Is Audible worth what you pay for it?

Plenty of people still love books but struggle to find the time for them. Between work, relationships, and the pull of a smartphone, those to-be-read piles keep getting bigger and bigger, and sitting down with a paperback can start to feel like a luxury rather than a habit.

Audiobooks are one way to keep reading when life gets busy, and Audible, Amazon's audiobook subscription service and marketplace, lets subscribers listen to books anywhere they go. For a little under $15 a month, you get access to one of the world's largest collections of audiobook content, plus a few other extras. Here's how it works and whether it's worth it.

About Audible

Audible is Amazon's audiobook service, home to a library of more than 1 million titles you can listen to from just about anywhere.

A monthly membership comes with credits you can redeem for audiobooks that are yours to keep, plus extras like Audible Originals, member discounts, and access to audio-guided wellness content. You listen through the app on your phone, tablet, computer, or smart speaker, and your spot saves automatically as you move between devices.

Audible membership plans

There are a few ways to subscribe to Audible, and they’re distinct.

If you mostly want to stream and don't care about owning new releases, the entry-level Standard plan costs $8.99 per month and includes one audiobook per month and unlimited access to select podcasts. You can listen to your audiobooks as long as you’re a member, but if you cancel, the titles disappear when your plan ends.

The next step up is Premium Plus, which costs $14.95 per month (though Audible occasionally runs sales that lower the price for new subscribers). It starts with a 30-day free trial, so you won't be charged right away. Premium Plus includes 1 credit per month to buy any audiobook from the collection, and the best part is that you get to keep them even if you cancel your subscription. You also get unlimited access to more than 150,000 audiobooks and podcasts.

There are additional plans you can upgrade from there, which include base Premium Plus access plus additional credits, additional audiobook titles, and members-only deals. Paying annually, rather than monthly, results in a lower price per credit, a solid value for more budget-conscious subscribers.

For most listeners, Premium Plus is more than enough, especially since, in addition to the credit you get each month, you also get member discounts on extra audiobooks you buy through Audible. Those credited titles go straight into your personal library.

You can also get subscriptions to leading national U.S. newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. It's one of the lesser-known benefits, since you can read all of them through Audible's app at no additional charge.

Audible credits

Each Audible credit is like an audiobook waiting to be listened to. A single credit is redeemable toward one title—it doesn't matter the retail price or how long it is—and you can carry that credit over for months and use it whenever you feel like it, although credits do expire after a year.

Once you redeem an Audible credit, Audible immediately adds that audiobook to your personal library, which lists every book you've ever purchased, along with the author, audio length, date added to your account, and a rate-and-review section, where you can grade the overall audio recording, performance, and story using a five-star system.

Audible how to

How to search for new audiobooks

There are a few ways to find new titles. Start by typing the title you want into the search bar, or by navigating to the Browse section and segmenting your search by category. If you're on Amazon, you can also search audiobook titles and still pay via credit, since Audible links up to your existing Amazon account automatically. Once you complete the purchase on Amazon, it automatically gets added to your existing Audible library.

How to add to your cart or wish list

When you find a title on Audible that you're interested in, but either don't want to buy yet or don't have the credits for, you can add it to your cart or wish list—neither of which expires—just by hitting the Add to Cart or Add to Wish List buttons.

How to exchange audiobooks

One of the handier features of Audible is its Great Listen Guarantee, which lets you return a title you bought and get a credit for it. You have up to 365 days to make the exchange, provided you request it while your membership is active. So if a recording, a performance, or a story just isn't working for you, you're not stuck with it.

A word of caution: This is meant for genuine dissatisfaction, not a way to recycle credits. Audible doesn't publish a hard number, but the allowance is low, and the company monitors accounts for overuse and flags those that lean too heavily on returns.

How to cancel

To cancel your membership, log into Audible on a desktop browser, head to the Account Details page, and click Cancel membership at the bottom of the membership details section. You'll get an automated email confirming it. One thing to watch: if you originally signed up through the Apple App Store or Google Play, you have to cancel through Apple or Google, since they handle billing.

Listening to audiobooks using Audible

One of the biggest feathers in Audible's cap is its convenience. The ability to listen anywhere is a major benefit, especially for anyone perpetually short on free time to read. A 50-hour audiobook, which translates to roughly 1,000 pages, is doable in a couple of weeks by listening during commutes and slow periods at the office. Listeners who spend a lot of time in their cars can get through multiple bestsellers in a month.

Streaming

You can listen to Audible on iOS, Android, Sonos, Kindle, and any Alexa-enabled device. To get going, you just download the app to your phone. Your personal library carries over, and you can access all your titles from there.

The app also lets you rate and review books, mark a title as finished, and view book details, such as fellow listeners' reviews and plot summaries. If you're glued to a laptop, you can even pull up Audible on your desktop via the Audible Cloud Player, which streams audio in a browser tab in Chrome or Safari.

Once you link the app to your account, you can browse new titles, review your account and billing details, and more. You can pause, play, fast-forward, or rewind, and change narration speed to your preference.

If a line resonates with you, the Clip feature lets you save it, and you can download titles to listen to offline. (The Cloud Player is handier for quick desktop listening, but the app is where the full feature set lives, including the sleep timer below.)

Saving your place

It doesn't matter which one of your devices you're listening on at any given time, because if you switch devices, you can pick up right where you left off. Audible automatically saves your spot through Whispersync, so you never lose it, though you need an internet connection to update across devices. You can also set a sleep timer—choose from preset lengths like 30, 45, or 60 minutes, or have it stop at the end of the current chapter, which is perfect if you're listening in bed.

FAQs

Does Audible come with Amazon Prime?

Although Audible is an Amazon company, it's not included in a Prime membership, and you have to pay separately for it. You also don't get a discount for having both services, so you pay full price for each.

Can you share audiobooks through Audible?

Yes! You can share your audiobooks with family using Amazon's Family Library, rather than handing out your password. Set up an Amazon Household, and you can share Audible titles you own with another adult and up to four children.

The nice part is that everyone in the household can listen to the same title at the same time, so no one's fighting over a single copy of the same book.

Can you give audiobooks as gifts?

Yes! You can gift Audible at any time and purchase monthly memberships for other people in increments of up to 12 months. You can also gift book titles, either directly from your own library or by purchasing new ones, and send them to non-Audible members via email or print.

Alternatives to Audible

Audible is not a perfect platform. For avid audiobook listeners, Audible presents the same problem as any other paid subscription. The credit system is useful, but for many readers, one or two free books a month is a token amount that won’t offset the cumulative cost of a monthly membership fee.

For a while, Audible had very little competition among audiobook platforms, but book listeners now have more options.

• Libby: A free app run by OverDrive that links to your local library card. You borrow audiobooks the same way you'd borrow a paperback, with waitlists for popular titles and automatic returns when your loan ends. Selection depends on what your library has licensed, but the price is hard to beat at zero.

• Libro.fm: A credit-based subscription at $14.99 a month that mirrors Audible's setup almost exactly, with one credit per month and a catalog of major new releases. The difference is that a portion of every purchase goes to an independent bookstore of your choice. Any title you buy with a credit stays yours after canceling.

• Spotify Premium: Premium subscribers get 15 hours of audiobook listening per month bundled into the regular plan, with the option to buy more hours if you go over. The library covers popular fiction and nonfiction rather than deep backlist, but it's effectively free audiobook access for anyone already paying for the music side.

• Chirp: A no-subscription option that sells individual audiobooks at steep discounts, often a few dollars apiece. The lineup rotates, so a specific new release may not be on sale when you want it, but for casual listeners who only want a book here and there, it can come out cheaper than a year of monthly fees.

• Kobo: Toronto-based Kobo runs an audiobook subscription at $12.99 a month with one credit per book and the same keep-it-after-canceling structure. Worth a look for anyone who already uses a Kobo e-reader, since the audiobook and ebook libraries live in the same app.

The final verdict: Is Audible worth it?

For anyone whose free time for reading has gotten scarce, Audible makes a strong case. The ability to get through books during a commute, a workout, or a long drive turns dead time into reading time, and for readers prone to motion sickness, listening sidesteps the problem of reading on the move entirely. However, if the price is what’s keeping you from getting into audiobooks, Libby and Spotify are both more affordable alternatives that are definitely worth a try.

Audiobooks also have a naturally more dramatic feel than the printed page. Because the stories are produced and performed, they take on a quality similar to that of podcasts, making them an easy entry point, even for longtime print purists.

Given the size of the library, the flexibility of the credit system, and how painless it is to pause or cancel, Audible is generally worth it for most people who want to read more but have less time to do so.