Unlock Your Amazon Prime Membership: A Comprehensive Guide to Hidden Perks

There's a good chance that you initially purchased your Amazon Prime membership to get free two-day shipping. But there are dozens of additional perks that can be tricky to find—and considering the cost of an annual membership, you're doing yourself a disservice if you aren't taking advantage of all of them. I'm here to help you get your money's worth—especially ahead of Amazon Prime Day, which will run from June 23 to 26.

Below, I've listed the benefits you should be using as an Amazon Prime member. Arguably, these incentives alone aren't worth the cost of a membership, but chances are at least one of them will come in handy.

Amazon has had more than its fair share of debacles. But there are still an estimated 201 million members in the United States. If you're one of the hundreds of millions of folks with a Prime membership, these perks are worth checking out.

Updated June 2026: I've ensured coverage, pricing, and links are accurate ahead of Amazon Prime Day.

What’s Amazon Prime, and How Much Does It Cost?

Amazon Prime is a premium membership to Amazon.com. If you've never had a membership before, you can try it free for 30 days. This trial automatically renews, so set a reminder on your phone to reassess, and make sure to cancel if you don't want to continue your membership.

Amazon Prime costs $139 per year. You can pay $15 per month instead, but that raises the cost of the membership to $180 annually, so you'll save more money by paying annually. Eighteen- to 24-year-olds can get Prime for Young Adults (formerly called Prime Student), which is $69 annually or $7.50 per month after an extended six-month free trial. Prime for Young Adults has an exclusive cash-back program that lets members earn rewards on select purchases. Usually, they earn around 5 percent, but some shopping events bump up that rate.

Finally, some customers are eligible for Prime Access, a discounted Prime membership that cuts the subscription cost in half. If you verify that you receive qualifying SNAP benefits or other government assistance, you can get Amazon Prime for $7 per month. Note that Prime Access members have to reverify eligibility once per year, and can only use Prime Access for four years total before they need to choose a different membership.

Basic Amazon Prime Benefits

Prime members are eligible for free next-day shipping on millions of items and free two-day shipping on millions more. Depending on where you live, you may also be eligible for free same-day delivery or free Amazon Locker pickup. Other Amazon-owned stores also offer free and/or expedited shipping to Prime members, including ShopBop, Woot, and Zappos. Some merchants offer Buy with Prime at checkout, which lets you complete a purchase using your Amazon account instead of signing up for a new account entirely. It seems like more of a convenience than a benefit, but it may be appealing to some shoppers.

Prime members get free Amazon Music Prime, which pulls playlists and podcasts from a selection of 100 million songs and serves them ad-free. Members are also eligible for discounted subscriptions to Amazon Music Unlimited, a separate pick-and-play service like Apple Music or Spotify that offers on-demand access to 70 million songs. Normally, it costs $13 monthly, but Prime members can get it for $12 per month.

Prime Video is also included with your membership. There are some killer originals, like Fallout and The Boys, in addition to other movies and shows. You can also stream sports on Prime Video, including NFL Thursday Night Football and select MMA fights. Purchased as a stand-alone subscription, Prime Video costs $9 per month. Note that, sadly, these plans include commercials. If you're a Prime member and you want to go ad-free, it'll cost another $5 per month.

Prime Day

I’d be remiss to gloss over Amazon’s members-only event, Prime Day. The semi-annual “holiday” has outperformed both Black Friday and Cyber Monday in years past, but not every Prime Day deal is actually a bargain. The WIRED Reviews team always covers the event to make good deals easier to find—our coverage is unique because we only write about deals on products we have personally tested and can verify are great buys, rather than flooding our roundups with questionable third-party brands. This year, Prime Day will take place June 23 through 26, and we anticipate a secondary Prime Day event kicking off in the fall. Our team will cover the best-of-the-best deals throughout the event.

Exclusive Deals

Even outside of Prime Day, Amazon Prime members are eligible for special members-only discounts. You might be able to knock off a few bucks from your portable charger purchase, use a coupon on household essentials, or find lower prices on new Amazon devices. Individual discounts vary, but we see these sorts of promotions pretty frequently—and, as with Prime Day, not all of them are good.

Early-Access Lightning Deals

Both during and outside of special events like Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, Prime members get early access to select Lightning Deals. You'll be able to shop 30 minutes before other customers. Whether Lightning Deals are worth your money is another discussion entirely, but it's a perk worth checking out.

Amazon Day Delivery

Overwhelmed by the sheer number of boxes at your door? (Honestly, as a product reviewer, I feel that.) Amazon Day delivery lets you schedule all of your deliveries to arrive on a certain day of the week. Rather than dealing with a box or two at a time on multiple days, you can get one package with all of your orders on whatever day you prefer. If you use Amazon Day delivery, you aren't locked in. That means if you're ordering something you need quickly, you can still opt for the fastest shipping method. Amazon Day delivery is a good way to cut back on all that extra cardboard (and your carbon footprint).

No-Rush Rewards

If you don't need your order to arrive right away, sometimes at checkout you'll see the option for free No-Rush Shipping. You might get a free digital credit to use on things like ebooks or digital games, or you might get an instant discount off your order. (You can't choose which of the two you'll get.) Be aware that sometimes rewards expire after a certain duration.

Alexa+

Prime members get free access to Alexa+, which is the newest version of Amazon's voice assistant. It uses generative AI and will cost $20 per month for non-Prime members when it leaves Early Access. According to Amazon, you'll be able to talk naturally, phrase requests however you'd like, receive tailored recommendations based on your preferences, create bedtime stories, and more.

Grubhub+

Amazon Prime members get free access to Grubhub+, which includes free delivery on some delivery orders, plus an assortment of Prime-exclusive discounts at a selection of restaurants throughout the year.

Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, and Amazon Grocery

Amazon Fresh lets you order groceries via Amazon and get them delivered to your door. It's not available in all areas, but it is a different way to shop if you're trying to avoid in-person trips. You also get a selection of products from Whole Foods available through Amazon Fresh. If you're shopping at Whole Foods in person, you can scan the smartphone app to get an extra 10 percent off storewide sales and make use of other member discounts available throughout the year.

There's a separate Amazon Grocery subscription that costs $10 a month or $99 a year. If you have SNAP or EBT benefits, you can get 50 percent off the monthly plan. This subscription gets you unlimited free grocery delivery on orders over $25 or more from Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh, and some local retailers.

Amazon Family

Amazon Family is a great way to share benefits among multiple people who live together. You can share membership perks with up to two adults, four teens (ages 13 to 17, who were added prior to April 2025, or after January 1, 2026, where available), and four children. Parents can use this benefit to approve teens' orders or set up parental controls on kids' content. These perks only extend to people who live at the same residence.

Amazon First Reads

Each month, Prime members can benefit from Amazon First Reads. You'll get at least one Kindle book from the selection for free. Nonmembers can get their two books for $2 apiece. As a reminder, you can read Kindle books even if you don't have a Kindle device, thanks to the free app available for phones and computers. (We also have a buying guide to help you pick the right Kindle.)

Prime Reading

In addition to First Reads, Prime members get access to tons of Kindle books via Prime Reading. There are more than a thousand items to choose from. Aside from books, you can access audiobooks and magazines, plus comics via Comixology.

Prime Gaming and Amazon Luna

Every month, Prime members are eligible for various rewards via Prime Gaming (formerly called Twitch Prime). The page redirects to Amazon Luna now, but you can still keep claiming your monthly rewards … you just also get access to Amazon Luna Standard, a cloud gaming service, if you want it. Amazon Luna gets you free access to many popular titles, though streaming games can be a little buggy. Prime Gaming includes in-game loot in a variety of popular games, free game downloads, free downloadable content (DLC) and expansions, premium currency, and more. You also get a free Twitch subscription, which are subscriptions to individual Twitch streamers (normally these “Twitch subs” cost money). With the free subscription you get from Amazon Prime, you can support channels you enjoy—creators make some money off the subscription, but it won't cost you anything extra.

$10 off Game Preorders

This discount used to be much better, but it's still worth looking into if you are in the market for a new video game. Occasionally, Prime members can receive $10 off when they preorder a game. Eligible titles show up here when they're available. Some video games also have free Release Day Delivery—just look for that shipping option when preordering a game.

Unlimited Online Photo Storage

Prime members get access to unlimited full-resolution photo storage, and 5 gigabytes of video storage as well. You can store, print, and share photos using the Amazon Photos app and back everything up to the cloud. (Printing is done through Shutterfly, where Prime members get a 45 percent discount and free shipping on orders over $35.) If your account ever loses Prime status, you'll need to pay at least $2 per month to keep storing your photos and videos, so this shouldn't be your primary backup method. You might want to consider using one of these options, too.

Discounted Amazon Kids+

Amazon Kids+ (formerly called FreeTime Unlimited) is Amazon's content service for kids. The service is compatible with several iOS, Android, and Amazon devices, like Fire tablets. It provides a bevy of parental controls while giving kiddos access to age-appropriate shows, books, games, and the like. Amazon Kids+ costs $8 per month, but Prime members can snag the subscription for $6 per month (or $79 and $48 per year, respectively).

Fuel Savings

By linking your Amazon Prime account to Earnify, a loyalty app owned by BP, you can save at least 10 cents per gallon on fuel at over 7,500 participating gas stations locations.

Additional Perks for Specific Customers

Expecting a new addition to your family? Select Prime members can claim a free Baby Registry Welcome Box by creating a registry that has at least 10 unique items and $10 worth of purchases (by themselves or others). Learn more here.

Prime RX offers select customers discounts on prescription medications. It's a prescription savings card that can be used at pharmacies nationwide, including Amazon Pharmacy. These savings programs are nothing new—one similar program is GoodRx—and one may argue that giving Amazon information about your medications adds another layer to privacy concerns. However, the benefit is free if you do decide to use it, and it may be worth checking out if you pay a lot out of pocket for prescription medications.