A Trusted Friend in a Complicated World
Updated on Sep. 03, 2024
We tested the best online flower delivery services to make it easier than ever to send a bouquet of fresh-cut blooms straight to anyone's door.
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Flowers serve as a classic gift option for special occasions because many people enjoy having beautiful blooms in their homes, but don’t typically buy these bouquets for themselves. Flowers spread a pleasant aroma that boosts your mood and act as a pretty decor piece that upgrades a space. The best online flower delivery services offer a range of bouquets for every celebration, from a dedicated present for Mother’s Day to an everyday gift for her.
Whether you missed sending a sweet surprise for Valentine’s Day or are looking for a gift to congratulate or console, flower delivery is the best option for just about anyone, no matter what life moment they’re experiencing. Mixed-floral bouquets, seasonal picks, centerpieces and tablescapes are all available through the best online flower delivery services. Some of the top brands even offer same-day delivery for a last-minute, thoughtful surprise.
With so many options to choose from throughout the country, we tested 11 delivery services and narrowed our list down to the seven best ones. Our testers considered the ease of online ordering, how well the packaging held up through delivery, the difficulty of assembling and arranging, the overall floral freshness and the service’s giftable value.
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The best online flower delivery service that’ll leave a lasting impression is a floral subscription from BloomsyBox. It’ll deliver weekly or monthly bouquets sourced from eco-friendly, fair-trade farms. Delivered in hand-tied paper (not plastic!), netting and a cardboard box, this arrangement helps reduce cost and waste. We love the Celebration Bouquet, featuring bright gerbera daisies, roses and veronicas.
A vase was not included in this delivery, but it did come with two packets of flower food. The stems are trimmed of excess leaves and thorns, but BloomsyBox recommends trimming the stems at a 45-degree angle before placing them in a vase. Our testers removed some wilted petals and leaves to showcase the bouquet’s beauty. Advertised as a 29-stem arrangement, we found that our bouquet included 33 stems and around 37 blooms.
BloomsyBox topped our list because we were truly blown away by the bouquet’s freshness and look, partially due to the mesh and stem protectors. The countertop-worthy bouquet still wowed after three days and included a whimsical purple plant that made the bouquet look more beautiful than the pictures online. Plus, the texture and quality of the flowers are a cut above the rest and well worth their price. This is a wonderful gift for mom or anyone who wants a bouquet miles above what you’d find at a grocery store.
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Coming in with an almost-perfect score in every category tested, From You Flowers earns the spot as the best value online flower delivery service. This same-day delivery and gift specialist partners with local florists to offer fresh blooms from rainbow roses to mixed bouquets. Each delivery also includes a card that the sender can personalize and a selection of products have the option to include a customized photo vase. Choose your occasion, color scheme, price point or type of flower.
The smooth ordering process provided three options—regular, deluxe and premium—with prices displayed. For our testing, we ordered the Southern Peach Bouquet, which costs $55 for the regular, $65 for the deluxe and $75 for the premium size. This charming arrangement featured pastel tones of peach roses, white asiatic lilies, peach mini carnations and a green echeveria succulent. The flowers arrived on time in a clear cellophane cover and glass cube vase. Although there was no flower food, the bouquet came pre-arranged with 17 blooms, baby’s breath, succulents and ferns.
Upon arrival, our testers found the bouquet looked stunning with open and beautiful lilies that smelled amazing and succulents that added a cool touch of modernism and texture. Except for the roses and white flowers, all the other greenery was still in good shape after five days. By day nine, the greenery, carnations, baby’s breath and succulent were still best in show, but the other blooms had wilted. Overall, we were impressed by this sweet and elegant bouquet’s uniqueness, size and presentation.
Delivery options include a service with guaranteed morning delivery and same-day delivery to three months in advance. Gifters can also add balloons, chocolate and teddy bears to their order. With consistent quality and fast delivery, From You Flowers will be a top pick as a gift for your wife any day of the year.
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Roses come in an array of beautiful colors, from classic red to mysterious blue. If you’re looking for the best online flower delivery service for roses, then Teleflora is your answer. For more than 80 years, this Los Angeles-based company has provided florist-delivered bouquets in artistically arranged, collectible vases. Of course, the brand offers bouquets that aren’t centered around roses, but its rose selection is undeniable.
Our testers chose the Sweet Clouds Bouquet, available in standard, deluxe and premium sizes. It featured crème roses, pink spray roses, pink alstroemeria, miniature pink carnations and white waxflower adorned with lemon leaf and green pittosporum. Beautiful from every angle, the pre-arranged blooms arrived in Teleflora’s Precious in Pink Cylinder, a keepsake mosaic vase of candy-pink stained glass. Even though there was no flower food and some leaves were submerged, we found this to be the prettiest and most unique vase on this list.
With 28 stems and 46 blooms, the low-profile bouquet looked full and healthy with six virtually flawless roses. Without any browning or wilting, the entire arrangement looked great after nine days of testing and changing out the water. After a week, the roses were still perky and full, with a soft, subtle scent.
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It’s not hard to believe that Amazon does online flower delivery, too. Through its various online partners, including the beloved Benchmark Bouquets, Amazon offers nearly 200 options, from seasonal favorites to bundles. Since these flowers are on Amazon, the ordering process is a bit different from other retailers on this list, yet it’s still quite seamless. The best part? These bouquets are available on Prime, so say hello to free delivery and an affordable price! It’s difficult to pick a delivery date in the future, so this detail is also best for last-minute Amazon gift ideas.
Benchmark Bouquets offers hand-picked arrangements delivered fresh from their farms, but our testers felt the majority of the selections were pretty basic. The Pink Elegance bouquet, featuring 20 stems and blooms, includes pink roses, hypericum, lilies and seasonal greens from Benchmark’s Rainforest Alliance Certified Farms. The fresh-cut bouquet arrived in floral fabric and cellophane inside a box with flower food and a vase. Although this bouquet is no longer available, Benchmark offers other classic rose and lily centerpieces.
The biggest downfall of this arrangement is that virtually all flowers, including the three lilies and six roses, arrived closed and didn’t start to bloom until around day five. By day seven, the lilies were in bloom, the roses looked strong and the bouquet smelled divine.
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Not sure you want to send fresh flowers? With UrbanStems, you can also choose between dried flowers, plants and subscription boxes, making it the true one-stop shop for all your floral needs. And if that isn’t enough, its gift selection includes delightful and functional extras, like olive oil, self-watering pots, candles, essential oil diffusers and even hot sauce.
Our testers ordered The Selene, available in a standard size and the popular double size. This free spirit of a bouquet is described as being inspired by Stevie Nicks. Roses, mini callas, veronica, delphinium, alstroemeria, mums, thistle and eucalyptus encompass this modern, gorgeous arrangement. Although the vase is sold separately, you can customize it and choose a glass vase, white ceramic vase or gold glossy vase.
The Selene arrived with flower food and a card with care instructions. The pre-arranged blooms didn’t have thorns, but did require some trimming of the leaves to fit all 23 stems and 50 blooms in our vase. Except for a few subtly wrinkled rose petals, the flowers were fresh and the colors were vibrant. We found the roses, calla lilies, delphinium and eucalyptus were past their prime by day five while the mums, veronica, alstroemeria and thistle held up well.
If you’re looking for a bouquet that’s more than a garden variety arrangement, then look no further than UrbanStems. An added highlight is the site suggests the perfect occasion for each bouquet. In this case, the Selene bouquet is most suited as a gift for a birthday, housewarming or new baby.
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Of all the best online flower delivery services on our list, Ode à la Rose is truly one of the most unique. First, it provides a delivery date, a delivery timeframe and a photo of the bouquet—there are over 135 to choose from—so you know what it will look like to your recipient. This French-inspired brand offers chocolate, spa kits and candle add-ons to make the surprise extra special. A vase comes at an additional fee, but you get the choice of glass, textured and ceramic vases.
We tested the Felice, which comes in 20, 28 or 36 stems. This blush bouquet arrived with white and pink mondial roses, pink alstroemeria and lisianthus, pink veronica and baby blue eucalyptus. Additionally, we didn’t mess with the 23 stems at all, as they were clipped to 15 inches and pre-arranged in raffia-tied butcher paper. The 10 roses in these 34 blooms smelled beautiful up close and were only overshadowed by the bold smell of the eucalyptus.
After a few days of testing, the flowers started drooping but still smelled pleasant. This full, blush pink bouquet is a splurge, especially since it doesn’t include a vase. However, the packaging and overall gifting experience was well worth the money. It’s a sweet gift for birthdays and beyond.
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Even the most beautiful fresh flowers wilt eventually, but for bouquets that last longer than others, consider 1-800-Flowers, one of the best online flower delivery services. This company is known for its expansive selection of flowers and the ability to shop by flower type or occasion. Options include rustic dried flowers and pampas grass to playful Disney-inspired arrangements. Our testers chose the All the Feels bouquet from the Flower & Feels collection. These custom-crafted bouquets are available in six sizes, from small, starting at $39.99, to premium at $89.99, with an included vase. Online ordering was a breeze with clear options and a simple checkout process.
The All the Feels bouquet gave us just that—all.the.feels.—when it arrived in its vase with 25 pre-arranged stems and 55 blooms. Plus, the six fragrant roses were some of the strongest-smelling flowers we encountered during our testing. However, the overall floral arrangement had a pedestrian presentation and no flower food was provided. But what it lacked in presentation it made up for in longevity. This bouquet looked as fresh on the third day as it did on the first, and there were still no drooping blooms after the day five check-in. Some flowers started to wilt by day seven, but after trimming the stems and changing the water, most of the bouquet still blossomed on day nine. Other vibe-matching bouquets in this collection include B-Day Slay, Love Story, Big Thanks Energy and Vitamin C(heer).
You’re scrambling for a bouquet at the grocery store with dozens of other people on an important holiday. We’ve all been there. Skip the stress this year by shopping for your bouquet online. Consider the occasion, time frame and budget, then reference this list of the best online flower delivery services to narrow the choices. They may seem similar, but no two online flower delivery services are alike.
Two key factors to focus on are price and quality so you don’t drop a bundle on wilted, browning stems. Browse selections carefully to choose the one that speaks to your giftee and the occasion (romantic red roses might not make the best flowers for condolences). Be sure the service delivers flowers to your recipient’s area in the necessary timeframe. Flowers are a quick gift, but some online services don’t offer same-day deliveries, so preparation is necessary.
Who loves gifting more than Reader’s Digest? We know online flower delivery services require a lot of trust. Ensuring they arrive on time and in one piece is a challenge when you’re the gift sender, so we tested them for ourselves. Our dedicated Product Testing Team ordered, unboxed, and experienced these bouquets for themselves. We took comprehensive notes on the most important information readers want to know so that we only included the most rave-worthy brands.
To bring you this list, we found over 20 online flower delivery services on the digital market—not counting the endless number of local vendors. With in-depth research and paying close attention to the services’ price, arrangement aesthetics, shipping and packaging, we narrowed and tested 11 bouquets in our studio over 10 days. Arrangements cost between $40 and $120.
Seven testers evaluated the bouquets on a variety of testing methodologies, and they considered the ease of online orders, from add to cart to order confirmation. Additionally, our testing team rated the bouquets on their packaging and delivery, the assembly and arranging experience, any additional accessories, the bouquets’ freshness and fragrance and their overall value. Each bouquet was rated and ranked out of a total score of 25, emphasizing freshness and aesthetic appeal. The details also caught our eye, so we also included information on add-ons and special features. With thorough testing and analyzing the must-know details, we’re confident in these seven best online flower delivery services.
Scheduling a bouquet delivery isn’t as simple as giving one in person. You have to let someone else handle the arrangement, care and shipment. Thankfully, we chose services that are known for their quality.
Flower delivery is an investment-worthy gift because the flowers are often sourced from other countries and faraway vendors. Flower sourcing, shipping and labor costs can influence a delivery price.
This is entirely up to you. Some services will include that in the overall cost as a service fee, or add it as an option with your order. Either way, try to handle the tipping part—whatever you decide to do—so your recipient doesn’t have to!
