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How much is Audible: Plans and pricing explained
It’s hard to escape Amazon’s Audible if you’re interested in digital audiobooks — while there are alternatives like Spotify, Audible dominates the industry, typically offering the best selection. Below we’ll explain how much you can expect to pay for Audible, including bonuses and subscription options.
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Anyone with an Audible account can buy audiobooks to keep, which cost from a few dollars to $40 or more. The company also offers various subscription plans, which in the US include Plus and Premium Plus. Plus starts at $7.95 per month, while Premium Plus is at least $14.95 per month or $149.50 per year. Premium Plus lets you keep 1 or 2 audiobooks each month on top of the Plus streaming catalog.
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How much is Audible?
For many people, it’s better to think of Audible as a shop. Whether or not you have a paid subscription (more on those in a moment), you can buy any audiobook in the company’s catalog. Anything you buy is permanently linked to your account. Books range from a few dollars to $40 or more — factors affecting price include demand, length, and the presence of any celebrity narrators.
Subscription options vary around the world in terms of cost, naming, and features. In the US, there are two main tiers: Audible Plus and Premium Plus. You can read more about those in our guide, but here’s the short version:
| Plan | Pricing | Features |
|---|---|---|
| Plan Audible Plus | Pricing $7.95 per month after 30-day trial | Features Streaming access to the Plus catalog of audiobooks, podcasts, and sleep and meditation tracks Access to Audible Originals Temporary downloads for offline listening |
| Plan Audible Premium Plus (1 credit per month) | Pricing $14.95 per month/$149.50 per year after 30-day trial | Features All Plus features, and 1 audiobook to keep for free each month |
| Plan Audible Premium Plus (2 credits per month) | Pricing $22.95 per month/$229.50 per year after 30-day trial | Features All Plus features, and 2 audiobooks to keep for free each month |
Is Audible free with Amazon Prime?
No, unlike a lot of Amazon’s spinoff services. The only perk you get for having Prime is a second audiobook credit when you sign up for a Premium Plus trial.
What are Audible credits, and how do they work?
An Audible credit lets you choose an audiobook to keep at no extra cost, regardless of whether it’s included in the Plus catalog. When you’ve got credits to spend, you’ll see “1 credit” next to a title instead of its regular price.
Credits are given out on a monthly basis to Premium Plus members. They can accumulate, but generally remain valid only for a year, and only as long as you’re a Plus or Premium Plus member — if you stop subscribing to Audible entirely, your credits normally vanish too. The only time credits are permanent is if you acquire them directly through Audible’s iOS or Android apps, so it’s usually best to spend all your credits before canceling.
You can sometimes buy more credits, but typically only if you’re a Premium Plus member with one or zero credits left on your account. You’ll have to wait for Audible to extend the promo to you. The company also blocks people from buying more credits if they’ve been subscribers for less than 30 days.
Which Audible subscription plan should I get?
Plus and Premium Plus are only worthwhile for people who make audiobooks a daily habit, or who want to listen to specific titles and feel they can finish them in time to make a subscription less costly than a purchase. Since some to-keep audiobooks are $30, $40, or even more, that may not be hard.
If either of the above statements apply to you, Plus is worth considering if you like the Audible Originals on offer, or you know you can find books you want in the Plus catalog and don’t mind losing them after your subscription ends. You may need to sign up for a free trial to discover included books.
Premium Plus can potentially be a great deal if you know you’ll want to listen to multiple books outside the Plus catalog every year, such as many new releases. In fact you only need to listen to 5 $30 books to match the cost of an annual Premium Plus plan, and anything you get via credits will stay attached to your Audible account.