How to Pause Your Prime Video Subscription
You can pause Prime Video, but only if you get it through an eligible Amazon Prime membership. Amazon’s help page says a Prime Video-only subscription (the $8.99-a-month plan) can’t be paused; your only option there is to cancel. Eligible monthly Prime members can pause for one month with automatic resumption. Eligible annual members can pause for up to a year and resume manually. That’s Amazon’s policy as we checked it on October 15, 2026.
Who can pause, and who can’t
| How you pay for Prime Video | Can you pause? | Your options |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Prime, monthly plan | Yes | Pause 1 month; membership resumes automatically |
| Amazon Prime, annual plan | Yes | Pause up to 1 year (resume yourself) |
| Prime Video only ($8.99/mo.) | No | Cancel |
| Prime Student or Prime Business | No | Cancel |
| Free trial or a discounted Prime offer | No | Cancel |
| Prime billed through a third party (a phone carrier, for example) | No | Manage it through that company |
From Amazon’s “Pause Your Amazon Prime Membership” help page and Amazon pricing as of October 15, 2026. Prices before tax.
How to pause Amazon Prime (and Prime Video with it)
- Sign in to your Amazon account in a web browser on your phone or computer.
- Open Prime Central from your account menu (listed as Prime Membership).
- Go to Manage Membership and choose the option to update or cancel.
- Select Pause Membership, review the pause date and available options, then continue.
- Confirm. Amazon emails you once the change is saved.
The pause starts at the end of your current billing cycle, so you keep Prime Video until the day before your next renewal date. You can cancel a scheduled pause before then, and you can resume early at any time.
What happens while you’re paused
- No Prime Video, no Prime perks. Free shipping, Prime Video and other Prime benefits stop until you resume.
- Add-on channels end. Amazon says subscriptions tied to your Prime membership end when billing is paused, so re-check any Prime Video Channels or the $4.99 ad-free Prime Video Ultra add-on when you come back.
- Your account stays put. Your purchase history, payment details and watchlist remain on the account.
- Pausing too long cancels. An annual membership paused for one year is canceled unless you resume earlier.
- The price can change. When you resume, you pay the then-current rate for your plan.
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What a pause can save
At the checked $14.99 monthly Prime price, one month without a renewal avoids one $14.99 charge before tax. Amazon says the monthly membership resumes automatically after that month, so check your next billing date. Prime Video-only subscribers cannot pause that plan; canceling it avoids its next $8.99 monthly charge.
Amazon list prices and pause terms checked October 15, 2026. An annual pause begins after the paid term; it does not create an immediate partial refund.
For annual members, that last point is the catch. Pausing an annual plan mid-year doesn’t save money right away; it stops the next $139 renewal. If you want money back now, Amazon’s cancel flow (not pause) is where refunds for unused benefits are handled. Our Prime Video cancel guide walks through it.
Pause or cancel?
Pause if you have an eligible Prime membership and expect to return on the schedule Amazon shows in your account. Cancel if you’re on a Prime Video-only plan, a trial or a discounted plan, since pausing isn’t available to you anyway. If you watch Prime Video on a DIRECTV Gemini device, nothing changes on the DIRECTV side; the Prime Video app simply asks you to sign in again once your membership is active.
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Prefer one bill for live TV and sports? Call 1-855-690-9884 to see DIRECTV options at your address.