Subscriptions

How to get Audible for less, or listen for free

Audible Premium is $14.95 a month, or $179 a year, for one audiobook a month. If you listen to more than that, there are cheaper ways; if you listen to less, there are free ones. Here are the options, with the current prices.

Updated October 29, 20267 min readData as of Audible plan pages, October 2026

What Audible costs in 2026

Audible simplified its plans in March 2026. The old Plus and Premium Plus names are gone; the plans are now Standard and Premium.² Both give you one audiobook a month that you keep. Premium adds the Plus catalogue of about 150,000 included titles you can stream while you are a member.¹

Prices from Audible's plan pages, October 2026; Canadian prices are before tax.¹³ Unused monthly selections do not roll over on Standard.

Five ways to pay less

1. Take the promotion, then decide

Audible's plan page currently offers Standard at $0.99 a month for three months to new members, and a 30-day free trial to anyone who has not had one.¹ Set a reminder for the day before the promotion ends. If you keep the plan, the first year costs about $84 instead of $179.

2. Drop to Standard if you don't use the catalogue

Most people buy Audible for the monthly credit. If you have never streamed anything from the included catalogue, Standard gives you the same credit for $6 less a month, or $72 a year. You can switch plans from your account page without losing credits you already have.

3. Go annual if you are staying anyway

The 12-credit annual plan is $150, or $12 a month against $15 monthly. It only pays if you will use all 12 credits, so do the math on last year's listening first. Audible also emails discounts on the annual plan to some members; if you are about to cancel, the cancellation flow may show an offer, and it costs nothing to look before you confirm.

4. Start cancelling, and read the offer

This is the one existing members miss. Audible's cancellation flow is automated, and before it lets you leave it usually shows a retention offer: most often three months at a steep discount, such as $0.99 a month or half price, sometimes a free month or a few extra credits. Go to Account details, then View membership details, then Cancel membership, pick any reason, and keep clicking through the "are you sure" screens until an offer appears. Take it if it is a plan you want; if nothing appears, finish cancelling and your credits stay usable to the end of the paid period. Three notes: offers vary by account and are not guaranteed; they tend to show once every year or so, so use the trick when a stretch of heavy listening is coming; and the discounted months renew at the regular price, so set a reminder for the day before they end.

5. Buy single books on sale instead

If you finish fewer than six audiobooks a year, a membership is the wrong shape. Audible sells titles outright, members get a discount on them, and services such as Chirp run daily deals on single audiobooks with no subscription at all.

Three ways to listen free

• Libby (OverDrive) and Hoopla. Both work with a public library card in the US and Canada and carry the same publisher editions Audible sells, read by the same narrators. New bestsellers can have waits of a few weeks; backlist titles are usually available at once. Hoopla has no waits but limits checkouts per month, and the limit is set by your library.
• Spotify Premium. Includes 15 hours of audiobook listening a month at no extra cost in the US and Canada, with the option to buy more hours. For one book a month that is often enough.
• LibriVox. Free public-domain classics read by volunteers.

How to cancel or switch

On the website, go to Account details, then View membership details, then Cancel membership. Audible will show one or more offers before the final confirmation (see way 4 above); keep clicking through to cancel, or take the offer if it is a real discount on a plan you want. Your credits stay usable until the end of the paid period, so use them before the date. If you subscribed through Apple or Google, cancel in that app store instead; Audible cannot cancel a store subscription for you. Books you bought with credits stay in your library after you cancel.

Is it worth it?

Audible is good value for people who finish a book a month and want to keep it. For everyone else, the cheapest audiobook is the one your library already paid for. Our guide on money habits that last covers the quarterly subscription audit that catches charges like this, and the statement reader on the home page lists every recurring charge on a statement in a few seconds.

This guide is general information, not financial, tax, or investment advice. Rules and limits change; check the sources for the current figures before acting.

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