Sharing Prime outside your home? Amazon says, not anymore. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant recently started notifying users that it is officially shutting down its Prime Invitee program on October 1, 2025, which for years allowed non-Prime users to piggyback on a member’s subscription for fast, free delivery.
“We are writing to inform you that the Prime Invitee Program, which allowed sharing Prime’s fast, free delivery with others, will end on October 1, 2025. Your invited guests will be notified directly about this change by September 5, 2025,” states the notice viewed by CNBC.
For those unaware, previously, Amazon allowed Prime members to share their free two-day shipping benefit with another adult in their household — even if that person lived at a different address. However, those days are over.
Instead, Amazon has replaced the so-called Prime Invitee program with its Amazon Family feature, which only supports sharing with people living in the same “primary residential address” — a shared home. In other words, invitees who don’t live with the account holder will now have to purchase their own Prime membership.
“To share benefits, you and your invitee must live together at the same primary residential address. This is the address you consider to be your home and where you spend the majority of your time,” wrote Amazon in an update to the customer service section of its website.
With Amazon Family, Prime members can share Prime benefits and digital content with another adult in their household, up to four teens (added before April 7, 2025), and up to four child profiles, all of whom must share the same home address as the account holder. This is a straightforward way to manage shared services, subscriptions, and content while keeping accounts separate.
This setup still gives families access to popular Prime perks, such as:
- Fast and free delivery on all Prime-eligible items
- Early access to exclusive Prime sales, events, and Lightning Deals
- Prime Video (with ads included)
- Prime Reading library access
- Access to third-party benefits (like Grubhub)
- Digital content such as audiobooks, eBooks, games, and more.
- Additionally, Amazon Music Prime allows sharing with one adult in the household, which allows both adults to enjoy ad-free listening on shuffle mode.
To soften the blow, Amazon is offering a limited-time discounted deal to non-Prime members to have their own membership, i.e., $14.99 for the first year of Prime subscription, if they sign up by December 31, 2025. After that, standard pricing kicks in at $14.99 per month or $139 annually.
Amazon’s move follows a broader trend among companies like Netflix, Disney+, and YouTube, which have tightened household-sharing rules to boost subscriptions. The timing comes as Amazon ramps up its delivery network across the U.S., especially in smaller cities and rural towns.
As far as long-time Prime users, the message is clear: if you don’t live together, you will need your own Prime.
