Here's How to Get a Free Month of Amazon Prime

It's an option you may want to take advantage of in July.

These days, many consumers are trying their best to reduce their expenses in light of rampant inflation. And so if there's a specific service you've been on the fence about, you may be hesitant to commit financially.

But if that expense is an Amazon Prime membership, you don't have to. That's because Amazon will allow you to sign up for a free month-long trial, after which you can either simply cancel your Prime membership or keep it in place. It's a great way to try out the program and see if it benefits you. And you may want to sign up for that free trial soon for one big reason.

How Amazon Prime's free trial works

If you haven't been an Amazon Prime member in the last 12 months, you can sign up for a free trial by creating an account and adding a credit card number on file. From there, you'll get access to all of Prime's benefits for 30 days, including free two-day shipping on all purchases.

If you decide to keep your Prime membership after your trial period expires, you don't have to do anything. But you will need to actively cancel if you don't want to continue.

Is Amazon Prime worth the cost?

Amazon Prime costs $14.99 per month, or $139 per year. If you're convinced you want to use the service for 12 months at a minimum, then paying the yearly membership fee makes sense, since it results in a discount. Whether Prime is worth that money, however, is up to you.

Remember, you don't need to be an Amazon Prime member to shop on the site or get free shipping on your orders. But without Prime, you'll need to pay for two-day shipping. And you'll have an order minimum to meet.

During your one-month trial, you should pay attention to how often you use Prime and how much money it saves you compared to what you'd spend on in-person shopping. And you should definitely keep the cost of gas in mind when you run those numbers. If a weekly Prime order saves you a trip to two stores, it could mean spending $5 less per week, or $20 less per month, on gas. That alone justifies the cost.

Why it pays to sign up for your free trial now

Although you can sign up for a free 30 days of Amazon Prime at any time, you may want to do so for the month of July for one big reason -- to take advantage of Prime Day. The mega shopping event is scheduled to run on July 12 and 13, and during that time, Prime members will be privy to a host of deals you may not want to miss out on.

Of course, you'll need to set a budget for Prime Day if you plan to do a lot of shopping during that 48-hour event. But if you're thinking of trying out Amazon Prime, you might as well do so at a time when you can snag extra benefits.

Then again, you may decide to specifically not sign up for Amazon Prime until after Prime Day to avoid the temptation to shop during that time and to get a sense of how much you'll really use the service. That's a fine approach to take, too. But either way, it does pay to consider the many benefits of Amazon Prime -- especially if you can do so without having to spend a dime on that trial run.