The Best Thrive Market Review: Everything You Need To Know

If you came here looking for Thrive Market reviews, you're in the right place.

Every time I share something I bought on Thrive Market, I get a ton of questions about it. What is it? How do I shop it? Is it worth it?

Quick answers: awesome, I'll show you, and yes.

There are a lot of Thrive Market reviews out there on the web, but I found a lot of them didn't answer quite a few of the questions that were being asked.

I've attempted here to give a full comprehensive picture of all Thrive Market reviews and questions you have. For more detailed answers, read on.

What is Thrive Market

Thrive Market is an online specialty grocery store. They have a large selection of healthy and natural foods, including allergy-free options and foods specific to a variety of certain diets (more on that later).

Don't let the word "specialty" scare you. The phrase you'll hear a lot of is "Costco meets Whole Foods."

Thrive Market's business model is designed to simplify the supply chain by eliminating the markup typically applied by brick-and-mortar grocery stores required by getting the product there.

By shipping directly to you, they save money, and so do you.

Thrive Market carries more than 6,000 products. In addition to pantry items, they offer ethically sourced meat and seafood, nontoxic home and beauty products, organic and biodynamic wine, and items for babies and kids.

You can filter your search results by more than 70 different diets and lifestyle choices, to include vegan, paleo, keto, gluten-free, Fair Trade Certified, and Non-GMO Project Verified.

Who owns Thrive Market

Thrive Market was founded by four individuals: Nick Green, Gunnar Lovelace, Kate Mulling, and Sasha Siddhartha. 

The four sought out to create a platform that would provide access to healthy foods and natural products even if you don't live close to a natural grocer, or maybe can't afford the price tags associated with those natural and healthy products.

Taken from their website:

"Everyone should have access to healthy products, reliable information, and affordable prices."

-Thrive Market

Agreed, and I love that they're making the effort to make it happen.

A fun fact I read was that they presented the idea AND WERE TURNED DOWN by 50 venture capitalists when they were trying to launch Thrive. I imagine all 50 of those venture capitalists are kicking themselves now!

Also, it just goes to show you, if you have an idea you really believe in, stick with it.

How Thrive Market works

Their design is that by offering name brand products but by cutting out the supply chain costs of getting them to brick and mortar stores, they cut some of the costs, and pass those savings on to you + me.

The catch is, you do have to have a membership to shop.

Thrive’s model works like this: Customers pay a monthly membership fee of $5 to buy all-natural packaged foods, beverages, wines, supplements and medicines at a 25 to 50 percent discount per item.

All items sold through Thrive have to meet the company’s standards around sourcing and supply chain practices (all products, the company claims, are ethically sourced) and ingredients (all products are non-GMO, for example).

Thrive also has a growing private label business (which I love!)

The cost of membership

Thrive Market offers two different membership options: monthly and annual.

Monthly membership costs $5 a month, and annual membership costs $59.95 a year.

Thrive Gives

For every paid Thrive Market membership, a free membership is donated to a family in need in the United States as part of the company's Thrive Gives program. 

Students, teachers, veterans, and first responders are also eligible for free memberships. 

Saving money with Thrive Market

Thrive Market offers incentives with membership including free product gifts and samples with orders daily discounts, and limited-time-only deals.

Savings Guarantee

One of the best features of Thrive Market membership is their savings guarantee.

Here's how it works: if you don't make back the $60 membership fee in savings over the course of the yearlong membership, the difference in savings and membership fee is refunded as shopping credit when you renew for another year.

Thrive Cash

Thrive Cash is offered on varying brands and products throughout the year, and offers anywhere from 5-15% cash back into your account as a credit when you purchase eligible products.

These deals change often, so it's easy to earn cash with every purchase if you shop smart!

How to Earn Thrive Cash: 

There are 3 ways for you to earn Thrive Cash:

1. Refer your friends and family to the website. Each person that becomes a paid member earns you $25 Thrive Cash.
2. Submit a review of an eligible product and see your Thrive Cash grow once your review is approved and posted.
3. Purchase specific brands or products via the Thrive Cash section on the deals page. Thrive Cash will be posted to your account once your order ships.

How To Use Thrive Cash: 

Once you earn Thrive Cash, it is automatically applied at your next checkout. You do not have to do anything.

Thrive Cash can only be redeemed towards the purchase of merchandise on their website, and is not redeemable on gift cards or membership fees.

How to shop Thrive Market

There are two ways to shop on Thrive Market - what I call "manual," meaning you shop as you need things and check out each time, or by using their autoship program.

Autoship

Autoship is a recurring shipment program in your Thrive Market account.

The pros of this are that you can "set it and forget it" - the items you need will come on a regular schedule and you have to do nothing. You can edit the items in your shipmen, adjust the frequency, or change the shipping date all from within your account. You also get extra savings and discounts (5-10%) by using Autoship.

Thrive will send you a reminder 3 days in advance so you can make any necessary changes to your shipment.

The negatives are that if you don't pay attention and stay on top of it, you may end up receiving shipments you don't want or need, or getting things too frequently.

If you start with Autoship and find yourself constantly adjusting the items, the frequency, and the date, then you'd likely be better off just shopping "manually."

Manual

You could also call this "on-demand" shopping. With your membership, you can go in at anytime, add items to your cart, and check out.

Or, use my super simple hack.

What's included in membership

Risk-Free Trial

A lot of the Thrive Market reviews that exist still offer the 30-day free trial - which is actually extinct and is not something Thrive offers anymore.

They've replaced the free trial with what they call a 30 day risk-free period of membership. 

You'll still have to join with a regular membership, but they will give you a full refund if you cancel within 30 days of signing up.

Click here to start your 30-day risk free trial and get a free gift up to $24!

Free Shipping

Thrive Market offers free shipping on all orders over $49. If you order less than $49 worth of product, a shipping cost of $5.95 is applied.

Honestly, it's easy to meet the $49 minimum. If I'm struggling, I just look for some shelf-stable products or cleaning/beauty products that I might purchase in the near future anyway.

It helps me meet the minimum for free shipping, and I don't find myself "out" of something that I have on hand.

Or, use the pro tip posted above!

What to order + best Thrive Market finds

I could go on and on and on here. Instead, I'll leave you with three each of my top staples, my favorite finds, and bath and body:

Staples

Thrive ketchup: When you go paleo, condiments are so hard at first. Ketchup is one of those things that gets loaded with sugar by so many companies. I used to make my own using Against All Grain's recipe. With Thrive's sugar free ketchup, now I don't have to!

Thrive coconut milk: Coconut milk can get expensive - usually about $3 a can. The Thrive brand is $1.99/can, and goes even lower if you set it up on Autoship. This is one of those things I use all the time, so I'm not scared to autoship it - I know it won't go to waste.

Cassava flour: This is my favorite all purpose flour alternative. It's great for thickening soups and stews (it's used in my Paleo Beef Stew recipe here) and acts most like a traditional flour. Different brands can vary in quality, but I have had nothing but a good experience with this one.

Favorite Thrive finds

Enjoy Life chocolate chips 3 pack: These typically cost $4-6 a bag at specialty grocery stores (looking at you, Whole Foods!) If you buy the 3 pack on Thrive, they come to $3.66 a bag.

Thrive Market coconut wraps: Unlike other gluten free wraps, these stay together and make a sturdy wrap. They're shelf stable and I love having them on hand when I'm in a pinch to grab a quick lunch. I'll throw some Curried Chicken Salad or Tuna Piccata in there with some mixed greens and call it a day.

Cashew cacao spread: Ok, I know this one is totally indulgent. But...it's paleo Nutella. I mean c'mon. And it's SO good. A little goes a long way, and it's perfect when you need that little something but don't want to go off the rails.

Bath + Body

We ditched traditional toothpaste a long time ago. Our favorite one is Schmidt's Wondermint, which Thrive has at the best price we've found.

Brandan uses the Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap as body wash, which typically runs about $17-18 at most retail stores. Thrive sells it for $12.99.

When I'm in need of a bit of self-care, I have been known to buy this Lavender + Chamomile bath bomb. It's huge and smells delicious. Pair that with a glass of wine and a book, and I'm set.

Thrive Market: Paleo

Since this is the space I cook and eat the most in, I wanted to make sure I included my point of view regarding Thrive Market's paleo options.

They have tons of options here. You can find all the alternative flours, nut butters, and grain free chips and crackers that your heart desires.

In fact, when you use the 'paleo' filter, you're greeted with 37 pages of results.

Woah. That's a lot.

Try not to get overwhelmed. If you have no idea what you're looking for, you might get lost in the Thrive Market paleo interwebs.

There are lots of filters on the sidebar that you can use. Filter by food type, brand, rating, and more. This will help narrow results to useable chunks.

My only complaint on this filter is that it includes basic things like spices. Things that, at least to me, are obviously paleo. When I filter to paleo, I'm looking more for specialty products rather than obvious things.

That said, I realize that not everyone is there yet, and some might need those things tagged to know that they fit into the paleo space.

Thrive Market: Whole30

Many Thrive Market reviews mention specialty diets, but I want to talk specifically about Whole30.

I've completed a number of Whole30's and helped a number of you through yours as well. (You can find all my Whole30 recipes on the site here!)

One of my favorite features of Thrive is the ability to search ONLY Whole30 approved products.

By using this filter, you'll be shown only things you can eat, and nothing you cant. Temptation is removed, confusion is removed. Add to your cart and check out in confidence, knowing that whatever you get is going to have the Whole30 Approved stamp on it.

Boom.

They are even the exclusive retailer of the Whole30 sauce line!

Thrive Market reviews: wrapping it up

If you've made it this far, I hope you're at least convinced to give Thrive Market a try!

All in all, it's a great option for many things. You'll still have to go to the grocery store to get your produce and some other perishables, but with their 30-day trial and savings guarantee, there's not a whole lot to lose.

What's your favorite Thrive Market find? Share it in the comments below for others to benefit too!

I may earn a small commission off purchases made through affiliate links in this post from Amazon and other sellers. This helps me continue to run the blog and keep providing you fresh content. Thank you for your support!

I may earn a small commission off purchases made through affiliate links in this post from Amazon and other sellers. This helps me continue to run the blog and keep providing you fresh content. Thank you for your support!