Audio book websites are sites on which internet users purchase, download, or listen to audiobooks. There are thousands of audiobooks site over there, but do you know which the best one is? In this post, we have collected the best audio book sites so that you can get free or paid audiobooks easily.
Let’s get it started.
1. Audible.com
Let’s start with the big one – Audible.com. Audible is the best and biggest sites for the audiobooks, and it is the most professional one. What’s more, it is also one of the leading audiobook producers.
With more than 400,000 audio titles, you can find any audiobooks ranging from full-length books, to recorded lectures, magazines and children’s stories. Meanwhile, there are many free classic audio books.
Audible is like a membership-based store for audiobooks. Unlike some other online audiobook stores that sell audiobooks individually, Audible pushes you purchase the subscription service because without it, the price of individual titles are quite costly. Anyway, it has different audible subscription models. A subscription to Audible Plus/Audible Premium Plus includes access to a selection of titles in the Audible Original library.
Audible is offering a 30-day free trial for new subscribers, which will let you test this new service. Also, you can get one credit and trade it for one audiobook.
2. Google.com
Google play store also offers the audiobooks for users without a subscription or membership. You can just purchase the audiobook you want simply.
Although its selection of titles is smaller than Audible’s, there are still thousands of audiobook titles available through the Google Play store.
Different from Audible.com which provides the desktop application to listen to audiobooks on Windows and Mac, you need to listen to Google play audiobooks online or on Android/iOS Google Play App. You can also listen to Google Audiobooks through Google Home or any device that supports the Google Assistant tool.
3. Kobo.com
Kobo.com is not only the ebook online store but also selling audiobooks. Like other audiobook selling platforms, you can buy standalone titles from the store, or use the Kobo subscription service. With Kobo’s subscription, you can get a credit for a single audiobook per month.
I have to admit that the Kobo audiobook range might not be extensive as audible’s, but there are still a large offerings (over 100,000 titles) at one the most affordable prices.
Newcomers can take advantage of the 30-day free trial and get one credit.
As for listening to audiobooks, kobo offers the free downloadable app available on Android and iOS devices. So you can listen to kobo audiobooks on your smartphone or tablets, but not the Windows or Mac computer.
4. Downpour.com
Downpour.com is also a great audiobook site providing great audiobook service. It has a good offering from lots of genres.
The audiobooks you get from this website are DRM free while the audiobooks you get from other audiobook sites are drm-protected. That means you can play audiobook from Downpour on more than one player, not that you need to.
Another great feature is that you can rent audiobooks instead of buying them on this website. So if you don’t want to purchase the title outright, just rent it with cheaper price. Anyway, this website also offers the subscription service with 1 Credit*/month for $12.99.
5. Scribd.com
Scribd.com offers audiobook and ebook subscription service. With the membership, you can access millions of titles, including audiobooks, ebooks, magazines, and sheet music. It also cooperates with over 1000 different publishing houses including the so-called big 5 (Simon and Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Macmillan). It is set out to become the No.1 option in online libraries.
Scribd also has the awesome 30-day free trial.
6. Librivox.org
Librivox.org is one of the best free audiobook streaming and downloading platforms that comes across many genres including fiction, non-fiction, educational, and motivational. Different from the paid audiobook subscription service, this website features many classic audiobooks and lasks many modern titles.
Librivox is a non-profit service and audiobooks here are all made by volunteers around the world. You cannot compare its audio quality with the paid service. And you can even volunteer to read a book yourself.
7. Apple Audiobooks
If you are looking for the audiobook websites for iPhone users, I should mention Apple audiobooks.
Different from audiobook giant – Audible, Apple audiobook doesn’t offer a subscription service, but just selling audiobooks individually. The selection on Apple books is vast, but still its selection is more limited than other Audiobook producer, like Audible. However, it has a great selection of high-quality and hard-to-find audiobooks. Also, the audiobooks here are quite expensive.
Apple books only can be used on Mac OS device or Apple Books app. You are not allowed to transfer books purchased through Apple Books onto a non-Apple device.
8. Blinkist.com
Blinkist.com is a website that offers a professional book-summarizing service which isn’t an usual audiobook subscription service, but one we feel is still worth covering. This website only offers the short summaries of non-fiction books so that you cannot find the complete audiobooks on the website.
The audiobooks on this website mostly are all less than 15 minutes. It also offers a 7-day free trial. You can just take advantage of this free trial to have unlimited access to their library and read as many book summaries as you like with no extra cost.
9. Audiobooks.com
Audiobooks.com is very similar to Audible.com. It has over 300,000 premium titles and millions of free podcasts available on its website. Audiobooks.com also has a free 30-day trial available that gives you one premium and 1 VIP books (two books total). Additionally, members have access to free audio news, magazines, and meditation content.
10. Hoopladigital.com
If you are looking for online audiobook library, you should not miss out Hoopladigital.com. It is a great digital media service offered by your local public library that allows you to borrow audiobooks, ebooks, comics and more to enjoy on your computer or phone. It has a wide selection—like more than 800,000 titles available. It allows you to instantly borrow somewhere between 10-20 titles a month, depending on your library.
11. OverDrive.com
Another online library is OverDrive. Like Hoopla, OverDrive also brings you to your local library to your phone, tablet or computer. On Hoopla, you can get audiobooks instantly, but you may need to wait for some content on OverDrive.
There are OverDrive and Libby app for renting library books. They are both great apps, but slightly different. If you want to get audiobooks from library only, try Libby. If you want to borrow from local libraries and school libraries, try OverDrive.
Summary
These are the 11 top audiobook websites I have collected for you guys. Almost of them providing the free audiobooks on their website, but they are different in details. Some of the audiobook websites offer free audiobooks on their site, like Hoopla, OverDrive, and Librivox. Some of them provide paid audiobooks subscription service, like Audible, audiobooks.com, Downpour, Blinkist and kobo. Some of them only sell individually audiobooks without audibook membership, like Google Play and Apple audiobooks.
Now you can just try the websites mentioned in this post and enjoy the audiobooks.
Iris Yan has been a passionate member of Epubor since 2017. Her mission is to enhance your ebook reading experience by sharing insightful tips and tricks. Join her on a journey towards reading excellence today!
