Is Instacart+ Still Worth $99 After the FTC Settlement?

Quick Answer: Instacart+ costs $99 a year or $9.99 a month and waives the delivery fee on orders of $10 or more (groceries and retail), $35 or more (Costco), and $25 or more (eligible restaurants). The break-even point is roughly two orders a month, but the math changes after the FTC’s December 2025 settlement, which resolved allegations that Instacart misled customers with “free delivery” claims and unclear subscription terms. Service fees can still apply, and the FTC alleged that mandatory service fees in challenged promotions added as much as 15% to the order cost. Reported item markups can run 15–30% above in-store shelf prices at some retailers, according to consumer analysis and editorial reviews. Skip the membership if the household orders less than twice a month, has no Chase card with the Instacart benefit, and shops mostly at one store that offers its own cheaper delivery option. Keep it if delivery happens weekly, household orders run over $35, and the household actually uses the Peacock and NYT Cooking perks bundled in.

The “two orders a month and it pays for itself” pitch is the line Instacart leads with on its own membership page. It is also the line that ran into a $60 million refund order from the FTC in December 2025. Both can be true at the same time, but only one of them shows up on the credit card statement.

This piece walks the actual math for May 2026: what the membership costs, what the FTC alleged, what changes for current members, and the specific household profiles where $99 a year still works (and the ones where it does not). For households with the right Chase card, monthly Instacart credits can offset the annual fee. For most light users, the cheaper move is to skip it entirely.

Sources for this piece include the FTC’s official December 18, 2025 settlement announcement, Instacart’s current pricing and benefits page, the Federal Trade Commission’s complaint filed in the Northern District of California, Instacart’s official Costco partnership help page, and recent editorial coverage from CNBC, Grocery Dive, and Upgraded Points.

What the FTC Alleged (and Why $99 Looks Different Now)

On December 18, 2025, the FTC announced a $60 million refund order against Maplebear Inc., the company that operates Instacart. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, named four specific patterns the agency alleged violated Section 5 of the FTC Act.

• “Free delivery” framing with mandatory service fees. First-order promotions waived the delivery fee, but the service fee, which can run up to 15% of the order, still applied. The FTC’s complaint described these as “delivery fees by another name.”
• A “100% satisfaction guarantee” that was difficult to redeem. The self-service refund menu did not include a refund option in many cases. Customers reporting issues were often offered a small credit toward a future order instead of a refund.
• Free-trial-to-paid auto-enrollment without clear consent. The 14-day free trial converted to a $99 annual subscription automatically, and the FTC said the conversion terms were not clearly disclosed before sign-up.
• Hidden recurring charges. Hundreds of thousands of consumers, according to the FTC’s filing, were charged Instacart+ membership fees without receiving membership benefits and without informed consent.

The settlement does three things. First, it sends $60 million in refunds to affected consumers (the FTC has indicated the refund program will reach “hundreds of thousands” of customers). Second, it requires Instacart to clearly disclose all fees that affect the total price before checkout. Third, it puts the company under FTC compliance monitoring for ten years, meaning the disclosures and subscription practices now sit under formal regulatory oversight.

None of that makes the membership a bad deal automatically. It does mean the “free delivery” line in Instacart’s marketing now sits next to an FTC settlement built around allegations that the line was misleading when service fees still applied. For households deciding whether to renew, the practical effect is simple: assume the fee structure is closer to what the FTC described than what the ads suggest, and run the math on that basis.

The Real Math at $99 a Year

Instacart’s own pitch is that the membership pays for itself at roughly two orders a month, based on the average $7 per-order savings the company advertises. The actual math depends on which fees the household is comparing.

The membership waives the delivery fee on qualifying orders ($10+ for groceries and retail, $35+ for Costco, $25+ for eligible restaurants). Limited pickup credit-back offers may appear for eligible customers or participating retailers, but they should not be treated as guaranteed unless they appear in the account. Service fees remain a separate line item that scales with the order size. The FTC’s December 2025 complaint alleged that mandatory service fees in challenged promotions added as much as 15% to the order cost. On a $100 grocery order at that rate, the service fee alone runs roughly $15. The membership does not change that.

There is also the item markup. Reported item markups can run 15–30% above in-store shelf prices at some retailers, according to consumer analysis and editorial reviews. Instacart says retail partners set item prices, and some stores match in-store pricing. At retailers with wider markups, a $100 in-store cart can become meaningfully more expensive on Instacart before the service fee even appears.

What the membership does cover at meaningful value, beyond delivery-fee waivers:

• Peacock: a year of access, advertised by Instacart as a $109.99 annual value, though the bundled tier may not match the streaming household’s preferred plan
• New York Times Cooking: one year of access, advertised by Instacart as a $50 annual value for eligible annual Instacart+ members
• Family Account sharing: one additional household member can share the membership benefits at no extra charge
• Pickup credit-back offers: limited offers may appear for eligible customers or participating retailers, but they are not the core break-even lever

For a household that already uses Peacock and NYT Cooking separately and orders Instacart at least monthly, those two bundled perks can exceed the $99 sticker price based on Instacart’s current advertised values. For a household that does not use either, those perks are functionally invisible. The membership’s real value depends heavily on which benefits the household actually opens.

Chase Card Stacking: When Credits Can Offset the $99 Fee

The most consistent way to offset the $99 fee on Instacart+ in 2026 is through a Chase card benefit window that runs through December 31, 2027. Eligible Chase Ink business cards include a complimentary 3-month Instacart+ membership and up to $20 in monthly Instacart credits, for a potential annual credit total of $240. Certain Chase Sapphire and United MileagePlus cards also include shorter Instacart+ trial periods. After the complimentary period, the membership auto-renews at $99 a year unless the household cancels.

Households with more than one eligible Chase card may be able to stack membership months and monthly credits, but the exact result depends on the card type, enrollment path, and Instacart account setup. The safer way to treat the benefit is this: activate each eligible card inside the Instacart profile, check whether the credit appears in the account, and use the credit before the monthly window closes.

At that point, the monthly credits can offset more than the $99 annual fee if the household actually uses them before each window closes.

The catch is that the benefit needs to be activated on each card individually inside the Instacart profile, the eligible card needs to be the payment method on the order, and the credit only applies up to its monthly cap. Households that miss the activation step often see no credit at all even after the benefit window opens. Verify on the card issuer’s current benefits page rather than relying on an older summary, since enrollment terms have been adjusted twice since 2024.

Costco members have a separate path. Instacart’s Costco member offer lists a reduced annual Instacart+ membership at $79, compared with the standard $99 annual plan, and Costco delivery orders qualify for the $0 delivery fee threshold at $35. For households that already pay for a Costco membership and use Costco delivery monthly, the Costco-linked annual offer can be the cheaper paid path, though it does not stack with Chase credits the same way.

When Instacart+ Still Pays for Itself

The membership earns its $99 in a narrow but real set of household profiles. The shared feature across all of them is volume: the savings on delivery fees only compound when the household orders often enough that the fee waivers add up.

• Weekly or near-weekly orders, $35+ each. A household that orders every week at $35 or more avoids a delivery fee on each qualifying order. At 50 weeks a year, that is well past the break-even point even before factoring in the bundled perks.
• Mobility-limited or no-car households in dense metros. For households without consistent transportation, the membership’s value is not just delivery savings but the elimination of carrying-heavy-bags-on-the-subway problem. The math here often outweighs the item markup.
• Households that already use Peacock and NYT Cooking. Instacart advertises those two bundled benefits at $109.99 and $50 in annual value respectively. For households that would have paid for those subscriptions separately anyway, the membership’s value begins before the first grocery order.
• Costco delivery regulars. The $79 Costco member offer and the $35 Costco delivery threshold together make the membership cheaper to break even on for Costco-loyal households than the standard tier.
• Households with eligible Chase Ink or Mastercard benefits. Chase credits can offset more than the $99 annual fee if fully used before each monthly window closes. Mastercard benefits can reduce the first few months of costs, but they should be treated as limited-time credits, not a permanent free membership.

For a deeper look at how Instacart+ compares with the other major grocery-delivery membership, the Instacart+ versus Walmart+ comparison walks through the side-by-side math.

When to Skip or Cancel

The membership stops earning its $99 in profiles where delivery volume is low, where the household is also paying for a competing service, or where the perks go unused.

• One or two orders a month, every other month. Below roughly two orders a month consistently, the membership’s delivery-fee savings may not catch up to the $99 annual fee, especially because service fees can still apply whether or not the household has Instacart+.
• Already paying for DoorDash DashPass or Walmart+. Households running two delivery memberships at once are usually leaving one of the two underused. The DashPass versus Instacart+ comparison walks through which one to keep based on grocery-versus-restaurant mix.
• Single-store shoppers where the store offers its own cheaper delivery. Aldi, Kroger, Target, and Walmart all run their own delivery options at competing price points. For a household that shops at one of those primarily, the in-house option often beats Instacart+ on total cost.
• No Peacock or NYT Cooking interest. If those bundled perks go unused, the membership loses the Instacart-advertised $109.99 and $50 in equivalent annual value before the first order.
• Charged after a free trial without intending to subscribe. The FTC settlement specifically covers this case. Affected consumers may be eligible for a refund through the FTC’s distribution program. Check the FTC’s settlement page at ftc.gov directly rather than relying on third-party signals.

For households juggling several recurring memberships at once, the multi-membership decision framework walks through how to prioritize which to keep first.

How to Actually Cancel (and What Refund to Ask For)

Cancellation runs through the Instacart app or website: open the membership page, select cancel, and confirm. The membership stays active until the end of the current billing cycle. A refund is available within five days of the start of a new billing cycle, according to Instacart’s current help center.

Two specific cases produce different paths:

• Charged after a free trial without informed consent. This is the case the FTC settlement directly addresses. The refund distribution program will reach affected consumers through the FTC’s process; the agency’s settlement page at ftc.gov is the primary source for whether a specific household qualifies and how the distribution will work.
• Membership purchased on a partner site (Chase, Costco, Mastercard). Cancellation handled on the partner platform first, then linked back to the Instacart account. Canceling on the Instacart side without addressing the partner billing can leave a charge active.

The functional rule across all paths: there is no true pause function for Instacart+. Canceling stops the renewal at the end of the cycle, the perks stay available until that date, and rejoining later requires re-enrollment (though promotional pricing for returning members shows up periodically).

Bottom Line

Instacart+ at $99 a year still earns its sticker price for a specific household profile, but the FTC’s December 2025 settlement makes the marketing harder to take at face value. The actual cost picture is the $99 plus any service fee that applies on each order plus reported item markups that can run 15–30% above shelf prices at some retailers, minus delivery-fee waivers, minus the Peacock and NYT Cooking bundle value the household actually uses. Run that math against actual orders before the next renewal posts.

Keep Instacart+ if: The household orders weekly at $35 or more, already pays for Peacock Premium and NYT Cooking separately, and shops across multiple retailers Instacart actually covers.

Stack Chase or Mastercard credits if: The household holds an eligible Chase Ink card or an eligible U.S. Mastercard credit or debit card. Activate the benefit on each eligible card inside the Instacart profile, set the eligible card as the payment method, and use the monthly credits before they expire. In that case, credits can offset more than the $99 annual fee, though the membership may still auto-renew at $99 after the complimentary period unless canceled.

Switch to the Costco member offer if: An active Costco membership is already in the household, Costco delivery happens monthly, and the standard $99 was the default sign-up. Instacart’s Costco-linked offer brings the annual rate down to $79.

Skip Instacart+ if: Monthly order volume is one or two trips, the household shops mostly at one store with its own cheaper delivery option, or the bundled Peacock and NYT Cooking go unused.

Cancel and pursue a refund if: The membership was charged after a free trial without clear enrollment consent. The FTC’s December 2025 settlement distribution will route refunds to affected consumers through the agency’s official process. Check ftc.gov directly for status.

The structural shift is the one the FTC settlement pushed into focus: the membership has to disclose its real cost before checkout. For households making the decision in May 2026, the cleanest move is to do the disclosure work the marketing skipped. Add the delivery savings, subtract the service fee, subtract the markup, and the answer usually arrives in one cycle.

Related Decisions to Check Next

• Instacart+ vs Walmart+: Which Grocery Delivery Membership Actually Saves More?
• DashPass vs Instacart+: Which One Should You Cancel First?
• Should You Cancel DoorDash DashPass in 2026?
• Should You Cancel Amazon Prime in 2026?