactly who Offer Hopper was built for. Search in your own language. The AI maps your request to actual German products at real nearby stores at the current price, with product images so you know exactly what to reach for on the shelf. You don't need to read German labels to shop smart. Try it out on the homepage with a query like grocery list for taco night, or read about a real expat's experience in our blog post: The First Grocery Run That Didn't Make Me Want to Cry.
I don't know German brand or product names. How specific do I need to be?
Not specific at all. You can say "something for breakfast" or "sandwich stuff" and the AI will interpret that. The more detail you add (dietary needs, number of people, budget), the more tailored the results — but vague queries work too. You can test these vague queries directly on our homepage: try something for breakfast or sandwich stuff to see what the AI finds.
Accuracy & Limitations
How accurate are the prices and deals shown?
Prices and deals are sourced from publicly available weekly promotional data. Offer Hopper shows only currently valid offers, but occasional discrepancies can occur if a promotion has ended early, stock has run out in your local store, or regional pricing varies. Always verify the final price at the register. Offer Hopper is a research tool, not a price guarantee.
What if a product is out of stock?
If a suggested product is unavailable, Offer Hopper shows suitable alternatives and adjusts quantities automatically. You won't be left empty-handed mid-shop.
Is Offer Hopper affiliated with Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, or any other retailer?
No. Offer Hopper has no commercial relationship, partnership, sponsorship, or any other affiliation with any supermarket or brand. Store logos and names are used solely to transparently identify the source of offer data. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
How is the deal data collected? Is it scraped?
Offer Hopper processes and aggregates publicly available price and offer data for informational purposes. It does not maintain a proprietary static database of third-party content. Results are generated dynamically for each search based on publicly accessible information.
The Project
Who built Offer Hopper?
Offer Hopper was created as a personal solution to the mental exhaustion of weekly grocery shopping — and evolved into something designed especially for anyone navigating German supermarkets without full language fluency or local knowledge. You can read more about our story and mission on our About page.
Is Offer Hopper reliable? Will it shut down?
Offer Hopper is a hobby project with no commercial backing. While every effort is made to keep it running reliably, there is no guaranteed uptime or long-term commitment. The Terms of Use are transparent about this. The project is actively maintained as of 2025, and voluntary contributions via Buy Me a Coffee help keep it online. Read more about the sustainability of the project on our About page.
How can I support Offer Hopper?
If the tool has saved you time or stress, consider buying the Hopper a carrot 🥕. Contributions go directly toward server and AI infrastructure costs. The service remains free and ad-free regardless of whether you contribute.
How can I report a bug or give feedback?
You can reach the team at contact [at] offerhopper.ai. Bug reports, product suggestions, and feedback are genuinely welcomed — this is a project built on real user needs.
Last updated: May 2026 · Back to Offer Hopper →