Amazon Key: How the Service Works Now, What It Costs and Privacy Tips

Updated October 2026. When we first wrote about Amazon Key, it meant couriers opening your front door while a camera watched. Amazon’s Key page today is about In-Garage Delivery instead. We rewrote this post around how it works now, what it costs and what to reset when a home with smart access changes hands.

Amazon Key is Amazon’s service that lets a courier open your smart garage door, leave the package inside and close it again. As of October 2026, Amazon says it has made more than 100,000,000 in-garage deliveries. It’s for Prime members, the first delivery is free and later one- or two-day in-garage deliveries cost $1.99.

Jump to: 🏠 How it works · 💲 Cost · 🤝 Privacy · 📍 Selling a smart home · 🪜 Buying one · ❓ FAQ

The original pitch was bold. You bought a cloud camera and a compatible smart lock, and a courier could open your front door and set the box inside. A lot of people found that a step too far. Amazon’s Key page now leads with the garage, which is a smaller ask: the courier never steps into your living space. If you remember the old version and wrote it off, it’s worth a second look.

How does Amazon Key work in 2026?

You link a compatible smart garage door opener to the Amazon app. At checkout, eligible orders from Amazon, Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market show an In-Garage Delivery option. When the driver arrives, the garage opens for that delivery, the package goes inside and the door closes. You get a notice when it’s done.

Amazon lists five opener brands that work with it: myQ, Chamberlain, LiftMaster, Aladdin Connect and OHD Anywhere. If you aren’t sure what you have, Amazon’s page offers to help you check through the QR code. You can see Amazon’s own explanation on its https://www.amazon.com Key page and the current In-Garage Delivery page.

The main reason people use it is simple: packages stay out of the rain and out of sight from the street. If you get groceries delivered, it also keeps cold bags out of the sun. Our post on saving time and money with grocery delivery services covers that side of it.

How much does Amazon Key cost?

You need three things: a Prime membership, a compatible smart garage opener and the Amazon app. Per Amazon’s page, your first in-garage delivery is free with one- or two-day delivery. After that, each one- or two-day in-garage delivery is $1.99.

There’s a way around the fee. With Amazon Day In-Garage, your orders are grouped and delivered on the same day each week, the day you pick, and the $1.99 is waived. Fewer trips, fewer boxes.

If your garage opener is older, you may need a smart add-on or a new opener. Prices vary by brand and model, so check compatibility before you buy hardware. In a small home or apartment with no garage, In-Garage Delivery doesn’t apply; our tips on maximizing small spaces are more useful there.

Is Amazon Key safe, and what about privacy?

Every connected door is a tradeoff. Someone you don’t know gets a one-time opening into your garage, and an account somewhere knows when packages come and when the door moves. For many people the garage is a fair middle ground. For others, it’s still too much.

A few habits lower the risk with any smart lock, camera or opener:

• Use long, random, unique passwords. CISA recommends at least 16 characters, and a password manager.
• Turn on automatic software updates, since many updates fix security holes, per CISA.
• Lock the door from the garage into the house.
• Review who has access in each app every few months, and remove old guests.

Laws around smart devices, data and property rights are still catching up. Our guide to smart homes, IoT and property law goes deeper, and six smart home devices for your home covers what’s worth installing.

What should you do with smart access when you sell your home?

Decide early what stays and what goes. A smart garage opener or a keypad lock is usually treated as a fixture, but write it into the contract so there’s no argument. Then plan the handoff: unlink the device from your Amazon account and every other app, remove saved delivery instructions, cancel any subscriptions tied to the house and leave the manuals and reset steps in a drawer.

During showings, turn off automatic delivery features so a courier doesn’t open the garage while buyers are touring. Smart devices are also a selling point. Millennial buyers in particular ask for them; see six things millennials want in their homes.

When you list, a Beycome flat fee MLS listing starts at $99 with $0 due to Beycome at closing, in 17 states and DC. Showings can run through ShowingTime where the MLS offers it, and you can update the listing remarks free to mention the smart features.

What should you reset when you buy a home with smart devices?

Treat every connected device as if a stranger still has the code, because the last owner might. On move-in day, factory-reset or re-pair the garage opener, change every keypad code, remove old users from the lock and doorbell apps and change the Wi-Fi password. Ask the seller to confirm in writing that they’ve unlinked their accounts.

Renting instead? Ask the landlord which devices are installed and who can access them. Our guide for a first rental and the mistakes to avoid has a move-in checklist.

If you’re house hunting now, the Beycome buyer program has no upfront fee: Beycome keeps 1% of the price (minimum $1,499) and credits the rest of the buyer-agent commission at closing, with lender approval. It’s open to every buyer on homes listed by other agents (the commission credit can’t apply where no buyer-agent commission is offered, like most FSBO homes, or on homes listed by Beycome sellers).

Landlords and property managers have a version of the same problem, and smart locks are one of several property management technology tools built for it. Smart locks and garage openers make move-ins and maintenance visits easier, since you can send a code instead of meeting someone with a key. They also mean you need a written policy: who gets codes, when they expire and how tenants are told about entry. Change codes between every tenant and every contractor job, the same day the work ends.

If a delivery or a vendor needs a one-time opening, use the app’s guest or temporary access feature rather than sharing a permanent code. It takes a minute and saves an awkward conversation later. Keep a simple log of who had access and when; if anything ever goes missing, that record is the first thing you’ll want.

Amazon Key questions