Amazon Prime
Shopping subscription
People recommend it for fast, cheap delivery and bundled perks like video and cashback; the common caveat is rising price and more ads.
People recommend it for fast, cheap delivery and bundled perks like video and cashback; the common caveat is rising price and more ads.
152 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 51
- criticize it
- 101
- approval share
- 34%
Recommended in 12 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 10 years
Median of the 7 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 51 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 12 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fast or next-day delivery
“When all Prime is 1-2 day “free” delivery for me, that’s hard to beat.”
Comment from 15 Sep 2026 in “Amazon vs. Perplexity – U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit” “very cheap next day is still an Amazon advantage, and a pretty big one”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet” “most things seem to ship immediately regardless of price (with Prime)”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Postal Arbitrage” - Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet”
- Comment from 4 Nov 2025 in “Amazon Demands Perplexity Stop AI Agent from Making Purchases”
- Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Kroger acknowledges that its bet on robotics went too far”
- Comment from 9 Dec 2025 in “Kroger acknowledges that its bet on robotics went too far”
- Comment from 7 Jul 2026 in “Amazon Without the Knockoffs”
Savings exceed the membership fee
“Prime with ads is a good value proposition, you get shipping but get a discount on the part that doesn't interest you.”
Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now world's largest media company, topping Disney” “which turned out to be way cheaper than you would expect I think mostly due to the Prime subscription”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet” “The cash back accumulation per year is always greater than the membership fee for me.”
Comment from 26 Aug 2026 in “How credit card rewards became a $9.2B wealth transfer” - Comment from 8 Jan 2026 in “Chase to become new issuer of Apple Card”
- Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet”
- Comment from 29 Oct 2026 in “DoorDash to acquire Instacart”
Saves trips to the store
“getting stuff delivered to my door before I'd have gotten around to the hassle of going to the store, was a big factor in making Prime more useful to me”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros” “I genuinely despise Amazon as a company, but factually I can order something by 9pm and pick it up from my doorstep after I sleep in.”
Comment from 6 Nov 2025 in “Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks” “There’s a whole layer of complexity your life loses when you know you can get life essentials within a few hours with no planning.”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet” - Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet”
Bundled video and photo storage
“Amazon prime with the extra $5 per month or whatever, and peacock's higher tier paid through Apple don't have ads breaks in the middle of the media for me”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Americans still opt for print books over digital or audio versions” “The only reason I have Prime these days is for the unlimited photo storage”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “The Amazon Tax” “it doubles as fast delivery, and zero other streaming services”
Comment from 14 Nov 2025 in “Being poor vs. being broke”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Ads added to Prime content and search
“my main gripes are related to search being borderline unusable as it becomes more ad-dominated by the day”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “The enshittification of Amazon paperback books” “even less so after Amazon decided to force ads to people that were already paying”
Comment from 8 Dec 2025 in “Uber is turning data about trips and takeout into insights for marketers” “even its standard subscription has occasional ads for Prime content”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device” - Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Apple is crossing a Steve Jobs red line”
- Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Disney Raising Prices Days After Confirming Ads Will Now Show Up on Every Tier”
- Comment from 9 Apr 2026 in “Netflix Prices Went Up Again – I Bought a DVD Player Instead”
- Comment from 14 Apr 2026 in “YouTube now world's largest media company, topping Disney”
Slow or unreliable delivery at times
“it struck me as significantly dishonest that they were promising fast shipping and not delivering”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet” “between the not-infrequent annoyances with shipping and the endless search results full of total junk and/or fake products it wasn't as convenient as I'd thought”
Comment from 13 Dec 2025 in “Apple has locked my Apple ID, and I have no recourse. A plea for help” “I've heard from a ton of people out in the boonies that Prime ships very few -and sometimes no- items to them same day or overnight.”
Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet” - Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Why your Amazon order confirmation emails have become so unhelpful”
- Comment from 14 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet”
Hard to cancel, pushy re-signup
“I quit Prime (after spending tens of thousands over the years) and Amazon immediately started treating me like a third-class citizen”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “Tell HN: Amazon has deactivated my seller account. No idea how to move forward” “Checkout is now a minefield of dark patterns, filled with buttons that would reactivate my Prime membership in one click.”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “The Amazon Tax” “The problem with cancelling Prime is the unrelenting haranguing to re-sign up and the clearly punitive delivery charges.”
Comment from 18 Dec 2025 in “Germany: Amazon is not allowed to force customers to watch ads on Prime Video” Price rises over time
“Now they seem to raise the price pretty regularly, so that ship has sailed for Amazon.”
Comment from 5 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Will Kagi's subscription cost reduce with enough subscribers?” “Amazon Prime is affordable now, but it will get more and more expensive”
Comment from 14 Sep 2026 in “Amazon vs. Perplexity – U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit” “I stopped Prime and stopped using the platform because all of those went downhill and unreliable as their prices went up”
Comment from 15 Oct 2026 in “How Amazon pushes up prices all across the Internet”
What people said
40 of the 177 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“which I understand is significantly cheaper than Instacart”
“I canceled my Prime subscription precisely because they continued to keep mixing ad supported content with my ad free content.”
“I stopped Prime and stopped using the platform because all of those went downhill and unreliable as their prices went up”
“their shipping is on average faster and cheaper than any other option”
“I basically use Amazon Prime as a way to avoid having to drive everywhere.”
“it struck me as significantly dishonest that they were promising fast shipping and not delivering”
“There’s a whole layer of complexity your life loses when you know you can get life essentials within a few hours with no planning.”
“I've heard from a ton of people out in the boonies that Prime ships very few -and sometimes no- items to them same day or overnight.”
“very cheap next day is still an Amazon advantage, and a pretty big one”
“Their delivery service is awful and I'd choose UPS 100% of the time instead if they gave me the choice.”
“way cheaper than you would expect I think mostly due to the Prime subscription”
“which turned out to be way cheaper than you would expect I think mostly due to the Prime subscription”
“When all Prime is 1-2 day “free” delivery for me, that’s hard to beat.”
“Amazon Prime is affordable now, but it will get more and more expensive”
“The cash back accumulation per year is always greater than the membership fee for me.”
“Checkout is now a minefield of dark patterns, filled with buttons that would reactivate my Prime membership in one click.”
“the item invariably doesn't actually arrive when it was supposed to, often outside of Prime 2 day shipping”
“The only reason I have Prime these days is for the unlimited photo storage”
“Their logistic network is where prime holds its value.”
“Prime with ads is a good value proposition, you get shipping but get a discount on the part that doesn't interest you.”
“Amazon Prime has ads by default now, or you can get rid of the ads if you pay an additional $3 a month.”
“Amazon prime with the extra $5 per month or whatever, and peacock's higher tier paid through Apple don't have ads breaks in the middle of the media for me”
“or be edited behind my back (which happens all the time , without notice, especially on YouTube and on Amazon Prime)”
“my main gripes are related to search being borderline unusable as it becomes more ad-dominated by the day”
“even its standard subscription has occasional ads for Prime content”
“it doesn't seem to happen for me if I use the credit card that I have linked to my Amazon Prime membership”
“I quit Prime (after spending tens of thousands over the years) and Amazon immediately started treating me like a third-class citizen”
“most things seem to ship immediately regardless of price (with Prime)”
“5% off Amazon and Whole Foods purchases, but you have to be a prime subscriber”
“The problem with cancelling Prime is the unrelenting haranguing to re-sign up and the clearly punitive delivery charges.”
“between the not-infrequent annoyances with shipping and the endless search results full of total junk and/or fake products it wasn't as convenient as I'd thought”
“their delivery is blazing fast compared to everyone else”
“because it’s convenient, shipping is included in Prime”
“even less so after Amazon decided to force ads to people that were already paying”
“getting stuff delivered to my door before I'd have gotten around to the hassle of going to the store, was a big factor in making Prime more useful to me”
“Now they seem to raise the price pretty regularly, so that ship has sailed for Amazon.”
“it doubles as fast delivery, and zero other streaming services”
“All I wanted was to browse the videos that are included in the subscription, but instead I'm bombarded with videos that I need to pay extra for.”
“I genuinely despise Amazon as a company, but factually I can order something by 9pm and pick it up from my doorstep after I sleep in.”
“Amazon will have it in stock and deliver it within a couple days”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.