Is Amazon Prime Worth It? Here’s What to Consider

Amazon Prime Membership: What It Costs and What You Get

Amazon Prime membership gives you free two-day shipping, plus perks like video and music streaming, for a standard $139 annual fee.

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Edited by other Updated Jun 4, 2026 Average Monthly Expenses by Category 7 of the Best Cash-Back Apps Savings Goal Calculator 9 Browser Extensions for Easily Finding Coupons A standard Amazon Prime membership is $139 per year — maybe a steep price to pay if you're only interested in free two-day shipping. And more than half of U.S. adults (55%) plan to significantly decrease their subscriptions in 2026 in order to save money, according to a recent NerdWallet survey. But if you’re a reader, a video and music streamer or just someone who shops online often, the benefits might outweigh the costs. To help you decide whether Amazon Prime is worth it for you, we cover cost options and explain what you get with the membership.

How much is Amazon Prime in 2026?

The cost of an Amazon Prime membership depends on the plan you choose. Here’s a breakdown of the payment plans and what they include: Prime annual membership: $139 per year. Paying annually costs less in the long run. Prime annual membership: $139 per year. Prime monthly membership: $14.99 per month. Paying by the month gets you the same benefits for about $40 more per year. Prime monthly membership: $14.99 per month. Prime Access: $6.99 per month. If you receive qualifying government assistance, such as Medicaid or SNAP, you can get Prime Access, which offers the same benefits as a Prime membership, for a lower monthly price. Prime Access: $6.99 per month. Prime for Young Adults membership (formerly Prime Student): $69 per year (or $7.49 per month). Adults 18-24 years old and students with a valid school email address can get a free six-month trial of Prime for Young Adults and the discounted membership fee of $69 per year (or $7.49 per month) after that. Prime for Young Adults membership (formerly Prime Student): $69 per year (or $7.49 per month). (formerly Prime Student) Prime Video Ultra: $4.99 per month or $45.99 per year. For this additional fee, you get Prime Video without ads. (Video with ads is included at no additional cost.) Prime Video Ultra: $4.99 per month or $45.99 per year. You can try Amazon Prime for free for 30 days to determine if it’s worth the cost. But heads up: Amazon keeps your credit card information on file when you sign up, so make sure to cancel your membership before the trial period expires if you don’t want to be charged.

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What are the Amazon Prime benefits?

The perks of an Amazon Prime membership include free shipping, unlimited media streaming and exclusive shopping discounts.

Fast, free shipping

Amazon Prime’s key benefit is its free two-day shipping on millions of eligible items. In some cities, you can get same-day delivery (or even one-hour or three-hour delivery) on eligible orders. While Amazon does offer free standard shipping to non-Prime customers on orders that meet a minimum threshold of eligible items, it can take five to eight business days for those orders to arrive.

Unlimited movie and TV streaming

You can stream thousands of TV shows and movies with ads for free using Prime Video.

Unlimited reading

Members can choose from more than a thousand digital titles to read for free with Prime Reading. The service is available on Kindle and Fire tablets, as well as the Kindle app. But don’t confuse Prime Reading with Kindle Unlimited. The former is included, while the latter requires a separate subscription fee to access millions of titles. » COMPARE: Amazon Prime Reading vs. Kindle Unlimited » COMPARE:

Unlimited music streaming

Prime members get access to Amazon Music Prime, which lets you shuffle play any artist, album or playlist ad-free from the full catalog of over 100 million songs. You’ll need to upgrade to Amazon Music Unlimited to play any song on-demand, which costs $11.99 a month for Prime members, who can first try it for free for three months.

Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh deals

Prime members get an extra 10% discount on eligible items at Whole Foods Market, in stores and online. Members also get exclusive deals on grocery items through Amazon Fresh.

Grubhub+ membership

A Prime membership also includes Grubhub+. The restaurant delivery service plan, typically $9.99 a month without Prime, offers $0 delivery fees on eligible orders, lower service fees and other features for fans of takeout. Prime members can order food from the Amazon app, too.

Free games

With Prime Gaming, you get access to free PC games and in-game content, plus a monthly Twitch channel subscription.

Exclusive Prime Member sales

Prime members get the exclusive perk of shopping annual Prime Day events, which tend to be held in summer (Prime Day) and October (Prime Big Deal Days). During the rest of the year, you’ll get to view upcoming Lightning Deals 30 minutes before they start. In 2026, Amazon Prime Day will be June 23-26.

Free unlimited photo storage with Amazon Photos

A Prime membership gives you unlimited, full-resolution photo storage and 5 GB video storage. Your photos will be backed up through the Amazon Photos app, which you can access from both your computer and mobile device. Prime members can also print their photos on Shutterfly for a 45% discount.

Fuel savings

Prime members in the U.S can save 10 cents per gallon of gas at more than 7,500 participating stations. To get the cents off, you have to register for the free earnify gas app and link it to your Prime account. Then use the earnify app or the payment method linked to the app to get the discount. There is no minimum or maximum number of gallons that need to be purchased, and the discount applies to all fuel grades.

Amazon Prime pros and cons (according to Reddit)

We sifted through Reddit forums to get a pulse check on how users feel about Amazon Prime. We used an AI tool to help analyze and summarize the feedback. People post anonymously, so we cannot confirm their individual experiences or circumstances.

Pros

Users appreciate access to millions of products.

Useful for basic household goods.

When things arrive on time, the fast shipping is valuable.

Cons

2-day shipping is no longer reliable, depending on where you live.

Users feel the annual fee has increased while customer service has declined.

Users report Amazon getting more restrictive with returns.

Is Amazon Prime worth it?

To date, about 200 million people subscribe to Amazon Prime, so the program must be doing something right. Nerdy Perspective I’ve been an Amazon Prime member since 2007. Because I live in a highly populated area, it’s possible for me to get items shipped overnight or even get them the same day I order them. This is both ridiculous and highly convenient, particularly as the mom of two teens who often remember they need things for school at the last minute. When I travel to different cities and try to order from Amazon, the shipping speed can be a lot slower, so it’s sometimes not my first choice. I imagine people’s experiences with Amazon depend a lot on where they live.

Kate Ashford, WMS™

Lead Writer & Spokesperson

To determine if Amazon Prime is worth it for you, consider how you would use two of Prime's biggest draws: free shipping and streaming entertainment. Shipping. If you spent more than $139 in shipping fees last year and can get what you need on Amazon, Prime is probably worth it for you. Shipping. Streaming entertainment. You can get more features for your money using Prime Video instead of subscribing to the basic ads-included plans from Hulu and Netflix. Plus, you can shuffle songs on Amazon Music Prime. Deciding to use Prime Video instead of other streaming services could make a Prime membership more cost effective. Streaming entertainment. » MORE: Track your subscriptions and bills with NerdWallet » MORE: There are other considerations to take into account, such as the convenience of having your items shipped in two days (where that’s possible), or being able to buy essentials on Amazon, such as baby wipes and batteries. Setting up “Subscribe & Save” on five or more eligible household essentials gets you up to a 15% deeper discount — and you can set up how frequently you want the items shipped to lighten your mental load. Just don’t go overboard on basics. “Sometimes when it’s convenient, it can cause us to spend more,” says Marguerita Cheng, a certified financial planner and CEO of Blue Ocean Global Wealth in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Keep in mind, too, that you can share your shipping benefits with another household member. If you split the cost with a roommate, for example, you can effectively cut the cost down to under $70 a year. Free two-day shipping for less than $6 a month is well worth it for most shoppers. The best way to figure out if an Amazon Prime membership is worth it: Sign up for the free trial. Then, you can decide whether to make the investment. If you already have Amazon Prime and you’re unsure if it’s worth the cost, cancel it for a while and see if you miss it. “Just because you turn it off doesn’t mean you can’t get it back,” Cheng says. » LEARN: What’s the best streaming service for you? » LEARN:

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Sharing a Prime membership using Amazon Family

With Amazon Family (formerly Amazon Household), you can choose benefits to share with your kids and manage their profiles, restricting content where necessary. There’s also the option of sharing with another adult, be it a spouse or friend. However, you’ll need to link your individual accounts using Amazon Family and share payment methods. Here are some of the rules you should know. A maximum of two adults can join Amazon Family, and they must have their own Amazon accounts. Up to four teens between the ages of 13 and 17 can have individual Amazon logins and use them to shop or stream content. That includes free Prime Video, Amazon Music and Twitch Prime. However, teens must have been added before April 7, 2025, or after Jan. 1, 2026. A maximum of four children can be added to Amazon Family, but they cannot shop. You can, however, share eBooks, apps and games with them.

How to cancel Amazon Prime

If you gave Amazon Prime a try and have decided it isn’t worth it, here’s how to cancel your account: Visit this Amazon support page and click the yellow button. You can also cancel by taking the following steps on the mobile app or desktop site. Cancel Prime on the Amazon app: Navigate to “Your Account” and tap “Manage Prime Membership” under “Account settings.” Click on the “End Membership” button. Cancel Prime on the Amazon app: Cancel Prime on the Amazon website: Hover over “Account & Lists” and click “Prime Membership” from the drop-down menu. Hover over the “Manage Membership” section and click on “End Subscription.” Cancel Prime on the Amazon website: » MORE: The best things to buy on Amazon » MORE: NerdWallet participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. NerdWallet participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Explore more on About the authors Tindall Tommy Tindall is a lead writer and content strategist covering how to make money — and how to keep it. He’s recorded and written about his experience testing popular gig jobs like driving for Uber, delivering with DoorDash and full-service shopping for Instacart. He loves making an extra buck, but laments the hours of awkward silence he endured as an Uber driver (never again). Cool kids might call him a content creator because he makes YouTube videos for the NerdWallet channel and app, but he himself is no longer very cool. Ask him about budgeting apps — he's tried most of them, but still prefers a good ole Google sheet to track spending. Then be sure to smash that “like” and “subscribe” button. Before NerdWallet, Tommy held decidedly more boring jobs at Fannie Mae and Booz Allen Hamilton. Today, he feels super privileged to write for you, the consumer. Published in Schwahn Lauren Schwahn is a writer at NerdWallet who covers credit scoring, debt, budgeting and money-saving strategies. She contributed to the "Millennial Money" column for The Associated Press and managed a team of writers producing content for the series. Her work has also been featured by USA Today, MSN, The Washington Post and more. Lauren has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is based in San Francisco. Published in Barroso Amanda Barroso, Ph.D., is a writer and content strategist helping consumers navigate budgeting, credit building and credit scoring. Before joining NerdWallet, Amanda wrote about demographic trends at the Pew Research Center and earned a Ph.D. from The Ohio State University. Her work has been featured by the Associated Press, Washington Post and Yahoo Finance. Published in 28 Proven Ways to Save Money By Tommy Tindall, Amanda Barroso, Elizabeth Ayoola How to Get Coupons: Rewards Programs, Browser Extensions, Apps and More By Lauren Schwahn, Amanda Barroso Use This Script to Cut Your Cell Phone Bill By Laura McMullen, AI-Assisted NerdWallet Frugal Living Comprehensive Guide: 30+ Ways to Find Serious Savings By Kelsey Sheehy, Hal M. Bundrick, CFP® 13 Ways to Get Free Stuff By Lauren Schwahn, Amanda Barroso, Lisa Mulka Best Grocery List Apps of 2026 By Amanda Barroso 9 Browser Extensions for Easily Finding Coupons By Tommy Tindall, Lisa Mulka