11 Places to Find Cheap Audiobooks

Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on The Penny Hoarder.

The convenience and portability of audiobooks let you enjoy your love of reading on the go. But how do you save money on the audiobooks you want?

There are a number of audiobook services available, but the options can be overwhelming.

Finding the right audiobook service is a matter of finding the best one for how you prefer to read.

Here’s our rundown of some of the best audiobook services where you can grab a book for your ears.

1. Audible

Audible is a big name in audiobooks. As a part of Amazon, it’s heavily marketed and easily available, but it has its pros and cons.

Pros:

• Audible boasts one of the largest audiobook libraries out there with more than 760,000 titles. Whatever you like to read, you can probably find it on Audible.
• You get to keep any titles you read even if you cancel your subscription.
• You also get daily deals and an extra 30% discount on additional book purchases.
• You can download the books you choose and listen offline.
• You can try Audible out with a no-cost, 30-day trial period.
• Amazon Prime members can try Audible free for 30 days while also receiving 2 credits (1 credit = 1 title) per month.

Audible Cons

• Audible is a subscription service with three different subscription plans, the cheapest being $7.95 per month. With the Audible Plus plan, though, you are unable to earn extra credits and you won’t get discounts on premium selection titles or access to exclusive sales.
• The other two membership plans are $14.95 for Premium Plus, which includes the entire Plus catalog plus one premium title per month, and the Audible Premium Plus Annual, which is a yearly payment of $149.50 for the Plus catalog and 12 credits per year. Unused credits expire after one year. They also expire when you cancel your membership.

2. Audiobooks.com

Audiobooks.com is another subscription service, much like Audible.

Pros:

• Very large selection with more than 450,000 titles plus more than 10,000 free audiobooks.
• Access to more than 100 million podcast episodes for free.
• Your subscription includes one book per month.
• You can buy extra credits as needed. One credit equals one book.
• You get free extra VIP books each month with no additional charge. VIP titles are older, less popular books, but they aren’t all obscure. For example, one book currently on the list is “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”
• With a free 30-day trial you get one book free and can also select two books from the VIP collection that changes monthly.
• You can stream books or download so you can listen offline.

Audiobooks.com Cons

• It’s more expensive than many options at $14.95 per month.

3. Scribd

Scribd is a subscription service that allows you to access “unlimited” audiobooks and also offers features like e-books, podcasts and even sheet music.

Pros:

• At $11.99, it’s cheaper than Audiobooks.com, and you get to listen to as many books as you want.
• There are a lot of extras like Kindle books, magazines and even sheet music available with your subscription.
• You can choose from more than 2 million ebooks, 300,000 audiobooks and 1 million magazine and news articles through its partner, Everand.
• It includes a 30-day free trial.

Scribd Cons

• The term “unlimited” isn’t 100% accurate. Users in the iPhone app store complain that after two or three popular books, your ability to read new and popular titles becomes very limited for the rest of the month.
• You’re renting rather than buying the books, so you cannot keep them.
• The platform is not loaded with extras like some of the other services.

4. Downpour

For $12.99, subscription service Downpour gives you one credit (good for any one book) per month. You can spend them as you go or save them up. Or you can simply rent or buy books without a subscription, but you’ll pay a little more for each title.

Pros:

• Less expensive than Audiobooks.com.
• You own the books and can keep them even if you cancel.
• You can download and listen offline.
• You have the option to buy or rent books outside of the membership. Rentals are less expensive. But, if you buy the book, you’ll pay more than you would with a membership.

Downpour Cons

• Smaller selection with just 80,000 titles (and counting).
• Each credit expires after 12 months.
• Books for purchase are pricey, though there is a tab for “Daily Deals” with sections for downloads under $10, $5 and even 99 cents.

5. Chirp

Chirp is a sister site of Bookbub, an ebook site. When you sign up for the service, you get a daily email featuring special deals. Many of the deals are $5 or less for each book.
Pros

• No subscription needed, so you only pay for what you buy.
• You buy rather than rent the books, so they’re yours to keep.
• You can purchase from a wide selection of books at regular price.
• There is a “my wishlist” section where you can list out the books you want to listen to and get alerts if they go on sale.

Chirp Cons

• The featured deals are random and aren’t catered to your taste, so you may or may not see books on sale that you actually want to read.

6. Apple Books

Apple Books is a store for Apple users to purchase audiobooks. It’s not a subscription site, just a pay-for-what-you-want store.

Pros:

• New and popular books are available, as well as classics.
• Apple editors curate general lists to help readers find new books.
• You keep your audiobooks right on your phone or iPad.
• You can download books and listen to them from your Apple Watch while you work out.
• No pressure to download books to justify a monthly expense.

Apple Books Cons

• Individual books can be expensive.

7. Google Play Books

Google Play Books is much like Apple Books, but for Android and PC users, and with a few more perks.

Pros:

• No subscription, just buy what you like.
• Listen to previews before committing.
• Good sales and prices overall.
• Can be used on iPhones and Macs.
• Large selection of audiobooks.
• Offers some free books.

Google Play Books Cons

• Some users complain that the app is clunky.

8. Libro.fm

Libro.fm is the independent bookstore of audiobook services — the anti-Audible if you will.

Pros:

• Libro.fm donates a portion of every purchase you make to the locally owned bookstore of your choice.
• No membership required.
• However, you have an option to become a member for $14.99 per month, which gives you an initial audiobook credit, then one per month after and 30% off individual purchases.
• More than 450,000 audiobooks are available, including 99% of all New York Times bestsellers.
• You own the books you buy, meaning you keep them if you ever cancel your membership.
• Offers free iOS and Android listening apps.

Libro.fm Cons

• Similarly priced plans through Audible and Audiobooks.com offer a larger catalog of books to choose from.

9. Blinkist

Blinkist is a unique service in that it offers condensed versions of popular nonfiction books for people who don’t feel like they have time to listen to entire books.

Pros:

• It’s fairly inexpensive at only $9.06 per month.
• You can try the service out for free for seven days.
• Includes access to more than 6,500 bestselling nonfiction books in dozens of categories.
• Most audiobooks can be listened to in 30 minutes or less.
• Subscription includes unlimited access to all books.
• If you like the condensed book, you can upgrade to the full version.

Blinkist Cons

• Nonfiction only.
• Good for a quick overview but not for in-depth knowledge.

10. Librivox

The Librivox audiobooks website declares “acoustical liberation of books in the public domain.”

So what does that mean? Basically, it’s a free library of audiobooks that are old enough to have outlasted their copyright. They are read by volunteers.

Pros:

• Completely free to use.
• Lots of great classics like “Moby Dick,” “Frankenstein” and “The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass.”
• Available in the Apple app store and Google Play store.

Librivox Cons

• Limited selection (40,000) with no recent titles.
• No extras, such as podcasts.

11. Your Public Library System

To find free audiobooks, you can always go to your local library and check out audiobooks on CD, but that’s so 2005. These days most library systems are hooked up with apps like OverDrive or Hoopla so you can check out audiobooks digitally on your phone, tablet or reader.

Pros:

• With a library card, it’s completely free.
• Not limited to your local library but connected to a large network of libraries, so there are many titles available.
• You can place holds on titles you want if they are not currently available.

Library System Cons

• You may not find every book you want.
• Books are checked out just like non-digital copies, so they are limited and you may have to wait for certain books.
• New and popular books frequently have a very long waiting list.
• You do not keep the titles, just borrow.