Walmart+ costs $12.95 a month or $98 a year — but a surprising number of Americans qualify to get it free or at half price and never know it. Government assistance recipients, certain credit card holders, and new members who cancel before the trial ends can all access the full benefit stack for nothing. This guide explains every path clearly, who qualifies for each one, and exactly what you get in return.
Key Answers People Look For First
The phrase “free Walmart+” covers a few different things — a trial, a credit card perk, and a government assistance discount that’s as close to free as it gets. These are the questions that come up most, answered plainly.
Yes — but only for one specific group. American Express Platinum cardholders receive up to $12.95 per month as a statement credit when they pay for Walmart+ using their Platinum card. Since the monthly plan costs exactly $12.95, the credit wipes it out. You pay nothing net. Enrollment is required through your Amex online account, and you must be on the monthly plan — not the annual one — for the credit to apply. Everyone else gets a 30-day free trial as the closest thing to free, but it converts to a paid subscription automatically if you don’t cancel.
Yes — this is the Walmart+ Assist program, and it cuts the price exactly in half. Instead of $12.95/month, you pay $6.47/month. Instead of $98/year, you pay $49/year. The benefits are completely identical to the full-price membership — free grocery delivery, free shipping, fuel discount, streaming, prescriptions savings, and everything else. Verification goes through a company called SheerID, which is secure and does not affect your benefits in any way. Eligibility must be re-verified once a year. The qualifying programs include SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, SSI, SSDI, TANF, LIHEAP, Federal Public Housing Assistance, Veterans Pension, Federal Pell Grants, and several tribal assistance programs — 14 in total.
No. Walmart does not offer a reduced Walmart+ rate just because you are 65 or older. There is no age-based tier. However, many seniors do qualify through Walmart+ Assist because they already receive one of the qualifying programs — SSI, SSDI, Medicaid, or Veterans Pension benefits are common among older adults. If you receive any of those, you pay $6.47/month rather than $12.95. In our review of the program, the most common reason seniors miss this discount is simply not knowing their existing benefits qualify. Check before paying full price.
New members who have never held a Walmart+ subscription can start a 30-day free trial with full access to every benefit. The catch: it auto-renews at the full rate ($12.95/month) when the trial ends unless you cancel before that date. Set a reminder a few days early. You’ll need a payment method on file to start the trial. If you qualify for Walmart+ Assist, you can get a 30-day free trial of the discounted Assist plan specifically — not the standard one — so you’d renew at $6.47/month rather than $12.95. The trial is for new members only; if you’ve had Walmart+ before, it won’t apply.
Walmart does not distribute promo codes that reduce the Walmart+ membership price. In our testing of various sites claiming to offer them, every code we tried either didn’t work or redirected to the standard signup page. Walmart’s real discount programs run through eligibility verification, not codes — Amex Platinum through your card account, and Walmart+ Assist through SheerID. Sites advertising coupon codes for Walmart+ are reliably misleading.
No. Federal law prohibits using SNAP/EBT funds to pay for subscription fees. Your EBT card cannot be used to pay for the Walmart+ membership itself, nor for delivery fees. What you can do is use your EBT card to pay for the food items in your order — Walmart accepts SNAP online in all 50 states — and then your Walmart+ Assist membership covers the delivery fee separately. The result is: you pay $6.47/month for the membership with a regular debit or credit card, and your groceries with your EBT card, and the delivery is free.
Not immediately. Your Assist membership runs for the period you’ve paid, and Walmart verifies eligibility through SheerID once per year. If you don’t re-qualify at your annual renewal, you’d move to the standard rate. You won’t be charged the difference mid-year for a coverage change that happened after your last verification. The yearly renewal notice is your reminder to check whether your benefits still qualify — and if they do, you simply reverify to keep the discount.
For regular Walmart shoppers, the math usually works in its favor. Free grocery delivery on orders over $35 alone eliminates delivery fees that otherwise run $7–$10 per order. If you order groceries twice a month, that’s $168–$240 in annual delivery savings against a $98 membership. Add the 10 cents per gallon gas discount — about $36 a year for someone filling a 30-gallon tank monthly — and a free Paramount+ or Peacock subscription worth $60–$72 a year, and the theoretical value stack is $270 or more. If you’d never order grocery delivery and don’t drive to Walmart gas stations, the math looks worse; the free shipping on shipped items is the one benefit that helps nearly everyone.
Every Legitimate Path to Free or Discounted Walmart+
There are exactly three routes. Each works for a different situation. None involves a promo code.
The American Express Platinum Card includes a monthly Walmart+ statement credit of up to $12.95. Pay the $12.95 monthly membership with your Platinum card, and Amex reimburses the full amount on your next statement. In our review of the benefit, the activation takes about five minutes through the Amex online portal under “Card Benefits.” Two things trip people up: you must enroll first — the credit is not applied automatically just for being a Platinum cardholder — and the credit only applies to the monthly plan, not the annual $98 plan. If you already have an annual Walmart+ subscription, you’d need to switch to monthly billing before activating. The Amex Platinum carries a $695 annual fee, so this benefit only makes sense if you already hold the card for other reasons — don’t get the card just for Walmart+.
Walmart+ Assist is the program most Americans eligible for it have never heard of. If anyone in your household receives one of 14 qualifying government assistance programs, you pay half the standard price — $6.47 per month or $49 per year — and receive every single benefit a full-price member gets. Verification is handled by SheerID, a third-party service. It takes a few minutes and does not require you to share sensitive benefit details directly with Walmart. There is no credit check, and the verification has zero effect on your existing benefits. A 30-day free trial is available for new Assist members before the discounted rate begins. Eligibility must be re-confirmed annually. The full list of qualifying programs: SNAP, WIC, Medicaid, SSI, SSDI, TANF, Tribal TANF (TTANF), National School Lunch Program (NSLP), LIHEAP, Federal Public Housing Assistance (Section 8), Veterans Pension, Bureau of Indian Affairs General Assistance, Federal Pell Grants, and Tribal Head Start.
Every first-time Walmart+ subscriber can try the full membership for 30 days at no charge. All benefits activate immediately — grocery delivery, free shipping, fuel discount, streaming, and pharmacy savings. The trial auto-renews to a paid plan when it ends, so cancel before day 30 if you decide it’s not for you. To avoid surprise charges, set a phone reminder for day 28. If you qualify for Walmart+ Assist, sign up through the Assist path rather than the standard one — you’ll get the same 30-day trial but renew at $6.47/month instead of $12.95. One more note: if you’ve had a Walmart+ account before, even years ago, you will not qualify for the free trial again. The offer is for members who have never subscribed.
What You Actually Get With Walmart+
Every plan — standard, Assist, and Amex-covered — delivers the same stack of benefits. Here is what each one means in practice.
Orders of $35 or more from your nearest Walmart store ship free with no delivery fee. Same-day, next-day, and scheduled delivery windows are all included depending on your area. In our testing of the service in mid-2026, same-day windows ran two to four hours from the time of order placement. The $35 threshold applies to the grocery portion of the order, not your total cart. Non-food items count too, so a mixed order of groceries and household goods gets free delivery as long as the total clears $35. Orders under $35 pay a per-order delivery fee, and separately, Walmart reinstated a $6.99 minimum basket fee for EBT orders under $35 in 2025 after a COVID-era waiver expired.
Items shipped from Walmart.com warehouses ship free with no minimum order, on next-day or two-day timelines for eligible products. This is the benefit that helps members who live far from a physical Walmart store. There’s no threshold to clear — a $4 bottle of vitamins ships free. It covers most of Walmart.com’s catalog, though third-party marketplace sellers on the site may have their own shipping terms.
Members save up to 10 cents per gallon at over 13,000 participating fuel stations — including Walmart and Sam’s Club fuel centers, Murphy USA and Murphy Express locations, and Exxon and Mobil stations. The discount is unlocked through the Walmart app: open the app at the pump, tap “Member Prices on Fuel,” and enter your pump number. The savings apply to all fuel grades and there’s no monthly cap. At 30 gallons per month, that’s about $36 per year. For a household with two drivers, the savings can clear $70 annually on fuel alone.
Walmart+ members can access the Rx for Less prescription savings program at any Walmart Pharmacy. Some generic medications are available at $0 for members; thousands of others are discounted up to 85% off retail price. Common medications covered include Metformin, Lisinopril, Cephalexin, and many other generics. You use this instead of your insurance — for many generics, the member price beats co-pays. Present your pharmacy savings card (available in the Walmart app) with your prescription. This benefit is especially valuable for fixed-income seniors who pay out of pocket for maintenance medications. The program is administered by MedImpact.
Members choose one streaming service — either Paramount+ Essential (with limited ads) or Peacock Premium — included at no extra cost. You can switch between them every 90 days. Paramount+ Essential carries CBS, MTV content, live sports and news, and original shows. Peacock Premium includes NBC content, live sports, and a broad catalog of movies and TV. The retail value of either plan is roughly $60–$72 per year, which alone covers more than half the cost of a standard Walmart+ annual membership. Activate through your Walmart+ account page under the streaming benefits section.
Additional benefits that round out the membership: Scan & Go in the Walmart app lets you scan items as you shop in-store and pay with Walmart Pay without waiting in a checkout line — genuinely useful in busy stores. Free returns from home means a Walmart driver picks up eligible returns during a delivery — no trip to the store required. Walmart Auto Care Centers offer free flat tire repair and a free road hazard warranty with tire purchases for members. And through a linked Burger King account, members receive 25% off at Burger King (terms vary) plus a free Whopper quarterly. The quarterly Whopper alone is worth around $7 — a small perk, but real.
Walmart+ Plans Side by Side
All plans carry identical benefits. The only differences are price and eligibility. Confirm current pricing at walmart.com/plus before signing up.
| Plan | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost | Who Qualifies | Free Trial | Benefits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard Monthly | $12.95 | N/A | Anyone | 30 days | Full stack |
| Standard Annual | $8.17 avg | $98 | Anyone | 30 days | Full stack · saves $57 vs monthly |
| Walmart+ Assist Monthly | $6.47 | N/A | SNAP · Medicaid · SSI · WIC · 14 programs | 30 days | Identical to standard |
| Walmart+ Assist Annual | $4.08 avg | $49 | Same as above | 30 days | Identical to standard |
| Amex Platinum (monthly) | $0 net | N/A | Amex Platinum cardholders | 30 days | Identical to standard |
Find Your Situation
Medicaid is on the qualifying list for Walmart+ Assist, so yes — you qualify for $6.47/month or $49/year. Dual Medicare/Medicaid eligibility (sometimes called a “dual eligible” or D-SNP plan) still counts because the Medicaid enrollment is the qualifying piece. Head to walmart.com/plus/assist and click “Verify Eligibility.” SheerID will ask you to confirm your Medicaid enrollment — the process takes a few minutes and does not affect any of your existing coverage. Note that Medicare alone (without Medicaid) does not qualify. If you’re on Medicare only and no other qualifying program, you’d pay the standard rate or use the 30-day trial.
Yes. Veterans Pension benefits are included in the Walmart+ Assist qualifying list. VA disability compensation is a separate program and is not on the current qualifying list as of our research — the specific qualifying program is Veterans Pension, not VA disability. If you receive Veterans Pension, visit walmart.com/plus/assist to verify through SheerID. If you’re unsure which VA benefit you receive, check your benefits letter from the VA — it will specify whether your benefit is labeled Pension or Compensation. Contacting your local VA office can also confirm this if the letter isn’t handy.
You can, but it takes a step. The Amex Platinum credit only applies to the monthly plan. If you’re on the annual plan, you’d need to let it expire or cancel it and switch to a monthly subscription, then pay with your Amex Platinum and enroll the credit through your Amex portal. American Express confirms this on their benefit page: “Card Members with an annual Walmart+ membership must change their plan to the monthly membership option to receive this benefit.” If you’ve already paid for an annual plan this cycle, it likely makes more sense to wait until renewal and switch to monthly then, unless the annual prepayment is recent enough to request a prorated refund through Walmart support.
Grocery delivery from the store requires a Walmart store within delivery range — typically 10 to 15 miles depending on your area. If you’re outside that, you won’t get the delivery benefit. But free shipping with no minimum from Walmart.com applies everywhere in the contiguous U.S., regardless of store proximity. That covers household goods, personal care, clothing, OTC medications, and thousands of other items shipped from Walmart’s warehouses directly to your door. The prescription savings and streaming benefits also apply regardless of location. For a rural household, the free shipping alone may justify the reduced Assist price or a trial — but the flagship grocery delivery won’t help you.
Possibly. Walmart+ includes Paramount+ Essential — the ad-supported tier — at no extra cost. If you currently pay $7.99 or more per month for Paramount+, switching to Walmart+ gets you the same streaming tier plus all the other membership benefits for either $12.95/month standard or $6.47/month on Assist. The key question is which Paramount+ tier you’re on. The free Walmart+ version is the Essential plan (with ads). If you’re paying for Paramount+ with SHOWTIME, the Essential tier doesn’t include that add-on, and you’d need to pay separately for it or switch expectations. For most subscribers on basic Paramount+, Walmart+ absorbs that cost and adds grocery and shipping benefits on top.
Amazon Prime costs $139/year compared to Walmart+’s $98/year standard or $49/year on Assist. Amazon Prime includes Prime Video, Prime Music, and a broader content ecosystem, plus faster shipping on Amazon’s wider catalog. Walmart+ wins on grocery delivery if you shop at Walmart already — the $35-minimum free delivery from your local store beats Amazon Fresh’s separate pricing structure for many households. For someone on government assistance who qualifies for either the Walmart+ Assist or Amazon Prime Access (Amazon’s parallel discount program at $6.99/month or $69/year), both are worth comparing directly. The tiebreaker is usually where you already shop: Walmart shoppers get more from Walmart+; Amazon shoppers get more from Prime. Many households keep both if they use the benefits regularly.
Where to Sign Up or Check Eligibility
Official pages only. Confirm pricing directly with Walmart before purchasing.
Membership prices, benefit details, and qualifying programs are drawn from Walmart’s published membership pages, Walmart+ Assist program documentation, and American Express cardholder benefit terms. Prescription savings program details sourced from Walmart corporate announcements and MedImpact program information. EBT policy details sourced from USDA SNAP program federal rules and Walmart’s published basket-fee guidance. This page is independent and not affiliated with Walmart, American Express, or any government agency. Membership terms, pricing, and qualifying programs change — verify all details at walmart.com before purchasing.
Key sources: Walmart.com/plus · Walmart.com/plus/assist · AmericanExpress.com card benefits · USDA SNAP program (fns.usda.gov)