There are chores, menial things that nobody likes but do anyway, and then there’s grocery shopping: the mother lode of chores. It’s a tedious task that can be a real headache, especially if you’re shopping for more than one person. And most of the time, you have to shop in small quantities to avoid waste. This sounds great at first, but that means frequent trips and overall less time for yourself, and nobody wants that.
This is where a grocery delivery service can be a game changer. You’ll get everything you need, from various categories, delivered right to your doorstep. Whether you want to start cooking at home more or spend less time running errands, a grocery delivery service may just be the solution you’re looking for.
Using online grocery services has many benefits, such as same-day delivery. The delivery fees are often more reasonable than the time and effort you would have to put into your grocery runs, too. With the ease of using the services search bar, you’ll be able to find exactly what you’re looking for without having to comb the shelves and risk missing what you need. You can also buy almost any food item from any retailer without having to hop on the subway or into your car.
Using online grocery services doesn’t mean you have to ditch your local store altogether. Many of the most popular grocery delivery services even deliver items from the local stores of your choice, meaning you can still get your go-to foods and pantry essentials while supporting locally. Some services can also ensure specific food preferences are satisfied. You can still get healthy foods, organic produce, or sustainable options for those passionate about reducing food waste.
To save you time and make it easy to pick the right one, we did some research and price matching to find the best grocery delivery service for your needs in 2024.
What’s the best online grocery delivery service?
If you live in the Northeast, FreshDirect is the best grocery delivery service to try, but the brand has been slow to expand to other parts of the country. For most people, Amazon Fresh is the best way to get fresh produce, meat, pantry staples and other supermarket goods sent to their door. Other retail services offer grocery discounts and deals, then there are those that source and deliver from local supermarkets, plus super-speedy grocery delivery services that can get the goods to you within an hour (or less).
To curate this list, I tested a flurry of popular options such as Amazon Fresh, Gopuff and Instacart, as well as some smaller upstarts such as Misfits Market and Hungyroot to see which operations excelled with variety, quality brands, fair prices, and easy and timely delivery. All this to help you pick a perfect grocery delivery service and shave one weekly errand off your to-do list with just a few clicks.
If it’s just fruits and veggies you’re after, these are the best places to get produce delivered. I also tested to find the best online butchers and seafood markets too. To knock out the entire list (or most of it) in one place, these are the best online grocery delivery services for 2024.
Best grocery delivery services in 2024
” page-position=”” linktext=”” linkurl=”” like=”~ Good selection of fresh and shelf-stable groceries
~ Competitive prices
~ Free delivery for Prime members” dislike=”~ There were some grocery items we couldn’t find
~ Shipping fees for non-Prime members” can-collapse=”true” can-truncate=”true” truncate-on-page-load=”true” offer=”” techobjectinfo=”” overridecredit=”James Martin/CNET” overridecaption=”
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Amazon Fresh has a massive selection of groceries at low prices to choose from and speedy delivery for Prime Members. You’ll find just about anything you’d see at your local supermarket. Because Amazon owns Whole Foods you’ll also have access to that store’s proprietary brand, 365, which has quality goods at below-average prices. The Amazon Fresh website is well organized and the ordering platform is easy to use. You can schedule deliveries for the same day in most cases.
A few food categories are somewhat limited: I couldn’t find fresh chicken thighs, for instance, which are a staple on my weekly grocery list. For seafood, there was no option for fresh shrimp, so you’d have to choose frozen. The fresh produce selection is solid, but mostly, it’s just the staples you’d expect and nothing more. All the food I ordered arrived looking fresh, with no spoiled or overripe fruits and vegetables.
Amazon Fresh also offers a wealth of household products, so you can bang out most of your typical supermarket run in one delivery. In addition to delivery, Amazon Fresh offers in-store pickup for certain ZIP codes. You can also make use of the Summer store these days, where you can find seasonal items and everything you need for summer celebrations at a discount.
” page-position=”” linktext=”” linkurl=”” like=”~ Good for ordering pantry and protein staples
~ Wide selection of ethically responsible products
~ Eco-friendly packaging and shipping” dislike=”~ No fresh produce or dairy
~ Must buy into a membership in order to browse” can-collapse=”true” can-truncate=”true” truncate-on-page-load=”true” offer=”” techobjectinfo=”” overridecredit=”Thrive Market” overridecaption=”
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For a monthly or yearly membership fee, Thrive Market members can shop via the platform primarily for pantry and frozen staples, which come with a low-price guarantee. The platform also includes other household staples such as beauty, bath and body, vitamins and supplements and even wine. We found that the selection at Thrive was more than sufficient to provide a lot of great options for pantry staples, including its own proprietary brand of more than 700 items, snacks, and especially frozen proteins and meals. The specialty items here support 90+ lifestyle and dietary needs, so there is something for everyone.
” page-position=”” linktext=”” linkurl=”” like=”~ Low prices and no membership fees
~ Cheap shipping starts at $6 depending on your location
~ Good selection of ethically responsible products
~ Eco-friendly packaging and shipping” dislike=”~ Inventory is inconsistent
~ Some produce arrives a little past its prime
~ Must actively curate your order each week” can-collapse=”false” can-truncate=”false” truncate-on-page-load=”false” offer=”” techobjectinfo=”” overridecredit=”Misfits Market” overridecaption=”
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If you don’t mind the occasional oddly shaped orange or citrus that’s fully usable but has a bit of browning on the peel, Misfits Market offers low prices on produce. Misfits may have made a name by selling cheap, ugly produce that is deemed unfit for grocery store shelves, but it’s evolved into a full-service grocery operation with meats, fish, baking supplies and pantry staples.
The convenient subscription service doesn’t require you to pay any subscription fees and has cheap shipping. The one catch is that the inventory changes fairly drastically from week to week. That’s how they keep prices low, but it also means you’ll have to actively curate orders or you might receive items that you don’t like. Here’s our full review of Misfits Market.
The online grocery market stocks a good amount of quality, organic and specialty items including meat, seafood, produce, snacks and pantry items, but you won’t find as many options as vendors such as Amazon Fresh or FreshDirect.
Once the initial suggested list is formulated, you can remove any grocery items and add others based on a credit system. I priced out a full list from Hungryroot and compared it to an average grocery store. By my calculations, Hungryroot is about 8% to 10% more expensive. The interface and ordering platform are both intuitive and even fun to use.
” page-position=”” linktext=”” linkurl=”” like=”~ Creative and simple recipe suggestions
~ Unique and interesting groceries
~ Fun and easy interface” dislike=”~ A bit more expensive than some other services
~ The overall grocery selection is limited
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Hungryroot (full review here) is a grocery subscription service that makes weekly suggestions based on a quiz you’ll take to gauge your eating habits and dietary preferences. One of this service’s unique features is that it offers simple and flexible meal ideas with the necessary groceries to make them. It’s somewhere between a meal kit and a grocery delivery service and is great for those looking for breakfast, lunch and dinner inspiration.
The online grocery market stocks a good amount of quality, organic and specialty items including meat, seafood, produce, snacks and pantry items, but you won’t find as many options as vendors such as Amazon Fresh or FreshDirect.
Once the initial suggested list is formulated, you can remove any grocery items and add others based on a credit system. I priced out a full list from Hungryroot and compared it to an average grocery store. By my calculations, Hungryroot is about 8% to 10% more expensive. The interface and ordering platform are both intuitive and even fun to use.
With competitive prices, great selection and timely deliveries, FreshDirect is actually my favorite grocery delivery service to use, but because it’s currently only available in the Northeast, it’s hard to tap as the No. 1 overall pick.
FreshDirect has a wide-ranging selection of fresh produce, meats, fish, prepared foods, pantry items and home and paper products. There are definitely fewer total items than in a brick-and-mortar supermarket, but I found just about everything I would normally buy on a trip to the grocery store. FreshDirect stocks plenty of organic and specialty items at similar prices to Stop & Shop or Wegmans.
FreshDirect’s website is easy to navigate and deliveries are almost always on time, in our experience. Customer service is also great and if anything is missing or damaged, they’ll replace it in the next delivery or credit your account, no questions asked.
Instacart is a local grocery delivery service and operates differently than the first two on our list. This third-party service hires shoppers to head to a local store of your choosing, buy the items and deliver them to your door. The good news is you’ll get to order from your favorite local grocery store. Instacart is available for most grocery chains — Publix, Aldi, Stop & Shop and Costco — but the store options will vary depending on your location. You can view the estimated delivery time for each store before choosing one.
The downside is that you have to pay attention and check the app for messages from your shopper while they’re shopping in case certain items are out of stock. The shopper will typically send photos of potential replacements in real time for you to approve or reject. It can be a little bit stressful and time-consuming, but it’s still a time-saver over going to the store yourself. You can also track the grocery delivery in real-time via the mobile app to see when it will arrive.
Instacart also marks prices up on most groceries, sometimes as much as 14%. And there’s a delivery fee and suggested tipping associated with each order, making it one of the more expensive options on our list. In addition to delivery, Instacart offers in-store pickup for online orders at some stores.