Today, we have a special treat for you: Amazon Prime vs Netflix, the battle of two streaming giants for your money. From the ever-important price to features to content, we aim to see which is the better streaming service. The struggle is real as most people automatically think of Netflix when it comes to streaming. The uncrowned king of streaming and video-on-demand has become a synonym for all streaming needs. However, Amazon has made some great strides to challenge it, up to the point where the two services are almost neck-to-neck.
If you have to make the choice to just one streaming service, reaching the decision can be difficult. Is it worth it to pay a bit extra to watch your favorite show(s)? Various movie and television deals on both sides make a compelling argument for each service. Hence, features and supported devices will be important factors in this case. Hopefully, this guide will help you make the best decision. Let’s get the show rollin’.
Netflix vs Amazon Prime
Both services offer a free 30-day trial, which makes a great starting point to sample them. The major difference here is that Amazon offers a free trial of its Prime membership with all the goodies, which include Prime Video. Students, arguably a group that is among the biggest users, can get a six-month trial of Amazon Prime by subscribing to Prime Student. After the trial expires, you’ll have the option of several price plans. Things get a bit more complex here but nothing too mind-boggling, don’t worry. We’ll start with Amazon first (we’re big on alphabetical order).
The full Amazon Prime package costs $99 per year or $10.99 per month and comes with all the previously mentioned perks. These include unlimited one-day delivery, unlimited movies and TV shows, unlimited photo storage, ad-free music streaming and several more. Users can cancel the service anytime so the difference between an annual or monthly billing (almost $33) can be a deciding factor. If you feel like you don’t need that extra stuff, Prime Video also has a subscription as a standalone service. At a $8.99 a month price, the only extra perk is the one that directly relates to the service – unlimited movies and TV shows. All options allow streaming up to three titles at the same time within the same Amazon account. However, you can stream the same title on only one device at a time.
Netflix, on the other hand, being just a “regular” subscription service, has three usual options: Basic, Standard, and Premium. Each subscription has a different feature list. Thus, the Basic plan starts at $7.99 a month and allows only SD streams on one device at a time. For $9.99, users can stream HD video content to two devices simultaneously, while the Premium plan doubles the number of simultaneous devices allowed and adds access to UHD content for $11.99 a month. All plans support unlimited films and TV programs and can be canceled at any time. There is also an option to download content to your mobile devices for offline viewing (more on that later on).
Price winner: Amazon Prime
In terms of how much you have to pony up to stream content, Amazon is the better choice. Netflix’s Basic plan is an option only if you’re strapped for cash. Otherwise, Standard and Premium plans are better choices, depending if you have a 4K device and need multi-device streaming. Netflix’s HD option (no UHD) costs $120 per year compared to Amazon Prime’s $99.99 a year. That means Amazon’s subscriptions are cheaper on a monthly basis, both as a Prime or a standalone subscription. In addition, you get the same video quality and tons of perks, especially if you are big on Amazon shopping.
Content
Netflix has more critically acclaimed original series in House Of Cards and Orange Is The New Black. The award-winning Arrested Development, another crowd pleaser, is also on the Netflix’s roster. How about smash hit Stranger Things? Not that Amazon is lagging in any way with over 40 original series on offer. The retail giant is even more impressive on the movie front. Last year, Amazon Studios produced a couple of Oscar-winning movies – Manchester by Sea and Moonlight. On the other hand, Netflix’s library is increasingly shrinking in the movie department, meaning there are fewer blockbuster titles. It’s a direct result of distributors pulling streaming rights from the platform and selling them to its rival, Amazon included. So, you won’t find everything you are looking for on either service but great content is still there. One common factor is the Star Trek franchise so Trekkies are set whichever they choose.
We could spend a day listing all the titles between the two services. We’ll leave that to you and stick to numbers. In terms of sheer quantity, Amazon has the upper hand. There are whopping 84049 movies for streaming, compared to Netflix’s 6953, according to data from Instant Watcher. However, there’s a lot of B-grade, low-budget material which isn’t without its audience, but is hardly a selling point. As for the TV shows, Amazon has 20770 seasons of TV available, considerably more than 2867 seasons Netflix has. Still, the impression is that Netflix edges out its competitor just a bit in terms of hit shows. Amazon is trying to catch up by reviving 80’s and 90’s cable hits, as well as adding respectable shows with not-quite massive followings. So far, Netflix is winning the TV broadcast department.
Content winner: undecided
Going by the numbers alone, Amazon is the clear winner. Going by the quality of content, Netflix seems to have a slight edge, especially with the broadcast TV shows. Both services are strong on the original content, investing heavily in their own projects. It’s a move no doubt born from the afore-mentioned distributing issues, which ultimately works in favor for both services. However, it seems that both Amazon and Netflix are evenly matched content-wise, all things considered. This is one where your personal taste will be the deciding factor.
Amazon Prime vs Netflix: Supported platforms and devices
The majority of current devices and platforms have no problems streaming from these two services. Nevertheless, support is often limited to certain platforms and models, especially for TVs and media streamers. Anyhow, you’ll probably have a device or two that can access either service. Here are the full lists of devices and models for Netflix vs Amazon Prime to check which service you support. Aside from the listed supported devices, both services can be used via a web browser on a PC or laptop, with the possibility of connecting to an external display like a monitor or TV.
When you get down to the nitty-gritty, Netflix seems to be the more attuned service, probably due to the several years of head start. The service supports slightly more Smart TVs, Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, and media streamers. You can freely stream content using Wi-Fi or a mobile internet connection on Android and iOS devices with both services. Amazon’s advantage are its own devices, naturally, which isn’t much of a plus for non-Amazon users. Still, we’ve previously compared Roku vs Amazon Fire and found plenty of reasons to favor the latter.
Supported platforms and devices winner: Netflix
While things are even regarding platform support, Netflix supports more devices. The only real difference is in the media streamer support, most notably Chromecast as the leading one.
Amazon Prime vs Netflix: Features
We’ve detailed the larger part of features in the Price section so we’ll discuss in-account features this time. Both services allow download onto mobile devices for watching offline. Only certain films and TV shows are available through, but the catalogue of downloadable content and devices is growing. Netflix offers better account features than its counterpart. It’s easy to set up multiple accounts for different users to keep personal preferences like recommendations and watch lists separate. There’s also a family-friendly dedicated kids section for the little ones. Amazon has X-Ray, an IMDB-based feature that allows access to actor bios, background information and more directly onscreen. However, it’s available only for select titles and devices, but still very useful.
As for the apps, Netflix has a uniform and clearly defined offering with a fairly consistent performance across all platforms. It’s an image-led affair whose only real problem is that search could be better. In terms of look and functionality, Amazon isn’t quite so good but isn’t bad either. There’s definite improvement with every update, with the benefit of looking up to its rival for smooth operation.
Features winner: Netflix
Chalk it up to having more time to fine-tune its offer or whatever you want, but Netflix feels like a more user-friendly option. The difference isn’t drastic and Amazon doesn’t really let down in any aspect, it’s just that Netflix is a bit better.
Amazon Prime vs Netflix: Picture quality
There’s tons of full HD content with surround sound, a few 3D films for compatible devices and a small, but growing selection of 4K shows and movies on both sides. There is also streaming content in HDR (High Dynamic Range) for compatible TVs that produce a more vivid picture quality. There’s not much between the two in terms of quality. But, there is in terms of availability, where Netflix charges extra for HD and 4K. With HD practically a standard these days, charging more for it doesn’t make much sense to us.
Picture quality winner: Amazon
An obvious choice as basic Netflix subscription doesn’t cover HD nor 4K content, while Amazon does.
The end result: tie
In the Amazon Prime vs Netflix battle, it’s hard to make a definitive decision. A great deal of it is based on personal taste, namely the content itself. The pricing, features, supported devices, and all other aspects are fine and dandy but mean little if there’s nothing to watch. While the available content may be more in favor of Amazon in terms of volume, that doesn’t mean it’s better than its rival. For instance, House of Cards fans would probably still prefer Netflix as it’s the home of their favorite show. If there’s another favorite in the lineup, all the better. And with a larger number of popular shows under its belt, Netflix seems to be in front there. So, we’ll try to base our decision with as little content bias as possible and avoid telling you what qualifies as must-watch. Tastes are relative, let’s just leave it at that.
In that regard, Amazon is the option for those who appreciate the perks they get besides streaming. Super fast delivery, exclusive Prime-only deals and access to additional Amazon services for free are really great. Still, if you’re not much of an Amazon shopper, those aren’t features that will draw you to Amazon’s streaming service. The price might as it’s cheaper both as a standalone service or Prime subscription than Netflix, whilst having no account restrictions in terms of picture quality. Netflix supports more devices and has a more intuitive interface, but only by a small margin. Hence, it once more depends on your personal taste content-wise as that really seems like the deciding factor.
We encourage you to sign up for both trials in order to see which service suits you the most. As each has content well worth watching, opt for both if your wallet can handle it. Chances are it can’t so be sure to give those 30-day trials a thorough sweep. Just don’t forget about your other responsibilities, ok?