Amazon makes Alexa+ free on Fire TV, no Prime required

On Wednesday, Amazon said its AI assistant, Alexa+, will roll out to all compatible Fire TV devices in the US for free, whether or not the customer has a Prime subscription. The update brings conversational search, smart home controls, and AI-powered recommendations, the company says.

Previously, Alexa+ cost $19.99 per month for anyone without an Amazon Prime membership, and was initially made available only on the new Fire TV devices the company announced last fall. Now, Amazon says everyone will be upgraded to Alexa+ automatically — no app download or subscription sign-up required. Compatible devices include all current-generation Amazon Fire TV Sticks, the Fire TV Cube, Amazon Ember smart TVs, and other smart TVs with Alexa+ built in, including models from Hisense and Panasonic.

The move follows an industrywide push to put AI services on more consumer electronics, often through non-optional upgrades like this one. Google, for instance, rolled out Gemini to its Google TV platform earlier this year, replacing simple search features with AI-powered conversational modes. Roku upgraded its voice assistant to AI last year, too.

Companies point to metrics like time spent with these features to suggest positive consumer adoption. Amazon says Alexa+ customers now have nearly twice as many conversations on Fire TV as they did with the original Alexa — a trend the company frames as evidence that customers are no longer using their TV only as a lean-back source of entertainment, and are engaging with the AI as well. Whether that’s a good thing is debatable.

Amazon says that with Alexa+, users don’t have to ask for shows by title — they can instead request suggestions based on factors such as theme, age, or popularity, for example “a top-rated thriller” or “a historical drama with a strong female lead.” The assistant can also help customers manage and control their smart home, including displaying Ring camera feeds on the TV.

Why it matters

Making a paid AI assistant free by default on a mass-market device platform is a fast way to drive adoption metrics, but it also means AI conversation features are becoming a default layer on TVs whether or not viewers asked for them.