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Best Audiobook Apps: Money-Saving Review
We put 10 audiobook apps to the test to see which is best for catching up with our reading on the go without breaking the bank.

Introduction
Audiobooks can be a great option for busy people who still want to keep up with their favorite authors. With many apps on the market, we tested the 10 best to see which ones were worthy of your attention.
We determined that the $14.95 a month for an Audible subscription was by far the best option. We also found our favorite for casual listeners and the best app to keep all your ebooks and audiobooks in the same place. Here's why we chose these apps:
The best value for premium content
Audible is a market leader in audiobooks, and it’s easy to see why. With over 200,000 titles to choose from and an easy to use app, it stands out above all others as one of the best apps on the market.
Why we chose Audible:
- After the generous 30-day free-trial, only $14.95 per month for your subscription, which includes 1 free book credit a month.
- Includes many titles that are not available on other apps.
- Audiobooks can be downloaded for use offline, which is ideal for listening when not connected to the internet.
- Credits roll over if not used.
- A comprehensive library, including over 200,000 audiobooks, gives you a great choice of audiobooks.
- You’ll find many of the more popular books on Audible.
This may seem like the obvious choice here, but trust us, it did stand the test compared to the rest and had the best value in relation to its library offerings.
Read Audible's Full ReviewThe best app for all-inclusive content
Why we chose Scribd:
- You get a 30-day free trial where you can download one free book. After that, the monthly subscription is only $9.99 per month.
- Ability to adjust your listening speed so that you can listen at a faster pace.
- 32kbp audio quality is moderate and more than acceptable for casual listeners.
- With the ability to download books for offline use, you can listen anywhere.
- Combining both ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more, you can keep all your preferred reading in one place.
The sound quality is outstanding. And with the ability to download your audiobooks and listen back when you’re not online, you can keep up with your favorite stories no matter where you are.
Budget app for casual listeners
A free to use app, you only pay when you make a purchase, which can be great for casual listeners who only buy a new book now and then.
Why we chose Google Play Books:
- You don’t have to worry about spending money on your monthly subscription as the app itself is free to use.
- Only pay when you buy a book. Includes both Ebooks and audiobooks in a simple and accessible format.
- Filters allow you to find books based on price, rating, popularity, and more.
- A huge collection of books available, currently sitting at over 5 million.
With these 5 million+ titles available, you can select both ebooks and audiobooks that you’re interested in, and with an easy to use app and simple playback controls you’ll feel just as comfortable as if you were to sit down with a real book.
Everything We Recommend
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Our PickFind a listen for every moment. Choose binge-worthy audiobooks, exclusive podcasts, bite-sized audio content and genre-bending Audible Originals. Listen to captivating storytelling, and make Audible a part of your daily listening routine.
Sign in securely with your Amazon account for your Audible Premium Plus or Audible Plus membership - your first 30 days are on us.
UNPLUG BY TUNING IN.
Enjoy storytelling that transports you. Feel good with comedy podcasts, unwind with our meditation titles or tap into your detective skills with a new mystery or true crime podcast. You can download, stream and listen to audio books offline too.
Hear captivating audio books, listen to podcasts and relax with mindful meditation. Make your Audible Library the listening routine you can’t live without.
LISTEN TO AUDIO STORIES ANYTIME.
Our Library of audio entertainment is always open. So come on in and listen to bite-sized audio content such as true crime podcasts, daily news updates, and sci fi audiobooks as you cook, walk the dog, run, work or fold laundry.
Your listening routine starts here.
Download and listen to books and podcasts offline. Dive into engrossing true crime thrillers, mysteries, fantasy & sci-fi stories, kids stories, meditation titles, memoirs, documentaries, and genre-bending Audible Originals.
With monthly credits, you can find the audio content you want, including bestsellers and new releases. Discover the latest and greatest in audio entertainment with your Audible Premium Plus membership.
Preview Audible Plus. New to Audible, the catalog offers thousands of audiobooks, podcasts and audio titles just for you.
AUDIBLE PREMIUM PLUS
- Build your own Library and listen to the largest selection of audio titles from the entire Premium selection - titles purchased with credits are yours to keep, even if you cancel.
- Mysteries & thrillers, true crime, sci-fi stories, comedy podcasts, meditation and more - you get 1 monthly credit to pick any title that you want to keep.
- 30% off any additional titles from the catalog, plus access to exclusive deals and discounts.
- If you don’t love a title purchased with a credit, you can swap it.
- And, access the entire Audible Plus catalog - thousands of binge-worthy audiobooks, exclusive podcasts and audio entertainment, with fresh audio content added every single week.
- Plus, you can listen offline to any title. You can download, stream or listen to books and other audio entertainment titles from both the Premium collection and the Audible Plus Catalog.
Listen how you want. And never lose your place with seamless cross-device listening with Whispersync, available with all audio book titles, podcasts and selections across your Library.
PREVIEW AUDIBLE PLUS - SELECTED AUDIO STORIES AND TITLES
- Explore the Audible Plus Catalog anytime you want, no credits necessary.
- Thousands of binge-worthy audio books, podcasts and Audible Originals.
- True crime podcasts, comedy podcasts, scifi audiobooks, kids books and thrillers. Listen to books and podcasts from thousands of titles.
- Fresh audio content and new listens added to the Catalog every single week.
- Listen offline. You can stream and download all you want.
The most compelling stories. Told by inspiring voices. Listen to storytelling that speaks to you, anytime, anywhere. Fall in love with books all over again with Audible, an Amazon company.CostFreeFreeIn-App PurchasesNo$7.99 - $39.99 per item -
Runner UpJoin the millions of readers who turn to Scribd’s digital library to access an unlimited* number of audiobooks, books, magazine articles, sheet music, and more. Our ad-free experience puts some of the best books and audiobooks in your pocket starting with a free trial for new members.
GET STARTED TODAY:
1. Download the free Scribd app.
2. Sign up for your free trial.
3. Pick a book or audiobook from our catalog of over one million titles.
4. Begin reading or listening right away. Keep reading all month long for no additional fee.
5. Cancel anytime.
HERE’S WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT SCRIBD:
“Put an entire library in your pocket with a subscription to Scribd.” - Entrepreneur
“Scribd is a massive library that's home to millions of books, audiobooks, magazines … and even sheet music. (Sheet music!)” - Mashable
“The fact that I could have access to all the greatest minds, mysteries, and stories for $8.99 a month was (and still is) crazy to me.” - Business Insider
ALSO INCLUDED IN YOUR MEMBERSHIP:
- Unlimited* books and audiobooks across all genres including Personal Growth, True Crime, Business, Travel, Non-Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, YA, Science Fiction, and more.
- Unlimited sheet music selections that cover every musical genre, instrument, and difficulty level. Play the classics or explore current hits from popular artists.
- Unlimited articles from hundreds of magazines including People, New York Magazine, Time, The Atlantic, Entrepreneur, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, and more.
- Unlimited access to the world’s largest document library, which includes more than 60 million documents including official government reports, case studies, study guides, academic dissertations, medical reports, and more.
All content read or listened to on Scribd can be synced across multiple devices. These special features are included in your membership for free:
FEATURES FOR THE AUDIOBOOK LISTENER
- Customize your narration speed
- Set a sleep timer
- Download audiobooks to listen offline
FEATURES FOR THE BOOK READER
- An e-reader in your pocket. Download books to read offline
- Make notes and annotations, and add bookmarks
- Customize your font size, type, and background color
- Choose horizontal or vertical page scrolling
FEATURES FOR THE DOCUMENT/EPUB READER
- Download documents to read offline
- Save or print your documents
Our membership is a monthly subscription that starts at $9.99 and automatically renews unless the subscription is canceled at least 24 hours prior to the next billing date.
Download the free Scribd app and start listening and reading today!CostFreeFreeIn-App Purchases$7.99 - $10.99 per item$7.99 - $12.99 per item -
Also GroovyGoogle Play Books is the one app you need for enjoying audiobooks and ebooks purchased from Google Play.
Choose from millions of best selling ebooks, comics, textbooks, and audiobooks. Download your book to read or listen on the go. When you’re finished, find your next favorite from recommendations personalized just for you. Buy audiobooks and ebooks as you go - with no subscription required.
LISTEN TO A GREAT AUDIOBOOK ANYWHERE, ANYTIME
* New! Audiobooks are now available on Google Play
* Buy one or many - no monthly subscription required
* Preview free samples of audiobooks before you buy
* Pick up where you left off on Android, iOS, or on your web browser
MILLIONS OF EBOOKS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
* Preview free samples from our catalog of millions of books
* Read your books, comics, and textbooks on Android, iOS, or your web browser, even when you’re offline
* Tap the page and watch your favorite comic book or manga come to life with Bubble Zoom
* Take notes that sync with your Google Drive and share them with a group for easy collaboration.
* Use the Night Light setting to automatically adjust the background color and brightness to make it easier for you to fall asleepCostFreeFreeIn-App PurchasesNoNo
The 411 from our Appventurer
How we tested?
I began by searching for the highest-rated and most popular apps on the market, and once I found the top 10, I downloaded them onto my phone. I tested them over a period of 10 days and spent approximately an hour a day testing the apps.
How the apps performed was very important to me, so I also spent time exploring them to see just how well they worked. I wanted to know how easy they were to use, what areas could be improved, and how efficiently these apps helped me find the content that I wanted.
Many of the apps claimed to have huge libraries of audiobooks available, so I tested this too. I searched for a range of different books on each app, some that were commercially successful, some from popular, well-known authors, and others that were a little more obscure and harder to find. Once I had the titles that I wanted, I downloaded and listened to each book, usually using my commute or morning walk as the perfect time to listen.
I was able to use this time to assess the audiobooks' performance and get a better feel for the audio quality. It also allowed me to look at things like the playback controls in real-time while using the apps.
Why get the app?
Many people struggle with finding time to sit down and physically read a book, which is what makes audiobooks so fantastic as they give you the chance to read whenever and wherever you want.
It means you can listen to a book while cooking, cleaning, or commuting and get through many more books than you might do otherwise.
While it is possible to get access to some audiobooks on your desktop or on specialist pieces of equipment such as kindle tablets, there’s no escaping the fact that listening to audiobooks through an app can be one of the best ways to interact with your favorite stories.
More About Audible: Our Pick
We didn’t encounter any issues when trying to navigate the app, and we found the content that we wanted with ease.
As expected, the audio quality was fantastic at 64kbps, providing a high-quality listening experience every time, which is something we loved, especially when listening outside of the house. It provided a nice clear, crisp listening experience and was great when listening through headphones.
You can download your audiobooks to listen to when you’re offline, which is great when you’re listening on the move, but perhaps one of the most impressive features with Audible is that unlike on some platforms, you actually own the books, meaning if you ever decide to cancel your membership, you won’t lose any of your titles.
There are badges, achievements, and more to be earned, which adds a little fun to the whole experience, and there are various features that you can use to make listening to your books more enjoyable.
For example, by using a ‘sleep timer,’ you can listen in bed and make sure the book doesn’t continue if you fall asleep or change the speed setting to speed up your book.
You can enjoy Audible and receive a new credit each month to purchase a book for only $14.95 a month. If you want to select a yearly option, you can do so and receive 12 credits for $150 a year.
Snags but not drags:
It’s hard to have any complaints with Audible as it truly does provide a gold-standard audiobook experience. However, if there were one thing we’d like to see improved, it would be the price.
At $14.99 a month, we admit there are cheaper options out there. Although to be fair, many of the other apps don’t provide as good of an experience as Audible does. We would love to see the price closer to, or even below $10, but if we’re being completely honest, Audible is worth the higher fee, especially if you’re going to be using the app a lot.
More About Scribd: Runner Up
It’s estimated that over 40,000 audiobooks are available to download on Scribd, which, while less than some apps, didn’t give us much trouble when searching for our titles.
The sound quality is good, as is the app interface and navigating the app was fairly simple too.
When listening to an audiobook, that experience was very similar to many of the other apps, and when using Scribd, you will find features such as a ‘sleep timer’ or ‘playback speed’ being included as standard.
While Scribd is cheaper than Audible, we found that there was a good reason for this as it had a few features that Audible did not, including lower audio quality and the fact that you don’t actually own the books. That means that if you cancel your membership, you will no longer be able to listen to your titles.
However, it’s still a strong app and one that you should certainly consider.
More About Google Play Books: Also Groovy
When you download the app, you can access both eBooks and audiobooks, and with a gigantic library of 5 million titles, you won’t ever be stuck when looking for something to read.
The app itself is easy to use, with a very clean interface, and you can find everything that you need with no trouble at all. Browsing the app is straightforward, making your whole experience a breeze.
There is a range of features available in the Google Play Books App that many users will find enjoyable, including the ability to add a ‘page-turning effect’ to your playback and even make the narrator sound more ‘natural,’ and we’re sure that most users will also like how you can alter the skip back amount, which can be a frustrating feature on some apps as it automatically jumps back 30 seconds or more.
If you’re a casual listener that wants to enjoy a premium experience, Google Play Books is a great option.
Other Apps Considered
Priced at $14.99 a month, Libro partners with over 1300 bookstores, giving you access to a huge range of audiobooks. It’s great if you want to support a local bookstore, but we had issues with finding some titles and, in some cases, finding a local store. For the same price as Audible, we didn’t think it was worth it.
Kobo Books is a very strong app, and at $9.99, it almost cracked our top 3. It has a huge database of eBooks and audiobooks, 5 million in total, but it just fell short of making our list. Our main concerns were how long the app took to load up and how smooth the app experience was. Once we loaded and listened to our audiobook, we were happy with the results, but we’d be able to enjoy it more if we didn’t have to wait for the app to respond to our instructions.
A Free app that syncs to local libraries, the idea behind Libby is great. However, we found there wasn’t a big enough catalog to find the type of books we were looking for. As a free option, it’s good, and if you intend to listen to audiobooks casually, this could be a good option for you. Libby syncs to OverDrive to make listening to your favorite audiobooks possible.
Unfortunately, this app didn’t work at all. It wouldn’t download and said that my brand new Pixel 4a Android device wasn’t compatible. The idea behind Hoopla is similar to Libby in that it syncs with local libraries, allowing you to borrow digital movies, music, eBooks, and more.
Overdrive is synced to Libby and uses the same servers to provide you with books from your local libraries. You don’t need a library card to access OverDrive, and you don’t even need to use your local library. Just like Libby, it could be a good option for people who are looking for a free option and who are simply looking for casual books to read when they can.
We loved the layout of the app, the range of titles available, and how easy it was to find and listen to the titles that we wanted. However, we ran into one huge problem with this app, our title cut off before we finished, and we couldn’t get it back. It seemed to lose the remaining chapters, and we couldn't get them back. This may have only been a one-off, but it was enough to move the app down our rankings.
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About the Appventurer
Anton Mark
WriterAs a freelancer, I use all types of different apps so that I can manage my time and remain organized with ease. I’m always on the go so I love anything that can help me to stay on top of my tasks but for fun, I love playing games or watching movies.
I’m a huge sports fan so I’ll usually be checking the latest scores or following up on my teams and I also like to expand my mind with audiobooks and podcasts. Using apps allows me to get through so much more in a typical day that I simply wouldn’t be able to cover otherwise and I love it.
Being able to write about apps is pretty great as I get to research the best apps out there and find the hidden gems that people may not know about then share that information to help others discover their new favorite apps.
Aubrey
I’ve used Audible for a long time now but cancelled a few months back because I’ve been driving less and therefore listening less during COVID. But I do need to get back into reading! I may try Scribd next since it’s a bit cheaper even though it has less titles