The cheapest ways to listen to audiobooks
Updated September 2026 · Every service tested on a paid account
The short answer
The cheapest way to listen to audiobooks is a library card and Libby, which costs nothing and carries current, licensed titles. After that, Chirp's limited-time deals from $0.99 with no subscription, then Everand or Spotify Premium at $11.99 a month. Paying $14.95 for a credit plan only makes sense when you want a specific book and want to keep it.
Audiobooks have a reputation for being expensive that a single library card mostly dissolves. Before subscribing to anything, it is worth knowing what the free and near-free options actually cover.
This list is ordered by real cost per book, not by monthly price, because a $12 subscription you use once is more expensive than a $6 purchase you keep.
A library card and the Libby app, and you are listening for nothing. The catalogue is whatever your library has licensed, so it varies enormously by region, and popular titles carry waits of weeks. Loans expire and nothing is yours. Still the best value in audiobooks by a very large margin, and the first thing anyone trying to spend less should set up.
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Cheapest purchasesChirp
No monthly fee; deals often $0.99–$5.99 · Trial: Not applicable · Our score 4 / 5
No monthly fee. Rotating limited-time deals, commonly $0.99–$5.99, bought permanently. Build a library for the price of a couple of months of Audible. The constraint is that you choose from what is discounted, and new releases are not.
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Cheapest if you already subscribeSpotify Audiobooks
From $11.99 / month (Premium) · Trial: Premium trial where available · Our score 3.5 / 5
Premium from $11.99 includes 15 audiobook hours a month. If music already justifies the subscription, your audiobooks cost nothing extra — about one book a month for £0 marginal spend, which nothing paid can beat.
From $11.99 for all-you-can-read including ebooks and magazines. At three or four books a month this is comfortably the lowest cost per hour of any paid option here. You keep nothing, and heavy use gets throttled.
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Cheapest mainstream storeAudiobookSTORE.com
Frequent sales; club credit around $12.99 · Trial: Free audiobook on signup · Our score 3 / 5
Frequent sales and a free audiobook on signup, with club credits around $12.99. Prices are the reason to be here; the apps and the mid-sized catalogue are the compromise you accept for them.
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Cheapest way to hear a long book onceDownpour
$12.99 / month for 1 credit; rentals from about $5 · Trial: 30 days · Our score 3.5 / 5
Rentals from about $5, which is the right answer for a 25-hour book you are curious about but do not want to own. Purchases are DRM-free. US-focused and the app lags the competition.
How we chose
We ranked by realistic cost per finished audiobook rather than by advertised monthly price, because a cheap subscription you underuse costs more per book than an occasional discounted purchase.
Free options are listed first and given the space they deserve. Libby earns us nothing and is our top recommendation on this page.
Every service was tested on a paid account except Libby, which was tested on a genuine library card. Prices are US list prices checked in September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the cheapest way to listen to audiobooks?
- A library card and the Libby app — free, with real licensed audiobooks rather than public-domain recordings. The trade-offs are waiting lists on popular titles and loans that expire.
- How can I get audiobooks for free legally?
- Libby and Hoopla through a public library card give you free access to licensed audiobooks. LibriVox offers volunteer-read public-domain classics at no cost. Most paid services also run 30-day free trials, which you can use once each.
- Is a subscription cheaper than buying audiobooks?
- Only if you use it. A $14.95 credit plan is good value at one book a month and poor value at one book a quarter. If you listen occasionally, Chirp's $0.99–$5.99 deals with no monthly fee will cost you far less over a year.