Audible isn’t your only choice

Audiobooks are the fastest-growing area in book publishing, worth $5.3 billion in 2023, and growth over the next seven years is expected to reach $35 billion by 2030. The audiobook market has steadily risen as the next frontier for writers and publishing houses. What once was thought to have diminished, after “books on tape” seemed obsolete, has actually seen a year-over-year increase over the past 11 years, with a compounded resurgence during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Audible might seem like “the end all be all” of audiobook apps and convenient smartphone listening, it’s simply the biggest name; there are numerous competitors that might better meet your needs.

Audiobook service models differ in offering options to either stream or purchase audiobooks, extra features and mediums, app interfaces, and cost. I was a college librarian for eight years and have tried my fair share of experience using free, low-cost, discount, and premium audiobook apps. Below are my favorite seven audiobook apps.

1 Libro.fm

Shares profits with independent bookstores

Libro.fm is a fantastic solution for listeners looking for a substitute for Audible. It offers over 450,000 titles for a membership fee of $14.99 per month, with a portion of the membership going to an independent bookstore of your choice, and you get one credit each month towards a title of your choice. You can also buy more credits or bundles of credits for à la carte shopping too.

One of my favorite aspects of Libro.fm is its audiobooks are all DRM-free. DRM-free means without digital rights management licenses that are common on apps like Audible and Spotify, which prevent users from actually owning the media file they purchase with credits. All Libro.fm purchases are accessible for audio file download.

I switched to Libro.fm as my app to use when purchasing audiobooks versus streaming, for 2024, and I’m thrilled with the experience. The recommendations are original, timely, and enjoyable to browse. I actually enjoy using the app to find my next read, and the listener control buttons are intuitive and accessible.

Related

6 ways Libro.fm beats Audible in my book, with one exception

Audiobook fans looking for an alternative to Amazon should consider trying Libro.fm, especially if you’re sick of Audible’s bloated interface.

2 Libby

Free and accessible, with the best search interface and collections

Libby app by Overdrive, to give its full name, is my most used audiobook app. The Libby app is the most affordable and convenient way to keep up with audiobooks and try out titles you’re not 100% sure you’d like to buy. Libby is a free audiobook service provided through participating public libraries (over 22,000 in the US) and includes both ebooks and audiobooks.

And you can add multiple library cards to one Libby account. For instance, I have three library cards, an incredible free ecard for New York State residents through the New York Public Library, a card from my local county library system, and one from my local academic library.

The concept is a shared digital library between library patrons curated by librarians that allows you to loan titles for 7, 14, or 21 days and then automatically return or renew if no one is waiting for the title. While Libby does have some limitations to the amount of loans you can check out at once and the number of holds you can place on one card at a time, when you have multiple cards, it’s not an inconvenience. Recent releases and bestsellers often have waiting periods, but place a hold and get your place in line if you don’t mind waiting.

The Libby app interface allows you to search, sort, and filter and has some of the best linked metadata of any audiobook app. The listener controls are easy to understand, the categories, genres, and collections are fun to explore. I’ve listened to hundreds of books on the Libby app over the past 10 years, it’s my favorite place to burn through romance books and memoirs. If I end up loving them, I might purchase the book on another app for repeat listens, but this is my secret weapon to keep up with BookTok and Bookstagram without breaking the bank.

If you haven’t checked out your local library lately, this is your sign to do so. And if it’s not possible for you to visit your branch in person, check their website or give them a call. Libby and apps like it were designed to be an extension of your physical library, but one that never closes. Most public librarians would be happy to help you set up a card and walk you through any questions that pop-up.

3 Everand (previously Scribd)

Includes eBooks, sheet music, and magazines on top of audiobooks

The Everand platform contains over 400,000 audiobooks that you can stream and download to your device for offline listening for just $11.99 per month. This app first came to my attention around May 2020, when my best friend and I would spend hours separately walking wooded trails around our houses and talking on the phone to stay sane during the first round of social-distancing. When we weren’t on the phone, she was burning through audiobooks on a new app, Scribd. I was set in my Libby and Audible alternating ways and wanted to know all about it.

Scribd went through a rebranding and divided into multiple platforms last year: Everand, Scribd, and SlideShare. The audiobook area is covered by Everand. With Everand, you get access to much more than just audiobooks, you’ll get ebooks, audiobooks, podcasts, magazines, newspapers, and even sheet music. The only limitation you might encounter is popular or bestselling titles. You may get a flag that you’ve listened to a quota of those for your month, but to save it and come back in three, four, five days, until your month refreshes.

This is a great middle ground between folks familiar with Audible but find they don’t care about purchasing titles to return to and the Libby app, as most of the time a title that you may have to wait for on Libby, will be available on Everand. The app is user-friendly and has similar listener controls modern audiobook fans like to see: sleep timers, speed, and chapter controls. And, a note on its longevity, my best friend continues to use this app as her main audiobook app, four years later, with no plans to change that.

4 Spotify

Challenging Audible in the streaming wars

Last year saw Spotify Premium enter the audiobook game and take the challenge to Audible. Spotify’s catalog now includes over 200,000 titles for streaming for subscribers or 375,000 titles to purchase directly. Much like Audible, Spotify has come under fire from creators hoping to see more transparency about authors deals and payments. Despite this, in its first quarter, it experienced a huge success, netting the No. 2 spot in audiobook providers.

Future improvements seem to point to Spotify aiming its AI recommendation algorithms, which succeed so well across the music platform, such as Daylist and DJ, into its audiobook platform for a more interactive user-friendly platform.

Spotify Premium

There are multiple levels of membership available for Spotify Premium. All give you access to 15 hours of audiobook listening time, a nice bonus if you’re already paying for one of the individual ($10.99), duo ($14.99), family ($16.99), or student ($5.99) monthly tiers.

Spotify Audiobooks

The $9.99 monthly subscription provides access to 15 hours of audiobook listening time on the ad-supported service.

You can also buy individual titles from the Spotify Web Player store to stream and download to your app device for offline listening. If you haven’t used Spotify for music or podcasts, the app interface is easy to use, intuitive and great listener controls. One slight knock to its membership models: If you prefer fantasy, science fiction, or historical fiction, you may find 15 hours doesn’t get you through a single title, as they tend to be lengthy listens.

5 Chirp

Brings you the best deals for single purchases and bundles

Chirp is for thrifty bargain hunters, and is my favorite app and store for directing parents of voracious audiobook listeners. When your habit is as expensive as audiobooks, being able to find titles on sale is key. I used to fly through series as a teen, and if audiobooks were as accessible as they are now when I was 15, I would have needed to pick up a second part-time job. Anyone looking for a deal, but especially for parents or teens with a big reading habit, can find a solid solution with Chirp.

Chirp includes entire series, single title, and genre bundles at the lowest prices. It offers both limited flash sales and deep discounts on all its materials with its business model. All titles are available for purchase without a monthly subscription or membership — a rarity in the audiobook app world.

Chirp is simple and streamlined. Just buy the book you want and be done with the process. I will note, that they are not DRM-free guaranteed titles, in comparison to Libro.fm or LibriVox, but you can spend a lot less on a title from Chirp than if you tend to use Audible and don’t want to buy another credit or waste a credit on a title you’re not 100% on yet.

6 LibriVox

Free public domain books read by volunteers, great for teachers

LibriVox is the ultimate tool for educators and anyone who enjoys classics and works in the public domain. The public domain refers to materials whose copyright has run out and are now available for adaptation, release, and production without intellectual property rights attached.

Generally, copyright on written works will last the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years — for materials published after 1978 — but there are plenty of exceptions. Each year, more titles enter the public domain. You may recall a certain famous mouse making headlines when Steamboat Willie entered the public domain or how we saw the horror film Winnie The Pooh: Blood And Honey splash across screens last year? That’s all because of the public domain and copyright. The same applies to written works, and this year we saw materials from 1928 enter the public domain.

LibriVox is made up of free titles in the public domain, adapted into audiobooks and recorded by volunteer readers. The recordings are really well done, especially when you take into consideration this is a volunteer effort. These are especially useful to organizations with limited budgets that still want to offer accessible content in another form other than the written word. It’s filled with classic adaptations that make a great supplement to classrooms, and is a service I’ve used in the past as a college professor and one I recommend to any educator.

7 Audible

Huge catalog and lots of membership tiers

Audible is the current king of the audiobook market, with an estimated 63% of the market share. You can search for almost any title and find an audiobook version, dramatized abridged version, or spatial audio version to try out. The addition of the Audible Plus plan on top of the Audible Premium Plus opened up the app to more streaming and one-time listening users, similar to Everand and Spotify’s models. Audible has custom app controls and if you own the title as an eBook, WhisperSync is an awesome feature to match up your progress across formats.

I tested the Dolby Atmos titles on Audible at the start of the year and thought they impressed and opened up a new way to listen to adapted works in particular. Audible offers multiple tiers of membership and allows members to pause on months it doesn’t think they’ll need to add credits too.

Audible Plus

The $7.95 monthly subscripton gives you unlimited access to Audible’s Plus catalog. The catalog has thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals.

Audible Premium Plus

The $14.95 monthly subscription includes one monthly credit to buy audiobooks and gives unlimited access to Audible’s Plus catalog. Premium Plus also gets you 30% off additional titles purchased through the Audible catalog.

While cancelling is a bit of pain and the app interface is bloated with deals and advertisements, it makes sense that it’s the most popular audiobook app, it’s convenient and was the first mainstream membership model of its kind.

Related

I tried Audible’s Dolby Atmos audiobooks to see if they sound better

Here’s my experience with the collection so far, plus tips on how to find and listen to Audible’s Dolby Atmos-enabled audiobooks yourself.

FAQ

Q: What’s the best audiobook app to use?

Best doesn’t necessarily work with services that are so varied and meet users’ needs in different ways. I recommend you use a combination of the above audiobook services to get the best outcome. Personally, I use Libby and Libro.fm as my main apps. But I work in Chirp for deals, Audible (for the exclusives), and LibriVox into rotation when looking for fun classics for my partner’s eighth grade English class.

Spotify is my major music service, and I’ve enjoyed the audiobooks I listened to there as a good bonus, but I likely won’t use it for individual purchases over Libro.fm. And Everand is a beautiful app for quick access to popular titles at a membership price that’s hard to beat, but for my purposes (preference for purchasing), I’ll stick with Libro.fm. Whichever service you choose from the list above, you should have a good experience.