Instacart Mastercard review: A great fit for grocery delivery — if you can stomach service fees

Instacart Mastercard®

Bankrate Score

Rating: 4.1 stars out of 5

4.1

Annual fee

$0

Intro offer

$100 Instacart Credit

Best Offer: Get a free year of Instacart+ and a $100 Instacart credit automatically upon approval. Membership auto-renews. Terms apply.

Rewards rate

1% - 5%

Earn 5% cash back on Instacart app and Instacart.com purchases, and on Chase Travel purchases. Earn 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations and on select streaming services. Earn 1% cash back on all other purchases.

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

Blue Cash Preferred® Card from American Express

Bankrate Score

Rating: 4.4 stars out of 5

4.4

See Rates & Fees , Terms Apply

Apply now

on American Express's secure site

Annual fee

$0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.

Intro offer

Earn $250

Earn a $250 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months.

Rewards rate

1% - 6%

6% Cash Back at U.S. supermarkets on up to $6,000 per year in purchases (then 1%). 6% Cash Back on select U.S. streaming subscriptions. 3% Cash Back on transit including taxis/rideshare, parking, tolls, trains, buses and more. 3% Cash Back at U.S. gas stations. 1% Cash Back on other purchases.

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

Prime Visa

Bankrate Score

Rating: 4.2 stars out of 5

4.2

Apply now

on Amazon's secure site

Annual fee

$0

Intro offer

Get a $200 Amazon Gift Card

Get a $200 Amazon Gift Card instantly upon approval exclusively for Prime members

Rewards rate

1% - 10%

Prime Card Bonus: Earn 10% back or more on a rotating selection of items and categories on Amazon.com with an eligible Prime membership. Earn unlimited 5% back at Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, and on Chase Travel purchases with an eligible Prime membership. Earn unlimited 2% back at gas stations, restaurants, and on local transit and commuting (including rideshare). Earn unlimited 1% back on all other purchases.

Recommended Credit Score

Good to Excellent (670 – 850)

A FICO score/credit score is used to represent the creditworthiness of a person and may be one indicator to the credit type you are eligible for. However, credit score alone does not guarantee or imply approval for any financial product.

• Instacart Mastercard vs. the Blue Cash Preferred® card from American Express

  Compared with the Blue Cash Preferred card, the Instacart Mastercard earns slightly less for U.S. supermarket and streaming purchases. Still, Instacart’s varied retail offerings can help a general spender earn more cash back in areas where the Blue Cash Preferred doesn’t.

  The chart below uses average consumer spending for key categories and compares the cash back potentials after the first year for the Instacart Mastercard with and without an Instacart+ membership and the Blue Cash Preferred card from American Express.

  Category	Instacart Mastercard	Instacart Mastercard with Instacart+	Blue Cash Preferred from American Express
  U.S. supermarkets	$4,942 x 0.05 = $241.70 back	$4,942 x 0.05 = $241.70 back	$4,942 x 0.06 = $296.52 back
  Personal care	$646 x 0.05 = $32.30 back	$646 x 0.05 = $32.30 back	$646 x 0.01 = $6.46 back
  Dining	$2,375 x 0.02 = $47.50 back	$2,375 x 0.02 = $47.50 back	$2,375 x 0.01 = $23.75 back
  U.S. gas stations	$1,568 x 0.02 = $31.36 back	$1,568 x 0.02 = $31.36 back	$1,568 x 0.03 = $47.04 back
  Household furnishing / electronics retailers	$2,346 x 0.05 = $117.30 back	$2,346 x 0.05 = $117.30 back	$2,346 x 0.01 = $23.46 back
  Cash back	$470.16	$470.16	$397.23
  Annual fees / membership charges	$207.48 in delivery charges*, $593.85 in service charges**	$0 delivery charges on orders over $35; $99 annual membership fee; $225.66 in service charges**	$0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95
  Total	-$331.17	$145.50	$302.23

  The Blue Cash Preferred can more than double the amount of cash back you can earn after accounting for fees and membership charges, thanks to its higher earning potential on purchases made at U.S. supermarkets and U.S. gas stations. If you spend more at retailers the Blue Cash Preferred card doesn’t cover, you’d rake in more cash back with the Instacart Mastercard. Plus, if you value your time, you might prefer the Instacart Mastercard with Instacart+ as it saves you trips to the store each week while also putting cash back into your pocket.
  

  *Assumes delivery once per week for 52 weeks at $3.99/delivery.

  **Service charges on average start at 5 percent for non-Instacart+ members and 1.9 percent for members and don’t include alcohol service charges, heavy fees, priority fees or long-distance fees.

• Instacart Mastercard vs. Prime Visa card

  Another Chase card, the Prime Visa, is an obvious competitor to the Instacart Mastercard. It offers a comparable 5 percent back on purchases made at Amazon.com, Whole Foods and Chase Travel. It also comes with 2 percent cash back on gas stations and restaurants while also offering local transit and commuting instead of select streaming services offered by the Instacart Mastercard. However, deciding between these two cards will depend on your shopping preferences rather than how they stack up against one another.

  While Amazon and Instacart are different services, many of the types of products sold can be found on both platforms. Plus, those who shop at Whole Foods can earn 5 percent back at the grocery chain that Instacart members won’t. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you’re spending $139 each year instead of $99 for an Instacart+ membership. In some areas, certain retailers on Instacart may be quicker than Amazon if you pay the Priority Fee and choose delivery windows that can be anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes. If you need your purchases quickly, Instacart could be the way to go; if you don’t mind a short wait or like to shop in-store at Whole Foods, then the Prime Visa card is the right route.

• Citi Custom Cash® Card

  If you want to avoid annual fees, a great card to pair with the Chase Instacart Mastercard could be a custom category cash back card like the Citi Custom Cash® Card. This card earns 5 percent cash back in your highest eligible spending category each billing cycle (up to $500 in purchases, then 1 percent back). This would be a great way to earn a high cash back rate in a category that doesn’t earn as much with the Instacart Card. 

• Wells Fargo Active Cash® Card

  The Wells Fargo Active Cash Card goes with everything. The card is one of the best for flat-rate cash rewards, earning an unlimited 2 percent cash rewards on purchases without any hoops to jump through. This makes it the ideal partner card for earning at least 2 percent cash rewards back on a purchase if the Instacart Mastercard doesn’t cover it.
  The Active Cash also offers an intro APR on purchases and qualifying balance transfers, which you won’t find on the Instacart Mastercard. These features can give your wallet extra utility for making big purchases or transferring credit card debt.

• Online grocery shoppers

  The Instacart Mastercard is one of the few credit cards on the market that cater to people who prefer purchasing groceries online. The strong rewards rate on Instacart purchases and decent rate on everyday categories like restaurants, gas stations and select streaming services position the card as a solid, versatile cash back card. 

• Instacart power users

  Consumers familiar with Instacart’s various participating retailers can leverage that knowledge to earn a terrific cash back rate at stores and categories that other credit cards don’t typically cover. Some examples of retailers include warehouse stores like Sam’s Club and Costco, pet stores like PetSmart and Petco, and even liquor stores like Total Wine & More.

• Rewards value

  The primary criteria for a rewards or cash back card’s rating is its rewards value. This includes the card’s average rewards rate, estimated annual rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value and reward redemption value.

  To estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings, we first calculate its average rewards rate based on how much it earns in different bonus categories and how closely its categories align with the average person’s spending habits, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

  Based on this data, we determine a “chargeable” spend (which purchases are likely to be put on a credit card and earn rewards). This includes the following spending by category:

  • Groceries: $5,200
  • Dining out: $3,000
  • Entertainment: $2,500
  • Gas: $2,100
  • Apparel and services: $1,700

  Using this data, we assign a weighting to each of a card’s bonus categories. For example, a card’s grocery rewards rate receives a 23 percent weighting based on how much of the average person’s budget is spent on groceries. We also estimate the redemption value of points or miles from various issuer, airline and hotel rewards programs.

  This weighting and rewards valuation allows us to estimate a card’s average annual rewards earnings — how many points or miles you’d earn with a given card if your spending was about average and you used the card for all of your purchases, as well as what those points are worth. We also use point valuations to determine a card’s sign-up bonus value

  With these calculations complete, we assign each card a score based on how its average rewards earnings, sign-up bonus value, rewards rate and redemption value stack up against other rewards cards.

• Rates and fees

  We also rate cards based on how much it costs to keep them in your wallet or carry a balance. 

  To start, each rewards or cash back card is scored based on whether it offers an intro APR and how its ongoing APR compares to the rates available on other rewards or cash back cards. 

  We also score each card based on how its annual fee influences its overall value. 

  We consider a card’s annual fee in two ways — how it ranks relative to the fees you’ll find on other cards in the category and how it impacts a card’s overall rewards value. Cards with an annual fee will always be at a slight disadvantage in our scoring system since annual fees inherently cut into your rewards value, but if a card offers terrific value via its ongoing rewards and perks, it can earn a high score even if it carries a high annual fee. 

  With this in mind, we rate a card based primarily on how its ongoing rewards value and ongoing perk value (such as annual credits or bonuses) stack up against other cards in the category when you subtract

• Flexibility

  We rate each card’s flexibility based on the restrictions it imposes on earning and redeeming rewards and factor this rating into a card’s overall score. 

  Flexibility factors include whether a card only allows you to earn a high rewards rate on a small amount of spending or requires you to meet a certain earning threshold before you can redeem rewards. We also examine whether your points are worth less when you redeem for some options versus others and whether a card gives you the flexibility to transfer rewards to airline and hotel partners.

• Perks

  We also score each card’s set of features – its perks and benefits — against five tiers of features to provide a rating. 

  We break down these tiers as follows:

  • Tier 1 has less than standard card features (an ultra-streamlined card that offers basic utility and next to nothing in the way of ancillary benefits. 
  • Tier 2 includes the benefits you’d expect on standard Visa or Mastercard credit cards, such as free access to your credit score, car rental insurance and $0 liability for fraudulent charges. 
  • Tier 3 includes “prime card” or better-than-average card features like cellphone insurance, lost luggage insurance, concierge services and purchase protection. 
  • Tier 4 includes luxury features such as airport lounge access, elite status with an airline or hotel and credits for expedited security screening membership programs. 
  • Tier 5 includes the sort of exemplary benefits you’ll find on top-tier luxury cards, such as high-value travel credits, cardholder memberships and other unique and valuable perks.

• Is the Instacart Mastercard hard to get?

  You will need a relatively good credit score to qualify for the Instacart Mastercard. According to FICO, a good credit score is between 670 and 739. Other factors may also apply.

• Can I use my Instacart credit card anywhere?

  The Instacart credit card can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted. But you will earn the most cash back if you use it for Instacart purchases or for flights, hotels and other travel purchases made through Chase Travel.

• What is the Chase 5/24 rule?

  The Chase 5/24 rule is an informal policy where Chase does not issue new credit cards to applicants who have opened five or more personal credit cards with any bank or issuer (not just Chase) in the past 24 months. So,  if you have opened five or more new credit card accounts in the past 24 months, you may not qualify for the Instacart Mastercard. Keep in mind that being added as an authorized user to someone else’s card may also count against that total.

What cardholders think

Instacart Mastercard®

3.8

47 ratings

In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers.

66% of customers recommend this card

Score breakdown

5 stars

26%

4 stars

40%

3 stars

28%

2 stars

2%

1 star

4%

Score by category

Overall 3.8 / 5

Extra perks 3.6 / 5

Meets financial needs 3.9 / 5

Privacy and security 4.3 / 5

Customer service 3.8 / 5

Online portal or mobile app 3.7 / 5

In May 2024, Bankrate collaborated with third-party SliceMR to survey 6160 cardholders nationwide. Bankrate and Slice MR collected, averaged and presented website analytics and cardholder responses to six questions on a 5-point scale. Responses are based on individual cardholder’s product details, and therefore cannot be verified for accuracy. Users received an incentive for their feedback. User ratings are unedited and have not been reviewed or approved by credit card issuers, nor do these ratings reflect Bankrate’s own reviews of these cards.