CLEAR Plus costs $209 per year as of April 2026, and the question almost every traveler asks before signing up is the same one: does the membership actually save enough time to justify the price? If you fly more than a handful of times a year, especially out of busy hubs, the answer is usually yes. And if you carry the right credit card, the fee can be completely covered. Here's what CLEAR Plus is, what it costs in 2026, how it stacks with TSA PreCheck and Global Entry, which cards offset the fee, and who should skip it.

Key Points

  • CLEAR Plus costs $209 per year in 2026 and is most useful for frequent flyers at busy domestic hubs, especially when paired with TSA PreCheck.
  • The Amex Platinum's $189 statement credit and the Amex Green Card's up to $209 credit can fully cover the membership for most cardholders.
  • CLEAR Plus only works at U.S. airports and select stadiums, so international travelers and infrequent flyers usually get more value from PreCheck or Global Entry alone.

CLEAR Plus in One Paragraph

CLEAR Plus is a paid identity-verification service that lets members skip the document-check portion of airport security. Instead of waiting for a TSA officer to inspect your driver's license or passport, you walk to a CLEAR lane, scan your face at a CLEAR2 kiosk, and a CLEAR ambassador escorts you to the front of the physical screening line. The service operates in roughly 60 U.S. airports and a growing list of stadiums and arenas, and the company reports more than 30 million members across its identity network. CLEAR Plus is the airport-focused tier of CLEAR's broader identity platform, which is why you'll see it written both ways depending on the source.

What CLEAR Plus Costs in 2026

The standard retail price for CLEAR Plus is $209 per year as of April 2026. That's a $10 increase from the $199 price that held for several years and was repeated across older reviews. A few discounts still exist:

  • Family add-ons: Each additional adult on your membership costs $65 per year. Children under 18 use the CLEAR lane free when traveling with a member.
  • Airline status discounts: Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus elites get reduced rates, with top-tier flyers (Delta Diamond and 360, United Global Services and Premier 1K) often getting the membership free. Mid-tier elites typically pay around $159 to $179.
  • Referral credits: Existing members who refer a friend each receive two free months.
  • Free trial: CLEAR offers a free trial that's typically two months for new members, occasionally longer through promotional partners.

The list price moves around. The credit-card and elite-status discounts are where most readers actually save.

The Cards That Cover CLEAR Plus

This is where the math gets interesting. Two American Express cards currently reimburse all or most of the CLEAR Plus annual fee. The Chase Sapphire Reserve also covered CLEAR for several years, but Chase removed that benefit in its 2024 to 2025 product overhaul. As of April 2026, the cards to know are:

A few notes on how these credits work in practice. The reimbursement is a statement credit, not a discount at signup. You pay the full $209 with the eligible card, then watch for the credit to post within four to six weeks. The credit resets each calendar year. And only one CLEAR Plus membership per cardholder is reimbursed per year, even if you have multiple eligible cards.

How CLEAR Plus, TSA PreCheck, and Global Entry Stack

This is the question that trips up almost everyone evaluating CLEAR Plus for the first time. The three programs do different things and are not substitutes for each other.

TSA PreCheck is a $78 five-year membership that gets you into the expedited TSA screening lane, where you keep your shoes, belt, and laptop in your bag. PreCheck speeds up the physical security part of the process. It does not skip the ID check.

CLEAR Plus skips the ID check. You bypass the line where the TSA officer scans your boarding pass and looks at your license. You do not skip the physical screening.

Global Entry is a $120 five-year program from U.S. Customs and Border Protection that expedites your re-entry to the U.S. when arriving on international flights. Global Entry includes TSA PreCheck. It does not include CLEAR Plus.

The fastest combination for a domestic flight is CLEAR Plus + TSA PreCheck. CLEAR walks you past the document check, then deposits you at the front of the PreCheck physical-screening lane. At a busy hub like Atlanta, Denver, or Newark, this can turn a 25-minute security wait into a five-minute one. If you only have one or the other, PreCheck is the more universally useful pick because it works at every TSA-screened airport in the country, while CLEAR Plus only works where CLEAR lanes exist.

For international travelers, Global Entry is the priority. Get Global Entry first (it includes PreCheck), and then add CLEAR Plus only if you also fly domestically often enough to justify the fee.

How the CLEAR Plus Lane Actually Works

The mechanics are simple, and that's part of the appeal. You arrive at the security checkpoint, look for the CLEAR signage (usually purple), and walk into the CLEAR lane. A CLEAR2 kiosk uses facial recognition to verify you against the biometrics you provided at enrollment. There's no fingerprint scan in the new CLEAR2 hardware that rolled out across most airports in 2025; it's faces only.

Once verified, a CLEAR ambassador walks you to the physical screening line. If you have PreCheck, that's the PreCheck line. If not, it's the regular line. You'll usually be placed near the front, ahead of the queue.

A few practical notes:

  • The TSA does occasionally select CLEAR users for random ID verification. When this happens, you show your license like everyone else and continue through. It's rare and usually adds 30 seconds.
  • CLEAR2 kiosks have replaced the older fingerprint and iris kiosks at most major airports. If your nearest airport still has the old hardware, the older biometrics still work; CLEAR is mid-transition.
  • CLEAR Plus does not include access to lounges, concierge services, or anything beyond the lane. The "Reserve powered by CLEAR" feature, which lets you book a security entry slot, is a separate free offering available to anyone.

Who CLEAR Plus Is For

CLEAR Plus pays off when three things are true: you fly often, you fly out of CLEAR-enabled airports, and you don't always have the buffer to sit in a 30-minute security line.

Great Fit For

  • Frequent business travelers who fly out of major hubs (ATL, DEN, LAS, LAX, JFK, EWR, IAH, ORD, MCO, SEA) and need predictable timing.
  • Amex Platinum or Green cardholders who can fully or nearly offset the fee with their statement credit.
  • Families based at a CLEAR airport where adding a spouse for $65 brings the per-person cost down meaningfully.
  • Travelers without TSA PreCheck who want a meaningful security shortcut and can't or won't go through the PreCheck application.

Not Ideal For

  • Infrequent flyers taking one or two trips a year. The math just doesn't work, even with the credit-card credits.
  • Travelers based at non-CLEAR airports. Check the CLEAR airport list before signing up. If your home airport isn't on it, you're paying for a service you can't use most of the time.
  • International-first travelers who would get more value from Global Entry, which costs less per year and includes PreCheck.
  • Anyone without one of the eligible Amex cards who would be paying the full $209 out of pocket. Without the offset, the value calculation gets harder.

CLEAR Plus vs. Just PreCheck

If you're trying to choose between the two, PreCheck is the better starting point. It's $78 for five years (about $15.60 per year), works at every TSA-screened airport, and addresses the slowest part of the security process for most travelers — taking off shoes, pulling out laptops, removing belts. CLEAR Plus only beats PreCheck for one specific bottleneck: the ID-check line.

The case for adding CLEAR Plus on top of PreCheck is strongest at airports where the PreCheck ID-check line itself gets long. Atlanta and Denver are the obvious examples. At smaller airports, even peak-hour PreCheck waits are usually under 10 minutes, and CLEAR's added benefit is marginal.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Skips the ID-check line, which is often the slowest part of security at busy hubs.
  • Up to fully reimbursable with the Amex Platinum, Green, or Business Platinum.
  • Family add-ons at $65 per adult are reasonable for couples or partners.
  • Free trials and elite-status discounts are available.

Cons

  • $209 per year retail is steep without a credit-card offset.
  • Only useful at airports where CLEAR lanes are installed.
  • Doesn't replace TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.
  • Stadium and arena access is limited to a small number of venues.

Final Verdict

CLEAR Plus is worth it if you're already carrying an Amex Platinum or Amex Green Card and fly out of a CLEAR airport more than a few times a year. The statement credits make the fee disappear or shrink to a rounding error, and at a busy hub, the time savings are real. Without one of those cards, the calculation gets tighter, and most occasional travelers will get more value from TSA PreCheck alone (or Global Entry if they fly internationally). Before you sign up, confirm your home airport is on the CLEAR list, check the credit you'll get from your card, and weigh whether you actually fly often enough to use it. If the answer to all three is yes, the membership earns its place.

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