All the Ways to Get Amazon Prime for Free
If you order a lot on Amazon – or if you take full advantage of the benefits of Prime video and Amazon Music, the $ 119 Amazon Prime annual fee can turn out to be very beneficial. But if that’s too high a price tag for your shopping and streaming habits, there are several ways to get the benefits of Prime for free (or cheap). Here’s how to do it.
Add up a few free trials
Amazon offers a 30-day free trial for all new accounts – and to be considered new, you must register with an email address that has never been used for Prime before.
This means you can enjoy the free trial indefinitely as long as your email is okay. An Amazon support representative has confirmed to us that a new email is all you need to participate in the promotional period.
If you are a student, the free trial period is six months. Since you must have an .edu email address to take advantage of the student membership, you probably won’t be able to maintain this hack for years. But some schools allow you to create alias accounts or simply assign multiple usernames to you – in which case you can sign up for the free trial multiple times.
Unfortunately, you need to enter a credit card when registering with Prime, and your account will be automatically upgraded to a paid membership when the trial ends. If you don’t want to, either opt out of automatic renewal or set a cancellation reminder.
This method is inconvenient and possibly a dubious way to save $ 119 a year, but the fact remains: Amazon doesn’t seem to mind a few free trials.
Payment monthly
After your free trial expires, you can pay $ 119 one time or $ 12.99 per month ($ 6.49 for students and $ 5.99 for EBT and Medicaid cardholders). If shipping benefits are all you want, sign up for your membership during the months you plan to order a lot (like holidays) and cancel when you don’t need them.
This won’t work if you need constant access to Prime Video or any of the other Prime benefits, but it could save you a bit of money if you don’t use Prime as often.
Check offers from other retailers
Some retailers offer discounted Prime memberships to their customers. Amex has had Prime promotions in the past, and Sprint includes Prime in their Unlimited Premium plan at no additional cost. If you really want to save money, keep an eye out for these deals.
Link your account for general benefits
Amazon allows you to link up to two adults, four teens, and four children (called a household) for a single membership fee. This means that if your parent, friend, or partner pays for Prime, you can enjoy the benefits at no additional cost. Or, you can simply place an order using someone else’s account as Amazon allows you to add multiple credit cards and shipping addresses.
This material was originally released in December 2016 and was updated on June 10, 2020 by Emily Long. We’ve rewritten a lot to reflect the latest pricing and Amazon policies, and we’ve added tips for sharing accounts and monthly subscriptions.