Top 20 Apps Like Instacart (Best Alternatives in 2025)

The rise of on-demand services has fundamentally changed the way people shop for groceries and other household essentials. Instacart has been a major player in this space, offering the convenience of having a personal shopper pick up and deliver items from local stores right to your door. However, the market for grocery and convenience delivery is constantly evolving, and a variety of strong competitors and alternatives have emerged, each with its own unique features and business model.

Some apps, like Shipt and Walmart, are direct competitors that offer a similar experience with their own network of shoppers and retail partnerships. Others, such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, have expanded beyond their initial focus on restaurant delivery to include groceries, leveraging their existing driver networks to offer a wider range of services. Then there are specialized services like Thrive Market and Misfits Market, which cater to niche markets such as organic, non-GMO, or “imperfect” produce at a discount.

This introduction will provide an overview of the top 20 apps like Instacart, highlighting the best alternatives available in 2025. We will explore what makes each service stand out, from delivery speed and product selection to pricing models and unique features, to help you find the best option for your specific needs.

Check Out 20 Apps Like Instacart to Make Money!

As of 2025, the gig economy for delivery services has expanded significantly beyond just food, offering a wide range of opportunities for independent contractors to make money. 

Here is a definition and description of what such a list would entail, broken down by categories of services offered:

Earning money as an independent contractor through on-demand delivery apps has become a popular way to supplement income or work full-time. While Instacart is a dominant force, numerous other platforms offer similar opportunities. Here is a numbered and detailed list of the top 20 apps like Instacart to make money in 2025, categorized by their primary focus.

Direct Grocery and Retail Shopping Apps

These apps are the most direct competitors to Instacart, focusing primarily on shopping for and delivering groceries or other retail items.

1. Shipt: Owned by Target, Shipt is a membership-based service that offers personal shopping and delivery from a variety of retailers including Target, Kroger, CVS, and others. Shoppers receive a guaranteed base pay plus tips, and the platform is known for fostering a community among its shoppers.
2. Walmart Spark Delivery: This is Walmart’s in-house delivery platform. Drivers deliver groceries, general merchandise, and sometimes prescriptions from Walmart and other partner stores. It’s a great option for consistent work due to Walmart’s high volume of orders.
3. Amazon Flex: As part of the Amazon ecosystem, this platform allows drivers to deliver packages for Amazon. This includes grocery orders from Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods. Drivers can sign up for delivery blocks with a set earning amount, providing a predictable income.
4. Dumpling: This platform is unique in that it empowers shoppers to become their own bosses. Shoppers can set their own rates, build a loyal customer base, and manage their own business through the app, offering a highly personalized service.
5. GoPuff: Rather than shopping at a third-party store, GoPuff drivers deliver items from a local GoPuff warehouse. This model focuses on speed and efficiency, offering a steady stream of quick, short-distance deliveries of snacks, drinks, and convenience items.
6. FreshDirect: A service that differentiates itself by delivering high-quality, fresh food directly from local farms and popular brands. This is a good option for drivers in major metropolitan areas who want to deliver premium products.
7. Cornershop: Owned by Uber, Cornershop is another grocery delivery service that allows shoppers to pick up and deliver grocery orders. It operates in various locations and provides an alternative for those already in the Uber ecosystem.
8. Thrive Market: This app focuses on organic, non-GMO, and sustainable products. As a delivery driver, you would be delivering a more specialized type of grocery order, catering to a specific market of health-conscious consumers.
9. Burpy: A platform available on iOS and Android, Burpy provides a range of delivery options from various local stores. It’s a solid alternative with a focus on local partnerships.
10. Kroger Delivery: As one of the largest supermarket chains in the U.S., Kroger offers its own delivery service. Drivers for this service deliver orders directly from Kroger stores, ensuring a consistent volume of jobs.
11. Misfits Market: This service focuses on reducing food waste by selling “imperfect” produce and pantry staples at a discount. Driving for Misfits Market is an opportunity to be part of a mission-driven company while making deliveries.
12. Peapod: As one of the original online grocery delivery services, Peapod still operates in select areas and focuses on scheduled grocery deliveries, often from larger stores.

Food and Other On-Demand Delivery Apps

These apps are primarily known for food delivery but have expanded to include grocery and other retail items, providing more diverse opportunities for drivers.

1. DoorDash: The largest food delivery platform in the U.S., DoorDash has expanded to include grocery and convenience store delivery through its “DashMart” service and partnerships with retailers. This gives “Dashers” a wide variety of gigs to choose from.
2. Uber Eats: Leveraging its massive network of drivers, Uber Eats has integrated grocery delivery into its platform, allowing drivers to seamlessly switch between delivering restaurant food and groceries.
3. Grubhub: A long-standing food delivery app that has also diversified its services to include grocery and convenience store delivery, offering more options for its drivers.
4. Postmates: Now a subsidiary of Uber Eats, Postmates offers a “deliver anything” model, which includes not just restaurant food, but also groceries, retail items, and more, giving drivers a flexible range of tasks.

Other Gig Economy Apps with Delivery/Task Options

These apps are less focused on traditional grocery delivery but still offer ways to make money by running errands, performing tasks, and providing delivery-like services.

1. TaskRabbit: This platform connects individuals with “Taskers” who can help with a wide range of tasks, including grocery shopping and running errands. It’s a great option for those who want more variety than just delivery.
2. Favor Delivery: Popular in Texas, Favor acts as a “personal assistant” service where “Runners” can be tasked with delivering anything a customer needs, from restaurant meals to groceries to dry cleaning.
3. Roadie: This app focuses on same-day, local, and long-distance deliveries for items of all sizes. While it can include groceries, it’s more geared towards delivering things like furniture, packages, and even pets.
4. Shipt Shopper: This is the specific app for shoppers who want to work for Shipt. It’s a separate app from the customer-facing Shipt app and is the tool you’d use to claim orders, shop, and manage deliveries.

For someone looking to make money, these apps offer flexibility, allowing them to set their own hours and choose the jobs they want to accept. The earning potential can vary based on factors such as location, time of day, and tips, but many of these platforms report potential earnings of $15-$25+ per hour.

Why Are Delivery Apps Like Instacart Gaining Popularity?

Delivery apps like Instacart have experienced a surge in popularity due to a combination of technological, social, and economic factors that have reshaped consumer behavior. The convenience they offer, particularly in a world where time is a precious commodity, is a primary driver. The COVID-19 pandemic also played a significant role, accelerating the adoption of these services as a way to shop safely and avoid crowded public spaces. Even after restrictions eased, the habit of on-demand delivery has stuck with many consumers.

Beyond these factors, the business models of these apps are built on several key concepts that make them successful and appealing to a wide audience.

Here are five key terms that define and describe the popularity of these platforms:

1. On-Demand Delivery Service: This term describes a business model where products or services are delivered to a customer at a time and place of their choosing, often very soon after the order is placed. The “on-demand” nature means the service is available whenever the customer needs it, offering flexibility and immediacy. Apps like Instacart are a prime example, providing a real-time solution for grocery shopping and delivery.
2. Gig Economy: This is a labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work, as opposed to permanent jobs. In the context of Instacart and similar apps, the gig economy refers to the independent contractors—the “shoppers” or “drivers”—who use the platform to find and complete jobs. This model offers flexibility to workers and allows companies to scale their workforce up or down based on demand without the overhead of traditional employment.
3. Last-Mile Logistics: This is a crucial concept in supply chain management and transportation. It refers to the final step of the delivery process, where a package or item is moved from a transportation hub to its final destination, typically the customer’s doorstep. This is often the most expensive and complex part of the delivery chain, and apps like Instacart have created efficient, technology-driven solutions to solve this problem, using a network of local shoppers to bridge the last mile quickly and efficiently.
4. Subscription Model: This is a business model where a customer pays a recurring fee—often monthly or annually—to gain access to a service or product. Many delivery apps, including Instacart, offer a premium subscription (e.g., Instacart+) that gives members benefits like free delivery on qualifying orders, reduced service fees, and exclusive offers. This model helps to build customer loyalty and provides a predictable revenue stream for the company.
5. Digital Transformation: This term refers to the process of adopting and implementing digital technology to create new or modify existing business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements. Delivery apps are a product of digital transformation in the retail and logistics sectors. They have taken the traditional, in-person activity of grocery shopping and digitized it, making it more convenient, efficient, and accessible through mobile technology and data analytics.

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