March 18, 2026, 6:51 am | Read time: 7 minutes

Amazon is the undisputed number one in online shopping in Germany. No wonder, given the gigantic selection. With the Prime subscription, Amazon offers a special service for its customers, combining free shipping and additional offers like Prime Music, Prime Reading, and Prime Video, as well as Amazon Photos. Additionally, on Prime Day, customers get exclusive access to many deals. However, the price for the Prime subscription has recently increased, and Amazon has been cutting back its offerings. Therefore, Amazon Prime is no longer worth it for every customer.

The Cost of an Amazon Prime Subscription

Over the years, Amazon has occasionally raised the cost of the Prime subscription. After a price increase in 2017, the service cost 69 euros per year or 7.99 euros for monthly billing for a long time. But in September 2022, Amazon raised the prices again. Since then, customers in Germany have had to pay about 30 percent more for the Prime subscription. Amazon now charges 8.99 euros per month for the monthly cancellable Prime subscription. The annual subscription increased to 89.90 euros. Since then, customers have been paying 7.50 euros per month instead of 5.75 euros. The company justifies the price increase with high inflation and rising operating costs.

Costs have also risen for students. Previously, they were 34 euros per year (about 2.83 euros monthly) or 3.99 euros for monthly billing. Since the price increase, they have to pay 44.90 euros per year (about 3.74 euros monthly) or 4.99 euros per month.

Amazon is more than just a shipping retailer. The company builds its own hardware and offers various services. Through the platform, you can stream movies and music, read books and magazines, store images in the cloud, order fresh groceries, and much more. Many of these can be used with individual subscriptions or through an Amazon Prime membership. We have listed the services Amazon Prime customers receive through their subscription below.

Free Shipping

A main argument for the Amazon Prime fee is the free and prioritized shipping. In most cases, not only is standard shipping free (otherwise only from a shipping value of 49 euros), but also premium shipping with next business day delivery. It’s important that the Prime logo appears next to the product price.

The exact shipping cost advantage for Prime customers cannot be calculated, as shipping is generally free for orders over 39 euros. However, next business day delivery is not included. Additionally, Amazon charges different shipping costs for media products and clothing than for electronics, for example. You can find a detailed list of Amazon’s shipping costs here.

Amazon Prime Video Now With Ads

If you like streaming from the internet, an Amazon Prime subscription might be worth it. In addition to thousands of movies, documentaries, and even some exclusive series included for free with Amazon Prime Video, current movies can be rented for an additional fee of about 3.99 to 4.99 euros. Amazon also occasionally offers rental movies for just 99 cents to Prime subscribers.

For a long time, subscribers could stream series and movies ad-free on Prime Video. However, this changed on February 5, 2024, as Amazon began showing ads on its video streaming service, following the path of Netflix, Disney+, and Wow by Sky. Unlike its competitors, Amazon Prime Video cannot be booked separately, so the ads can only be avoided with an additional option. This costs 2.99 euros per month, raising the price for ad-free Prime Video to 11.98 euros. Amazon is thus more expensive than other streaming providers.

To be fair, the exact price for Prime Video cannot be easily determined. In addition to the video streaming service, Prime customers receive additional services for their money. However, those who subscribed to Prime mainly for Prime Video get a significantly worse deal since the introduction of ads.

Music Streaming in the Prime Subscription

The music service Amazon Prime Music is also included in the Prime subscription, offering a limited flat rate with over two million songs, selected playlists, and personal radio. The music can be listened to both online and offline. Compared to more expensive subscription services like Spotify and Apple Music or Amazon’s own Amazon Music Unlimited, the flat rate included in the Prime subscription is significantly limited. Since the end of 2022, Prime customers, for example, no longer have control over playlists and saved albums. Music is only played in shuffle mode, and songs can only be skipped to a limited extent. Listening to specific music is no longer possible with the Prime subscription.

Amazon has also increased the costs for Amazon Music. Since February 2022, customers without a Prime subscription who want full access to over 100 million songs with Music Unlimited have to pay 10.99 euros monthly (instead of 9.99 euros). For Prime customers, the costs increased in September 2023 from 8.99 euros to 9.99 euros per month or from 89 euros to 99 euros per year.

Reading Books and Magazines with Prime Reading

For a few years now, the service Prime Reading has also been included in the Amazon Prime subscription. Hundreds of books, newspapers, magazines, and comics can be read not only on Kindle devices but also on Android and Apple iOS devices. A special reading app makes consumption easier. However, with this service, you are easily tempted to buy other books and magazines for an additional fee.

Free Games in the Amazon Prime Subscription

What was once called Twitch Prime is now Prime Gaming. Amazon Prime members also get access to the Twitch gaming platform. There, customers regularly receive in-game rewards, known as loot, and free PC games. Additionally, they do not see ads when streaming on Twitch.tv.

Upload Photos, Videos, and Documents to the Cloud

The company permanently discontinued access to the Amazon Drive cloud storage at the end of 2023.

However, Amazon Photos still offers Prime customers a cloud storage service specifically designed for images. Prime customers receive unlimited storage for their photos, an additional 5 GB for videos, and the ability to search photos by people, places, and things using image recognition. Users without a Prime subscription have to make do with 5 GB of free storage each.

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Will Amazon Soon Replace the Supermarket Too?

Amazon Fresh is also exclusively available to Prime subscribers. This is an online supermarket for groceries that can be delivered the same day. The minimum order value is 35 euros without deposit. However, delivery fees apply, currently 3.99 euros per delivery with Amazon Fresh. Delivery costs are waived for orders currently over 80 euros.

Conclusion

Amazon offers Prime subscribers a whole bundle of offers—from free shipping to access to streaming services to photo storage. Unfortunately, since 2022, the individual services have gradually deteriorated and can now only be used with restrictions. Nevertheless, the overall Amazon Prime package is still worth it—if you use the offered services. Additionally, Amazon Prime Video can only be booked together with the Prime subscription, which is a prerequisite if you want to use the service.

If you place at least one order per month on Amazon, occasionally stream a movie or series, enjoy listening to music, and perhaps browse online books and magazines, you’ll get your money’s worth. Bargain hunters also benefit from so-called lightning deals and premium deals.

However, if you already have accounts with Netflix and Spotify and shop cheaper elsewhere through price comparison portals, you will hardly benefit from Amazon Prime.