Over the past few years, Amazon (AMZN) has seen a boom in demand for its Prime membership service, which costs $14.99 per month and offers members benefits such as free one-day delivery, Prime Day discounts, and a Grubhub+ membership at no extra cost.
Amazon Prime reached roughly 180.1 million U.S. subscribers last year, which is about 44% higher than the number of U.S. subscribers it had in 2017, according to recent data from Statista.
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Amazon Prime is expected to reach 185 million U.S. subscribers this year as the service continues to see increased consumer demand.
In Amazon’s second-quarter earnings report for 2025, it revealed that it generated roughly $12.2 billion in revenue from its subscription services (including income earned from Amazon Prime membership fees), which is almost 12% higher than what it earned during the same quarter last year.
Image source: Bloomberg/Getty Images
Amazon sends a stern warning to Prime members
As Amazon Prime grows in popularity, members should brace themselves for a harsh change to their perks.
According to an update on Amazon’s website, the online retailer is warning members that it is pulling the plug on its Prime Invitee program, which will end on Oct. 1.
The program allows Prime members to share their free shipping perks with a limited number of Amazon account holders who don’t have Prime memberships.
Amazon is pushing Prime members to instead use Amazon Family when the Prime Invitee program is discontinued.
Related: Amazon shuts down free service for customers after 14 years
Amazon Family allows Prime members to not only share their free shipping benefits but also perks such as Prime Video, Prime deals and events, and free Grubhub membership.
Prime members can add one other adult and four teens (who were added before April 7, 2025) to the program and up to four children in their household (they must have the same primary residential address).
To lessen the blow of the change, Amazon is offering impacted customers or those who were enrolled in the invitee program between 2009 and 2015 a limited-time Prime membership deal that offers them 12 months of Prime for $14.99. The deal will be available until Dec. 31.
Amazon customers aren’t happy about the change
In response to the change, Amazon customers took to social media platform Reddit to express frustrations with the Prime Invitee program being grandfathered.
“SUCKS!!! Now up to 2 adults and 4 ‘children’ (12 and under ONLY),” wrote one Amazon user.
“Another blow to single people and those of us with limited budgets. I barely watch TV but can’t use anyone else’s streaming and now this,” wrote another.
“Maybe that’s fine for the typical nuclear family, but a multi-generational household is going to need multiple subscriptions for the same address or just start sharing passwords,” flagged another Amazon user.
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The move from Amazon comes after a recent report from Reuters revealed that Amazon Prime sign-ups in the U.S. saw slowed growth, despite its expanded Prime Day event in July.
According to data viewed by Reuters, Amazon gained 5.4 million U.S. Prime sign-ups 21 days before Prime Day and its four-day sales event from July 8 to July 11.
This is roughly 116,000 fewer than the number of U.S. Prime sign-ups it gained during the same time period in 2024 and 106,000 below Amazon’s own goal.
During an earnings call on July 31, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that Amazon Prime Day yielded record sales.
“This year’s Prime Day was our biggest ever with record sales, number of items sold, and number of Prime sign-ups in the three weeks leading up to the Prime Day,” said Jassy. “Customers saved billions of dollars, and independent sellers, most of which are small- and medium-sized businesses, saw their best sales performance of any Prime Day event yet.”
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