Amazon will raise Prime's US prices by $20 to $139 per year and by $2 to $14.99 per month, on February 18 for new members and March 25 for current members
they never get me the shit I order in the timeframe they promise at checkout. https://twitter.com/... Rich DeMuro / @richontech : Amazon is raising the price of Prime to $139 a year. For the record, I've been a subscriber since day one when it was $79. https://twitter.com/... @schuldensuehner : That's what I call #inflation: Internet giant #Amazon said it will increase price of a Prime membership in the US. Monthly fee going from $12.99 to $14.99, annual membership from $119 to $139. First time Amazon has raised the price of Prime since 2018. https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
Amazon last reset Prime’s annual price in 2018, following an earlier monthly-fee increase that left the annual plan unchanged. The new increase raises both plans, making it a broader repricing of the membership.
Later coverage found US Prime membership held at about 172 million after the increase, indicating that member totals stayed level in the first months after the price change.
First-order effects
- New Prime members pay $139 annually or $14.99 monthly beginning February 18, while existing members move to those rates on March 25.
- Amazon collects $20 more per retained annual subscriber and $2 more per retained monthly subscriber.
Second-order effects
- The later flat membership count gives Amazon evidence that the higher price did not immediately reduce the aggregate US Prime base, supporting the economics of the repricing.
- The annual plan’s price advantage over paying monthly remains substantial, reinforcing Amazon’s incentive to retain members on longer-term subscriptions.
Third-order effects
- Prime’s progression from the 2018 annual-price increase to this simultaneous annual and monthly reset points to membership pricing becoming a recurring lever rather than a one-off adjustment.
- If membership resilience continues, large subscription bundles gain more room to fund benefits through periodic price increases without sacrificing their installed base.
The trend: Amazon is testing the pricing power of a large membership bundle by raising rates while preserving subscriber scale.