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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Costco vs Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery

Costco 4.9★ · Free to download 60
Winner Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery
Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery 4.9★ · Free to download 80

Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery is the better app overall due to its more reliable performance and popular in-store features, while Costco's app is frequently criticized for being buggy and slow.

Full reviews: Costco · Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery

While both apps offer convenience for warehouse club members, Sam's Club's app stands out with its 'Scan & Go' feature and generally smoother performance. Costco's app, in contrast, is plagued by frequent bugs, slow loading times, and a less intuitive user experience, despite positive feedback on its online shopping for bulky items.

Head to head

Features edge: Sam's Club Shopping & DeliveryR2R15R24R26
Costco Costco users appreciate the app for online shopping, especially for bulky items R2R26. However, many desire in-store features like scanning items with the app R15R32 and better organization for tracking packages and travel information R24. Users also wish for an Apple Watch app for their membership card and a shopping list icon .
Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery Sam's Club users highly praise the 'Scan & Go' feature for quick checkouts and saving time R71R83. Curbside pickup is also a popular and convenient feature R71. However, some users report issues with Scan & Go at the pump and a lack of customization options for items like cakes .
Ease of Use edge: Sam's Club Shopping & DeliveryR4R5R7R10
Costco Costco's app is frequently described as slow, laggy, and buggy, making it difficult to navigate R4R12. Users report issues with signing in repeatedly , accessing order history R7R10, and a poor search function . Some feel it's merely a slow mobile browser wrapper rather than a true app R22.
Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery Sam's Club's app is generally found easy and fast to use for shopping and delivery R5. The search option is effective . However, some users experience issues with payment methods not being accepted and frequent verification requests during checkout . There are also complaints about the app's updated look being too similar to Walmart's .
Reliability edge: Sam's Club Shopping & DeliveryR1R3R4R8
Costco Costco's app suffers from significant reliability issues, with users reporting it frequently freezes R3, crashes R4, fails to load items R4, and has problems with checkout R1R4. Orders are sometimes cancelled without explanation R8, and the cart can clear automatically R19. Recent updates have reportedly made the app unusable for some R1.
Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery Sam's Club's app generally performs well, but users encounter issues with items showing as in stock online but being unavailable for shipping or pickup . Payment processing can be unreliable, with cards being declined or not adding correctly R67. Some users also report the app being glitchy and logging them out .
Price/Value tieR11R14R18R41
Costco Costco members appreciate the quality and prices of products R11R14R41. However, some users note that online prices can differ from in-store prices R18. The app itself is free to download.
Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery Sam's Club members value the good prices and deals . The app is free to download. Concerns are raised about delivery fees on top of membership fees and increasing membership costs . Some members with Plus memberships report glitches that add shipping costs when it should be free .
Support tieR8R22R34R67
Costco There are no direct mentions of in-app customer support experiences. However, the feedback feature within the Costco app is reported as not working R22. Issues like cancelled orders without explanation R8 and difficulty updating card info R34 suggest a lack of clear support or resolution channels.
Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery Users mention positive experiences with in-store staff, such as bakery assistance . However, there are complaints about delivery issues, including items missing from orders and deliveries to wrong addresses . Some users also report difficulties getting payment card issues corrected R67.
Pick Costco if

You primarily use the app for browsing and purchasing bulky items online, and you are willing to tolerate frequent bugs and slow performance R2R26.

Pick Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery if

You prioritize in-store convenience features like 'Scan & Go' to avoid checkout lines, and you need a more reliable and generally faster app experience for shopping and delivery R71R83.

Evidence note: Costco's lifetime rating is slightly lower and recent reviews highlight significant app performance issues. Sam's Club has a higher lifetime rating and more positive feedback on core app functionality, despite some common e-commerce challenges like stock availability and delivery issues.

Frequently asked

Which app is better for in-store shopping?
Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery is significantly better for in-store shopping due to its highly praised 'Scan & Go' feature, which allows members to bypass checkout lines R71R83. Costco's app lacks this functionality, and users frequently request it R15R32.
Do these apps have issues with online orders and delivery?
Both apps have reported issues with online orders and delivery. Costco users experience problems with orders being cancelled without explanation R8, carts clearing automatically R19, and general difficulty completing orders R1R4. Sam's Club users frequently report items showing as available online but being out of stock for shipping or pickup , and some have issues with delivery to incorrect addresses .
Which app is more reliable and less buggy?
Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery is generally considered more reliable, with users describing it as easy and fast R5. Costco's app is frequently criticized for being buggy, freezing, crashing, and being slow R3R4R12.

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. [R24] Costco 3/5 · US The app needs work: The app is confusing to use. The app hides the functions used to track packages in your settings, the information for Costco Travel is hidden, and the same day delivery takes you to a separate window instead of being in the app which makes it much more confusing to use. When adding items to cart, it should be much easier to change how you want it delivered than having a whole
  4. [R26] Costco 5/5 · US Online ease!: I live in a remote area and I love the online ease of Costco and I am trying not to support Amazon so this is a better alternative.
  5. [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.
  6. [R5] Costco 5/5 · US Great App: Quick and Easyb
  7. [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.
  8. [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.
  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. [R8] Costco 4/5 · US Cancelled orders: Fix your problem with always canceling orders for no reason or explanation and it would deserve 5 stars…
  12. [R11] Costco 5/5 · US Love: Been a member since 1996. Love this place. Quality food and prices.
  13. [R14] Costco 5/5 · US Reasonable price great things: We live Costco
  14. [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….
  15. [R41] Costco 5/5 · US Washer dryer: Best deal ever at Costco
  16. [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
  17. [R34] Costco 1/5 · US Work needs to be done: Lot of updates needs to be made . It doesn’t update the card info . We have to restart the app to see it updated . Need a better PO and QA
  18. [R67] Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery 1/5 · US what is going on over there?: I’ve been using the same card for years now all of a sudden none of the information is there and it take days to get corrected. What the heck
  19. [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.
  20. [R71] Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery 5/5 · US Greatest Move By Sam's Ever: Scan and Go as well as curbside pickup are the greatest thing Sam's has ever done! Efficient, Convenient and for customers who buy a lot frequently such an Economical time saver! Thank You! Well Done!
  21. [R83] Sam's Club Shopping & Delivery 5/5 · US Love scan and go.: In and out. No waiting at checkout line
  22. [R19] Costco 2/5 · US Cart getting cleared automatically: Cart is clearing out after few mins
  23. [R12] Costco 3/5 · US Slow: Nice app, although its very slow

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