Amazon gets into the monthly business and offers Prime Video as a stand-alone membership

Amazon is getting into the monthly business in a move that makes it a more aggressive competitor against Netflix and Hulu in the streaming wars.

The Seattle-based company on Sunday night launched two new monthly membership options that allow customers weary of a yearly commitment to opt for more flexible monthly options.

Customers can now pay $10.99 a month for Prime, which includes all the perks of annual Prime membership: free shipping, access to music via Prime Music and TV and movies via Prime Video. The Prime Video option (at $8.99 a month) is more limited, giving customers access to Amazon’s library of original and licensed content without the free shipping or music streaming elements.

That’s right: Viewers who prefer to stream “Transparent” and “Mozart in the Jungle” without the temptation of online shopping are now in luck.

The streaming market is becoming increasingly crowded. And this initiative allows the e-commerce giant, which has steadily been building up its video streaming business with original properties, to more directly challenge Netflix and Hulu with a stand-alone membership for Prime Video.

The new memberships also come just weeks ahead of Netflix’s planned price increase. The Los Gatos, Calif., company will begin charging $9.99 for its standard membership in May (a $1-$2 increase, depending on date of enrollment). Hulu charges $11.99 a month for its ad-free option, which it introduced last fall. Its ad-supported tier costs $7.99 a month.

The new monthly Prime Video option is more expensive ($107.88) than Amazon’s annual subscription ($99) when totaled up. The incentive, however, is that the new monthly memberships can be canceled at any time.

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