CVS ExtraCare pays 2% back in ExtraBucks Rewards on qualifying purchases. myWalgreens pays 1% in Walgreens Cash on eligible purchases, and 5% on Walgreens brand products. Both are free to join. Both also pay rewards on prescriptions, with state limits. This guide compares the two from each company’s own pages and terms, checked in October 2026. It covers earning, pharmacy rewards, spending, expiry, paid tiers, cards and scale. The last section reads both programs as designs.
Is CVS or Walgreens better for rewards?
CVS ExtraCare is the better pick for shoppers who fill prescriptions often and want a paid option. Members who opt in get $2 in ExtraBucks Rewards for every 4 credits earned at the pharmacy, up to $50 a year per person. ExtraCare Plus costs $5 a month or $48 a year and adds free same-day delivery and a $10 monthly bonus reward.
myWalgreens is the better pick for shoppers who buy Walgreens brand products. Those items earn 5% Walgreens Cash, five times the base rate. A shopper who puts about a quarter of their spend on that brand earns as much as 2% back at CVS. myWalgreens is free, and Walgreens has closed its older Walgreens Plus program.
CVS ExtraCare vs myWalgreens at a glance
The table sets the two programs side by side. Each value comes from the company’s own pages or terms, linked in the sections below.
| CVS ExtraCare | myWalgreens | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free; ExtraCare Plus $5 a month or $48 a year | Free; the Walgreens Plus program is closed to new enrollments and renewals |
| Base reward | 2% back in ExtraBucks Rewards on qualifying purchases | 1% Walgreens Cash on eligible purchases |
| Store brand | ExtraCare Plus: 20% off CVS Health brand products | 5% Walgreens Cash on Walgreens brand products |
| Prescriptions | Opt in: $2 ExtraBucks per 4 credits, up to $50 a year per person; not in Arkansas, New Jersey or New York | 1% on out-of-pocket spend; $0 copays earn nothing; no pharmacy earning in Arkansas, New Jersey or New York |
| Paid-tier perks | Plus: $10 monthly bonus reward, free same-day delivery on orders of $10 or more, free shipping, 24/7 pharmacist helpline | None offered; Walgreens Plus is closed |
| How rewards pay out | ExtraBucks coupons, sent to the card and used at checkout | Walgreens Cash in steps from $1 to $50; up to $50 a transaction and $100 a day; cannot pay for prescriptions |
| Expiry | 2% rewards expire 90 days from the end of each calendar quarter following their issue date | Walgreens Cash expires 12 months after earning; 6 months without use forfeits the balance |
| Credit card | Not described on the ExtraCare pages checked | myWalgreens Credit Card: 10% on Walgreens brand, 5% on other items at Walgreens; Mastercard adds 3% on groceries and health outside |
| Locations | More than 9,000 pharmacy locations | Approximately 8,000 locations |
How do you earn rewards at CVS and Walgreens?
CVS members earn 2% back in ExtraBucks Rewards on almost every purchase, including qualifying CVS purchases on Instacart and Shipt. Members use the app, the card or a phone number at checkout. Terms cap one transaction at $5 of ExtraBucks Rewards, with no more than five transactions and $25 a day per card. Prescriptions, gift cards, alcohol and Plus fees do not earn. CVS also pays a $3 birthday reward.
Walgreens members earn unlimited 1% Walgreens Cash on eligible purchases in store and online. Walgreens brand products earn 5%. Walgreens says its 1% rate matches the older Balance Rewards rate of 10 points per $1. Members provide their phone number at checkout to earn and to see sale prices.
For illustration, take $1,000 of eligible front-store spend in a year. CVS pays $20 in ExtraBucks at 2%. Walgreens pays $10 in Walgreens Cash at 1%. If $400 of that spend is Walgreens brand, Walgreens pays $20 on the brand items and $6 on the rest, for $26. The two match when 25% of the spend is Walgreens brand. The figures leave out exclusions and card rewards.
What about prescriptions and pharmacy rewards?
CVS makes pharmacy rewards a separate opt-in. A member signs a privacy authorization, then earns credits: 1 credit for a 30-day fill, 3 for a 90-day fill and 4 for a flu shot or other vaccine. Four credits pay $2 in ExtraBucks Rewards. Each person on a household card can earn up to $50 a year, and flu shot credits sit outside that limit. Balances reset on December 31.
CVS adds state rules. Pharmacy rewards are not available in Arkansas, New Jersey or New York. Transferred prescriptions do not earn in some states. A pilot pays $5 a month in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington. It runs from October 1, 2025 to December 31, 2026.
Walgreens pays 1% on what you spend out of pocket, and that includes prescriptions. A prescription with a $0 copay earns nothing. You cannot spend Walgreens Cash on prescriptions. Pharmacy rewards are not earned in AR, NJ or NY. Promotional pharmacy rewards are capped at $65 a year.
How do you spend ExtraBucks and Walgreens Cash?
CVS issues ExtraBucks Rewards as coupons. Members send them to the ExtraCare card in the app or on CVS.com and use them at the next checkout. A member who skips the app gets a quarterly printout. Unused rewards that were never sent to the card are reissued on a printed coupon at the end of the quarter.
Walgreens converts Walgreens Cash into savings in fixed steps: $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $10, $20 and $50. A member can redeem up to $50 in a single transaction and $100 a day. Rewards apply after tax and after other discounts. Walgreens calls them not cash with no fixed value. A returned item bought with Walgreens Cash comes back as store credit.
Do ExtraBucks and Walgreens Cash expire?
Yes, at both, on different clocks. CVS’s terms say 2% back ExtraBucks expire 90 days from the end of each calendar quarter following their issue date. Members must redeem them before the stated date. Expired coupons cannot be reissued.
Walgreens Cash expires 12 months after it is earned. A member who goes six months without using it is marked inactive, and the whole balance is forfeited. Rewards earned with the credit card on or after January 31, 2026 expire on a rolling 24-month basis.
Does CVS or Walgreens have a paid tier?
CVS does. ExtraCare Plus costs $5 a month or $48 a year. It adds 20% off CVS Health brand products, free same-day delivery in as little as three hours on orders of $10 or more, free shipping and a 24/7 pharmacist helpline. It also adds a $10 monthly bonus reward. For illustration, a member who uses that reward all 12 months gets $120 against a $48 annual fee.
The Plus terms carry rules. The bonus reward is valid on a single transaction, and any remainder is lost. CVS gives no refunds after a recurring charge. Members must cancel at least three days before renewal, and they cannot cancel in a store. CVS launched the program as CarePass in 2019 and renamed it ExtraCare Plus on January 4, 2024.
Walgreens ended its paid option. Its FAQ says the Walgreens Plus program no longer accepts new enrollments or renewals. Its older Balance Rewards program has ended, and myWalgreens replaced it.
What about credit cards, stores and ownership?
The myWalgreens Credit Card pays 10% on Walgreens brand items. It pays 5% on other items at Walgreens, pharmacy included. The Mastercard version adds 3% on groceries and health items bought elsewhere, plus 1% on the rest. Exclusions apply.
CVS counts more than 9,000 pharmacy locations, some inside Target and Schnucks stores. Walgreens lists about 8,000 locations. Neither the ExtraCare page nor the myWalgreens page states a member count.
Walgreens changed hands in 2025. Sycamore Partners closed its purchase of Walgreens Boots Alliance on August 28, 2025. Walgreens now runs as a standalone company.
Which should you choose?
- Regular prescription fills: CVS. Opt in to pharmacy rewards, and check that your state is eligible.
- Store-brand buyers: Walgreens. The 5% rate on Walgreens brand beats the CVS base rate.
- Households that want delivery: CVS Plus. Free same-day delivery starts at a $10 order.
- Occasional shoppers: Either. Both are free, so check the nearest store.
- Shoppers in Arkansas, New Jersey or New York: Compare front-store rewards only. Both programs exclude pharmacy earning there.
- Anyone who forgets rewards: Watch the clocks. ExtraBucks expire on a quarterly cycle, and Walgreens Cash expires in 12 months.
Both programs have profiles in our retail program directory. They also appear in our guide to the best retail loyalty programs.
What do ExtraCare and myWalgreens teach a loyalty team?
The two programs make opposite choices about the currency. CVS issues dollar coupons on a quarterly cycle, so the member has a date to act on. Walgreens keeps one balance with a 12-month clock and a six-month inactivity rule. A coupon cycle pulls members back at fixed moments. An inactivity rule punishes the member who drifts away. Each shapes behavior differently.
Pharmacy rewards show how consent shapes design. CVS makes members sign a privacy authorization before they earn, and revoking it removes the credits. Rewards are capped at $50 a person each year and blocked in some states. A program that touches health data needs consent, caps and state rules from the start.
Paid tiers need maintenance. CVS launched CarePass in 2019, folded it into ExtraCare on January 4, 2024, and priced it at $5 a month with a $10 monthly reward. On paper the reward is worth more than the fee, so the tier depends on delivery use, store-brand sales and members who skip the reward. Walgreens closed its paid option and kept one free program. Both moves cut the number of programs a customer must understand.
Both companies also retired older programs into one. Balance Rewards points became Walgreens Cash at a rate of 1,000 points to $1. ExtraCare absorbed Pharmacy and Health Rewards in 2024. A migration like that moves balances, rules and members at once, and it needs a plan for expiry dates and state limits. Our loyalty platform migration guide covers that work.
How GRAVTY handles state rules and paid tiers
GRAVTY, Loyalty Juggernaut’s platform, treats paid tiers and earning rules as configuration. Teams write the rules in Visual Rules, its patented visual rules language. They launch them without an IT ticket. Deutsche Telekom runs one program on GRAVTY with 4,500 partners across 9 countries. Local teams keep commercial control in each country. GRAVTY runs 500M+ members in production under a 99.99% uptime SLA. See our paid loyalty programs guide and our points liability accounting guide.
Frequently asked questions
Is CVS ExtraCare better than myWalgreens?
It depends on what you buy. ExtraCare pays 2% back in ExtraBucks on qualifying purchases, and myWalgreens pays 1% in Walgreens Cash. Walgreens brand products earn 5%. CVS adds a paid tier and opt-in pharmacy rewards.
Do you earn rewards on prescriptions at CVS and Walgreens?
Yes, with limits. CVS pays $2 in ExtraBucks for every 4 credits, up to $50 a year per person, after you opt in. Walgreens pays 1% on out-of-pocket spend. Neither pays on pharmacy purchases in Arkansas, New Jersey or New York.
Does CVS ExtraCare cost money?
No for the base program, and yes for the Plus tier. ExtraCare is free. ExtraCare Plus costs $5 a month or $48 a year and adds free same-day delivery, 20% off CVS Health brand products and a $10 monthly bonus reward.
Do ExtraBucks and Walgreens Cash expire?
Yes. 2% back ExtraBucks expire 90 days from the end of each calendar quarter following their issue date, per CVS’s terms. Walgreens Cash expires 12 months after it is earned, and six months without using it forfeits the balance.
Is Walgreens Plus still available?
No. Walgreens says the Walgreens Plus program no longer accepts new enrollments or renewals. myWalgreens replaced Balance Rewards and is free to join.
Did Walgreens change owners?
Yes. Sycamore Partners bought Walgreens Boots Alliance, and the deal closed on August 28, 2025. Walgreens now runs as a standalone company under private owners.