Is Amazon Prime worth it?

Prime's current annual rate is the result of a 17% price bump in the spring of 2022 (from $119 to $139), which wasn't totally unexpected: Amazon has increased its membership fees by $20 every four years since 2014 . But that's still a significant cost to eat in these weird economic times — especially when <a href="https://zdcs.link/AOvXq?pageview_type=Standard&amp%3Btemplate=article&amp%3Bmodule=content_body&amp%3Belement=offer&amp%3Bitem=text-link&amp%3Belement_label=Walmart&amp%3Bobject_type=article&amp%3Bobject_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&amp%3Bshort_url=AOvXq&amp%3Bu=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know&template=article&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Walmart&object_type=article&object_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&short_url=AOvXq&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="(opens in a new window)">Walmart and <a href="https://zdcs.link/0b4pN?pageview_type=Standard&amp%3Btemplate=article&amp%3Bmodule=content_body&amp%3Belement=offer&amp%3Bitem=text-link&amp%3Belement_label=Best%20Buy&amp%3Bobject_type=article&amp%3Bobject_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&amp%3Bshort_url=0b4pN&amp%3Bu=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know&template=article&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Best%20Buy&object_type=article&object_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&short_url=0b4pN&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="(opens in a new window)">Best Buy 's rivaling subscription services cost $98 and $49.99 per year, respectively. It may help to know that Prime easily pays for itself if you use it to its full extent. Free two-day (or faster) shipping on millions of items is just the tip of the iceberg: Subscribers get complete on-demand access to <a href="https://zdcs.link/YDrlR?pageview_type=Standard&amp%3Btemplate=article&amp%3Bmodule=content_body&amp%3Belement=offer&amp%3Bitem=text-link&amp%3Belement_label=Prime%20Video&amp%3Bobject_type=article&amp%3Bobject_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&amp%3Bshort_url=YDrlR&amp%3Bu=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know&template=article&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Prime%20Video&object_type=article&object_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&short_url=YDrlR&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="(opens in a new window)">Prime Video , which has the biggest movie and TV library of all the major U.S. streaming services . (A $139 annual Prime membership is about $45 cheaper than a year's worth of a Standard Netflix plan.) You also have free rein of the <a href="https://zdcs.link/8OYr7?pageview_type=Standard&amp%3Btemplate=article&amp%3Bmodule=content_body&amp%3Belement=offer&amp%3Bitem=text-link&amp%3Belement_label=Prime%20Music&amp%3Bobject_type=article&amp%3Bobject_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&amp%3Bshort_url=8OYr7&amp%3Bu=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know&template=article&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Prime%20Music&object_type=article&object_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&short_url=8OYr7&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="(opens in a new window)">Prime Music , <a href="https://zdcs.link/JJM3N?pageview_type=Standard&amp%3Btemplate=article&amp%3Bmodule=content_body&amp%3Belement=offer&amp%3Bitem=text-link&amp%3Belement_label=Prime%20Gaming&amp%3Bobject_type=article&amp%3Bobject_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&amp%3Bshort_url=JJM3N&amp%3Bu=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know&template=article&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Prime%20Gaming&object_type=article&object_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&short_url=JJM3N&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="(opens in a new window)">Prime Gaming , and <a href="https://zdcs.link/XbAlR?pageview_type=Standard&amp%3Btemplate=article&amp%3Bmodule=content_body&amp%3Belement=offer&amp%3Bitem=text-link&amp%3Belement_label=Prime%20Reading&amp%3Bobject_type=article&amp%3Bobject_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&amp%3Bshort_url=XbAlR&amp%3Bu=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know&template=article&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Prime%20Reading&object_type=article&object_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&short_url=XbAlR&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="(opens in a new window)">Prime Reading libraries, in case you somehow run out of things to watch. Amazon sweetens things even further with unlimited photo storage via <a href="https://zdcs.link/GyqxK?pageview_type=Standard&amp%3Btemplate=article&amp%3Bmodule=content_body&amp%3Belement=offer&amp%3Bitem=text-link&amp%3Belement_label=Amazon%20Photos&amp%3Bobject_type=article&amp%3Bobject_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&amp%3Bshort_url=GyqxK&amp%3Bu=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know&template=article&module=content_body&element=offer&item=text-link&element_label=Amazon%20Photos&object_type=article&object_uuid=021GMBMBI2cCTSZOcIhfGnL&short_url=GyqxK&u=https%3A%2F%2Fmashable.com%2Farticle%2Fprime-day-everything-you-need-to-know" rel="sponsored" target="_blank" title="(opens in a new window)">Amazon Photos , plus a free Grubhub+ subscription that's valued at about $120 per year.

Amazon announces Prime Day dates: Everything you need to know

Credit: Mashable Composite; Shutterstock / Master1305

UPDATE: Jun. 25, 2024, 12:00 p.m. EDT We've updated this story with new info about Amazon Prime Day 2024, including its dates and some details about a competing sale at Walmart.

Amazon Prime Day is turning 10 this year, and the members-only sale is poised to be a huge draw for sticker shock-weary shoppers on the hunt for summer deals. (Granted, not every deal is worth it.)

Here's what you need to know about Amazon Prime Day 2024 — including some just-confirmed dates.

When is Prime Day 2024?

Amazon announced in a press release Tuesday that Prime Day will run from Tuesday, July 16 through Wednesday, July 17 in 2024. This lines up with its historical preference for early-week slots in mid-July, so it comes as little surprise. (For reference, Prime Day 2022 was live from Tuesday, July 12 through Wednesday, July 13, and Prime Day 2023 ran from Tuesday, June 11 through Wednesday, July 12.)

What is Prime Day?

Prime Day is an annual sitewide sale open to paid and trial members of Amazon's Prime subscription service. First held in 2015 in honor of Amazon's 20th anniversary (with mixed success), it was originally plugged as a "one-day-only event filled with more deals than Black Friday." In the years since, it's morphed into a 48-hour affair that's preceded by weeks of preview offers. "Prime Day" is a misnomer at this point.

For the past two years, Amazon has hosted another major two-day sale for Prime members in October, teeing up its Black Friday festivities. (The 2022 version was called "Prime Early Access Sale," and it was renamed to "Prime Big Deal Days" in 2023.) However, the summer iteration of Prime Day has remained Amazon's flagship sale.

What to expect from Prime Day

Prime Day is Black Friday-coded in the sense that it's prime time for finding unprecedented price drops that you wouldn't see otherwise throughout the year. We can loosely predict what products will be on sale for Prime Day 2024 by looking back at last year's hot items in categories like robot vacuums, headphones, and Amazon devices.

With the Kindle Paperwhite dropping below $100 in 2023, for example, we'd love to see our new favorite Kindle, the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, hit or beat its Black Friday price of $129.99. Between a smart mapping Roomba dropping below $200 and a j Series Roomba with small obstacle avoidance dropping below $300 (and staying there for much of spring 2024), a j Series Roomba scooting under the $250 point seems like the natural next step for the robot vacuum section.

If you're eyeing Apple deals, Prime Day 2024 should be especially good for them. The past year has been packed with Apple events introducing new iPhones, MacBooks, and Apple Watches; Apple most recently announced a new iPad Air, iPad Pro, Apple Pencil Pro, and Magic Keyboard at its iPad-centric event on May 10. The mere existence of all this new gear could definitely trigger new record-low prices on all of the older versions of these devices, pushing Apple Watch 9 or 2023 MacBook discounts past their $100-ish plateaus.

Amazon devices themselves might have a similar story. Amazon device deals are always at the heart of Prime Day, but after a new version of almost every single Alexa-enabled device came out at the Amazon event in Sept. 2023, there are a ton of new Amazon devices ripe for the picking for Prime Day 2024. Cross your fingers for a $79.99 Echo Show 8, $49.99 Echo, or $199.99 Echo Frames.

If you're A Chosen One, Amazon's invite-only deals for Prime members are really where it's at. October Prime Day's selection was a doozy, offering 60% off two Fire TVs and 62% off Jabra earbuds and a Sony soundbar. During Prime Day in July 2023, the star of the invite-only section was a 43-inch Omni Fire TV rocking a 75% discount, bringing it below $100.

For Prime Day 2024, we wouldn't be surprised to see the mega invite-only discount focus divert from the 43-inch to 55-inch range and focus on bigger models, like a 65-inch or 75-inch Fire TV from Hisense. Invite-only deals could be announced as early as June, as extra time is needed for shoppers to request and be granted access by the time Prime Day actually starts.

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Can you shop on Prime Day without being a Prime member?

Not all Prime Day deals are officially tied to the sale, but to have access to the most possible savings, you will want to be a Prime member.

You can participate in Prime Day without committing to a paid Prime membership by scheduling a 30-day free trial around the event. Just remember to cancel it as soon as the sale is over to avoid getting charged.

Who's competing with Prime Day?

At this point, it's traditional for other major retailers to conveniently hold sales right before, during, and right after Prime Day.

Last year, that included Best Buy's Black Friday in July sale which took place from July 10 to 12, Walmart+ Week from July 10 to 13, and Target Circle Week from July 9 to July 15. (As a reminder, last year's Prime Day ran from July 11 to 12.) Both Walmart and Target just happened to hold big spring sale events around the time Amazon was running its Big Spring Sale, so we're expecting no less competition-wise for the summer blowouts. Beyond expanded sale times, these retailers can offer better deals on certain categories like QLED TVs, high-end laptops, and home essentials.

So far, only Walmart has confirmed its plans for its summer sale. The big-box store will host an event called "Walmart Deals" online and on the Walmart app from Monday, July 8 through Thursday, July 11 — aka the week before Prime Day. The sale is being billed as Walmart's "largest deals event ever," and will feature five hours of early access for paid Walmart+ members before it opens to the public at 5 p.m. ET on the 8th. Here's a preview of some of the best featured deals, per a press release:

TCL 65-inch Class Q 4K QLED TV — $398 ~~$699.99~~ (save $301.99)
HP Victus 15-fb2082wm (AMD Ryzen 5 8645HS, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD) — $599 ~~$979~~ (save $380)
Dyson V12 Detect Slim — $449.99 ~~$649.99~~ (save $200)
Samsung Galaxy Watch4 Classic (Bluetooth, 46mm) — $99 ~~$379.99~~ (save $280.99)
TCL Breeva A1 Air Purifier — $29.99 ~~$89.99~~ (save $60)
GE Profile Opal 2.0 Nugget Ice Maker — $397 ~~$579~~ (save $182)
Ozark Trail 10-Person Cabin Tent — $99 ~~$170~~ (save $71)
Super Mario Party + Red & Blue Joy-Con Bundle — $69 ~~$99~~ (save $30)

Topics Amazon Prime Day

Frequently Asked Questions

Prime's current annual rate is the result of a 17% price bump in the spring of 2022 (from $119 to $139), which wasn't totally unexpected: Amazon has increased its membership fees by $20 every four years since 2014. But that's still a significant cost to eat in these weird economic times — especially when Walmart and Best Buy's rivaling subscription services cost $98 and $49.99 per year, respectively.

It may help to know that Prime easily pays for itself if you use it to its full extent. Free two-day (or faster) shipping on millions of items is just the tip of the iceberg: Subscribers get complete on-demand access to Prime Video, which has the biggest movie and TV library of all the major U.S. streaming services. (A $139 annual Prime membership is about $45 cheaper than a year's worth of a Standard Netflix plan.) You also have free rein of the Prime Music, Prime Gaming, and Prime Reading libraries, in case you somehow run out of things to watch.

Amazon sweetens things even further with unlimited photo storage via Amazon Photos, plus a free Grubhub+ subscription that's valued at about $120 per year.

If you haven't been a Prime member within the past 12 months, you can sign up for a free 30-day trial by following these steps:

Visit amazon.com/prime.
Click on the orange button that says "Start your free 30-day trial."
Sign in or create an Amazon account.
Add a payment method and a billing address. (Don't worry — you won't be charged upfront.)
Click the yellow button that says "Activate your free trial."

After your trial period ends, you'll automatically be upgraded to a paid membership plan for $14.99 per month or $139 per year. (The latter saves you just over $40 annually, FYI.)

Getting your degree? Anyone with a .edu email address can take advantage of a free six-month trial that converts to a $7.49-a-month paid tier under the Prime Student program. (You can ride out that rate for four years or until graduation, whichever comes first.) As a member, you're entitled to several bonus offers on top of the standard Prime perks:

A month's worth of free 24/7 homework help from Course Hero
A free three-month trial of Calm Premium, which renews at a discounted rate of $8.99/year (normally $69.99/year)
Up to 10% off flights and hotels via StudentUniverse

EBT and Medicaid cardholders also qualify for a discounted monthly rate of $6.99 — you just have to verify your eligibility every 12 months.

Leah Stodart

Senior Shopping Reporter

Leah Stodart is a Philadelphia-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable where she covers essential home tech like vacuums and TVs as well as sustainable swaps and travel. Her ever-growing experience in these categories comes in clutch when making recommendations on how to spend your money during shopping holidays like Black Friday, which Leah has been covering for Mashable since 2017.

Leah graduated from Penn State University in 2016 with dual degrees in Sociology and Media Studies. When she's not writing about shopping (or shopping online for herself), she's almost definitely watching a horror movie, "RuPaul's Drag Race," or "The Office." You can follow her on X at @notleah or email her at [email protected].

Dylan Haas

Lead Shopping Reporter

Dylan Haas is a Lead Shopping Reporter for Mashable, where he covers all things gaming, pets, fitness, sleep, and shopping events like Black Friday and Prime Day. Before joining the team at Mashable, Dylan received a B.A. in Communications from Pace University and contributed to publications like Paste Magazine, Bandsintown, and others following a brief stint as a marketing and management assistant in the music industry.

When he's not writing or testing products, you can find Dylan playing lots of video games, working out, spending time with loved ones (especially his dog, Stevie), or watching reality TV. Follow him on X at @iamdylanhaas, or send him an email at [email protected].

Haley Henschel

Senior Shopping Reporter

Haley Henschel is a Chicago-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable who reviews and finds deals on popular tech, from laptops to gaming consoles and VPNs. She has years of experience covering shopping holidays and can tell you what’s actually worth buying on Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. Her work has also explored the driving forces behind digital trends within the shopping sphere, from dupes to 12-foot skeletons.

Haley received a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and honed her sifting and winnowing skills at The Daily Cardinal. She previously covered politics for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, investigated exotic pet ownership for Wisconsin Watch, and blogged for some of your favorite reality stars.

In her free time, Haley enjoys playing video games, drawing, taking walks on Lake Michigan, and spending time with her parrot (Melon) and dog (Pierogi). She really, really wants to get back into horseback riding. You can follow her on X at @haleyhenschel or reach her via email at [email protected].

Bethany Allard

Shopping Reporter

Bethany Allard is a Los Angeles-based shopping reporter at Mashable covering beauty tech, dating, sex and relationships, and headphones. That basically means she puts her hair through a lot, scrolls through a lot of dating apps, and rotates through a lot of different headphones. In addition to testing out and rounding up the best products, she also covers deals for Mashable, paying an especially obsessive amount of attention to Apple deals and prices. That knowledge comes in handy when she's covering shopping holidays like Prime Day and Black Friday, which she's now done for three years at Mashable.

She graduated from New York University with a B.A. in Journalism and English Literature. You can follow her on X @betallard and reach her by email at [email protected]. In her free time, you'll find her playing her Switch, hanging with her cat Mila, or cooking something new in her kitchen.

Samantha Mangino

Shopping Reporter

Boston-based Shopping Reporter, Samantha Mangino, covers all things tech at Mashable, rounding up the best products and deals. She’s covered commerce for three years, spending extensive time testing and reviewing all things home, including couches, steam irons, and washing machines. She thoroughly vets products and internet trends, finding out if those cozy gamer chairs are really as comfortable as TikTok claims.