- Allison
My Honest Thrive Market Review
Updated: Feb 17
Hi there!
Today I will be giving an honest review of Thrive Market, as well as showing you our monthly delivery.
First, I would like to say that I am not sponsored by Thrive Market at all. This is just the honest opinion of a young housewife. :)
Also, Thrive Market is not the only place we shop and get our food from. I mostly get pantry items from there as well as some household stuff. Check out my article about Misfits Market if you want to know more about where I get my produce.
I have been shopping at Thrive for over a year now, and I have no plans of stopping my use of it because of how much I enjoy the service.
These are some of the topics I will be discussing in this post:
What is Thrive Market, and How Does It Work?
What is My Typical Order for the Month?
What is Thrive Market, and How Does it Work?
Founded in 2015, Thrive Market is an online grocery delivery service that delivers high-quality, healthy, and sustainable foods and products for a lower, member-only price. It is like Whole Foods, but with an added membership cost, more variety, convenience, and mostly lower prices!
Their membership cost is $12 a month, or $59.95 for the year. If you are hesitant about this service, you do get a free 30-day trial upon signing up. If you are a veteran or a family in need, you can apply through their Thrive Gives program to get a free one-year membership!
You can order as much or as little as you want, but one nice thing about Thrive is that if you do not save at least the amount of money that you paid to get the membership ($59.95), they will reimburse you for the amount that you did not save.
For instance, if I paid $59.95 for a yearly membership but only saved $30 that year, they would refund me $29.95.
They almost always give you a free gift with your order as well. You do have to reach an order minimum of $50 to claim it, but since we order once a month from there, it is a pretty easy goal to meet. Their free gift values are usually about $10-15, but I have seen some that are almost $30! That is a nice gift to get, if I do say so myself.
Here is an example of the most recent gift that I got:
They also have a ton of sales, which range from 10-15% off to up to 50% off some days!
And, to top it all off, they offer Thrive Cash as well. You can obtain Thrive Cash by buying a certain amount or type of product. Usually, the more expensive the product is, the more Thrive Cash you will get from purchasing it. I typically earn about $6 for a whole month’s order, which may not seem like a lot, but you have to keep in mind that I do not buy a lot of high-value items, and I usually do not buy a bunch of the same item, except for olives and Thrive’s addictive chips. :)
Here is an example of a requirement for a certain product to get Thrive Cash:
Do keep in mind that your Thrive Cash will expire after 31 days.
So yeah, you really do get a lot of bang for your buck.
They also have the option of free shipping if you reach a grocery order minimum of $49, a frozen order minimum of $120, or a wine order minimum of $79. Their shipping costs are not that expensive, though, as they range from $5.95 to $19.95 an order depending on if you get groceries, frozen foods, or wine. Your groceries usually get delivered within 2-5 days after placing an order, which is quite fast.
They ship to all residential and commercial addresses in the contiguous U.S.
Their packaging is also 100% recyclable, and the cold packs that they provide can be used as plant food. They take the time to package almost everything individually, so I have never had a damaged product. Here is an example of their packaging:
They have a HUGE variety of foods and products! I am still surprised when I see the amount of stuff they have and that they keep adding more items. This was the main reason why we decided to try out this online market.
Here is an example of one of their newest items that I am excited to try out. It is a cleaning scrub brush from their brand, Rosey. It costs about $5, and it looks like it is very good quality.
They have options for everyone, no matter your dietary restrictions or preferences. Want to eat zero-sugar foods? No problem. Are you gluten-intolerant? Not an issue. Vegan? Plenty of options for you.
They also supply a wide variety of frozen foods: from meat and seafood to organic frozen fruits and vegetables, as well as a whole lot more!
What Is My Typical Order for the Month?
As I stated previously, we decided to only order once a month from Thrive. The reason for this is that we found that we could save more money by buying a whole bunch of stuff at once, compared to only buying tidbits every week or so.
Keep in mind that I have a lot of grains, beans, and canned foods already in storage, so I did not purchase a lot this time.
I have compiled a list of my usual order and some of my favorite Thrive Market brand items that I have gotten from Thrive, and I honestly think it is worth it just for these items:
Divina pitted green olives
The Thrive Market brand of potato chips cooked in avocado oil (these chips are THE BEST!)
King Arthur AP flour
A couple of cans of Wild Planet tuna
A couple packs of KIND bars
Steel-cut oats
Thrive Market’s brand of spices and seasonings
Thrive Market peanut butter (so good!)
Some Kettle & Fire broth
Red Star yeast
Thrive Market organic teas
Thrive Market organic chickpea pasta
Thrive Market organic coconut oil
Thrive Market essential oils
Thrive Market organic Mac & Cheese
Thrive Market canned tomatoes
Thrive Market black rice
Raaka 100% dark chocolate bar (I did not order any this time as we are all stocked up.)
After getting the stuff I listed above, I will then get a few extra things and take a look at what deals they have going on at the moment.
I usually do not buy many cleaning products or household products from there as I make most of my cleaners (look out for a post on all of my homemade cleaner recipes!), and we have found that it is sometimes cheaper to buy bulk household stuff (vinegar, baking soda, body products, etc.) from Amazon. I also use a lot of reusable items around my house, which eliminates the need for a lot of disposable and single-use stuff.
Honestly, I would say that all of the Thrive brand products are really high quality and affordable. I cannot recall a single product of theirs that was bad.
Do You Save Any Money?
I would say that you can definitely save money, but it does depend on how much you plan on ordering, how strict you are on organic foods, whether you need certain foods because of dietary restrictions, etc.
The one thing that is a bit annoying is the membership cost, which does prevent a little bit of money saving. But, because of all their sales, Thrive Cash, and free gifts, it does even out and promote several opportunities to save some money.
When my husband and I decided to start shopping at Thrive, we did not care too much if we saved any money. We mainly went with Thrive because of its convenience and variety.
If you read my article about Misfits Market, then you would know that our local supermarket does not supply a wide range of organic and sugar-free items. This was a bit annoying to us because we did not want to be limited in our ability to buy normal day-to-day items because of our local supermarket’s lack of supply. Plus, getting to the nearest Whole Foods or health store was inconvenient and out of the way.
So, saving money was not a contributing factor in why we went with Thrive Market.
Now with that being said, I have noticed that we have saved some cash over the last year by using Thrive, which is a definite plus. In one of my orders, I saved nearly $135!
Here are some price comparisons between Thrive Market and Whole Foods.
The reason I chose not to compare prices with my local grocery store is because they do not usually have half of these items in stock.
Thrive Market:
40oz. Rao’s homemade marinara sauce - $9.99
5 fl oz Cholula hot sauce - $2.99
1 jar of Primal Kitchen ranch dressing - $7.79
32oz. Kettle & Fire low-sodium chicken broth - $4.99
5 lb King Arthur all-purpose flour - $8.99
16oz. Thrive Market organic creamy peanut butter - $5.49
16oz Really Raw unstrained honey - $13.99
1 lb Thrive Market spaghetti - $2.29
32 fl oz. Bragg organic olive oil - $17.99
32oz Dr. Bronner’s lavender castile soap - $12.59
Total: $87.10
Whole Foods:
40oz Rao’s homemade marinara sauce - $11.49
5 fl oz Cholula hot sauce - $4.29
1 jar of Primal Kitchen ranch dressing - $8.49
32oz Kettle & Fire low-sodium chicken broth - $4.99
5 lb King Arthur all-purpose flour - $10.99
16oz 365 Whole Foods organic creamy peanut butter - $4.99
16oz Really Raw unstrained honey - $15.49
1 lb 365 Whole Foods organic spaghetti - $2.19
32 fl oz. Bragg organic olive oil - $23.99
32oz Dr. Bronner’s lavender castile soap - $16.99
Total: $103.90
I did not go too in-depth with the prices, but you can see that both have their ups and downs, so to speak. Thrive Market does win in terms of pricing, especially considering you are paying for convenience.
And, keep in mind that Thrive is almost ALWAYS having some sort of sale going on so that you can save even more.
What Are the Pros and Cons?
To make things simple for you, I will list out all of the pros and cons (in my opinion) that I am aware of.
Pros:
a HUGE variety of health foods, body products, pet products, and household products.
You get a free gift with every purchase above $50.
You can filter your shopping by your dietary needs (sugar-free, keto, vegan, gluten-free, etc.).
Free shipping if you reach a grocery order minimum of $49, a frozen order minimum of $120, or a wine order minimum of $79.
The ability to get Thrive Cash on most products.
Their packaging is 100% recyclable, and they package items very well so that they do not break during shipping.
They are practically always running a sale (sometimes even up to 50% off).
They typically have cheaper prices than most health food stores.
They currently ship to all residential and commercial addresses in the contiguous U.S.
Most of the time, your order will arrive within 2-5 days.
Every time someone purchases a membership, they will gift a free membership to a family in need.
They have the option of auto-shipping, which is a nice feature.
Cons
No produce or fresh dairy is available.
You need a membership to be able to view their products.
Their app can sometimes be a bit glitchy.
Is Thrive Market Worth It?
I think Thrive Market has a great goal of making healthy food more affordable and accessible, and I do think that they are achieving that goal daily with the millions of members that have signed up.
With that being said, though, you may be wondering who will benefit from having a Thrive membership. Those who may benefit are people who have certain dietary restrictions (gluten-free, keto, vegan, vegetarian, etc.), those who want access to a wide range of healthy items, those who do not have easy access to organic or sugar-free pantry items, and those who want to save money while still buying wholesome products for their family.
A Thrive membership is absolutely worth it for us, and we will continue to place many orders with them. :)
If after reading this article you decide that Thrive Market is worth it for you, then use my referral link to get 40% off your first order:
Now for the hard part: making my pantry a bit more presentable after unpacking my latest Thrive Market order! Hehe...
Before:
After:
There is not much of a difference, but it satisfies my OCD and makes things a little more accessible.
I do hope that this review helps you get a better understanding of this grocery delivery service, how it works, and if it would benefit you. If you think that membership would benefit you, then I strongly encourage you to try it out. :)
Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or feedback regarding this article.
See you next Wednesday!