Should you choose Amazon Fresh or Instacart?
Fresh dominates on overall cost, while Instacart wins on delivery speed and selection variety. For heavy grocery buyers, you should use a mixture of both!
Amazon Fresh is confined to Amazon’s (very broad) selection, including Whole Foods items. It has reasonable selection and superior pricing to local supermarkets, especially when you use Amazon’s Chase credit card or Prime store credit card for 5% cash back. If you’re looking to shop locally, Instacart may be best for you. Instacart has free and paid options (that pay off for more grocery deliveries). Amazon Fresh requires a Prime membership, which is well worth the $12.99 a month or $119 per year if you use other Amazon benefits.
Introduction: Fresh and Instacart are both time-saving delivery serivces
While we’ve taken safe and reliable groceries for decades in the developed world, the next frontier is delivery—getting fresh food on demand to your door. In this article, we’ll compare two of the biggest names in grocery delivery right now, Amazon Fresh and Instacart. We will measuring the strengths and weaknesses of each in three areas:
- Price
- Efficiency
- Reliability
Both services are good enough, and you can gain lots of time back regardless of your choice. According to a 2008 study by the Time Use Institute, surveyed Americans spent an average of 53 hours per year in the supermarket. I imagine this is a mix of averages between primary shoppers for a family and more casual shoppers; if you are shopping for several people, you may be spending upwards of 100-200 hours per year in time you can reclaim with a delivery service. From that perspective, haggling over the specifics of two fairly effective delivery services is a bit nitpicky.
Fresh and Instacart fees, store coverage, and delivery speed
| Participating stores? | Same-day delivery? | Fees? | Regions covered? | Membership cost | |
| Amazon Fresh | Amazon and Whole Foods | Yes | Amazon Prime membership required, $10 delivery fee for 1-hour delivery, orders under $35 | Select cities; visit Amazon.com/AmazonFresh to check if it’s available in your area | Amazon Prime (required): $119/year or $12.95/month |
| Instacart | Several chain retailers and local grocers | Yes | $3.99 delivery fee, service fee based on subtotal | Most major metro areas in the United States; check https://www.instacart.com/grocery-delivery | Instacart Express (optional): $99/year or $9.99/month for free delivery on orders over $35, reduced service fees |
Prices and Fees for Amazon Fresh vs. Instacart Explained
Amazon Fresh prices and fees
Amazon Fresh boasts an impressive selection of over 500,000 products to choose from.
Membership fee: Unless you’re already paying for Amazon Prime, you’ll have to pay $119 per year (or $12.99/month) in order to use Fresh. Of course, this comes with other Prime benefits such as Prime shipping and video. Note that customers using a valid SNAP EBT can access Fresh without a Prime membership.
Delivery and service fees: For orders under $35, expect to be hit a $5 fee for orders made in a 2-hour window. For orders over $35-50, varying by location, delivery is free. Fresh does also offer a 1-hour window delivery, but that comes with a fixed $10 fee. You are also expected to tip your driver, which is usually around 3-5% of the order size.
Amazon Fresh Pricing: Amazon Fresh prices are set competitively, though varies in its competitiveness by category. Here’s an example (article) of one user’s analysis of Fresh prices compared to the grocery store.
How much does Instacart cost?
Membership fee: You don’t need to buy a membership to use Instacart like you do with Fresh. However, frequent users of the service might consider signing up for Instacart Express for $99 a year (or $9.99/month), but more on this later.
Delivery and service fees: Like Fresh, Instacart offers 2-hour delivery. Their delivery fee starts at $3.99 for orders over $35. There is also a service fee that varies based on your market and usually is 5% of your subtotal at checkout.
Instacart Pricing markup: Instacart resells from local stores, so note that items on Instacart are often more expensive than they are at the actual store. For a more full analysis of Instacart’s markup, see this article.
Instacart pickup fee: You can alternatively bypass delivery and service fees altogether by picking up your order at the store yourself, though you will still have to pay a $1.99 “pickup fee”.
Amazon Fresh Overview
Launched in 2017, Amazon Fresh is a service that delivers groceries and home essentials right to your front door. Because it only operates in a select number of cities, you’ll have to enter your zip code on the Amazon Fresh home page to see if your region is eligible for it.
But even then Prime members won’t have access to the service right away. You need to have received or requested an invitation to join first, which you can do on their homepage.
First things first, you should know that there’s no standalone app Amazon Fresh as of December 2020. For mobile users, the service is only accessible through the Amazon app itself.
Once you fill up your cart with items selected from Fresh’s wide-array of fresh produce, meat and seafood, pantry staples, and so on, you can choose one of two delivery options. There’s attended delivery, where you must be present to receive your order, and doorstep delivery, where your order is dropped off at your front door in temperature controlled bags.
Then, just choose a date, a 1- or 2-hour delivery window, and your groceries are processed at an Amazon fulfillment center to be shipped at the specified time. There may also be a pickup option available, depending on where you’re located.
Also worth mentioning is that with an Amazon Prime Store Card, you’re eligible for 5% cash back on eligible Amazon purchases. This includes orders made on Amazon Fresh.
Lastly, Fresh isn’t the only food delivery service that Amazon offers. There’s also Amazon Prime Now, which operates in fewer cities and sells common convenience items, and Prime Pantry, which sells nonperishable household goods in bulk.
Now let’s take a look at the ease of use for both the mobile and desktop versions.
Amazon Fresh Ease of Use
Some cool features that make Fresh easy to use include:
- Shows customer reviews for each item.
- Saves your order history, making it easier to rebuy frequent purchases.
- Offers integration with Alexa for easy voice command shopping.
Using their mobile app for me was easy. Their interface is clean and organized and I didn’t come across any problems.
Is Amazon Fresh reliable?
In terms of how reliable Amazon Fresh is, I scoured reviews on it left by users on three different sites: Trust Pilot, Influencer, and Site Jabber. Sorting the nearly 100 combined reviews by most helpful, praises from some users of the service:
- Timely arrival and refrigeration: “They have had all of my order in the time slots I needed at great prices. Everything cold was kept cold.”
- Good customer service: “Customer service is very friendly, they are usually polite and listen to what you need help with.”
Problems some users had:
- With missing or damaged items: “Orders frequently arrived with missing items, smashed up produce.”
- With orders never delivered: “Never received order. Given refund which will take 3-5 business days. Told to order again from scratch.”
Keep in mind: one hundred reviews is not really enough to get a clear-eyed view of the service. Definitely consider these comments, but try not to take them as gospel.
Instacart Overview
More widely available than Amazon Fresh, Instacart offers its delivery services in all fifty states.
Once you punch in your zip code on their app or website, you’ll be greeted by whichever grocery stores are delivering in your area with the service.
Instacart’s store selection lets you shop a great variety: for example, in my zip code, I can order from a few local grocery chains (PCC and Sprouts). , Target, and even Best Buy. This variety at least rivals the half-million or so items offered on Amazon Fresh.
Is Instacart easy to use?
I found both the mobile and desktop versions of Instacart very clean, and while I wouldn’t say there are considerable differences in the user interfaces between it and Amazon Fresh, I think Instacart is more aesthetically pleasing if not slightly more easy to use.
For example, the food categories are listed vertically instead of horizontally, which strikes me as a more convenient and intuitive way to sort through different sections.
On both Fresh and Instacart Fresh you can noticeably see which items can have coupons applied to them and how much you save, though on Instacart you can see the exact dollar amount.
A small thing: neither Instacart nor show the per unit cost of its items in search listings. Instead, you’ll have to click on the individual item to see this information, which can make price comparisons somewhat tedious.
Is Instacart reliable?
Instacart service reviews
For Instacart I also scoured reviews on the three same sites as I did with Fresh. Sorting the nearly 9,000 combined reviews by most helpful, praises from some users of the service I came across were:
- Great customer service: “They do such a great job at choosing items and communicating if they aren’t available.”
- Free delivery for first order.
- Smooth delivery: “Everything was exactly as I ordered and in good condition.”
Problems some users had:
- With refunds: “Never refunded my money despite my several calls and chats.”
- With item replacements: “83% of my items were replaced with no communication to be had beforehand. Many replacements made no sense.”
- With missing items: “The 2nd and 3rd order had products either missing or the wrong product.”
Personal experience: dealing with Instacart’s bad substitutions
As a long-time Instacart user, I have never had issues with refunds or complete order failures. However, I will echo the reviewer’s concern about substitutions: if you just let shoppers substitute with their own judgment, they will sometimes make some pretty hilarious errors. I’ve had diapers arrive in the wrong size (no, a baby doesn’t wear size 4 diapers), had chocolate desserts get substituted for fruit desserts (madness). These can be addressed by contacting customer service, but it’s still an annoying process that undermines the convenience of online grocery shopping. Shoppers are on piece-rate work so moving fast and often don’t have the product context needed to make a good substitution.
To prevent bad substitutions, I simply put ‘no substitutions.’ I usually do not need anything critically enough to take a gamble on a substitution, and I do multiple grocery delivery orders a week for my family so I can always get whatever I need another way. This saves me the trouble of accidentally ending up paying for something I don’t need. Alternatively, you should select the ‘ask me’ option for substitutions and never delegate the substitution to the shopper. Be aware of when your shopper is shopping and keep your phone & mobile app handy.
Instacart store availability
Since Instacart Shoppers shop at stores local to your area, the stores available to you will depend on where you’re located. Head over to their locations page and select your state to see a list of available areas.
Is Instacart Express Worth It?
With Instacart Express ($99/year), you don’t have to pay a delivery fee for orders over $35 and your service fee will be reduced. You also won’t have to pay any fees if you choose to pick up your items.
If you’re a frequent user of the service, paying for Instacart Express will probably save you money in the long run. Service fees for Express users start at 1.9%.
At any rate, an Instacart Express membership still costs less than Prime does.
Frequently asked questions on Amazon Fresh & Instacart
Where does Amazon Fresh food come from?
Food and goods are stored and processed in Amazon’s warehouse facilities, then brought to your door by Amazon Fresh delivery drivers.
How fresh is the produce from Amazon’s fresh grocery delivery?
Amazon Fresh recycles its produce multiple times a day and place ice packs in your bag so that your produce is fresh when you receive it.
Who is doing the shopping on Instacart?
Instacart personal shoppers will pick up and deliver your orders from the store you’ve chosen. They will replace any items that are out of stock and pick your produce for you.
Can I add special instructions for my order on Instacart or Fresh?
Yes! For either Fresh or Instacart you can add instructions for shopper or delivery driver during checkout.
How does Instacart package food for delivery?
Instacart uses insulated bags and coolers so that your items stay at the right temperature while being delivered from the store, and when left at your door.
Conclusion: Fresh, Instacart, or Both?
Amazon Fresh and Instacart are great grocery delivery services and marvels of the modern age. Fresh is a worthy benefit for a regular Prime membership, alongside Prime Now, Video, and regular Amazon shipping benefits. It can be shared between your family in a household account. Fresh’s user complaints regarding things such as crushed produce or missing deliveries seem to be more common than with Instacart. Still, if you already have Prime, you might as well try Fresh out for free, or experiment with Amazon’s Prime Now and Whole Foods alternatives.
Instacart is good for those who want to get their groceries and produce from local stores, though prices do tend to be higher online. Instacart Express is a good option for those who use the service a lot and want to save in the long term.
Regardless of your service choice, consider that moving your in-store shopping to delivery services will compensate you back in time and convenience. My family orders groceries over 70 times per year, making subscriptions to both services well worth it. I estimate online grocery delivery saves us at least 84 hours per year at our grocery volume in exchange for around $970 extra of expenditure (for delivery fees, membership fees, and Instacart price markups). We are working professionals and parents paying at most $12/hour to buy our time back—well worth it!