Amazon has 3 book services—which one is right for you?

How many books do you read every month? You might not know it, but that one number can tell you which of Amazon's book services is worth paying for. Amazon got its start selling books. While it has grown a bit since then, it still gives readers a wide range of options to get their fill.

Those options now include three separate subscriptions with different strengths. Prime Reading, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible overlap enough to confuse plenty of longtime Prime members, but each service suits a different kind of reader. Matching your habits to the right one keeps you from paying for books you never open.

Amazon book services at a glance

Prime Reading

Every Prime membership includes Prime Reading at no extra cost, a perk many members never use. This catalog holds a few thousand ebooks, magazines, comics, and some audiobooks, and Amazon rotates titles in and out regularly. Most of the selection consists of older bestsellers, popular genre picks, and Amazon Original Stories rather than this month's biggest releases.

For someone who finishes a book or two a month, that's usually plenty. Students on Prime Student get the same perks at a lower membership price, so Prime Reading makes an easy first stop for them too. Titles do leave the catalog over time, so a book you want to reread could disappear later.

If you don't have Prime yet, a 30-day free trial lets you browse the catalog before paying anything.

Kindle Unlimited

Kindle Unlimited is a separate subscription that costs $11.99 per month, even for Prime members. In exchange, you get millions of ebooks, comics, magazines, and audiobooks, with up to 20 titles borrowed at once. Most of that catalog is genre fiction, especially romance, thrillers, fantasy, and mysteries from independent authors who publish exclusively through Amazon. Recent bestsellers from major publishers are harder to find.

Thousands of Kindle Unlimited books also include Audible narration, so you can switch between reading and listening without losing your place. For voracious genre readers, the subscription pays for itself quickly. Three $4.99 ebooks a month already cost more than $11.99, and heavy readers often finish twice that many. A free trial gives you time to see how much of the catalog matches your taste. If you don't have a Kindle or any other compatible e-reader, you can still get Kindle Unlimited and read your books in the Kindle app.

Audible

Audible focuses on audiobooks and podcasts. Audible offers two plans, and they differ in what you get and what you keep.

Audible Standard costs $8.99 per month and lets you pick one audiobook each month from a catalog of more than 1 million titles. Members also get unlimited listening to a select group of Audible Originals and podcasts. Your monthly pick stays in your library only while you're subscribed, though, and an unused pick doesn't carry over to the next month.

Audible Premium Plus costs $14.95 per month and includes one credit for any title in the catalog. Credits stay valid for 12 months, and audiobooks you buy with them are yours to keep even after you cancel. Premium Plus also includes unlimited access to more than 150,000 audiobooks and podcasts, plus member discounts on extra purchases. For anyone with a long daily commute, that included catalog keeps you listening between credits.

Audible appears to have stopped selling its old standalone Plus plan to new members, so Premium Plus is now the only way to get that larger catalog. Both plans start with a 30-day free trial.

Which service fits your reading habits?

Casual readers who finish one or two books a month should start with Prime Reading if they already have Prime. Students fit the same profile, and Prime Student includes the same catalog for less.

Voracious genre readers will get the most from Kindle Unlimited, particularly anyone who reads romance, thrillers, or long fantasy series. Audiobook commuters should look toward Audible Premium Plus, while occasional listeners can save $6 a month with the Standard plan. Readers who mostly want brand-new releases will have better luck with a Premium Plus credit or a direct ebook purchase, because Prime Reading and Kindle Unlimited rarely carry them.

How to combine Amazon book services without overlap

Subscription overlap isn't just a streaming problem, and book services can stack up just as fast. If you want to avoid paying twice for the same books, here's what to do.

Prime Reading costs nothing extra, so every Prime member should check its catalog before paying for another service. Pairing Kindle Unlimited with Audible Standard costs $20.98 a month and works well for people who read at home and listen during a commute.

Before adding Audible, check whether the Kindle Unlimited books you already read include Audible narration. If they do, a separate audiobook plan may be unnecessary.

Free trials make the decision easier. Kindle Unlimited and both Audible plans have them, so test one service at a time and note how often you use it. Cancel any subscription you haven't opened in a month, because a book service only saves money when you're reading.