The best cheap Audible alternatives for audiobook listeners

Audiobooks are a brilliant way to get through your reading list. Paying a small fortune for the pleasure? Less brilliant.

The trouble with finding cheap Audible alternatives is that audiobook subscriptions can be surprisingly different. You might find a plan for $7.99 a month, only to realize your favorite author isn’t included. Another service might offer thousands of audiobooks, but limit how many hours you can listen each month.

Then there are the apps that let you buy audiobooks without signing up for another subscription. Tempting, especially if your monthly subscriptions are already getting out of hand!

There are plenty of ways to enjoy audiobooks without spending $14.95 a month on Audible Premium. The Audio Publishers Association found that 48% of audiobook listeners used a subscription service in the past year, while 49% bought audiobooks directly through websites or apps.

At ElevenReader, we offer premium audiobooks alongside the option to turn your own books and documents into audio. Our Audible alternative page explains how the two services compare.

For now, let’s look at five cheaper options, what they cost and how much listening you get for your money.

Summary

• Kobo Plus Listen: The cheapest monthly subscription at $7.99, with access to audiobooks in its included catalog.
• Spotify Audiobooks Access: $9.99 per month for 15 hours of audiobook listening.
• ElevenReader Ultra: $11 per month or $99 per year, with 20 hours of premium audiobooks each month and AI narration for your own books and documents.
• Everand Standard: $11.99 per month for one premium book unlock, plus access to an included collection.
• Chirp: No subscription needed. Buy individual audiobooks, with regular sales and discounts of up to 95%.

Cheap Audible alternatives compared

There are five affordable audiobook services worth comparing here. Here’s how their prices and features compare.

All prices are in US dollars. Before signing up, check which books each service includes. The lowest monthly price won’t help much if you have to pay extra for the audiobooks you really want.

How do cheap Audible alternatives compare with Audible?

Before comparing other services, it’s worth looking at what Audible charges.

Audible has two main monthly plans in the US, and they work quite differently.

1. Audible Standard costs $8.99 per month. You can choose one audiobook from Audible’s catalog each month and listen to it as long as your membership stays active. You lose access to your selected books if you cancel, and unused monthly selections don’t carry over.
2. Audible Premium costs $14.95 per month. You get one credit each month to buy an audiobook, and that book stays in your library after you cancel. Premium also gives you access to a collection of audiobooks included with your membership.

Cheaper subscriptions often come with limits on which books you can listen to or how many hours you get each month. Think about how often you listen and the types of books you enjoy before choosing a plan.

Our guide to the best audiobook apps compares more features if you’re interested in how the apps work. Here, we’re focusing on the cost.

5 cheap Audible alternatives for different listening habits

Nobody wants to pay for an audiobook subscription and then find out they need to spend more money to finish their next book.

We’ve picked five services with different prices and ways to pay. Some give you access to a collection of audiobooks, while others are better for buying the occasional title.

1. Kobo Plus Listen for $7.99 per month

Love browsing through audiobooks until you find something that catches your eye? Kobo Plus Listen could be a good match.

At $7.99 per month, it’s the cheapest fixed monthly subscription on our list. You can listen to audiobooks included in Kobo Plus through the Kobo app. Compatible Kobo eReaders also let you listen using Bluetooth headphones or speakers.

The main catch is that Kobo Plus doesn’t include every audiobook sold in the Kobo store.

You might find a new release from your favorite author, only to see that you need to buy it separately. That’s a little frustrating when you’ve already paid for a subscription!

Before signing up, search for a few authors or series you enjoy and check which titles are included with Kobo Plus. If there’s plenty you want to hear, $7.99 a month could be a great deal.

Unlike Audible Premium, Kobo Plus doesn’t give you a monthly credit to buy a book. Your subscription lets you listen to titles in the included collection for as long as your membership is active.

2. Spotify Audiobooks Access for $9.99 per month

Spotify isn’t only for music and podcasts anymore. Its Audiobooks Access plan costs $9.99 per month and gives you 15 hours of audiobook listening.

For someone who enjoys a thriller on the commute or a romance over the weekend, 15 hours might be plenty.

Say you pick a 10-hour audiobook. You can finish the whole story and still have five hours left that month. Pick a 22-hour fantasy adventure, though, and you’ll run out of listening time before the ending.

Your 15-hour allowance resets every month. Any hours you haven’t used disappear rather than carrying over to the next month.

Already paying for Spotify Premium?

Check your subscription before paying for Audiobooks Access.

Spotify Premium Individual already includes 15 hours of audiobook listening each month from its subscriber catalog. You might have audiobook access without realizing it!

Spotify is a good option for people who listen to shorter books and don’t need unlimited listening hours. Fans of long fantasy novels or anyone who finishes several audiobooks a week will probably find the monthly limit more restrictive.

3. ElevenReader Ultra for $11 per month

We love a good audiobook, but sometimes the next thing you want to listen to is a book or document you already own.

The ElevenReader Ultra plan costs $11 per month, or $99 when you pay for a full year. The annual plan works out at $8.25 per month, making it cheaper than Audible Standard’s monthly price.

Ultra gives you 20 hours of premium audiobook listening each month, with more than 200,000 premium titles to choose from.

You can also upload your own ebooks, PDFs, and other supported documents, then choose a voice to narrate them. Your own files have a separate listening allowance, so listening to an uploaded book won’t use up your 20 premium audiobook hours.

Fancy listening to a romance novel at the weekend, then catching up on a work document during your commute? You can do both in ElevenReader without switching between different apps.

What else comes with ElevenReader Ultra?

Ultra lets you download audio in the mobile app, so you can listen without an internet connection. Handy for flights, train journeys, or anywhere your phone signal likes to disappear.

You can create custom voices for your own content, too. And if you’ve ever listened to a PDF that repeats the same page heading over and over, you’ll appreciate our smart imports. This feature can skip repeated headers, footers, and page numbers in supported files, making documents much nicer to listen to.

Our ElevenReader pricing article explains the plans in more detail. You can also find out about our latest voices in the ElevenReader V4 update.

If you enjoy premium audiobooks but also want to listen to your own books or documents, Ultra offers both in one app. It’s one of the cheap Audible alternatives worth looking at if your listening goes beyond traditional audiobooks.

4. Everand Standard for $11.99 per month

Everand Standard costs $11.99 per month, but its subscription works a little differently from the others.

Instead of giving you a set number of listening hours, Everand gives you one book unlock each month. The unlock lets you choose an audiobook or ebook from Everand’s collection of more than 1.5 million titles. Once you’ve unlocked a book, you can enjoy it as often as you like while your subscription is active.

Everand also includes more than 20,000 audiobooks, ebooks, and podcasts that you can enjoy without using an unlock.

Here’s where you need to be careful

Imagine using your monthly unlock on a new thriller, only to find you’re not enjoying the story after a couple of chapters. You can’t swap your unlocked book for a different premium title, so you’ll need another unlock to choose a replacement.

You can still enjoy books from Everand’s included collection in the meantime.

Everand makes sense if you usually have one main audiobook you want each month and enjoy browsing for other titles between your monthly picks. At $11.99, it’s cheaper than Audible Premium, although the books you unlock are available only while your subscription is active.

5. Chirp for audiobooks without a subscription

Already paying for enough monthly subscriptions? Chirp lets you skip another recurring payment.

You don’t need a paid membership to buy audiobooks from Chirp. Instead, you purchase the titles you want and listen to them in the Chirp app.

Chirp regularly runs sales with audiobooks starting at $1 and discounts of up to 95%. Spot a thriller you’ve been meaning to listen to for $3? Buy it and enjoy it whenever you like. Don’t see anything tempting next month? You don’t have to spend a penny.

The books you buy stay in your Chirp library, even if you go months without making another purchase.

Of course, the biggest savings come from discounted titles. If you’re hoping to listen to a specific new release, you might find that the audiobook isn’t on sale.

Chirp is great for people who enjoy browsing for bargains and don’t mind choosing their next book based on what’s discounted. If you only buy a handful of audiobooks each year, you could save quite a bit compared with paying for a monthly subscription.

Which cheap Audible alternative will cost you the least?

The cheapest option for you will come down to how often you listen to audiobooks and how long your favorite books are. Here’s how the five services compare:

Kobo Plus Listen ($7.99/month)

The cheapest monthly subscription on our list. It’s a great choice if you enjoy browsing for your next audiobook, as you can listen to titles included in Kobo Plus without a monthly listening-hour limit.

Spotify Audiobooks Access ($9.99/month)

Best for shorter audiobooks. You get 15 listening hours each month, which is enough to finish two seven-hour thrillers. Longer books might take more than one month to finish.

ElevenReader Ultra ($11/month or $99/year)

Best if you enjoy premium audiobooks and want to listen to your own ebooks or documents. You get 20 hours of premium audiobooks each month, plus a separate allowance for your personal uploads. The annual plan works out at $8.25 per month.

Everand Standard ($11.99/month)

A good option if you usually listen to one main audiobook each month. You get one premium book unlock per billing cycle, plus access to a separate collection of included titles.

Chirp (no monthly fee)

Potentially the cheapest option if you only buy a few audiobooks each year. You can pick up discounted titles when something catches your eye without paying for a subscription during months when you don’t listen.

The best deal is the one that gives you enough listening time and access to the books you enjoy without paying for more than you need.

Check your audiobook wish list before you subscribe

Found a subscription that looks tempting? Have a quick look at the books you’ve been meaning to listen to before handing over your payment details.

Search for a new release you’ve been waiting for or your favorite author’s latest novel. Check that the audiobook is included in the plan, rather than available as a separate purchase.

It also helps to check how long your usual books are. If you regularly listen to 20-hour novels, a subscription with 15 hours a month could leave you waiting for the next billing cycle to hear the ending.

Think about how often you finish a book, too. If you listen every day, you might prefer a plan with more listening hours. If you only pick up an audiobook during the occasional long journey, paying for individual titles could be cheaper.

For a closer look at features beyond price, our article on audiobook apps that rival Audible compares more of your options.

Spend less and enjoy more audiobooks with ElevenReader

There’s plenty of choice if you want cheap Audible alternatives. Kobo Plus offers a low monthly price, Spotify gives you 15 hours of audiobook listening, and Everand lets you unlock a premium title each month. Chirp is ideal if you’d rather buy books without another subscription.

For audiobook fans who also want to listen to their own content, ElevenReader Ultra gives you access to premium titles alongside AI narration for your ebooks and documents.

Try ElevenReader for free, with 10 hours of text-to-audio each month and thousands of free audiobooks.

Start listening for free with ElevenReader.

FAQs about cheap Audible alternatives

What is the cheapest paid alternative to Audible?

Kobo Plus Listen is the cheapest monthly subscription on our list at $7.99. Chirp has no monthly fee, so it could be cheaper if you only buy audiobooks occasionally.

Is ElevenReader cheaper than Audible?

Yes. ElevenReader Ultra costs $11 per month, compared with $14.95 for Audible Premium. Pay $99 annually, and Ultra works out at $8.25 per month, slightly less than Audible Standard at $8.99.

Which cheap Audible alternatives let you keep the audiobooks?

Chirp lets you keep any audiobooks you buy. Audible Premium also lets you keep books bought with credits. Kobo Plus and Everand only give you access to their included books while you’re subscribed.

Is Spotify cheaper than Audible for audiobooks?

Spotify Audiobooks Access costs $9.99 per month, compared with $14.95 for Audible Premium and $8.99 for Audible Standard. Spotify includes 15 hours of audiobook listening each month.

How can I tell if an audiobook subscription is good value?

Check whether the plan includes the books you want and gives you enough listening time each month. Then compare the monthly price with how often you listen.