Audible Alternatives: Everyone knows what Audible is and why it is useful. But in such a case if you don’t already know, Audible is owned by eCommerce behemoth, Amazon. It is one of the biggest audiobooks platforms in the world. Before we proceed further (at the 10 Audible alternatives), I will quickly summarize what Audible has to offer for the price tag.
The most popular Audible subscription (Gold plan) costs $15 per month for 1-credit/month. That 1 can be used to buy any 1 Audiobook. Not only this but you also get membership benefits like 30% discounts on every audiobook. Besides everything, Audible is an expensive service, especially if you from a developing country where purchasing parity is low compared to the west.
If are searching for Audible alternatives because you find it expensive, our guide helps you to save money on Audible.
Contents
Audible alternatives that are cheaper
Audiobooks Now
An audiobook is a strong audible alternative having more than 85000 titles and have apps available for both iOS and Android platform. Another amazing feature is that not all books are DRM protected, like in the case of Audible.
Audible use of DRM (digital rights management) to make sure that audiobooks brought through its service are only played through its official app.
Pricing: For comparison, the book ‘Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill’ is available on Audible for either 1 credit or $15. But on Audiobook the same book is sold for $9.97 after you pay $4.99 for club pricing plan. Overall, the pricing is the same on both Audible and Audiobooks now.
Nook Audiobooks
Nook Audiobooks comes with a collection of over 60,000 titles that are available on all major platforms. It has no monthly subscription plan and you’ll have to pay for what you read. It’s UI is smooth and clean as you would expect from a company like B&N.
Pricing: Available for $16.49 which is higher than Audiobooks Now and Audible in general.
Downpour
Downpour is popular among the fans for providing DRM free content. It offers Audiobook rentals. It also allows you to free space on your smartphone as you can “return” the Audiobook and download another one.
Pricing: Rental periods vary from Audiobook to Audiobook and can be anywhere between 30-60 days. It claims that you will be able to save up to 70% on the retail price.
Scribd
Scribd is another one of the best Audible alternatives out there. In fact, I think it is better than Audible. In Scribd, you will find a collection of 150,000 ebooks plus audiobooks, newspapers, articles and magazines on the platform.
Pricing: Its Membership plan, price is $8.99. You can get everything mentioned above. In addition every month, as a member, you get 3 book credits and 1 Audiobook credit.
Audiobooks
Audiobooks is a Canadian company that runs on a credit system, just like Audible.
Price: In an audiobook, you pay $15 per month to receive 1 credit that will allow you to listen to one audiobook per month from a library of over 100,000 titles. It is expensive if we compare it with Scribd.
Playster
Playster offers different types of media like audiobooks, movies, music, and ebooks. The audiobooks are unlimited but when you cancel the membership, you no longer own the books. The collection is rather small if we compare it with others reviewed above. But it doesn’t run on a credit system.
Price: There are different plans available based on your choice. An all-access plan will cost you $24.99 and will include everything they have to offer. There is no additional cost except for what you pay on a monthly basis.
Serial Box
Serial Box isn’t your regular Audible alternatives. It has a team of in-house writers who produce their own short fiction. Each story is broken down into smaller episodes. Just like Amazon, episodes on the Serial box are also available in both text and audio formats.
Price: The first episodes are free, but if you subscribe to the entire seasons, you get a good discount.
eStories
eStories is another audiobook service provider having several popular titles. It claims to feature more than 120,000 audiobook titles in their library featuring. As the price is slightly on the higher side. You get 30 days to return a book and some extra credits upon joining.
Price: It offers 3 different plans starting from $9.99 that offers you 1 book per month with 5 connected devices.
Google Play Audiobooks
Nowadays, Google also started selling audiobooks on the Google Play Store. Google offering 50 percent off your first audiobook purchase. If you buy audiobooks from Google play store, you’ll be able to listen to it Google home or any Google assistant cable device.
Basic features:
It provides some amazing features like:
- Listen up to 2x speed
- Sleep timer
- Sync across multiple devices
- Available in 45 countries
- Available in nine languages.
Price: Every audiobook has a different price format.
Apple Audiobooks
Unlike Google, Apple also sells Audiobooks on iTunes. On your, Mac installs the iTunes store, use the drop-down list at the top to choose audiobooks. Then check out different audiobooks or search for the one you want to listen to.
Price: It also doesn’t have any subscription model. You can purchase any available audiobooks from the catalog and keep it forever.
Conclusion:
While Audible is one of the best audiobook platforms available for everyone. Personally I liked Scribd because it offers more for less. While other alternatives are good but Scribd’s pricing makes it a clear winner. If you are rich and afford deeper pockets then Audible is still the best.
Which one do you prefer and why? Let us know in the comment section below!
Also Read: How to Manage Multiple Tumblr Posts using Mass Post Editor
