Amazon Will Increase the Price of Its Monthly Prime Subscriptions

The cost of an annual subscription will remain the same — for now.
Published
Stephen Slaybaugh
BY:
Contributing Writer
Amazon Prime

Amazon announced last week that it's raising the price on the month-to-month Prime subscriptions that it introduced in 2016 as an alternative to its annual rate.

The monthly fee is increasing from $10.99 to $12.99, an 18% increase that bumps the annual cost from $132 to $156. Amazon also increased the price of its Prime Student monthly plan from $5.49 to $6.49. The new prices are effective immediately for new subscribers, but won't go into effect until February 18 for existing subscribers.

Annual Prime Memberships Remain the Same (For Now)

The prices for those who choose to pay for Prime on an annual basis remain the same: $99 for regular Prime memberships and $49 for Student memberships. However, some speculate that Amazon will raise its annual rates by about the same percentage in the next few months, the first such bump in four years.

SEE ALSO: 2018 Could Be HUGE for Amazon: Here's Why

Expedited Shipping Options and Prime Perks Are the Reason for Increased Costs

Amazon issued the below statement as the reason behind the price increase:

Prime provides an unparalleled combination of shipping, shopping and entertainment benefits, and we continue to invest in making Prime even more valuable for our members.

The number of items eligible for unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping increased in recent years from 20 million to more than 100 million items. We have expanded Prime Free Same-Day and Prime Free One-Day delivery to more than 8,000 cities and towns.

We also continue to introduce new, popular and award-winning Prime Originals, like The Grand Tour, Sneaky Pete, and the Golden Globe-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – all included with Prime Video.

Members also enjoy a growing list of unique benefits like Prime Music, Prime Reading, exclusive products and much more. We will keep introducing new ways to make members' lives even better.

Prime and its perks are a huge part of Amazon's overall business strategy. According to CNBC, Amazon's third-quarter subscription revenue grew by 59% over the previous year to $2.4 billion. GBH Insights, a research firm, estimates that the company has about 88 million Prime subscribers.

What do you think readers? Does this change affect you? Take our poll below, and sound off in the comments.

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Stephen Slaybaugh
Contributing Writer

Stephen has been writing for such national and regional publications as The Village Voice, Paste, The Agit Reader, and The Big Takeover for 20 years. He covered consumer electronics and technology for DealNews from 2013 to 2018.
DealNews may be compensated by companies mentioned in this article. Please note that, although prices sometimes fluctuate or expire unexpectedly, all products and deals mentioned in this feature were available at the lowest total price we could find at the time of publication (unless otherwise specified).

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18 comments
unkabob
@caveat.. Actually the annual price is $99.00 That extra $9.00 is tax in your state.. I pay an extra $7.17 (texas) but when I was in Utah it was a straight $99.00 because amazon had no distribution warehouse there (at the time).
March 11, 2018
maydepot
Like I said, anyone with any brain cells knew what I meant when I said I save money going monthly. What do people say when they "ASSume"? They end up looking like an @$$.
February 6, 2018
BlueOak
@maydepot, haha, we're not gypsy mind readers. Words have meaning. You didn't use them properly.
February 2, 2018
maydepot
Like I said... clueless. Anyone with IQ over 70 knew what I was talking about.
February 1, 2018
BlueOak
@maydepot, except didn't say they were turning it on and off in their original comment.
January 31, 2018
maydepot
Well obviously this Blueoak person is pretty clueless especially when they think they know me or my purchasing habits. Instead of paying $99/year, I choose to go with the monthly plan since IT SAVES ME MONEY. There are many months where I don't order a lot so I don't need Prime so I can simply "turn it off." You can't do that when paying annually, can you? I spend way less than $99/year on Prime while going with the Monthly Plan even with the price hike.
January 31, 2018
sharmanareshk879
Amazon Moving To Washington DC very Soon , Is exited for more bussiness
January 28, 2018
BlueOak
@maydepot below appears to actually enjoy burning money... and even boasts of it! Being on the annual $99 plan does not prevent you from getting your subscription extended due to late deliveries.

Isn't it pretty clear, in spite of Amazon's claims, this monthly fee price hike is simply an attempt to push more folks into annual plans? Especially since the annual plan price is not going up.

Amazon obviously is not a fan of folks who turn Prime on, binge buy/watch, and then turn it off for a month or several until they need enough stuff again to want the fast free shipping.
January 28, 2018
stout
They want us to pay $156 a year to buy their stuff (which you can find cheaper elsewhere in most cases), just to get it to you a little faster. And most of the deals on DealNews offer free shipping anyway. Nope.
January 27, 2018
Donm
How about offering a $50 a year subscription without the Prime Movies, Prime Music, Prime Groceries, etc.? Just good old fashioned free delivery with no minimums and perhaps expedited (not necessarily 2-day) shipping. Simple but affordable.
January 26, 2018
xterra
Suckers!
January 25, 2018
frugalncute
Kinda sucks. II generally only get it 3 months out of a year.
Though a few places will give you a $20 gift card for signing up for a year at $99. Ibotta.
January 25, 2018
cool_breez@comcast.net
I just cancelled amazon prime subscription so happy now
January 25, 2018
caveat
Sorry my bad..it is $99...I somehow pay a fee to my wife too...:)
January 23, 2018
caveat
where do you get $99 for anual sub....I pay $109 ....shows that you dont have a prime Account
January 23, 2018
maydepot
Oh no, that $2 increase will financially ruin me! Yeah, no. I easily would be spending over $100/month on 2-day shipping if I didn't have Prime. So it's still a bargain at $12.99. Plus I have gotten free months thrown in when deliveries have been late. So I've actually paid less than the annual rate of $99.
January 22, 2018
Stephen Slaybaugh (DealNews)
Hey bob21131-
You can change your payment option here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/primecentral.
January 22, 2018
DealRunner1337
If you're paying monthly for an Amazon subscription and you use it every month for a year, you already enjoyed lighting your money on fire. Amazon is just going to help you burn that money a little brighter.
January 22, 2018