Walmart Black Friday 2026: Dates, Walmart+ Early Access and What's Worth It

Walmart has announced its Black Friday plan for 2026, and if it sounds familiar, that's because it mostly is. There are three events again: Early Black Friday Deals from Nov. 12 to 15, Black Friday Deals from Nov. 23 to 29, and Cyber Monday from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2, according to Walmart's Oct. 26 announcement.

Our short version: the dates are fine, the "three major events" pitch is mostly packaging, and the only change that really matters is how Walmart+ early access works this year. That's the part that decides whether you should pay for anything, so we'll spend some time on it.

Nothing in this post is a live deal yet. Everything below is either what Walmart has announced or what happened in past years. We'll add Walmart deals to the list at the bottom once they're actually live.

SVR Deals may earn a commission when you buy through links on this page.

Walmart Black Friday 2026 dates (as announced)

Walmart gives its times in Eastern. If you're on the West Coast, 12:01 a.m. ET is 9:01 p.m. PT the night before. That matters if you're chasing something that'll sell out.

Early Black Friday Deals: Nov. 12–15

• Starts on Walmart.com at 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 12, and in stores at 6 a.m. local time.
• Walmart+ members get first crack at "hot Deal drops" starting 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 12. Whatever's left opens to everyone at 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 13.

Black Friday Deals: Nov. 23–29

• Starts on Walmart.com at 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 23. Stores join on Black Friday, Nov. 27, at 6 a.m. local time.
• Walmart+ hot Deal drops start at 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 23. Leftovers open to everyone at 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 24.

Cyber Monday: Nov. 30–Dec. 2

• Online only, starting on Walmart.com at 12:01 a.m. ET on Nov. 30.

One thing missing: the announcement doesn't mention any Walmart+ head start for Cyber Monday. Walmart offered one in both 2024 and 2025. It could just be left out of the press release, so don't read too much into it until Walmart says more.

Three events is really one long sale with breaks

Walmart has used this structure for years. In 2024 it was Event One starting Nov. 11, Event Two starting Nov. 25 and Cyber Monday deals starting Dec. 1. In 2025 it was Nov. 14–16, Nov. 25–30 and Cyber Monday on Dec. 1. This year the first event starts two days earlier, and Cyber Monday stretches into three days.

That's not a bad thing. Spreading deals out means fewer 6 a.m. parking-lot brawls and more chances to catch something you missed. But it also means Walmart gets to manufacture urgency three separate times in three weeks. Countdown clocks are a sales tactic, not a reason to buy. If something you want isn't in the first event, relax. Plenty of Walmart's headline items have come back later, often at the exact same price.

The doorbusters repeat. A lot.

This should cool everyone down. Look at Walmart's own preview lists from the past two years:

• Dyson V12 Detect Slim cordless vacuum: $399.99 in 2024's first event, and $399.99 again in 2025's first event.
• Cate & Chloe 18k white gold plated hoop earrings: $15.99 for Black Friday 2024, and $15.99 in 2025's first event.
• L'ange hair styler/hot air brush: $48.30 for Black Friday 2024, and $48.30 in 2025's first event.
• Levi's Signature jeans: $15 in 2024's first event, and $15 again in 2025.

Same prices, a year apart. That isn't a scandal. It's useful. It tells you where Walmart's floor is for those items. If any of them come back in 2026 at that price, it's a fair deal and nothing more. If they come back higher, skip it, because you know what Walmart was willing to sell it for before.

Walmart+ early access: better on paper, still not a reason to subscribe

Here's the real change. In 2024, Walmart+ members got five hours of early access (noon to 5 p.m. ET). In 2025 it was five hours again, starting at 7 p.m. ET the night before each event. For 2026, Walmart says hot Deal drops open to members a full day early, and select online-only deals are reserved for members for the first 24 hours, while supplies last.

A day beats five hours, sure. But read the wording again. It's "hot Deal drops" and "select online-only Deals," not the whole event. Walmart hasn't said how many items that covers, and we won't guess. "While supplies last" is doing a lot of work, too. If the hot stuff is gone during the member window, everyone else gets "any remaining" items, which could be nothing at all.

Early access also doesn't mean you'll get the thing. In October 2025, a Walmart+ early access Pokémon card drop turned into a queue meltdown, with reports of 99-unit orders and members asking for refunds. That was a collectibles drop, not Black Friday, but it runs through the same website. And during 2025's first Black Friday event, shoppers on Reddit said the early access feed was stuffed with third-party listings, refurbished stuff and the same items over and over. One person gave up. Another got a space heater and glass storage containers they were happy with. That's a pretty realistic expectation.

So should you pay for it? Walmart+ is $98 a year on its own. On Oct. 20, Walmart also started selling Walmart+ and Sam's Club Plus together for $120 a year. If you already get Walmart deliveries every week or you shop at Sam's Club, that bundle is easy to justify, and early access is a nice bonus. Watch one catch: Kiplinger notes that switching to the bundle means losing the American Express statement credit some cardholders get for monthly Walmart+.

If your only reason to sign up is a 24-hour head start on a hot toy, don't. You'd be paying $98 for a lottery ticket.

Walmart vs. Amazon and Target

Walmart isn't automatically the cheapest place to buy something. Profitero's 2025 Price Wars study compared identical in-stock items online from July to September 2025. Amazon was the lowest-priced retailer again. Walmart averaged about 4% higher than Amazon, and Target about 13% higher. Walmart did close most of the gap in video games, where it was only 3% behind.

For Black Friday discounts specifically, a WalletHub analysis reported by the Columbus Dispatch put Walmart 11th of 13 retailers. Its average advertised discount was 28.54%, which is basically a tie with Amazon (29.63%) and Target (29.36%). JCPenney topped that list at 74%. Our read: a huge percentage off says as much about a store's "original" prices as it does about the price you pay. Walmart's smaller percentages partly reflect lower everyday prices, but that's no excuse to skip a price check.

That check is on you. Walmart.com doesn't price match Amazon or any other competitor, Marketplace sellers or its own price drops after you buy. In stores, Walmart will match an identical item's Walmart.com price, with restrictions. Open Amazon and Target in another tab before you check out.

What's usually worth buying at Walmart, and what to skip

These are our opinions, based on Walmart's own previews from the last two years and how those sales actually went.

Usually worth it

• Big, cheap TVs from mainstream brands. Walmart leans hard on huge screens for little money, like a 98-inch TCL QLED for $998 and an 85-inch TCL Roku TV for $498 in 2025. These aren't premium TVs. They're big screens at low prices, and for a lot of living rooms that's all you need.
• Name-brand floor care and kitchen gear. Dyson, Ninja, Shark and Blackstone show up every year. When the price matches or beats last year's event price, buy it and move on.
• Cheap stocking stuffers and kids' basics. $5 Squishmallows, $6 character pajamas and $15 jeans have all appeared in past events. Nobody's pretending these are investments, but Walmart is very good at cheap.
• The hot toy, if you're quick. Walmart says 25 toys on its Top Toys list cost under $25 this year. The popular ones disappear, though. Walmart's $199 Nex Playground deal sold out during Black Friday 2025.

Usually skip

• Marketplace "deals" from sellers you've never heard of. This is Walmart's biggest problem. The site mixes items Walmart sells with third-party listings, and the Reddit thread above includes a shopper saying a third-party seller's "Black Friday" clothing prices were higher than what they had paid months earlier. Check who's selling it. If it isn't sold and shipped by Walmart, look closer.
• "Restored" tech dressed up as a headline deal. Walmart advertised a restored MacBook Pro for $299 and a restored MacBook Air bundle for $194 in 2024. Refurbished can be fine, but it isn't a discount on a new product, and the ads don't always make that obvious. Read the condition and warranty.
• Old-model phones and laptops. A $199 iPhone 13 was a 2024 headline, three years after that phone came out. Cheap isn't the same as current. Know which model you're getting.
• "Up to X% off" banners. That's a ceiling, not a price. Hip2Save listed Walmart's early categories at up to 55% off toys, up to 40% off appliances and up to 15% off tech. "Up to" can mean a single item.

What we don't know yet

As of Nov. 10, 2026, Walmart's announcement doesn't list specific 2026 doorbuster prices, so we haven't listed any either. We don't know how many items count as hot Deal drops, whether Cyber Monday gets a member head start or whether Walmart will repeat the half-price Walmart+ promo it ran in 2024 and 2025. We'll update this post when Walmart says more.

Our take

Walmart is good at cheap big-screen TVs, name-brand appliances at prices it has hit before, and a mountain of gifts under $20. It's bad at making it obvious which listings are actual Walmart deals and which are third-party listings with a crossed-out price. Shop it with a list, check the seller, compare the price with Amazon, and don't treat each of the three events like an emergency.

The list below fills in as we post Walmart Black Friday deals that are actually live. If it's empty right now, that's because nothing has started yet.