How to Get Amazon Prime for Free

Dont want to pay over $100 to get Amazon Prime? Here is how you can get an Amazon Prime membership for free.

According to Entrepreneur.com, there are well over 100 million people that have Amazon Prime memberships. Based on those stats, 82% of American households are active Amazon Prime members.

While Amazon Prime is more popular than ever it’s also never been more expensive.

That’s why we’re going to show you how to get Amazon Prime at no cost. Here’s everything you need to know about Amazon Prime and how you can get the amazing service for free! 

What is Amazon Prime?

Amazon Prime is a membership service offered by Amazon to give you amazing deals on thousands (or millions) of products on Amazon.

Amazon Prime benefits:

10 Ways to Get Amazon Prime for FREE 

The only downside for some people, of course, is the monthly or annual price of being an Amazon Prime member. Luckily there are tons of ways to get Amazon Prime for FREE!

1. Amazon Prime 30-Day FREE Trial

Yes, Amazon makes it simple for you to get addicted to using Amazon Prime with a 30-day free trial option. Amazon got me on this offer over 5 years ago and I couldn’t imagine life without the membership service now.

The membership has saved me so much time not going to random stores, enjoy free returns, and quick shipping options. Plus, the customer service has been amazing! 

To get started simply log on to Amazon Prime and sign up for the free 30-day trial. After your monthly trial is over you can choose whether or not you want to become a Prime member.

You can pay this fee monthly or a one-time, annual fee. The cost of an Amazon Prime membership is $139 per year.

As someone who has more than 100 orders per year, it’s still well worth the price.

If you choose not to enroll for Amazon Prime after the 30-day period sometimes they will give you another 30-day free trial. I haven’t tried this method but read about it in several forums.

2. Amazon Prime Student Membership Trial  

Students can sign up for an Amazon Prime student membership for six months 100% free. Once the six-month trial period is over the fees are significantly discounted.

Students will only pay $7.49 per month for four years or once they graduate. The best part is that the Amazon Prime student membership trial includes almost all of the benefits of Prime for only a fraction of the cost.

You still receive free 2-day shipping, photo storage, and unlimited streaming of movies and TV shows. The only benefits that are not included are access to the Kindle eBook library and Prime Music. 

Before you try to sneak one by Amazon by claiming to be a student, understand that you have to submit paperwork to take advantage of this offer.

Amazon Prime Student Membership documents to provide:

• School email address
• Acceptance letter from your school OR copy of transcripts
• Student ID with an expiration date

A few years back Amazon realized that people were cheating the system and now require additional information to receive the discount.

3. Earn Cash Back with an Amazon Card

If you are a frequent shopper on Amazon you might want to take advantage of the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa credit card.

With 5% cash back from anything purchased on Amazon you will cover your monthly fees if you spend around $250 per month.

Sadly, at this time there is no credit card that offers free Amazon Prime membership. But Amazon does have its Prime Rewards Visa Card as well as an Amazon store card.

With both of the cards, you receive 5% cash back when shopping on Amazon.com. Plus the cards have no annual fees and there are no caps on your points.

The card offers 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, and drug stores, and 1% cash back on all other purchases!

4. Earn a Free Amazon Gift Card

There are dozens of task and gaming sites that will give you free gift cards to Amazon.

Choose the earning options that are best for you and play, task, or shop your way to free Amazon gift cards that will cover the amount of your Prime Membership.

5. Become an Amazon Associate Affiliate

If you have a website or blog I recommend checking out the Amazon associate affiliate program.

By becoming an Amazon associate you earn a bounty for each time a customer uses your link to purchase anything from Amazon.

It is a tiered system that will pay you more commissions for the more you refer each month.

Amazon Associates is a great affiliate program that works awesome on blogs or websites that have beauty, household, and other products people purchase on a consistent basis.

If you enroll someone in Amazon Prime through your affiliate link you also receive $3 per sign-up. If you refer four people per month you are making back the cost of your membership!

Quick tip: Make sure you have an affiliate disclaimer or privacy policy to adhere to Amazon’s policy of letting your website visitors know of your relationship.

6. Hope for a Late Arrival

I’ve personally used this method several times and can’t believe it actually works. The biggest perk of Amazon Prime for most people is the 2-Day free shipping guarantee.

Sometimes things happen, whether at the Amazon facility or with the carrier, that will make your items arrive later.

In those rare cases when a package arrives after two days, contact support to let them know.

In my experience, they have rewarded me with amazing customer service and several different types of refunds including:

• An additional month of Amazon Prime for free
• Amazon gift card. This can range from $10 – $25
• Credit back to your card used for purchase

I’ve never had a problem here, I think I’m 5 for 5 in either receiving a free month to my membership or a gift card.

Amazon normally has outstanding customer service but if you receive someone who isn’t willing to offer anything don’t be afraid to contact them again.

7. Sign Up With New Email Accounts

While I haven’t tried this method yet, there is a post on Reddit that claims you can get multiple free trials if you sign up.

When signing up, Amazon looks at the email address, not the credit card used for your membership. If you want to play it extra safe you can also choose to use a different credit card as well.

While I’m sure Amazon will catch on to this method it’s not a bad idea to give it a shot. If you are like me and have four different email addresses that could be four free months of Amazon Prime.

Plus, if you live with a roommate or spouse you could also get more months free from them. Again, this isn’t the number one recommendation but it has worked for others.

8. Use Amazon Mom  

Amazon Mom is open to all new moms, dads, grandparents or caretakers.

New members will receive a free, 3-month trial of Amazon Prime with no obligation to continue after the initial three-month trial.

If you do want to use it after the trial the price is the normal $139 annual fee.

8 Ways to Get Amazon Prime For Less

If none of these options above work for your situation, here are more ways to save on Amazon Prime with these eight discount options.

1. Take Advantage of Amazon Prime Day

Each of the last three years Amazon has what is known as Amazon Prime Day. Amazon Prime Day is similar to Black Friday and has tons of great deals on a variety of products.

These days include some pretty epic deals on TVs, tablets, laptops, and Amazon products (Kindle, Fire Stick, Echo, etc.).

While this isn’t a free way to get Amazon Prime you can use a 30-day free trial to take full advantage and get free, 2-day shipping. 

2. Discount Membership Options

Another way to get Amazon Prime discounted is if you have a specific Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card or a Medicaid.

Amazon will give you a discount if you are a part of government assistance programs and reduce the monthly fees from $14.99 to $6.99 per month.

Plus, you can cancel at any time with no early cancellation fees.

These programs currently allow you to receive a discount:

• Women, Infants, and Children
• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
• Others that might be offered by your state of residence
• Medicaid members

3. Check Coupon Websites For Codes 

Another great way to get Amazon Prime at a significant discount is by checking out coupon sites for free trials and coupon codes.

When researching this post I found codes on several different sites but didn’t include them below as they might expire by the time you read this post.

The best coupon sites to try and get Amazon Prime for free or discounted are:

• DealCatcher
• Coupons.com
• Slickdeals
• Groupon
• RetailMeNot

If you do see a coupon code on these sites I recommend acting quickly as they can expire or be removed without much notice. Also, note that sometimes they require you to be a “new Prime member.”

If you have used a free Amazon Prime trial in the past 12 months, try to use a different email when applying your coupon code.

4. Share Amazon Prime With Your Household

Amazon makes it easy to share Amazon Prime using Amazon Household. This program allows you to share your prime benefits with four teens, four children and one other adult in your household.

Prime Household also lets each person receive their own unique logins and passwords to access movies, music, and Kindle books.

If you decide to use the service with children you can set it up so that parents must approve the order.

While this isn’t free it’s a great way to split the costs with roommates or a spouse.

5. Skip Prime Membership But Still Get Free 2-Day Shipping

If you aren’t interested in the music, Kindle ebooks, and other services included in Amazon Prime you can always skip the membership entirely.

Instead, if you spend over $35 on eligible purchases you still receive free, 2-day shipping. Depending on the retailer you might have to spend $75 or even $100 to receive the free, 2-day shipping.

Also, if your item is under the limit but you don’t want or need to buy anything else try this trick. Find an item that is pre-ordered and not yet available on Amazon.

Add this item to your cart to get past your threshold but you won’t be charged for this item until it actually ships.

If you don’t want the item simply cancel that part of the order to make sure you aren’t charged.

I wouldn’t recommend doing this too frequently but it’s a great option if you need the 2-day shipping without spending any more money.

6. Wait for An Amazon Prime Membership Sale  

While this doesn’t happen very frequently Amazon does sometimes offer heavily discounted membership options.

When Amazon’s original show, Mozart in the Jungle, won a Golden Globe for best TV series they dropped the price to $73. While this isn’t always predictable it’s a great way to take advantage of a discounted Prime membership.

7. Enroll in Ibotta

If you sign up for Ibotta you can get free Amazon gift cards which can help discount the price of the Prime membership.

Plus, Ibotta helps you earn money while you shop so each time you make a purchase you are rewarded!

[sc name=”ibotta_cta” ][/sc]

8. SignUp for Subscribe and Save

If you don’t have Amazon Prime another great way to take advantage of their rates is to sign up for “subscribe and save” discounts.

This allows you to save up to 15% or more on tons of different items on Amazon.

This is a good idea for items that you buy consistently like groceries, pets, personal care, home goods office supplies. The more items that you sign up for the higher the savings percentage you receive.

Plus, you can always choose to skip deliveries or completely cancel your subscription with no early termination fee.

Summary

While there are tons of benefits to Amazon Prime some people might overuse the service and get themselves into financial trouble.

Based on the same Entrepreneur article from the intro, Amazon Prime members tend to spend more per year, around $1,300, than non-members who only average $700.

But, if you can keep your spending in check Amazon Prime is absolutely essential to make your life easier, more convenient, and cheaper if used enough.

The best options to start with Amazon Prime for free are the 30-day trial, student membership if you are an active student or sharing Amazon Prime within your household

If you aren’t living in the United States Amazon Prime is also global in other countries including the U.K, Spain, Italy, Japan, Germany, France, Austria, and Canada.

Overall, I think that Amazon Prime is a phenomenal service that will continue to get more popular as the e-commerce site continues to grow worldwide.

Start using these methods to get Amazon Prime for free, or at least heavily discounted!