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

Compared with the Blue Cash Preferred card, the Instacart Mastercard earns slightly less for U.S. supermarket purchases, but Instacart’s varied retail offerings can help a general spender earn more cash back in areas where the Blue Cash Preferred doesn’t like at drugstores, electronic stores, and office supplies stores. The chart below uses average consumer spending for key categories and compares the Instacart Mastercard with and without an Instacart+ membership and the Blue Cash Preferred card from American Express cards’ cash back potentials after the first year with the cards.

The Blue Cash Preferred can more than double the amount of cash back you can earn after accounting for fees and membership charges, but that’s thanks to its higher earning potential on purchases made at U.S.supermarkets and U.S. gas stations. If you spend less in these areas and 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 more than you do cash back, then you might prefer the Instacart Mastercard with Instacart+ because it will save you trips to the store each week while also putting cash back into your pocket. Not only will this give you more flexibility throughout the day, but it may also curb how much you spend on gas.

*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.

Another card from Chase, the Prime Visa card, is an obvious competitor to the Instacart Mastercard because it comes with 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, restaurants, local transit and commuting then an additional 1 percent back on everything else. However, deciding between these two cards will come down to your preferences around shopping rather than how they stack up against one another with cash back and perks.

While Amazon and Instacart are different services, a lot of the types of products sold at the 700 retail locations partnered with Instacart might be found on Amazon. Plus, those who shop at Whole Foods will earn 5 percent back at the grocery chain that Instacart members won’t. Whole Foods shoppers and Amazon customers might want to pass on the Instacart card, but it’s worth pointing out that if you’re an Amazon Prime member you’re spending roughly $139 each year for free one- or two-day shipping and the benefit of holding the Prime Visa card. 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 and want to hand pick your produce from Whole Foods, then the Prime Visa card is the right route.

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. For example, if you’d like to earn more than 2 percent cash back at gas stations, you’d use the Citi Custom Cash card to earn 5 percent cash back. Or use the Custom Cash Card to earn 5 percent back in categories the Instacart card doesn’t cover, like select transit, fitness club memberships and live entertainment.

The Wells Fargo Active Cash Card is like hot sauce: it goes with everything. The card is the reigning champion in flat rate cash back, earning an unlimited 2 percent cash rewards on purchases without any hoops to jump through. This makes it the ideal partner card for nearly any category card, as you’ll always be able to earn at least 2 percent back on a given purchase, even if the Instacart Mastercard doesn’t cover it. 

The Active Cash also offers an intro APR on purchases and qualifying balance transfers, which are features you can’t find on the Instacart Mastercard. These features can give your wallet extra utility when it comes to making big purchases or transferring credit card debt.

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

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 example retailers include warehouse stores like Sam’s Club and Costco, pet stores like PetSmart and Petco, and even liquor stores like Total Wine & More.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Technically, 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 flights, hotels, and other travel purchases made over the phone through the Chase Travel Center.

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.