All the World's a Classroom

This article is a comprehensive review of all Audible subscription plans and their prices. Learn all the different membership levels and their cost comparison on a per-year, per-month, and price-per-audiobook-credit basis. [Last updated on Jan 3, 2021]

As of Jan 2021, Audible has renamed their membership levels to Audible Plus and Audible Premium Plus. See below for the comparison, as well as what the previous names of these membership levels were.

What you will learn in this article:

1. Benefits of an Audible Membership

2. How to Get 3 Free Audiobooks 

3. All Audible Membership Plans & Audible Pricing

4. How to Switch Your Membership Plan

5. How to Determine Which Option is Right for You?

What you get from an Amazon Audible membership

When you get an Audible Premium Plus membership, you get the following benefits:

1. Audible credits

Audible credits can be used to purchase audiobooks, no matter how long or short, expensive or cheap the original prices are. One credit equals one audiobook. How often you get Audible credits depend on the membership plan that you subscribe to. More on this below.

You can also rollover the credits, i.e., you don’t have to use it right away. But there are limits to how many credits you can pile up in your account, and these also differ depending on your membership level.

2. Audiobook Discounts

As a member, if you purchase audiobooks by credit card, you will get discounts on all titles 30%.

3. Member-only Sales

Audible holds quite a number of sales that are accessible only to members. They send emails with daily deals, many for less than $5. They also do special events like get 2 books for 1 credit, 3 books for 2 credits, etc., which I’ve taken advantage of many times. It’s a great opportunity to stock up your library.

4. Whispersync for Voice

This is one of the neatest features of Audible, in my opinion. Many books offered by Amazon are Whispersync for Voice-ready enabled, meaning that when you have both the audiobook and Kindle ebook versions of the same title, they will be synced with each other, allowing you to pick up where you left off from the audio or ebook version.

Now, why would you want to buy both versions? When you buy either an audiobook or a Kindle ebook that is Whispersync for Voice-ready, Amazon will give you an offer to buy the other version at a heavily discounted price. Sometimes, the total price for this combination, by taking advantage of the special sales or daily deals, will be lower than the original price of either the audio or ebook version.

For more on this and tips on how to get audiobook discounts via Whispersync, check out this article:

How to Take Advantage of Whispersync and Get Audiobook Discounts

5. Easy Return or Exchange Audiobooks

If you don’t like any audiobook that you’ve purchased, you can simply return for credit and exchange the credit with another book, no questions asked. (If you bought it with a credit card, then they will refund you the money). You can do this up to 365 days after your purchase the audiobook. If your book says “Not eligible for return” even though you bought it less than 365 days ago, contact Customer Service. Some titles cannot be returned using the online tool.

6. Free Audible Stories for Kids and Adults – No Membership Needed

There’s a wealth of free audiobook listens that you can find in the Audible Stories library here. Your kids of all ages will love the selections there. There are tons of classics too. And what’s even more amazing is that there are selections in other languages, such as Spanish, French, Italian, Chinese, etc. The best thing about this is that you don’t have to be an Audible member to stream these audiobooks. Read more about it here. Here’s a snapshot of the selections:

7. Free Audible Originals each month, no credits needed 

With your membership, you get a fresh selection of free Audible Originals each month. These are stories that are especially produced for Audible, so you won’t get them anywhere else. They’re typically shorter, up to about 4 or 5 hours lengthwise and they are more than just books. For example, once I picked Girls & Boys, which is a play that was on off-Broadway in 2018 by Carey Mulligan. The Audible Original is also narrated by Mulligan, whom I love. There are typically selections for theater lovers, music lovers, comedy lovers, etc. For a theater enthusiast who lives so far away from New York City, I especially love the play productions! If you’re a member already, don’t forget to grab these Audible Originals each month!

8. Audible Plus Catalog

Thousands of titles in the catalog, which is also accessible if you subscribe to the lower level membership, Audible Plus. If you have the Audible Premium Plus membership, you get access to this Plus Catalog plus the entire selection of audiobooks that you can get with the credit.

9. Podcasts

Audible is getting into the podcast space, where you can listen to various podcasts, both by Audible and other third-party podcast companies, in the Audible app.

How to Get 3 Free Audiobooks Right Off the Bat

Before we go into the details of every Audible membership option, I want to first and foremost remind you that no matter which membership level you want to subscribe to, do the 30-day Free Trial first! Use the link below to get 2 free audiobooks with your free trial, and keep them forever, even though you cancel the membership after the free trial period ends. Just keep the Audible app and you can listen to the audiobooks in your library forever. Note that some free trial links only offer 1 free audiobook, so make sure you check the details first.

Try Audible Premium Plus for Free (30 days) and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks

Now that you’ve done the free trial and downloaded the app, how do you get this 3rd free audiobook? By getting someone else to gift one to you. The first audiobook that you receive as a gift is free. So if you like a book, get a friend who already has it to forward the link from the Audible app. (Yes, you need a friend for this). Or just ask them to send you something that they know you will enjoy.

Now, be nice and return the favor. Send somebody a link of an audiobook you like from your library. There’s no limit to how many you can send. If all of your friends have never used Audible before, then they all will receive a free audiobook from the goodness of your heart.

So, 2 audiobooks from the free trial + 1 audiobook gifted to you = 3 free audiobooks. Get long audiobooks to stretch these perks even more.

Now on to the various Audible membership levels and their prices.

All Audible Subscription Plans & Prices

How much does an Audible subscription cost? Well, that depends on the type of subscription you choose.

The table below lists all of the membership options, as well as the comparison of the Audible subscription price. 

UPDATE: In 2020, Audible replaced the membership levels to Audible Plus and Audible Premium Plus. What were previously Gold and Platinum membership levels are now called Audible Premium Plus (1 credit/mo – Gold equivalent, 2 credits/mo – Platinum equivalent). The table below is updated with the old and new membership names. For the rest of the article, though, I’ll still use the old names since they are more succinct.

The first 4 levels, Audible Premium Plus (previously Gold monthly and annual, Platinum monthly and annual) are full memberships, meaning that subscribing to these plans give you the full benefits of being an Audible customer (i.e., everything listed above). The Silver monthly membership is a special one that’s unadvertised. It gives you 1 audiobook credit every other month, with no access to Audible Originals. 

Audible Plus is the more “lightweight” memberships, where you don’t get any audiobook credits, but you get the access to all the titles in the Plus Catalog, podcasts, and Audible Originals. Note that you also don’t get the 30% discount of audiobooks when you purchase them without credits with this membership level.

In the table, I’ve listed the price tags of each Audible membership level and the 3 metrics–Annual total cost, Monthly cost, and Cost per audiobook credit–so you can compare them apples to apples.

The most common option is the Audible Premium Plus (previously Audible Gold Monthly) membership at $14.95 and 1 credit each month. Typically, your account will default to this option, which means that if you want to change your Audible membership plan, you’ll have to upgrade through your account setting or contact Customer Service.

For audiobook super-listeners, the Audible Premium Plus 2-credits (previously Platinum) level is the way to go at 2 audiobooks per month.

Silver Monthly really should be called Silver Bimonthly. This option is not advertised and will not appear when you try to switch membership levels through your account. You’ll have to contact Customer Service to switch to Silver. They are typically very accommodating (i.e., they won’t try to up-sell you) and the set up will only take a few minutes.

Silver is nice if you, like me, like to take your time listening to audiobooks. One audiobook every 2 months is a nice pace for me and most of the benefits are still included (discounts, deals, free giveaways, etc.).

Audible Monthly vs. Yearly Membership

Audiobooks are cheaper by the dozen. If you subscribe to a monthly plan, then you pay and get the audiobook credit(s) monthly (with the exception of Silver Monthly, which is bimonthly). If you subscribe to an annual plan, then you pay and get all of the credits at once–12 credits or 24 credits.

As you can see from the table above, buying in bulk saves you money. The yearly plan is equivalent to getting 2 months free on the monthly plan. For Gold, $149.50 = 10 months x $14.95/month. Same thing for Platinum (I’m using the old names just to be succinct).

So, if you’re someone who can shell out the cash upfront, the Gold Annual or Platinum Annual are worth getting to save you some dollars.

Comparing Audible Prices

Here’s my take on what is the best Audible membership cost to pay.

If you’re trying to just minimize your annual or monthly costs while still enjoying the benefits of being an Audible member, the Silver membership is a great option. At $89.70 per year or $7.48 per month, it’s very affordable. But what if you want to get more credits without paying the original prices of the audiobooks? Not to worry. Even though your credit only comes once every 2 months, you still have the option to buy more credits at any given time.

At the top of my account, Audible always has this offer to Buy 3 Extra Credits at $35.88 ($11.96/credit). Yes, you have to buy 3 at a time, but the price per credit is actually comparable to the Platinum Monthly ($11.48/credit), which is a good deal. This option is available to all members, so if you’re feeling low on credits but don’t want to commit to an upgraded membership level, this is the way to go.

On a total cost basis, the Platinum Monthly, followed by Platinum Annual, are the most expensive membership levels. However, on a per credit basis, they are in fact the cheapest. Platinum Annual gives you $9.56/credit, which is equal to $9.56/audiobook, which is a steal. Platinum Monthly gives you $11.48/credit. The Silver Monthly and Gold Monthly are the most expensive at $14.95/credit, but this price is still a good deal for audiobooks, which are above $20 a lot of the times.

Rollover Credits

If you haven’t decided which audiobooks to get for your credits, Audible allows 1-year for you to use the credit. Previously they allowed rollover, e.g. for Gold Monthly, you’re allowed to rollover up to 5 credits per month; Gold Annual, 6 credits; Platinum Monthly, 10 credits; Platinum Annual, 12 credits. I don’t think this is true anymore; the 1-year limit applies to all.

This is something to watch out for. Don’t let your Audible credits pile up to avoid losing credits. 

Audible Plus (Similar to Listener Light and Channel Plan in the Past)

This membership levels is a new offering by Audible. It doesn’t come with audiobook credits, but you get access to the Plus Catalog–basically free audiobooks that you can listen to without using any credit. You don’t get the 30% discounts that members get, if you want to purchase audiobooks. You do, however, get to listen in to the various programs produced by Audible, namely the Audible Originals and podcasts. Also, they still will send you emails with deals and sales that members receive.

How to Switch Your Membership Level

To change your membership level, go to Audible.com, sign in, and go to the top of your page. From the drop-down menu next to your name, click Account Details. It will display your current membership level and your benefits. Underneath, there’s a button that says “Switch Membership”. Click the button and Audible will display several options for you.

Here are the screenshots from my account. I have Silver Monthly and Audible provides the next 4 levels for my upgrade, Audible Plus, Audible Premium Plus, Audible Premium Plus – 2 credits, Audible Premium Plus Annual – 12 credits. Based on this, I’m assuming that to get the Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 credits, you’ll have to contact Customer Service. These may look different for you depending on your current membership level.

Choose the one you want by clicking “Get this plan” in the appropriate box.

Remember that the Silver membership is not advertised, so I don’t think it will appear in the upgrade/downgrade options. Contact Customer Service if you want this plan.

How to Determine Which Audible Membership Level is Right for You?

With all these options, how do you start choosing the right membership level? Here are the questions you should ask yourself.

1. What’s the average pace of your audiobook consumption?

If you’re going for 1/month, go with Audible Premium Plus; 2/month, Audible Premium Plus – 2 credits; 1 every 2 months, Silver. You can always buy extra credits, 3 at a time.

2. How much money do you want to spend upfront?

If you can cover the costs upfront, consider getting the annual plans since they lower the cost per audiobook by a lot.

3. How much money do you want to spend in general?

If you’re going for the lowest total cost, go with Silver Monthly. Check out the Cost/year and Cost/month columns in the table for your budgeting purposes.

Don’t Forget the 30-day Free Trial

Again, as a reminder, use the 30-day free trial first, no matter which membership level you decide on. After the 30 days, it will likely default to Gold Monthly. If you want to change it to something else, go through the steps outlined in the How to Switch Your Membership section.

Try Audible for Free and Get Two Audiobooks

For tips on how to save once you’ve signed up for a membership, go to this article.

Try Audible Plus

Audible Gift Memberships

Try Audible Premium Plus and Get Up to Two Free Audiobooks

More tips on audiobooks and Audible:

How to Save Money on Audible Membership

How to Take Advantage of Whispersync and Get Audiobook Discounts

Product links on this post are affiliate links, which means I get a small compensation if you sign up through them. Would appreciate it if you do!