Key Takeaways
- Spotify has launched Audiobooks Access, but at $9.99/month, it’s not worth the asking price compared to Spotify Premium at $10.99/month.
- Spotify Premium offers many more perks for just a single dollar more, such as ad-free music, offline listening, and higher bitrates.
- Even though Audiobooks Access competes with Audible in some ways, paying $1 more for Spotify Premium is a better choice for most users.
Spotify now offers an audiobooks-only tier called Audiobooks Access. This is designed for fans of audiobooks who aren’t that interested also in streaming music. Unfortunately, the price of Audiobooks Access compared to a Spotify Premium subscription makes it a non-starter in our opinion.
Spotify Launches an Audiobooks Access Plan for Free Users
On March 1, 2024, Spotify launched a new subscription plan squarely aimed at fans of audiobooks. Called Audiobooks Access, this paid tier offers 15 hours of audiobook listening per month, along with the same ad-supported access to Spotify’s catalog of music and podcasts you get with the free plan.
In a blog post on For the Record, Spotify announced this new paid tier by stating that it’s “continuously innovating to provide the best possible offering for every kind of audio fan.” And with “a 45% increase in free users searching for and interacting with Audiobook content each day,” we can understand why Spotify has launched this new audiobooks-only tier.
However, Audiobooks Access is priced at $9.99/month in the US (the only territory it’s currently available in). And that’s a problem.
Why Spotify’s Audiobooks Access Plan Isn’t Worth It
Spotify’s Audiobooks Access isn’t worth subscribing to based purely on how it compares to Spotify’s Premium plan. As already mentioned, Spotify’s Audiobooks Access plan costs $9.99/month, which sounds like it might be a good value until you compare it to Spotify’s Premium plan.
Spotify Premium costs $10.99/month for an individual user; that’s just a solitary dollar more than Audiobooks Access. And for that $1 more, you gain access to all the Premium perks on top of the 15 hours/month of free audiobook listening. That’s because all Spotify Premium plans now include the same 15 hours/month access to premium audiobooks.
As a reminder, Spotify Premium perks include ad-free music listening, downloading albums and playlists to listen offline, playing songs in any order, listening at higher bitrates, and more. And you don’t get any of these with Spotify’s Audiobooks Access plan. Instead, you get the same features as Spotify Free users, plus those 15 hours of free audiobook listening.
Spotify Premium Is Clearly a Better Choice
At $10.99/month for an Individual plan—rather than the Duo ($14.99/month) or Family ($16.99/month) plans—Spotify Premium is great value for money. It already was a good deal thanks to the range of perks it offered over a Free account. Then Spotify added 15 hours/month of audiobooks on top of those Premium perks, adding an extra reason to subscribe.
So at $9.99/month—just a single dollar cheaper than Premium with almost none of its benefits—Audiobooks Access feels like a non-starter. Yes, it compares favorably to Audible in some ways; Audible costs $14.95/month for Premium Plus, offering one credit for a premium audiobook per month. However, current Audible subscribers debating whether to switch to Spotify would still be better off paying that extra $1 for Spotify Premium.
It should also be noted that even Spotify Free users can listen to some audiobooks for free—just not the premium audiobooks voiced by celebrities or authors which can be expensive. Still, regardless of what Spotify plan you have, you should check out our guide detailing how to listen to audiobooks for free on Spotify.
