My Honest Thrive Market Review will answer all of your questions so you can decide if it’s a good fit for your lifestyle. Is Thrive Market worth it? Can you save money shopping at Thrive Market? How does it compare to Whole Foods? What Thrive Market products can I buy? I’ll cover these topics and more!
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Thrive Market Review
In this Thrive Market Review, I want to share my honest opinion so you can decide whether or not it’s worth the membership cost for your family.
Jump to:
- Thrive Market Review
- What is Thrive Market
- Thrive Market Coupon
- How Does Thrive Market Work?
- Is Thrive Market Worth It?
- FAQs
- Pros and Cons
- Who would benefit?
- Who wouldn’t benefit?
- Is Thrive Market Cheaper than Whole Foods?
- Is Thrive Market Comparable to Costco, Sam’s Club, or Bj’s Wholesale
- Shipping and Packaging
- Thrive Market Products I Purchase
- Quality of Thrive Market Food
- Helpful Shopping Tips
- Other Reviews
What is Thrive Market
Thrive Market is an online grocery store that offers natural and organic health foods, household items, hygiene products, make-up, along other things at comparable prices you’d find at your local grocery store. They describe themselves on a mission to make healthy living easy and affordable for everyone.
I’ve been a member since 2015 and place an order once a month or so. It’s my favorite place to shop online when stocking my kitchen with gluten free, organic, and other healthy pantry staples. I also shop their vitamins, Collagen powder, and natural makeup brands.
Thrive Market Coupon
New subscribers can get 40% off their first order and a free gift when purchasing a membership! (1 month and 1-year memberships available). Get the discount here.
How Does Thrive Market Work?
Once you start a membership, you can order items using their website or app.
- Browse for the items you want to purchase.
- Add the items to your cart.
- Place your order.
It’s not uncommon to get overwhelmed when trying to shop. Here are my best tips for browsing items to purchase.
- Use their filters to browse by diet or eating style. I’ve developed a gluten allergy within the last year, so I find this option extremely helpful. All I need to do is click on the gluten-free diet, and it shows me all of the gluten-free items available. Same with Keto, Paleo, Organic, Vegetarian, Vegan and other eating styles.
- Shop by grocery aisle. Like a traditional grocery store, food items are organized by “aisle.” For example, baking, canned and packaged, cereals and granolas, etc. You’ll also find perishables like meats and frozen fruits and veggies.
- Browse by the Thrive Market Brand. There are many healthy food, organic, and gluten free items available within the Thrive Market Brand, and all that I’ve tried have been very high-quality.
- Create lists for the items you purchase most often; this makes it easier to shop. For example, you can create a list of baking supplies, canned items, or basic pantry supplies.
Is Thrive Market Worth It?
In short, yes. Absolutely!
Even though they do charge a membership fee, the savings on many of the brands they offer more than make-up for it.
5 reasons I think it’s worth it.
- Prices are the same or cheaper than retail prices at Whole Foods and local grocery stores.
- You can research and review items on their website. You can read what others have to say before purchasing something new – this is a time and money saver. It’s also super helpful when switching to a new diet like gluten free, keto, Whole30 or paleo.
- Everything is ordered online and delivered straight to your door, so you never need to leave the house. Again, this saves time, and you don’t have to spend money on gas.
- Deals and special discounts are easy to find on their app and website. They also offer thrive cash on certain items, another way to save money.
- The Thrive Market brand! In my opinion, this makes the membership fee worth it. There are so many store-brand items to choose from at excellent prices. I’ll go over some of my favorites.
Thrive Market offers numerous Keto, Paleo, Gluten-free, and other specialty items under their brand. These items are more affordable than what you’ll find with name brands in the stores. So, if you follow any of those eating styles, I highly recommend checking out Thrive Market.
FAQs
Thrive Market works on a membership model. A 1-month membership is $9.95 a month, and a 1-year is $59.95. The 1-year is a better value, but if you don’t want to commit to a year, the monthly membership is a good option.
They do offer a free membership option for low-income or military families.
Get more membership information on the Thrive Market website.
No. Thrive Market did away with their free 30-day trial. However, if you purchase a yearly membership, you have a 30-day risk-free guarantee. If you cancel within 30-days, you’ll get your money back.
They also have a savings guarantee policy that if you don’t make your annual membership fee back in savings by the end of your membership year, they’ll automatically give you the difference in Thrive Market credit after you renew
You can cancel your membership at any time.
Contact support via live chat on their website to cancel your membership.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- You can shop for all popular organic and natural brands like Annie’s, Spectrum, Simply Organic, KIND, Newman’s Own, Bob’s Red Mill, Lara Bar, Eden Organic, and many others from the comfort of your home.
- You also get to shop for hard-to-find organic and natural brands.
- Massive selection of gluten-free products.
- Offers many brands to fit the Keto, Whole30, Paleo, and other specialty diet lifestyles.
- You can purchase toilet paper, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, baby food and supplies, makeup and other beauty supplies, vitamins and supplements, and many other items.
- You can purchase fresh chicken, beef, and seafood.
- You can purchase frozen fruits, veggies and other frozen foods like gluten-free bread and pizza dough.
- Retail prices are comparable and cheaper than Whole Foods, a local health food store, and other grocery stores.
- Free delivery if you spend $49 or more and groceries get delivered within about 3 -5 days.
- Sends out regular coupons and deals to your email.
- Thrive Gives, which is a program that gives back to the community. Every membership purchased gives one to a low-income family in need.
- You can shop their Thrive Market store brand to save more money on organic and natural items.
- Their app makes it easy to find and order items and stay updated with sales and coupons.
- You can find all previous orders on the website. This feature helps with budgeting and reordering items.
Cons
- There is a $59.95 annual membership fee. If you don’t make your membership up in savings, you will get back the difference. So I guess that can be a pro.
- You need to plan. Shipping takes 3 -5 days (and sometimes longer).
- You need to pay to ship for orders under $49. If you need something small, you need to pay the shipping cost or wait until you order more.
In my opinion, there are two types of people that can benefit from shopping at Thrive Market.
Who would benefit?
- Someone who appreciates the convenience of online grocery shopping.
- Someone who doesn’t have access to larger grocery chains or speciality food items.
- Someone who doesn’t have access to affordable organic and natural brands.
- Someone who is gluten-free, Keto, Paleo, or following a specific diet. They have a vast selection of brands to meet those eating styles at affordable prices.
Who wouldn’t benefit?
- Someone who has access to plenty of grocery stores and doesn’t mind shopping.
- Someone who prioritizes finding the best deals. Thrive Market does offer coupons, but you’re not going to get $1 toothpaste deals or .50 boxes of mac n cheese.
- Someone who is not concerned with organic and natural products.
New subscribers can get 40% off their first order and a free gift when purchasing a membership! (1 month and 1-year memberships available). Get the discount here.
Is Thrive Market Cheaper than Whole Foods?
Thrive Market is most comparable to Whole Foods. I frequently shop at Whole Foods, so I feel confident comparing.
- Simply Organic Pure Vanilla extract (4 ounces) bottle Whole Foods $19.99 vs. Thrive Market $14.99
- Simple Organic Spices are cheaper at Thrive Market by $1 – $2 a bottle.
- KIND Bars Dark Chocolate Nuts and Sea Salt Whole Foods $20.28 | Thrive Market $15.49
- Garden of Life Women’s Multi-vitamin Whole Foods $34.99 | Thrive Market $25.19
- Kettle Chips Sea Salt 13 ounce bag Whole Foods $4.99 | Thrive Market $4.49
- Rao’s Marinara Sauce Whole Foods (32-ounce jar) $9.49 | Thrive Market (24-ounce jar) $7.49
- Navitas Organics Organic Cacao Nibs (8-ounce bag) Whole Foods $9.99 | Thrive Market $6.99
- Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese Shells and Real Aged Cheese (1-box) Whole Foods $2.99 | Thrive Market $1.99
- Lakewood Aloe Juice (32-ounce bottle) Whole Foods $8.99 | Thrive Market $6.79
The most significant price difference is with Gluten-free brands. Schar, Bob’s Red Mill, Bionaturae, and Jovial are cheaper at Thrive Market. Not to mention, they also have a better selection and more stock than I find at Whole Foods.
Thrive Market and Whole Foods have a store brand, both are very comparable in prices. For example, a 15 ounce can of tomato sauce is $1.49 for both the Thrive Market brand and 365 Brand (Whole Foods store brand).
Overall, the organic and gluten-free brands I purchase are cheaper at Thrive Market than Whole Foods. There’s a $5 difference for some items, which is pretty significant. To me, this makes the membership cost worth it.
Is Thrive Market Comparable to Costco, Sam’s Club, or Bj’s Wholesale
I wouldn’t compare Thrive Market prices to wholesale prices.
Wholesale stores don’t carry all of the organic name brands found at Thrive Market but do offer a better selection than they did years ago.
I can purchase organic peanut butter, olive oil, pasta, rice, sauce, bread, and many other natural products at great prices at wholesale stores. I need to purchase a larger size, but the price is often much lower.
So, I think they can compete with grocery chains, but prices are not necessarily “wholesale pricing.”
Alright, I think I’ve established that Thrive Market’s retail prices are reasonable, and you’re not going to get ripped off. The $59.95 annual membership is worth it.
Shipping and Packaging
Most of my orders come within 3-4 shipping days, but I have had a couple of orders take as few as 2 days and up to 5 days.
Everything comes in a very sturdy box and carefully wrapped. They wrap all fragile items and place “crushable” things on top, and I never had anything sent broken or crushed.
Thrive Market Products I Purchase
Here are some of the items I often purchase.
They carry all of my favorite natural and organic brands. Here are some of the items I received in my last box.
- Jarred jalapeños and canned chills.
- Annie’s Macaroni and Cheese
- Kind Bars
- Eden Organic Garbanzo Beans
- Simply Organic Seasonings
- Bob’s Red Mill Steel Cut Oats
Here are some of my favorite Thrive Market brand items.
- Organic crackers
- Organic whole wheat pastas.
- Almond flour. Oat Flour, coconut flour, and other gluten-free flours are available too.
- Canned tomato products.
- Spices. Thrive Market has a variety of spices, including Everything But The Bagel, Fajita, and all basic seasonings.
- Jarred tomato sauces. Their organic Sicilian gravy is keto, paleo, and absolutely delicious!
I also have purchased:
- Coconut oil
- Coconut milk
- Chicken broth
- Smoothie superfoods (chia seeds, hemp hearts, and flaxseeds)
- Rolled oats
- Pure maple syrup and honey
- Schar gluten free products
- Jovial gluten free pasta
- Bonaturae gluten free pasta
Quality of Thrive Market Food
I haven’t purchased chicken, beef, seafood or other pershibales from Thrive Market so I can’t speak to the quality – I use Butcher Box for this.
However, all of the shelf-stable products I’ve purchased have been delivered without issues, high-quality, and delicious. I order the Thrive Market brand all of the time and think is an excellent option for affordable healthy foods.
Helpful Shopping Tips
As a Thrive Market customer since 2015, I feel like I can offer some shopping advice.
- Plan in advance. Shop for the month or at least two weeks at a time. Don’t expect to get an order the next day – this isn’t Amazon Prime.
- Stay organized. Keep track of items in your pantry and make a list of the things to order ahead of time.
- Create a shopping list inside of Thrive Market. Search out all your favorite products and save them to your favorites. Then create them into lists.
- Watch (or wait) for coupons. Coupons for 10-15% off your total offer are sent to your email regularly. You’ll also find frequent sales on name brands in the app, on the website, or sent to your email.
I hope you found my Thrive Market review helpful.
New subscribers can get 40% off their first order and a free gift when purchasing a membership! (1 month and 1-year memberships available). Get the discount here.
Stacey says
I signed up for the annual Thrive membership and I canceled after 3 shipments. Everyone of my boxes came busted and some of my items were damaged. Thrive was great with the cancelation process and refunding my money immediately; however, there’s a lot to be desired with their shipping company.
I purchased some basic staples in 2 orders and ordered a frozen box to test them out. The salmon which claimed to be wild caught was fishy, tasted like it was farmed, and the largest price was 2.8oz not cooked. In all honesty the seafood I get from my local Whole Foods store was 99.9 times better than theirs.
One of the things I didn’t like was you’re not able to view the items before signing up.
I think it’s worth it to test them out and for those considering it, go monthly. If you chose annual and you hate it you do have 30 days to request your money back and cancel. I would strongly advise using the chat feature as you’ll have a paper trail if you need to dispute the charge if they don’t follow through on the cancelation.
Brandi Hill says
to me thrive is ideal for someone who lives in a food dessert so paying more is worth it to them.
I live behind a Publix in a yogi, health conscious neighborhood . I also have a small natural grocer, grassroots.. About 80% of the items are in stock at Publix and are substantially cheaper than thrive.
I’m also a heavy Amazon shopper and once every two months I get my staples from Walmart.
I’d love to stop shopping at Walmart and Amazon. This is another pro to thrive .
Probably the best aspect of thrive you feel good supporting them.
One day I’ll be there but for now they are just so expensive to me.
Jennifer Clutterbuck says
Placed my first order on April 25 and got email saying package won’t be delivered until May 5 as of yesterday April 29. Today April 30 email now says delivery will be May 7. Not sure where the 3 day delivery is?
Tammy Kresge says
Right now they are so behind because of everything going on. I know my order was super late too. Hopefully things will get back on track soon.
Liz says
This helps a ton, thx for the review!
Tammy Kresge says
You’re very welcome.
RizG. says
This is a no brainer in my household. Me and my husband are starting a Keto Lifestyle Diet and we have just been verified as a military member so the membership fee was waived and I am taking advantage of lots of deals and discounts plus the site is very user friendly.
Thank you for your feedback. Bless
Brent says
My wife and I are super busy working people in the Bay Area. We have used Thrive delivery for staples like paper towels, coffee, soap and the like. We ordered a box last Saturday and have been waking up and checking the stoop every day since… but nothing there. Yesterday we checked the tracking and our box had moved from Livermore, CA (an hour south of here) to Arizona! My wife did a live chat asking for it to be sent overnight and was offered a stock answer something like “we do not have the capability of overnight shipping but we can set up a carrier for your area that you can track the package online.” Uh, we can already see that and it’s moving the wrong direction, people. So we are now OUT of said items and have to go to a store when we don’t have time to, and have a box of duplicate supplies supposedly en route. We are excited to cancel this service after our box may finally appear.
Ivy says
I agree Thrive Market is convenient and has specialty items that are sometimes hard to find. However, if the items you buy are basic, it is not a convenient service. You can get groceries delivered in most places nowadays for basic items. I also noted that you mentioned the biggest complaint is that they charge the fee after 30 days. I think they make it difficult for you to cancel. Other services allow you to cancel online, but with Thrive you have to call or email them and request it. That sounds simple enough right?! Except once you do, they continue to offer you things to not cancel and keep trying the service. They offer you coupons and additional free days to keep you on. I think that is a hassle. Most people know if the service works for them after 30 days. It should not be so difficult to cancel. That may be why people go over the 30 days, then complain about Thrive. I would be more hesitant to join a membership if company makes it difficult to cancel.
Deb says
While I agree with people who say you can get many of these items on Amazon. One thing to consider is Amazon’s packing sucks! I have Amazon Prime and use it on a daily basis due to the fact that we live rurally. Whenever I order a food item from Amazon, it comes in a box with everything else. I have had a case of canned dog food and bottles of bbq sauce in the same box with one little air bubble or protection. Needless to say, the products are almost always damaged or broken. I will be placing my first order with Thrive. If their packing is appropriate for the product, I definitely will continue shopping with them. While I love the convenience of Amazon Prime, I hate the way they pack thier items.
Julia says
A really, I think you can find better deals elsewhere without paying a membership fee. Most prices are equal to Amazon, even if they say they have a 30% discount.
Ilaria Bossi says
Thank you, Tammy! This review is very helpful. I’m a blogger newbie always starving for excellent affiliate programs and products and enjoyed reading your article. I want to offer my readers the ABSOLUTE BEST products with honesty and transparency. I’ve been thinking about joining Thrive Market affiliate program and this review is what made me decide today to go ahead with it and do it with the confidence that my readers will find high-quality products at relatively affordable price. It’s also helpful to hear the honest opinion directly from customers who after all didn’t benefit from Thrive Market, and their pain points, so thank you for allowing constructive feedback comments as well as positive feedback. BTW your blog is very well written, great inspiration for newbies like me, thank you for that too!
Kat says
I wanted to add a comment:)
I have a Thrive Gives membership, I am disabled and it’s hard for Me to get to stores all the time (someone else purchased a membership so mine was paid for by that other persons paid membership) I also mainly shop Wegmans/Aldi and everything I order from Thrive, saves Me money on each item and the gas/time it would take to drive to the store/stores.
As You stated, you just have to plan ahead and not order something You need tomorrow lol 🙂 my savings per item ranges from .30 cents to almost $2. My most recent order totaled $142. I had a thrive coupon for the order and paid $123. All these items at Wegmans would have cost $158 total(can’t compare Aldi because they don’t carry some of the items)
Also, depending on order total, You get free shipping and free gifts (a lot are full sized products on this order I received free shipping, a 16 oz jar of ghee and a protein powder full size sample)
As Our Author stayed, check it out, try a 30 day membership and see if it’s worth it for You 🙂
Tammy Kresge says
This is great feedback!! And I totally agree, if you use Thrive correctly and plan for things you can actually save a lot of money and time.
Lindsey Backen says
Thanks for this review. I have been looking into different options for getting food to my door. I live in a town with one very small grocery store, must drive over 30 miles to the nearest Wal-Mart/HEB and almost two hours to any large market with lots of healthy choices. I am pinched on time. I do have a question? Does Thrive have any way to save a cart, send an automatic shipment? Or does saving to your favorites mean you can quickly add what you need to a new car? I am trying to automate as much of my daily living as I can. Thanks for taking the time to write this for those of us who are researching.
Tammy Kresge says
Hi Lindsey, I looked into this for you and yes Thrive Market does offer autoship for there products.
DEBRA MCMASTER says
Informative review. I would add to the Pros list that their packing is amazing. Our daughter sends us packages, and bread, crackers, etc have all arrived without a crumb. Our cats love the boxes and the packing material. I’m also skeptical about the “family in need”. When I saw that, I thought about friends who would love the products. But I know they couldn’t afford them.
Betty says
They say that every membership gives a family in need a free membership. I find that difficult to swallow. How can “a family in need” afford these prices? Granted you are paying for convenience $60 a year worth of convenience but a family that is having a difficult time would be hard pressed to pay these prices – that is why they don’t shop organic, Paleo, etc. they cannot afford it. Thrive should donate that money (or products) to a food kitchen where it would do more good.
Jen says
I actually was approved for a free membership, all I buy from them is nutritional yeast, Brami Lupini snacks and Wonder noodles. Pretty much everything else I can get in store. Their prices are not comparable to in store verses having them right away when you purchase in store.
KC says
I qualify for the family in need membership, (Thank you to the people who pay and Thrive!), I am a disabled veteran. My son and I have to eat clean/organic/gluten free, for health reasons, we have no choice. The prices at Thrive are cheaper for us than the stores in our very expensive state, and they have things we need that I can’t even find in our stores. Thrive makes it possible and affordable for us!
KD says
Thrive Market should definitely offer free shipping on all orders with that high of a membership fee. Thanks for this review!!
Mary Ann says
I just want to say that I signed up for the free 30-day trial. I wasn’t super impressed but decided to give it a year to see how I liked it. I didn’t find their selection to be that great and – as you mentioned – the prices really aren’t any more competitive than the stores (or frankly Amazon, Target, Instacart delivery). So after a year I decided to cancel my membership – not worth paying $60 a year for access to the site since I already pay for Amazon Prime and don’t have to pay anything for Target delivery. This is where my opinion of Thrive truly dropped – you can’t cancel yourself on the website or in the app. You have to contact them. So I did – I live chatted. After repeated hard sells from the chat rep they finally confirmed she would cancel it and said I’d get an email confirming it within a few minutes. Did I get the email? Nope. Was my subscription cancelled. Nope. So then I had to reach out to them by email. What response did I receive, “We strive to respond to all inquiries within 6 hours. We occasionally receive a high volume of requests from our members and it may take up to 24 hours for us to read and respond to everyone. If you need immediate assistance, we are online 24/7.” with a link to the live chat app. Nope. Not okay. THEN I had to call them – and of course waited on hold – being directed to ‘live chat’ or ‘text’ if I didn’t want to wait. I am suspicious of anyone who makes it this hard to cancel a membership.
Tammy Kresge says
I’m so sorry that happened to you. I still have my membership so I haven’t had the experience with trying to cancel. But I agree that making canceling easy needs to be a priority with all of these companies. Thanks for your feedback.
Parson says
You said they don’t offer perishables but I saw options to buy meat. Is this new?
Tammy Kresge says
Yes that is new. I haven’t tried their meat services yet.
Shannon Schell says
I would also say that folks should mark a calendar reminder for that $59.95 renewal fee. It can smack your account just when you least expect it! Don’t forget too that they’ll offer “free with purchase” frequently. I’ve received chips, laundry soap and lots of other things just for ordering items I normally was buying.
Tammy Kresge says
That’s really good advice!
Maverik says
Thanks for sharing the review and the tips for buying.
Jean says
Here are my thoughts
Thrive should carry St,. Amour vegan cookies and sugar free granola.
HealthyCookiesDirect
Liz D. says
Very thorough, thoughtful & detailed review. Super helpful! Thanks!
Tammy Overhoff says
Thanks so much, I’m so happy you found it helpful. I’ve been a Thrive Market customer for over 5 years now so I feel confident in talking about and sharing my experiences.