Why should eyes have all the fun? Treat your ears to some literary leisure and grab an audiobook. Listening can be lovely, after all, since recordings bring a story to life in a way words on a page can’t. Of course, all audiobook platforms aren’t created equal. The seven services we vetted and tested all offer a different user experience and pricing structure; you might find that some suit your tastes better than others.
Speaking of tastes, see what tickles your fancy from our list of 12 stellar audiobook titles. These recommendations include memoirs, modern fairy tales, beloved classics and behind-the-scenes narratives that take you deep into restaurant kitchens and writers’ psyches.
Best Audiobook Apps
Audible
Best for: Just about every listener, especially those who crave ease and quantity
Current promotion: 30-day free trial with one credit
Owned by Amazon, Audible shares its parent company’s greatest asset: convenience. The website and mobile app are intuitive and a breeze to navigate. (That said, some consumers may feel uneasy about Amazon’s business practices.) It’s easy to browse titles, listen to samples, save titles to your wish list, adjust narration speed, set a sleep timer, bookmark audio sections, skip forward and backward while listening and share Audible books with other members of your household when you set up Family Library Sharing.
Audible has two primary membership plans: Audible Plus ($7.95 per month) and Audible Premium Plus ($14.95 a month). Plus offers unlimited listening to Audible Originals (exclusive titles only available on this platform), select audiobooks, podcasts, guided meditation and sleep-inducing tracks such as bedtime stories and soundscapes. Premium Plus includes the aforementioned offerings along with one credit per month, which can be used to buy any audiobook of your choosing, including new releases and bestsellers. Need more than one monthly credit? Pay $22.95 a month for two. Audiobook credits do expire one year after they’re issued; however, you can keep any titles purchased using credits, even if you cancel your membership. Hate an audiobook you thought you’d enjoy? Audible allows free returns for Premium Plus members. With Audible’s robust catalog of more than 800,000 audio titles, expect to find what you seek
Audiobooks.com
Best for: Those who primarily intend to listen to audiobooks, not podcasts or other programming, and readers who want two titles each month
Current promotion: 30-day free trial with one credit and two VIP books
Equipped with all the standard features—a clean user interface, mobile and desktop listening, easy browsing—Audiobooks.com also has few bonuses. For $14.95 a month, members receive one audiobook credit plus an additional VIP book. The service’s VIP selection changes monthly and features a range of fiction and nonfiction titles. Genre fans can use their monthly audiobook credit to join an audiobook “club” and listen to unlimited titles in that club for 30 days. There are nine clubs, ranging from romance to mystery and thriller, business and economics to religion and spirituality.
Audiobooks.com’s family plan allows members to invite two people who live in your household to share your account. You can choose invitees’ level of access, enabling them to listen only or use audiobook credits. With a catalog of more than 400,000 titles and more than 10,000 free audiobooks, the platform has a robust selection, albeit smaller than that of Audible Premium Plus.
Potential downsides: Audiobooks.com has a minimal selection of podcasts, and the platform’s browser version has limitations. When listening to a book on your computer, you can only skip forward and backward. You’ll have to use the mobile app to control narration speed, use the sleep timer and create bookmarks. If you cancel your membership, you can keep the books you bought with credits but you’ll lose access to VIP titles. Returning books is only allowed at the service’s discretion.
Libro.fm
Best for: Listeners eager to support local bookstores
Current promotion: Sign up for a new monthly membership and receive a bonus audiobook credit
Independent bookstore lovers, rejoice. Libro.fm helps readers satisfy their audiobook thirst while still supporting local booksellers with a catalog of more than 400,000 audiobooks. When you sign up, you also choose your preferred bookstore; the company then shares its profits with that bookseller (the site doesn’t state what cut booksellers receive). Select a monthly membership for $14.99, which entitles you to one audiobook credit and 30% off individual audiobook purchases, or buy titles a la carte.
Audiobooks bought through Libro.fm are digital rights management free, or DRM-free, which means you can play them on any device or app at any time. While the service encourages listeners to download the Libro.fm app, which has features like a sleep timer, bookmarking capabilities and adjustable narration speed, listeners can play Libro.fm audiobooks on any app or device of their choosing. (Despite those benefits, the Libro.fm app does not support in-app purchases; you’ll need to make purchases using a web browser.) Some other services and sites we vetted offer audiobooks titles that are DRM-free, such as Downpour, a paid service, and LibriVox, which offers free public domain audiobooks read by volunteers, but DRM-free audiobooks aren’t widely available.
If you cancel or pause your membership, you’ll retain unused credits and any purchased audiobooks, and credits never expire. Audiobook returns are allowed and can be requested via email.
Scribd
Best for: People who listen to several audiobooks per month and don’t care about owning books
Current promotion: 30-day free trial
Voracious readers (and listeners) will appreciate the Scribd approach. For $11.99 a month, members can enjoy unlimited audiobooks, ebooks, magazine and news articles, podcasts, user-uploaded documents and even sheet music. Scribd’s library has more than 300,000 audiobooks—fewer than some other services, but still a sizable collection—and 2 million ebooks on offer.
Both the website and mobile app are cleanly designed and easily navigable with the usual features (sleep timer, bookmarks and customizable narration speed), and unlike some other services, Scribd’s web player has the same capabilities as its app. On the Scribd app, you can open up titles on up to six devices and save titles for offline reading on up to four devices.
Similar to services like Netflix or Spotify, Scribd grants access to a vast library of content, but if you cancel your membership, that access dries up. Members are renters of books, not owners. Still, the unlimited access model may prove seductive.
Kobo
Best for: Listeners willing to sacrifice some convenience to save cash
Current promotion: 30-day free trial for Kobo Plus
Kobo serves up audiobooks at a price tag that many will find palatable. The Kobo Plus Listen plan ($7.99 a month) offers unlimited access to more than 100,000 audiobooks.
Subscribers can enjoy unlimited listening—but only to audiobooks in the Kobo Plus catalog. (Although there are 100,000 audiobooks in the Plus catalog, listeners may feel limited; Scribd, another service offering unlimited audiobooks for one monthly fee, has 300,000+ audiobook titles in its catalog.) Listeners can purchase books a la carte, but doing so can add up fast: List prices of new and trending titles are often north of $20, much more costly than springing for monthly credits. If you cancel, purchased audiobooks are still accessible, but credits expire six months after cancellation. Multiple users can listen to audiobooks on different devices, as long as they are logged into the same account.
Compared to other services, Kobo’s app and website feel slightly less intuitive. Apple users, take note: Kobo’s mobile app doesn’t support in-app purchasing on iOS devices, so when using Kobo on an iPhone or iPad you must buy books using a web browser then open the app and tap the sync icon to download the audiobook or ebook.
Hoopla
Best for: Library card holders who want to listen to audiobooks free of charge
Got a library card? You’ve probably got Hoopla, too. The digital platform harnesses participating public libraries, including municipal and university systems across the U.S. and Australia, to grant you free access to audiobooks—along with ebooks, magazines, comics, music, movies and TV shows. Most available titles can be borrowed instantaneously—no need to place a hold or join a waitlist. Stream content on your computer or download to mobile devices. Listening to books on your phone or tablet offers more capabilities (sleep timer, bookmarking and adjustable narration speed) than tuning in on your browser; the browser player is pared down.
Most audiobooks are only available to be borrowed for 21 days at a time, and there’s a limit on how many titles you can borrow each month, set by your local library. Users can listen to audiobooks on multiple devices, but cannot access them on more than one device at a time. The audiobook catalog depends on your library system and is likely more limited than what you’d find on a paid service. Also, every library doesn’t partner with Hoopla, but it’s a convenient pick if yours does.
Libby
Best for: Library card holders who don’t mind waiting for in-demand titles
Like Hoopla, Libby lets you listen to audiobooks for free via your municipal or university library system. Just connect your library card via Libby and you’ll have access to your library’s offerings, including e-books and magazines. An added perk: You can add multiple library cards to your Libby account if you have access to more than one library system; you can also login to your account on multiple devices to play audiobooks on both your phone and tablet, for example.
Libby has a long reach—it’s part of OverDrive, a distributor of digital content that works with more than 90% of public libraries in North America. You can download and use the Libby app on your smartphone, tablet or computer. Another perk: The app is both intuitive and aesthetically pleasing. One caveat: Unlike Hoopla—but just like a typical library experience—you may have to place a hold and wait for popular titles. Wait times can be lengthy; a quick search of two acclaimed 2023 audiobooks, one fiction and one nonfiction, showed wait times of about 15 weeks and 18 weeks at this writer’s library system (Chicago). You may also encounter borrowing limits set by your library.
Best audiobook titles
There are great reads, and there are great listens. The former isn’t always the same as the latter. Certain books, with the right narrator and prose that lends itself to being heard, become aural wonders—like the titles below.
Fiction
Publishing industry mystery
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm, Scribd
June Hayward is a white writer whose debut novel tanked, while her Asian American friend Athena Liu has become a literary powerhouse. When Athena dies in a freak accident, June purloins the only copy of Athena’s new manuscript—and passes it off as her own. The brisk, bitter first-person narration gives the audiobook a confessional allure, read by actor and voiceover artist Helen Laser.
Classic with modern narration
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm, Scribd
Poet Sylvia Plath’s only novel, “The Bell Jar,” achingly depicts the breakdown of Esther Greenwood, a talented college student who is coming apart. Originally published under a pseudonym in January 1963, the classic novel came out one month before Plath died by suicide. The audiobook is narrated with aplomb by actress Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Petite family tale
Available on: Audible
Back when Amelia Hall was happily married, she gave her husband a priceless family heirloom. Two years after the marriage crumbles, she and her identical twin sister, Camelia, conspire to get it back. Written by Tayari Jones, author of the bestselling novel “An American Marriage,” this exclusive Audible Original is a short delight, clocking in at one hour and 20 minutes. It’s narrated by Bahni Turpin, who was named Audible’s Narrator of the Year in 2016.
Eerie epic
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm
After the untimely death of a young woman, her husband and son, both of whom have mystical abilities, must outrun her diabolical, occultist family. It’s written by Mariana Enriquez, but translated into English from its original Spanish by Megan McDowell. Replete with ghosts, mediums, secret societies and evil forces both human and otherworldly, this elegant yet eerie epic—the audiobook is more than 27 hours long—would appeal to fans of the 2018 supernatural horror film “Hereditary.”
Campus whodunit
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm
When Bodie Kane returns to her tiny New Hampshire boarding school for a short teaching stint, the podcaster and professor becomes fixated on the long-ago murder of Thalia, her former roommate, and questions whether the police arrested the wrong suspect. As much a whodunit as a reflection on our cultural obsession with dead girls and the nauseating spectrum of violence inflicted upon women, the story is compellingly read by audiobook veteran Julia Whelan, who has narrated more than 400 books.
Captivating short story collection
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm
A billionaire afraid of aging—and threatened by his sons’ youthfulness—sends them on bizarre quests. A young man accepts a house-sitting job where he encounters unusual visitors. In this collection of short stories, read by a variety of narrators, including actors Dan Stevens and Patton Oswalt, classic fairy tales are reimagined in modern contexts. Admirers of “Selected Shorts,” the radio show and podcast that airs recordings of short fiction read live by stage and screen actors, would likely take a shine to this audiobook.
Star power-filled drama
Available on: Audible
It’s the ’80s, and a slew of Hollywood hotshots—Billy Joel, Paul Schrader, Sting—are enamored of Miranda. A witty, well-connected woman, she calls powerful men on the phone and, with a mix of empathy, flattery and flirtation, gets them to spill their private fears and anxieties. Thing is, no one’s ever met Miranda in person, and she isn’t who she seems. Based on a true story, this 2 hour and 40 minute Audible Original, with its jaunty dialogue and zippy musical interludes, feels like a beguiling radio drama. Actress Rachel Brosnahan of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” fame stars as Miranda. Other cast members include actor Milo Ventimiglia and musician Josh Groban, who play some of Miranda’s famous interlocutors.
Supernatural tale
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm
A vampire, Louis, tells a spellbound reporter—and us readers—the entrancing story of his life, full of loss, betrayal, danger, temptation, liters of blood and desperate attempts to maintain a sliver of humanity despite being free of the mortal coil. More than 40 years after its original publication, this vampiric tale still enthralls, even more so because of prolific narrator Simon Vance’s hypnotizing voice.
Nonfiction
Pulitzer-winning memoir
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm
This memoir, the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for memoir, recounts a potent college friendship between two Asian American men, Hua and Ken, who at first seem diametrically opposed in their tastes and temperaments. Their bond ultimately deepens but ruptures suddenly when tragedy strikes. Narrated by the author, the book studies growing up, grief and the relationships that define us.
Cultural reckoning
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm
When an artist behaves reprehensibly, how do we square our love for their work with their faults? Does enjoying the work make fans complicit? Building on her viral essay in the Paris Review on this subject, author and narrator Claire Dederer injects a grounded, rigorous and deeply felt intellectual interrogation into today’s discourse on cancel culture and the gulf between the goodness of some artists’ work and the awfulness of their actions.
Child star memoir
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm, Scribd
There are lots of horror stories about the victimization of child stars. This is one of them. Jennette McCurdy’s mother maintained an iron grip on every aspect of her daughter’s existence, from her auditions to her income, her diet to her showers. McCurdy rose to fame on the 2007 Nickelodeon series “iCarly,” but she writes about how the overwhelming public attention and her relationship with her mother led to anxiety, eating disorders and addiction. When her mother died of cancer, McCurdy left acting behind and sought recovery—and self-discovery. McCurdy recounts her struggles and healing with wrenching detail and surprising humor.
Restaurant industry deep dive
Available on: Audible, Audiobooks.com, Kobo, Libro.fm
Restaurants make raw ingredients appetizing, palatable and aesthetically pleasing. Anthony Bourdain draws—nay, claws—back the curtain to show the ugly, grueling, unsanitary, shocking and stomach-churching aspects of life in the restaurant business, and his own unsavory past behaviors. It’s fascinating to hear stories of Bourdain’s ascent in the culinary industry, and powerful to hear the late chef’s voice again.