As of November 2026, the headline numbers are close: Costco Gold Star and Business cost $65 a year and Executive costs $130, while Sam’s Club Club costs $60 and Plus costs $120 with Walmart+ now included. Costco’s Executive reward caps at $1,250 a year, and Walmart says Sam’s Cash caps at $750. This guide compares the two for regular shoppers and for small-business owners who buy supplies, shipping materials or inventory, and it is part of the shopping-membership coverage at Ecommerce Paradise. Every price and rule below comes from the official Costco, Sam’s Club and Walmart pages, and anything I could not confirm is marked as such.
Disclosure: some links below are affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Only the Amazon Prime link is an affiliate link. The Costco, Sam’s Club and Walmart links go straight to those companies.
Costco vs Sam’s Club at a Glance (November 2026)
Here is the side-by-side view. Prices are annual U.S. fees before sales tax, and “not shown” means the figure was not on the official pages reviewed.
| Feature | Costco | Sam’s Club |
|---|---|---|
| Entry membership | Gold Star: $65 | Club: $60 |
| Top tier | Executive: $130 ($65 base plus $65 upgrade) | Plus: $120 (includes Walmart+) |
| Business membership | Business: $65, add-on members $65 each | Business fee not shown on the official pages reviewed |
| Reward on the top tier | 2% Executive reward, capped at $1,250 per 12 months | Up to 2% Sam’s Cash, capped at $750 per year |
| Upgrade break-even at 2% | $3,250 of qualified spend ($65 divided by 0.02) | $3,000 of eligible spend ($60 divided by 0.02) |
| Free shipping | Not shown on the official pages reviewed | Plus only: free shipping and delivery at Sam’s Club with a $50 minimum on eligible orders |
| Walmart+ included | No | Yes, with Plus |
| Gas | Member gas pricing not shown on the official pages reviewed; gasoline is excluded from the Executive reward | Member-only fuel prices on both tiers; Walmart+ gas savings of 10 cents a gallon come with Plus |
| Curbside or pickup | Not shown on the official pages reviewed | Free curbside pickup on both tiers |
| Satisfaction guarantee | Not shown on the official pages reviewed | 100% membership guarantee wording on a fee FAQ page with outdated fees |
The short version: Sam’s Club is $5 cheaper at the entry level and $10 cheaper at the top, and Plus bundles Walmart+. Costco has the higher reward cap, which favors very large spenders. Which one wins depends on your spending and where your closest warehouse is, and I walk through both below.
Who Should Pick Which: The Quick Verdict
I cannot know your zip code or your cart, so here is how I would frame the decision. It is opinion, not a ranking. Pick the warehouse you can reach in a few minutes, because a membership you drive 45 minutes to use is a membership you stop using.
If you shop in person a few times a month and want the lowest entry fee, Sam’s Club Club at $60 is the cheaper door by $5. If you also order online or would pay for Walmart+ anyway, Plus at $120 is hard to ignore because it folds that in. If you spend a lot at a warehouse every month, Costco Executive’s higher cap is the part that matters.
The detailed fee breakdown for the first club lives in my guide to Costco membership cost. The second is in my guide to Sam’s Club membership cost, and this article stays focused on where the two clubs differ.
Membership Fees: What Each Warehouse Charges
Costco: $65 for Gold Star and Business, $130 for Executive
Costco’s investor relations release on its last fee change lists $65 for Gold Star, Business and Business add-on members, and $130 for Executive, effective September 1, 2024. It describes Executive as a $65 primary membership plus a $65 upgrade, and it says the maximum annual Executive reward rose from $1,000 to $1,250. You can read the release on Costco’s investor relations site.
Costco’s own Executive rewards page shows the same current numbers: $130 total at renewal, a $65 upgrade for Gold Star and Business members, a 2% reward and a $1,250 annual maximum. One caution: an older Costco rewards page (costco.com/executive-rewards.html) still displays old figures ($110 total, $55 upgrade, $750 cap), which do not match the current investor release or the page linked above. If you see those anywhere, treat them as stale.
Sam’s Club: $60 for Club and $120 for Plus
Sam’s Club’s join page lists Club at $60 a year and Plus at $120 a year, and it labels Plus as including Walmart+. Walmart’s corporate announcement from October 20, 2026 confirms the $120 price for the two memberships together. It also says the pair is almost $100 less than members were previously paying for the two memberships separately.
Both Sam’s tiers list a second membership card. The join page does not show a price for a standalone add-on member, so check your account for that rather than assuming a number.
Business memberships
Costco’s release prices Business at $65, the same as Gold Star, with Business add-on members at $65 each. I could not confirm a Sam’s Club Business fee from its official pages, so I will not guess a number. If you are buying for a company, open the Business option on samsclub.com before you compare it with Costco’s $65.
Rewards: Costco Executive vs Sam’s Club Plus
Both clubs pay about 2% back on their top tier, so the real differences are the cap, the exclusions and the upgrade math. The fee gap is small, and the cap gap is larger.
The caps
Costco caps the Executive reward at $1,250 per 12-month period. At 2%, you reach that cap after $62,500 of qualified purchases. Walmart’s announcement caps Sam’s Cash at $750 per year, and Sam’s Club’s Plus join page describes it as earned on in-club qualifying purchases, up to $750 a year. At 2%, that cap is reached after $37,500 of eligible spending.
Most households never touch either cap. The cap matters to businesses and very large families who put tens of thousands of dollars through one membership.
What does not earn the reward
Costco’s Executive rewards terms list exclusions, including gasoline, tobacco, food court purchases, cellphones and service plans, membership fees, taxes and shipping, and purchases made by anyone other than the primary or primary household cardholder. It also says Costco can exclude other categories at its discretion. The Sam’s Club join page says “up to 2%” and does not list exclusions on the official pages reviewed, so treat any “every dollar earns 2%” assumption as a best case.
For a business, the cardholder rule is the one to remember. If your team shops on add-on cards, purchases by those people do not count toward the Costco Executive reward.
Break-even math
The formula is the upgrade fee divided by the reward rate. Costco’s upgrade costs $65, so $65 divided by 0.02 is $3,250 of qualified spend a year. Sam’s Club Plus costs $60 more than Club, so $60 divided by 0.02 is $3,000 of eligible spend, before you count the Walmart+ perks that come with it.
Here are four worked examples. They are hypothetical, they assume every dollar earns the full 2% at the same prices in both clubs, and they show the reward minus the full top-tier fee.
| Yearly qualified spend (example) | Costco 2% reward (cap $1,250) | Costco Executive $130 minus reward | Sam’s 2% (cap $750) | Sam’s Plus $120 minus reward |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $3,000 | $60 | $70 net cost | $60 | $60 net cost |
| $6,000 | $120 | $10 net cost | $120 | $0 net cost |
| $24,000 | $480 | $350 net gain | $480 | $360 net gain |
| $72,000 | $1,440 capped to $1,250 | $1,120 net gain | $1,440 capped to $750 | $630 net gain |
The pattern is simple. At ordinary household spending the two clubs land within about $10 of each other, and Sam’s Plus is slightly cheaper because its fee is $10 lower. Costco only pulls ahead once spending is high enough that the $750 cap bites. Sam’s net tops out at $750 minus $120, or $630, and Costco’s net (2% of spend minus $130) only passes that above about $38,000 a year.
These examples ignore price differences between the two stores, and that matters more than any fee. If your regular items cost 3% less at one club, that gap can erase the whole reward comparison, so price five or six things you actually buy before you decide.
This is arithmetic, not financial advice, and terms can change. Check each club’s own page before you pay.
The Walmart+ Factor: Why Plus Is Not Just a Sam’s Upgrade
This is the biggest structural difference between the two. Costco sells warehouse access and a reward. Sam’s Club Plus also includes Walmart+, which changes the value math for anyone who orders from Walmart.
Walmart’s announcement says the $120 price starts October 20, 2026 and covers Sam’s Club access with member prices, free delivery from Walmart and Sam’s Club, a choice of Peacock Premium or Paramount+ Essential, 10 cents a gallon in gas savings at more than 17,000 participating stations, and 2% Sam’s Cash. The streaming service is one ad-supported choice every 90 days.
Walmart’s Walmart+ page lists a $98 annual fee for Walmart+ on its own, a 30-day trial for $1, free delivery on orders over $35 and free two-day or next-day shipping with no order minimum on most Walmart.com items. Add Club at $60 and you are at $158, so Plus at $120 is $38 less than buying Club and Walmart+ separately. I cover the bundle as news in my Walmart+ and Sam’s Plus bundle post.
If you already hold one of the memberships
Walmart’s release gives the upgrade paths. Club members pay $60 more a year to move to Plus with Walmart+ included, Walmart+ annual members pay $22 more to switch to the bundle, and existing Plus members can activate Walmart+ at no additional cost. It says members already paying for both can link accounts and that most are eligible for a prorated Walmart+ refund. The release does not spell out every rule, so read the terms in the app before you link.
Costco does not list an equivalent bundle on the official pages reviewed. If you want Walmart delivery as well as warehouse prices, that is a point for Sam’s Club. If you never shop at Walmart, you are paying for benefits you will not use.
Gas: Member Pricing and Savings
Gas is a common reason people join a warehouse club, so here is what the official pages show. Sam’s Club’s join page lists member-only fuel prices at Sam’s Club on both Club and Plus. Walmart’s Walmart+ page adds that members save 10 cents a gallon at participating Walmart, CITGO, Exxon, Mobil and Murphy stations, with 5 to 10 cents in Alabama, and that members can get member prices on fuel at Sam’s Club.
On the Costco side, the official pages reviewed did not show a gas price benefit, so I will not claim one. What the rewards terms do say is that gasoline is excluded from the Executive reward, so fuel spend will not count toward that 2%. Check your local warehouse’s gas lines and prices directly, because they vary by location.
My practical advice is to compare the posted price per gallon at the two clubs near you on the same day, and to check whether the Walmart+ stations are convenient on your commute. A 10-cent discount on 15 gallons a week is $1.50, so it adds up over a year but it is not the main reason to choose a tier.
Online Shopping, Free Shipping and Pickup
The shipping rules are where Sam’s Club is easier to read from official pages. The join page shows that Plus includes free delivery and shipping at Sam’s Club while Club does not, and that both tiers include free curbside pickup and Scan and Go. Sam’s Club’s Plus join page shows free shipping on eligible orders over $50, and Walmart’s release footnotes a $50 minimum at Sam’s Club and a $35 minimum for scheduled Walmart orders.
Costco’s free-shipping thresholds, online delivery fees and buy-online-pickup options were not shown on the Costco pages reviewed. That is a gap in what I could verify, not evidence that Costco lacks them. Look at the shipping section on costco.com or the cart page for the item you want, since shipping on bulky and big-ticket items varies by product.
If most of your shopping is online, the two Sam’s tiers are easy to separate on paper because Plus lists free shipping and delivery and Club does not. If most of your shopping is walking the aisles, shipping barely matters and the entry fee is what you are comparing.
Returns and Satisfaction Guarantees
Return policies are part of why people trust warehouse clubs, so I want to be careful here. Costco’s and Sam’s Club’s return policy articles sit on help-center pages that were not readable, so I cannot give you a verified return window for either one. Check the return policy on each club’s own site before you buy electronics or anything large, because windows and exceptions differ by category.
What can be verified is narrower. A Sam’s Club fee FAQ page states a 100% satisfaction guarantee on your membership or your money back, with a refund of the current year’s fee if you cancel and a limit of one Plus membership refund per member or business per year. That page still shows outdated fees ($50 for Club and $110 for Plus), so I use it only for the policy wording, and the terms may have changed.
I did not find equivalent Costco membership guarantee wording on the official pages reviewed, so I will not quote one. If a refund policy is part of your decision, ask at the membership desk or read the terms when you sign up. Costco’s Executive rewards terms do say that to get the upgrade-fee refund the membership must be canceled or downgraded, that any 2% Reward already issued or accrued is subtracted from the refund, and that Executive-only savings end, so check that rule before you cancel.
Costco vs Sam’s Club for Small-Business Owners
I write this site for people who run online stores, so here is the business angle. Neither warehouse is a replacement for a real supplier relationship, but both can sit in your operating budget for the right purchases.
Business memberships and add-on members
Costco’s Business membership is $65 and Business add-on members are $65 each, per its investor release. If you put three employees on add-on cards, that is $195 on top of the primary fee, so price that against buying the same items elsewhere. Sam’s Club’s Business fee was not shown on the official pages reviewed, so compare it on samsclub.com first.
Eligibility paperwork and resale rules were not shown on the official pages reviewed for either club. Do not assume you can resell what you buy. Reselling has its own brand, marketplace and supplier rules, and I would read each club’s membership terms before building any plan around it.
Resale and inventory sourcing
Buying consumer goods at a warehouse club to resell is retail arbitrage, and the margins are thin and the supply is unreliable. For inventory, real wholesale accounts and authorized dealer agreements are what protect your margin, and my guide to finding suppliers for high-ticket products walks through that process. If you want to understand why that model works, start with what high-ticket dropshipping is.
Where I would use a warehouse club is as a price benchmark. If you are choosing what to sell, look at what Costco and Sam’s Club stock in a category and how they price it, then compare it with my high-ticket niches list. Big retailers set price expectations, and knowing them helps you decide whether a niche has room for your margin. My list of wholesale suppliers for resellers covers sourcing that is built for resale.
Shipping supplies and operating costs
The cleaner use case is operating supplies. Boxes, tape, labels, packing materials for samples, office supplies and break-room items are all things a business buys regularly. If you ship products yourself, my beginner’s guide to ecommerce shipping explains where packaging fits in your costs.
For a Plus-level shipping perk at Sam’s Club, remember the $50 minimum on eligible orders, so restocking supplies in one larger order is what makes the perk useful. The official membership pages do not show item prices, so compare unit prices on the exact items you buy before assuming a club beats your current supplier.
Keeping it clean at tax time
Whether a membership fee is deductible depends on how you use it and how your business is set up, so ask your accountant. I am not giving tax advice. Putting the membership under your business entity and keeping business purchases on a business card makes your records easier to follow, and my business formation guide explains how to set up that structure.
One more detail that matters for Costco: the Executive reward only counts purchases by the primary or primary household cardholder. If your purchasing runs through several people, a business can end up earning less than the headline suggests.
Costco and Sam’s Club vs Amazon Prime and Walmart+
A warehouse club and a delivery membership solve different problems. Costco and Sam’s Club are about unit prices on bulk and member items, while a delivery membership is about shipping and convenience on a wide catalog.
If your goal is fast shipping on almost anything, Amazon Prime may fit better than either warehouse, and you should check its current price on Amazon’s own page before you decide. For the Walmart side, Sam’s Club Plus is the one that now includes Walmart+, and my Prime vs Walmart+ comparison covers that delivery matchup in depth.
For a wider view across Prime, Walmart+, Costco and others, my best shopping memberships guide puts them side by side. If you are pricing a store budget at the same time, my breakdown of first-year startup costs shows where the money usually goes.
Sign-Up Offers and Deals
Costco’s join page lists a $65 Digital Costco Shop Card for online sign-ups by new members who set up auto-renewal at sign-up on a Visa credit or debit card or a Mastercard debit card. The page says it is limited to new members and people who have not been Costco members in the last 18 months, and it shows the promotion as valid through December 20, 2026. It also lists an offer tied to applying for the Costco Anywhere Visa Card by Citi with a new Executive membership, and that is a credit product with its own approval and terms, so I am not recommending it.
For Sam’s Club, the join page showed no discounted first-year price. It shows a headline claiming Plus members can save over $700 a year, with a footnote saying that figure is an estimate based on savings among members of both programs. Treat that as marketing math, and check the price on any offer itself before you pay.
Third-party deal sites sometimes list discounted memberships and gift-card deals. I did not verify any of them, so I am not listing prices. Trust offers shown on costco.com, samsclub.com or walmart.com, and check what the renewal price will be after the first year.
How to Decide in Five Minutes
Here is the checklist I would run, using only the facts above. It takes one evening with receipts and a calculator.
First, find the closest Costco and the closest Sam’s Club and note the real drive time. Second, price five or six items you buy often at both, because price differences swamp fee differences. Third, estimate your yearly spend in the categories that earn a reward, remembering that Costco excludes gas and food court purchases.
Fourth, decide whether you use Walmart for delivery or pharmacy, since that is what Plus adds. Fifth, if you run a business, check the Business option on both sites and ask about resale rules before you buy anything for inventory. If the two clubs come out within a few dollars of each other on your numbers, choose the one that is closer and easier to use, because a membership you use more often is the better value.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is cheaper, Costco or Sam’s Club?
As of November 2026, Sam’s Club is cheaper on the fee at both levels. Club is $60 versus Costco Gold Star at $65, and Plus is $120 versus Costco Executive at $130. Costco’s investor relations release and Sam’s Club’s join page are the sources, and prices on the shelf can matter more than the fee, so compare items you actually buy.
Does Sam’s Club Plus include Walmart+?
Yes. Sam’s Club’s join page labels Plus as including Walmart+, and Walmart’s October 20, 2026 announcement says the two are sold together for $120 a year. Club members can upgrade for $60 more, and Walmart+ annual members can switch for $22 more.
Which has the better membership reward, Costco Executive or Sam’s Club Plus?
Both pay about 2%, but Costco’s cap is $1,250 a year and Sam’s Cash is capped at $750 per Walmart. At ordinary household spending the difference is small, and Costco only comes out ahead for very heavy spenders. Costco also excludes gas and food court purchases, and Sam’s Club says “up to 2%,” so your actual reward depends on what you buy.
Can a small business use a Costco or Sam’s Club membership?
Costco sells a Business membership at $65 with add-on members at $65 each, per its investor release. Sam’s Club has a Business option, but its fee was not shown on the official pages reviewed. Resale rules and eligibility were not shown on either, so confirm them with the club, and ask your accountant about deductibility.
What are the return policies at Costco and Sam’s Club?
I could not read either club’s current return policy page, so I will not give a return window. Check each club’s own return policy before buying electronics or large items. Sam’s Club’s fee FAQ page describes a 100% membership satisfaction guarantee, and that page still shows outdated fees, so confirm the current terms.
Related Articles
If you are comparing memberships or trimming the costs of running a store, these guides go deeper.
- Amazon Prime Pricing: Every Plan, Add-On, and Discount Explained
- Walmart Plus Free Trial (2026): $1 for 30 Days, 90-Day Offer and How to Cancel
- Amazon Prime Alternatives: 4 Memberships Worth Comparing in 2026
- Best Credit Cards for Groceries in 2026: Verified Earn Rates
- Competing With Big-Box Stores on Black Friday
Disclaimer
This article is for general information only and is not financial, tax or legal advice. Membership fees, rewards, shipping rules and promotions change, so confirm current terms with Costco, Sam’s Club and Walmart before you pay. Figures are as of November 2026 and come from the official Costco, Sam’s Club and Walmart pages.
Trevor Fenner is an ecommerce entrepreneur and world traveler from Seattle, Washington, and the founder of Ecommerce Paradise, a platform focused on helping entrepreneurs build and scale profitable high-ticket ecommerce and dropshipping businesses. With over a decade of hands-on experience, Trevor specializes in high-ticket dropshipping strategy, niche and product selection, supplier recruiting and onboarding, Google & Bing Shopping ads, ecommerce SEO, and systems-driven automation and scaling. Through Ecommerce Paradise, he provides free education via in-depth guides like How to Start High-Ticket Dropshipping, advanced training through the High-Ticket Dropshipping Masterclass, and fully done-for-you turnkey ecommerce services for entrepreneurs who want a faster, more hands-off path to growth. Trevor is known for emphasizing sustainable, real-world ecommerce models over hype-driven tactics, helping store owners build scalable, sellable, and location-independent brands.
He maintains homes in Seattle and Bali, spends most of the year overseas, and usually returns to Seattle for about a month each summer.
