Sam’s Club Mastercard vs Costco Anywhere Visa: Which Pays More?

Research-based comparison: I haven’t personally held either card. This comparison is based on verified issuer data and research into real cardholder experiences. Verify all figures at the official issuer websites before applying.

The short answer is: Sam’s Club Mastercard wins if you’re a Sam’s Club Plus member. It out-earns the Costco Anywhere Visa in all three spending profiles we tested, by $42 to $120 a year. Costco Anywhere Visa wins if you’re a base Sam’s Club member instead of Plus. Drop from 3% to 1% on club purchases and the math flips in Costco’s favor for two of the three budgets we ran.

That’s the whole story in one paragraph, but the membership-tier gap is big enough that it deserves the full breakdown. Below: the rate structure on both cards, the math across three real spending profiles, and exactly where each card wins.

At a Glance

Both cards require an active paid warehouse-club membership just to apply, and to keep the card open, so that’s a wash between them rather than a point in either direction. Both are also real open-loop cards, usable anywhere the network is accepted, not closed-loop store cards that only work at the club. That’s a meaningful shared strength over a typical store card, which usually only works at one retailer.

Neither card carries an intro APR offer. If you tend to carry a balance, Sam’s Club Mastercard’s current purchase APR runs 20.15%–28.15% variable; Costco Anywhere Visa’s is 18.74%–26.74% variable. Check both before applying if revolving a balance is part of your plan, since a card that wins on rewards math can still cost you more overall if you’re paying interest on the balance every month.

How the Rewards Work

Both cards use the same basic shape: a low base rate on everything, elevated rates on a handful of categories, and rewards paid out in store-specific currency rather than flexible points. The differences that actually move the needle are in where those elevated rates apply and how big they are, which is what the two subsections below cover.

Sam’s Club® Mastercard®

Sam’s Club Mastercard pays 1% in Sam’s Cash on everything outside its bonus categories, plus 5% on gas (on the first $6,000 a year combined, then 1% after that), and 3% on dining and takeout. Sam’s Cash is redeemable only at Sam’s Club, so this isn’t a flexible points currency. It functions like store-specific cash back.

The category that needs a closer look is Sam’s Club purchases themselves. Plus members earn 3% in Sam’s Cash on purchases made at Sam’s Club, in-store or online. Base Club members, without the Plus upgrade, earn only 1% on the same purchases, the same as the card’s base rate. That’s a real gap, not a rounding difference.

Here’s the math on why it matters: a Plus member spending $300 a month at Sam’s Club earns $9/month in Sam’s Cash from that category alone. A base member spending the same $300/month earns $3/month. Over a year, that’s $108 versus $36, a $72 swing driven entirely by which membership tier you hold, before the card’s other categories even enter the picture.

Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi

Costco Anywhere Visa pays 1% cash back on everything else, 5% on gas purchased at Costco (4% at other gas stations and EV charging, both under a combined $7,000/yr cap, then 1% after that), 3% on restaurants, 3% on eligible travel including Costco Travel, and 2% on Costco and Costco.com purchases. Unlike Sam’s Club, there’s no membership-tier split. Every Costco member with this card earns the same 2% on club purchases regardless of whether they hold a Gold Star or Executive membership.

Costco’s cash back doesn’t post monthly. It’s issued once a year as a Costco reward certificate, redeemable at Costco or Costco.com. Functionally that’s the same tradeoff as Sam’s Cash: not a flexible points currency, just cash back locked to one retailer.

Here’s the math on the gas categories, since they’re the least intuitive part of this card: gas bought at a Costco pump earns 5%, but gas bought anywhere else (including a station across the street) only earns 4%. Both draw from the same combined $7,000/yr cap. Fill up somewhere other than Costco regularly and you’re earning 4%, not 5%, on that spend.

The Math: 3 Spending Profiles

For the tables below, Card A’s club-purchase rate uses the Sam’s Club Plus tier (3%), since that’s the tier that makes this an apples-to-apples comparison with Costco’s card, which has no equivalent base-vs-elevated split. We’ll come back to what changes for base Sam’s Club members after the three profiles. “Gas” spend is modeled at general gas stations, not specifically at Costco’s own pumps, since the profiles list gas and club purchases as separate line items. If you fill up mainly at Costco, Card B’s gas line earns 5% instead of 4% in the tables below, which narrows Card A’s lead slightly but doesn’t change any of the three winners.

None of these profiles cross either card’s annual gas cap (Sam’s Club: $6,000/yr, Costco: $7,000/yr combined), so the 5%/4% rates apply to every dollar of gas spend in every profile, all year.

Profile 1: Solo commuter, moderate spender

$1,000/month: $150 gas, $100 dining/takeout, $200 club purchases, $550 everything else.

Annual earnings: Sam’s Club Mastercard earns $264/year. Costco Anywhere Visa earns $222/year.

Year 1: Sam’s Club Mastercard earns $264 plus a $30 statement credit (after $30 spend in the first 30 days) for $294 total. Costco Anywhere Visa earns $222, with no sign-up bonus to add. Year 2 and beyond: both cards settle into their ongoing annual totals, $264 versus $222, with no fee to offset since both are $0 annual fee (membership costs aside).

Takeaway: Sam’s Club Mastercard earns $42 more per year for a Plus-member solo commuter. It’s a real gap, but not a dramatic one at this spend level.

Profile 2: Couple, active dining and driving

$1,500/month: $300 gas, $250 dining/takeout, $300 club purchases, $650 everything else.

Annual earnings: Sam’s Club Mastercard earns $456/year. Costco Anywhere Visa earns $384/year.

Year 1: Sam’s Club Mastercard earns $456 plus a $30 statement credit for $486 total. Costco Anywhere Visa earns $384. Year 2 and beyond: same $456 versus $384 split, ongoing.

Takeaway: The gap widens to $72/year at this spend level, still driven mostly by the gas rate and the Plus-tier club purchase bonus stacking together.

Profile 3: Family of 5, heavy warehouse shopper

$2,000/month: $400 gas (two vehicles), $150 dining/takeout, $600 club purchases (bulk buying), $850 everything else.

Annual earnings: Sam’s Club Mastercard earns $612/year. Costco Anywhere Visa earns $492/year.

Year 1: Sam’s Club Mastercard earns $612 plus a $30 statement credit for $642 total. Costco Anywhere Visa earns $492. Year 2 and beyond: same $612 versus $492 split, ongoing.

Takeaway: This is where the Plus-tier club purchase bonus does the most work. A heavy bulk-buying family earns $120 more a year on Sam’s Club Mastercard, the widest gap of the three profiles.

Line the three profiles up and the pattern is straightforward: Sam’s Club Mastercard’s advantage grows as total spending grows, from $42/year for the solo commuter up to $120/year for the bulk-buying family. That’s expected. The two categories driving the gap, gas and club purchases, both scale with overall spend, so a bigger monthly budget means a bigger dollar gap between the cards. None of that holds at the base membership tier, which is the caveat that matters most here.

What changes for a base Sam’s Club member

Drop the club-purchase rate from 3% (Plus) to 1% (base), and the picture changes in Costco’s favor for two of the three profiles. Recalculating just that one line:

At base-membership rates, Costco Anywhere Visa wins Profile 1 and Profile 3 outright, and Profile 2 is a dead heat. If you’re not planning to upgrade to Sam’s Club Plus, the math above doesn’t apply to you. Run the numbers with your actual membership tier before deciding.

Where Each Card Wins

The pattern is consistent: Sam’s Club Mastercard’s edge is real, but it lives entirely in the Plus-tier club-purchase bonus and the uncapped 5% gas rate. Take either of those away, drop to base Sam’s Club membership or do most of your gas buying at Costco’s own pumps, and Costco’s broader category list (travel, any-gas-station 4%, dining) closes the gap or overtakes it. Neither card is the wrong choice; they’re just optimized for slightly different households.

Who Should Choose Sam’s Club® Mastercard®

✅ You already hold, or plan to upgrade to, a Sam’s Club Plus membership

✅ Most of your gas spend happens at stations other than Costco’s own pumps

✅ You do a meaningful chunk of your shopping in-store or online at Sam’s Club

✅ You want gas and club-purchase rewards that don’t require routing spend through a specific portal or partner

If this sounds like you, Sam’s Club® Mastercard® is the right call.

Who Should Choose Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi

✅ You’re a base Sam’s Club member (or have no Sam’s Club account at all and shop at Costco instead)

✅ You want a wider spread of bonus categories, including travel, that Sam’s Club’s card doesn’t offer

✅ You mostly fill up at Costco’s own gas pumps, where both cards tie at 5%

✅ You’d rather redeem rewards once a year as a lump-sum certificate than track ongoing Sam’s Cash balances

If this sounds like you, Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi is the right call.

The Bottom Line

Here’s what I’d actually tell a friend who asked me this: check your Sam’s Club membership tier before you do anything else, because it decides this comparison more than any other single factor. Sam’s Club Mastercard wins by $42 to $120 a year across the three budgets we tested, but only if you’re paying for Plus. Drop to base membership and Costco Anywhere Visa either ties it or wins outright.

Costco Anywhere Visa is the safer default if you’re not sure you’ll keep Plus, since its 2% club-purchase rate doesn’t depend on a membership upgrade to hit its stated number. Sam’s Club Mastercard is the better pick if Plus is already part of your plan and most of your gas spend happens away from Costco’s pumps, where its 5% has no location restriction at all.

I’ll admit running three separate spending profiles through two rate tables to settle a warehouse-club rewards question is exactly the kind of spreadsheet exercise most people would rather skip, but the $120/year gap in Profile 3 alone is worth the ten minutes it took. If you’re already paying for Plus and buying gas anywhere but Costco, that math is squarely in your favor.

Both cards require an active paid store membership to hold, so factor that cost into your decision separately from the card math above. Read the full breakdown in our Sam’s Club Mastercard review and Costco Anywhere Visa write-up before applying.