Amazon rolls out Alexa Plus nationwide and launches a new free tier - The Verge

Amazon has announced that its generative AI-powered digital assistant Alexa Plus is now available to all Prime members in the US via any Alexa-enabled device, Alexa.com, and the Alexa mobile app. If you don’t have Prime, you can access the assistant on a new free tier on the web and app, or pay $20 a month for unlimited access to Alexa Plus, without Prime.  Alexa Plus initially launched in March 2025 in an Early Access program and, over the last year, has slowly expanded to tens of millions of users, Daniel Rausch, vice president of Alexa and Echo, told The Verge in an interview.  Now, the smarter, more conversational assistant is moving out of Early Access and is officially available to anyone in the US. Early Access recently launched in Canada and Mexico, and according to Rausch, a closed Beta program is being trialed in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, with Early Access expected to follow.  In the US, the new tiers for using Alexa Plus are as follows: * Alexa Plus for Prime: This gives you and your household unlimited access to Alexa Plus everywhere, across Alexa-enabled devices, Alexa.com, and the Alexa app, as part of the $14.99 a month / $139 a year membership.  * Alexa Plus: For $19.99, you get the same access as Prime members, but you pay $5 more per month and don’t get the other Prime benefits. * Alexa Plus Chat: This new, free option lets non-Prime members try Alexa Plus through a chat experience at Alexa.com and in the Alexa app. This is basically a chatbot where you can ask questions and do research, much like ChatGPT or Claude. Rausch says this tier will be limited based on use. If you have Prime and use any Echo devices, Alexa Plus will arrive shortly (or may already be there) via a software upgrade. You can also say “Alexa, upgrade to Alexa Plus” or log in to your Amazon account at Alexa.com. Rausch says you can choose to opt out of the upgrade. And if you decide you want to revert to the old Alexa after upgrading, that is still an option. If you don’t have Prime but want to try Alexa Plus, you can go to Amazon.com/AlexaPlus. What is Alexa Plus? Based on an entirely new architecture and powered by large language models from Amazon Nova and Anthropic, Alexa Plus is a ground-up rebuild of Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant. It has moved from being a basic command-and-control voice assistant to a “foundational AI assistant” that can understand and respond to natural language.  Now, in addition to setting timers, playing music, and controlling smart home gadgets, the voice assistant can answer more complex queries, respond to more in-depth requests, and make it easier to control your smart home by creating routines with your voice. It can also manage your family’s calendars and meal plans, provide step-by-step recipe directions, make restaurant reservations, book an Uber or a home repair person, or buy concert tickets.  You can also use Alexa Plus as a text-based chatbot via Alexa.com on the web, where it’s designed for deeper research, planning, and generating content. Since its launch, Rausch says people have been using the Alexa Plus voice assistant twice as much. “We continue to see week-over-week customer engagement with Alexa Plus going up.”  The chatbot version of Alexa Plus is newer; the web interface launched last month, and the Alexa app was recently redesigned to put the chatbot front and center. “A lot of customers aren’t sure about subscribing to an additional AI chatbot experience for an additional $20 a month,” says Rausch. “I’m excited that Prime customers just have unlimited access to a world-class foundational AI assistant as part of their Prime benefits.”