Amazon Student vs. Amazon Prime: What’s the Difference & Which Is Better?

Amazon Prime is an incredibly popular subscription that offers Amazon users a variety of benefits for $139 per year after trial. A related subscription, Amazon Student, only costs $44.94 the first year (including the 6-month free trial) and $89.88 per year after. 

While Amazon Student is often described as a half-price version of Amazon Prime, they’re actually different in important ways. This article will cover everything you need to know about each subscription and help you decide which is best for you.

Amazon Prime

• 

  Amazon Prime

  Free 30-Day Trial

  We earn a commission on this offer.

  • Basics: Get free one-day shipping and access to Prime Video, plus exclusive access to other Amazon features.
  • Pros: Free one-day shipping; access to free videos, free eBooks and audio books, free music without ads, one-year free Grubhub deliveries, Try Before You Buy wardrobe, save on prescriptions, free video games, unlimited photo storage, and more; share your membership with your household
  • Cons: High annual cost might not be worth it if you don’t shop a lot.
  • Annual subscription

    $139 per year after free trial

  • Free trial

    30 days

  • Share with household

    Yes

Most people know about a few Amazon Prime advantages, including free shipping and access to Prime Video. Prime also comes with other exclusive offers that could make it worth the investment for regular Amazon users.

Prime Reading and Prime Gaming

Prime members receive unlimited access to Prime Reading. Prime Reading offers more than 2 million digital titles including books, comics, magazines, and more, with content in nearly every genre. You can read Prime Reading materials on a computer, Kindle, or mobile device through the Kindle app.

Claim free video games and in-game content as a Prime member. 

Prime Music and Audible

Prime Music comes with a library of roughly two million songs available with every Prime membership. You can listen offline or hands-free without ad breaks through the Amazon Music app. A Prime membership also gives you a free subscription to podcasts and audio books, as well as a 30-day free trial with Audible. 

Free Grubhub

Enjoy a free Grubhub membership for a year with your membership. That means $0 delivery fees on orders over $12. 

Try Before You Buy 

Eliminate the need to go try on clothes or shoes at the store. Amazon will ship Prime members clothes and shoes to try on for a 7-day period and you only pay if you keep it. Returns are free. 

Unlimited Photo Storage

You can store an infinite number of photos as a Prime member and up to 5 GB for videos. 

Share with Your Household

Prime is primarily an individual service, but it does give you the option to share your subscription with one other adult who lives in your household without paying extra.

Amazon Prime offers a 30-day free trial, so you can test the service for up to 30 days before continuing as a paid user for $139 per year. Whether it’s worth that price depends on how often you buy Amazon products and use other features.

Save on prescriptions

If your medication is not covered by insurance, you can look it up on Amazon. They’ll compare the prices at your local pharmacies and you can either get a free two-day delivery or get it filled in person. 

Amazon Prime Student

• 

  Amazon Prime Student

  Free 30-Day Trial

  We earn a commission on this offer.

  • Basics: Get free one-day shipping and exclusive deals at a special student-only membership rate.
  • Pros: Lower membership fee, six-month free trial, free one-day shipping, access to free videos, free eBooks and audio books, free music without ads, one-year free Grubhub deliveries, Try Before You Buy wardrobe, save on prescriptions, free video games, unlimited photo storage, and more exclusive College Deals on travel, entertainment, tutoring, and LinkedIn.
  • Cons: This offer is single member only. You must be a student.
  • Annual subscription

    $44.94 for the first year (including the free 6-month trial) and $89.88 every year after

  • Free trial

    6 months

  • Share with household

    No

Amazon Student comes with most of the same advantages that are available with Amazon Prime — free one-day shipping, streaming for music and videos, and other benefits like access to free videos, free eBooks and audio books, free music without ads, one-year free Grubhub deliveries, Try Before You Buy wardrobe, deals on prescriptions, free video games, unlimited photo storage — but note some key differences.

Lower Membership Fee

First, Amazon Student comes at about half the cost of a Prime membership — $44.94 for the first year (including the free 6-month trial) and $89.88 thereafter — making it more affordable for students in school.

6-Month Free Trial

You can also start with a six-month free trial, so you’ll have more time to use these benefits before committing to an annual subscription.

The Amazon Student free trial is substantially longer than the one offered for Amazon Prime, so you’ll have even more time to determine whether the benefits are worth the subscription fee. 

Must Be a Student to Enroll

As with most student discounts, the only eligibility requirement for Amazon Student is a college.edu email address to prove you’re enrolled at a qualified institution. You’ll have access to the longer free trial and lower rate until you leave school, up to four years.

Single User Only

The biggest disadvantage of Amazon Student compared to Prime is that the membership is non-transferable, so only the primary account holder can use it. If you’re sharing a home with others, you won’t be able to split the cost of a single membership.

Travel

Prime students can save 10% on flights that have already been discounted and get 10% back on hotels. You also get to have Amazon’s customer service support help you with your bookings. 

Entertainment

Not only do you get to watch Prime videos for free, you will also be able to subscribe to entertainment apps for greatly discounted prices. Showtime is only $0.99 per month up to a year. Get Kindle Unlimited free for two months. 

LinkedIn

You get six months free of a Premium LinkedIn business subscription. 

Tutoring

Get one free month of 24/7 access to tutoring help and only pay $9.95 per month after that. 

Rent Textbooks

Whether you rent or buy, textbooks are often shipped for free in as little as two days. You can always sell purchased books back to Amazon at the end of the term if you no longer want them, although you should consider renting if you know you’ll only want the book for a limited period.

College Deals

Amazon offers Student members an exclusive College Deals section that includes offers on common college supplies. You can find discounts on everything from snacks and video games to dorm supplies and laptops, and these products typically ship for free in two days.

Prime vs. Student: Which Is Right for You?

	Amazon Prime	Amazon Prime Student
	Try Amazon Prime	Try Prime Student
Annual Membership Fee	$139	$44.94 (first year) $89.88 (following years)
Monthly Membership Fee	$14.99	$7.49
Free Trial	30 days	6 months
Free Same-Day Delivery	Yes, for select products	Yes, for select products and areas
Free One-Day Delivery	Yes, for select products	Yes, for select products and areas
Free Release-Date Delivery	Yes, for select products	No
Free Two-Hour Groceries	Yes, for select products and areas	Yes, for select products and areas
Unlimited Music Streaming and Reading	Yes	Yes
Free Unlimited Photo Storage	Yes	Yes
Prime Video	Yes	Yes
Prime Gaming	Yes	Yes
Grubhub	Free 1 year membership	Free 1 year membership
Student Universe (Up to 10% off with Travel)	No	Yes
LinkedIn Premium	No	Free 6 months
Membership Sharing	Yes	No
Referral Program	Yes	Yes
Try Before You Buy	Yes	Yes
Save on Prescriptions	Yes	Yes

 

Amazon Student and Amazon Prime are both great deals, but they’re clearly intended for different audiences with different needs. These are some of the most important factors to keep in mind as you decide which subscription is right for you.