How to Get Amazon Prime Membership Discounts (13 Easy Ways)

Amazon Prime is one of the most popular membership programs in the United States. As of the end of 2020, Prime had 126 million members in the US. Prime has gained this widespread popularity despite seeing its price rapidly increased from $79 to $99 and then to $119 within the last few years. Evidently, Prime offers something that a lot of people are willing to pay for.

Method	Discount / Saving
30-Day Free Trial	30 days of free trials – $13 value
30-Day Free Trials Again & Again	Up to 30 months of free trials – $390 value
Student Discount	6 months of free trials – $78 value 50% off ongoing fee
Sign up for a Monthly Plan & Then Cancel	Various
EBT or Medicaid Discount	54% off
Military Discount	34% off
Special Occasion Discount	Up to 32% off
Split Prime Membership using Amazon Household	50% off
Metro by T-Mobile Unlimited Plan	Free Prime
Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card	$70 bonus + 5% cash back
Chase Freedom Flex Credit Card	$200 bonus + 5% cash back
Discover it Cash Back Credit Card	Up to 10% cash back
Orders over $25	Free shipping
Subscribe & Save	Free shipping + up to 15% discount
Talk To Customer Service about Late Shipments	1 month free Prime – $13 value

The best way to get a discount on Amazon Prime is to sign up for a 30-Day free trial. If you do not mind the hassle, you can get multiple 30-Day free trials over and over again by using multiple email accounts to open multiple Amazon accounts and use them to sign up for multiple free trials. A Reddit user reported success in signing up for more than 30 free trials over a period of 5 years using exactly this method.

If you are a student, you can get 6 months of free trial. After that, you get a 50% discount on the Prime membership fee. If you are an EBT or Medicaid cardholder, you get a 54% discount on Prime membership.

Every now and then, Amazon holds sales on Prime memberships. Past sale events include discounts for current and former military members and discounts to celebrate a Prime Video TV show winning an Emmy or a Golden Globe. Typically, these types of special discounts are in the 30% to 35% range.

If you live with a roommate or a significant other, you can split the cost of a Prime membership with them using Amazon Household. This way, you are in effect getting a 50% discount on Prime.

If you are willing to change your cell phone carrier or plan, you can get a Prime membership for free when you sign up for the Unlimited Plan from Metro by T-Mobile.

There are also a few credit cards that will give you the biggest discounts on Prime. The Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card gives you a $70 upfront bonus to offset the cost of Prime. With the Chase Freedom Flex credit card, the upfront bonus is $200. They both will also give you up to 5% cash back on your Amazon purchases. With the Discover it Cash Back credit card, you can get a discount of up to 10% on Prime.

If it is free shipping that you are after, you can get that without paying for a Prime membership. For millions of eligible items, all you need to do is to place an order of over $25 and you will get free shipping. You can also choose the Subscribe & Save option to receive free shipping and a discount of up to 15% – again, no Prime membership is needed.

If you are already a Prime member and your shipment is late, contact Amazon customer service right away. They have been known to offer 1 month of free Prime membership as a way to make it up to you in situations like this.

1. Get a 30-Day Prime Free Trial

The easiest way to get a discount on Amazon Prime membership is through its 30-day free trial. It is open to everyone and it is always available. Amazon wants to get you hooked on Prime, so they have made the tree trial process very easy.

If you need to get a lot of shopping done within a short period of time – for example, if you are shopping after moving into a new house or doing holiday shopping – this is a great way to get Prime free shipping for your “burst” of purchases without actually paying for a Prime membership.

To sign up for a 30-day free trial:

Go to the Amazon Prime homepage
Click on the button START YOUR 30-DAY FREE TRIAL
Sign in to your Amazon account with your email address / mobile phone number and password
Make sure your Amazon account has a credit card, debit card, or Amazon gift card linked to it – you cannot use a checking account as a payment method to sign up for your free trial
You are now a Prime member

If you are sure that you do not want to pay for your Amazon Prime membership after the 30-day free trial is over, it is best to cancel immediately after you have signed up lest you forget to do so later on.

The good thing is that even if you cancel on Day 1 of your free trial, you will still get to keep the full 30 days of your free trial period. After the 30 days are up, your Prime membership will expire and your credit or debit card on file will not be charged.

The bottom line is, you should cancel Prime immediately after you have signed up. This way, you still get to keep your full 30 days of free trial and you make sure you will not be charged as a result of your forgetting to cancel later on.

To cancel your Amazon Prime membership:

Go to the Amazon website
Sign in to your Amazon account with your email address / mobile phone number and password
Mouse over Account & Lists in the upper right corner of the screen under your name
Click on Memberships & Subscriptions under the Your Account heading on the drop down menu that appears
Select Manage Subscription next to Amazon Prime
Click the link under Advance Controls to be directed to the main Prime page
Select Update, Cancel, and more, and follow the on-screen instructions to end your Prime membership
Alternatively, go to this page, and click on the End Membership button there

Now that you are a Prime member, you can order as many things as you want and enjoy free unlimited same-day, 1-day, and 2-day shipping. And you can also watch Amazon Prime videos for free.

When your 30-day free trial is over, your Prime membership will be terminated.

Very often, after you cancel your Prime membership, Amazon will email you and ask if you would like another 30 days of free trial. Just click Yes and enjoy another 30 days of Prime membership for free.

By taking advantage of these trials, you can easily get 30 to 60 days of Prime membership for free.

2. Get Prime Free Trials Again and Again

Using the method outlined in the section above, you can get 30 to 60 days of Prime membership for free.

It turns out you can repeat that method over and over again to get free trials of Prime for more than 60 days. The key is to use multiple email addresses to sign up multiple Amazon accounts and then use those multiple Amazon accounts to sign up for multiple Prime free trials.

Some people on the Internet have reported that they have successfully used this method to get free Amazon Prime for months and years.

To get Prime free trials again and again, follow the steps below:

Open a new email account – you can use any one of the web email services such as Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Hotmail, Gmail, and more
- Do NOT use any of those fake email address services such as Temp Mail or Guerrilla Mail that do not give you an actual personal email inbox. You need to have a personal inbox to confirm your Prime free trial and to check the status of your Amazon orders
- Most web email services such as Yahoo and Gmail have a limit on the number of email accounts you can open using the same phone number. When you hit that limit, simply move on to the next web email service. There are literally hundreds of such services on the web. You will never run out of them
To keep track of all the usernames and passwords of the multiple email accounts and Amazon accounts you are going to open and maintain, you can rely on the password managers of your web browser. Alternatively, you can get a standalone dedicated password manager such as LastPass or Dashlane
Use your new email account, sign up for a new Amazon account
Use your new Amazon account, sign up for a new Amazon Prime free trial (see the section above)
Cancel your newly enrolled Amazon Prime free trial (see the section above)
Enjoy your 30 days of Amazon Prime membership for free
After your free trial is over, go to Step 1. Open a new email account, use it to open a new Amazon account, and use that to sign up for a new Amazon Prime free trial
Rinse and repeat

A user on Reddit reported that they have used the method described above to get more than 30 free trials of Amazon Prime by using more than 30 different email addresses over a period of about 5 years. That represented a potential saving of $390 (30 * $12.99) over 5 years.

Tip: If you run into problems when trying to repeatedly sign up for Prime free trials, try typing your address differently inyour new Amazon account. For example, if you have the word “street” in your address you can try typing “St.” instead. Some people have reported success with this trick.

3. Get a Student Discount & 6 Months of Free Trial

Amazon offers Prime memberships to students at a steep discount. As a student, you can get Prime for just $6.49 per month or $59 per year. That is a 50% discount on Prime’s regular price of $12.99 per month or $119 per year.

What is even better than the 50% discounted Prime subscription fee is that when you sign up for Prime as a student, you will get 6 months of free trial. This is 6 times longer than the 30 days of free trial you would get as a non-student.

The Prime Student membership offers all the benefits of the regular Prime membership – free same-day, 1-day, and 2-day shipping, streaming of TV shows and movies, photo storage, Prime Music, Prime Gaming, Prime Reading, and more.

To be eligible for Prime Student:

You must be actively enrolled in at least 1 class at a college or university – high school students are NOT eligible for Prime Student
Your school must be in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico

Before you sign up for a Prime Student membership, you would need:

An email address ending in .edu
A valid credit card, debit card, or Amazon gift card

To sign up for Prime Student, follow the steps below:

Go to Prime Student sign-up page
Click on TRY PRIME STUDENT
Fill out the application form – including your name, the name of your school, your date of birth, your graduation year, and your payment method
Enter your student email address ending in .edu
Amazon will send a verification link to your .edu email address. Sign in to your email account and click on that link to verify your email and complete the sign-up process
When your 6 months of free trial is over, your debit / credit / gift card on file will be automatically charged for your Prime Student membership

The .edu email address you have to give in Step 4 above does not have to be the email address associated with your Amazon account. It is only used to verify your status as a student. You can still use a Yahoo or Gmail address for your Amazon account.

For the vast majority of the time, you will not need to do anything more than providing a .edu email address to prove your status as a student. But on extremely rare occasions, Amazon may ask you for paperwork to prove your status as a student. If that happens, you would need one or several of the following documents:

Acceptance letter from your school
Copy of school transcripts
Student ID with an expiration date

Your Prime Student membership will last at most 4 years. After 4 years, or the end of your studies (whichever comes first), your Prime Student membership will convert to a normal Prime membership at the end of the membership year for the annual fee applicable then.

4. Sign up for a Monthly Plan & Then Cancel

Amazon offers Prime in 2 plans – annual and monthly. The annual plan costs $119 per year, which works out to approximately $10 per month. The monthly plan costs $12.99 per month.

On the surface, the annual plan with its $10 per month average cost is a better deal than the monthly plan with its $13 per month cost. If you plan on keeping your Prime membership for a while – 10 months or more – the annual plan is definitely the better deal for you.

On the other hand, if you only need Prime for a short period of time (9 months or less), you would be better off opting for the monthly plan and then cancel it when you do not need it anymore.

For example, if you just want Prime for your holiday shopping or binge watching a few TV shows on Prime Video, you would save money by getting the monthly Prime plan for a few months and then cancel it when you no longer need it.

5. Get an EBT or Medicaid Discount

If you receive EBT or Medicaid benefits, you are eligible for a discounted Amazon Prime membership costing just $5.99 per month. That is a 54% discount on the regular monthly Prime price of $12.99.

Before you sign up for a discounted Prime membership in this way, you would need:

A valid EBT card, OR
A valid Medicaid card

To sign up, follow the steps below:

Go to the Amazon Prime sign-up page for recipients of government assistance programs
Click on GET STARTED
Choose how you want to qualify for the government assistance recipient discount – EBT or Medicaid – by clicking on either the EBT or Medicaid button. If you have both, you can choose either one
Enter your EBT or Medicaid number, select the issuing state of your EBT or Medicaid card, and then upload an image of your EBT or Medicaid card
Click Save off Prime
You are all set

You will need to re-qualify for this discount every 12 months by submitting an image of your updated EBT or Medicaid card. Amazon will send you an email when it is time to re-submit your document.

You can receive this discount for up to 4 years from the date you sign up.

6. Wait for a Military Discount

This is not a regular offering, but Amazon has been known to offer discounted Prime memberships to current and former military members every now and then.

For example, Amazon offered a $40 military discount for Prime for a few days around Veterans Day in 2019 (Nov. 6 – 11, 2019.) During that time, current and former members of the military were able to sign up for Prime for $79 per year instead of the usual $119. That amounted to a 34% discount.

7. Wait for a Special Occasion Discount

Besides military discounts, Amazon may also offer discounts on Prime memberships on special occasions. This does not happen regularly or all that frequently, but you can typically find it once a year or so.

Past special occasion discounts include:

Emmy Awards – When Amazon Prime Video’s hit comedy Transparent took home 5 Emmys at the 67th annual Emmy Awards, Amazon announced that Prime annual memberships would be discounted to $67 to celebrate that occasion. This was 32% off the then regular price of $99. That sale only lasted for 24 hours
Golden Globe Awards – When Amazon Prime Video’s TV show Mozart in the Jungle won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical and the show’s actor Garcia Bernal won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical, Amazon dropped the price of Prime’s annual memberships to $73 to celebrate. This was 26% off the then regular price of $99

As you can see, these sales on Prime memberships are quite unpredictable. But usually, they can be found during TV awards seasons. So pay attention and actively seek out any news of discounts during the months of Emmy Awards (in September every year) and Golden Globe Awards (January or February every year.)

8. Split an Amazon Prime Membership Using Amazon Household

If you live with another adult such as a roommate or a significant other, you can sign up for Amazon Household and split the cost of a Prime membership with the other adult you live with.

An Amazon Household can contain the following members:

Adults: Up to 2 adults, each with their own Amazon account. Each adult can use the shared Prime account to get free shipping and stream free digital media
Teens: Up to 4 teens (ages 13 through 17) – Each teen can use the shared Prime account to get free shipping and to stream free digital media while still keeping the adults in the Household informed. The adults in an Amazon Household will be able to approve or deny any shopping orders made by the teens with a simple text message
Children: Up to 4 children – children can’t shop on Amazon but they can stream free digital content (eBooks, apps, and games) shared by the adults. The adults can control and personalize each child’s experience by selecting what content they can see and setting educational goals and time limits

If you split the cost of Prime evenly with the other adult in your Amazon Household, you are in effect getting a 50% discount on Prime.

To create or manage your Amazon Household, follow the steps below:

Go to the Amazon Household homepage
Sign in to your Amazon account with your email address / mobile phone number and password
To add an adult to your Amazon Household, click on Add Adult and fill out the form
To add a teen to your Amazon Household, click on Add a Teen and fill out the form
To add a child to your Amazon Household, click on Add a Child and fill out the form

9. Sign Up for the Unlimited Plan from Metro by T-Mobile

The Unlimited Plan from Metro by T-Mobile includes Amazon Prime for free.

For $60 per month, you will get 1 cell phone line, unlimited high-speed data, 15 GB of Hotspot data, 100 GB storage on Google One, and an Amazon Prime membership included.

For $90 per month, you will get 2 phone lines instead of 1. For $120 per month, you will get 4 phone lines.

If you are not already a customer of Metro by T-Mobile, you will need to go to a Metro by T-Mobile bricks and mortar store to sign up for this plan. You can use the online Metro by T-Mobile Store Locator to find a store close to you.

If you are already a customer of Metro by T-Mobile but are currently subscribing to a different cell phone plan, you can upgrade to the Unlimited Plan online.

Go to the Unlimited Plan homepage
Click on the Upgrade My Plan button
Sign in to your account using your Metro by T-Mobile phone number and account PIN
Follow the online instructions to upgrade your phone plan to Unlimited Plan

10. Use Rewards Credit Cards

You can take advantage of various cash back and rewards credit cards to in effect get discounts on Amazon Prime memberships. While any rewards or cash back credit cards will help, some cards are a particularly good match for Amazon Prime. The list below contains some of the best credit cards for this purpose.

Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card

To apply for the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Card, you will need to be a Prime member.

But as soon as you are approved for this credit card, you will get a $70 Amazon Gift Card instantly. You do not even have to make any purchases with your credit card – you will get your $70 gift card right away.

With that free $70 gift card, in effect, you are getting a $70 discount on your Amazon Prime membership.

And going forward, every time you use this card to pay for your purchases on Amazon, you will get a 5% cash back. If you buy enough things on Amazon, you could easily pay for your Prime membership cost with the $70 sign-up bonus and the ongoing 5% cash back of this credit card.

How To Apply: Apply here
How To Get Discount: Get a free $70 Amazon gift card upon approval & ongoing 5% cash back
Annual Fee: $0 – but you need to be a Prime member to apply
One-Time Bonus: $70 Amazon gift card upon approval
Ongoing Cash Back: 1%, 2%, 5% cash back depending on categories
- 5% at Amazon and Whole Foods Market
- 2% at restaurants, gas stations, and drugstores
- 1% on all other purchases
Purchase APR
- Intro APR: None
- Regular APR: 14.24% to 22.24%, based on your creditworthiness
Cash Advance APR: 24.99%

Chase Freedom Flex Credit Card

The Chase Freedom Flex credit card is one of the most lucrative credit cards from Chase.

With this credit card, you get 5% cash back, but only on Lyft rides and the first $1,500 in combined purchases in select rotating quarterly bonus categories. But how does that help you with your Prime membership?

The trick here is to time your purchase of Prime membership so that Amazon is rotated into one of the “5% bonus categories” when you make your purchase. If you are willing to wait for the right time to make your Prime membership purchase, you will get a 5% cash back, effectively getting a 5% discount on your Prime membership.

Amazon was last rotated into one of the “5% bonus categories” in Q3 2020 (July to September.) It is unclear when it will be rotated into one of the bonus categories again. If you are planning on using this card to get a discount on a Prime membership, you need to pay attention closely.

How To Apply: Apply here
How To Get Discount: Wait till Amazon becomes a bonus category to get 5% cash back on your Prime membership purchase
Annual Fee: $0
One-Time Bonus: $200 + 5%
- $200 after spending $500 in your first 3 months from account opening
- 5% cash back on up to $12,000 of grocery store purchases (not including Target or Walmart purchases, but including grocery delivery services such as Instacart and Shipt) in your first year
Ongoing Cash Back: 1%, 3%, 5% cash back depending on categories
- 5% on Lyft rides
- 5% on the first $1,500 in combined purchases in select rotating quarterly bonus categories (activation required)
- 5% on travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 3% at drugstores & dining including takeout and eligible delivery services
- 1% on all other purchases
Purchase APR
- Intro APR: 0% for 15 month
- Regular APR: 14.99% to 23.74%, based on your creditworthiness
Cash Advance APR: 24.99%

Discover it Cash Back Credit Card

Just like the Chase Freedom Flex credit card, the Discover it Cash Back credit card also gives you 5% cash back on bonus categories that change every 3 months.

If you time your purchase of Prime membership so that Amazon is rotated into one of the “5% bonus categories” when you make your purchase, you will get a 5% cash back, effectively getting a 5% discount on your Prime membership.

According to the 5% Cash Back Bonus Calendar published by Discover, Amazon will become a bonus category in Q4 2021 (September to December of 2021.) So, if you wait until Q4 2021 and then use your Discover it card to buy a Prime membership, you will get a 5% discount on your Prime membership.

Even better, this card will also give you an unlimited dollar-for-dollar match of all the cash back you have earned at the end of your first year. In effect, this will double your cash back in your first year.

So, if you use this card to buy a Prime membership during the first year you have this card and when Amazon is a bonus category, you will be getting 10% cash back (2 x 5%), effectively getting a 10% discount on your Prime membership.

How To Apply: Apply here
How To Get Discount: Wait till Amazon becomes a bonus category to get 5% cash back on your Prime membership purchase
Annual Fee: $0
One-Time Bonus: 2x cash back matching at the end of your 1^st year
Ongoing Cash Back: 1% & 5% cash back depending on categories
- 5% on the first $1,500 in combined purchases in select rotating quarterly bonus categories (activation required)
- 1% on all other purchases
Purchase APR
- Intro APR: 0% for 14 month
- Regular APR: 11.99% to 22.99%, based on your creditworthiness
Cash Advance APR: 24.99%

11. Get Free Shipping by Spending More Than $25

For many people, the main benefit of a Prime membership is the free shipping that comes with it. All the other benefits – the TV shows, movies, music, ebook, gaming, photo storage, and more – are the icing on the cake but not the essential benefits.

The good news is, you do not have to have a Prime membership in order to get free shipping at Amazon.

Amazon offers free shipping to millions of eligible items on its website, all without the need to have a Prime membership. To qualify for this type of free shipping, you just need to buy at least $25 of eligible items in one order.

Besides having a $25 order minimum, another downside of this type of non-Prime free shipping is its relatively slow delivery speed. Your order will typically be delivered 5 to 8 days after all your items are available to ship, including pre-order items.

To place a free shipping order:

Add at least $25 of eligible items to your Shopping Cart
Proceed to checkout
Enter a U.S.-eligible delivery address. Note that some items shipped to Alaska or Hawaii may not be eligible for non-Prime free shipping
Select FREE Shipping

12. Get Free Shipping & Discounts With Subscribe & Save

Another way to get free shipping without paying for Prime membership is by using Amazon’s Subscribe & Save service.

When you subscribe to, instead of buy, a product at Amazon, you are telling Amazon to ship that product to you on a regular basis. In return, you will get a discount of up to 15% on that product. In addition, you will get free shipping even if your subscription order is less than the normal $25 threshold for non-Prime free shipping.

To get discounts and free shipping on Amazon through its Subscribe & Save service:

Go to the Subscribe & Save homepage
Search and browse for products you want to subscribe to
When you have found a product you want to subscribe to, click over to its product page
In the “Buy Box” on the right side of the page, select the radio button Subscribe & Save
In the “Buy Box”, select the quantity of the product you want to be sent to you in each shipment as well as the frequency of the shipment, e.g. Deliver every 2 weeks, 1 month, 4 months, etc
Click Set Up Now
You are all set

In advance of each delivery, Amazon will send you a reminder email showing the items, price, and any applicable discount for your upcoming delivery.

If you want to skip your deliveries or cancel your subscriptions at any time, you can do so online.

To skip your next Subscribe & Save delivery:

Go to your Subscribe & Save Manager
Hover over the subscription for the item you would like to skip
Click Skip next delivery

To cancel your Subscribe & Save subscription:

Go to your Subscribe & Save Manager
Hover over the subscription you would like to cancel and click Edit
Click Cancel subscription, then click Confirm cancellation

13. Talk To Customer Service about Late Shipments

If you are already a Prime member and you have a shipment that arrived late, outside of Amazon’s promised delivery window, you should contact Amazon’s customer service right away. Amazon’s customer service reps have been known to offer an additional month of Prime membership for free as a way to make up for a late delivery.

You can contact Amazon’s customer service either by phone or online:

Phone: 1 (888) 280-4331
Online Chat: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/contact-us/