Amazon Prime Video just made its "free" tier much worse – and upgrading it again will cost more

Amazon split Prime Video membership in two a couple of years ago, asking Prime members to pay extra for an ad-free experience. Now it's widening the gap between the "free" and paid plans further, both in cost and streaming quality.

It is launching a new Prime Video Ultra tier, which will replace the current ad-free experience and introduce a few new features. However, the price of the add-on is going up, while the quality of the standard tier included with a Prime subscription will drop.

This is specific to the US for now, with the new Prime Video Ultra plan arriving in the country on 10 April 2026. It'll be priced at $4.99 per month (almost double the $2.99 of the existing ad-free add-on). That's on top of Prime membership.

In return, Ultra members will get up to 4K streams in HDR10+ and/or Dolby Vision, and with up to Dolby Atmos audio. Also expanded are the maximum amount of offline downloads available – up to 100 from 25 previously.

Ultra also enables five concurrent streams, up to three.

On the flip side, the ad-supported version of Prime Video – which is free with Amazon Prime membership – loses 4K. HDR is still supported, but only at a maximum video resolution of 1080p.

You do get Dolby Vision support for the first time though, plus double the amount of offline downloads available (to 50 from 25) and an additional concurrent stream (to four).

I'm not sure the extra benefits make up for the loss of Ultra HD streaming, however. Especially when Prime membership already costs $14.99 a month, and the step-up plan is more expensive.

Will Amazon Prime Video price hikes also hit the UK and Europe?

Although there has been no official announcement yet, it seems only a matter of time before we'll get similar price rises in the UK, Europe and further afield.

The current Ad Free plan continues to cost £2.99 per month in the UK, but there's time yet before 10 April and a potential hike. Even if it takes a bit longer, it's almost certain to come at some point.

In all honesty though, in comparison with rival streaming services, Amazon's platform has remained remarkably affordable for many years. It was a totally free, unrestricted benefit of Prime membership for over a decade and, in comparison with the likes of Netflix and Disney+, even asking for an additional payment for ad-free 4K HDR streaming seemed good value.

After all, you are getting next- or same-day delivery on thousands of items, Amazon Prime Gaming (now Luna), free Kindle eBooks, and a whole lot of other benefits beyond Prime Video. All for around the same price as other streaming services' Premium subscriptions.

It's the drop in quality for the ad-supported service that rankles most, though. Maybe the advertising model isn't as successful as Amazon had originally hoped.

Amazon claims that it needs to up the price of its top tier to help pay for content – such as the excellent Fallout and The Boys. It is also investing more in live events, such as European Champions League football in the UK.

That and increased competition have clearly forced its hand. It'll be interesting to see just how many will be willing to pay even more though, or whether 1080p is good enough, considering how many watch on mobile anyway.