How to Cancel Amazon Prime (2026) — The Complete Breakup Guide

Updated February 2026 · 8 min read

Amazon Prime is the subscription most people keep "just in case." But at $139/year, you need to be using it regularly for it to make sense. Let's figure out if you should cancel — and exactly how to do it.

💰 The True Cost

• Annual: $139/year ($11.58/month)
• Monthly: $14.99/month ($180/year — $41 more than annual)
• Student: $69/year (half price, requires .edu email)
• EBT/Medicaid: $6.99/month ($84/year — significant discount)
• Prime Video alone: $8.99/month (if you only want streaming)

🧮 The Break-Even Math

How to Cancel

1. Go to amazon.com/prime
2. Click "Manage Membership" on the left sidebar
3. Click "End Membership" (Amazon hides this — look for it in small text)
4. Amazon shows you a 4-page guilt trip of benefits you'll lose
5. Click through ALL the "Are you sure?" screens (there are multiple)
6. Select whether to end immediately or at the end of your billing period
7. Confirm cancellation

⚠️ Amazon's "Project Iliad" Tricks

The FTC lawsuit revealed Amazon intentionally makes cancellation confusing. Watch for:

• "Remind me later" — delays cancellation, hoping you forget
• "Pause instead?" — pauses billing for 1-3 months, then auto-resumes
• Multiple confirmation screens — designed to fatigue you into giving up
• "You'll lose these benefits" — emotional display of everything included
• Offering monthly plan — switches you to $14.99/month (actually costs MORE)

📋 What You Lose (and What You Don't)

🔄 Life Without Prime

• Free shipping: Orders over $35 ship free. Batch your orders instead of impulse buying.
• Streaming: Prime Video standalone is $8.99/month — or switch to Netflix/Hulu
• Shopping: Walmart offers free 2-day shipping (no membership) on orders $35+
• Groceries: Walmart+ ($98/year) includes free grocery delivery — $41 cheaper than Prime
• Photos: Google Photos (15GB free) or Amazon Photos (5GB free tier remains)
• Grubhub+: You were probably paying for DashPass too — pick one delivery service

💡 The Cancel-Resubscribe Strategy

If you only need Prime a few months per year (holiday shopping, Prime Day), you can save significantly:

• Cancel after the holidays (January)
• Resubscribe monthly for Prime Day (July) — $14.99 for one month
• Resubscribe monthly for holiday shopping (November-December) — $29.98 for two months
• Total: $44.97/year vs $139/year = $94 saved

✅ Cancellation Checklist

• ✅ Download any Amazon Photos you want to keep
• ✅ Finish watching Prime Video shows in progress
• ✅ Check for pending Subscribe & Save orders
• ✅ Cancel Grubhub+ separately if you were using the free perk
• ✅ Check if family members share your Prime household (they lose access too)
• ✅ Request immediate refund if you haven't used benefits this period
• ✅ Set up Walmart+ or Target Circle if you need delivery services