5 benefits of Amazon Prime that you may not realize you have, like free games

(Image credit: Bethesda)

If you're a frequent user of Amazon Prime, you've probably been ordering from the online retailer a lot during the current period of being stuck indoors as the global health pandemic plays out. 

You probably already knew that priority delivery and Amazon Prime Video are two benefits of having a Prime membership. But getting your orders quickly and TV shows like The Boys aren't the only upsides of having your Prime membership.

While Prime benefits vary between regions, below we've captured five benefits you can enjoy in both the US and UK that you might not already know about. 

1. Twitch Prime

Unless you're deeply engaged with games, you might not know that connecting your Prime account to Twitch.tv will get you free PC games every month, not to mention in-game items for some of the biggest and best games around. Download them with the Twitch desktop app and you get to keep the games forever. Right now, the ones to check out are Furi and Bomber Crew, both fantastic 

At the time of writing, being a Twitch member gets you the Doomicorn skin for Doom Eternal, as well as item packs, in-game currency or cosmetics for the likes of Apex Legends, Destiny 2, Warframe, GTA Online. The bonuses change up pretty regularly, too, and in the past we've taken advantage of free Nintendo Switch Online membership and a free purple monkey companion in Sea of Thieves. 

Twitch Prime is a major part of Amazon Prime's value, if you make sure to take advantage of it. 

2. Amazon Music Prime

(Image credit: Amazon)

Amazon Music Unlimited is a Spotify equivalent offered by the retail giant with 50 million tracks, which comes with a separate subscription fee. Amazon Music Prime, meanwhile, offers a much smaller selection of 2 million tracks, but it's free with your Prime membership, which is fantastic. 

You're not going to find everything you like in there, but that's a pretty big selection of music at no extra cost that you can listen to without ads on the Amazon Music app for any mobile device, and download for on-the-go play. 

3. Amazon Photos

Amazon Photos

(Image credit: Amazon)

If you're subscribed to Prime, you've got unlimited photo storage that you and five other people can share. You can upload your photos and view on them on pretty much any device, like a phone or tablet. And even if you're not interested in Prime and you're just a regular Amazon customer, you've got 5GB of photo storage space for free anyway. 

4. Prime Reading

(Image credit: Amazon)

Kindle Unlimited is Amazon's full-fat all-you-can read monthly service, and like Music Unlimited, it has a separate subscription fee to access a much broader range of books, comics and magazines. 

But even if you're just a regular Prime member and you have any device that can download the Kindle app, Amazon offers a rotating selection of things to read that number over 1,000 in the UK, including lots of classics and comics. That's worth checking out if you haven't already.

5. Amazon Pantry

Amazon Pantry

(Image credit: Amazon)

Grocery shopping varies with Amazon depending on where you are, with Prime in the US offering Whole Foods 2-hour delivery in some cities. In both the US and UK, though, people in eligible regions can take advantage of a flat delivery $5.99/£3/99 fee for its Pantry service. In the US,  spending over $35 on an order gets free delivery for Prime members. In the UK, ordering four eligible items from a list also results in free delivery on Pantry orders. 

Samuel Roberts

Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.