Temu vs AliExpress: 2025 Comparison

With the increasing popularity of online shopping, customers are constantly looking for safe platforms with the most affordable prices. Whether it’s an old-school AliExpress with a vast catalog of goods or a newcomer like Temu with the latest trendy products, both of them can be your number one choice if you’re looking for cheap items online. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at both platforms: their features, pricing, shipping terms, and user-friendliness, as well as the mobile experience, to help you decide which one suits your needs best.

Overview

About Temu

Founded in the USA a few years ago, Temu provides cost-effective shopping with fast delivery all over the world. This is an e-commerce platform that focuses on offering a vast catalog of products at affordable prices by connecting manufacturers in China with customers. 

Balancing cost and quality, the online platform has some areas for improvement, such as product quality, unbranded items from lesser-known producers, and delivery consistency for all items in an order. However, it stands out with its trendy products that gain the attention of influencers and bloggers quickly.

About AliExpress

Like Temu, AliExpress allows individual buyers to make purchases directly from manufacturers and suppliers based mostly in China. One of the key strengths of the platform is its accessibility. Sellers can easily set up a shop, and buyers benefit from a wide variety of options, user reviews, and often free shipping.

Over the years, AliExpress has built trust among customers globally and improved its protection policies. Nowadays, the platform focuses on faster shipping options, better product quality control, and localized businesses.

Product Selection: Temu vs AliExpress

As for product abundance, you can find a vast selection of goods on Temu. They are divided into many categories, including clothing, home and kitchen, food and grocery, shoes, musical instruments, children’s items, smart home products, furniture, beauty and health products, beachwear, and many more. All of them are affordable and come with free shipping on the first purchase or for orders over $30.

AliExpress also provides a huge selection of products in many categories, including accessories, home appliances, clothes, shoes, automotive and motorcycle items, luggage and bags, pet supplies, costumes, tools, etc. Due to its longer experience, AliExpress has a larger product collection than the other one. For example, in the automotive category, we found motorcycles and spare parts, as well as helmets. We checked the Temu website in the same niche and could not find similar items.

Regarding the product’s quality, we have noticed that it depends mostly on the sellers and their trustworthiness. It is not a secret that neither competitors are direct sellers or online stores; they are marketplaces where sellers and manufacturers can list their items for sale. Apparently, some sellers are more trustworthy than those who offer low-quality products.

What should be mentioned here is that there are reputable producers’ official shops on AliExpress, such as Canon or Disney. These sellers certainly provide higher-quality products than no-name brands. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any renowned brand stores on Temu. 

After reviewing both marketplaces, we can say that AliExpress might be the winner in terms of product selection and quality.

Pricing

When comparing product pricing between Temu and AliExpress, several factors come into play. We have taken into consideration several important factors, including the types of products, seller strategies, and platform policies. The first one generally offers lower prices than its competitor for similar or identical products. This is because it is relatively new on the market and uses aggressive pricing strategies, focuses on direct sourcing from manufacturers without intermediaries, and there are discounts, coupons, and flash sales changing almost every day.

Unlike Temu, the other one has more price variation because:

• There are many third-party sellers with different pricing models on the platform.
• There are premium products or better customer service.
• More mature platform with brand stores and official shops.

Comparing Prices: Temu vs Aliexpress

To give you a broader look at the pricing situation on both marketplaces, we have tracked costs for identical items over months and received some results that we would like to share with you.

In the Electronics category, phone accessories and Bluetooth earbuds are often cheaper on AliExpress. In the Home & Garden section, you can find very competitive prices, often under $5-$10, on Temu. However, its competitor has a similar price range, but more variety. If you shop in the Toys & Hobbies categories, Temu offers huge discounts and always wins on price. It’s worth mentioning that the Beauty & Health products section on temu.com has lots of free samples. But its competitor can offer established brands and dropshipping options.

Finally, we decided to do a more detailed review of the costs of a specific item. We compared prices for a broom floor brush (standard or modern design, suitable for home use) on Temu and AliExpress, focusing on prices in US dollars for US customers. Let’s see what we’ve got.

Feature	TEMU	ALIEXPRESS
Product Name Examples	Foldable Broom Floor Brush with Dustpan	Lightweight Sweeper Broom with Dust Pan Set
Price Range (USD)	$1.99 – $7.99	$3.99 – $12.99
Average Price	~$4.00	~$6.50
Free Shipping	Yes (standard shipping)	Yes (ePacket or China Post)
Top Seller Rating	★★★★☆ (4.3 avg)	★★★★☆ (4.5 avg)

For a basic broom floor brush, Temu wins on price, making it ideal for budget shoppers. However, if you’re looking for higher-quality materials or specific features, AliExpress has a broader selection, especially from brand stores.

Shipping and Logistics: Temu vs AliExpress

So let’s take a deeper look at how each platform handles shipping. 

Temu uses regional warehouses in the US, EU, and other countries to cut down delivery times. Providing free express shipping on first purchases, it also integrates with logistics partners such as USPS, FedEx, and local couriers. The average cost of delivery starts from $1.99, and the estimated time is 7-12 days. 

Unlike Temu, most products from aliexpress.com ship directly from China, using ePacket for faster and more trackable deliveries (~10-20 days), or China Post or regular airmail for slower and less reliable deliveries. With similar delivery times to Temu’s, these options offer higher shipping costs of around $5-$12.

By comparing delivery costs based on category, we found that Temu wins in most everyday categories. It offers lower prices and faster shipping for fashion, home goods, electronics, and beauty products. AliExpress excels at niche or branded items, so if you’re looking for something specific or hard to find, it has a wider variety. Shipping is consistently faster with Temu thanks to its regional warehouses.

Let’s take a look at a product that we analyzed for price, a broom floor brush with a dustpan set, and compare the delivery conditions offered by both platforms. The U.S company offers free delivery for orders over $2.99, or you can get free shipping on orders over $30 from the same seller. On the Chinese marketplace, the shipping costs are $5 for a similar item, but you can get free shipping on orders over $10. As for the estimated delivery time, it’s between 7 and 10 days for the first one and between 15 and 25 days for the other one.

So, if you prefer fast and cheap shipping, you might choose Temu. However, if time and price are not a priority for you, and you need a specific model or upgraded features, then you can choose AliExpress.

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a retail strategy where a store does not maintain inventory. Instead, when a customer places an order, the store purchases the product from a third-party supplier (such as a wholesaler or manufacturer) and has it delivered directly to the customer.

Although they do not operate exactly like traditional dropshipping platforms, both might be used by dropshippers. AliExpress, in particular, is used by many dropshippers globally. You have probably faced this kind of shipping when sellers let customers receive their orders directly, often with a tracking number.

Temu does not have a built-in dropshipping program like its competitor. Therefore, if you are a seller, you can’t integrate the platform directly with Shopify or other platforms because its terms of service prohibit commercial resale, and large-scale reselling may violate its policies.

Ease of Use

Let’s compare Temu vs AliExpress based on user experience, including the interface, navigation, checkout process, customer support, and overall shopping experience.

Product Search

The US company makes it easier to find what you’re looking for. The search tool is very accurate, with localized results. Filter options are excellent, and there are so many of them: price, shipping speed, rating. Recommended and trending items seem personalized and relevant. 

The Chinese marketplace, on the contrary, requires more browsing and patience. The search functionality sometimes shows irrelevant products, which can be confusing if you’re new to the platform. Filters are still useful, but they are less intuitive than those of the competitor.

Checkout & Payment Process

As far as we can see, both marketplaces offer guest checkout and the ability to save multiple addresses and bank cards. Temu supports credit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, while another only supports these: credit cards and PayPal. Having limited payment options can lead to issues for users while completing purchases.

Regarding security, Temu stands out with its strong encryption and trusted payment gateways, while AliExpress is also secure but uses older integrations. Overall, both platforms are secure, but the first one has a smoother checkout process, especially for first-time buyers. We counted the number of steps in the checkout process and found that the U.S. company requires 1-2 fewer steps than its competitor.

Order Tracking & Customer Service

Temu offers better customer service and faster issue resolution, especially for English-speaking users. If you’re looking for real-time tracking features and an estimated delivery date displayed in your account, Temu has it all, unlike AliExpress, where it is often delayed or inaccurate. 

You can contact support through live chat, email, or the help center. In comparison, its competitors offer limited live chat support. As for returns, they are easy and fast within the Temu app (refunds take 3-7 days after the return). However, on AliExpress, you have to wait longer (7-30 days) for a refund and often have to coordinate with the seller.

Mobile App Experience

It would be right to say that the American company wins here. Its mobile app is designed for casual and easy shopping with new online shoppers in mind. The navigation is intuitive, with many categories. The search tool is not only quick but also reliable, providing exact results for customers.

AliExpress App is also functional, but it can be confusing sometimes. For example, there is a wall of banners advertising different products. Instead of showing only wireless earbuds in the search results, wired headphones and Bluetooth adapters may also be included.

Seller and Buyer Experience: Temu vs AliExpress

In order to provide our readers with a better understanding of this aspect, we created a summary table. We hope you will find it useful to make the right decision.

Feature	Temu	AliExpress
Type of Platform	Direct-to-consumer from manufacturers	Marketplace with many sellers
Number of Sellers	Limited – only partnered suppliers	Thousands – global sellers
Product Consistency	High – same product across users	Varies – different sellers = different experiences
Buyer Reviews System	Centralized ratings per product	Reviews are per seller
Language Support for Sellers	English-focused, easy for Western sellers	Mostly Chinese sellers, limited English support
Inventory Management Needed	No – It manages stock	Yes – sellers manage own inventory
Order Fulfillment	It handles fulfillment	Sellers handle order/shipping
Account Verification Process	Not open to third-party sellers yet	Easy – anyone can create a store
Selling Fees / Commissions	N/A – not open to third-party sellers	5–8% commission per sale
Best For	Casual buyers, first-time shoppers	Experienced sellers, dropshippers

The American marketplace has a smoother experience for buyers, compared to its competitor, where the buyer experience can vary depending on the seller’s quality. Still, AliExpress allows anyone to sell, which is more flexible for entrepreneurs.

Features and Benefits

When comparing both platforms, one of the most noticeable differences is in the overall shopping experience. It is true that two of them offer affordable products and operate globally. However, they approach user engagement and convenience in different ways.

When it comes to mobile app design, Temu is modern, intuitive, and engaging — almost like scrolling through a social media feed. The interface is clean, with well-organized categories and personalized recommendations based on browsing history. On the other hand, AliExpress is an older and more established platform with a broader selection of tools and features for more experienced buyers and sellers.

In terms of shipping speed and delivery tracking, the first one again wins, particularly for customers in the US, Europe, and other Western markets. Thanks to the use of regional warehouses, many items arrive in just a week or two. Unfortunately, another marketplace heavily relies on direct shipping from China, which can take anywhere from three to six weeks.

Speaking of promotions and referrals, Temu stands out with its built-in referral programs and exclusive bonuses. It also uses gamification methods to engage with customers.

Overall, AliExpress provides more flexibility for sellers and access to a wider selection of products, but the competitor has a more user-centric shopping experience. Here’s a final comparison table to complete our assessment of both online stores.

Category	Best Platform
Easiest for New Buyers	Temu
More Product Variety	AliExpress
Better Mobile App UX	Temu
Faster Delivery Times	Temu
Cheaper Products	Both
Flexible Returns	Temu
Ideal for Dropshipping	AliExpress
Stronger Seller Opportunities	AliExpress
Gamified Shopping Experience	Temu
If you are a first-time online shopper	Temu
If you are a casual buyer looking for fast delivery	Temu
If you are an experienced dropshipper or reseller	AliExpress
If you are looking for niche or branded items	AliExpress

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