Should You Cancel Your Amazon Prime Membership? Ask Yourself These 5 Questions to Decide

Don't waste money on Prime if it's not providing the value you need. 

Amazon Prime is a popular membership program offered by the online retailer. Prime membership costs $139 annually or $14.99 monthly. And you get a lot of features for this membership, including access to Amazon's video streaming service, free two-day shipping, and access to Amazon Music.

But just because Amazon offers a lot of perks doesn't mean the price is worth it for everyone. If you're currently a Prime member, you'll want to be sure you're actually getting enough value from it before you let those charges hit your credit card each year.

How can you decide if it's worth keeping your membership or if you should cancel? Just ask yourself these five questions to find out. 

1. Would most of your orders qualify for free shipping anyway?

One of the biggest benefits of Amazon Prime is that you get free shipping. This includes one-day shipping, two-day shipping, or even same-day delivery. But while this may appear to save you a lot, the reality is that non-Prime members can often get no-cost shipping as well. 

Although there may be an order minimum for non-Prime members, this limit is low at $25 so it's easy to qualify for it if you just group a few of your items together. And some items don't even require you to meet this minimum to ship for free. 

If the shipping benefits alone are the only reason you're paying the membership fee, you can probably cancel.

2. Do your other services offer similar features?

Amazon offers more than just free shipping. There are also other perks such as music and video streaming. But, chances are good you have lots of different streaming services that offer similar benefits. If you're using Spotify or Pandora for music, for example, then you may not need Amazon's service. And if you have Netflix, Hulu, or other video services, then you may find you don't often watch Amazon Prime Video anyway. 

If you want access to just Amazon's video streaming but don't need the other Prime benefits, you can also sign up for the streaming-only package for much less money than the full Prime membership. 

3. How often do you shop at Amazon? 

You'll also want to consider how often you're actually shopping at Amazon. If it's your go-to site for purchases and you take advantage of all the special deals like Prime Day, then you may get plenty of value from your Prime membership. But if you prefer other stores or even shopping in-person locally, then you may not need to be part of Amazon's loyalty program.

4. Are you buying at Amazon based on habit?

If you shop at Amazon regularly, you may want to consider why you're doing that. 

For many people, Prime encourages them to choose Amazon as their primary retailer. But there may be plenty of other sites out there that have similar products and offer free shipping and other perks just as Amazon does.

Sticking with the status quo out of habit -- and paying $139 a year for your Prime membership in order to do that -- may not be worth it if you can explore other alternatives and find a different site that works just as well for your needs. 

5. Could you score lower prices elsewhere?

Finally, you should look into whether the items you frequently purchase are actually priced competitively on Amazon. If you can find them for less elsewhere, then giving up your Prime membership and switching to a different retailer could be your best move.

By asking yourself these five questions, you can make the right choice for you, so you don't waste your hard-earned money on a Prime membership that no longer pays off.