What is a good Instacart SPI?
Under 75 seconds per item is a good Instacart SPI; fast shoppers stay under 60. SPI (seconds per item) is your shopping time divided by the number of items in the order. Shoppers report the app compares you with your own average over roughly your last 30 orders. A lower SPI matters less for getting offers than it used to, but it still decides how many batches you can finish in a day.
How is Instacart SPI calculated?
SPI stands for seconds per item. Take the time from tapping "Start shopping" to finishing the shop, convert it to seconds and divide by the number of items. A 40-item order shopped in 45 minutes is 2,700 seconds ÷ 40 = 67.5 seconds per item.
In the Shopper app, speed is usually shown in two parts:
- Shopping time: how quickly you find and scan items in the aisles.
- Checkout time: waiting in line, ringing up and scanning the receipt.
Shoppers also report a personal goal timer on each batch, based on their average over recent orders (usually described as the last 30). Instacart does not publish the exact formula, so treat these as shopper-reported patterns and check the explanations in your app.
SPI benchmarks: fast, average and slow
| Speed group | SPI | What shoppers observe |
|---|---|---|
| Fast | < 60 s | Comfortably under the goal timer; room for more batches per day. |
| Average | 60–75 s | Enough for most batches; usually not a problem. |
| Slow | 75 s + | Fewer batches per shift; more likely to run over the goal timer. |
Instacart does not officially rank shoppers into these groups. They are the ranges experienced shoppers use as a rule of thumb.
Does SPI affect which batches you get?
Less than it used to. Years ago shoppers widely believed a low SPI alone unlocked the best batches. Today, shopper experience points to two bigger factors for seeing large orders first: being physically close to the store and, if you have it, Diamond Cart priority access. Instacart has not disclosed how dispatch works.
SPI still matters for earnings: every unnecessary 15 minutes in a store is time you could spend on another batch.
7 ways to lower your SPI
- Plan in the parking lot. Before you tap "Start shopping", read the list and note frozen, deli and heavy items. Map a route through the store in your head.
- Shop dry to cold. Start with dry goods and finish with chilled and frozen items. Avoid going back to the same aisle twice.
- Split the deli wait. Write the deli requests on paper in the car (items, weight, slice thickness, never the customer's name or address). Hand the list to the counter first, shop the other aisles, then collect it. This often saves 10–15 minutes.
- Weigh produce in one trip. Gather all fruit and vegetables first, then weigh them one after another at a single scale visit. Always enter the scale reading when the app asks for one.
- Scan cleanly the first time. Hold the barcode flat to the camera in good light.
- Beat signal dead zones. In metal-roofed warehouse stores, load the full list before you go in and join guest Wi-Fi if there is one. Scan items you are sure about where you have signal; never remove labels or packaging.
- Make checkout predictable. Keep your physical Instacart card active (some warehouse clubs require it). If the card is declined, use the in-app balance check before anything else.
How to recover after a bad batch
A batch with many out-of-stock items or a long checkout line can push your recent average up. Because the average is based on recent orders, its effect fades as you complete new ones. For a while, favour stores whose layout you know, mid-sized batches and short distances. Lasting habits (route planning, clean scanning, an organised checkout) bring the average down on their own.
Frequently asked questions
What does SPI mean on Instacart?
SPI means seconds per item: your shopping time in seconds divided by the number of items in the order. A 40-item order shopped in 45 minutes is 67.5 seconds per item.
What is a good SPI for Instacart shoppers?
Under 75 seconds per item is good and under 60 is fast. These are rules of thumb from experienced shoppers; Instacart does not publish official SPI tiers.
Does checkout time count toward SPI?
The Shopper app usually shows speed in two parts, shopping time and checkout time. Waiting in line and ringing up count toward checkout time, so an organised checkout improves your overall speed.
Does a low SPI get you better batches?
Not on its own any more, according to shopper experience. Being close to the store and Diamond Cart priority access appear to matter more. A low SPI still lets you finish more batches per day.
Go deeper. Chapter 4 of the guide covers SPI, route planning and checkout setup in full, including add-on and queued batch rules. Get the full guide or read chapters 1–2 free.
Related guides
Sources
- Instacart Shopper app: speed and goal-timer explanations (in app)