Amazon Prime, Walmart+, or Target Circle 360: Which Shopping Membership Is Best?

Shopping memberships help us save time and money, but the competition is getting fierce — so it’s not easy to pick the right one. Amazon Prime, Walmart+, and Target Circle each offer some combination of free shipping, deals, and convenience.

But which shopping membership offers the most value? Let’s find out now with a full comparison of what each brings to the table.

Annual price

• Amazon Prime: $139 or $69 for students, plus $2.99 to remove ads on Prime Video
• Walmart+: $98 plus tax
• Target Circle 360: $99 or $49 if you have a Target Circle credit or debit card. Students and government assistance recipients qualify for a monthly membership of $4.99, which is about $60 annually.

The cheapest price should be obvious, but alas no. Walmart+ has the lowest membership fee if you’re not a student and you don’t want to open a new credit card. Target Circle 360 is the cheapest for students at $4.99 monthly. Amazon Prime’s student program is slightly more at $69 yearly.

Target Circle 360 is only $49 a year if you’re willing to open a Target credit card. The card also earns you an extra 5% back on Target purchases.

Shipping benefits

• Amazon Prime: Free shipping on millions of items. Some items qualify for same-day, one-day, or two-day delivery.
• Walmart+: Free shipping with no order minimum and free delivery from the store.
• Target Circle 360: Unlimited same-day delivery on orders over $35 and free two-day shipping on thousands of items.

With respect to shipping benefits, Amazon has the edge in terms of how many products qualify for free shipping. If you have an Amazon credit card, you can also earn higher cashback rewards when you opt for slower shipping.

Walmart and Target shipping offers are more compelling when you live near their stores. Those who live near a Walmart will appreciate free delivery from store — which can include your weekly groceries. Target offers same-day delivery depending on where you live, but there is a minimum order value of $35. Many other items qualify for free two-day shipping with your Target Circle 360.

Try before you buy

• Amazon Prime: Select items available to try at home before purchase.
• Walmart+: Virtual try-on for beauty products and some garments available, but no membership is required.
• Target Circle 360: Virtual try-on for beauty products, but no membership is required.

Only Amazon Prime offers “try before you buy” for clothes and shoes. You can order select items, receive them, try them, and send them back without any charges. Learn about my “try before you buy” experience here. The closest thing Walmart offers is a “virtual try-on,” which is not as compelling as it sounds. You provide your measurements and Walmart.com will show you a garment on a model of similar size.

If you’re a beauty fanatic, you can use virtual try-on at Walmart.com or Target.com to test cosmetics and hair colors. This is an interesting idea in theory, but your results will depend on the quality of your monitor and the lighting.

Membership sharing

• Amazon Prime: Household sharing
• Walmart+: No official sharing
• Target Circle 360: No official sharing

Amazon Prime members can share their benefits with others in their household, unless they’re on a discount student membership. Walmart and Target do not officially allow for benefits sharing. It is possible to share some benefits, however. For example, with one Walmart+ membership and a shared password, two household members could easily access gas discounts and other perks.

Free returns

• Amazon Prime: Free returns on many items
• Walmart+: Free home pickup of unwanted items
• Target Circle 360: 30-day extension on the return window

Walmart has the most convenient returns of the group, with free at-home pickup. Amazon and Target require you to go somewhere, either to ship the products back or take them to a store.

Entertainment

• Amazon Prime: Prime Video, free books on Kindle, Amazon Music, and Prime Gaming
• Walmart+: Free Paramount+ Essential membership
• Target Circle 360: None

Amazon Prime has the most extensive entertainment solution, which includes with various paid upgrades to enhance your experience. Walmart+ stays in the game by providing a free Paramount+ Essential membership. This is an ad-supported option, but then Prime shows ads now too unless you pay to silence them.

Sales and discounts

• Amazon Prime: Exclusive access to Prime sale days
• Walmart+: Early access to sale days
• Target Circle 360: Personalized offers and deals

Prime sales used to be a big draw of Amazon’s membership program. I have found the deals to be less and less compelling in recent years, however. Walmart+ sales days are about the same in value — you might find an amazing discount if you spend the time to scour the options.

Food deals

• Amazon Prime: In-store and online discounts with Amazon Fresh plus extra discounts at Whole Foods Market
• Walmart+: 25% off Burger King digital orders plus a free Whoppers with purchase every three months
• Target Circle 360: None

The food discounts across all three membership programs are not that interesting, unless you already shop at Whole Foods or love Whoppers.

Fuel and vehicle deals

• Amazon Prime: Rental car discounts
• Walmart+: $0.10 per gallon discount at Exxon, Mobil, Walmart, and Murphy’s stations and free flat tire repairs
• Target Circle 360: None

Walmart+ shines in this category with a $0.10 gas discount and free flat repairs. If you drive a lot, you could pay for a nice chunk of your membership with fuel savings alone. You would need to use 980 gallons of gas annually to cover the entire membership fee. That’s about 82 gallons a month.

The best shopping membership

So, which is the best shopping membership? I can give you my answer: I pay for Amazon Prime and Walmart+. The shopping options near me aren’t great, so I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon. The perks I use most are free shipping and Prime Video access. I use my Walmart+ membership primarily for the fuel discount and Paramount+ access.

Your may choose differently. If you are hooked on Target, for example, you may get the most value from a Circle 360 membership. Here are links to learn more:

• Get Amazon Prime
• Get Walmart+
• Get Target Circle 360

Whatever you choose, put a reminder on your calendar to reevaluate your memberships annually. After a year, you’ll know which you are using and which are gathering dust. Cancel the unused memberships and tuck that money away for something else.