What Amazon Prime Is? Benefits, and Cost

Amazon Prime memberships offer two-day free shipping and additional privileges such as video streaming for $139 annually.

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An Amazon Prime membership is required to shop for Amazon Prime Day 2022. Prime membership comes with many perks, but it is expensive. Amazon Prime is $139 per annum. This may seem high for 2-day shipping, but it’s worth it. The benefits may outweigh the cost if you are a bookworm, music and video streamer, or simply shop online frequently.

We explain what you get when your Prime membership is purchased.

What is Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime is a subscription service. Members get access to special shopping and entertainment services, as well as discounts.

What are the advantages of Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime is known for its two-day free shipping on millions of eligible products. You can get same-day delivery in some cities for eligible orders. Amazon offers standard shipping free of charge for qualifying orders over $25 to non-Prime customers. However, this can take up to eight business days to arrive.

Prime has also expanded its benefits, just like the company went from being a bookstore to becoming an e-commerce giant.

Unlimited TV and movie streaming

Prime Video allows you to stream thousands of TV programs and movies for free. For an additional fee, members can subscribe to Showtime and HBO channels.

Unlimited reading

Over a thousand comics, books, and magazines are available for members to download for free. This service is available on Kindle Fire tablets and any iOS or Android device that has the Kindle app.

Unlimited music streaming

Amazon Music Prime allows you to listen to more than 2 million songs, browse Prime Playlists and view them all ad-free. Prime members also have the option to get a discounted subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited which contains over 90 million songs.

Whole Foods deals

Prime members receive an additional 10% discount on eligible items at Whole Foods Market in stores and online

Enjoy free games

Prime Gaming gives you access to free PC games, in-game content, and a Twitch channel subscription.

Prime Day and Prime Early Access

Prime members enjoy the privilege of shopping Prime Day deals every year. Lightning Deals will be available to Prime members for the remainder of the year. These Lightning Deals offer a 30-minute advantage over non-Prime members.

Amazon Photos offers unlimited storage

Prime memberships include unlimited full-resolution photo storage and 5GB of video storage. Amazon Photos will backup your photos, which can be accessed from both your computer and mobile device.

Amazon Elements

Amazon Prime members have access to Amazon’s consumer-first line, such as baby wipes, and can become Amazon Prime members.

Amazon Family

Amazon Family is free for Prime members and offers family-friendly coupons and deals. This includes up to 20% savings on diapers with Subscribe and Save and a 15% discount when you complete your baby registry.

Before you create a budget

What is the cost of an Amazon Prime membership?

Amazon Prime memberships are available in different plans. However, you can get it free for 30 days.

Here is a breakdown of all the payment options and their contents:

Prime monthly membership is $14.99 per month You’ll be paying about $180 per year if you don’t want to pay the full price for Prime membership but would like to spread your payments. Prime memberships are available for as low as $6.99 per month if you qualify for government assistance.

Prime annual membership is $139 per annum The annual lump sum payment for full membership will result in a lower long-term cost.

Prime Student membership: Students with valid school email addresses can receive a six-month free trial of Prime Student, and a $69/year (or $7.49/month) discounted membership fee.

Prime Video membership: $8.99 per month. This membership does not include unlimited movie and TV streaming. The annual cost is $108

Attention: Amazon stores your credit card information when you sign up. If you do not want the membership after your free trial ends, log in to your account and cancel it. You’ll be charged the membership fees if you don’t.

Is Amazon Prime really worth it?

The price of Prime’s membership benefits is a function of which perks you value and how often you use them. Let’s begin by looking at two of Prime’s most important draws: streaming entertainment and shipping.

Shipping. 

Streaming entertainment. Amazon Prime Video is more affordable than the Hulu commercial-free plan or the standard Netflix plan if you choose to pay $139 per year for an annual membership. Prime includes access to Amazon Music Prime, a very robust streaming music service. Amazon Prime will reimburse you for the cost of other subscriptions if the music and video selection is sufficient.

Other considerations include the convenience of items being shipped within days rather than weeks or the fact that you don’t have to visit the store to purchase essentials such as paper towels.

Remember that shipping benefits can be shared with other household members. Splitting the cost with a roommate can reduce the cost to $70 per year. This is a great deal. For most customers, the two-day shipping is free, and less than $6 per month is well worth it.

To find out if Amazon Prime membership is worth it, sign up for the free trial. You can then decide whether you want to invest.