Instacart Mastercard review: A great fit for grocery delivery — if you can stomach service fees
It could offer great value if you’re already a big Instacart user, but it may fall flat if you just want grocery rewards.
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Snapshot
Bottom line
This card could be a great choice for fans of grocery delivery who value convenience. However, Instacart’s price markups and additional service fees could eat into your rewards.
Intro offer
$50 Instacart credit
Rewards rate
1% - 5%
Annual fee
$0
Regular APR
19.49% - 28.24% Variable
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Instacart Mastercard® overview
Fans of grocery delivery services may find a lot to love about the Instacart Mastercard. Instacart’s first credit card has no annual fee and earns 5 percent cash back on Instacart purchases you make with eligible retail brands on Instacart purchases you make on Instacart.com and the Instacart app (excluding restaurant orders powered by Uber Eats). That should cover your groceries and many other everyday purchases, including purchases from eligible superstores and wholesale clubs — categories in which many of the best cash back cards fall short.
The card also offers elevated cash back rewards beyond Instacart, including on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, at gas stations, restaurants and on select streaming services. When you add in a generous amount of consumer protections and additional benefits, this could be a decent card that covers the needs of many at-home shopping fans looking for food delivery perks.
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Rewards
- 5 percent cash back on Instacart.com and Instacart app purchases (excluding restaurant orders powered by Uber Eats) and on Chase Travel℠ purchases
- 2 percent cash back at gas stations, restaurants and on select streaming services
- 1 percent cash back on all other purchases
Expert Appraisal: Good
See our expert analysis -
Welcome offer
- $50 Instacart credit automatically upon approval
Expert Appraisal: Unimpressive
See our expert analysis -
Rates and fees
- Annual fee: None
- Foreign transaction fee: None
- Regular APR: 20.24 percent to 28.99 percent variable
- Cash advance APR: 29.99 percent variable
- Penalty APR: Up to 29.99 percent variable
- Late/returned payment: Up to $40
- Balance transfer fee: 5 percent of the amount of each transfer (minimum $5)
- Cash advance fee: 5 percent of the amount of each transaction (minimum $10)
Expert Appraisal: Typical
See our expert analysis -
Other cardholder perks
- Travel and shopping protections
- Auto rental collision damage waiver
- Roadside dispatch
- World Elite benefits
Expert Appraisal: Good
See our expert analysis
Instacard Mastercard pros and cons
Pros
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This card’s cash back rate for Instacart purchases is higher than some competitors’ rates for in-store purchases.
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Its generous perks match those found on many premium cards.
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Instacart partners with popular food and non-food retailers, so you'll have plenty of reward opportunities with this card.
Cons
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It doesn’t earn boosted rewards for regular grocery purchases outside of Instacart orders, limiting the card’s flexibility.
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The Instacart app charges many extra fees, which could cut into your rewards earnings.
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Cash back rates for non-Instacart purchases are mediocre compared to other cards.
Why you might want the Instacart Mastercard
The Instacart Mastercard may seem like a niche credit card, but it offers an exciting array of benefits for Instacart fans and beyond. Its benefits make it a well-rounded rewards card, despite being co-branded.
Rewards rate: Great rewards in an uncommon category
The Chase Instacart Mastercard’s standout feature is its excellent cash back rate on Instacart app and Instacart.com purchases, which holds up well compared to the rates you’ll find on some of the best cash back cards for groceries. But the Instacart card could be more rewarding because it earns 5 percent cash back not only at U.S. supermarkets, but also at hundreds of popular retail stores across multiple categories. Even though Instacart is known for online grocery shopping and delivery, it partners with plenty of popular retail chains, superstores and wholesale clubs. With these options, people should be able to take advantage of 5 percent cash back at U.S. supermarkets and around 1,400 national, regional, and local retail brands.
Cardholder perks: Solid travel protections for a rewards card
The Chase Instacart card has an impressive list of travel and purchase protections like travel accident insurance and emergency assistant services, baggage delay insurance, purchase protection, lost luggage reimbursement, auto rental collision damage waiver, roadside assistance and extended warranty protection. It’s rare to find so many protections in a no-annual-fee card (especially one that isn’t a travel card). These benefits can add significant value to your Instacart Mastercard, especially the travel insurance perks if you use the card for travel purchases through the Chase Travel portal and bring it abroad.
The Instacart card also comes with a number of perks from Mastercard’s top-of-the-line World Elite benefits. These include complimentary 24/7 concierge services, access to Mastercard Priceless® Experiences and exclusive offers from well-known brands for ride-sharing and online shopping.
Why you might want a different rewards card
While the Instacart Mastercard can earn an impressive rewards rate on eligible Instacart and travel purchases, it might not be your best go-to grocery rewards card.
Welcome offer: Significantly reduced value
Chase and Instacart now offers new cardholders a $50 Instacart credit upon approval. This is a downgrade from the previous offer, which gave you double the credit and Instacart+ free for a year.
Instacart+ normally costs $99.99 annually or $9.99 monthly, so losing that value is a significant step back. Welcome offers on several of the best no-annual-fee cards can provide much better initial value. The good part is that you don’t have to spend anything to earn the Instacart credit, unlike other rewards card bonuses that typically require you to spend $500 or more to earn a sign-up bonus.
Rates and fees: Watch out for Instacart fees
Even though the Instacart card has standard credit card fees, Instacart shoppers need to be mindful of various service and membership fees. Instacart+ membership costs $99 per year or $9.99 per month for the premium service.
You don’t need Instacart+ to use Instacart, but if you shop at least twice a month, it may be worth the service charges and delivery fees. Instacart charges non-Instacart+ members a delivery fee ($10 order minimum for delivery) for all orders, along with a service charge. But with Instacart+, you eliminate the delivery fee for orders over $35 and get a lower service fee. With free deliveries and the reduced service fee, users with Instacart+ can partially offset the cost of membership with cash back rewards in about 13 deliveries that have a total purchase amount of roughly $1,620. One decent-sized grocery order a month may be all you need to achieve that amount of spending.
This may not be too bad if you use Instacart as a main source for grocery shopping. However, those aren’t the only fees you need to keep in mind. In addition to service fees, Instacart also has situational fees based on what you buy, including:
- Heavy fee
- Long-distance service fees
- Alcohol service fees
- Priority fees
- Pickup fees (from certain retailers)
- Bottle deposit and bag fees
- Taxes and additional regulatory fees
These fees could add up quickly. Even with the generous cash back rewards, shoppers who aren’t careful could pay a lot more with the Instacart card than they would in-store.
We tried it: Here's what our experts say
For Bankrate writer Ryan Flanigan, the extra cost of ordering groceries via Instacart is worth it for the time it saves him. Still, he thinks this card could be a big help in offsetting Instacart’s markup.
"I’ve used Instacart almost exclusively since the pandemic and after having a child. While Instacart does mark up prices a bit, the convenience and time savings are immensely valuable to me. This card would help offset a lot of the extra cost, and Instacart covers such a wide range of stores that you can get excellent savings almost anywhere."
— Ryan Flanigan, Writer, Credit Cards
How the Instacart Mastercard compares to other rewards cards
The Instacart Mastercard comes with a solid cash back rate and brings extra value to an already convenient service. However, the card is best used with an Instacart+ membership if you want to truly maximize your cash back rewards. If you’re on the fence, here’s how it stacks up against some competitors.
Instacart Mastercard®
Annual fee
Intro offer
Get a $50 Instacart credit automatically upon approval
Rewards rate
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
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.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Earn a $250 statement credit after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on your new Card within the first 6 months.
Rewards rate
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
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.
Annual fee
Intro offer
Get a $150 Amazon Gift Card instantly upon approval exclusively for Prime members
Rewards rate
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
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.
Best cards to pair with the Instacart Mastercard
The best option to pair with the Instacart Mastercard is another no-annual-fee card that can help fill in the gaps in rewards categories the card doesn’t already cover.
Who is the Instacart Mastercard right for?
The Instacart Mastercard is a good addition to your card lineup if you prefer to shop online or if you frequently use Instacart.
Bankrate’s Take — Is the Instacart Mastercard worth it?
If you plan to continually subscribe to Instacart+ and make all your purchases in the app or online with the service, the Instacart Mastercard can certainly be worth it. Plus, the added convenience of having groceries delivered to your door cuts down on time spent running errands and the amount of gas you’ll use each year.
If you’re not interested in paying for Instacart+ or want to get the best value for your purchases, you’ll likely want to skip this card. After you consider Instacart’s many potential fees for the service, there are other cards that can be more rewarding.
The information about the Instacart Mastercard® has been collected independently by Bankrate.com. The issuer did not provide the content, nor is it responsible for its accuracy.
How we rated this card
We rate credit cards using a proprietary card scoring system that ranks each card’s estimated average rewards rate, estimated annual earnings, welcome bonus value, APR, fees, perks and more against those of other cards in its primary category.
Each card feature is assigned a weighting based on how important it is to people looking for a card in a given category. These features are then scored based on how they rank relative to the features on other cards in the category. Based on these calculations, each card receives an overall rating of 1-5 stars (with 5 being the highest possible score and 1 being the lowest).
We analyzed over 150 of the most popular rewards and cash back cards to determine where each stacked up based on their value, cost, benefits and more. Here are some of the key factors that influenced this card’s overall score and how the score influenced our review:
Frequently asked questions
What cardholders think
Instacart Mastercard®
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.
Community Reviews
* See the online application for details about terms and conditions for these offers. Every reasonable effort has been made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. After you click on the offer you desire you will be directed to the credit card issuer's web site where you can review the terms and conditions for your selected offer.
Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, and have not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The information, including card rates and fees, is accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information.