Since many of you have recently signed up for an Amazon Prime trial in order to get the deals for Prime Day, you may be wondering, “Is it worth it to pay for an Amazon Prime subscription?”
I polled my audience recently and asked them this question. As you can imagine, I got a wide variety of responses — some from diehard Amazon Prime fans, some from those who think it is a complete waste of money, and some from people who are smack dab in the middle and think it can be a money-saving option or it could be something that’s not worth the expense.
In this article, I’ll share some of the responses I heard over and over to help you decide whether or not Amazon Prime is worth the cost for you.
What is the Cost of Amazon Prime?
First off, let’s talk numbers. A regular Amazon Prime subscription is $14.99 per month (plus taxes) or $139 per year (plus taxes). Every once in a while, they have offered a discounted rate for a few days, but I’ve not seen a discount for a while.
If you are a college student, you can get a Student Prime Membership which gives you the first 6 months for free and then it’s $7.49/month after that. If you are a qualifying government assistance recipient, you might also qualify for a reduced rate of $6.99 per month for Amazon Prime. (Foster families: If you have a child who is on WIC, you will qualify as well!)
What are the Benefits of Amazon Prime?
For a long time, many people thought of Amazon Prime as “free two-day shipping”. Which could be a great benefit if you order a lot from Amazon. However, in the past year, some items are not longer being shipped in two days or less (though some of that depends upon what you order and how close you live to an Amazon warehouse) BUT they offer so many other perks for those who are Amazon Prime members.
Here are some of the perks you all mentioned loving the most:
Included in the Amazon Prime Membership Price: An alternative to cable
When you have an Amazon Prime account, you’ll have access to lots of movies and shows for free. (Many aren’t free, but there are a LOT that are free with your Amazon Prime subscription.) “We don’t pay a monthly cable or satellite bill so we’re saving a ton of money on entertainment even though we pay for subscriptions to Prime, Netflix, and Frndly.” -Jennifer
By the way, Prime Video is cheaper than Netflix. So if you have Netflix, it might be worth checking into whether switching to Amazon Prime might be a better option — since you get a lot more than just streaming!
Clare said: “Not sure it’s worth it just for shipping but Prime Video is cheaper than Netflix (and seems cleaner). As a homeschooling mom, I have found so many documentaries for my kids on that platform. It’s also fantastic for downloading movies onto phones or tablets for the toddler in the car.”
Amazon Prime Membership Fee – as low as $12 a month for free shipping
“Prime is only $139 for the year, which comes out to less than $12 per month, for free shipping no matter how much you spend, and most of the time it’s here the next day, Amazon Prime TV and Amazon music. Totally worth it!” -Vanessa
Speaking of free shipping, Joy says, “For our family, shipping alone makes Prime worth it. Plus sometimes they offer digital credits for slow shipping that we use to rent or buy movies.”
There is also the convenience factor to consider, as Erin wrote: “I live in the middle of nowhere and can get a ton of things I cannot get easily. I can do a big order of those things and also get Amazon online. Is it perfect? No, but for my family it works.”
Benefits of Amazon Prime: Easily get deals
Tracy said: “If I get a deal for something that is $5, I can take advantage of the free shipping and catch the deal and get free shipping and have it delivered in two days. This also cuts down on gas as I can order knowing right when my order will arrive! Amazon Prime pays for itself multiple times over annually!”
(Note: While this can be a plus, it could also be a downside — because Amazon makes it SO easy to spend money!)
Included in the Cost of Amazon Prime: Prime Music
Katie says: “We like it for the free shipping, the Prime Music, and the Prime Video options. I also use the prime reading options with my Kindle app. My kids love prime music. They all have a playlist of their favorite songs.”
(Note: You can also get lots of free streaming music on Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, or other places. Yes, you might have to deal with some commercials if you don’t have a paid account, but there are many ways to access free music online.)
Included in the Amazon Prime Membership Fee: Free Kindle books
If you are a reader, access to free Kindle books could be a huge plus. As Sharon posted, “The big thing for me though is my Kindle books. I read 5-6 books a week and would run out of reading material if I didn’t have Prime.”
(Note: You can get many of the Kindle books for free without having a Prime membership. Also, check your local library to see if they offer ebooks and audiobooks for free from the Hoopla or Libby app.)
Amazon Prime Membership Price includes photo storage
With an Amazon Prime subscription, you’ll get unlimited full-resolution photo storage and 5 GB for video. Jessica said this: “For us, it is worth it for the photo storage. It is a very economical way to store full-size photo files for backup purposes for someone who is into photography.”
Benefits of Amazon Prime: It could save you time
If you have a really full life, being able to easily order online could be really helpful! As Danae wrote in, “For me, it’s a quality of life thing… it saves me a huge amount of time to be able to order something small that I need and get it in a few days without making a trip to the store, which means I can use that time for my family or my house or work.”
Prime Membership Cost includes downloading shows and movies to your device
When you have an Amazon Prime subscription, you are able to download shows and movies off of Prime and watch them later. Deidre shared how this has been such a help to their family: “You can download shows and movies off Prime and watch them on a tablet or phone without having internet service. We use this for car rides, flights, when the power goes out and I have scared restless toddlers, and when I know we will have lots of waiting at the dentist, doctor, etc.”
Does Amazon Prime really save you money?
While there are many benefits to having an Amazon Prime subscription, a number of people told me that they felt it actually encouraged them to spend more money and that they found that they could easily wait until they had $35 in their cart to get free shipping.
Like Nicole says: “I had Prime for YEARS, and gave it up a couple of years ago. And go figure… I don’t miss it! Not worth the subscription to me. I can wait for $35 to get free shipping. I also don’t impulse buy tiny things. And I used to watch Prime videos all the time – don’t miss it at all. I easily fill that time with other things.”
Benefits of Amazon Prime FAQs
The current membership price is $14.99 per month or $139 per year.
Yes, you can get a 30-day free trial before payment is due. If you are a college student, you can get 6 months free!
Amazon is the parent company, Amazon Prime is a service it offers. Amazon is an online shopping opportunity for anyone — offering standard delivery for items ordered through its website. Amazon Prime is a subscription with the benefit of free, standard, or 2-day delivery, as well as additional benefits like Prime Video, Prime TV, Prime Music, Kindle eBooks, etc.
No, Netflix is not associated with Amazon Prime — but Prime Video and Prime TV are included with Amazon Prime.
There are several large cons to Amazon as a whole, which should be factored in:
– Labor and ethics issues in the warehouses and delivery fleet
– For small, family-owned businesses who sell products on Amazon, Amazon takes 15% from us for each sale. That has a HUGE negative impact on those businesses.
– Amazon is becoming a murky place for authors (especially) whose books are banned at the last minute or after a rollout with little or no explanation
– Amazon itself pirating products it sells and selling its own inferior and cheaper version under the ‘Amazon Basics’ line
I LIKE the convenience and pricing of Amazon. But out family couldn’t ignore the cost of those benefits any longer. It’s tricky to find what I want at times without Amazon, and more expensive, but I’m shopping in more small local shops, or small online vendors.
It is absolutely not worth it to me anymore. I had it and loved it, and rarely had any issues. Most things arrived in 1-2 days. However, in the past 2-3 months, I have had more problems with it than I had altogether in quite a few years of having it. They still advertise 1-2 shipping if you look on your account, but the minimum number of days on any of the items is now 3. It varies, (I’m not sure what it depends on!), usually 4-5 days on items that used to be 1-2 days. I have had a number of orders never show up at all, something that had only happened once before. I don’t know if it’s just an Ohio thing, the last I checked, Indiana was way faster than we were, and they used to be slower. Non-prime orders were coming much more quickly than prime items. I canceled my prime account and so far haven’t really missed it. It will encourage me to shop local, and for most things, it’s cheaper that way anyhow. I do love online shopping because I do not enjoy mingling in crowds at the store. But Amazon has been extremely unreliable lately, and they lost my business because of it.
I’m so sorry that has been your experience. I am happy that you have found another way to save money! Thanks for sharing your honest review! -Jordan, MSM Team
I’m a huge fan of Prime and have been a member for nearly a decade. In addition to the perks noted in your post, Subscribe and Save can be a great money and time saver. If you select an item for Subscribe and Save you may select how often you would like to set up a renewal for that product (from 2 weeks to 6 months I believe). I always select 6 months and then change the date if I need it earlier or skip that month if I don’t need it at all. One to four items arriving in one month with Subscribe and Save will save you 5%, if you select at least five items you will save 15%! I subscribe to a lot of household and personal care items with this and always review my order prior to it monthly shipping to make adjustments. I always make sure I buy at least five items which allows me to get a good or very good price on each. Sometimes there will be an incentive on your first Subscribe and Save for a certain item (clip coupon and save $2.31 on your first Subscribe and Save for example).
Another great perk is getting a free kindle book (to keep) every month. As a Prime member, you can sign up for a monthly email that gives you the opportunity to “buy” a kindle book for free each month. There are usually six books to choose from and once you select the book, you own it at no cost to you. I have also found that Amazon will give a discount to audiobooks on Audible if you own the digital copy of the book. I can sometimes buy a book on Audible for $2 just because I own the (sometimes free) Kindle book!
Thank you for sharing your personal experience with subscribe and save! -Jordan, MSM Team
In Richmond VA, they issued P-EBT cards for all students in public schools, whether their family needed help with food or not. And, Amazon accepted these cards to qualify for Amazon Prime discount of $5.99/month. So it was a great savings and worth it even just for entertainment, since movie theaters have been closed.
Wow that is so amazing! It’s great when these big companies give back! -Jordan, MSM Team
I am currently a Prime member but am looking to see if it is really a good deal for us. I thought I would use the movie part of it a lot more than I do. My husband prefers me to spend time with him in the living room so taking the tablet into the bedroom and watching a movie is not always the best. I don’t do alot of purchasing. The thing I do like about Amazon is that you can find almost anything you want and returns are so easy. My husband is always coming up with “I wonder where you can get this” and I am almost always to find it on Amazon. I may cancel Prime and just order from them.
Thanks for sharing your experience and opinion! -Jordan, MSM Team
While I don’t like the cost and it probably isn’t worth it for most people, I have chronic Lyme disease among others, and knowing I can get a supplement within 2 days is huge for me. I take a ton of things and can’t manage to stay on top of what I need enough to plan ahead for longer shipping and the $35 minimum. I also frequently need to research and try new supplements so I’m not always needing the same things. I do use Vitacost as well and love them but they don’t have everything I need. So the convenience factor alone is worth it for me. Xmas shopping is easier this way to. Wish I wasn’t supporting Amazon but that’s my reality.
It is important that you have found something that works for you and your needs!-Jordan, MSM Team
I do spend more because it’s easy just to swipe and go! However, I love that I can ship presents all over the country to family and friends and not worry about the huge shipping cost from the post office. I often will send my son that lives in Idaho a box of goodies and I’ve used the delivery from Whole Foods as well through Amazon when he had Covid to deliver meals, etc… We use the music and Fire Stick TV, so it is good for us.
Thanks for sharing you personal experience! -Jordan, MSM Team
Now that we live in a rural area, Prime saves us so much money on gas! Driving 45 minutes every time I need a last minute gift, need to make a return, or buy shoes gets expensive quickly. I can often get better deals using prime because I can shop sales better via prime than I can when driving to our closest town. However, when we lived in suburbia, having prime would not have been such an amazing money saver.
Thanks so much for sharing your perspective and experience!
Two cons – Amazon prime encouraged us to spend more on silly little things and living in a small town we’ve witnessed how local stores can’t compete…. So we’ve decided to buy local whenever possible.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Another con is that Amazon prices are no longer automatically the cheapest. Many times I can get a better price by going directly to the manufacturers website or store.
That’s definitely true… I think it’s maybe always been that case? But many manufacturer’s charge shipping, so it’s good to price compare.
I agree. There were items I used to regularly buy at Amazon but over the years the prices on those items have increased to the point that it is often cheaper to buy elsewhere. (And many times I can find free shipping or coupon codes with other retailers)
We gave up our Costco membership several years ago, and never looked back. I have been a Prime member for quite a long time. With the price increase as well as other issues, we’ve been rethinking our Prime membership. This article has some good points to consider. I would like to hear more cons as well. Thank you.
I’d love to have people share more cons! When I asked on Instagram and Facebook, there were hundreds of responses but really the only cons shared were that it encouraged people to spend more money or that people wanted to support small businesses.
I realized the free shipping was a wash for us at best, and these days we do wait for $35 in our cart which isn’t ever a problem. Prime video hardly had anything I recognized and music didn’t make up for it because most of the things we wanted were moved to unlimited. On the same note I’m starting to get a bit leery that there are fewer and fewer items in stores…I know you can’t stop progress but I feel the need to resist it a little…
Thanks so much for sharing your honest perspective! I really appreciate it!
I save a ton of money with the Subscribe and Save feature. We have some special diets in our house and some items just aren’t available where we live. Being able to get these items through subscribe and save with the discount is such a money saver for us!
Do you have an Amazon Prime membership or do you just do S&S?
We have a membership. I wasn’t aware it was an option without one.
No prime here. We have tried the free trial but it didn’t seem worth it. I’m extremely rural. And actually the 2 day shipping doesn’t happen in Alaska so I’ve never seen the point. I wait til I hit the free shipping minimum. I also use S & S a lot. There’s no such thing as unlimited internet here so we don’t stream anything.
My parents gave us a subscription to Prime for Christmas two years ago. It was great being able to see the Amazon Prime TV shows but I don’t think it was a good value after we watched everything we wanted to watch. I don’t impulse buy and can easily wait until I have $35 worth of products to get free shipping. I felt like with Prime I was just ordering things to “get my money’s worth.” Paying $119 a year does not work for our household.
I do a few Subscribe and Save items on Amazon now, which saves a bit of money.
Thanks so much for sharing your honest perspective! I really appreciate it!
You gave a lot of pros for Amazon Prime. I hope you will do an article about cons also. We don’t have Amazon Prime. I haven’t really seen where it would really benefit us at this stage of our lives. We are empty nesters, and while we do buy from Amazon, it is not necessarily our “default” choice for many things we want to buy. A big minus to us is that Amazon does not price match if something you buy goes on sale within a week or 2. Other stores like Meijer will do this. We got caught by that policy last year at Christmas time, and it has made us less likely to shop Amazon as a first choice. We do not have a Kindle and watch tv by antenna. I do re-evaluate occasionally about if Amazon Prime would be worth it for us, but so far it isn’t. We do have a Costco membership as an alternative.
In this article, I just wanted to share the perspective of hundreds of different opinions on Amazon Prime, especially sharing what the benefits were to having a subscription for those who might be considering it. I heard lots and lots and LOTS of pros and the only con I really heard was the one I shared at the end: that people felt like it encouraged them to spend more money. I also know many people prefer to support smaller businesses.
I believe you can return an item, postage paid, then buy again at reduced price. I spoke with a customer service representative awhile back and told them this was more costly for them and she agreed but said that was the policy.
Yes! My city has amazon drop boxes for returns or I believe most kohls take amazon returns, as well. The return process isnt hard, but it will take some time.
It has been worth it to me during Covid. We have limited our shopping exposure because of immunocompromised spouse. In 2019 we had 61 orders. In 2020, we had 112. So we definitely used it more. We did not get together with extended family for Christmas, but I was able to order all the children’s presents, choose the slower shipping and earned around $34 dollars that I spent on kindle books. Win Win
Thank you so much for sharing your perspective!!