--- title: "Costco vs Walgreens: Which is searched more in the United States?" description: "Is Costco or Walgreens more popular in search? Compare estimated monthly branded-search demand and Share of Search inside the Pharmacies set in the United States. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time." canonical: "https://gobrandwave.com/demand/us/compare/costco-vs-walgreens" publisher: "Brandwave" --- # Costco vs Walgreens: Which is searched more in the United States? Is Costco or Walgreens more popular in search? Compare estimated monthly branded-search demand and Share of Search inside the Pharmacies set in the United States. Branded searches tell you how often people look for a brand by name or related terms. Comparing these searches across competitors helps you see how popular each brand is over time. ## Key facts - **Compared**: Costco and Walgreens - **Competitive set**: Pharmacies - **Market**: United States - **Month measured**: Sep 2026 - **Costco Share of Search**: 1.6% - **Walgreens Share of Search**: 40.2% ## Is Costco or Walgreens more popular in search? - In September 2026, Walgreens had more branded searches than Costco among pharmacies in the United States. Walgreens had about 20.4 million branded searches, while Costco had 823,000. Walgreens made up 40.2% of all pharmacy searches we track, and Costco accounted for 1.6%. - Walgreens was ahead of Costco in every measured month of the 12 months ending September 2026. - Across the 12 months ending September 2026, Costco’s share of searches among pharmacies in the United States held steady at 1.6%, and its estimated monthly branded searches held steady at 823K. - Across the 12 months ending September 2026, Walgreens’ share of searches among pharmacies in the United States moved from 40.3% to 40.2%, and its estimated monthly branded searches held steady at 20.4M. ## Top pharmacies in ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews In three ChatGPT questions, both Costco and Walgreens showed up in all three answers. Costco was listed before Walgreens in two of them. Brands get a higher AI rank if they are mentioned earlier in the answers that list options. | Brand | AI rank | ChatGPT answers that named it | All answers that named it | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Costco | 1st | 3 of 3 | 3 of 3 | | CVS Pharmacy | 2nd | 3 of 3 | 3 of 3 | | Walmart Pharmacy | 3rd | 2 of 3 | 2 of 3 | | Walgreens | 4th | 3 of 3 | 3 of 3 | | Amazon Pharmacy | 5th | 2 of 3 | 2 of 3 | ## Every AI answer about pharmacies - Asked ChatGPT "Which pharmacy should I use for prescriptions in the US?": 1. CVS Pharmacy, 2. Walgreens, 3. Costco, 4. Amazon Pharmacy - Asked ChatGPT "What are the best pharmacy chains in the US?": 1. Costco, 2. Walmart Pharmacy, 3. CVS Pharmacy, 4. Walgreens, 5. Amazon Pharmacy - Asked ChatGPT "What's the cheapest pharmacy for prescriptions without insurance in the US?": 1. Costco, 2. Walmart Pharmacy, 3. CVS Pharmacy, 4. Walgreens Brands are listed in the order each answer named them. The answers were collected in United States on October 22, 2026. ## How did search popularity change for United States pharmacies in September 2026? Neither Costco nor Walgreens moved beyond provider rounding among pharmacies in Sep 2026. ## Month by month | Month | Costco estimated searches | Costco Share of Search | Costco rank | Walgreens estimated searches | Walgreens Share of Search | Walgreens rank | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Oct 2025 | 823K | 1.6% | 4 | 20.4M | 40.3% | 2 | | Nov 2025 | 823K | 1.8% | 4 | 20.4M | 45.1% | 2 | | Dec 2025 | 823K | 1.5% | 4 | 24.9M | 45.2% | 2 | | Jan 2026 | 823K | 1.8% | 4 | 20.4M | 45% | 2 | | Feb 2026 | 673K | 1.6% | 4 | 16.6M | 40.2% | 2 | | Mar 2026 | 673K | 1.3% | 4 | 20.4M | 40.8% | 2 | | Apr 2026 | 823K | 1.8% | 4 | 20.4M | 43.5% | 2 | | May 2026 | 823K | 1.6% | 4 | 20.4M | 40.2% | 2 | | Jun 2026 | 823K | 1.8% | 4 | 20.4M | 43.5% | 2 | | Jul 2026 | 823K | 1.8% | 4 | 20.4M | 43.5% | 2 | | Aug 2026 | 1M | 2% | 4 | 20.4M | 40.1% | 2 | | Sep 2026 | 823K | 1.6% | 4 | 20.4M | 40.2% | 2 | ## How each brand is measured Brandwave collects information about searches that people make online using Costco’s and Walgreens’ names. When viewed over time, estimated search volumes for these branded terms can be used to understand whether interest in the brands is growing, holding steady, or fading. - **Costco**: Measured on the search term “costco pharmacy”. - **Walgreens**: Measured on the search term “walgreens”. - [Costco profile](/demand/us/brands/costco) - [Walgreens profile](/demand/us/brands/walgreens) - [All pharmacies in the United States](/demand/us/categories/us-pharmacies): The set both shares are measured inside, 5 brands. ## Methodology - [How is the Brand Demand Index measured?](/demand/methodology): Where the figures come from, what they compare, and how they may be reused. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Costco or Walgreens more popular in search? In September 2026, Walgreens had more branded searches than Costco among pharmacies in the United States. Walgreens had about 20.4 million branded searches, while Costco had 823,000. Walgreens made up 40.2% of all pharmacy searches we track, and Costco accounted for 1.6%. ## Cite this page Brandwave. "Costco vs Walgreens: Which is searched more in the United States?". https://gobrandwave.com/demand/us/compare/costco-vs-walgreens This page is also available as HTML at https://gobrandwave.com/demand/us/compare/costco-vs-walgreens. Brandwave publishes an index of its Markdown pages at https://gobrandwave.com/llms.txt.