For most US sellers in 2026, Amazon is still the bigger sales channel, but Walmart Marketplace is cheaper to keep open and much less crowded. Walmart charges no monthly fee and category referral fees of roughly 6% to 15%, while Amazon charges $39.99 a month on the Professional plan plus referral fees that usually land between 8% and 15%. For most brands the right move is Amazon first and Walmart second, not one instead of the other.
This guide compares the two marketplaces on the things that decide profit: who is shopping, what each sale costs, how many sellers you are up against, how fulfillment works, and how hard it is to get in.
How do Walmart and Amazon compare side by side?
Here is the short version. Fees and policies change, so treat this as a snapshot as of October 2026 and confirm current numbers in each seller dashboard before you commit inventory.
| Factor | Amazon | Walmart Marketplace |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly fee | $39.99 (Professional) or $0.99 per item sold (Individual) | None |
| Referral fee | Varies by category; most fall between 8% and 15%, with minimums | Varies by category; Walmart lists roughly 6% to 15%, with a few tiered exceptions |
| Getting in | Open registration plus identity verification | Application reviewed by Walmart |
| Fulfillment program | FBA (Prime badge) | WFS (“Fulfilled by Walmart” tag, 2-day delivery) |
| Seller competition | Very high in most categories | Lower, but Walmart itself sells many items |
| Ad costs | Higher and rising in most niches | Generally lower, fewer advertisers |
Where are the buyers?
Amazon is the largest ecommerce marketplace in the US and the default place many shoppers start a product search. If your product has steady search demand, Amazon will almost always produce more unit sales than Walmart in the first year.
Walmart’s advantage is reach across stores and online. Walmart says roughly 280 million customers and members visit its stores and websites each week worldwide. Only part of that is Walmart.com traffic, but it is a large audience that already trusts the brand for household goods, groceries, home, baby and value-priced everyday items.
The practical takeaway: products that sell on price and convenience (consumables, home basics, pet supplies, kitchen) tend to fit Walmart’s shopper well. Premium or niche hobby products usually find more buyers on Amazon.
How do the fees compare on a real sale?
On a single unit, the two marketplaces are closer than most people expect. Both charge a referral fee as a percentage of the sale price, and in many categories the rate is the same. The big structural difference is the monthly fee.
Take a hypothetical $30 kitchen item in a 15% referral category:
- Amazon: $4.50 referral fee per unit, plus FBA fulfillment if you use it, plus $39.99 a month for the Professional plan.
- Walmart: $4.50 referral fee per unit (at 15%), plus WFS fulfillment if you use it, and no monthly fee.
At low volume, Amazon’s $39.99 matters. At 300 units a month it adds about $0.13 per unit and stops being the deciding factor. What decides profit at scale is fulfillment fees, storage, returns and advertising. For an Amazon line-by-line breakdown, see our guide to Amazon FBA fees or run your numbers in the FBA profit calculator.
How hard is the competition on each marketplace?
Amazon’s biggest cost for new sellers is not a fee. It is competition. Most proven product types already have dozens of established listings with thousands of reviews, and sponsored ad placements in competitive niches can cost several dollars per click. New listings often need months of ad spend before organic rank holds.
Walmart has far fewer third-party sellers per product type, so a well-built listing can rank faster and ads usually cost less per click. The catch is that Walmart sells a large catalog itself. If Walmart (first party) sells the same item, you are competing with the retailer for the buy box, and you will rarely win on price.
That is why Walmart works best for branded or private label products that Walmart does not stock, rather than reselling widely available name brands.
WFS vs FBA: which fulfillment program is better?
Both programs store your inventory, pick, pack, ship and handle returns. The differences are in eligibility, badges and how they connect to other channels.
| Amazon FBA | Walmart Fulfillment Services | |
|---|---|---|
| Customer badge | Prime | “Fulfilled by Walmart” with 2-day shipping |
| Inventory minimums | Capacity limits based on account performance | Walmart says no inventory minimums or maximums |
| Fees | By size tier and weight, plus monthly and aged-inventory storage | By weight and size, plus monthly storage and long-term storage fees |
| Other channels | Multi-Channel Fulfillment ships orders from Shopify, Walmart and others | Multichannel Solutions ships orders from other channels in plain packaging |
Walmart says items carrying the “Fulfilled by Walmart” tag with 2-day-or-faster delivery see higher sales on average, so WFS is usually worth it once a product proves it sells. In 2025 Walmart also began allowing Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment for Walmart orders, as long as items ship in an unbranded box and Amazon Logistics is blocked as a carrier. That lets a seller run one inventory pool at Amazon while testing Walmart.
How does advertising compare?
Both marketplaces sell sponsored placements in search results and on product pages, and on both, new listings lean on ads until organic rank builds. The difference is crowding. On Amazon, more advertisers bid on the same keywords, so cost per click and the share of revenue spent on ads (ACoS) tend to run higher. Our guide to Amazon ACoS explains how to read those numbers.
Walmart Connect, Walmart’s ad platform, has fewer advertisers in most categories. Walmart reports that marketplace advertisers averaged about a 5:1 return on ad spend from February 2025 to January 2026. That is Walmart’s own average across advertisers, not a number any single seller should plan on, but it shows ads there are often less expensive per sale. Plan a separate launch ad budget for each marketplace; Amazon reviews and rank do not carry over to Walmart.
Which marketplace is easier to get approved on?
Amazon lets most sellers register directly. You still pass identity verification, provide tax information and a bank account, and some categories and brands are gated, but there is no business-history test to open the account.
Walmart reviews each application. It asks for a business tax ID, documents that verify your business name and address, marketplace or ecommerce history, products with valid GTINs, a compliant catalog and a US fulfillment and returns setup. Applicants with no selling track record get turned down more often. We cover the full checklist in how to get approved on Walmart Marketplace.
Not sure if your product belongs on Amazon, Walmart or both? We can map out the numbers with you on a free call.
Book a Free Strategy Call →Which should you start with?
Use your situation, not the marketplace’s marketing, to decide.
- Brand-new store, no sales history: Start on Amazon. You can get in, build a sales record and reviews, and then apply to Walmart with real history.
- Established Amazon brand with steady sales: Add Walmart. Your listings, images and fulfillment are already built, and your Amazon history helps the application.
- Value-priced household products: Walmart can perform well relative to its size, so plan to add it early.
- Products Walmart already sells first party: Stay focused on Amazon or a branded variation; head-to-head price competition with Walmart rarely ends well.
Can you sell on both Walmart and Amazon at once?
Yes, and most serious brands do. The work is in keeping inventory, pricing and listings in sync so you do not oversell or get flagged for pricing differences. A shared inventory pool (FBA with Multi-Channel Fulfillment, or WFS with Multichannel Solutions) keeps it manageable. Our guide to multi-channel ecommerce walks through the expansion order and the common mistakes.
If you would rather have a team run the Walmart side, our Walmart automation service handles the application, listings, WFS setup and ads alongside your Amazon store.
The bottom line
Amazon gives you more buyers and more competition. Walmart gives you fewer buyers, fewer competitors, no monthly fee and a stricter front door. Referral fees are similar in most categories, so the real decision comes down to your product, your sales history and if you can supply two channels without running out of stock. For most private label sellers, the answer is Amazon now and Walmart once the product has proven itself.