I’ve spent roughly $4,200 on grocery delivery over the past two years. Not a brag — embarrassment fuel, honestly. Because somewhere around month eight, I realized I had zero clue which service was actually worth it versus which one was quietly picking my pocket through markup fees I’d completely stopped noticing.
So I went obsessive. Spreadsheets, side-by-side test orders, subscription cancellations, the whole messy thing. Here’s what I found after running six major platforms through their paces in 2024.
Instacart: The OG With Sneaky Costs
Widest store selection, full stop. If you live somewhere with a Kroger, Publix, and Costco within five miles, Instacart can pull from all three in a single checkout. That’s genuinely useful.
But the markup situation is worse than most people think. A 2023 Consumer Reports analysis found Instacart prices running 15-25% higher than in-store prices at those same retailers — and that’s before the service fee, delivery fee, and tip land on your total. Your $80 in-store haul can hit $115 delivered without you blinking.
The $99/year Instacart+ membership softens the delivery fees but touches nothing on item markups. Worth it if you’re ordering four or more times a month. Otherwise? Skip it.
Walmart+ Grocery: The Sleeper Hit Nobody Talks About
This one genuinely surprised me.
Walmart+ runs $98/year and delivers at actual Walmart shelf prices. No markup. None. That single fact makes it structurally different from Instacart’s whole model. For a family buying mostly pantry staples and produce week after week, that difference compounds fast.
The catch is obvious — you’re shopping Walmart. If your household cares about specific brands or needs specialty items, the selection will frustrate you. And the app itself feels like it was designed in 2019 and promptly forgotten about.
DoorDash Grocery: Convenient But Scattered
DoorDash pushed hard into grocery in 2022 and 2023. It now partners with Albertsons, ALDI, Meijer, and others (depending on your zip code). The DashPass membership at $9.99/month bundles restaurant and grocery delivery together, which actually makes sense if you’re already ordering takeout through DoorDash regularly.
Prices vary wildly depending on which partner store you’re using. In my testing, ALDI through DoorDash ran about 8-12% above shelf price. Albertsons was closer to 18%. So the platform itself isn’t really the variable here — the partner store is.
Amazon Fresh: Great If You’re Already Paying for Prime
You need Amazon Prime ($139/year) to use Amazon Fresh in any meaningful way. If you’re already subscribed — and at this point, who isn’t — the added grocery cost is basically zero.
Fresh has gotten noticeably better in 2024. Delivery windows are tighter, produce quality improved across most metro markets, and for non-perishables, stacking a Fresh cart with Subscribe & Save discounts can actually undercut Walmart prices on certain items. That’s not nothing.
Still not available everywhere, though. Rural and small-city users are largely still out of luck.
Shipt: The Target Option Worth Knowing
Shipt is Target-owned and works similarly to Instacart. Annual membership is $99. Prices match Target’s in-store pricing with no markup — a real advantage. The selection is narrower than Instacart’s, but if Target is already your go-to grocery store, Shipt just makes sense. It’s cleaner, it moves faster, and in my experience the shoppers tend to be more consistent.
What Actually Saves You the Most Money
Real talk: no single app wins for everyone. But here’s the framework I actually use now — weekly staples go through Walmart+ at shelf price, Instacart gets reserved for specialty runs where I need a specific retailer, and DashPass only sticks around if you’re already a heavy DoorDash user for restaurant orders anyway.
Bottom Line
Here’s something almost none of the review sites bother saying: the biggest cost in grocery delivery isn’t the fees. It’s the impulse additions the apps push through “frequently bought together” prompts and visual merchandising designed to make you spend more. I tracked my own orders for three months and found those little add-ons inflated my cart by an average of $14 per order. The app that saves you the most money might actually be whichever one has the most boring, least gamified interface — which, weirdly, points right back to Walmart+.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which grocery delivery app has the lowest fees overall?
Walmart+ has the lowest total cost for most shoppers because it charges no item markup on top of the membership fee. For occasional users without a membership, Amazon Fresh through Prime is often the most economical option.
Is Instacart+ worth paying for?
Only if you’re ordering four or more times per month from multiple retailers. The membership removes delivery fees but doesn’t reduce item prices, so light users almost never recoup the $99 annual cost.
Can you get grocery delivery without a membership fee?
Yes. Instacart, DoorDash, and Amazon Fresh all offer pay-per-order options without a subscription. You’ll pay higher delivery fees on individual orders, but for one or two monthly orders, it’s usually cheaper than committing to an annual plan.
Which app has the best produce quality?
This varies more by your local shoppers than the platform itself. That said, Amazon Fresh and Shipt have received consistently better produce feedback in 2024 customer surveys than Instacart, where produce quality complaints have stayed stubbornly high.
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich on Pexels