The 7 Best Lobster Delivery Services of 2020

Best Overall: Lobsters Online

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Lobsters Online is the delivery service for The Lobster Trap on Cape Cod. Founded as a neighborhood fish market in 1972, it's still owned by the same family decades later. The restaurant now supplies grocery chains like Stop & Shop, as well as restaurants—including its own. Not only does that say a lot about the quality of its seafood, that means the company is constantly turning over its product. Nothing here sticks around for more than two or three days, ensuring freshness for every lobster purchased.

The website goes into great detail about where and how they harvest and process their lobsters, so you can get the most information about where you're food is coming from. In addition to live lobsters, the company also sells lobster tails, lobster meat, chowder, clams, mussels, oysters, calamari, caviar, and scallops.

Shipping is overnight via UPS and it costs $22 if you're shipping to the East Coast, and $40 to the West Coast. There's a $50 minimum to order, and the cost for two 1.5-pound lobsters is about $38.

Best for Frequent Buyers: LobsterAnywhere

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Based in Massachusetts and in business since 1999, LobsterAnywhere offers live lobsters, as well as tails and meat, full-on surf-and-turf lobster dinners, plus a host of other seafood like shrimp and scallops.

As a nice touch, you can check out the shipping charges on a chart before you buy, whereas most companies make you add your contact information first. Typically, the shipping cost is between $39-$44 for most orders, although some items are specially priced with free shipping, making for a pretty good deal. One of these deals, the Lobster Roll Kit, serves eight people for $168, which is about $20 a roll to have them delivered to your door–around what you’d pay at a restaurant. For a pair of 1.5-pound lobsters, the price is around $56.

If you’re a big seafood lover, you can take advantage of LobsterAnywhere’s rewards program. For every dollar you spend you’ll get 100 “sand dollars,” which you can redeem at checkout for a discount to save yourself some money.

Most Personal Experience: The LobsterGuy

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Captain Tim, the eponymous LobsterGuy, owns a fleet of boats and his team of skippers and deckhands works hard to bring fresh, succulent Maine lobster to you. The LobsterGuy may even be familiar to you since Captain Tim has been featured on Discovery Channel’s Lobstermen.

The company doesn't use a middleman to source or buy lobsters from, so the prices are great and you can check the shipping charges before entering your contact information. Shipping is always overnight via FedEx and is determined by the weight of the package and the zip code of where it’s going, although you can bet on it being around $43 for shipping to the West Coast and $26 to the East Coast.

The price for lobster ends up being around $25 per pound, although you can buy it in a wide range of weights from tiny to jumbo, and you can purchase them already steamed. The store also offers a selection of seafood from other fishermen in Captain Tim’s network, including scallops, clams, and shrimp. There are also kits for lobster rolls or clam bakes, and ready-made chowders and bisques.

Most Sustainability Minded: Luke’s Lobster

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Luke’s Lobster started as a restaurant in New York’s East Village in 2009. Since then it’s grown into a chain of over 30 restaurants located around the U.S. and Japan. The chain now operates an online seafood market and prepares frozen lobster products sold in supermarkets like Whole Foods.

But even though it’s now a bigger brand, Luke’s Lobster hasn’t lost its indie spirit. Not only is it certified sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, but it’s also a Certified B Corporation committed to giving back to its community and the environment through contributions and partnership with The Ocean Foundation. The company says it can trace every pound of seafood back to which harbor it came from.

You’d think with this much name recognition, Luke’s Lobster would charge astronomical prices. Instead, they offer some of the lowest around. The only catch is that the selection is limited: You either have to buy one of the frozen products, or spring for a bulk order of six live lobsters. Lobsters average out to $15 each for 1.25- to 1.5-pounders, and shipping is a flat fee via UPS next-day, usually $40.

Best for Bulk Buyers: Get Maine Lobster

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Throwing a party? Get Maine Lobster has you covered with its “Buy One Get One” bulk deals. Though most of the company's offers are for orders of six or more lobster tails, the company offers great prices on larger orders of live lobsters too. If you order five culls—lobsters that have lost an appendage—you can get five free for $175 and free shipping. That’s just $17 a lobster. Or, you can order five pristine live lobsters up to 1.5 pounds each in size and get two free, plus free shipping, and those lobsters will cost around $50 each.

There’s not a big selection in terms of the size of the lobsters, as all are around 1.2 to 1.5 pounds. But insiders will tell you that smaller lobsters are younger and sweeter anyway. The company also offers lobster roll kits, beef wellingtons, crab claws, and giant, Maine-style whoopie pies.

In business since 2010, the company sources all of its lobster from Maine and has a long roster of local Portland, Maine, charities it supports including the National Breast Cancer Foundation and an assistance program for veterans.

Shipping is via UPS overnight and is calculated when you check out. Expect to spend between $25 and $55, depending on which state you select.

Best Ordering Experience: Maine Lobster Now

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Launched in 2012 by the tech-savvy son of a longtime lobster wholesaler, Maine Lobster Now has perhaps the most well-designed website in the lobster shipping business. Being able to easily and clearly navigate around the site makes shopping a pleasure.

The selection includes live lobsters in a wide range of sizes, which are purchased directly from the lobstermen and kept in saltwater tanks until they're packaged for delivery. There are also lobster tails, lobster meat, and other seafood like crab and scallops. You can round out your order with everyday items such as chicken breasts and ground beef, or gourmet goods like lobster pot pie, mac & cheese, bisques, chowders, and blueberry pie for dessert.

One of the best parts is not having to wonder about shipping charges because the company offers free shipping on orders of $100 or more—which is not a difficult mark to hit when you’re buying lobster. Lobsters here will run you around $25 for a 1.5-pounder. Even if you don’t order $100 worth, shipping is a flat $28. All orders have an additional $10 for packaging. There is also a fee of $4.50 to $6.50 for travel coverage, depending on where your items are being delivered, although you can opt-out of this.