Dave’s Single vs Big Mac: Price, Calories & Who Wins 2026

The Dave’s Single wins this burger duel on beef and protein. You get a quarter-pound of fresh, never-frozen beef, 31g of protein and 560 calories for $5.89–$6.99, against the Big Mac’s two smaller patties, 25g of protein and 580 calories for $5.91. The Big Mac wins on its sauce, its three-part bun and nostalgia — but Wendy’s serves the better burger.

This is the full duel, not the short version. Dave’s Single vs Big Mac already appears as a section inside our Wendy’s vs McDonald’s and Wendy’s vs Burger King comparisons, but those tables only scratch the surface. Below, every part of both burgers is compared side by side: the anatomy, the full nutrition panel, the size and weight, the price per calorie and per gram of protein, the combos, the history, and what you can change on each one. Calories and nutrition come from the chains’ own pages — order.wendys.com and mcdonalds.com — checked while writing. McDonald’s does not publish national prices, so the Big Mac’s $5.91 is the burgernomics figure for July 2026, and Wendy’s prices vary by location, which is why the Dave’s Single is shown as a range. Where a figure is not published anywhere, it is marked TBC.

If you want the wider chain comparison first, start with Wendy’s vs McDonald’s, then come back here for the burger itself. And if you are ordering in, Wendy’s delivery and the current deals can change the value maths on both burgers before you even get to the counter.

The verdict, category by category

Eight categories, one winner each. The Dave’s Single takes five, the Big Mac takes three — and the three the Big Mac wins are the ones you taste in the first bite, which is why this duel is closer than the score suggests.

Burger anatomy: what is actually in each

Strip away the branding and the two burgers are built on opposite ideas. Wendy’s builds one thick patty with fresh toppings; McDonald’s builds two thin patties around a middle bun and a signature sauce. Here is every component, as the chains themselves list them.

The tomato is the clearest difference in the build: the Dave’s Single comes with a slice of tomato and a sweet onion, while the Big Mac has neither and leans on shredded lettuce and sauce for its flavour. Wendy’s also seasons with three sauces at once — ketchup, mayo and mustard — where McDonald’s puts everything on the Big Mac sauce. Mashed’s tasters, who tried both burgers side by side in December 2023, split the build exactly this way: they gave the patty to Wendy’s, the toppings and the bun to McDonald’s, and the overall win to the Dave’s Single.

The bun matters more than it looks. Wendy’s potato bun is soft and slightly sweet and holds one thick patty; the Big Mac’s three-part bun is part of its identity — the middle slice keeps the two patties apart and gives the burger its height — but it also means more bread per bite. The Big Mac carries 45g of carbohydrate against the Dave’s Single’s 37g, and the extra bun layer is a big part of that gap.

Full nutrition: Dave’s Single vs Big Mac

Both burgers land in the same place on calories — 560 against 580 — but the panels underneath tell a different story. The Dave’s Single is the protein burger; the Big Mac is the carbohydrate burger. The full figures below are from order.wendys.com and mcdonalds.com. Older comparison pages are out of date on these numbers: one lists the Dave’s Single at 570 calories and the Big Mac at 550, and even Google’s own summary gives a range of 560–590 calories for the Dave’s Single. The official pages are the figures to trust.

Read it as a trade, not a blowout. The Dave’s Single gives you 6g more protein — 24% more — for 20 fewer calories, and 8g fewer carbs. That is the better panel if you are eating for protein or watching carbs. But the Big Mac answers with less saturated fat (11g vs 14g), less sodium (1,060mg vs 1,170mg) and a gram more fibre. The sodium gap is the one that surprises most people: the Dave’s Single is the saltier burger, at about half the daily guideline value in a single sandwich.

Per calorie, the Dave’s Single is also the more efficient protein buy: about 18 calories per gram of protein (560 divided by 31) against about 23 for the Big Mac (580 divided by 25). Neither burger is a health food — both carry 34g of fat and more than 1,000mg of sodium — and the honest answer is that the healthier pick depends on what you are counting. Counting calories, carbs or protein, take the Dave’s Single. Counting sodium or saturated fat, take the Big Mac.

For context, the same two burgers sit at the top of the protein table in our Wendy’s vs McDonald’s guide, ahead of the McDouble and the Jr. Cheeseburger, and the Dave’s Single is the only one of the four built on a single quarter-pound patty. The full Wendy’s menu shows the same pattern across the range: Wendy’s burgers trade on beef and protein, McDonald’s on the build around it.

Size & weight: which burger is bigger?

Ask which burger is bigger and you get two answers, because bigger can mean more beef or more burger. On beef, the Dave’s Single wins clearly. On total weight, the Big Mac wins — it is a taller, wider stack. The numbers:

The Dave’s Single carries 25% more beef than the Big Mac (4 oz against 3.2 oz), and you feel it: one thick patty, cooked from fresh beef, instead of two thin patties. The Big Mac makes up the difference with bread and toppings — the middle bun layer, the second patty and a heavy hand of shredded lettuce — which is how it reaches 7.6 oz in total. Wendy’s does not publish a total weight for the Dave’s Single, so a gram-for-gram total comparison is not possible; on the beef alone, though, there is no contest.

That beef gap is also why the Dave’s Double is such a step up. Add a second quarter-pound patty and you are at 8 oz of beef and 810 calories — more than double the Big Mac’s beef — for a sandwich that costs $6.99–$7.50 depending on location. See the FAQ below for the full Dave’s Double vs Big Mac breakdown.

Price & value: what each dollar buys

On the sticker price alone, this is a tie. The Dave’s Single runs $5.89–$6.99 depending on location — our menu lists it at $6.30 — while the Big Mac is $5.91 on the burgernomics index for July 2026. McDonald’s does not publish national prices, so the Big Mac figure is a national average rather than a menu price, and both burgers will cost more or less where you live. The difference shows up when you divide the price by what is inside the burger.

The Big Mac is a fraction cheaper per calorie — 1.02 cents against 1.05–1.25 — because it packs 580 calories into $5.91. But calories are not the thing you are buying in a burger. Per gram of protein and per ounce of beef, the Dave’s Single wins at every point in its price range: 19–23 cents per gram of protein against about 24 cents, and $1.47–$1.75 per ounce of beef against $1.85. In other words, the Big Mac gives you cheaper energy and the Dave’s Single gives you cheaper beef.

Deals change the picture. Wendy’s runs the Biggie Deals menu and regular app deals on its burgers, and McDonald’s counters with its own app deals — check our deals page before you order, because a $1 burger or a free-fries offer moves the value winner faster than any price table can. Delivery adds its own fees on top: see Wendy’s delivery for what a burger costs once it reaches your door.

Combo vs combo

Burgers are rarely eaten alone, and the combo comparison is where the two chains land in an exact tie. A Dave’s Single combo and a Big Mac Meal, both built medium, both come to 1,170 calories. The difference is the price: Wendy’s puts a number on its combo, McDonald’s does not.

The Dave’s Single combo is a limited-time offer at $7.99, with no official end date, and it is the cheaper way to buy the burger: the sandwich alone is $5.89–$6.99, so the fries and drink add as little as $1.00. The small combo is 1,000 calories and the medium 1,170. The Big Mac Meal matches the medium on calories exactly — 1,170 with medium fries and a medium Coca-Cola — but its price is set restaurant by restaurant and McDonald’s publishes no national figure, so it is marked TBC here rather than guessed.

On the small size, the Dave’s Single combo is the only one with a published price, which makes it the value pick by default. And with the medium calories tied at 1,170, the choice between the two meals comes down to the burger, not the meal.

History: 1968 vs 1969

The Big Mac is older than Wendy’s itself. It was created by Pittsburgh-area franchisee Jim Delligatti, first sold on April 22, 1967 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania for 45 cents, and put on every U.S. McDonald’s menu in 1968. Wendy’s did not exist yet: Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s in Columbus, Ohio on November 15, 1969 — a year after the Big Mac went national — and the hamburger he built it on was a square, quarter-pound patty, the same Single you can order today.

The one-year gap explains the two philosophies. The Big Mac was built to be assembled fast from standard parts — two small patties, a middle bun layer and one signature sauce — and it became the template the whole industry copied. Wendy’s opened in 1969 as the answer to it: fewer items, one bigger patty, fresh beef that was never frozen, and a burger cooked when you ordered it. Nearly sixty years on, neither recipe has really changed — which is why a 1968 burger and a 1969 burger can still be compared bite for bite in 2026.

Customization: build it your way

Both burgers can be rebuilt at the counter, but Wendy’s gives you more to play with — and puts a price on each change. In the Wendy’s app, every topping on the Dave’s Single is editable: the potato bun, cheese, ketchup, mayo, pickles, lettuce, sweet onion, tomato and mustard can each be removed or changed, and paid extras start at $0.50. McDonald’s offers a Customize option on the Big Mac in its app and on the site, covering the same kind of removals and additions.

The practical difference is price transparency. Wendy’s shows the cost of each extra before you add it — bacon is $1.70, an extra slice of American cheese $0.60 — so a loaded Dave’s Single can be priced to the cent before you order. McDonald’s customizations are priced in the app at the restaurant level, so the only way to know the cost of extra cheese or bacon on a Big Mac is to build it where you are. If you are counting calories, the free removals are the better lever on both burgers: dropping the mayo on a Dave’s Single or the Big Mac sauce on a Big Mac is the fastest cut you can make.

Conclusion

For most people, most of the time, the Dave’s Single is the better burger. It has more beef, more protein, fewer calories and fewer carbs, and it costs less per gram of protein and per ounce of beef. The Big Mac’s case is real but narrower: the sauce, the bun and the nostalgia, plus less sodium and less saturated fat. If you grew up on Big Macs, no table will talk you out of one — and it does not need to, because the Big Mac is still a good burger.

Order by use case. Want the most beef for the money? Dave’s Single — or the Dave’s Double at 810 calories if you are properly hungry. Counting calories? Dave’s Single, 560 against 580. Watching sodium? Big Mac, 1,060mg against 1,170mg. Feeding a family on a budget? The Dave’s Single combo at $7.99 is the only meal here with a published price, and the Biggie Deals menu is the cheapest way into a Wendy’s burger. Want the burger you remember from childhood? That is the Big Mac, and it has been the same burger since 1968.

The full chain picture is in our Wendy’s vs McDonald’s guide, and the same test against a different rival is in Wendy’s vs Burger King. But burger against burger, the answer is the Dave’s Single — by a quarter-pound.

Frequently Asked Questions