Make your warehouse membership pay for itself
Simple calculators for Costco members. Plug in your own numbers and see the answer, not a sales pitch.
Calculators
Is the Executive upgrade worth it?
See your 2% reward, your net membership cost and how close you are to break-even.
Open the calculator →Is a membership worth it at all?
Find out whether your savings cover the $65 Gold Star fee.
Open the calculator →Should I downgrade from Executive?
Compare the refund from downgrading with the reward you'd keep by staying.
Open the calculator →Is the cheaper gas worth the drive?
Work out what you really save after the detour and the wait.
Open the calculator →Costco vs Sam's Club
Fees and 2% rewards side by side, and which membership costs you least.
Compare →Guides
- The Executive 2% reward, explained: what earns it, the cap, and when it arrives
- What the price tag endings mean: .97, .00, .88 and the asterisk
- The return policy in plain English: the 90-day items and how refunds work
The short answer
Executive costs $65 more than Gold Star and pays back 2% of qualifying purchases, up to $1,250 a year. If you spend more than about $271 a month on purchases that earn the reward, the upgrade pays for itself. Run your own numbers.
Why trust these numbers
Every fee and rule on this site comes from Costco's own published U.S. membership terms. We list each one, with the date we last checked it, on how we check our numbers. If a fee changes, every calculator updates from that one list.
Fees and rules last checked October 12, 2026.