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Amazon Prime might be the most popular subscription service in America. When you consider the number of benefits the membership provides, it's not hard to understand why. It has become a household name synonymous with fast shipping and easily accessible products.
But at $139 a year — or $15 a month — a Prime subscription can take a big chunk out of your wallet. Even if you're an Amazon die-hard, you must ask: Is Amazon Prime worth the money?
Yes, Amazon Prime is worth it, even at $139 a year
Prime members earn a ton of benefits for the $139 yearly or $15 monthly fee. These include free one-day delivery, two-hour grocery delivery, premium streaming services like Prime Video and Prime Music, and an unbelievable amount of extra discounts and coupons. You'll also get access to exclusive deals during shopping events like Amazon Prime Day and Prime Early Access.
Even if you're not using every feature included with your Prime membership, it might still be worth it for the time saved alone. But for some households, a service like Walmart Plus might make more sense. If you'd like to see how those two services stack up against each other, be sure to take a look at our Amazon Prime vs. Walmart Plus article.
Here are some of our favorite Amazon Prime perks that make a subscription worth the cost, even at $139 a year.
Save on shipping costs
Your Prime membership includes free two-day delivery on over 10 million items. And if your order is over $25, you might even unlock free one-day or same-day shipping. Without Prime, you'll only get free regular shipping if your order is over $25.
Shipping fees usually cost between $4 and $10. It doesn't take many purchases with Prime's free shipping to start noticing your savings.
Amazon operates two different grocery store brands: Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh. With a Prime subscription, you can order groceries and everyday essentials from both brands and have the products delivered right to your doorstep. And the prices aren't much different than those in physical grocery stores.
This service isn't available everywhere, and you need to meet a minimum price of $150. But if you're in a big city like New York or Los Angeles, you'll probably be able to have your groceries delivered in less than two hours.
Stream movies and music in HD
Your Prime subscription comes with a free membership for both Prime Video and Prime Music.
Prime Video is one of the hottest streaming services around, offering thousands of movies and TV shows. These include popular titles from the past few years and original Amazon shows like "The Boys" and "Fallout." Some titles can't be streamed for free, but you can still buy or rent them for an extra fee.
You'll also have access to Prime Music, Amazon's music streaming app with over 2 million songs and podcasts. There are no ads, and all the music streams in high quality.
Compare these two services to Netflix and Spotify Premium, which cost about $25 together. Saving $25 a month with Prime Video and Prime Music pays for Prime's yearly membership cost in six months.
Earn free video games and Twitch subs
Prime Gaming lets you subscribe to one Twitch streamer for free every month — it normally costs $4.99 — which unlocks exclusive emotes and lets you watch ad-free.
But what some Prime subscribers don't realize is that Amazon gives out free games to every Prime subscriber every month. These include fighting games, puzzle games, RPGs, shooters, and more. You'll also have the chance to redeem free rewards in popular games like "Warframe" and "League of Legends."
Few Amazon Prime perks give you more than Prime Gaming — be sure to take advantage of it.
Store all your photos and videos safely
Amazon Photos lets you save and share an unlimited amount of full-resolution photos across all your devices. You can share that unlimited storage with up to five people. If you're paying every month for extra iCloud or Google Drive storage just to make room for your photos, you can cut out that cost.
You'll also get 5 GB for videos and files. Amazon Photos also comes pre-installed on Amazon devices, so you can also view your photos on a Fire TV or Echo Show.
Save money with Prime Day and exclusive deals
Amazon Prime Day is an annual shopping holiday, like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, where thousands of items go on sale. Log into Amazon on Prime Day, and you'll find gadgets, furniture, clothing, accessories, and more selling for lower prices than they do all year.
But here's the catch: Those deals only appear for Prime subscribers. Aside from free shipping, Prime Day is probably the No. 1 way to save money with your Prime membership. If you've been saving up for a certain product, like a TV or game console, check it out on Prime Day for the best price. You can learn more about the perks in our "What is Prime Day" guide.
Your Prime membership also unlocks an exclusive coupon book and regularly rotating deals. And if you choose the "no-rush" option when placing an order, you'll earn discounts on future purchases in exchange for waiting a few days longer for that order to arrive.
Get Grubhub Plus for free
A more recent addition to the slew of Amazon Prime benefits is free Grubhub Plus. The food delivery service is yet another quick and easy way to spare yourself the hassle of waiting in line for your takeout by having a driver delivery straight to your doorstep.
Grubhub Plus usually costs $10 a month, but Prime members get it for no additional cost. With it comes $0 delivery fees, lower service fees, 5% back on pickup orders, and even exclusive deals.
Try clothes on at home before actually buying them
The best part of clothes shopping is getting to try clothes on before buying them. But Amazon Prime subscribers don't have to give that up when they shop for clothes online.
The Prime Try Before You Buy perk lets you order up to eight items to try on for a week. Keep the ones you want to buy, and send back the ones you don't — you'll only be charged for what you kept.
If you've ever gotten burned by online clothes shopping, Try Before You Buy is a great way to save money and frustration.
Buy your medications at lower prices
Amazon Prime Rx is a new feature that lets members find the cheapest prices for their medications and have them shipped either to their homes or a nearby pharmacy.
You don't need to have insurance to use Prime Rx. For users spending hundreds of dollars each month on medications, Prime Rx can be a lifesaver.
Access books, magazines, and comics
Prime members get access to Prime Reading, a massive digital library for books, magazines, and comics. The exact titles available rotate occasionally, but members can read anything in the library for free. Some titles even come with audiobook versions, perfect for listening on the go.
Alongside Prime Reading, Prime also includes the Amazon First Reads program, which lets you read selected titles before they go on sale to the public.
Sign up for kid-friendly subscriptions
Amazon Prime isn't just for the grown-ups. Prime members earn discounts on the kid-focused subscription service Amazon Kids Plus.
Kids Plus offers a suite of age-appropriate books, movies, shows, and apps for kids ages 3 to 12. There are also parental control options that you can use to fine-tune exactly what your child is seeing. It costs $5 a month or $48 a year for Prime Customers — down from $8 or $79 for non-Prime users.
Unlock discounts and perks on other websites
Amazon's reach stretches far beyond its own website. Amazon Prime customers shopping on Shopbop, Whole Foods, Woot!, or Zappos will get free shipping, discounts, and more.
Get cashback on every purchase with a special Visa card
This card offers 5% cash back on all Amazon or Whole Foods orders, 2% back at restaurants and gas stations, and 1% back on everything else. And that's not even counting the points, which you can turn into more cash back or Amazon discounts.
If you're approved for the card, you'll also immediately receive a $70 Amazon gift card.
Get Prime 50% off if you're a student or EBT recipient
If you're currently a student at an American university and have a .edu email address, you're entitled to a six-month trial of Prime Student at no cost. Once it's over, your Prime membership will be half the price of a regular membership ($69 a year or $7.49 a month). It'll last four years or until your indicated graduation date — whichever comes first.
One of the easiest ways to maximize your Prime savings is to use Prime Household. This lets up to two adults, four teens, and four child profiles link up in a "Household," and all enjoy every Prime benefit for no extra charge. This is leagues less expensive than having everyone pay for their own Prime account.
Adults on the account will also get to approve purchases from teen profiles and set parental controls on child profiles.
Give yourself time and flexibility
More so than money, maybe the most valuable thing Amazon Prime can give you is time. Between quick shipping times and release-day deliveries on brand-new products, you'll rarely have to wait long for your orders to arrive.
Features like Amazon Day and Amazon Key In-Garage deliveries give you more control over when your packages arrive, too. You don't need to worry about missing your deliveries because you're not home.
Amazon Prime gets you millions of items quickly and cheaply. There are few deals better for your money.
Who Amazon Prime isn't worth the money for
Amazon Prime is a great way to save money over time for most customers. However, every customer is different, and not everyone will be amazed by Prime's benefits and features.
If you don't buy items from Amazon often, you might not save enough on free shipping to justify the $139 yearly fee. The same is true if you don't plan on using the entertainment services that Prime unlocks, like Prime Video, Prime Music, and Prime Reading.
Some of Prime's benefits are also pretty niche. Kids Plus won't mean much if you don't have children, and Prime Gaming perks are aimed at users who regularly watch Twitch streams and play games like League of Legends, which might not be you.
There's also a human cost. Reporters have written countless articles about how Amazon's push to ship products as fast as possible has led to unsafe working conditions for its employees. The more customers order products using Prime, the faster Amazon's warehouses must move to fulfill those orders. Depending on your views, the money saved with Prime might not be worth that.
Amazon Prime is a massively popular and cost-effective subscription. But it's not for everyone — think about what services you know you'll use before you sign up and pay $139.
Mara Leighton and Tercius Bufete contributed to a previous version of this article.
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