Jon Fingas / Android Authority
TL;DR
- For only the third time ever, the Amazon Prime price is increasing in the United States. The increase is by $20 annually or $2 monthly.
- The change will affect both new and current members but at different times.
- The last time prices increased was in 2018 when it jumped from $99 to the $119 it is today.
Amazon Prime is an incredibly popular subscription service. Used by 200 million people, it allows for free two-day shipping of Amazon items, access to streaming libraries of film, TV shows, and music, among many other perks.
For annual memberships, Amazon Prime will increase from $119 per year to $139 per year. For monthly memberships, the increase will go from $12.99 monthly to $14.99 monthly.
So far, the price increase appears to only affect customers in the United States. However, it is possible other areas of the world could see changes at some point in the future.
Amazon Prime price increases: Who does it affect and when?
These new Amazon Prime prices affect both new and current customers. New customers will see the new prices on February 18, 2022. Current customers will see the change a bit later on March 25, 2022.
In other words, if you are not currently an Amazon Prime member but would like to be one, you should sign up before February 18 to save $20. If you are currently a Prime member and your yearly renewal will happen before March 25, you’ll get one more year at the current $119 price. Next time, though, you’ll see a $139 renewal.
This is only the third time the Amazon Prime price increased in the US. Originally, Prime membership was $79, a price that lasted nearly a decade. In 2014, the company increased the price for the first time to $99. In 2018, it increased the price again to $119, where it’s stayed for the past four years.
Judging from the trend, it looks like Amazon is planning to increase pricing for Prime by $20 every four years or so. However, in its earnings report, the company pointed to “the continued expansion of Prime member benefits as well as the rise in wages and transportation costs” as the reasoning behind today’s increase announcement.
