Sam's Club Vs Costco: Who Has The Better Steak?

When it comes to steak, Sam's Club and Costco are two heavyweight contenders competing for the loyalty of meat lovers everywhere. Customers from both stores rave about the meat departments, and that has us wondering: When it comes to beef, who does it best — Sam's Club, or Costco?

Both retailers have butchers on site and offer a wide variety of beef in USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) Prime and USDA Choice. Prime and Choice are the highest-graded cuts of meat available. It's rated on characteristics that correlate with the meat's juiciness, flavor, and tenderness. To receive a USDA Prime rating, meat must have generous marbling (aka fat) which adds to the meat's flavor and juicy texture. Meat that receives a USDA Choice rating doesn't have quite as much marbling as its Prime counterpart. You can count on both of these cuts to be high quality and taste great, and you can find them in stock in both stores.

However, it's important to note that inventory can vary from store to store and by region and season. We have compared steak options from Costco and Sam's Club based on price, variety of meat available, and customer reviews to put together a comprehensive guide and help you choose where to purchase your next steak: Sam's or Costco. 

Costco is a meat lover's paradise, offering steak cuts in both Prime and Choice grades. Looking for a boneless ribeye, top sirloin, or flank steak? Costco has you covered. And of course, you can always count on Costco for a Prime filet or even a pre-seasoned tri-tip. Costco also has fancier fare, like certified authentic Wagyu and Kobe beef, although you may have to order your Wagyu online. Be sure to peruse the fresh meat section of Costco when you're selecting your next steak — but don't turn your nose up at the frozen aisles. Costco has some great frozen options that you can eat now or use to stock up your freezer (just remember to be mindful of expiration dates so your frozen steak doesn't lose quality and flavor).

Costco is known for an ever-changing inventory of items (your favorite Costco items may be there one day, and then sadly discontinued the next). The same is true for the meat department. While there are cuts you can count on, every store is different and you'll need to visit the store in person to see the full scope of available steaks. Costco doesn't update its website with every item available, so it's hard to get a read on what the meat department holds just from looking at its website. 

Sam's Club, like Costco, offers steak in a variety of cuts in both Choice and Prime grades. It sells popular cuts such as New York strip, beef bottom round steak, and skirt steak. One nice thing about Sam's is that it keeps its website updated, and it's easy to find what you want before you go (you can even order online, with options to pick it up or have it delivered). You may have to visit the store to see if filet mignon is available, as it isn't included on the website. While filet's availability is questionable, you can definitely grab some beef tenderloin from Sam's.

Beef tenderloin is commonly mistaken for filet mignon, and it's an easy mistake to make. Filet mignon is a cut that comes from beef tenderloin. To be a filet, it must come from the very tip of the tenderloin (this is the most tender part). To be fully appreciated, filet mignon needs to be cooked just right (it is one steak that should not be grilled as it can quickly turn dry). If you're new to preparing and cooking steak, be sure to look up recipes online or have a steak cookbook on-hand so you don't make any big mistakes cooking your steak.

Sam's sells its meat under its house brand, Member's Mark. The brand was relaunched in April 2022 with a focus on regenerative products, sustainability, and quality ingredients.

Both Sam's Club and Costco offer high-end meats for the steak connoisseur, and that includes Wagyu beef. Wagyu beef originates from Japanese cattle, but not just any cattle — it must be one of four Japanese cattle breeds to earn the Wagyu title (the breeds are Japanese Black, Japanese Polled, Japanese Brown, and Japanese Shorthorn). These cows produce meat with high marbling, which renders when it's seared, making for an extraordinarily tender, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth meat-eating experience.

Wagyu beef is very expensive, and if you've ever wondered why it costs so much, there are some valid reasons that support its high price. Wagyu beef is highly regulated in Japan, and then has to be imported — both resulting in higher costs. Cows are raised in a low-stress environment and fed for a longer period of time than traditional beef. They are also fed highly specialized diets that include grains, greens, and even rice to result in the most marbling possible. The cows themselves don't come cheap, either – Wagyu cattle can sell at auction for up to $30,000 per cow.

Sam's Club offers a Japanese Wagyu option. While it doesn't claim the meat is certified authentic, it does claim that the cows receive daily massages and barley mashes.

Costco offers an authentic, certified Japanese Wagyu. One Costco reviewer said, "My Japanese-heritage son-in-law and I are steak aficionados and this beats anything Alexanders puts on the table. Every bite almost made us cry with joy."

Grass-fed meat has been having a moment, and you can find grass-fed steaks at both Costco and Sam's Club. Costco has a variety of grass-fed steaks online including New York Strip, ribeye, and filet mignon, but you'll have to visit the store to see the full selection. Sam's Club has a grass-fed New York strip and a tenderloin. Regarding the tenderloin, one Sam's Club reviewer said, "Great taste, little fat, very tender." 

Grass-fed beef is sourced from cows that have been raised on a diet of hay and grasses from the time they are old enough to eat solid foods. Some grass-fed cows are finished on grain, meaning they would be grass-fed but not grass-finished. Because these cows aren't fed a high-fat grain diet, it's believed that grass-fed meat can have benefits for heart health, such as lower fat and more antioxidants. Grass-fed beef also includes more omega-3 fatty acids, which have been found to prevent and even treat disease.

Grass-fed beef is not the same as organic (although organic, grass-fed beef is a thing). Organic beef is beef that has been fed an organic diet, raised on organic land, is free of GMOs, and has never received antibiotics or steroids (among other requirements). If you're new to grass-fed meat, be prepared for it to taste a little different. Sometimes it can have a gamey taste, which can take some getting used to.

Everyone wants to cook the perfect, juicy steak, and you can find the right meat to meet this criteria at both Costco and Sam's Club — but you'll probably find the most tender meat at Costco. The reason might surprise you, though. Costco uses a blade tenderizer on its steaks, which gives it a boost in the tenderness department, but means you have to use extra care when cooking your steak.

A blade tenderizer is a machine that uses needles or sharp blades to break up fibers in the muscle. This increases the tenderness of the meat. Once a steak has been mechanically tenderized it needs to be cooked following specific guidelines. This is because the tenderizer can transfer bacteria on the outside of the meat to the inside when it's tenderizing. According to the USDA, meat that has been tenderized in this manner needs to be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit and then let rest for three minutes.You can't tell by looking at the meat if it's been mechanically tenderized, but the label will specify "blade tenderized". It's unclear whether or not Sam's mechanically tenderizes its meat, but you can always check the label to find out.

Making informed decisions when choosing meat is a consumer's right, and both Costco and Sam's Club try to be transparent when sharing environmental initiatives and steps they're taking to ensure animal welfare. When it comes to who has stronger standards in place, it's hard to pick a winner, but Costco might have more inclusive policies in place.

Sam's Club has extensive information about its policies online and shares its commitments to the "Five Freedoms" of animal welfare. The Five Freedoms ensure that animals live free from hunger and thirst, discomfort, pain, injury and disease, and fear and distress, while also being given the freedom to express their natural behaviors.

Costco is also transparent about its efforts, and it shares its commitments to the "Five Domains" of animal welfare on its website. The Five Domains are nutrition, environment, health, behavior, and mental state, and were developed with the assistance of world-famous animal welfare expert, Dr. Temple Grandin. Both businesses are clearly committed to animal welfare, but with Costco's interest in the mental state of its animals, they seem to have a more robust policy in place.

Neither Costco nor Sam's Club specifically addresses where it sources beef from, or how sustainable those practices are, but both warehouse stores are transparent about general sustainability efforts and policies. Costco focuses on regenerative agriculture and sustainable livestock, but when it gets down to the nitty-gritty it's hard to find cold, hard facts about how that applies to Costco's beef supply chain. Regenerative agriculture is a method of managing the land (and the animals on it) that increases the health of the soil and nourishes the animals being fed from it. Costco says it supports its suppliers who practice regenerative agriculture, which in turn supports Costco's Climate Action Plan, but it's not entirely clear how the suppliers are supported.

Sam's Club is the leader in beef sustainability with more direct messaging about its beef and clear efforts to source beef from more sustainable farms by 2025. Sam's Club promises to focus on animal welfare and soil health, as well as making improvements to grain sourcing and grazing practices among its producers. While doing so, Sam's Club is committed to transparency and collaboration with its beef farmers.

Both Sam's Club and Costco are known for offering quality products at a great value. Costco doesn't share the costs of its steaks online, and this is probably due to varying inventory in different regions. While both stores seem to be competitively priced, Costco might be more costly.

A 2023 study from AARP showed that Sam's Club might have cheaper prices overall, and this could include its meat prices (the study showed Sam's Club to be more than 18% cheaper on 30 different items when compared by weight). Sam's also has more affordable online ordering options, giving members (depending on membership and eligible orders) free delivery for orders placed online. If you want to order groceries from Costco, you'll have to order through Instacart, which means you'll be paying higher prices and a delivery fee. So, if online ordering and grocery delivery are important to you, you'll definitely come out ahead at Sam's Club.

Regardless of which store you choose, you can save by buying the steaks uncut and cutting them yourself at home, or having a butcher at the store cut them. Both Sam's and Costco offer this service free of charge. Simply pick out your meat and tell the butcher how you'd like to have it cut. If you've got champagne taste on a beer budget, have no fear — just be prepared to wait for steaks to go on sale, or look for a cheaper cut of meat.

Based on website reviews, Sam's Club boasts some highly-rated steaks. Customers like the quality of the meat and often say it compares to high-end restaurants or buying directly from a butcher. The Member's Mark Prime Beef Tenderloin Steak has more than 2,000 reviews and maintains a 4.6-star rating. One five-star reviewer says, "These are our go-to steaks. My husband makes them so good, I would never order steak at a restaurant because it won't compare. Steaks are always fresh, tender, and flavorful."  

Another popular steak is the Member's Mark USDA Choice Angus Beef Boneless Ribeye, which has more than 3,000 reviews and another 4.6-star score. One reviewer claimed to normally butcher their own meat, but conceded they reach for Sam's ribeye when they're out.

Reddit agrees that Sam's is a great option for steak, being a top pick for meat quality and value. One Reddit user said, "I get prime ribeye steaks and the marbling is great. They're the best I can find short of going to specialty butchers which are much more expensive."

Yes, Sam's Club steak section gets lots of customer kudos, but Costco's meat selection has a passionate fan following, too. Costco shoppers love to peruse the meat aisles at Costco and pick out the perfect steaks, and it's even a hit with professional chefs.

One Reddit user shares that Costco meat is as good as home-raised beef, saying, "I've had nothing but great luck with Costco meat. I'm always impressed with the quality. I grew up on a farm where we always had our own beef (and my parents still do) but what I get from Costco is consistently just as good as what we raise on our own."

It might be a hassle for some that you can't order Costco groceries for pick-up or delivery unless you want to pay extra for Instacart's services, but other Costco shoppers prefer the experience of shopping for themselves. A Reddit user said, "In general Costco meats have been really good for me. That being said I also wouldn't let someone else select my meat or produce. Call me old school but I prefer to pick out my own stuff."

After extensive research, we've determined that Sam's Club and Costco are both solid options for your next steak. Both stores offer competitive prices, a wide variety of cuts of meat, and both Choice and Prime steaks. They are both making clear and transparent moves toward greater sustainability and animal welfare, and reviewers have positive things to say about the meat at both stores. 

There are some factors that might impact your final decision, though, and ultimately your priorities will have to help you decide. The location of the store is worth considering. It might be easier and more cost-effective to shop at the store that is closest to you. If you're looking for a prime filet mignon or want certified authentic Japanese Wagyu steak, Costco might be your best choice. On the other hand, if you're trying to avoid mechanically tenderized meat, you might fare better at Sam's Club.

We relied on the Costco and Sam's Club websites for information regarding sustainability and store information, along with a variety of customer reviews. Costco doesn't share its in-warehouse steaks on its website, so we used Instacart to see what items are available. However, because Costco's items are priced higher on Instacart than when purchased in the store, we relied on studies and reviews to determine general pricing information. I am a long-time Costco member, and I also pulled from personal experience when talking about Costco.