Amazon Prime Video
Ranked 8 of 14 streaming services by recommenders
Criticized more than recommended, mainly for ads, even on paid tiers; those who recommend it cite bundled subscriptions, easy cancellation, and browser access.
10 people recommended Amazon Prime Video in Hacker News comments, 15 had mixed feelings and 112 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026.
Summary written by Claude from the comments below.
137 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- mixed feelings
- 15
- warn against or regret it
- 112
The record
Recommended in 6 of 12 months
In 9 different threads.
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 6 of 12 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
- Recommended in 9 threadsNeeds 5 or more, met.
- The biggest thread supplies 20% of its recommendersNeeds half or less, met.
The same rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. Mixed feelings count toward neither side. How the badge works
What people say about it
Reasons grouped from a sample of 40 of the 151 opinions about it, picked in proportion to how many people recommend it, have mixed feelings and criticize it. Each mark is one comment in the sample. Open a reason to read what they said.
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Ads even on paid accounts
“I also paid for Amazon Prime, expecting to get ad-free content, and then they started to add advertisements.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Germany: Amazon is not allowed to force customers to watch ads on Prime Video” “I purchased a paid account, just to make the ads go away, then discovered that even paid accounts get ads.”
Comment from 21 Jul 2026 in “Advertise in ChatGPT” “it really wasn't very nice when they decided that subscribers also now had to receive ads on top of that”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Advertising on Prime Video: German consumer watchdog sues Amazon for 1.8B” - Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Germany: Amazon is not allowed to force customers to watch ads on Prime Video”
Intrusive ads and promotions
“I was shocked to see Prime Video display a button to open the Amazon store to the product that was playing in the ad.”
Comment from 2 Dec 2025 in “OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race” “Yet I keep getting ads in Spanish on Amazon Prime video and nobody in our household understands that language.”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “DraftKings is using AI to behaviorally target chronic gamblers” “Prime Video ads are so invasive that I honestly can't watch any video without turning it off immediately”
Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Netflix Prices Went Up Again – I Bought a DVD Player Instead” - Comment from 21 Sep 2026 in “Disney+: New user agreement allows ads before movies in all subscriptions”
Laggy interface and slow focus
“They do not optimize for performance or have a culture of squashing UI bugs unless it’s measurably stopping conversion for them.”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “What I Learned After Building 3 TV Apps Coming from Mobile” “just moving the focus around in Amazon's streaming app takes 0.5 second while it's instant in other apps”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “What I Learned After Building 3 TV Apps Coming from Mobile” “with Amazon's app it sometimes take almost a whole second for the focus on actually move around”
Comment from 23 Feb 2026 in “What I Learned After Building 3 TV Apps Coming from Mobile” Cluttered interface with third-party channels
“They're clever with that, by offering subscriptions to various producers and other streaming platforms within Amazon Prime video UI.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “Prime and others muddy their interfaces with others’ “channels” and content that you can subscribe to through their service.”
Comment from 1 Mar 2026 in “I built a demo of what AI chat will look like when it's "free" and ad-supported”
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Easy channel subscriptions and cancellation
“you can subscribe to the other services through them, watch on any browser, and reliably cancel easily when you're done”
Comment from 23 Jun 2026 in “Nearly Half of LG Smart TV Apps Contain Residential Proxy SDKs” “Prime is a nominal cost (for now) and you can add/remove channels as you wish.”
Comment from 6 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” Included with Prime membership
“the fact that Prime Video is part of the deal is something nice, but not what I care about”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Uber is turning data about trips and takeout into insights for marketers” Good 4K and bitrate
“When I've watched regular games on ESPN+ or Amazon, they usually have sufficient bitrate”
Comment from 24 Sep 2026 in “Disney+ and Hulu raise prices by up to 13 percent after doubling profits”
Other streaming services people recommend
The four most recommended other streaming services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Mixed | Criticize | Approval | Months | Had for | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube Premium | 143 | 38 | 183 | 44% | 12 | — | — |
| Netflix | 82 | 85 | 517 | 14% | 12 | 15 yrs10 people | — |
| Nebula | 28 | 9 | 14 | 67% | 12 | — | Approved |
| PBS | 23 | 0 | 8 | 74% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Amazon Prime VideoThis page | 10 | 15 | 112 | 8% | 6 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 151 opinions about it, picked in proportion to the three counts, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the ads have gotten so bad that I now go out of my way not to emotionally invest in anything they produce”
“the L3 will stop you from viewing Prime, Disney+ or other similar services at anything better than SD”
“Yet I keep getting ads in Spanish on Amazon Prime video and nobody in our household understands that language.”
“When I've watched regular games on ESPN+ or Amazon, they usually have sufficient bitrate”
“Amazon prime has 2 good shows and just a bunch of D-tier movies or some 35+ year old ones.”
“Those are definitely ads and definitely not what I want out of a streaming service I am paying for.”
“Prime Video has a decent browse by genre feature, but I don't find browsing all that successful.”
“Finding and playing what I want via netflix or amazon is far far more complex than downloading”
“services with sub-services (especially Amazon) don’t take into account your subscriptions”
“I purchased a paid account, just to make the ads go away, then discovered that even paid accounts get ads.”
“Amazon and Apple are not "selling" you anything digital, you acquire a pretty limited license”
“you can subscribe to the other services through them, watch on any browser, and reliably cancel easily when you're done”
“But to alter what I had, and then ask that same amount to put things back the way they were?”
“the pricing of 3 platforms becoming more and more ridiculous for less and less convenience”
“She has been a Prime member for a decade and hasn’t had to login for so long that she forgot she had an account.”
“Prime video was ad free for years and then it was a $3 upcharge to remove ads all of a sudden.”
“Prime Video ads are so invasive that I honestly can't watch any video without turning it off immediately”
“I'm not paying for a whole ass subscription just to look at 1 thing maybe once or twice a year.”
“It knows I would never ever watch that trash but it shows it to me precisely for that reason”
“It's just "rent", there's no buy option from any of these people, no matter what their site says.”
“platforms like Amazon video will even make their own edits to movies, removing crucial parts for no apparent reason”
“Prime and others muddy their interfaces with others’ “channels” and content that you can subscribe to through their service.”
“They do not optimize for performance or have a culture of squashing UI bugs unless it’s measurably stopping conversion for them.”
“with Amazon's app it sometimes take almost a whole second for the focus on actually move around”
“there's a horrible delay between audio and video, which doesn't really exist in any other app”
“just moving the focus around in Amazon's streaming app takes 0.5 second while it's instant in other apps”
“a company gets to promote a service as having no ads as part of the sell, and then put ads in by default”
“Why are you selling me a subscription which doesn't give you access to most of the content”
“I also paid for Amazon Prime, expecting to get ad-free content, and then they started to add advertisements.”
“the fact that Prime Video is part of the deal is something nice, but not what I care about”
“Prime is a nominal cost (for now) and you can add/remove channels as you wish.”
“Even Amazon Prime’s catalogue is only a third the size of what Netflix had 15 years ago.”
“They're clever with that, by offering subscriptions to various producers and other streaming platforms within Amazon Prime video UI.”
“Nothing that Amazon has produced comes even close to what HBO produced between 1995-2015.”
“it really wasn't very nice when they decided that subscribers also now had to receive ads on top of that”
“I was shocked to see Prime Video display a button to open the Amazon store to the product that was playing in the ad.”
“Usually, it’s the app falling into a fugue state, at some point, as I am channel-surfing”
“Prime frequently made me offers to upgrade to an ad-free experience that I didn't understand”
“There's no way to search your owned library anymore. You just have to page through it to find what you want.”
“refused to play in high definition because they didn't like the device I was streaming it to”
Counts come from 1,791,911 Hacker News comments labeled by Claude, November 2025 to October 2026, with data through October 31, 2026. Counts updated 2 Nov 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.