How to get Amazon Prime for free

Method 1: The standard 30-day free trial

If you’ve never tried Amazon Prime before, or if it’s been a long time since you last tried it, then you may be eligible for a free 30-day trial. After the 30 days, Amazon will charge you for the membership—either $14.99 per month or $139 per year—so don’t forget to cancel before the trial is up. (Set a calendar reminder if you have to!)

Figuring out if you’re eligible is simple. Just sign in to your Amazon account and visit the Prime membership landing page. If you see a button that says Start your free 30-day trial, click it to sign up. If the button says Join Prime, then you’ve been to the well one too many times recently and you’ll have to wait longer to become eligible again.

Method 2: Prime for Young Adults free trial

Amazon used to have a program called Prime Students for—you guessed it—students enrolled in higher education. That program was recently discontinued and replaced with Prime for Young Adults, a special version of Prime geared towards those who are 18 to 24 years old.

Prime for Young Adults offers two big benefits over regular Prime: first, you score a 6-month free trial instead of the normal 30 days, and second, the subscription prices have a whopping 50 percent discount. You get all the same perks as regular Prime, too.

Go to the Prime for Young Adults page and click Try Prime for Young Adults to start your 6-month free trial. After your trial is up, Prime for Young Adults will cost $7.49 per month or $69 per year. Make sure you cancel before it ends. (Your Prime perks will continue to the end of the trial period even if you cancel before.)

Other ways to get free Amazon Prime

There are other ways to get Prime for free as well, but they’re not as straightforward. You can, for example, open a new account with a different email address and then try Prime on that new account. Keep in mind, however, that means you have to secure another account containing all your payment information.

If someone in your house is already subscribed to Prime, they can share it with your account. Amazon allows you to share a Prime membership with other members of your household, which means one other adult and up to four children. However, only the adult gets to share in Prime-exclusive deals, and both adults in the household must agree to share payment methods, so this is only an option for family (or trusted friends).

You can also apply for the Prime Visa credit card, which gives you 5 percent cash back on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases with an active Prime membership. If you’re spending at least $2,400 per year between Amazon and Whole Foods, this is an easy way to have your credit card rewards pay for your Prime membership.

How to cancel an Amazon Prime free trial

You might end up loving Prime (or Prime for Young Adults) so much that you stick with it to take advantage of the free shipping and other perks. But if you’re a hardcore deal hunter who wants to bail from Prime as soon as Black Friday or Prime Day is over, here’s what to do.

The standard way to dump Prime is to hover over your account name in the upper-right corner of any Amazon page, and then select Memberships & Subscriptions from the drop-down menu. On the next page, you can click the Cancel Subscription button next to Prime.

An easier way, however, is to go straight to this Amazon help page and click Cancel Your Prime Membership.

Regardless of how you begin the cancellation process, the process itself is straightforward—you’re free and clear once you’re through.