Is Amazon Prime Worth It in the UK in 2026? What You Pay and What You Get

The 60-second answer

Amazon Prime bundles fast delivery with streaming, music, reading and members-only deals. If you use two or three of those regularly, it usually pays for itself. If you only order from Amazon a few times a year, it probably does not.

The one catch many people miss is Prime Video. Since 5 February 2024, Prime Video in the UK has shown adverts unless you pay an extra £2.99 a month.

What Prime costs

• £8.99 a month, or £95 a year. The annual plan works out at about £7.92 a month and saves £12.88 a year compared with paying monthly.
• Students, and people aged 18 to 24, can get a discounted plan at £4.49 a month or £47.49 a year, with a six-month free trial if eligible.
• Ad-free Prime Video costs an extra £2.99 a month. With the annual plan, that makes a year of Prime without adverts £130.88.
• New members can usually try Prime free for 30 days. It then renews at the full price unless you cancel.

What is included

• Unlimited fast delivery on millions of eligible items.
• Prime Video films and series, with adverts unless you pay for the ad-free option.
• Amazon Music Prime: over 100 million songs without adverts, although you can often only pick any song you like within its playlists. The full on-demand service, Amazon Music Unlimited, costs extra.
• A changing selection of eBooks and audiobooks, plus game streaming through Amazon Luna.
• Members-only deals and sale events, including Prime Big Deal Days.

Prime Big Deal Days 2026: how to shop it well

Prime Big Deal Days runs for 48 hours, from 12:01am on 6 October to 11:59pm on 7 October 2026, and the deals are for Prime members only. Tech is always a large part of it: TVs, headphones, laptops, smart home kit and Amazon's own Echo, Kindle and Fire TV devices.

A discount only matters if the product suits you and the price is lower than usual. Price-history sites such as PriceSpy show whether a "deal" price is the lowest it has been, or just a return to its normal price. Many tech prices drop again around Black Friday on 27 November, so buy in October if you need the product now, not because a countdown timer is running.

Before you buy, read our review of the exact model. It tells you who it suits, what it gets wrong and a sensible price to pay.

Monthly or annual?

• Choose monthly if you want Prime for a sale event, a busy shopping month such as December, or a series you want to watch, then plan to cancel.
• Choose annual if you already use Prime most months. It is cheaper, and you only have to remember one renewal date.

Who should pay for Prime, and who should not?

• Good value if you order from Amazon twice a month or more, and watch Prime Video or listen to Amazon Music regularly.
• Worth a look if you are a student or aged 18 to 24, because the discounted plan costs half the normal price.
• Poor value if you rarely order, mostly buy items that already qualify for free delivery, and already pay for other streaming services you prefer.
• Think carefully if you hate adverts. Prime Video without adverts costs £11.98 a month on the monthly plan, which is closer to what other streaming services charge.

Try it without wasting money

• Use the free trial when it is most useful to you, for example just before Prime Big Deal Days or a month when you are ordering gifts.
• Set a reminder a few days before the trial ends, and check your Prime membership settings if you do not want it to continue.
• Free trials are usually only available if you have not had Prime or a trial recently.