Online Pharmacy
Comparison 2026
Nine mail-order pharmacies compared side by side: shipping costs, minimum order value, prescription bonus and e-prescription redemption. We checked all terms directly on each provider's website – including the question of which country your contracting party is actually based in.
Prescription bonuses: permitted, but not conclusively settled in law
The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) dismissed a claim against Rx bonuses on 17 July 2025 (I ZR 74/24), and since August 2026 the GKV-Spitzenverband (the umbrella association of statutory health insurers) has regarded discounts on the co-payment as “permissible in principle” but expressly describes the question as unresolved. The bonuses mentioned here are being granted as of 14 September 2026 but may change. German high-street pharmacies are still not allowed to give discounts on prescription-only medicines.
9 mail-order pharmacies compared
Sorted by the order value from which shipping is free. DocMorris does not state this threshold publicly and therefore comes last – with a prescription all providers ship free of charge. Click “Show details” for operator, range and delivery times.
Shop Apotheke
shop-apotheke.com
Pros
- Lowest free-shipping threshold in the field: 19 € – and shipping is free with a prescription anyway
- Clearly tiered prescription discount: 2.50 € up to 59.99 €, 5 € up to 249.99 €, 10 € up to 999.99 €, up to 20 € above that
- Own gematik approval for CardLink – redeem e-prescriptions with your health card directly in the app
- Over 100,000 original products, purchase on invoice possible
Cons
- Contracting party is based in the Netherlands – German pharmacy law applies only to a limited extent
- Free shipping does not apply to marketplace items from third-party sellers
- The group's rename to Redcare Pharmacy causes confusion on invoices
- Express delivery (“Now!”) only in selected areas
Operator & service
- Operator
- Shop-Apotheke B.V. (Redcare Pharmacy N.V.)
- Range
- over 100,000 products
- Delivery time
- shown during checkout, express in urban areas
- Payment methods
- Invoice, PayPal, SEPA, Klarna, credit card, Apple/Google Pay, prepayment
Source: shop-apotheke.com · checked on 14 September 2026
Volksversand
volksversand.de
Pros
- The 19 € threshold is among the lowest in the comparison
- Over 70,000 products in the range
- Loyalty programme unlocks permanently free shipping
- Over 3 million customers according to its own figures
Cons
- Registered office is in the Czech Republic – supervised by the Czech medicines agency SÚKL
- Shipping fee below the threshold is not stated
- No prescription bonus and no CardLink redemption stated
- The name suggests a German pharmacy, which it is not
Operator & service
- Operator
- Volksversand Versandapotheke s.r.o.
- Range
- over 70,000 products
- Supervision
- Liberec regional office, SÚKL
- Affiliate
- AWIN partner programme
Source: volksversand.de · checked on 14 September 2026
medpex
medpex.de
Pros
- Refunds the full statutory co-payment on prescriptions from statutory insurers – up to 10 € per prescription
- Privately insured customers receive up to 20 € prescription benefit per medicine
- Over 100,000 products, same-day delivery in some areas
- Redeem e-prescriptions with your health card directly in the app
Cons
- Since the takeover, the contracting party is DocMorris N.V. in Heerlen, no longer a German pharmacy
- Details of the shipping fee contradict each other between the home page and the help centre
- CardLink only works with an NFC-capable health card and an NFC smartphone
- Refrigerated items only ship free from 50 €
Operator & service
- Operator
- DocMorris N.V., Heerlen (site: Ludwigshafen)
- Range
- over 100,000 products
- E-prescription
- App → read health insurance card → access number + SMS code
- Refrigerated items
- free shipping from 50 €
Source: medpex.de · checked on 14 September 2026
disapo
disapo.de
Pros
- German site in Aachen
- Two free gifts with every account-based order that is not purely prescription items
- Total range of over 150,000 items
- Shipping is always free with a prescription
Cons
- E-prescription only by QR code upload – you also have to add the medicine to the basket yourself
- No CardLink, so no redemption with the health card
- Shipping fee below 28.95 € is not stated
- No quantified prescription bonus
Operator & service
- Location
- Aachen
- Range
- over 150,000 items
- E-prescription
- Upload QR code, order item separately
- Affiliate
- ADCELL
Source: disapo.de · checked on 14 September 2026
apodiscounter
apodiscounter.de
Pros
- Tiered shipping costs: 3.39 € between 15 and 29 €, free above that
- Next-working-day express delivery for 5.99 € – free with a prescription
- German site, part of the apo.com Group with over 4.5 million customers
- Scan your health card or use a QR code – both possible
Cons
- Under 15 € order value 4.99 € is charged – the highest rate in the comparison
- The amount of the advertised prescription bonus is not stated on the site
- With around 60,000 products, a smaller range than the market leaders
- The old domain apo-discounter.de only redirects
Operator & service
- Operator
- apo.com Group, Leipzig area
- Range
- over 60,000 products
- Express
- 5.99 €, free with a prescription
- International
- Europe 9.99 €, Switzerland 18.99 €
Source: apodiscounter.de · checked on 14 September 2026
Sanicare
sanicare.de
Pros
- Owner-run German pharmacy (BS-Apotheken OHG) rather than a corporate structure
- Orders placed by 4 pm are usually delivered the next working day
- Purchase on invoice from the second order or after a credit check
- E-prescriptions generally ship free of charge
Cons
- No quantified prescription bonus – gifts only from a 100 € basket
- Refrigerated medicines only ship free from 100 €
- Sanicare is not on the gematik list of CardLink providers
- No information on the size of the range
Operator & service
- Operator
- BS-Apotheken OHG, pharmacist Christoph Bertram
- Delivery time
- Order by 4 pm → next working day
- Payment methods
- Invoice, credit card, PayPal, Amazon Pay, Apple/Google Pay
- Refrigerated items
- free shipping from 100 €
Source: sanicare.de · checked on 14 September 2026
mycare
mycare.de
Pros
- Owner-run pharmacy in Lutherstadt Wittenberg
- 5 € new-customer bonus – in the app from an order value of just 35 €
- The “mycarePlus” subscription lowers the free-shipping threshold to 12.99 €
Cons
- No prescription bonus stated for existing customers
- Shipping fee below the threshold is not stated
- The new-customer bonus on the web only applies from an order value of 55 €
- CardLink status not publicly confirmed
Operator & service
- Operator
- Robert-Koch-Apotheke Roland Helle e.K.
- Range
- around 70,000 items
- Subscription
- mycarePlus – free-shipping threshold 12.99 €
Source: mycare.de · checked on 14 September 2026
APONEO
aponeo.de
Pros
- Registered German pharmacy in Berlin (Konstantin Primbas e.K.)
- Own cashback programme “APO Cash”
- Shipping to Austria at a flat 4.95 €
- Shipping is always free with a prescription
Cons
- At 34.99 €, the second-highest threshold in the comparison
- No quantified prescription bonus
- No reliable information on range and delivery time on the site
- Not a CardLink provider in its own right
Operator & service
- Operator
- APONEO Apotheke Konstantin Primbas e.K., Berlin
- Shipping
- 3.99 €, free from 34.99 € or with a prescription
- Bonus
- APO Cash cashback programme
- Affiliate
- AWIN, 1 % commission
Source: aponeo.de · checked on 14 September 2026
DocMorris
docmorris.de
Pros
- Prescription credit of between 2.50 € and 20 € per medicine for privately insured customers, self-payers and those exempt from co-payments
- Patients on statutory insurance with a digital prescription are instead exempted from the co-payment
- Own gematik approval for CardLink, extended until the end of January 2027
- E-prescriptions ordered by 4 pm are delivered the next day, according to the provider
Cons
- The free-shipping threshold for non-prescription orders is not on the shipping-costs page
- Contracting party is DocMorris N.V. in Heerlen, Netherlands
- Contradictory bonus details: the home page says “2.50 to 5 €”, the bonus page “2.50 to 20 €”
- Credit is only booked 14 days after the order and paid out at the end of the quarter
Operator & service
- Operator
- DocMorris N.V., Heerlen (KVK 14066093)
- Prescription bonus
- 2.50–20 € credit, paid out at the end of the quarter
- Delivery time
- E-prescription by 4 pm → delivery next day
- Shipping
- DHL, Hermes, trans-o-flex (refrigerated), Urbify
Source: docmorris.de · checked on 14 September 2026
No pharmacy matches this selection. Widen the filter a little.
From what order value is shipping free?
Applies to non-prescription orders. The shorter the bar, the sooner shipping costs fall away.
DocMorris does not state a threshold for non-prescription orders on its shipping-costs page and is therefore missing from this chart.
What really matters in the comparison
Almost all mail-order pharmacies advertise “free shipping” – the difference is in the small print. Three points decide whether switching is worthwhile for you.
1. The threshold only counts without a prescription
As soon as a prescription is in the basket, all nine pharmacies we checked ship free of charge. The threshold of between 19.00 € and 34.99 € therefore only affects non-prescription orders – painkillers, supplements, care products. If you only ever redeem prescriptions, you can ignore this column and look at the bonus instead.
2. The prescription bonus is the real money
This is where the largest amounts are. DocMorris credits between 2.50 € and 20 € per medicine, Shop Apotheke tiers by medicine price up to 20 €, and medpex waives the full co-payment of up to 10 € per prescription for people on statutory insurance. With ongoing medication of four prescriptions per quarter, that adds up to a two-figure sum per year – considerably more than the shipping question amounts to.
Note the distinction: cash or credit is generally only available for private prescriptions, self-payers and those exempt from co-payments. For statutory e-prescriptions the statutory co-payment is waived instead. That is the legal construction the providers use to sidestep the stricter rules for the statutory insurance sector (GKV).
3. CardLink decides how convenient it is
With CardLink you hold your health card against an NFC smartphone and the prescription lands directly in the pharmacy's app – no printout, no photo, no detour via the gematik app. Only 2 providers in this comparison have their own approval for it (Shop Apotheke and DocMorris); medpex shares the DocMorris approval. All the others work with QR code upload or third-party providers.
Important for planning ahead: most gematik approvals for CardLink expire on 31 January 2027. The successor, PoPP, is due to launch in spring 2027 and replace the health card entirely – the GesundheitsID (digital health ID) will then be enough.
And the registered office? More important than it sounds
Only 5 of the nine providers checked have their registered office in Germany. DocMorris and Shop Apotheke are based in the Netherlands, medpex has also belonged to the Dutch DocMorris N.V. since the takeover, and Volksversand, despite its German-sounding name, trades as an s.r.o. in Liberec, Czech Republic. That is exactly where the bonus advantage comes from: EU mail-order pharmacies may grant it, German pharmacies may not. If you prefer an owner-run German pharmacy, you will find one at Sanicare, mycare, APONEO, disapo and apodiscounter.
Frequently asked questions
Shop Apotheke and Volksversand ship free from 19.00 € – the lowest threshold in the comparison. medpex follows at 22.90 €, disapo at 28.95 €, and apodiscounter, Sanicare and mycare at 29 €. APONEO is at the top end with 34.99 €. DocMorris states no threshold on its own site. What matters, though: as soon as a prescription is in the basket, practically all mail-order pharmacies ship free of charge. The threshold therefore only counts for non-prescription orders.
A prescription bonus is a credit that mail-order pharmacies grant when you redeem a prescription. DocMorris pays between 2.50 € and 20 € credit per medicine; Shop Apotheke tiers it by medicine price: 2.50 € up to 59.99 €, 5 € up to 249.99 €, 10 € up to 999.99 € and up to 20 € above that. medpex takes a different route and refunds the full co-payment for people on statutory insurance – up to 10 € per prescription. Important: cash-type bonuses generally apply only to private prescriptions, self-payers and those exempt from co-payments. For statutory prescriptions the co-payment is waived instead.
The legal position is in flux. On 17 July 2025 (I ZR 74/24) the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) dismissed a claim against Rx bonuses because the fixed-price rule, as applied to foreign mail-order pharmacies, infringes the EU's free movement of goods. The Chamber of Pharmacists of North Rhine, however, stresses that the ruling relates to the old legal position. Since August 2026 the GKV-Spitzenverband (the umbrella association of statutory health insurers) has regarded discounts on the co-payment as “permissible in principle” but calls the question unresolved. For you as a customer that means: the bonuses are currently granted but may change if legislators tighten the rules. German high-street pharmacies are still not allowed to give discounts on prescription-only medicines.
There are three ways. First, CardLink: you hold your health card against an NFC-capable smartphone, enter the access number and the prescription goes straight into the pharmacy's app. Only Shop Apotheke and DocMorris have their own gematik approval for this – medpex runs on DocMorris's approval. Second, the QR code printout from the doctor's practice, which you photograph or upload. Third, the official gematik e-prescription app, from which you assign the prescription to a pharmacy.
Most gematik approvals for eHealth CardLink expire on 31 January 2027. The successor is PoPP (“Proof of Patient Presence”), planned for spring 2027. gematik writes that with PoPP the GesundheitsID (digital health ID) can serve as proof of insurance, and inserting the health card is no longer needed. For you, mainly the technical process changes – e-prescriptions can still be redeemed online. It is still worth checking which method the app currently supports before you order.
Often not. Of the nine providers checked, only 5 have their registered office in Germany: disapo, apodiscounter, Sanicare, mycare, APONEO. DocMorris and Shop Apotheke are based in the Netherlands, medpex has also belonged to the Dutch DocMorris N.V. since the takeover, and Volksversand trades as an s.r.o. in Liberec, Czech Republic. In practice this matters mainly for the prescription bonus: EU mail-order pharmacies may grant it, German pharmacies may not. For complaints and withdrawal, EU law applies anyway.
