Amazon is ending the popular feature that allowed Prime members to share free shipping benefits with people outside their household. As of October 1, 2025, members who previously extended these privileges beyond their address will need to sign up for their own Prime accounts if they want to continue enjoying free shipping and other membership perks. This shift marks a significant change in how Amazon manages its Prime service and reflects a tightening of benefits that were once more widely shareable.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has announced this move on its customer service webpage, explaining that the discontinued feature, previously known as the Prime Invitee program, will no longer exist starting next month. Instead, Amazon is focusing on its Amazon Family program, which allows Prime members to share shipping benefits with only one other adult living at the same address, along with up to four teenagers and four child profiles added before April 7, 2025. This means the free shipping advantages are now strictly limited to members of the same household, removing the earlier ability to share with friends or family members who live separately.
This decision comes as Amazon continues to invest heavily in expanding its logistics network, aiming to improve delivery speeds especially in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas across the United States. As of late July, Amazon’s improved delivery service reached 1,000 of more than 4,000 targeted smaller communities, illustrating the company’s commitment to regional expansion. However, the end of cross-household sharing indicates a shift in Amazon’s subscription growth strategy, forcing potential new subscribers to join individually rather than piggybacking on someone else’s account.
While Prime membership retains its core cost structure at $14.99 per month or $139 per year, the removal of free shipping sharing outside the home will likely prompt some users to reconsider how they subscribe. Those who benefited from shared Prime shipping without living in the same household as the account holder will now have to pay for their own membership to continue enjoying free delivery and other perks.
Amazon’s tightening of Prime sharing comes at a time when the company is seeking to boost its subscription numbers after recent challenges. Although Amazon reported strong sales during its extended Prime Day event in July, new Prime signups in the United States underperformed compared to previous years, falling short of the company’s internal expectations. By discontinuing the Prime Invitee program, Amazon appears to be encouraging these potential subscribers to commit fully to a membership, rather than maintaining free shipping access through shared accounts.
The end of this sharing program also echoes a broader tech industry trend of cracking down on account sharing across various subscription services. Similar to streaming platforms that have recently tightened restrictions on password sharing, Amazon is narrowing how its benefits are used to safeguard its revenue from memberships. What was once a more flexible way to share Prime benefits among friends and extended family is now being aligned with stricter household-only rules.
Despite this, the change does not affect users’ ability to ship items to multiple addresses from their own Prime accounts. Customers can still send gifts or deliveries to friends and family at different locations, but everyone receiving free shipping must now have an active Prime membership if they don’t live with the account holder.
For many longtime users who leveraged the Prime Invitee program to avoid individual subscriptions, this change represents the end of a convenient, cost-saving arrangement. Some might consider signing up for the promotional first-year rate of $14.99 before moving to the monthly plan, while others may reassess their loyalty and usage patterns with Amazon’s services.
