KFC 9 Piece Bucket Price vs Chicken Licken Bucket Prices Compared
Last verified: 5 September 2026. Chicken Licken prices are checked against the full Chicken Licken price list and KFC prices against our KFC price list. Standard in-store prices in rand; branch pricing can vary.
The KFC 9 Piece Bucket is the standard size for a “bucket” in South Africa. It’s the first bucket of KFC’s bucket range and the most searched bucket size in the nation. Chicken Licken does have an exact match, the 9-piece Chicken Inn, and the two are within 10 cents of each other. That puts this as one of the tightest price matches out of the whole of South African fast food, and the question you should be asking is not which chain is cheaper but what’s the equivalent of R150 worth at each chain.
The Overview
The 9 piece bucket of KFC costs R149.90 and has 9 pieces of chicken in it. Chicken Licken’s 9-piece Chicken Inn is R150.00 (chicken only). They’re separated by just ten cents and are close substitutes at R16.66 and R16.67 each. The only real difference is whether you want sides. Chicken Licken’s Family Full House at R176.00 includes eight pieces, two regular soul fries, two sides, and two Licken Loaf, which is R26.10 more than the KFC bucket, but gets rid of the sides.
| KFC | Chicken Licken | |
|---|---|---|
| Direct 9-piece option | 9 Piece Bucket | Chicken Inn (9 pieces) |
| Price | R149.90 | R150.00 |
| What is included | 9 pieces of chicken, nothing else | 9 pieces of chicken, nothing else |
| Price per piece | R16.66 | R16.67 |
| Closest full-meal alternative | — | Family Full House, 8 pieces plus 2 Soul Fries, 2 sides and 2 Licken Loaf |
| Full-meal price | — | R176.00 |
Bucket sizes compared, size by size
KFC has three bucket sizes and unlike what most comparison pages say, Chicken Licken has a chicken-only option to match each and every one of them.. The pairings below are like-for-like on piece count rather than approximate.
| KFC bucket | Price | Chicken Licken equivalent | Price | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Piece Bucket | R149.90 | Chicken Inn (9 pieces) | R150.00 | KFC cheaper by R0.10 |
| 15 Piece Bucket | R239.90 | Family Bucket (15 pieces) | R234.00 | Chicken Licken cheaper by R5.90 |
| 21 Piece Bucket | R299.90 | Family Barrel (21 pieces) | R300.00 | KFC cheaper by R0.10 |
Two of the three sizes are effectively a dead heat, separated by ten cents, which is close enough that branch-level pricing will settle it more often than the brand does. The only size with a real gap is the 15-piece, where Chicken Licken’s Family Bucket undercuts KFC by R5.90. That is a significant saving of about 2.5 percent.
If you want chicken only, no sides
Some people don’t want fries or bread bundled in, they just want the most fried chicken for the least money. On that specific measure, KFC’s bucket range is simpler to compare, since its buckets are chicken-only by default, while most of Chicken Licken’s value comes packaged with sides.
| Chicken-only option | Price | Pieces | Price per piece |
|---|---|---|---|
| KFC 9 Piece Bucket | R149.90 | 9 | R16.66 |
| Chicken Licken Chicken Inn | R150.00 | 9 | R16.67 |
| KFC 15 Piece Bucket | R239.90 | 15 | R15.99 |
| Chicken Licken Family Bucket | R234.00 | 15 | R15.60 |
| KFC 21 Piece Bucket | R299.90 | 21 | R14.28 |
| Chicken Licken Family Barrel | R300.00 | 21 | R14.29 |
On pure cost per piece, Chicken Licken wins only at the 15-piece size, R15.60 against R15.99. At 9 and 21 pieces the gap is a single cent per piece, which is noise. The clearer lesson is that scaling up matters far more than picking a brand: moving from a 9-piece to a 21-piece cuts your cost per piece by roughly 14 percent at either chain, which is a bigger saving than any brand difference on this page.
What separates the two beyond price?
KFC’s Original Recipe uses its well-known blend of herbal ingredients and spices, less spicy than Chicken Licken’s default seasoning. Chicken Licken leans spicier across most of its range, and its Hotwings and SoulFire options push that further for anyone who wants real heat.
What comes with the bucket. KFC sells its buckets as chicken only, so chips, coleslaw, and bread are separate purchases. Chicken Licken tends to bundle sides directly into its family-sized meals, which is part of why the Family Full House looks like better value than a straight piece-count comparison suggests.
Reach. KFC has the far bigger footprint in South Africa, which matters if the cheaper option isn’t near you. Chicken Licken has grown steadily but still has fewer branches overall.
Other chicken worth comparing
- Full KFC menu prices
- Chicken Licken bucket and barrel prices
- Full Hungry Lion menu prices
- Chicken Licken vs Pedros compared
- Full Nando’s menu prices
KFC vs Chicken Licken Bucket Prices: Quick Answers
What is the KFC 9 Piece Bucket price?
The KFC 9 Piece Bucket costs R149.90 and contains 9 pieces of Original Recipe chicken with no sides added.
Does Chicken Licken have a 9-piece bucket?
Yes. The Chicken Inn is Chicken Licken’s 9-piece chicken-only option and it costs R150.00, ten cents more than KFC’s 9 Piece Bucket at R149.90. A number of price comparison sites incorrectly state that Chicken Licken has no 9-piece option.
Which is cheaper, KFC or Chicken Licken buckets?
At the 9-piece and 21-piece sizes, they are effectively identical, ten cents apart in KFC’s favour. At the 15-piece size Chicken Licken’s Family Bucket is R234.00 against KFC’s R239.90, and this price difference makes Chicken Licken R5.90 less expensive. If you want sides included rather than chicken alone. Chicken Licken’s Family Full House at R176.00 is the better-value package even though the headline price is higher.
What’s the difference between KFC and Chicken Licken chicken?
KFC uses its Original Recipe blend of herbs and spices, and they taste generally milder than Chicken Licken’s seasoning. Chicken Licken is known for spicier flavours across its range, including its Hotwings and SoulFire options.
Both brands run on franchises, so prices at your local branch may differ slightly from the figures above. Always confirm before ordering.