Canstar's 2026 Most Trusted Brand Awards
The brands Australians trust to do the right thing by them, across seven industries, as rated by more than 10,000 people who know them.
See the winners2026 Most Trusted Brand Winners
Superannuation
Australian Retirement Trust
About the winners
Here’s where each winner was rated strongest, and why Australians say they trust it.
Banking: Macquarie Bank
Macquarie Bank has taken out Canstar's 2026 Most Trusted Brand Award for Banking. The high proportion of customers agreeing they would recommend it to others is what set Macquarie apart. It was also rated well above the category average by its own customers, as well as those who bank elsewhere.
- Competitive savings rates and low fees: the most common reasons respondents provided for their ratings.
- Service that's easy to deal with: Macquarie was described as a bank that sorts things out without hassle and communicates well.
- Modern and straightforward: survey respondents called out Macquarie Bank’s simple products, good digital experience and plain-English banking.
Superannuation: Australian Retirement Trust
Australian Retirement Trust has received Canstar's 2026 Most Trusted Brand Award for Superannuation. Its members rated it highest of the eligible funds on whether it would do the right thing when something goes wrong and act in their interests. It also stood out just as clearly with Australians who know it but aren't members.
- A strong, secure, well-established name: the reason provided most by respondents who aren’t members.
- Good returns: members pointed to the performance of their super over the years.
- Good service, over many years: members described helpful service and long, trouble-free relationships with the fund.
Home and car insurance: NRMA Insurance
NRMA Insurance has received Canstar's 2026 Most Trusted Brand Award for Home and Car Insurance. It was rated highest of the eligible insurers on all three trust statements, both by its customers and the wider market, with its biggest lead on whether it would do the right thing when something goes wrong.
- A strong, well-known name: the reason respondents gave most often, pointing to it as a long-established insurer they have known all their lives.
- Reliable, does what it says: it was described as an insurer that delivers on its promises, often from years as a customer.
- Good service, and claims handled well: helpful staff and claims that were paid without fuss were mentioned repeatedly.
Health insurance: HCF
HCF has received Canstar's 2026 Most Trusted Brand Award for Health Insurance. It stood out most with Australians who know it but aren't members, who rated it highest of the eligible funds on all three trust statements, and its current members also rated it highest on acting in their interests.
- Not-for-profit, run for its members: by far the most common reason provided, pointing to a fund people believe puts members ahead of profit.
- An established name: long-standing fund with a good reputation.
- Good service, value and cover: members described helpful service, reasonable premiums and claims paid as expected.
NBN providers: Aussie Broadband
Aussie Broadband has received Canstar's 2026 Most Trusted Brand Award for NBN Providers. It stood out most as a brand customers agreed they would recommend, and its former customers rated it highest of the eligible providers on every statement.
- A reliable, fast connection: the most common reason customers provided was a connection that just works, with few dropouts.
- Helpful customer service and support: support that is easy to reach, listens and fixes problems.
- Australian-based, with a reputation that travels: an Australian support team, and a name that even those who aren't customers have heard good things about.
Energy providers: Red Energy
Red Energy has received Canstar's 2026 Most Trusted Brand Award for Energy Providers. It stood out with its own customers, rating it highest of the eligible retailers on all three trust statements, and most of all on whether they would recommend it.
- Australian-owned: the reason provided most often, as well asAustralian-based customer service.
- Fair prices and good value: competitive rates and deals, and prices respondents felt were fair.
- Good customer service: it is considered a provider that is helpful and easy to deal with. Respondents also credited its renewable energy focus.
Supermarkets: ALDI
ALDI has received Canstar's 2026 Most Trusted Brand Award for Supermarkets. It was rated highest of the eligible supermarkets on all three trust statements by all three categories of respondents — its primary shoppers, former customers, and the wider market — with its biggest lead on acting in customers' best interests.
- Consistently low prices: by far the most common reason provided, with prices that stay low week to week mentioned.
- Fair, honest pricing: many respondents made a point to highlight the pricing in particular, describing it as a supermarket that doesn't gouge.
- Quality products and range: good-quality own-brand products at low prices, and a range that does the job.
Reasons for trust are paraphrased from what people told us when they named the brand, unprompted, as one they trust.
About the awards
Canstar's Most Trusted Brand Awards recognise the brands Australians believe will do the right thing by them. Trust is different from satisfaction. When we survey Australians on satisfaction, we ask them about their most recent experience with a brand. When we talk about trust, we're asking which brands they believe will do right by them, especially when something goes wrong.
Each year we survey thousands of Australians and ask them to rate the brands they know, either as customers or as outsiders, on three aspects of trust. Those ratings are combined into a single award score for each brand, with the strongest result in each industry winning.
The Most Trusted Brand Awards are different to Canstar’s highly regarded Outstanding Value Awards, assessed by our Experts, and our Most Satisfied Customer Awards, which are based on customer experiences.
These three award types are based on separate, independent measures that show how a brand performs, how customers rate their experience, and how much trust a brand has built with Australians.
What we found
Canstar asked 10,045 Australians how much they trust the brands they know to do right by them. Across 183 brands and seven industries, there are seven brands that Australians trust the most.
What the winners have in common is not their size, but rather that very few people have a bad word to say about them.
For example, not a single customer in Canstar’s survey named Macquarie Bank as a bank they distrust. Aussie Broadband was named as a trusted NBN provider 12 times for every one time it was named as distrusted. One in five Aussies said they trust ALDI — that’s more than the share who use it as their main supermarket.
Trust also varies a lot by industry
Superannuation is the industry Australians trust most: on average, 73% of people familiar with superannuation providers agree with statements that the industry is reliable, cares about customers and acts fairly. Energy, at 54%, and Supermarkets, at 53%, were the least trusted industries.
Energy stands out for how many people don’t trust a provider at all: when asked which energy providers they trust most, 55% of those surveyed said they don't particularly trust any of them, the highest of the seven industries.
Supermarkets stand out for active distrust, with almost three in 10 Australians naming a supermarket they actively distrust. Only 16% distrust super funds.
Trust and loyalty go together
The higher the feeling of trust in an industry, the more likely a customer will stay with their provider for longer.
One in three energy, insurance and NBN customers are weighing up a switch, while bank customers are the most settled at 19%.
Across all seven industries, 87% of customers who highly trust their brand are happy to stay with it, and 93% would be comfortable taking out another product with it. This is compared to 32% of those with low trust who are happy to stay with their provider, and just 4% who would take out another product with it.
Among those who aren't customers yet, 87% of those who highly trust a brand would consider it. With low trust, almost none would.
At a glance
On average, 73% of people familiar with superannuation agree with statements that the industry is reliable, cares about customers and acts fairly. Supermarkets sit lowest of the seven industries, at 53%.
When asked which energy providers they trust most, 55% said none in particular, the highest of the seven industries. Health insurance was next, at 48%.
Supermarkets were the most distrusted of the seven industries. Unprompted, one in three Australians named at least one supermarket they distrust, ahead of NBN providers, at 27%, and super funds, at 16%.
Of those who highly trust their brand, 87% are happy to stay, compared with 32% of those with low trust. Even when there is just moderate trust, a third of respondents indicated they were eyeing an exit.
About our research
What we measured
Before any brand names are shown to respondents, we ask which brands they trust and distrust in each industry, and why. This gives each brand a Trust Index, and is used to decide any result too close to call, as well as the source for understanding why Australians trust, or distrust a brand, in their own words.
Respondents are then asked to rate a list of brands they know within the relevant categories on the three aspects of trust. In this process, they are identified as either current customers, past customers where relevant, or the wider market of Australians who know the brand but don't use it.
The ratings are combined into one award score for each brand, with current customers weighted the highest.
Who we looked at
Canstar surveyed 10,045 Australians in 2026 in nationally representative surveys covering seven industries. People rated the brands they are customers of and brands they know but don't currently use.
To be eligible, a brand needed to meet a minimum number of current customers, and a minimum number of people who know it without being customers,and the industry had to be its main line of business. In the 2026 results, 49 of the 183 brands assessed met the minimum standards. All other brands were rated, but not awarded.
Brands eligible in each industry
BankingANZ, Bendigo Bank, Commonwealth Bank, ING, Macquarie Bank, NAB, St.George Bank, Suncorp Bank, Westpac
SuperannuationAMP Superannuation, Australian Retirement Trust, AustralianSuper, Aware Super, Colonial First State FirstChoice, HESTA, Hostplus, Rest, UniSuper
Home and car insuranceAAMI, Allianz, Budget Direct, GIO, NRMA Insurance, QBE, Suncorp, Youi
Health insuranceahm, Bupa, HBF, HCF, Medibank, nib
NBN providersAussie Broadband, Belong, Dodo, iiNet, Optus, Superloop, Telstra, TPG, Vodafone
Energy retailersAGL, Alinta Energy, EnergyAustralia, Origin Energy, Red Energy
SupermarketsALDI, Coles, Woolworths
How the winner was decided
Each brand's award score is a combination of the ratings received from respondents, across the three groups. Every result is then tested to make sure the winner's lead is reliable — not just a one-off result. Where the top results are too close to separate, the Trust Index decides.
Every result is reviewed and approved by Canstar's Research Committee.
Highly Commended goes to brands that finished close behind the winner on trust in their industry. These brands went through the same assessment and checks as the winner, with the margin between them small. Where no brand finished close to the winner, none was named.
For the full detail, see the Most Trusted Brand Awards methodology.
What this award is and isn’t
This award measures how much people trust a brand to act in their interests, based on what they told us in 2026. It is not a measure of product value, financial strength or service quality, and it isn't personal advice. A brand that wasn't eligible isn't less trustworthy; it means we didn't have enough people in the survey who know it to measure it reliably. Results in one industry can't be compared with another, because each is scored against its own category.
FAQs
What does most trusted actually measure?
Whether people believe a brand will do the right thing by them, put their interests first, and is worth recommending. It's rated by the people who know each brand, across both its customers and the wider market, not by Canstar.
How is this different from the Most Satisfied Customers Awards?
Satisfaction measures how a brand performs for its customers: service, value, communication. Trust measures whether people believe the brand will act in their interests. The two are related but not the same. For example, in the 2026 results we saw that across the industries surveyed, a meaningful share of satisfied customers don't highly trust their brand, and those customers are far more likely to be weighing up a switch.
Why isn't every well-known brand listed?
A brand was only eligible if enough people in the survey were customers, enough knew it without being customers, and the industry is its main line of business. Brands that didn't meet the test were still rated, but weren't eligible for an award. The full list of eligible brands is above, and the methodology lists every brand assessed.
What does Highly Commended mean?
Highly Commended goes to brands that finished close behind the winner on trust in their industry. They went through the same assessment and the same checks as the winner, and the margin between them was small. They aren't ranked against each other, and where no brand finished close to the winner, none is named.
Who do I contact for a media enquiry about the Most Trusted Brand Awards?
For media enquiries, commentary or analysis about Canstar's Most Trusted Brand Awards, please contact our Media team.
About our experts
Grace Kinross, Consumer Research Specialist
Grace Kinross works as part of Canstar’s Research team, overseeing customer ratings across a wide range of products and services. With a double major in Marketing and Business Analytics, she brings expertise in consumer research, survey design, and data analysis.
Since joining Canstar in 2025, as a Casual Research Assistant, Grace has progressed into her current role, managing the research that informs Canstar’s consumer ratings and awards. She is passionate about uncovering the insights and factors that shape consumer attitudes and behaviour, using this knowledge to help customers make well-informed decisions.
Connect with Grace on LinkedIn.
Eden Radford, Canstar Spokesperson
Eden Radford brings more than a decade of experience in consumer goods and financial services, with a career spanning across a number of countries and disciplines, including leading communications for large-scale consumer and tech brands.
Eden's role at Canstar involves working closely with different teams, including research, insights and content, to share the news and insights that will better help everyday Aussies.
Eden's passion for empowering Australians to make better-informed decisions drives her work at Canstar. Her efforts are grounded in data analysis and consumer insights, always seeking to understand trends and share them broadly.
A voracious consumer of news across all mediums, when Eden's not ideating, writing, or pitching the latest data insight, she can be found being interviewed on national news outlets such as Nine News, 2GB or Sunrise, breaking down what the latest developments mean for everyday Aussies.
Bachelor of Communications, Public Relations, Auckland University of Technology
Follow Eden on LinkedIn.