TSA PreCheck vs CLEAR vs Global Entry: Worth It in 2026?

TSA PreCheck vs CLEAR vs Global Entry: worth it in 2026?

Global Entry costs $120 for five years and includes TSA PreCheck, which makes it the best-value trusted traveler program for anyone who leaves the country even once in that stretch. By comparison, CLEAR+ runs $219 for a single year. Those two numbers settle the choice for most people, and the exceptions come down to how often you fly, which airport you fly out of, and whether a credit card is paying.

Most comparison articles still quote Global Entry at $100 and CLEAR at $189. On October 1, 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Protection moved all three of its trusted traveler programs to a flat $120, the first increase since 2008. CLEAR+ now lists at $219. Since July 2025, shoes stay on in the standard lane as well, which trims part of what PreCheck used to be worth.

What is TSA PreCheck?

TSA PreCheck is a government screening program that puts approved travelers in a separate, faster security lane at more than 200 U.S. airports. You apply online, get fingerprinted at an enrollment center, pass a background check, and receive a Known Traveler Number to add to your airline profile. The Transportation Security Administration says 99% of PreCheck passengers wait under 10 minutes at the checkpoint. Membership passed 20 million in August 2024.

What the three programs cost in 2026

As of August 2026, Global Entry is $120 for five years, TSA PreCheck is $76.75 to $85 for five years depending on the provider, and CLEAR+ is $219 for one year. Only the CBP programs carry a fixed multi-year term. CLEAR bills annually, so that $219 comes back every year you stay enrolled, and it has gone up repeatedly since the program's early days.

The five-year totals make the gap easier to see.

One year of CLEAR+ costs more than five years of Global Entry and five years of PreCheck added together, which is $205. Over the full five-year window, CLEAR+ runs about nine times the cost of Global Entry.

What PreCheck still gets you now that shoes stay on

The Department of Homeland Security ended the shoes-off requirement for all travelers on July 8, 2025, which retired PreCheck's most famous perk. Four benefits survive, and they cover the steps that hold a checkpoint up: your laptop stays in the bag, your liquids stay in the bag, your belt and light jacket stay on, and the queue is shorter because everyone in it has done this before.

The liquids part still matters, because the 3-1-1 rule has not gone anywhere. Containers are capped at 3.4 ounces and everything has to fit in one quart-size bag, and while newer CT scanners let some standard lanes leave that bag packed, no national policy change has replaced the limit. Our guide to what you can and can't bring through security covers the exceptions worth knowing. PreCheck also does nothing for your ID: everyone still needs a REAL ID-compliant license or a passport at the document check.

Approval is quick. For most applicants the Known Traveler Number arrives three to five days after the fingerprint appointment, though TSA warns that some take up to 60 days, so start the process well before a trip you care about. Active-duty military and Department of Defense civilians already hold a number through their DoD ID and pay nothing.

Global Entry costs $35 more and covers the border too

Global Entry costs $35 more than the priciest PreCheck enrollment and includes PreCheck at no extra charge, so the international half of the program works out to about $7 a year. On arrival you clear passport control with a face scan at a Global Entry portal rather than queuing for an officer. Applicants under 18 pay nothing when a parent or guardian is a member or applying alongside them, a change that arrived with the 2024 fee increase.

Global Entry costs $24 a year and covers both of the lines you stand in.

A second CBP program, one most comparisons skip, has made that arrival benefit far less exclusive. CBP now runs Enhanced Passenger Processing for arriving U.S. citizens at a growing list of airports, photographing travelers at the inspection area, matching the image against passport photos already on file, and sending them to baggage claim without a document check. Tampa turned it on in March 2026. Participation is voluntary and free.

That makes the customs advantage narrower than it was in 2019. Facial processing does nothing for the outbound trip, so Global Entry's bundled PreCheck survives intact. It also puts you in a dedicated arrivals lane rather than the general hall, and it covers lawful permanent residents and partner-country citizens who can't use the citizen-only process at all.

The interview remains the bottleneck. Appointments at big-city enrollment centers often book out for months, and CBP's Enrollment on Arrival program is the standard way around it: once you're conditionally approved, you finish the interview at a participating airport after an international landing, no appointment needed. Book the trip first, then plan to clear it on the way home.

Is CLEAR+ worth $219 a year?

CLEAR+ earns its price only if you fly at least 20 times a year out of one of the 62 airports where it operates, and only if you can't get it discounted. Run the per-trip math. At 20 flights a year a standard membership costs about $11 per trip through security, and at six flights a year the same membership costs $36.50.

You're buying the document check and nothing else. A CLEAR ambassador verifies your identity with a fingerprint or eye scan and walks you to the front of the screening line. Physical screening still happens. If you hold PreCheck, they walk you to the PreCheck lane; if you don't, you're delivered to the front of the standard lane with your laptop still to unpack.

CLEAR is worth most where PreCheck is worst, which is peak-hour departures from the busiest and least reliable U.S. hubs. At 7am on a Monday out of Newark or LAX, a PreCheck line 15 people deep is normal, because 20 million people now hold the same membership you do.

Almost nobody should pay the sticker price. Delta and United tie CLEAR+ rates to elite status, and several American Express cards reimburse the fee in full.

Delta 360 members get CLEAR+ free, Diamond Medallions pay $129, and Silver through Platinum Medallions pay $179, per CLEAR's own rate sheet. United ties its rates to MileagePlus tiers the same way. The Platinum Card, Business Platinum, Green Card and Hilton Aspire from American Express each carry a statement credit of up to $219 per calendar year, which zeroes the fee outright. Card perks are getting thinner across the board, as anyone watching the collapse of Priority Pass lounge access has noticed, so use this one while it lasts. Children 17 and under come with you free; extra adults on your account cost $125 each.

NEXUS and SENTRI now cost the same as Global Entry

NEXUS went from $50 to $120 on October 1, 2024, and SENTRI replaced its old itemized pricing with the same flat $120. Both include TSA PreCheck. NEXUS also carries full Global Entry benefits, which makes it the strictly better buy at an identical price if you can reach a northern-border enrollment center for the interview.

The catch is geography. NEXUS interviews happen at Canadian border and airport locations, SENTRI at southwest border centers, and neither is practical if you live in Kansas City. Anyone who crosses into Canada more than once a year should still take the trip.

Choose this if

Find yourself in one of these six lines.

1. You fly two to five times a year, domestic only: TSA PreCheck, $76.75 to $85 for five years. Nothing else pays for itself.

2. You hold a passport and will leave the country at least once in five years: Global Entry at $120. PreCheck comes with it.

3. You cross into Canada more than once a year: NEXUS at $120, which bundles Global Entry and PreCheck for the same money.

4. You fly 20 or more times a year and hold Amex Platinum or Delta Diamond status: add CLEAR+ at $10 or $129.

5. You fly 20 or more times a year with no status and no card credit: skip CLEAR+ at $219 and check again when your status changes.

6. You're 17 or under and traveling with an enrolled parent: buy nothing at all.

Whichever line fits, finish the job at home. Log into every airline profile you use and confirm your Known Traveler Number is saved in it, because the benefit rides on the booking and a missing number sends you to the standard lane with a membership you paid for. Then check your boarding pass before you leave for the airport. If you've never flown before, or you're flying after a long gap, our step-by-step walkthrough of what happens at the airport covers the rest of the sequence.

Frequently asked questions

Related questions

Do I really need CLEAR if I have TSA PreCheck?

No, for almost everyone. CLEAR+ only replaces the document check, and PreCheck already handles the screening step that takes the longest. The exception is a frequent flyer based at a congested hub where the PreCheck queue itself runs long, and even then the answer is usually to get CLEAR+ free through an Amex card or airline status rather than pay $219.

Do I really need Global Entry if I have TSA PreCheck?

Only if you travel internationally. PreCheck does nothing on the return leg, where passport control is the wait that hurts. Since Global Entry costs $35 more than the most expensive PreCheck enrollment and includes PreCheck, the practical advice is to buy Global Entry from the start. If you already hold PreCheck, you can apply for Global Entry separately; the fees don't combine, so you'd pay $120 on top.

Is it better to have CLEAR or Global Entry?

Global Entry, and it isn't close on price. Global Entry costs $24 a year averaged over its five-year term, includes PreCheck, and speeds up both the security checkpoint and the border. CLEAR+ costs $219 a year, covers one step at 62 airports, and leaves you in the same physical screening line you were already in. Buy Global Entry first, then consider CLEAR+ only if it's free or discounted.

Is Global Entry even worth it anymore?

Yes, though the case is weaker than it was. CBP's free facial-recognition processing now moves U.S. citizens through arrivals quickly at many airports without any membership, which erodes the customs benefit that used to justify the fee on its own. Global Entry still bundles TSA PreCheck, and it still puts you in a dedicated arrivals lane instead of the general hall. Lawful permanent residents and partner-country citizens, who can't use the citizen-only process at all, need it outright. At $24 a year, it clears the bar.

Before you book your next flight

Start with Global Entry if you own a passport, and start now rather than in the week before your trip, because the interview is the part you can't rush. Apply through CBP's Trusted Traveler Programs site, book the earliest interview you can find, and pick Enrollment on Arrival if you already have an international trip on the calendar. If a passport isn't in your near future, take PreCheck at $76.75 from the cheapest enrollment provider and skip everything else. Then add your Known Traveler Number to every airline profile you hold, because that step is the one people forget.

Sources

• Transportation Security Administration, TSA PreCheck (August 2026)

• Transportation Security Administration, TSA PreCheck reaches milestone with 20 million members, 8 August 2024 (August 2026)

• Transportation Security Administration, What is a TSA PreCheck enrollment provider? (August 2026)

• Transportation Security Administration, TSA PreCheck for Families (August 2026)

• Transportation Security Administration, Families on the Fly (August 2026)

• Transportation Security Administration, Liquids rule (August 2026)

• Department of Homeland Security, DHS to End Shoes-Off Travel Policy, 8 July 2025 (August 2026)

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection, CBP Reminds Traveling Public About TTP Fee Changes (retrieved 2 August 2026)

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Global Entry Frequently Asked Questions (August 2026)

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Global Entry Enrollment on Arrival (August 2026)

• U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Biometrics: Enhanced Passenger Processing (August 2026)

• CLEAR, CLEAR+ membership and pricing (retrieved 2 August 2026)

• CLEAR, What are the special rates for Delta SkyMiles Members? (August 2026)

• American Express, CLEAR Plus Membership Travel Benefit (August 2026)

• Telos, Is TSA PreCheck Worth It? Costs, Benefits and Time Savings Explained, 14 July 2026 (retrieved 2 August 2026)

• Capital One, How Much Does TSA PreCheck Cost? (August 2026)

• Future Travel Experience, Tampa International Airport launches Enhanced Passenger Processing in partnership with U.S. CBP, March 2026 (August 2026)