Every comparison of these two services argues about catalogues, and then declines to reach a conclusion. Which is understandable, because taste is not a thing you can settle in an article.
The money, though, can be settled. And once you put the numbers side by side, something odd emerges that almost nobody mentions.
Netflix raised its UK prices twice this year. Amazon did not move its membership. The gap between them has quietly turned into a gulf.
A note on the figures
We do not normally quote prices on this site. A value comparison without them would be useless, so here they are, checked in October 2026, from each company’s own pages and from UK trade reporting. Verify before you subscribe, because Netflix has already shown twice this year how fast they move.
What each one costs
Netflix went up on 4 September 2026, its second rise of the year. The cheapest tier took the hardest hit, rising by a third.
| Netflix UK | Before | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Standard with Ads | £5.99 | £7.99 |
| Standard, no ads | £12.99 | £13.99 |
| Premium | £18.99 | £20.99 |
Amazon’s side is simpler.
| Amazon | Monthly |
|---|---|
| Amazon Prime, everything included | £8.99, or £95 for the year |
| Prime Video on its own | £7.99 |
| Prime Student | £4.49, or £47.49 for the year |
| Ad-free viewing, on top of any of the above | About £2.99 |
Like for like, with adverts
This is the comparison most people are actually making, and it is not close.
| Netflix Standard with Ads | Amazon Prime | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly | £7.99 | £8.99 |
| Picture | 1080p | Up to 4K where available |
| Streams at once | 2 | 3 |
| Downloads | Yes, capped at 15 a month | Yes |
| Live sport | None | Champions League, NBA |
| Anything else | No | Next-day delivery, groceries, Music, Reading, Gaming, Deliveroo Plus Silver |
One pound apart, and Prime takes almost every line.
One row needs a footnote. Netflix’s cheapest tier can download, but only 15 titles a calendar month across two devices, where the ad-free tiers allow up to a hundred active downloads per device. For a fortnight’s holiday that cap is fine; for a household that downloads constantly it is not. Our guide to downloading for offline viewing covers the limits.
And Prime’s advertising is lighter. Prime Video runs two to three and a half minutes an hour. Netflix’s ad tier runs a comparable load but gives you less for it.
Like for like, without adverts
Here the result inverts what most people assume.
- Netflix Standard: £13.99
- Prime plus the ad-free add-on: £11.98
Prime is two pounds a month cheaper, and still includes the delivery. Over a year that is about twenty-four pounds, plus everything else the membership carries.
One honest caveat: Prime’s ad-free option does not cover live sport. If you are paying it to watch football without breaks, it will not work, and our guide to removing adverts from Prime Video UK sets out exactly what it does and does not cover.
And then there is 4K
This is the largest value gap in British streaming and it goes almost unmentioned.
Netflix charges £20.99 a month for 4K. Amazon includes it at £8.99.
Netflix puts Ultra HD and HDR behind its Premium tier only, which is two and a half times the price of a Prime membership that gives you the same resolution with no upgrade to buy. Prime Video has no premium tier at all: standalone or through a membership, you get 1080p and 4K wherever the title supports it.
Netflix’s Premium tier does buy you four simultaneous streams against Prime’s three, and two extra member slots. Whether that matters is worth thinking about honestly, and our guide to streaming on multiple screens argues that most households need fewer than they think. Our guide to 4K streaming in the UK is equally honest about whether 4K is worth caring about on your television.
So why does anyone pay Netflix more?
Because on content Netflix wins, and it is not a close call either.
- Volume of new originals. Netflix releases more in a month than Prime Video does in a quarter.
- Depth in the middle. Prime Video has perhaps seven series worth your time and then it thins out sharply. Netflix always has something next, which is the thing you are really buying from a streaming service.
- The interface is not selling you anything. Everything on Netflix is included. Prime Video mixes included titles, channel subscriptions and rentals in one view, which is the most common complaint about it and a deliberate commercial choice.
- Recommendations that work. Netflix is better at this than anyone, and it matters more than the catalogue size.
Our guide to the best series on Prime Video UK is honest about how narrow that catalogue is once you get past the top of it.
Where Prime Video genuinely wins on content
- Clarkson’s Farm. Nothing else in Britain comes close, and for a certain household it is the whole membership.
- Champions League football, included, on Tuesday nights. Netflix has no live sport in the UK at all. Our guide to watching football in the UK covers how much that would cost elsewhere.
- Older film. Prime Video’s back catalogue is deeper than Netflix UK’s, which is the part most subscribers never open.
- Rentals. One of the largest rental catalogues in Britain, useful even if you subscribe elsewhere.
- Channels as a hub. Running Paramount+, Crunchyroll or BFI Player through one Amazon bill is tidier than four apps, as our guide to Prime Video Channels in the UK explains.
The answer for four kinds of household
You order from Amazon twice a month or more. Take Prime regardless of the video, because it pays for itself on delivery. Then decide about Netflix separately, as a television purchase. This covers most British households, and our guide to whether Prime Video is worth it shows the arithmetic.
You want one service and you watch a lot of television. Netflix Standard at £13.99. You will pay more and you will have more to watch, and the interface will not try to sell you a rental halfway through a search.
You want one service and you are watching the money. Prime at £8.99. More picture quality, downloads, football, and a delivery service attached. Accept that you will run out of things to watch sooner.
You care about 4K. Prime, without hesitation. Netflix wants £20.99 for what Amazon includes at £8.99.
Can you have both and still spend less?
Yes, and this is what a lot of sensible households do.
Prime all year, Netflix in bursts. Prime’s value does not depend on the catalogue, so it makes sense to hold permanently. Netflix’s value is entirely in its releases, which arrive in clusters.
Six months of Netflix Standard rather than twelve saves about eighty-four pounds, and you will not have missed much if you time it around the series you actually want. Cancelling and returning is straightforward, with no penalty, and our guide to cancelling UK streaming subscriptions covers the places people get caught out.
Worth knowing before you plan around sharing an account: Netflix’s household rules make that harder than it used to be, as our guide to Netflix household rules in the UK sets out.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Netflix or Prime Video?
Prime, on every like-for-like comparison. £8.99 against £7.99 for Netflix’s ad tier but with far more included, £11.98 ad-free against Netflix’s £13.99, and 4K included rather than £20.99.
Which has more to watch?
Netflix, by a wide margin, especially in the middle of the catalogue where you look when you have finished the big titles.
Can you download on Netflix’s cheapest plan?
Yes, but capped at 15 titles a calendar month across two devices. The ad-free tiers allow up to a hundred active downloads per device.
Does Prime Video charge extra for 4K?
No. It is included at no additional cost. Netflix puts it behind the £20.99 Premium tier.
Why did Netflix get more expensive in the UK?
Two rises in 2026, the second on 4 September. The ad tier went up by a third in that round alone.
Should I get both?
If you order from Amazon regularly, hold Prime all year and take Netflix in bursts around the series you want. That is the cheapest way to have everything.
The short version
Prime wins the money comfortably at every tier, and wins 4K by a distance. Netflix wins the content just as clearly. They are not really competitors: Prime is a shopping membership with television attached, Netflix is a television service. If you order parcels, take Prime for the delivery and treat Netflix as a separate decision you can switch on and off.
For how both sit against Disney+, NOW and the free services, see our guide to UK streaming services compared, and for everything Prime Video contains, our complete guide to Prime Video UK.
