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Amazon Prime Day vs. Black Friday: When are the deals better?

Deals are identical in many categories, but for others, you'll want to shop strategically.
By Leah Stodart  on 
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UPDATE: Oct. 10, 2024, 2:00 p.m. EDT Prime Big Deal Days 2024 has officially ended, but some deals are still live — the list at the bottom of this post has been updated with the best ones.

The difference between Prime Day and Black Friday — their roots, anyway — probably isn't a mystery to anyone who has dabbled in online shopping before.

Most of us know that Black Friday is the big sale frenzy that happens around Thanksgiving as a precursor to the holidays, and that almost every store you can think of participates. Alternatively, the name "Prime Day" suggests that the event is indeed an Amazon-specific event made up by Amazon for members of its Prime subscription.

SEE ALSO: Target Circle Week is back...just in time for October Prime Day

The lines between these two shopping holidays also aren't quite as blurred as they are between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which have become pretty indistinguishable from each other due to 1. being just a few days apart on the calendar, and 2. Black Friday relying just as heavily on online shopping as Cyber Monday does.

But back to the question at hand. Most people aren't concerned with these shopping holiday semantics. The people just want to know: Does Prime Day or Black Friday have better deals?

Does Amazon have better deals on Prime Day or Black Friday?

Amazon hypes Prime Day up so much that you can't help but assume those two days in July and two days in October are its Olympics. In the case of October Prime Day, specifically, Amazon can't possibly have the bandwidth to turn around and do the same damn thing a month later for Black Friday, right?

Jeff Bezos is heard cackling in the distance.

Amazon price history shows us that, in many cases, Amazon does go as hard for Black Friday as it does for Prime Day. It's not uncommon to plug the URL for any popular item from Amazon into price tracker Camelcamelcamel to see a handful of very consistent dips to that item's all-time low pricing — those few instances being middle of July (Prime Day) and the end of November (Black Friday), plus a common third dip in mid-October (Prime Big Deal Days, which we know is essentially another Prime Day).

SEE ALSO: What not to buy during Amazon's October Prime Day sale

Black Friday deals also tend to be a little more accessible than Prime Day deals, as you don't have to be a paying Prime member to unlock them (most of the time) like you do for Prime Day deals. (It's the same story for Walmart's Walmart+ events and Walmart's Black Friday sale, though being a paid Walmart+ member still has its perks, like getting early access to Black Friday deals.)

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In terms of what's on sale, there's a ton of overlap between Prime Day and Black Friday deals. Robot vacuums, headphones, Apple devices, laptops, and kitchen gear are likely to get similar treatment for both, so if you find a stellar deal on one of those items, there's probably no need to hold out until the other event to see if the deal is better then.

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A few categories are better to shop on Black Friday than Prime Day

A few categories do play favorites, though. Black Friday is a better time of year to find TV deals — aside from its own Fire TVs, Amazon doesn't go super hard with TV deals at any time throughout the year. Best Buy has a much wider selection on its (virtual) shelves at any given point, specifically offering way more big screen premium options than Amazon. Though Best Buy does hold competing sales during Prime Day, it tends to put on the bigger show during Black Friday.

Toy deals also tend to pop off more heavily for Black Friday in true nostalgic holiday prep. If you're looking to sign up for a streaming service for cheaper than usual, many of the big ones (Hulu and Peacock come to mind) are almost guaranteed to have a Black Friday sale, while they wouldn't exactly have any reason to participate in Prime Day.

Best October Prime Day deals still live:

Any deals marked with a 🔥 are still at record-low pricing.

Topics Black Friday Prime Day

Frequently Asked Questions

Amazon has two Prime-exclusive sale events per year. The only event that Amazon officially refers to as Prime Day is a two-day sale event usually in July, but in recent years, Amazon has added a second two-day Prime event, Prime Big Deal Days, to the calendar in October. Since it functions exactly the same as Prime Day, most everyone just calls it "October Prime Day."

Leah Stodart
Leah Stodart
Senior Shopping Reporter

Leah Stodart is a Philadelphia-based Senior Shopping Reporter at Mashable where she covers essential home tech like vacuums and TVs as well as sustainable swaps and travel. Her ever-growing experience in these categories comes in clutch when making recommendations on how to spend your money during shopping holidays like Black Friday, which Leah has been covering for Mashable since 2017.

Leah graduated from Penn State University in 2016 with dual degrees in Sociology and Media Studies. When she's not writing about shopping (or shopping online for herself), she's almost definitely watching a horror movie, "RuPaul's Drag Race," or "The Office." You can follow her on X at @notleah or email her at [email protected].

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