Kindle Unlimited Vs. Audible: Which Subscription Is Best For Audiobooks?

If you're trying to listen to audiobooks often, you're going to be put off by the high price of buying them individually. Instead, you might want to look into a subscription service. There are a few dedicated audiobook services and companies, as well as existing subscriptions like Spotify adding audiobooks to their services, but the two you've likely heard about the most are Audible and Kindle Unlimited. While they're both owned by Amazon, these two subscriptions offer different benefits and operate on different platforms — and there's no way to bundle them together.

So it begs the question: Which of these subscriptions is the best one for an audiobook enthusiast to get the most out of their money? We tested both trial subscriptions on Windows, Android, and iPadOS devices to determine the differences between both Audible and Kindle Unlimited. Each subscription offers different features, varying levels of how easy it is to use, and at different price points to help you make the final decision.

Kindle Unlimited is Amazon's main paid e-book service. For $11.99 a month, you can access Amazon's library of digital books, audiobooks, and even some magazine subscriptions. With the subscription, you can access all of these any time — though if you cancel the subscription, you'll lose access to any titles you were working on at the time until you re-up your subscription or buy the book individually.

With over four million titles available on Kindle Unlimited, it's unlikely you'll run out of titles to read. However, Amazon only mentions "thousands" of audiobooks, without a hard number of how many are on the service. Several thousand audiobooks still sounds like a solid number, of course, but Kindle Unlimited offers a variety of media (not just audiobooks) to read and enjoy.

Of course, Kindle Unlimited also has the benefit of syncing seamlessly with your Kindle library. If you're considering Unlimited, it's extremely likely you already own some Kindle books, and you don't need to worry about switching between pages or accounts to find everything.

Audible offers a service different from Kindle Unlimited, even if it seems the same on the surface. In comparison, Audible is distinctly and almost purely an audiobook service. There are two tiers available: the Plus subscription for $7.95 per month, and the Premium Plus service for $14.95 per month.

Audible Plus lets you access a portion the service's vast audiobook library — which has about half a million titles, according to Audible — and you can listen to what you want, when you want. There are also podcasts, guided meditation, and even a collection of sleep songs and podcasts to help you rest at night.

Premium Plus allows you to browse the Plus Audible library, and also gives you credit for one free audiobook per month. You can redeem the credit to keep an audiobook forever — even if you unsubscribe. Couple that with member-only sales that offer deep discounts on audiobooks throughout its catalog, you can build a collection outside of your monthly subscription as well.

In terms of pure numbers, Kindle Unlimited's library vastly outnumbers Audible's; with Kindle having 4 million titles and Audible having half a million. However, this is a case of quantity versus quality. Amazon has a large number of Kindle Exclusive titles on Kindle Unlimited, and these books are often smaller independent works. These exclusive titles are often an enticing deal for many smaller authors, and the general ease of publishing on Amazon makes it even better.

However, that does mean that not every e-book is of the same quality you'd expect from big publishing houses — not to mention the books may not be available in audio form in the first place. If you want a more curated audiobook-first experience, Audible is going to have it for you.

Also, it's important to note that while Kindle Unlimited has more titles overall, a minority of this vast library are audiobooks — so Audible has more audiobooks overall.

Audible has two extremes in terms of price, with the Plus subscription at $7.95 per month, and Premium Plus at $14.95 per month. Kindle Unlimited's single subscription tier lies in the middle at $11.99 a month.

The Audible Premium Plus subscription feels expensive compared to the other offerings. However, you do get a free credit to redeem on an audiobook every month, and there are constant sales on other audiobooks. If you listen to a lot of audiobooks, Premium Plus can feel like a deal. If you don't read quite as much, the Plus subscription may be worthwhile, but the credit alone makes the extra cost of the Platinum Plus worth it. With its sheer volume of content, Kindle Unlimited is a good deal at $11.99 if you read a lot alongside audiobooks, meaning you can easily get your money's worth with e-books as well. 

Finally, Kindle Unlimited often has sales to draw in new subscribers, such as a 3-month deal for $0.99 per month. Audible rarely has deals on the subscription itself in comparison — though it does happen — so you can't save on your monthly payments. Both services do offer a 30-day trial, so you can see which service is better for you before you commit.

Of course, a huge library means nothing if you can't find anything or get the app to work on your device. When you log into Audible on the web, you're greeted with a screen that presents you with several audiobook genres, some best-sellers, and recommendations if you're just quickly looking for something to listen to. Getting to your library is just a click away, and everything is easy to look through, whether you're getting to a specific genre or browsing.

Audible's mobile app experience is also good. The home screen is very similar to the web browser (albeit properly scaled for a smaller screen), and the Browse section is even more eye-catching with big buttons for genre, best-sellers by year, and more. There is also a Car Mode that uses voice controls to pause or go back in your audiobook hands-free, along with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility.

Unsurprisingly, Kindle Unlimited's web browser looks identical to Amazon's Kindle store page. The main page has a huge selection of e-books and a variety of categories to browse. However, if you want to listen to an audiobook you own, you need to go to the main Amazon menu and select Digital Content, then the Kindle Unlimited section will have your audiobook. That said, the Kindle Unlimited mobile experience is far better. Your library is only a tap away, and downloading audiobooks is easy. The Kindle app also has a "Listen and Read" feature, so you can read along as the audiobook is running simultaneously.

Because Amazon owns both companies, Audible audiobooks are often available for download in the Kindle app. Having your whole library in one place can make it easier to listen to your audiobooks (even if you don't subscribe to Kindle Unlimited), so it's something to consider when it comes to how easy it is to get to listening.

When it comes to purely audiobooks, Audible is the clear winner here. With a bigger focus on audiobooks and on general quality, your subscription money is well-spent here if you're mostly focused on listening versus reading. There are also great bonuses with the free audiobook credit every month, deep discounts, and the convenience of using Car Mode while driving. The better subscription of the two available options is Premium Plus, but you can use the cheaper Plus subscription to try Audible out if you're not sure if you want to commit more money and your 30-day trial is up.

However, that isn't to say that Kindle Unlimited is without its merits. In addition to audiobooks, you'll get a huge library of e-books and magazines to browse. You'll also be able to really dive into a genre and find some great, small indie releases, provided you're alright with some of them only being available as an e-book. If you want one subscription service that has everything, you'll likely be happier with Kindle Unlimited.

We based our metrics and testing on both the 30-day trial of Kindle Unlimited, as well as the 30-day trial of Audible Premium Plus. Prices and value were judged based on each subscription's full price, though deals and sales were mentioned in the text. The platforms' interfaces were tested on a Windows PC, as well as both the Android and iPadOS apps.