Costs
TSA PreCheck cost in 2026, provider by provider
Pick a provider and a renewal channel: the calculator adds five and ten years, for one adult or several, after any card credit.
Real cost over five and ten years
You pay over five years
$79.75
| Over ten years | $138.50 |
| Per year | $13.85 |
| Enrollment with IDEMIA | $79.75 |
| Renewal with IDEMIA, online | $58.75 |
Fee of IDEMIA as published by TSA; the three providers sell the same membership. Ten years = enrollment plus one renewal at year five; a card credit counts when its period has passed since the last one.
TSA PreCheck no longer has one price. TSA authorizes three companies to enroll travelers, and each sets its own fee for the same five-year membership: $79.75 with IDEMIA, $84.95 with CLEAR and $85 with Telos, which is why TSA's headline speaks of "five years of benefits for $85 or less". Renewal is cheaper and also varies by channel: IDEMIA charges $58.75 online and $66.75 in person, Telos $69.95 online and $58.75 in person, CLEAR $72.95 online and $84.95 in person. The cheapest ten years for one adult is therefore $138.50: enroll with IDEMIA, renew online with IDEMIA or in person with Telos. Children 17 and under need no membership when they fly with you. About forty credit cards refund the fee, service members pay nothing with their DoD ID, and military spouses get $25 off.
What your card’s fee credit leaves you to pay
Left for you to pay
$0
| Credit | up to $120, once every 4 years |
| Covers: Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS | |
| Annual fee of the card | $795 |
Issuer’s page read on October 26, 2026. The fee must be charged to the card.
Fees and rules read on tsa.gov and cbp.gov by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method and sources
The three prices, side by side
| Provider | Enrollment | Renew online | Renew in person | Ten years, cheapest channel | Locations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IDEMIA | $79.75 | $58.75 | $66.75 | $138.50 | 529 |
| Telos | $85 | $69.95 | $58.75 | $143.75 | 512 |
| CLEAR | $84.95 | $72.95 | $84.95 | $157.90 | 348 |
Two oddities stand out. Telos is the most expensive to join but, in person, ties for the cheapest renewal. CLEAR charges the same $84.95 for an in-person renewal as for a first enrollment. Since you may renew with any provider, the cheapest ten years mixes them: join with IDEMIA, then renew with IDEMIA online or Telos in person.
What the fee pays for
TSA says the fee keeps your eligibility for five years and covers the operational costs of the background check. It includes the fingerprints, the identity check of the in-person visit and the recurrent vetting that follows: members are checked again against criminal records during the five years, and TSA may suspend the benefit while it reviews new information, usually for less than 30 days and up to 90. It does not include CLEAR+, Global Entry or any lane outside US airport security.
Card credits and other ways to pay less
TSA lists 40 credit cards that give a statement credit toward the PreCheck fee with any provider, and several loyalty programs that let you pay with points through IDEMIA. The credit is usually up to $120 once every four years, which covers any PreCheck fee in full; one large issuer caps it at $85 for PreCheck, still enough. The fee must be charged to the card, and the credit is per account or per cardholder depending on the issuer.
What your card’s fee credit leaves you to pay
Left for you to pay
$0
| Credit | up to $120, once every 4 years |
| Covers: Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS | |
| Annual fee of the card | $795 |
Issuer’s page read on October 26, 2026. The fee must be charged to the card.
Those credits also cover Global Entry at $120. If your card pays either one, take Global Entry when you have a passport: it includes PreCheck and costs you the same nothing. The card credits page lists the amounts and conditions published by five issuers.
Free and discounted PreCheck
Members of the armed forces, the Coast Guard, the Reserve and the National Guard already have PreCheck: they enter their DoD ID number as Known Traveler Number. Military spouses get $25 off with a provider, survivor families enroll free with a TAPS letter, and veterans with qualifying service-connected disabilities enroll free under the VETS Safe Travel Act through CLEAR or IDEMIA. The military page gives each route.
What PreCheck does not cost: your children
Children 17 and under may go through the PreCheck lane with a parent or guardian who has the indicator, without a membership of their own; from 13 they need the indicator on their own boarding pass, which comes from booking on the same reservation. A family of four with two children under 13 pays for two memberships, not four. Pay only on a provider site whose address ends in .gov: TSA warns that other sites are not official.
Over ten years, the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive route for one adult is $31.45: join with the dearest provider and renew in its dearest channel, or pick the cheapest of each. For a couple, the gap doubles.