Walgreens Vs CVS: Which Is Better For Medicine Delivery?

Regarding convenient medicine delivery, Walgreens vs. CVS are two of the biggest names in pharmacy. Both provide reliable services that safely transport prescription medications to your home, giving you the convenience you've sought. But which pharmacy offers the best experience? With differences in delivery speed, service area, price, and customer support dependability, Walgreens vs. CVS each offers opportunities that serve different needs. Understanding these differences will help you decide which pharmacy to work with when managing your ongoing prescriptions and when you need medicine delivered fast. In this blog, we will outline and compare Walgreens vs CVS across distinct categories and detail the pros and cons of each to help you determine the best medicine delivery service for you. If you are looking for great convenience, affordability, and reliability, read along to help answer which pharmacy wins the medicine delivery race.

What is Walgreens?

Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain that offers prescription medications, health and wellness products, over-the-counter medication, and photo services. Founded in 1901, Walgreens operates thousands of stores in the United States and provide online pharmacy services for customers at home as well, and operates with healthcare providers in a partnership capacity. As part of Walgreens Boots Alliance,  

What is CVS?

CVS (Corporation of the United States) - fulfills health care and operates thousands. CVS, named CVS, was established in 1963 and is an American healthcare company/pharmacy with retail locations that dispense both prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, as well as health-based and general subsection illumination items. In addition to pharmacy products, CVS provides health services through MinuteClinic, a walk-in clinic provider, and is a parent company of Aetna, an IC. CVS are uniquely positioned and are a leader in both healthcare and retail Healthcare app development product services in America.  

Market Share & Revenue

Before we dive into learning about Walgreens vs. CVS comparison, let's know more about their market. 

1. CVS Corporation  (2024)

Market Share: approximately 41.5% U.S. retail pharmacy market share.

Total Revenue: $.372.8 billion, a 4.2% increase from the previous reporting period.

Prescription Dispensing Revenue: as an industry, CVS controls the most total prescription dispensing revenues; its contribution of around $683 billion to the U.S. market in 2024

2. Walgreens Boots Alliance

Market Share: approximately 16.6% U.S. retail pharmacy market share.

Total Revenue: $147.7 billion (2024).

Prescription Dispensing Revenue: Walgreen, along with CVS have been positioned in the top four U.S. pharmacies representing approximately 50% of lower total prescription dispensing revenues.

3. Store Footprint & Consumer Reach

• CVS Health

Operates more than 9,600 retail locations nationwide. 

Provides MinuteClinic services at more than 1,100 locations, which offer walk-in medical care.

About 85% of the population in the U.S. lives within 10 miles of a CVS Pharmacy. 

• Walgreens Boots Alliance

Operates more than 8,700 locations in the U.S.

Announced it plans to close over 2,000 underperforming locations by 2027 in order to refine its retail presence.  

4. Consumer Behavior & Foot Traffic Trends

• CVS Health

Increased share of visits to drugstore and pharmacy retailers from 41.9% in Q1 2023 to 44.0% in Q4 2024.

• Walgreens Boots Alliance

Saw a slight increase in share of visits from 49.2% in Q1 2023 to 50.4% in Q4 2024.

Comparison of Walgreens App vs. CVS App Features

Here you got the comparison points for walgreens vs cvs. We have covered everything in detail to help you out from scratch. 

1. Walgreens App Features

Easily Refill Prescriptions

Scan barcodes or enter prescription numbers to refill medications with a simple touch on the app. The Pharmacy app development retains past prescription information and sends out notifications when to refill. 

Pill Reminder Tool

Create reminders for medications right in the app so you never miss a dose. The reminders can be grouped by time, frequency, and type of medication.

Same-Day Delivery & Pickup

Order prescriptions and products for same-day delivery to your door or curbside pickup, with live order tracking and updates.

Digital Wallet Integration

Wallet - securely store, and use Walgreens Balance Rewards, and payment cards within the Walgreens app to make checkout faster and save money.

Health Tests & Vaccination Booking

Book your health tests, flu shots, and COVID-19 vaccinations, with availability in real-time at nearby Walgreens locations.

Photo Print Services

Conveniently, and select same-day pickup, order prints, photo books, and other gifts from the photos in your device's photo gallery.

Store Locator with Filters

Find stores nearby, with filters for drive-thru, 24-hour pharmacy, and COVID-19 Services, all while using your live location.

Integration with Health Records

Access your health records, prescription history, and immunizations, all securely connected through health portals in the Top pharmacy delivery apps.

CVS App Features

Express Prescription Pickup

When you need to pickup a prescription quickly, use the CVS app to check-in and skip the line with a barcode for fast, contact-free prescription pickup services at participating CVS locations. 

Automatic Prescription Refills

If you take a prescription consistently, opt into automatic script refills and get timely alerts for your upcoming refills, any issue with your insurance, and to find out who needs to authorize the prescribed refills. 

MinuteClinic Appointment Booking

Whether you want to book a visit to a minute clinic near you or if you would like to see a minute clinic provider virtually for a basic health care service, you can use CVS app. 

ExtraCare Rewards Tracking

Link your ExtraCare card to your app so you can earn and track your rewards, see the offers provided for you, and automatically apply the savings at the checkout.  

Delivery for Same-Day Rx

Get medications delivered to your home the same day of purchasing them from your local CVS stores using same-day tracking and alerts for delivery time. 

Medication Management Tools

Health care tools that allow you to review detailed information about doses, side effects, interactions and you can use smart tools to help you organize your prescriptions if you are taking multiple medications. 

Digital Vaccine Card Access

Store and access your COVID-19 and other vaccination records with the digital vaccine card feature and have it secured and easily accessible within the app. 

Health Dashboard & Reminders

View all your prescriptions, vaccinations and appointment history and set reminders for on usable health routines that can be tracked by using the personalized health dashboard. 

CVS vs. Walgreens: Development Cost Comparison

If you're wondering what's cheaper, Walgreens or CVS, you must know about its cost comparison. When comparing the app development cost of building an app that contains similar functionality to CVS or Walgreens, many components will influence the overall cost - features, complexity, technology stack, location, and time to build. Both apps have common features of pharmacy services, integrated healthcare services, and consumer-facing features in that they are fairly easy to use. However, because they also have differences in complexity that impact the overall Build cost, you will see the costs outlined below for the CVS pharmacy vs. Walgreens pharmacy.

CVS App Development Cost

The CVS app has more to offer than a pharmacy app. It offers advanced healthcare services like Minute Clinic, in which you can book an appointment, telehealth consults, insurance verification, and keep track of ExtraCare rewards. All of these important features require the back-end architecture to be advanced, as well as complex IT, to securely share healthcare information, integrate third-party API, ensure HIPAA-compliant security, and have layered synchronization across scheduling in real-time.

Estimated Cost Region: $15,000 - $50,000+

Key Cost Drivers:

- Appointment and telehealth component

- Health dashboards & prescription management

- Rewards system and CVS Pay integration

- Healthcare Compliance

Walgreens App Development Cost

In contrast, the Walgreens Medicine delivery app development cost offers a better experience in medication management, photo services, prescription refills, and chat experience (on a mobile device) with a pharmacist. It also has the ability to book vaccine appointments and same-day delivery options. However, the number of healthcare service integrations and other health services is less complex than that of CVS's app.

Estimated Cost Range: $25,000 – $50,000+

Key Cost Drivers:

• Prescription and refill features

• Live chat functionality

• Coupon integration and digital wallets

• Store locator and photo printing modules

Development Cost Influencers

• Development Region: Costs vary—India ($25–$50/hr), Eastern Europe ($40–$80/hr), US/UK ($100–$200/hr)

• Technology Stack: Native (iOS/Android) vs. cross-platform (Flutter/React Native) affects both time and cost.

• Timeline: Complex apps like CVS and Walgreens take 4–8 months or more to develop.

While CVS app development is somewhat more expensive due to its broad healthcare capabilities. However you must know cvs prices vs walgreens both apps require capital investments to design and support performance in a high-end user-centric way and in compliance with HIPAA.

Walgreens vs CVS: Which Option Is A Better Investment?

In 2025, investors in walgreens vs cvs must consider financial and operational productivity, growth through innovation and expansion, their market positioning, and the direction of their business.

Comparing Financial Performance

CVS is doing better than Walgreens in Revenue and profit. In 2024, CVS earned over $370 billion; while Walgreens earned $147 billionish. CVS's acquisition of Aetna has diversified CVS's revenue streams; combining retail pharmacy, insurance and primary care creates a powerful healthcare ecosystem.

Walgreens has faced declining profit margins and store closures relatively recently - that being said, Walgreens is still a strong traditional retail pharmacy brand. They are more focused on cutting costs and realizing their digital transformation to set the stage for growth.

Comparing Growth Strategy

CVS continually innovates and expands their value-based care, telehealth services, and home health care services. CVS also has diversified its healthcare system - through its Minute Clinic, Oak Street Health - in addition to having Aetna as part of its business - and they are better positioned for long term growth.

Walgreens has been taking steps into the healthcare space, but their strategy is much more retail focused. Walgreens is investing in VillageMD clinics and is planning to close underperforming stores to create a more streamlined operation, but Walgreens is behind CVS in both execution and scale.

Stock Performance & Dividends

CVS generally cvs cheaper than walgreens provides a moderate dividend yield, but it has better long-term growth potential. Walgreens generally provides a higher dividend yield, but the stock has underperformed due to operational issues over the last few years. 

Which Is The Better Investment?

If you're wondering which is better cvs or walgreens you should know CVS is the better investment due to its diversified business model, stronger financials, and healthcare strategy going forward; CVS offers a better opportunity for growth and income potential.

Walgreens may appeal to value investors that want high dividend yields  but there is much more risk and slower recovery.

The Verdict:

When it comes to CVS pharmacy vs Walgreens for growth and long-term stability, CVS is the better investment. For income investors who are comfortable with risk, Walgreens provides an alternative.

Why Choose IMG Global Infotech To Design An App Like CVS or Walgreens?

At IMG Global Infotech, we specialize in developing elaborate healthcare and retail pharmacy applications like Walgreens pharmacy vs CVS pharmacy that integrate a user experience with solid functionality. Our Medicine delivery app development company ensures secure prescription submissions, appointment scheduling, real-time delivery tracking, and payment gateways that you can customize. Using advanced technology, enhanced client experience, and a commitment to meeting HIPAA regulations means that we can deliver scalable, easy-to-use apps that promote patient engagement and operational performance. Choose IMG Global Infotech to develop innovative, reliable apps that will take your healthcare business to the next level.

Final Thoughts

Both compare CVS and Walgreens offer dependable medicine delivery services that provide you with great options such as same-day delivery, ease of refill, and delivery tracking. Walgreens focuses on giving customers personalized customer and pharmacy chat via its app, while CVS provides ample healthcare integrations and a better insurance process. Their all-in-one service and options make a big difference, but you may prefer one provider based simply on where you live or a more attractive loyalty program.