When I first heard about Audible many years ago I was initially quite sceptical. Why would I want someone to read a book to me? Surely I could just take the time to sit down and read it myself. Well, it’s fair to say that as life has got busier year by year, I started to see the attraction of it, particularly as my ability to find time to sit down and read disappeared before me.
After starting with Audible a number of years ago, I’ve found it becoming one of my main go to subscriptions. I now have over 138 titles in my audiobook library, so clearly I’ve found it a genuinely useful part of day to day life.
What is Audible
Audible has evolved quite a bit over the years, so let me walk you through that journey. When it first started, Audible focused purely on audio versions of books. It’s since expanded to also offer podcasts and Audible Originals, shows made specifically for the platform that feel more like a piece of theatre than a straight audiobook.
Where I’ve found it fits nicely into my life is particularly when doing jobs round the house, DIY, or going for a long walk. A great way to get stuff done while enjoying a good book.
Membership plans compared
My focus on this site is always getting value for money, so let’s break down the cost and how to maximise it.
| Plan | Price | Credits | Keep your books? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | £5.99/month | 1 credit | No, you lose access if you cancel | Casual listeners who don’t mind a rotating library |
| Premium Plus | £8.99/month | 1 credit | Yes, yours forever | Most people, especially anyone building a permanent library |
| Annual (12 credits) | £69.99/year | 12 credits | Yes | Regular listeners, works out at £5.83 a credit |
| Annual (24 credits) | £109.99/year | 24 credits | Yes | Heavy listeners, best per credit value |
Those four are the official plans you’ll see on Audible’s website today. There’s a key difference worth understanding: the Standard plan doesn’t let you keep the audiobooks you select, whereas every Premium tier does. Now, I know not keeping the book might not seem like a big deal, I mean how many times would you actually relisten? Well, there are two reasons this matters. First, if you’ve got children, you’ll know a favourite story can get requested on repeat, so keeping access matters. Second, there’s a genuine cost saving angle here too, which I’ll come to.
A quick flag on pricing: when I go into my own account and look at “change my membership offers”, I sometimes see different combinations pop up, things like a Premium 1 credit option at £8.99 or a Premium 2 credit option at £14.99. These aren’t on Audible’s standard public pricing page, so I’d treat them as personalised retention offers Audible serves existing or lapsing members rather than plans you can sign up to directly. Worth checking your own app before assuming you’ll see the same numbers, but it shows there’s often more flexibility available than the official page suggests if you’re already a member.
How to squeeze the most value out of Audible
Right, the bit you’ve been waiting for: how to get Audible at the best price and extract maximum value from it.
Always look for an offer when first signing up. There are regularly deals such as a few months at a fraction of the standard price, so don’t sign up at full price, you’re just throwing money away. It’s also worth checking sites like Quidco or TopCashback before you sign up, as Audible often runs cashback offers through them too. I’ve written a full breakdown of how I use Quidco to squeeze extra value out of subscriptions like this one, worth a read if you haven’t already.
The Premium tiers let you keep the audiobooks you select, and I’ve found this opens up one nice trick. Audible has excellent Originals that you can only listen to while you’re a member, so I often use my monthly credit on a book to keep, while spending my actual listening time on the exclusive content instead. Why bother, when that means your library builds up unlistened? Because once your introductory offer ends and you’re paying full price, that’s my trigger to cancel. Cancelling is all done through the app, and at that point Audible will often offer you a reduced price to stay. You can either take that deal and keep building your library the way I described, or if you’ve worked through the exclusive content already, go ahead and cancel and start enjoying what you’ve built up. And if you do turn the offer down, don’t worry, Audible will usually email you a fresh offer within a month or two to tempt you back. That’s when the cycle starts again.
One more benefit worth knowing: since Audible is part of Amazon, you can share any books you’ve purchased with anyone else in your Amazon Household. Not bad at all.
If you’re trying to get more organised with what you’re paying for across all your subscriptions, not just Audible, my Subscription Cost calculator is a good place to see the full picture in one go.
Is the content any good
Personally, I’ve found it to be exactly what I need, covering both fiction and non fiction across everything I’m interested in. Fancy a bit of Harry Potter? You’ve got it. Interested in learning about WW2? Again, plenty to pick from. The podcasts are a nice addition too, especially if you’re chasing a particular topic in the non fiction space.
So if you’re finding yourself time poor but with a real desire to “read more”, I can highly recommend Audible. It does come at a cost, but follow the tips above and you can bring that down from the list price every time.
Ready to give Audible a try?
If you’ve made it this far and think Audible could work for you, I’d check the current offer before signing up. I’d start with the free trial rather than committing to a full-price membership straight away, particularly if you’ve never used Audible before.