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Every year my wife and I toy with whether or not our annual membership to Costco is worth it. And every year we let it auto-renew anyway. The fact is, we shop there enough to stock up on things like toilet paper, chicken thighs, lunchbox snacks, and cartoonishly sized bottles of olive oil to make it worthwhile. But week-to-week, we’re filling our fridge and pantry from places like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Target, and our local supermarket chains. Frankly, Whole Foods and TJ’s just carry products we like, and Target doesn’t force us to buy too much of any one thing.
But what if there were a Costco for organic, sustainable, and otherwise interesting foods in reasonable quantities, would that be worth it? Online grocery store Thrive Market may be able to answer that question. Here’s my honest Thrive Market review.
What is Thrive Market?
Thrive Market is a membership-based online grocer that also sells wine, pet products, health and beauty items, and vitamins and other supplements. It specializes in sustainably sourced, organic products. The site offers its members “up to” 30% off retail prices on organic and non-GMO items and competitive prices on just about everything else. If you’re already an avid Whole Foods, Erewhon, or natural foods store fan, it’s worth a look.
What does Thrive Market sell?
There are a lot of packaged foods and pantry staples, but according to Thrive, everything in the store is either organic (and labeled as such) or sustainably produced. So, no, you won’t find your Cool Ranch Doritos or Diet Cokes there. To a regular Whole Foods or organic food shopper, a lot of the brand names will be familiar (Annie’s, Amy’s, Applegate, Dr. Bronner’s, etc.). Thrive also has its own store brand products much like Whole Foods 365 items or Trader Joe’s brand products. I found them to be as good (and sometimes almost identical) as the big name brands at a lower price point.
The online grocery store also offers health items like supplements and vitamins, pet food, personal care items like cosmetics and soap, and household items for cleaning and food storage. Oh, and importantly: wine.
They don’t have everything, though. Despite some branding with claims like “Your grocery list in one place,” Thrive Market doesn’t sell fresh produce and baked goods or refrigerated items like cow’s milk, butter, and eggs.
How does Thrive Market work?
Like Costco, Thrive Market requires a paid membership. One minor annoyance is that you need a Thrive Market membership, not just to make your first order, but even to view the available items and their prices. A yearly membership costs $59.95 and, if you are looking for a shorter commitment, a monthly membership is $12. Items can be ordered as needed, or you can set up weekly, biweekly, or monthly shipments, which will autofill your cart and allow you to make adjustments before shipping out.
As for the actual shopping experience, there’s a better-than-average chance you’re familiar with some kind of online grocery shopping these days. And there’s a better-than-average chance Thrive Market is similar to whatever you’re familiar with. The online shop is easy to navigate by category and filter by preference like dietary restrictions and sourcing practices. Load up items in your cart and they’ll be automatically separated into grocery, frozen, and wine shipments, all three of which are delivered separately. Thrive Market currently ships to all 48 contiguous states (sorry, Alaska and Hawaii).
According to Thrive, items usually ship within 24 hours of ordering and then take 2–4 days to arrive for pantry items, 2–3 days for frozen items, and 3–6 days for wine. Additionally, frozen items are only shipped Monday through Wednesday to limit instances of thawing on porches or in warehouses over the weekend. My experience was on the faster end of those timetables. I placed an order midday on a Wednesday and had my pantry and wine by Friday and my frozen items delivered Saturday.
Thrive Market review: Pros and Cons
If you’re vegan, vegetarian, keto, or paleo, Thrive Market has specific filters already embedded in its shopping experience to help you narrow down products to those that meet your restrictions or needs. Additionally, products with certifications like Non-GMO, Whole30, Gluten-Free, USDA Certified Organic, are also easy to filter for, as are qualifiers like paraben-free, peanut-free, low-glycemic, and sustainability factors like cruelty-free, free-range, and low-waste.
Everything I ordered from the Thrive Market brand was high-quality and worth buying again. The pickle slices were crisp and garlicky and my kid preferred the Thrive Market boxed mac and cheese to some certain big blue competition. (Thrive’s had curvier, toothsome pasta and deeper orange cheese sauce which didn’t remind me of any boxed brands I’ve tried.) I think the only casualty was the black beans which came in a pouch instead of a can that allowed the product to get a bit smooshed by heavier items in the box and my grabby toddler. There are hundreds of Thrive Market items in stock at prices that compared well to what I saw in-store in my suburban town, so it’s well worth searching the inventory to find versions of products you already like.
It’s always nice when you can cross another errand off your list, especially for those of us who live in states where you can’t just pick up a bottle at the grocery store. (Editor’s note: Wine is not available for shipping to Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Mississippi, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Utah due to state regulations. Thrive Market’s website says it will offer wine delivery in new states if/when it becomes legal.)
In one half of the box, glass jars and other fragile items came wrapped in sturdy paper mesh. Everything else sat in the other half in a well-ordered way (see the black beans note above). Frozen items came packed with dry ice blocks and fiber-based insulation (i.e., shredded fabric) wrapped in plastic. This was the only nonrecyclable element, but it was much more welcome and easier to dispose of than styrofoam.
There are no points to tally or specific products or promotions to redeem for Thrive Market’s loyalty rewards. Thrive Cash simply accrues as a percentage of the purchase of eligible products (usually 5%), and then that cash value is automatically applied to the cost of your next order. The more you shop eligible Thrive Cash-back products, the more money you’ll save on your next Thrive Market order.
I don’t want to dock Thrive too much for this, as it’s not supposed to be a produce marketplace (like, say, Misfits Market or Fresh Direct). But since there are other one-and-done online grocery delivery services that let you fill your freezer, pantry, and produce drawer with a few clicks, if you use Thrive as your main source for everything else on your list, you’re still going to have hit the supermarket or farmers market to fill in the gaps. Even items like bread (they do have Ezekiel and Dave’s Killer Bread) arrive frozen, so you’ll have to weigh whether you want to thaw your bagels or not.
If you’re already a die-hard farmers market, co-op, or CSA shopper, then the lack of produce may not be as much of an issue, and, in fact, Thrive Market could be the hassle-free supplement to those produce options. But either way, the lack of produce should be factored in when you consider the value of the annual fee.
Want one can of coconut milk? Too bad, the minimum is two. Want one bag of sweet potato chips? Too bad, the minimum is two. And getting back to the Costco-esque nature of ordering, items like Thrive Market Organic Sausage were only available as two packs. Not quite a full-on pallet situation, but also not always convenient if you’re a household of one or two. As we’ve seen at other online markets selling frozen meat, this is the section where customization just isn't an option. Typically you’re offered one quantity like, say, one pound of chicken breast strips or a double quantity (anecdotally, I found multiple instances where, depending on the deals that week, the two single-pound packs were sometimes cheaper than the two-pound option).
The free shipping threshold for grocery/pantry items is $49, and if you don’t meet it you’ll have to add $5.95 to the cost of your cart. On top of that, frozen items ship in their own separate box which requires a minimum of $65-worth of frozen items to even make an order. Once that minimum is reached, frozen box shipping costs a flat $19.95 unless you then meet the free shipping minimum order total of $120-worth of frozen items.
This is where that Costco comparison once again comes into play. If you’re going to shop for frozen food at Thrive Market, you’re best off shopping for a lot of it at once. Thrive Market’s site says that this high threshold is intentional and that shipping such heavy items takes a toll on the environment both in packaging and transportation, so it sees the minimums as a way of encouraging larger single orders.
Wine ships free on orders over $79, otherwise it’s a $13.95 shipping fee. This one didn’t bother me too much as many online wine sellers require additional shipping costs due to weight considerations and to (hopefully) avoid broken bottles.
Is Thrive Market worth it?
For lots of people, the answer is yes. I found many Thrive products’ counterparts at other stores like Whole Foods and Target selling for a bit more, and sometimes a lot more. For example, a bottle of Thrive Market organic vanilla extract was nearly half the price of the brand name version, and just over a dollar cheaper than the same product by 365 by Whole Foods Market. (In the event you do find something cheaper elsewhere, Thrive Market will do price matching by paying you the difference in Thrive Cash.)
Another way Thrive Market offers discounts is reminiscent of Amazon: Subscribe and save. You can put items you buy with regularity on an autoship plan, which saves an additional 5%–10%. There are also periodic sales advertised on-site and via email (the week I am writing this I received a notification that there was a 25%-off sale on a huge number of gluten-free items).
If you pony up the annual Thrive Market membership and then actually shop at Thrive Market consistently, it’s going to pay off. But, if you join and then don’t shop there that often, Thrive will still help you out. If you don’t save enough over the course of a year to cover your renewal (based on the prices they list), it’ll refund the balance of your membership fee in Thrive Cash to entice you to stay. Especially if your usual grocery haul includes supplements, skincare, and cleaning products from the natural/eco-friendly section of the store, it’ll definitely save you some shopping time and, in the long run, a bit of money too.
