Home & Garden
Amazon Prime's perks aren't just limited to Prime Day—there's more
You can get way more than two-day shipping and access to Prime Day.
Products are chosen independently by our editors. Purchases made through our links may earn us a commission.
With Amazon Prime Day coming up on Monday, July 16, now is the time to get in on a Prime membership. Not only will it give you access to 36 hours of exclusive deals, but the membership comes with a whole bunch of additional perks that can save you money all year long.
If you don’t already have Prime, you can take advantage of a free 30-day trial to try out all the different services and perks before you take the plunge. And if you somehow don’t like it, you can always cancel your trial before it's over and not pay anything. Personally, we love the free two-day shipping, but there are a ton of extras that go beyond online shopping like Whole Foods savings and exclusive video content.
Here's a quick overview of Prime benefits, but you can get an in-depth look at each service here.
Amazon Prime basics
- Free 2-day shipping on millions of Prime-eligible items
- Free same-day shipping in select locations on select items
- Household sharing with 2 adults, up to 4 teens (13-17), and up to 4 children (12 and under)
- Guaranteed release-date delivery on many physical books, games, and movies
- Early access to Amazon Lightning Deals
- Exclusive Prime-only deals, coupons, and discounts including Prime Day
- Access to additional Amazon services (see below)
Membership options
- Amazon Prime: $12.99/month or $119/year. You can save 25% if you commit to a full year.
- Prime Student is free for 6 months with a .edu email address. Students can also save 50% on membership ($59/year or $6.49/month).
- Those with a valid EBT or Medicaid card can get a Prime membership for $5.99/month that is month-to-month only and excludes Household sharing.
Prime Wardrobe
- Try clothes before you buy them from Amazon.
- Choose at least three items and only pay for what you keep after a 7-day try-on period.
- Returns are easy, there are no shipping costs, and no penalties if you decided to return everything.
- Free with Prime membership.
Whole Foods
- Whole Foods brands available online with Amazon’s two-day shipping and via Amazon Fresh and Prime Pantry.
- Save an extra 10% on sale items and get exclusive Prime-only deals in-store.
- With an Amazon Prime Rewards credit card you can earn 5% back at Whole Foods just like you can on Amazon.com.
Amazon Fresh
- Browse through discounts on grocery products that will be delivered straight to your door.
- Get free shipping when you spend over $50—any orders below that will result in a $9.99 delivery charge.
- Deliveries can be made same-day if it's available and can be delivered before 6 a.m. or as late as 10 p.m.
- Food will arrive in your choice of paper bags or recyclable totes and will be kept cool with insulated bags, dry ice, and frozen water bottles (free of charge).
- It's not available everywhere yet, but the list of locations is growing.
- $14.99/month for Prime members only.
Prime Pantry
- Get lower prices on grocery items, beverages, beauty products, baby care, pet care, and household items.
- Must order a minimum of five qualifying Pantry items for free shipping, or you'll pay a $7.99 fee for the savings.
- Try out a single delivery for $7.99, which is what non-Prime members are charged.
- $4.99/month with Prime membership.
Subscribe and Save
- Save up to 15% on recurring purchases like cleaning supplies, toiletries, and even drinks and snacks.
- The more products you get the bigger the discount will be (5 or more unlocks 15% off).
- Customize how often you get each recurring order.
- Amazon will also alert you a few days before your order ships, so you can cancel or pause your deliveries if you don’t need anything that month.
- Free with Prime membership.
Prime Video
- Amazon’s streaming service offers thousands of TV shows and movies for free.
- Get original programming like Mozart in the Jungle, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Goliath, and more.
- Access videos on iOS and Android smartphones and tablets, some smart TVs, any Amazon Fire TV devices, Apple TV, Roku, XBox, and PlayStation.
- You can download episodes, so you can watch your favorite shows offline too.
- Free with Prime membership.
Prime Music
- Access a library of over 2 million songs with Amazon's music streaming service.
- Create custom playlists and stations.
- With an Amazon Echo, you can ask Alexa to play a specific song, music by a particular artist, or just "play music" and let her suggest songs based on your listening history.
- Free with Prime membership/
Amazon Music Unlimited
- Save 20% on Amazon's unlimited library of music, which typically costs $9.99/month.
- There's an option to get a single Echo device subscription for $3.99/month.
- $7.99/month or $79/year with Prime membership.
Prime Reading
- Get instant, free access to over a thousand books, comics, magazines, short stories (Kindle Singles), some Audible narration, and more.
- Access these free titles through the free Kindle app on any Android or iOS device or on any Kindle e-reader or Fire tablet.
- Free with Prime membership.
Amazon First Reads
- Get access to books before they're available to the public.
- Read one of the six Editors' Picks of new books for free as early as a month before it comes out.
- If you're not a Prime member, you can buy the book for $1.99, which is a great deal for early access.
- Free with Prime membership
Kindle Owner's Lending Library
- Borrow one book a month completely free of charge with your Kindle app or device.
- Keep the book as long as you'd like while you're a Prime member and exchange it for a new book after at least one month.
- This service is shared across an Amazon Household, so you can only take out one book at a time even if you have multiple e-readers.
- Free with Prime membership.
Audible Channels
- Audible, an Amazon company, has a massive library of audiobooks, but there's also additional content on Audible Channels.
- Listen to original audio series and podcasts like "Presidents Are People Too!" from your iOS, Android, or Windows device.
- Free with Prime membership or $60/year without Prime.
FreeTime Unlimited
- This service gives children ages 3-12 unlimited, ad-free access to thousands of their favorite books, apps, TV shows, movies, and games.
- FreeTime works on a Fire TV, a Kindle e-reader, a Fire tablet, or an Android device to access the content.
- Kids can't accidentally (or intentionally) buy apps, books, shows, etc. without parental approval.
- $2.99/$6.99 for 1 or up to 4 users/month or $83/year for Prime members or 4.99/$9.99 for one/up to four users/month or $119/year without Prime.
Prime Now
- Get same-day deliveries in select cities across the U.S.
- Access this feature through the mobile app (available on Android and iOS) or on the desktop site to get items delivered within a two-hour window the same day you place your order.
- You can get a 1-hour delivery for an extra $7.99 as long as you spend at least $40, if you're in a pinch.
- Individual drivers will drop off your packages instead of Amazon trucks, and you can track your order's journey from the warehouse.
- Free with Prime membership
Prime Photos
- Get bumped from 5GB of cloud storage that comes with every Amazon account to unlimited for photos on your Amazon account.
- Transfer your photos and images to the cloud and view them from any device.
- There’s a tagging feature that detects faces, locations, and objects automatically so you can search for specific photos easily.
- Images can be shared with up to five others in a folder known as the "Family Vault” and you still have the option to keep other photos private.
- Free with Prime membership
Twitch Prime
- Twitch is a live-streaming video service to watch gamers play games that's free to sign up, but includes ads.
- Prime members get ad-free viewing, as well as a free monthly subscription, free in-game accessories, discounts on pre-orders for box games, and guaranteed release-date delivery.
- Free with Prime membership