Costco membership calculator (and Sam's Club, BJ's)
Is a Costco membership worth it for you, and is Executive worth the extra $65? Pick Costco, Sam's Club or BJ's, enter what you'd spend there in a year, how much cheaper it is than your usual store and how much of it you'd throw away, and this Costco membership calculator shows what each membership level leaves you with after its fee. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
How it works
For each club, the calculator works out:
- the saving: your yearly spend there times how much cheaper it is;
- the gas saving, if you buy fuel there: gallons a month times how many cents a gallon cheaper, times 12;
- the waste: your yearly spend times the share you throw away, because a discount on food you don't eat isn't a saving;
- the fee for the basic membership, and for the upper tier the fee minus its 2% reward.
The basic membership pays for itself at the spend where the saving, net of waste, equals the fee: fee ÷ (discount − waste). With a 10% discount and 5% waste at Costco, that's $65 ÷ 5% = $1,300 a year. The upper tier beats the basic one once 2% of your spend covers the difference in fees: $65 ÷ 2% = $3,250 a year at Costco, and $60 ÷ 2% = $3,000 at Sam's Club and BJ's.
The example numbers the calculator opens with ($3,000 a year, 10% cheaper, 5% thrown away) are an illustration, not an average. Replace all three with your own.
The fees and rewards it uses
| Club | Basic | Upper tier | Reward on the upper tier | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Costco | $65 Gold Star | $130 Executive | 2% of qualified purchases, up to $1,250 a year | Annual report, year ended August 31, 2025 |
| Sam's Club | $60 Club | $120 Plus | 2% Sam's Cash on qualifying in-club purchases, up to $750 a year | Benefits of Club and Plus membership |
| BJ's | $60 Club | $120 Club+ | 2% cash back, up to $500 a year | Annual report, year ended January 31, 2026 |
The calculator treats everything you spend as qualifying for the reward. Each club leaves some purchases out, so if a large part of your spend is on excluded items, the upper tier's real break-even is higher than shown.
Getting your three numbers right
Your spend is the easy one: a few months of receipts from the club, or what you'd move there from your usual store.
The discount needs measuring. List the 10 or 15 things you'd buy there most often and compare the price per ounce, pound or item at both stores; our unit price calculator does the conversion, and a grocery price book keeps the comparison going over weeks. Compare with your usual store's sale prices, not its regular ones, if you'd normally wait for a sale.
The waste share is the one people leave at zero. If you're not sure, a fortnight of noting what gets thrown out, with its price from the receipt, gives you a real number; the food waste calculator turns it into a yearly cost.
What it doesn't count
Groceries, household goods and, if you enter it, gas. Tires, pharmacy, travel or anything else bought at the club would add to the saving, and time and driving to a store further away would take from it. If you'd buy those anyway, add their saving to your yearly spend at the right discount. The 2% reward is worked out on the yearly spend you enter, never on the gas line.
For the full walk-through, with examples for one person, a couple and a family, see is a Costco membership worth it. Is buying in bulk cheaper covers the pack-by-pack version of the same trade-off.
Common questions
Is a Costco membership worth it just for gas?
Only if the gas saving alone covers the fee. At 15 gallons a month and 30 cents a gallon cheaper, that's 15 × 12 × $0.30 = $54 a year, less than the $65 Gold Star fee; at 20 gallons it's $72, which covers it. Enter your own gallons and price gap in the calculator.
How much do I need to spend at Costco for the membership to pay off?
It's the $65 fee divided by how much cheaper Costco is for you, minus what you waste. At 10% cheaper and 5% waste, $1,300 a year; at 15% cheaper and 5% waste, $650.
When is the Costco Executive membership worth it?
When you spend more than $3,250 a year on qualifying purchases. Below that, the 2% reward is less than the extra $65.
When is Sam's Club Plus or BJ's Club+ worth it?
Above $3,000 a year of qualifying purchases, where 2% covers the extra $60.