The Fast Food Burger With The Best Value Is At This Chain Restaurant (Not McDonald's)

Whether it's Bobby Flay raving about In-N-Out burgers or Selena Gomez praising the menu items at Jack in the Box, everyone has their favorite fast food haunt. Yet, with many people becoming more cost-conscious by the minute these days, some are starting to take a harder look at the price tag on their go-to orders. But price is relative — what folks should be paying attention to is value for their buck. A recent study by NetCredit comparing 14 different fast food chains did just that, and the title for best value for a burger goes to none other than Whataburger.

McDonald's attempts to lure in customers with value meals, but when evaluating the cost per ounce of its beef patties compared to other fast food chains, the Golden Arches plays second fiddle to Whataburger's impressive 3.56-ounce patty. Although customers may experience sticker shock seeing a price tag of $5.92, that equates to $1.66 for every ounce of beef. Conversely, McDonald's offers the smallest meat patty at 1.06 ounces, but still manages to secure the second spot for best value with a meager cost of approximately $1.91 per ounce of beef.

Folks that aren't fans of either fast food chain's burger can hit up Smash Burger, Burger King, or Wendy's for a decent deal; all of which rounded out the top five spots. Those just trying to avoid paying through the nose for a burger should avoid Five Guys' expensive price, which ranked dead last with a monumental cost of $3.59 per ounce of beef. However, Five Guys does see some redemption when it comes to its fries which are cooked in peanut oil.

An order of savory, salty fries goes with a fast food burger like hot fudge goes with a sundae. In an ideal world, Whataburger's price for fries would make stopping by the chain for your next combo meal a no-brainer, but we don't live in an ideal world. Sadly, Whataburger's value for fries ranked 12th out of 14 when comparing cost per ounce. If you want the best of both value worlds, you'll have to get your burger from Whataburger and drive across town to Shake Shack for the best deal on fries.

Shake Shack only charges customers $0.40 per ounce of fries, whereas Whataburger charges $0.99. Culver's ranked second, offering fries for $0.50 per ounce, while Five Guys came in third at a respectable $0.54. If you're famished, Five Guys also gives people the most with an order weighing in at a whopping 11.29 ounces. Despite ranking second for the largest order of fries, Shake Shack only gives customers roughly half that amount at 6.17 ounces per order.

McDonald's iconic fries rank ninth for both value and the amount that people receive, with its rival Burger King taking the seventh spot for value and sixth for the weight of its fries. Folks who aren't too picky about the price of their fast food meal but don't want to get completely hosed might want to avoid Sonic. It ranked dead last in value and weight of its fries, and its burger secured an embarrassing 11th spot for value.