Amazon Prime Will Start Costing You $119 Per Year

Amazon Prime is soon going to cost you an extra $20.

On Thursday, Amazon revealed that the program's price for US annual subscribers was going up from $99 to $119. The company will roll out the new fee on May 11 for new customers, and June 16for existing members.

Why the price hike? During an investor's call, Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky said the paid subscription service was costing the company more to run.

With Amazon Prime, customers not only get access to free two-day shipping, but can also qualify for same-day delivery, or even 2-hour delivery on certain orders. They'll also receive access to Amazon's video and music streaming services.

"The value of Prime to customers has never been greater, and the cost is also high," Olsavsky said.

The company announced the change months after it also raised the monthly subscription fee for Amazon Prime from $10.99 a month to $12.99.

The last time the company bumped up the annual subscription fee for Prime was back in 2014, when it went up from $79 to $99.

Although the price hike will probably annoy customers, the company is promising more perks to Amazon Prime down the line. "We continue to increase the value of Prime, including speed, selection and digital entertainment options, Olsavsky said in the call, without elaborating.

The paid subscription service has grown quite popular during its 13-year existence. Last week, Amazon revealed over 100 million customers were now paying for it. The company has been trying to fuel Prime's future growth by rolling it out to new countries such as Mexico, Singapore, and the Netherlands.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
Xbox 360 FTW
The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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