Best Pharmacy Rewards Programs — CVS vs Walgreens (and What Replaced Rite Aid)

By the BestBrandsList Editorial Team · Published August 6, 2026 · Est. reading time 7 minutes

⚠ Independent comparison. BestBrandsList is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any brand named here. Brand names are the trademarks of their respective owners. Loyalty terms change often and vary by market — confirm current rates in the brand's own app or terms before acting on any figure below.

The US drugstore loyalty landscape shrank to a two-horse race after Rite Aid's rewards program died with the chain in 2025. What remains is CVS ExtraCare versus Walgreens myWalgreens — two programs with very different mechanics, both wrapped in federal rules that stop prescriptions from earning much of anything. Here is how they actually compare, and what the cash-discount alternatives do instead.

Contents

First, what happened to Rite Aid Rewards
CVS vs Walgreens, side by side
Why prescriptions barely earn rewards (the legal part)
The paid tiers: ExtraCare Plus vs nothing
Cash-discount alternatives: Costco, Walmart+, GoodRx
Both chains also run receipt surveys
FAQ
Sources

First, what happened to Rite Aid Rewards

Rite Aid filed its second bankruptcy in two years in May 2025, and this time there was no reorganization. State consumer-protection offices warned members that gift cards, Rite Aid Rewards points and BonusCash became unredeemable after June 6, 2025, and the last stores closed by early October 2025. Prescription files were sold off in blocks — CVS bought the files of more than 600 locations plus 64 whole stores in the Pacific Northwest, with Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger and Giant Eagle taking others. If you were a Rite Aid Rewards member, your points are gone; your prescriptions most likely moved to one of those chains, which is one more reason to know how their programs work.

CVS vs Walgreens, side by side

Figures below come from each chain's own program pages and terms as of early August 2026 (sources at the end).

	CVS ExtraCare	Walgreens myWalgreens
Base earn	2% back in ExtraBucks Rewards on qualifying front-of-store purchases	1% Walgreens Cash storewide; 5% on Walgreens-owned brands
Prescriptions	Excluded from the 2% — instead a credit system pays $2 ExtraBucks per 4 credits (1 credit per 30-day fill), capped at $50/year	1% on eligible pharmacy purchases, with significant federal and state exclusions (see below)
Redemption	Applied at checkout or in the app	$1 increments at checkout; max $50 per transaction, $100 per day
Expiry	2%-back ExtraBucks expire 90 days after the end of the calendar quarter they were issued in	Rolling 12 months per reward — and the whole balance is forfeited after 6 consecutive months of no activity
Paid tier	ExtraCare Plus: $5/month or $48/year	None (the myWalgreens credit card is a separate product)
Birthday	$3 reward	—

The practical difference: CVS pays a higher headline rate but funnels it through coupon-style ExtraBucks with quarterly expiry windows, while Walgreens pays less but in simpler cash-like credit. Heavy users of store-brand products do notably better at Walgreens (5%); coupon-tolerant shoppers do better at CVS.

Why prescriptions barely earn rewards (the legal part)

If your prescriptions are paid by Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE or another federally funded program, federal anti-kickback rules mean they generally cannot earn loyalty rewards. Walgreens' terms say this outright: rewards cannot be earned for prescriptions by anyone who is, or in the prior six months was, a beneficiary of a federally funded health program. CVS approaches the same problem differently — it excludes all prescriptions and copays from its 2% earning and caps pharmacy credits at $50 a year. On top of that, several states (Arkansas, New Jersey and New York in both chains' terms) bar pharmacy rewards entirely. None of this is the chains being stingy; it is compliance, and any pharmacy program you compare will be shaped by it.

The paid tiers: ExtraCare Plus vs nothing

ExtraCare Plus (the renamed CarePass) costs $5 a month or $48 a year and returns a $10 monthly bonus reward, 20% off CVS Health brand non-sale items, free same-day delivery, and a 24/7 pharmacist line. The arithmetic is simple: the $10 monthly credit alone exceeds the fee — if you reliably spend it before it expires at the end of each monthly cycle. Miss a couple of months and the membership flips to a net cost. Walgreens has no equivalent paid tier, which is arguably a feature: there is nothing to forget to use.

Cash-discount alternatives: Costco, Walmart+, GoodRx

A separate family of programs skips rewards entirely and discounts the cash price of prescriptions instead. These cannot be combined with insurance on the same fill — they are an either/or against your copay.

Costco Member Prescription Program — a free add-on for Costco members that discounts cash prices at Costco pharmacies. Costco's public pages describe it only in outline; exact discounts vary by drug, so check a price at the counter before assuming savings.
Walmart+ "Rx for Less" — included with the $98/year membership: select generics at no cost and others discounted up to 85%, per Walmart's own announcement. Worth checking if your regular generic is on the list.
GoodRx — the free coupon tool remains the baseline. Its paid tier, historically Gold ($9.99/month), is now marketed as GoodRx Companion at $14.99/month since May 2026, adding 200+ free generics and $19 telehealth visits. GoodRx's own terms note it cannot be combined with Medicare or Medicaid on the same purchase.

Both chains also run receipt surveys

Separately from loyalty, both chains print survey invitations on receipts with sweepstakes prizes — $500 at Walgreens and $1,000 at CVS per their current rounds. Those are covered in our step-by-step WalgreensListens guide and CVS Health Survey guide, and both appear in our full comparison of US receipt surveys. A survey entry costs two minutes and does not touch the loyalty rules above.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, CVS ExtraCare or myWalgreens?

For store-brand shoppers, Walgreens — 5% back on Walgreens-owned brands in simple redeemable credit. For shoppers who plan around offers and coupons, CVS — the 2% base plus personalized ExtraBucks deals can outrun Walgreens' 1%, at the cost of tracking expiry windows.

Do Walgreens Cash rewards expire?

Yes, twice over: each reward expires on a rolling 12-month basis, and the entire balance is forfeited after 6 consecutive calendar months with no earning or redeeming on the account.

Can I earn points on Medicare or Medicaid prescriptions?

Generally no. Walgreens' terms exclude federal-program beneficiaries from earning on prescriptions, and CVS excludes prescriptions and copays from percentage earning altogether. Arkansas, New Jersey and New York bar pharmacy rewards entirely under state law.

Is ExtraCare Plus worth $48 a year?

Only if you will reliably redeem the $10 monthly bonus before it expires each cycle and you shop CVS often enough to use the delivery and store-brand discounts. Used perfectly it more than pays for itself; used absent-mindedly it does not.

What happened to my Rite Aid points?

They became unredeemable after June 6, 2025, during the chain's liquidation, and the program no longer exists. Prescription files were sold to CVS, Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger and Giant Eagle depending on location.