The best audiobook app depends on what you want from it and where you live. For a very large catalog and titles you keep, Audible; if you already pay for Spotify Premium in a country where audiobooks are included, Spotify; for audiobooks and e-books in one subscription, Everand; and for free listening, Libby, LibriVox and, in Thailand, TK Read from Thailand Knowledge Park (TK Park). Your country changes the answer more than most lists admit, and every price below was read on October 6, 2026.
How we compared
We read every price, trial and catalog figure on the company’s own website, help center or official app store listing on October 6, 2026. Catalog sizes are each company’s own claim, so we write “says” and never rank apps by them: one company counts e-books, another counts its subscriber catalog. We do not invent ratings or rankings, and the “best for” labels are our editorial judgment. Prices change and can differ by country. Because our readers are largely in Southeast Asia, we also checked what each app offers in Thailand; we did not check other countries.
Best audiobook apps at a glance
| App | What you get | How you pay | US price | In Thailand | Free trial | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audible | Full audiobooks, offline downloads | Membership: one book a month (Standard) or one credit plus included titles (Premium) | Standard USD 8.99 a month; Premium USD 14.95 | No Thai store; Audible US in US dollars; US, UK and Australian plans in the Thai App Store | 30 days | A very large catalog |
| Spotify | Audiobook hours inside Premium | Premium subscription | USD 12.99 a month, 15 audiobook hours | Audiobooks not available | 1 month for USD 0 (new Premium users) | Light listening if you already pay for Spotify |
| Everand | Audiobooks and e-books | Subscription with monthly unlocks | USD 11.99 (1 unlock), USD 16.99 (3), USD 28.99 (5) | US dollar web page; app memberships THB 279 to 399 in the Thai App Store | 30 days, 1 unlock | Readers who mix audio and e-books |
| Kobo | Audiobooks per title; Kobo Plus subscription | Per title, or Kobo Plus | Kobo Plus Listen USD 7.99; Read & Listen USD 9.99 | Audiobooks per title; Kobo Plus not offered | Kobo Plus: 14 days | Kobo e-reader owners |
| Apple Books | Books and audiobooks per title | Per title | Varies by title | Public domain books only | Not applicable | iPhone users in the US |
| Google Play Books | E-books and audiobooks per title, where Google sells them | Per title | Varies by title | E-books only; audiobooks not listed | Not applicable | Android users where audiobooks are sold |
| Libby | Library e-books and audiobooks | Free with a library card | Free | Free through TK Park’s free eMember | Always free | Free listening if your library has the book |
| LibriVox | Public domain audiobooks read by volunteers | Free | Free | Free online | Always free | Classics |
| TK Read (TK Park) | Thai e-books and audiobooks to borrow | Free with a TK Park eMember | Not applicable | Free; borrow 2, reserve 2 | Always free | Thai-language audiobooks at no cost |
| MEB | E-books per title, an audiobook store, and Buffet for reading | Per title, or Buffet | Not applicable | E-books THB 35 to 349 in the app; Buffet THB 299 for 30 days or THB 2,999 for 365 days | Not stated | Thai readers who want e-books and audiobooks in one store |
| Storytel | Full audiobooks and e-books | Subscription | Not covered here | Unlimited THB 199 a month (1 account); Family THB 349 a month (3 accounts); App Store items THB 219 (Unlimited) and THB 2,190 (one year) | Not covered here | A full-audiobook subscription in Thailand |
| BookBits | Audio summaries of nonfiction books, not full audiobooks | Subscription covering two accounts | Not applicable | THB 99 a month or THB 990 a year | 7 days, card required | The main ideas of many nonfiction books |
Audible: a very large catalog, with titles you keep
Audible sells two monthly memberships in the US, according to its plans page. Standard costs USD 8.99 and gives you one audiobook a month from the whole collection, yours for as long as you stay a member. Premium, at USD 14.95, gives you a monthly credit to spend on any audiobook, yours to keep even if you leave, and 150K+ audiobooks and podcasts at no extra cost; paid yearly, Premium is USD 149.50 for 12 credits. New members get 30 days free. Audible says its collection passes 1 million titles, every one a complete book you can download for offline listening.
From Thailand, there is no local store. A visitor from Thailand sees Audible US with prices in US dollars, because Audible.com serves every country without its own marketplace. Inside the Thai App Store version of the app, the plans on sale are American, British and Australian ones, for example “US Plus Monthly” at THB 249.
If you are already on Audible and want out, our page on alternatives to Audible sorts the options by your reason for leaving, including Chirp, which has no credits at all, and Libro.fm, whose credits never expire.
Spotify: if you already pay for Premium
In the US, Spotify folds audiobooks into its music plans. New Premium users get the first month of Premium Individual for USD 0, then pay USD 12.99 a month; the plan includes 15 hours of audiobook listening a month, drawn from more than 700,000 titles by Spotify’s count. On Duo (USD 18.99, two accounts) and Family (USD 21.99, up to six), only the plan manager gets the audiobook hours. The Student plan (USD 6.99) is not eligible for audiobook listening time, and unused hours expire at the end of each month.
Spotify audiobooks are not available in Thailand. Thailand is missing from Spotify’s list of audiobook markets, and its Thai support page says: “Audiobook listening time with Premium is currently not available in your region.” The Thai Premium plans cover music and podcasts.
So which is better, Audible or Spotify? Spotify makes sense for a few hours of listening a month on top of music you already pay for, in a country where it offers audiobooks. Audible makes more sense for long books, heavy listening and titles you want to keep.
Everand: audiobooks and e-books in one subscription
Everand works on unlocks. Each unlock opens one book, chosen from a library Everand puts at 1.5M+ books, and the plans give you 1 unlock a month for USD 11.99 (Standard), 3 for USD 16.99 (Plus) or 5 for USD 28.99 (Deluxe). More than 20k audiobooks, e-books and podcasts open without spending an unlock. New members get 30 days free with one unlock included, and the library works offline.
A visitor from Thailand gets the same page in US dollars; on the Thai App Store, the app lists membership items between THB 279 and THB 399.
Kobo: buy per title, or Kobo Plus where it is offered
Kobo is two things: a store that sells audiobooks one at a time, and Kobo Plus, a subscription. In the US, Kobo Plus Listen costs USD 7.99 a month, Read costs USD 7.99 and Read & Listen USD 9.99, with a 14-day free trial; Kobo describes the catalog as “millions of eBooks and audiobooks”.
Kobo runs a Thailand store with audiobook categories and says audiobooks are available to customers living in Thailand. Kobo Plus is not offered there, so Thai listeners buy per title.
Apple Books and Google Play Books: pay per book
In the US, Apple Books sells books and audiobooks per title, which suits someone who buys a few audiobooks a year and already uses an iPhone. In Thailand, Apple lists Apple Books with “public domain books only”.
Google Play Books also sells per title where it offers audiobooks, but its country list includes Thailand for e-books only, not for audiobooks.
Free audiobook apps
Is there a totally free audiobook app? Yes, if you accept the limits of a library or of old books.
- Libby. The Libby app lends e-books and audiobooks from a public library. All you need is a library card; there is nothing to subscribe to or buy in the app, and loans download for offline listening. Your library decides which titles it carries and how lending works.
- LibriVox. The LibriVox catalog counts 21,815 works in 49 languages, all public domain books recorded by volunteers. Everything is free, and everything is old enough to be out of copyright.
- TK Read and Libby in Thailand. TK Park, the public library in Bangkok’s CentralWorld, offers a free eMember with lifetime benefits. Anyone aged 7 or older with a Thai ID card can register online, and people with a non-Thai ID card can apply as well. The membership opens two apps: Libby by OverDrive, and TK Park’s own TK Read, which allows 2 loans and 2 reservations at once. TK Read’s audiobook shelf includes Thai-language editions of nonfiction bestsellers from SE-ED, such as Atomic Habits and Rich Dad Poor Dad. Titles show a borrow or a reserve button, so a popular book can mean waiting your turn.
Audiobook apps in Thailand
Thailand is a good example of why a US list misleads. Here is what works and what does not, in one place.
- MEB. The Thai e-book store run by MEB Corporation has a หนังสือเสียง (audiobook) store with free, recommended, new and bestselling lists. E-books are bought per title, at THB 35 to 349 in the app, and read offline after download. MEB Buffet offers unlimited reading of participating books during the membership, at THB 299 for 30 days or THB 2,999 for 365 days, and MEB says 46,826 books take part.
- TK Read and Libby. Free through TK Park, as described above.
- Kobo, Audible and Everand. Kobo sells audiobooks per title, Audible works through its US store in US dollars, and Everand sells memberships in its app.
- Ookbee. Ookbee’s Buffet page says sales of its Buffet Basic and Buffet Premium plans have been suspended “temporarily” since October 31, 2023. Existing members could read until their membership expired, and renewals are not possible until a new announcement. The Ookbee app lists in-app book prices from THB 35 to THB 299.
- Storytel. An audiobook and e-book subscription available in Thailand. On its Thai website, Unlimited costs THB 199 a month for one account and Family THB 349 a month for three accounts. In the Thai App Store, it sells an Unlimited item at THB 219 and a one-year Unlimited item at THB 2,190. Storytel says it offers more than 500,000 books in 16 languages, as audiobooks and e-books. Its iOS app lists 18 interface languages, and Thai is not one of them.
- Not available in Thailand. Spotify audiobooks, and audiobooks from Apple Books and Google Play.
When a summary app is better, and when an audiobook is
A full audiobook and a summary do different jobs, and the honest answer depends on the book and on why you are listening.
| Choose the full audiobook when | Choose a summary when |
|---|---|
| The book is a novel or a memoir | The book is nonfiction and you want its main ideas |
| You love the narrator’s performance | You want to sample many books before committing to one |
| You want every story, example and step of the argument | You want to know whether a book deserves 10 or more hours |
| You plan to spend days with one book | You finished a book and want to refresh its ideas |
BookBits sits on the right side of that table. In the words of our Pricing page, these are “summaries of nonfiction books, not recordings of the complete original books.” We cover 5,000+ titles in 15-minute audio summaries, in English and Thai, written in our own words through an AI-augmented process and narrated with AI voices. One subscription, at THB 99 a month or THB 990 a year, gives you two accounts, each with its own library, and starts with a 7-day free trial that needs a card. You can hear previews on the website without an account; full listening requires the iOS or Android app.
A practical way to combine the two: hear the summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear, on how small daily changes compound, and if you want every example, borrow the full audiobook (TK Read lists a Thai-language edition) or buy it. Deep Work by Cal Newport, on protecting deep concentration, is another book whose main ideas carry most of the value. You will find Atomic Habits under the Master Your Habits goal and Deep Work under Improve Focus and Get More Done, with more in our lists of books like Atomic Habits and the best productivity books.
To compare summary apps with each other, see book summary apps compared and free book summaries; for how ours works, see the BookBits book summary app. If you wonder whether listening counts as reading at all, we looked at the studies in audiobooks vs reading vs book summaries.
Quick answers
What’s better, Audible or Spotify?
Spotify, if you already pay for Premium, live in a country where it includes audiobooks and listen up to 15 hours a month. Audible, if you listen more, want long books or want to keep the titles you choose.
What is the best book listening app?
There is no single winner: it depends on your country, how many hours you listen and whether you want to own the books. The table at the top lays out the trade-offs.
Is there a totally free audiobook app?
Yes. Libby is free with a library card, LibriVox is free for public domain classics, and in Thailand TK Park’s free eMember gives you TK Read and Libby.
Is there a better app than Audible?
It depends on why Audible does not suit you: price, credits, Amazon or your country. Our page on alternatives to Audible matches an option to each reason.
Can I listen to audiobooks on Spotify in Thailand?
No. Spotify’s own support pages say audiobook listening time is not available in Thailand.
If you mostly listen to nonfiction for the ideas, try a free BookBits preview on any book page, no account needed, and see the plan on Pricing.
