There is a reason Costco and Amazon Prime are two of the most popular companies to shop with: each sells just about every product under the sun for unbeatable prices. If you’re on the fence about signing up for one (or both!) of these retail memberships, here’s what you need to know.
Benefits of a Costco Membership
People love shopping with Costco because it offers high-quality products for bargain prices, which all come with a 100-percent satisfaction guarantee. Plus, you can get what you need in-store or online, and you can even have your Costco order delivered.
There are four different types of memberships:
- Gold Star Membership – $60 per year
- Gold Star Executive Membership – $120 per year
- Business Membership – $60 per year
- Business Executive Membership – $120 per year
Whether you get a Costco Gold Star Membership or Costco Executive Membership for your household or business, each will provide you with its own unique benefits:
| Gold Star | Gold Star Executive | Business | Business Executive | |
| Household membership card | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Entry to every store globally | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Annual reward on eligible purchases | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Perks on eligible services | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Ability to add members to account | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Ability to resell membership | ✔ | ✔ |
Costco also has other unique benefits no matter what you sign up for — even some that long-time members aren’t aware of — including:
- Food for all tastes in fresh-food courts
- Mortgage solutions
- Insurance services
- Auto repair
- Discount gasoline
- Pharmacy and optical services
- Healthcare supplies, such as glasses and hearing aids
- Travel packages for amusement parks, hotels, and rental cars
- Discount beer, wine, and liquor
- Credit monitoring
- Bookkeeping and payroll services for businesses
Benefits of an Amazon Prime Membership
Amazon Prime memberships offer free shipping on their endless library of products, including groceries. There are six ways to sign up:
- Prime with annual fee – $119 per year
- Prime with monthly fee – $12.99 per month
- Prime Student with annual fee – $59 per year
- Prime Student with monthly fee – $6.49 per month
- Prime for EBT cardholders – $5.99 per month
- Prime Video – $8.99 per month
Even though it’s most famous for its speedy two-day shipping, Prime memberships offer all kinds of benefits. If you sign up for an Amazon Prime membership other than an Amazon Prime Video membership, you’ll enjoy a variety of additional perks, including:
- Members-only discounts on select products
- Delivery in as little as two hours
- Exclusive original video content, including Academy Award-winning movies and Emmy Award-winning shows
- Discounted subscriptions to HBO, Showtime, and Starz
- Music streaming
- Free games from Twitch
- Discounts on Whole Foods in-store purchases, plus free delivery on qualifying online purchases through Amazon
- Prime Wardrobe membership
- Prime Reading membership
- Cloud-based digital photo and video storage
- Early access to sales
- Meal delivery from restaurant partners
- Gift registry
Should I Get a Costco or Amazon Prime Membership?
It’s worth it to buy a Costco membership, Amazon Prime membership, or both!
Costco is great for people who want to save on everyday grocery and household purchases. A Costco membership can also help you save money on travel, auto repair, and even financial services. Just about everyone will benefit from having a Costco membership.
Amazon Prime is great for people who are focused on finding deals for products other than groceries and who do most of their shopping online. For example, if you eat most of your meals out and prefer to buy electronics, clothing, and even furniture online, Amazon Prime is a great option.
If you fall somewhere in the middle, you may benefit from purchasing both Costco and Amazon Prime memberships. Both are affordable, especially when you consider how much time and money they can save you. If you want to make your shopping experience as easy as possible no matter what you’re looking for, both a Costco membership and an Amazon Prime membership will pay for themselves quickly!