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

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 service.

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 the semantics of these shopping holidays. The people just want to know: Does Prime Day or Black Friday have better deals? Let's dig in.

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 few days in the summer are its Olympics. The retail giant also hosts a 48-hour fall counterpart called "Prime Big Deal Days" in October, which really makes you wonder: It 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's price history shows that, in many cases, it goes just as hard for Black Friday as it does for Prime Day. It's not uncommon to plug the Amazon URL for any popular item into the price-tracking site CamelCamelCamel and see a handful of very consistent dips to that item's all-time low pricing — those few instances being in June or July (Prime Day) and the end of November (Black Friday), plus a common third dip in October (Prime Big Deal Days).

One thing to note: Amazon's Black Friday deals tend to be more accessible than its Prime Day deals, since you don't have to be a paying Prime member to unlock them. (It's the same story for Walmart's Prime Day-esque sale and Black Friday sales, though being a paid Walmart+ member still has its perks, like getting early access to deals.)

In terms of what's on sale, there's a ton of overlap between Prime Day (including Prime Big Deal Days) and Black Friday deals. Robot vacuums, headphones, Apple devices, and kitchen gadgets are likely to get similar treatment at both events, 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.

Categories that are better to shop on Black Friday

A few categories do play favorites: TVs, laptops, toys, and streaming services.

While you no longer need to wait in line and get in fist fights at 4 a.m. to score doorbuster TV deals like back in the day, the TV discounts still remain epic on Black Friday. Amazon does offer some decent TV deals on Prime Day, particularly on Fire TVs, but Black Friday is the absolute best time to buy a TV.

Best Buy has a much wider selection on its (virtual) shelves at any given time, offering far more premium big-screen options than Amazon. Though Best Buy does hold competing sales during Prime Day, it tends to put on the bigger show during Black Friday. Not to mention, Amazon will often try to price-match Best Buy on the inventory it has.

We see better laptop deals on Black Friday for the same reason. Amazon's selection just isn't as widespread as its competitors, who typically reserve their best offers for the year-end holiday shopping season. It's not just because they know more shoppers are primed to shop at that point: According to Mashable's Haley Henschel, it's also because "manufacturers are trying to offload their inventories ahead of next-gen refreshes" at the start of the following year.

In true nostalgic holiday form, toy deals are much more dramatic during the Black Friday shopping season. Santa isn't made of money, after all. If you're looking to grab a Lego set, board game, Tonies, or other hot-ticket item, you'll likely find a better price on Black Friday. But you'll want to grab these deals quickly, as they often sell out.

Finally, if you're looking to sign up for a streaming service for less (aren't we all?), many of the big ones, like Hulu, Paramount+, and HBO Max, often have Black Friday sales. While many streamers have started to toss their hats in the ring on Prime Day in recent years (typically in the form of Prime Video add-ons), these deals still don't compare to the widespread, long-term discounts we see on streamers during Black Friday. In 2025, for instance, we saw HBO Max on sale for $2.99 per month for 12 months, and the Disney+ and Hulu bundle dropped to $4.99 per month for 12 months.