E-Commerce · pricing
Instacart pricing
Instacart publishes 2 tiers. Below is each one, what it adds over the tier beneath it, and where the ladder stops being worth climbing for most people.
As of 1 September 2026, Instacart pricing is free across 2 published tiers. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Free to download; item markups plus delivery and service fees per order, optional subscription
- Tiers
- 2
- Free tier
- Yes
Instacart plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay per order | Free | 3 | Entry tier |
| Instacart+ | $9.99/month | 3 | +$9.99/month, 3 more features |
What each tier adds
The set difference between each tier's feature list and the one beneath it. Where a tier lists nothing new, the vendor has either stopped repeating the inherited list or the tier raises limits rather than adding capability, the record does not distinguish the two, so this page does not either.
Pay per order
FreeThe entry tier. It covers item prices often marked up versus in-store, delivery fee varying by store and delivery window, service fee of roughly 5 percent of order subtotal.
Instacart+
$9.99/monthOver Pay per order, this tier adds:
- Delivery fees waived on orders over a store minimum
- Reduced service fees
- Also offered at a discounted annual rate
Where Instacart stops being free
Pay per order, Free
- Item prices often marked up versus in-store
- Delivery fee varying by store and delivery window
- Service fee of roughly 5 percent of order subtotal
Instacart+, $9.99/month
The first thing you pay for:
- Delivery fees waived on orders over a store minimum
- Reduced service fees
- Also offered at a discounted annual rate
What the product covers
The full Instacart feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Multi-retailer marketplace
- Instacart+ membership
- Same-day and scheduled delivery
- Pickup option
- Item substitution controls
- Instacart Ads and retail media
People bring Instacart in for a household with limited time wanting groceries delivered same day from a familiar supermarket chain, a frequent orderer comparing whether an instacart+ subscription pays off against per-order fees, someone using snap ebt benefits at a participating retailer through the app, a shopper who wants to order ahead and collect at pickup to avoid the delivery fee entirely. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Instacart are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in E-Commerce
Too few e-commerce tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instacart (this page) | Free | Free to download; item markups plus delivery and service fees per order, optional subscription | - | |
| Vinted | Free | Free for sellers, no commission; buyer pays a variable Buyer Protection fee at checkout | - | vs Instacart |
| Depop | Free | Free to list; percentage plus per-order seller fee, separate payment processing fee | - | vs Instacart |
| Shein | Free | Free to browse and use; pay per order, optional paid loyalty tier | - | vs Instacart |
| Wish | Free | Free to browse and use; pay per order | - | vs Instacart |
| Poshmark | Free | Free to list; tiered seller commission by sale price | - | vs Instacart |
| Mercari | Free | Free to list; 10 percent seller commission on sale price plus payment processing fee | - | vs Instacart |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Instacart badges page.
Before you pay for Instacart
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: 2 tiers between Free and $9.99/month, with the jump itemised above. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
Instacart runs on ios, android, web, and is published by Maplebear Inc. (Instacart) of San Francisco, California, United States. The full record is on the Instacart review, and the rest of the category is under best e-commerce tools.
Instacart pricing questions
- How much does Instacart cost?
- Instacart publishes 2 tiers, from Free for Pay per order up to $9.99/month for Instacart+. The entry tier costs nothing.
- Does Instacart have a free plan?
- Yes. The Pay per order tier costs nothing and covers item prices often marked up versus in-store, delivery fee varying by store and delivery window, service fee of roughly 5 percent of order subtotal. Paying starts at $9.99/month for Instacart+.
- What is the difference between Pay per order and Instacart+ on Instacart?
- Instacart+ costs $9.99/month against Free, and adds delivery fees waived on orders over a store minimum, reduced service fees, also offered at a discounted annual rate.
- Which e-commerce tools can I use without paying?
- 8 of the 8 e-commerce tools listed alongside Instacart have a free tier: Vinted, Depop, Shein, Wish, Poshmark.
- What am I actually paying for with Instacart?
- The record lists 6 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for a household with limited time wanting groceries delivered same day from a familiar supermarket chain, a frequent orderer comparing whether an instacart+ subscription pays off against per-order fees, someone using snap ebt benefits at a participating retailer through the app.
- Does Instacart charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 2 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Instacart prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Instacart against before paying?
- The closest e-commerce tools in this directory are Vinted, Depop, Shein, Wish. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Instacart covering price, platforms and features.