Is Amazon Prime worth the cost? Amazon Prime is $99 per year and people often wonder if it is worth it’s price tag. Personally I was unsure, so we tested out Amazon Prime to see if we found the service valuable. While the $99 per year fee is nothing to scoff at we found that some of the benefits were surprising. Read on to find out is Amazon Prime worth the cost?
Is Amazon Prime Worth The Cost?
What’s the cost?
$99/year plus tax in some states
What are the benefits?
- Free unlimited photo storage.
- Two Day shipping.
- Unlimited movies and TV shows.
- Listen to over a million songs.
- Get early access to lightning deals.
- Access to 500,000 free ebooks for Kindle.
- Ability to shop using Prime search-find items that can be shipped in two days.
- Prime Pantry-get pantry staples delivered to your door or vacation location for a flat fee.
What’s one of the benefits that makes it most worth it?
The free photo storage hands down. I was paying $70/year for cloud-based photo storage. Now it’s included in my Prime membership so I pay $99/year with a number of other benefits. WORTH IT. You can store ALL your photos and up to 5gb of videos and other files (you’ll pay more for extra)
What about shipping?
That two day shipping? It’s legit. I can order something today and get it Friday in time for my trip this weekend. I can place an order and have it sent to my hotel when I’m traveling. I can ship gifts in no time flat.
In some places you can even get SAME DAY delivery.
What is Prime Pantry?
This new service is an awesome way to get pantry items shipped to your home or vacation spot. You can fill a box with items you need like boxed cereals, microwave mac & cheese, or water bottles and you’ll spend $5.99 per box. It’s cheaper than having items delivered to you and often you can save over what you’d buy in store since they offer coupons and discounts.
Our answer? Yes, Amazon Prime is totally worth the cost.
Personally, I waffled for years back and forth-using free trials and then canceling before it was time to pony up the yearly fee. Eventually we decided to stick with it and we’re so happy we did.
It so easy to use Amazon to buy things we need regularly like paper towels or to purchase those last-minute items for birthdays. We used it on vacation at Disney World to save a bundle on things like water bottles. We also love the photo storage. I have the app on my phone and in a few minutes I can have all my photos saved to the cloud, accessible from all my devices, and delete them from my phone to make room for more great shots.
My Top 5 Reasons Prime Is Worth The Cost
1. Free Photo Storage: Hands down my favorite feature. Download the app and save photos straight from your phone or get the uploader or connect online to upload from your laptop. You can use it with multiple devices so ALL your photos are in one place.
2. Two Day Shipping: I don’t shop a ton, so this isn’t the #1 benefit for me, but it’s up there. I love that I can place a quick order for our favorite granola in no time flat and it will show up two days later.
3. Streaming Shows: You can stream Amazon TV shows, Amazon’s original content, and movies. Check out Transparent if you haven’t yet, it’s simply amazing and has won a slew of awards.
4. Streaming Music: So many songs and playlists to choose from!
5. Sharing Prime: You can share Prime membership with other people in your household. My husband uses it just as much as I do, and the kids can stream all kinds of great content and music. (Some people share it with other family, too even though that’s not an ‘approved’ use.)
Do you have a Prime memberhsip? Do you think it’s worth the cost?
Kelly
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Deal alert! Amazon Mom discount for new members
We remodeled 3 baths and while I was able to use contractor discount at plumbing supply store, for a surprising number of items Amazon was quite competitive as well PLUS didn’t have to wait 6-8 weeks for stuff to get shipped in (some stuff we needed sooner than later). I could get sinks in a couple days, a large mirrored medicine cabinet (shipped 3x, quickly, because the first 2 cracked, but big-box stores had same issues with their stock). For us, we also use Prime Music *a lot*, movies hardly ever and shipping has been hit+miss (it says Prime, but for some reason half the items never make it in 2 or even 3 days thanks to some loophole).
I love, love, love Amazon Prime. It has saved me so many trips to the s tore the annual fee is made up in gas savings alone.
I think it’s amazing. I use it for everything and almost always utilize “prime” for shipping. Excited to send groceries to vacation in December. I also like that you can get one Kindle book a month for free (if you like their choices). I didn’t know about the photo storage but thanks for letting us know!