Kindle Unlimited Membership Explained: Is It Worth It?

If you've heard of ebooks you've heard of the Amazon Kindle. The world's most famous e-reader was released way back in 2007, and new models are still being released. Alongside physical Kindle devices, Amazon sells ebooks in its dedicated Kindle store. As of summer 2023, there are more than 12 million titles available, ranging from inexpensive "singles" to best-sellers by big-name authors.

The amount of money that you should expect to pay for a Kindle ebook depends greatly on what it is you want to read. While typically cheaper than their physical equivalents, newly-released and best-selling Kindle books generally cost upwards of $10, and sometimes more than $20, while older or classic titles can be found for far less. Meanwhile, the Kindle store also contains more than a million audiobooks, also priced on a sliding scale according to their popularity and recency.

It's easy to see, then, that for the most voracious readers (and listeners), consuming all of that content could easily become a pretty expensive habit. That's why, back in 2014, Amazon introduced Kindle Unlimited. So what is Kindle Unlimited, and is it worth the money?

Kindle Unlimited is available on Kindle e-readers and any smart device that supports the Kindle app. Subscribers get unlimited access to more than a million ebooks, audiobooks, and magazines in the Kindle store for $11.99 per month. Once signed up, you can borrow and read as many Kindle ebooks as you want from the available catalog of titles and keep them for as long as you like. You're only allowed to have 20 books on the go at any given time though, so if you want to rent a 21st, you'll have to give one back. Magazines don't count toward that limit.

It's important to note that Kindle Unlimited is a separate benefit to Amazon Prime, and is not included with Prime membership. As if that wasn't complicated enough, Amazon is also happy to sell you a subscription to Audible, its audiobook subsidiary, starting at $7.95 per month.

Audible Premium Plus is more expensive at $14.95 per month, and includes free access to titles in the Audible Plus library, discounts on selected best-sellers, and a credit system where subscribers can claim one free title a month (Prime members also get two free titles when they subscribe to Audible Premium Plus). Whereas Kindle Unlimited includes books and magazines, Audible is a strictly audio-only service, but there is some overlap between the content available with both subscriptions.

As you've probably already guessed, the answer to that question is "maybe." If you regularly buy or borrow multiple books a month, Kindle Unlimited might save you money on a month-to-month basis. There are a large number of ebooks in the Kindle store that cost more than a month's subscription to Kindle Unlimited, so it should be a no-brainer, right? Plus you get magazines and audiobooks all bundled up for $11.99 per month.

But there are a couple of catches. You can only have 20 books on the go at any time, and the selection available to Kindle Unlimited subscribers, while enormous, is not actually unlimited. Titles that are eligible to borrow for free with Kindle Unlimited are labeled in the Kindle store, and Amazon warns that offerings can change "at any time". At the time of writing, none of the New York Times' top five fiction books are available to borrow on a Kindle Unlimited subscription, and it's not unusual for major titles to be missing from the selection. For anyone who finds themselves listening to multiple audiobooks a month as opposed to reading ebooks, an Audible Plus or Audible Premium Plus subscription might make more sense.

So, in the end, Kindle Unlimited may or may not be worth it, depending on what kind of content you consume and how regularly. Extremely keen readers might find that it saves them money, but the limited (although still vast) selection of titles and overlap with other Amazon subscriptions might prove a barrier for some — especially those who prefer listening to reading. The good news is that if you're unsure whether Kindle Unlimited is right for you, you can sign up for a three-month free trial.