Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Costco vs Amazon Shopping

Costco 4.9★ · Free to download 40
Winner Amazon Shopping
Amazon Shopping 4.8★ · Free + IAP 70

Amazon Shopping offers a more reliable and feature-rich experience despite recent AI-related frustrations, while the Costco app is plagued by significant performance and usability issues.

Full reviews: Costco · Amazon Shopping

Amazon Shopping generally provides a consistent and reliable platform for online shopping, though recent AI search integrations have caused user frustration and performance issues R67R70. The Costco app, while appreciated for its online shopping convenience, suffers from frequent crashes, slow loading times, and a lack of essential features, making it a frustrating experience for many users R1R4R7R13.

Head to head

Features edge: Amazon ShoppingR2R15R27R29
Costco Costco users appreciate the ability to shop for bulky items online and find deals R2R29. However, many users criticize the app for lacking modern features like in-store scanning, Apple Watch integration for membership cards, and a functional shopping list R15R27R32. The search function is also widely panned as ineffective .
Amazon Shopping Amazon Shopping offers a vast selection and convenience for finding items quickly . Users enjoy features like free music with Prime and the ability to track prices . However, recent updates forcing AI search have been heavily criticized for being unhelpful, slow, and lacking an opt-out option, making it harder to find products R67R70R76R88.
Ease of Use edge: Amazon ShoppingR5R6R13R17
Costco While some users find Costco's online shopping quick and easy R5R17, a significant number report the app is confusing, has a bad UI, and requires frequent sign-ins despite Face ID R6. The app is often described as a slow, bulky mobile browser rather than a native app, leading to a poor user experience R13R22.
Amazon Shopping Amazon Shopping is generally praised for being easy to use and navigate . However, recent updates have introduced issues like Alexa AI search being forced and cumbersome, making the app less intuitive for some R67R76R88. Some users also experience difficulties with the payment system .
Reliability tieR1R3R4R7
Costco The Costco app is widely criticized for being buggy, freezing, crashing frequently, and failing to load items or complete tasks R1R3R4R7. Users report issues with orders being cancelled without explanation, carts clearing automatically, and account sections not updating R10.
Amazon Shopping Amazon Shopping is often described as consistent and reliable . However, recent reviews indicate an increase in app crashes, glitches, and freezing, especially after updates or prolonged browsing . There are also significant complaints about packages not being delivered on time, to the correct address, or going missing entirely R61.
Performance tieR4R7R9R12
Costco Costco's app is frequently described as slow, laggy, and sluggish, taking too long to load pages and items R4R7R12R13. It also causes iPhones to get hot and drain battery quickly, even when locked R9.
Amazon Shopping Amazon Shopping generally performs well for many users . However, some users report the app is heavy, drains phone battery quickly, and causes their iPhone to get very hot R75R78R96. Recent updates, particularly those involving AI, have also led to the app being slow and images failing to load .
Price/Value tieR11R14R18R23
Costco Costco is highly valued for its quality food, great deals, and reasonable prices on bulk items R11R14R23R29. However, some users note that online prices are not always the same as in-store prices, which can be tricky R18.
Amazon Shopping Amazon Shopping is appreciated for good pricing, variety of merchandise, and great deals . Prime membership is seen as offering good value with benefits like free returns and faster shipping, though some users report issues with these services . Some users find Walmart to be cheaper .
Support tieR10R22R53R61
Costco Costco users express frustration with the app's inability to track purchases or update rewards, often necessitating calls to customer service R10R53. The feedback feature within the app is also reported as non-functional R22.
Amazon Shopping Amazon's customer service is a major point of contention, with many users finding AI chatbots useless and frustrating, making it difficult to resolve problems R61. Users report issues with getting refunds, replacements, and dealing with faulty products .
Pick Costco if

Pick Costco if you primarily use the app for quick online purchases of bulk items and are willing to tolerate frequent bugs and performance issues R2R5R17R29.

Pick Amazon Shopping if

Pick Amazon Shopping if you prioritize a vast selection, generally reliable shopping experience, and Prime benefits, and are willing to navigate around recent AI search frustrations .

Evidence note: Recent reviews for both apps show a negative skew, with many users expressing frustration over performance issues and new features. For Costco, many positive lifetime ratings seem to reflect satisfaction with the store itself rather than the app's functionality R11R14. For Amazon, the recent AI search changes are a significant source of negative feedback, impacting the perceived ease of use and reliability.

Frequently asked

Does the Costco app allow in-store scanning or self-checkout?
No, the Costco app does not currently offer in-store scanning or self-checkout features, which many users desire as a game-changer for their shopping experience R15R32.
Are online prices the same as in-store prices for Costco?
No, some Costco users report that online prices are not always the same as in-store prices, which can be misleading if not realized R18.
Can you disable the AI search feature in the Amazon Shopping app?
No, many Amazon Shopping users are frustrated that the new AI-powered search is forced and there is no apparent option to opt out or disable it, making it difficult to find desired products R67R70R76R88.
Do both apps cause phone battery drain and overheating?
Yes, both the Costco app and the Amazon Shopping app are reported by users to cause iPhones to get hot and drain battery quickly, even when not actively in use R9R75R78R96.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] Costco 5/5 · US Costco online shopping: What a FABULOS way to shop big bulky items . Costco makes shopping fast and easy . thank You
  2. [R15] Costco 3/5 · US Needs work: In store use of the app isn’t nearly as helpful as the Sam’s Club app. Being able to scan with the app would be a game changer
  3. [R27] Costco 3/5 · US Need watch app: Please make an Apple Watch component app that has barcode to scan in when arriving at the building.
  4. [R29] Costco 5/5 · US LOVE THE BULK ITEMS!!: I ALWAYS find DEALS!!!!
  5. [R5] Costco 5/5 · US Great App: Quick and Easyb
  6. [R6] Costco 3/5 · US Two Accounts: My husband and I have separate Costco accounts. Setting up each of our phones for our respective account has proven to be nearly impossible.
  7. [R13] Costco 1/5 · US Sluggish browser not app: This app is just a slow bulky mobile browser. It’s slow to load the cart and has to recover it from somewhere, not the application.
  8. [R17] Costco 5/5 · US Easy shopping: Easy shopping
  9. [R1] Costco 1/5 · US Updated App is Bricked: With the latest app update I literally can't place an order anymore. There are steps where the app progress bar just endlessly cycles and will not complete the task. Never had this problem in prior versions.
  10. [R3] Costco 3/5 · US Buggy: When the app works it's fine. However, I find that it freezes quite often.
  11. [R4] Costco 2/5 · US Store is fantastic, app is inconsistent: This app crashes, won’t load items, fails to checkout, 50% of the time I use it…very slow, laggy, and leaves much to be desired.
  12. [R7] Costco 2/5 · US What’s happening with this app?: The app has become mostly unusable. Can’t look up orders, previous purchases or even shop without it timing out before opening.
  13. [R9] Costco 3/5 · US Uses too much battery: This app causes my iPhone to get very hot and use a lot of the battery, even when screen is locked
  14. [R12] Costco 3/5 · US Slow: Nice app, although its very slow
  15. [R11] Costco 5/5 · US Love: Been a member since 1996. Love this place. Quality food and prices.
  16. [R14] Costco 5/5 · US Reasonable price great things: We live Costco
  17. [R18] Costco 3/5 · US Like the app but…: Wish prices were the same as in store. It’s tricky if you don’t realize….
  18. [R23] Costco 5/5 · US Ready made meals: Always something easy to pop in oven for busy weekdays
  19. [R10] Costco 2/5 · US Orders & Purchases Do Not Work: It’s a good app when it works. You can search items well. However, if you try accessing orders and purchases section from account, it struggles. I can never access it. 2% reward does not update too. Mine is stuck since last few months. Accounts section basically is useless for many things.
  20. [R22] Costco 1/5 · US Not an app = terrible user experience: BUILD AN ACTUAL APP, COSTCO! This is NOT an app. It’s a terrible wrapper around the standard Costco.com website and performs like a bug-ridden P.O.S. Half the time, product pages won’t open at all. The “feedback” feature doesn’t work at all. The pages load excruciatingly slow, and the “app” doesn’t work at all if you use a VPN. For a company as fantastic a
  21. [R53] Costco 1/5 · US When the app says, I’m already signed in. Why do I gotta sign in again to do almost everything when: 👉🏻 When the app says, I’m already signed in. Why do I gotta sign in AGAIN, to do almost everything when says I’m signed in⁉️⁉️⁉️ 👉🏻 fix this, I should not have to call to have Costco search for a purchase, I should have a SEACH option, but Even though there is a SEACH next to purchases, (insinuatin
  22. [R61] Amazon Shopping 2/5 · US Customer service keeps getting worse: These AI chatbots are useless and frustrating and more and more packages are delivered to the wrong address.
  23. [R32] Costco 4/5 · US Self Checkout Needed: I love Costco but when is the brand going to update to more modern features like self checkout that I can do from my mobile phone? This is the one reason I still shop at Sam’s- you can scan as you shop and be on your way. No stressful lines overflowing with impatient people. Please please please think about implementing this feature.
  24. [R67] Amazon Shopping 1/5 · US Forced AI search results aren’t helpful with no opt out.: There’s no way to opt out of the AI powered search and it can’t find what I’m looking for. It also keeps repeating a handful of unhelpful results. It now takes me twice as long to find anything and I get better results just clicking a link from a separate search engine on my PC. Please give us an opt out at the very least. At this point I’d
  25. [R70] Amazon Shopping 1/5 · US Ai slop: The new update forces you to run every search through ai.
  26. [R76] Amazon Shopping 2/5 · US I don’t need Alexa to shop: Amazon apparently thinks we’re too dumb to shop so now it uses Alexa to show us what it thinks we’re shopping for. This is beyond ridiculous, you can’t turn it off/disable it! I don’t need help shopping, part of the reason I used to like Amazon was because of all the variety when I did shop for something!
  27. [R88] Amazon Shopping 1/5 · US Alexa ai slop now forced.: I am not going to support Ai slop. All I want to do is look at results of a search not be forced to chat with a stupid ai. The app is cumbersome, sloppy and freezes often now after the update. Hey alexa, you’re horrible.
  28. [R75] Amazon Shopping 3/5 · US Heats up phone: I like this app, and like shopping on Amazon, but I had to uninstall it because every time I open the app my iPhone 16 Pro gets very hot. There is really no reason a shopping app should utilize so much memory, but this one does.
  29. [R78] Amazon Shopping 3/5 · US Heavy app: The app is very heavy - my iphone battery drains so fast and heats up the phone. Pls don’t add asvertisments and animation . Its also distracting.
  30. [R96] Amazon Shopping 3/5 · US Drains Phone Battery: The app works really well but sometimes takes a long time to load and always drains my phone battery/makes my phone very hot. I only try to use it for quick purchases of products I’ve already used. If I need to browse at all I use my computer, otherwise my phone battery will drop significantly and very quickly.

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store