Best Audiobook Apps Tested: 7 Top Subscriptions Revealed

My extensive testing shows that the best AudioBook services are Audible, Blinkist, Audiobooks.com, and getAbstract. Audible provides the biggest library, and you get to own the books. In comparison, Blinkist offers high-quality Audiobook summaries at an incredibly low price.

Audiobooks have changed my life, turning moments of mundane activity into opportunities to hear a story, absorb knowledge, or learn a new skill. They turn the laborious commute or housework into an epic adventure. The benefits of Audiobooks are undeniable.

Best Audiobook Subscription Services

My unique survey of hundreds of audiobook users reveals how they use audiobooks to improve their work, life, and sleep routines. I have listened to over 380 audiobooks over the past twelve years and have personally tested, used, and had subscriptions to all the Audiobook services in this review. View the side-by-side audiobook service comparison table, or continue reading.

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1. Audible: Winner – Best Audiobook Service Overall.

Simply the Biggest & Best Audiobook Collection + The Lowest Subscription Costs per Book

Audible Rating: 4.9★

Audible Review Summary

Audible is the leader in the audiobook industry, boasting the largest library of titles, with over 560,000 audiobooks.

New releases and bestsellers are inevitably released on Audible first, as its market share and customer base make it irresistible to publishers.

For me, one of the most important elements of books or audiobooks is that you get to keep the books you pay for. I own over 350 titles valued at $2,800 and am pleased to hand them down to my children in the future. Some services, such as Everand, offer an unlimited listening subscription, but you are just borrowing the book for the duration of your subscription. When you end the subscription, you lose access to everything. With Audible, you can still log in and use the app even after ending the subscription.

Audible Pricing Plans

With Audible, you need a subscription, which means you can buy books at a tiny fraction of their retail value. Although some people think Audible is expensive, the reality is that it offers the cheapest way to purchase audiobooks.

With Audible, you need a subscription, which means you get to buy books at a tiny fraction of their retail value. Although some people think Audible is expensive, the reality is that it’s actually the cheapest way to buy audiobooks.

Audible Plus costs $7.95 monthly, with unlimited access to 9,000+ Audible originals and podcasts. But if you want premium blockbuster titles, one credit costs $14.95 per month.

Opting for the Audible two credits service costs $22.95, bringing your average book price down to $11.47.

For the lowest price per book, consider the 24 credits per year package at $229.50, which averages out to $9.56 per book.

Additionally, you’ll receive special promotions nearly every week, such as “2 books for one credit” or “Every book for $3”, which are excellent deals.

Finally, Audible offers a massive selection of exclusive professional podcasts that are free to members. They will also send you Christmas stories for the family and children at Christmas, which is a really nice touch.

Customer Service & Returns Policy

One of the most important reasons Audible is the clear winner for me is that they have the industry’s best returns policy. If you do not like a book, for whatever reason, the narrator, the plot, or it is boring, you can return it within one year of purchase. You can go to Account -> Purchases -> Click Return Title, and your credit is immediately refunded.

There is nothing worse than paying for a book that you ultimately dislike. Audible resolves this problem with its “Great Listens to Guarantee.”

Finally, you can contact Audible via phone, chat, or email. I have used chat many times, and they are available instantly, 24/7, with no wait; that is a great service.

Audible Audiobook Apps

Play Store App Rating – 4.6 ☆ Excellent

Having used the Audible App for nine years, I can safely say it is rock solid, easy to use, and perfect.

The Audible App has the following key features:

• Car Mode – Makes the App simple to use when driving with bigger buttons.
• Books Sharing – Send a Book to a Friend or share your progress
• Clips, Bookmarks & Notes – saving sound clips and making notes
• Sleep Timer –  useful for listening when you go to bed, so it does not play all night
• Variable Speed Playback – great for slow narrators or digesting long books quicker

Your Audible books will play on all devices, including Apple, Android, and Smart TVs; even the Amazon Alexa smart speaker will read them to you.

• Read the Full Audible Review

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2. Blinkist: Highest Quality & Low-Cost Audiobook Summary Service

The Best Value Audiobook Summary Subscription Service

Blinkist Rating: 4.6★

What is a Book Summary Service?

Blinkist and getAbstract are services that pay writers and narrators to summarize a nonfiction book. A typical book might take 4 to 10 hours to read or listen to, which is a long time to invest in learning a few key lessons. Book summary services distill the book’s key messages and takeaways and transform them into much shorter versions.

Of course, a summary audiobook service will only work with educational, self-improvement, or business books; you could not summarize a Sherlock Holmes Crime Thriller into 15 minutes; the book would be ruined.

Blinkist Review Summary

About 18 months ago, I signed up for a free Blinkist trial to try out audiobook summaries. I liked the service so much. I purchased a yearly subscription.

As a passionate Audiobook listener, I was very excited about the opportunity to listen to an entire book in 15 minutes. Interestingly, there were books I thought had some great messages, and I learned from them.

I was very pleased that there were also books that I did not spend 10 hours reading to get that simple or unremarkable message.

For me, this service is great.

Blinkist is a very professional service. Their narrators are first-class, and the books are logically laid out and easy to follow. With every book summary, you get a high-quality 15-minute audiobook and a written summary of the book if you prefer to read it.

I particularly like the feature that allows you to listen to summaries of the New York Times Bestsellers List (see image right).

The single downside is that you can only access the books if you subscribe to the service. This is, however, understandable because the service is unlimited listening; you do not buy a book, you buy access to all the books.

Blinkist Pricing Plans

Is Blinkist Free?

Yes, amazingly, Blinkist has a free plan. You can register for their free plan, and you will be sent a free book summary every single day.

The idea is that you will like Blinkist so much that you will later upgrade to the Premium service to get access to the whole library and choose what you would like to listen to. Of course, they are correct; this is exactly what I did.

How Much is Blinkist Premium?

Blinkist has a single premium plan that gives you access to as many books as you want. The key difference is in the pricing. In the USA, opting for a monthly subscription costs $12.99 per month, which is $155.88 per year.

However, I recommend paying for the year in advance, which is a single payment of $79.99, which gives you 12 months of access for a 50% discount, which is, in my opinion, a great deal.

getAbstract is also an excellent service that costs $299 per year, with access to 20,000 summaries, but in terms of value for money, Blinkist is a clear winner.

Customer Service & Returns Policy

Regarding returning books, I previously mentioned that you do not own the books; you access the service. It is more like Netflix than buying a DVD. So, ultimately, there is nothing to return.

You can cancel your subscription anytime online with a few clicks, and the customer service teams are available via email or web form.

Blinkist Audiobook Apps

Playstore App Rating: 4.4 ☆ Excellent

The app itself is a breeze to use, simple and effective.

My library is well organized, and my saved and favorite books are easily accessible.

I particularly like highlighting text in a book via the App or Browser.

You can select the text and click highlight, which will be saved in your Highlight tab.

This is perfect for keeping track of those lightbulb moments or key inspiring messages in a book.

The app is highly rated in the App Stores, and impressively, Blinkist is also compatible with Amazon’s Alexa smart speaker, so Alexa can read them to you.

• Related Article: Read the In-Depth Blinkist Review

3. Audiobooks.com: Huge Library & Low-Cost subscription

A Huge Library & Low-Cost Subscription Model

Audiobooks.com Rating: 4.2★

Audiobooks Review Summary

I have been testing and using Audiobooks.com for over eight weeks now, and I have to say that the library is extensive, and the service works very well.

With access to over 150,000 audiobook titles and new releases arriving quickly, you will not notice any difference between the Audible service and Audiobooks.com.

Importantly, like Audible, you own the book, which means that even if you terminate your subscription, you should have access to your audiobooks; for me, this is vital.

However, I need to mention two drawbacks: the returns policy and the lack of smart-speaker support (see below).

Firstly, there is no easily discernible way to return a book you are unhappy with. Looking into the user agreement, it says: “Audiobooks.com grants refunds at our sole discretion. We do not offer refunds on any subscription charges”.

Secondly, there is no support for smart speakers like Alexa, Apple, or Google Now.

Audiobooks Pricing Plans

Free Trial

Audiobooks.com offers a free 30-day trial during which you can access one free credit to exchange for one audiobook, plus access to 2 VIP books. This is an excellent free trial.

Monthly Membership

The monthly membership costs $14.95, which gets you one credit for a book you own and access to an additional VIP book from a selection they have curated.

The only issue is that you do not own the VIP book. It will always be in your library, but you will only have access to the books you purchased with a credit if you end your subscription.

This means all the VIP books will be removed because they were loaned to you, not purchased.

This means the real cost per book, should you end your subscription, is $14.95.

On the positive side, they consistently run 2-for-1 deals, which means that if you buy books in the deal, your average cost per book may drop to $7.50.

This means the real cost per book, should you end your subscription, is $14.95.

On the positive side, they are always running 2-for-1 deals, which means that if you find books in the deal, your average cost per book may drop to $7.50.

Customer Service & Returns Policy

As mentioned, the ability to return a book any time you do not like it is a critical feature. Unlike Audible, with Audiobooks.com, there is no easily discernible way to return a book you are unhappy with.

Looking into the user agreement, it says: “Audiobooks.com grants refunds at our sole discretion. We do not offer refunds on any subscription charges”.

This could be an area where Audiobooks.com can improve and be clearer.

Audiobooks Apps

App Store Rating: 4.3 ☆ Good

The Audiobooks.com App is easy to use. I particularly like the recommendation engine and how the browsing screen is very visual (see the image above)

However, viewing your library in the app could be improved as the book thumbnails are large and difficult to navigate.

The app has important features like a sleep timer, notes, bookmarks, and playback speed control. I also like the ability to follow an author and be notified of future releases easily, which Audible does not have.

The only thing missing is car mode and compatibility with a smart speaker.

• Read the Full Audiobooks.com Review

4. getAbstract: Best Audiobook Summaries for Business

Best & Biggest Audiobook Summary Collection, Perfect for Business

getAbstract Rating: 4.4★

getAbstract Review Summary

Blinkist and getAbstract are services that pay writers and narrators to summarize a typical nonfiction book. A typical book might take between 4 and 10 hours to read or listen to, which is a long time to invest in learning a few key lessons. Book summary services distill the book’s key messages and takeaways and transform them into much shorter versions.

The key differences between getAbstract and Blinkist are the size of the library and the target customers.

getAbstract is the largest book summary service, with over 20,000 book summaries in audio and written formats in 7 languages. They also analyze the book, not just summarize it, which can help you make sense of a topic’s meaning and ramifications.

In terms of target customers, this solution is geared toward businesses, as they will also assist you in rolling out the learning solution to your organization. In fact, over 150 Fortune 500 companies have already deployed getAbstract.

getAbstract pricing

Student Starter	Student Pro	Pro	Enterprise
Free	$99 /year	$299 /year	Custom Pricing
5,000 Summaries	20,000 Summaries	Unlimited Access	Unlimited Access

If you are a student, you get a fantastic deal, as shown in the table above. For regular individuals, $299 per year is $200 more than Blinkist, but the depth of topics is way ahead.

Also, you can probably write these costs off against tax as part of your professional development investment.

Ultimately, getAbstract is the best book summary service available, so the pricing is invariably higher than that of Blinkist.

If you’re looking for access to a great selection of summaries at a low cost, consider Blinkist for power users and small to enterprise-scale businesses; getabstract is the right choice.

Although getAbstract appears to compete with Blinkist on the surface, its primary revenue source and business model are focused on the corporation. This is a good thing, as it has the scale to integrate into corporate learning systems and help employees boost their careers and performance.

getAbstract is an excellent service for the enterprise. It is also perfect for individuals despite the large price tag.

• Read the Full getAbstract Review.

5. Everand: Unlimited Audiobook Access But Limited Titles

The Best Unlimited Audiobook Subscription Service, But No Bestsellers

Everand Rating: 3.8★

Everand Overview

There are many fans of Everand, especially avid readers and audiobook listeners. Everand has announced a new offering in the media world: flat-rate unlimited access to Audiobooks, eBooks, and the Magazine Library. This essentially went viral because, before this announcement, everyone was forced to pay for audiobooks individually.

There is no official information from Everand, but I estimate the Audiobook library to contain approximately 30,000 to 40,000 titles. This is significantly lower than Audible or Audiobooks.com, but I suspect that the publishers receive a lower revenue from Everand, making them less inclined to release new and best-selling titles.

Everand Netflix for Audiobooks: Not Really

Everand’s business model is very similar to Netflix’s; it licenses content from publishers and pays them on a per-user basis. As consumers, we see only a low flat-rate monthly subscription charge for a large amount of content.

The monthly subscription is so low because you do not own the books; you can access them for the duration of your subscription.

Everand Magazines

Everand has 100 magazines, which you can access via browser or the app. I was very excited to see this, but after reading a few magazines, I realized the experience is not like reading a magazine. I do not mean the paper; I mean the layout and editing. The magazine articles are in simple HTML with simple images; some magazines, like T3, were poorly formatted.

Everand Pricing Plans

Everand pricing is straightforward: $9.95 per month for unlimited access to the library of books, audiobooks, and 100+ magazines for the duration of your subscription.

If you stop the subscription, you lose access. For many, this is not a problem; if you listen to many audiobooks and are not interested in building up a library of your own books, then it is a great solution.

I have been with Audible for ten years. I have 350 audiobooks, which cost me approximately $2,800 over that period, but those books are mine for life and my children.

If I had been with Everand for that period, it would have cost me $972, but I would have owned nothing. It is like the difference between renting and owning a house.

Customer Service & Returns Policy

I have seen many complaints online that Everand is throttling heavy audiobook consumers as they consume too many books. Also, I have read that certain bestselling titles are restricted to one or two per user per month, or are not even visible to some users.

I have not experienced this, but I understand that it is a balancing act for Everand to ensure they earn revenue from what they need to pay to publishers and that some do not abuse the system.

Everand Audiobook Apps

Everand App Store Rating: 4.5 ☆ Excellent

I have been using the app with my new subscription for two months and found it an absolute delight. Running on Android and iPhone, the app has everything you need to enjoy Audiobooks and other media.

Key App Functionality:

• Sleep timer
• Bookmarking & Note Taking
• Sharing
• Playback speed control

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6. Apple Books: A Free Subscription But Limited Audiobooks

Something for free, but not much.

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Pros

★ You Own the Book for Life
★ Apple Exclusive Extras
★ Average Book Cost $9.99
★ Compatible with All Apple Devices

Cons

✘ Locked into Apple Eco-system
✘ Severe Limitations on Accessing Popular Titles

Apple Audiobooks Review

Although Apple’s homepage does not mention audiobooks, it offers a reasonable selection. In typical Apple style, it invests in some Apple-exclusive audiobooks and adds extras to existing audiobooks, such as interviews with authors and narrators.

This is nowhere near the scale of exclusives or extras offered by Audible, but at least Apple is trying. It is about differentiating yourself from the market. However, Apple is a new contender in this space, whereas Audible has been doing this for ten years.

Apple Books does not require a monthly subscription, and the prices are reasonable, at an average of $10 per book. It’s not comparable to Audible, but it is OK for the occasional listener without a subscription.

In iTunes, browsing Audiobooks is nicely laid out and thought through, making finding your next listening experience a breeze.

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7. Google Play Books: Free Subscription, But Limited Features

Subscription Free Audiobooks & Below Average Cost per Book

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Pros

★ You Own the Book for Life
★ Below Average Cost per Book of $8
★ Compatible on Android & Google Assistant

Cons

✘ Limited Features
✘ Small Library

Google Play Books Summary

If you install the Play Books app on your phone, you can browse the audiobook collection available on the Play Store. The selection is not particularly large, but it is there.

Google Books is an option if you do not listen to Audiobooks often. You are not tied into a monthly or yearly contract, and the books’ prices are reasonable.

I calculated an average price per book of about $10, and some audiobooks are on sale for as little as $3; however, they are older, shorter, and less popular.

FAQ

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Summary: Audiobook Services Tested

Our 2020 Audiobook Survey supports our results and testing. Of nearly 1,000 professionals surveyed on their favorite way to listen to audiobooks, the majority overwhelmingly used Audible.

Detailed Audiobook Service Comparison Table

Service	Audible	Blinkist	AudioBooks	getAbstract	Everand	Apple	Google
Our Rating	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆☆	☆☆☆	☆☆☆
Audiobook Type	Full	Summary	Full	Summary	Full	Full	Full
Do You Own the Audiobook	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✔	✔
Lifetime Access to Books	✔	✘	✔	✘	✘	✔	✔
Audiobooks Collection	200,000+	3,000+	150,000+	20,000+	40,000 est	40,000 est	20,000 est
Membership /month	$14.95	$15.99	$14.95	$29.90	$8.95	No Membership	No Membership
Membership /yearly	$149.50	$99.99		$299		–	–
# Audiobooks/month	3	Unlimited	2	Unlimited	Unlimited	–	–
Cost per book /monthly subscription	$5	–	$7.48	–	–	$9.99	$9.99+
Cost per book /yearly subscription	$4.13	–	–	–	–	–	–
Subscription Required	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Audio Quality	Excellent	Good	Good	Good	Excellent	Excellent	Good
Books Return Policy	1 Year, No Questions Asked	Nothing to Return	At Vendors Discretion	Nothing to Return	Nothing to Return
Customer Support	Phone, Chat, Email	Email	Phone, Chat, Email	Phone, Email	Email Only	None	None
eBooks		✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
Magazines					✔		✔
Podcasts	✔		✔			✔
App Store Rating	4.6 ☆	4.4 ☆	4.3 ☆	3.9 ☆	4.5 ☆	N/A	4.3 ☆
Devices	iPhone, Android, PC, TV, Alexa, Kindle, Fire TV	iPhone, Android, PC	iPhone, Android, PC, Mac	iPhone, Android, PC	iPhone, Android, PC	iPhone, PC, Mac	Android, PC, Mac, Google Now
Smart Speaker	Alexa	Alexa	✘	✘