12 Tips to Save Money on Audible

What’s better than audiobooks? getting audiobooks cheaper through sales, offers, and deals.

One of the common complaints about Audible is that its membership plans are expensive as compared to other audiobook services.

Wondering how to save money on Audible? Here are 12 tips to help you pay less for Audible membership and audiobook purchases.

1. Subscribe to The RIGHT Membership Plan
2. Use Credits Effectively
3. Get Most Out of The Sales & Deals
4. Sign Up for Sales Notifications
5. Use the Wish List Feature
6. Check Whispersync Deals
7. Use Family Library Sharing
8. Get Free Audiobooks on Kindle Unlimited
9. Return an Audiobook You Do Not Like
10. Pause Membership to Take a Break from Payments
11. Pretend to Cancel Your Membership
12. Check Other Options

1: Subscribe to The RIGHT Membership Plan

Audible allows you to purchase audiobooks without a membership. But if you listen to audiobooks regularly, it is recommended to subscribe to one of the Audible membership plans.

Audible subscription comes with unlimited access to the Plus Catalog which contains over 70,000 audiobooks. Members get monthly credits to purchase audiobooks and access to plenty of sales, deals, and offers.

Premium Plus members also enjoy a 30% discount on any audiobook purchase with cash.

It is very important to go for the ‘right’ membership plan. If you are an avid audiobook listener, I will recommend either going for the Audible Premium Plus – 2 Credits plan or the Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 Credits plan.

These two plans get you credits for less as compared to other plans.

Membership Plans	Price	Credits	$/ Credit
Audible Plus	$ 7.95/ Month	–	–
Audible Premium Plus – 1 Credit	$ 14.95/ Month	1	$ 14.95
Audible Premium Plus – 2 Credits	$ 22.95/ Month	2	$ 11.48
Audible Premium Plus Annual – 12 Credits	$ 149.50/ Year	12	$ 12.46
Audible Premium Plus Annual – 24 Credits	$ 229.50/ Year	24	$ 9.56

Annual membership plans give you 12/24 credits in one go. This enables you to get the most out of the sales throughout the year.

You can fill up your Wish List for all the titles you want to purchase and get them in 2-for-1 and 3-for-2 deals.

Audible also slashes its membership prices several times a year. They offered a 60% discount for the first 4 months bringing down the Audible Premium Plus Plan to $5.95/month in their holiday deal offer in November/ December 2023.

At the time of writing this article, Audible is running an offer to join Audible for just $ 0.99/ month for first 3 months.

Have a look at all Audible membership plans and decide according to your needs and listening habits. It is also possible to switch (downgrade or upgrade) your Audible membership plan.

2: Use Credits Effectively

If you use your credits wisely, you will never spend more than $10-$12 on any audiobook, irrespective of its price.

Here are some of the tips to get the most out of Audible credits.

• Use credits to purchase only the titles that cost more than a credit’s price. If an audiobook is available for $7, it is better to buy it through cash. I recently bought The Psychology of Money (one of the books in my wish list) for $5.99 through a discounted offer. The regular price of the book is $15.49.

• Keep some credits for 2-for-1 and 3-for-2 deals. You can get 2 audiobooks using 1 credit which means one audiobook costs you around $5.
• If you are running out of the credits, buy Extra Credits to use on credit sales and audiobook purchases.
• Audible regularly offers credits on discounts to its members. Avail these offers to stock up on credits.

The average price of an extra credit is anywhere between $10 to $12, depending on your subscription plan. Save credits for expensive titles and credit deals.

Related Article: Buy books on Audible without credits

3: Get Most Out of The Sales & Deals

Audible regularly offers sales, deals, and offers to its members, giving you a chance to stock up on your favorite titles for reduced prices.

Related Article: Get the most out of Audible sales

Audible’s Deals page lists all sales, deals and offers in one place.

Here are some of the members’ favorite offers.

• Daily Deal: Audible offers a new title every day at a huge discount. These titles are handpicked by editors who have listened to and loved them. You can find interesting gems including popular titles and bestsellers in Daily Deals.
• 2-for-1 Sale: Members regularly get 2-for-1 offers where you can get two audiobooks using 1 credit. When you pick one title, Audible asks you to pick one more title for free. You get both titles for 1 credit at checkout. You can check if there is currently a 2-for-1 sale. Members also occasionally get 3-for-2 sales. I recently purchased A Woman Makes a Plan and 100 side Hustles through a 2-for-1 deal. They cost more than $ 31.50, if purchased on regular price.

• Amazon Whispersync Deals: When you get a Kindle eBook on Amazon, you are usually offered to get the audiobook version for a discounted price. [More on this later].
• Everyday Deals: Audible always has a selection of audiobooks that members can purchase at a discounted price. The list includes titles from different genres. You can get the latest offers on Audible’s Deal page.
• Sitewide Sales: These sales are rare and usually happen once a year. Members get a discount on every single audiobook (up to 85% discount).

These sales give you a chance to fill up your account’s library with your favorite titles. Visit Audible’s Deals page regularly to keep an eye on all offers.

4: Sign Up for Sales Notifications

Make sure you never miss an offer by signing up for sales notifications emails. Audible sends you all deals in your email regularly.

To sign up for email notifications

• Go to Audible’s website and sign in to your account
• Click on Account Name > Account Details
• Click on Notifications from the options

Check the box for Daily Deals to get notification emails for each day’s new Daily Deal.

Tip: Text ‘Update’ to 500500 to receive regular sales notifications via text messages on your phone.

5: Use the Wish List Feature

One of my favorite Audible features and another way to keep updated on sales. If a title catches your interest, add it to your account’s Wish List. Audible notifies you when the titles in your Wish List go on sale.

This feature allows you to keep track of what audiobooks you want to listen to in future and helps you get those titles for a discounted price.

To add a title to your account’s wish List

On the Audible App > tap on Add to Wish List on your iPhone

or tap on More Options > Add to Wish List on Android.

On the Audible Desktop site, either add a title to the Wish List directly from search results

or the book details page by clicking on More Options > Add to Wish List

On Audible’s Mobile Site, tap on Add to Wish List on the title’s details page.

Fill your Wish List with all the books you want to listen to in the future and grab them when they are available at a discounted price.

6: Check Whispersync Deals

If you purchase an eBook on Amazon (for Kindle), you often get an offer to add the Audible narration for a significantly reduced price.

This deal gets you the same audiobook as you buy on Audible.

You can sometimes get both an eBook and an audiobook for less than the audiobook’s price on Audible.

This gives you the benefit of seamlessly going back and forth between reading the Kindle version and listening to the Audible version.

I always recommend first checking Amazon for the Whispersync deal if you want to purchase an audiobook.

• You can check the whispersync deals for the eBooks you already own through Audible Matchmaker.
• If a book listing features a headphone logo, it means it’s whispersync ready and has both eBook and audiobook versions available.

• Amazon has over 500,000 Whispersync for Voice ready titles from all genres. They are adding more titles and the library is growing fast.
• If you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, you can borrow an eBook and purchase its discounted audiobook version through whispersync deal.
• You do not need Audible subscription to get the whispersync deals.

You can listen and read the whispersync titles at the same time to enjoy the benefits of immersion reading.

• Whispersync for Voice
• Switch between reading and listening with Audible books

I have shared a step-by-step guide to buy Audible books from Amazon that you can check out for more.

7: Use Family Library Sharing

The Amazon Household feature allows you to share your Audible content, eBooks, apps, games, and Amazon Prime membership benefits with other family members.

This means if one family member has an Audible membership, they can share their purchased titles with other family members for free, even if they do not have an Audible subscription.

Amazon Household can have

• Up to 2 Adults (18 years and over)
• Up to 4 Teens (13 – 17 years)
• Up to 4 Children

Know more about Amazon Household and Family Library Sharing from the following articles.

• Amazon Household
• Setup Amazon Household
• Manage Family Library Sharing

The Transfer Audible books to other account article has a step by step guide (in Method 1) to show you how to share Audible and other content through Amazon Household sharing.

8: Get Free Audiobooks with Kindle Unlimited

Kindle Unlimited is a library of over 3 million eBooks. You can purchase the KU subscription at $11.99 and borrow as many eBooks and audiobooks without paying for them.

You can only borrow books through Kindle Unlimited so they remain in your account as long as you have an active subscription.

Here are a few important things to know about Kindle Unlimited.

• While Kindle Unlimited is primarily a digital library for eBooks, it has more than 5000 Audible books (audiobooks) that you can borrow without paying for them.
• You can borrow 20 books at a time. When you try to download more titles, Amazon prompts you to return one of the titles in your library.
• Kindle Unlimited gives you access to thousands of Audible books with new ones added every month so you do not run out of audiobooks.
• Audible books on Kindle Unlimited feature a headphone symbol and a ‘Read and Listen for Free’ button. Clicking on the button will add the audiobook to your Audible library

You also have the option to buy additional tens of thousands of audiobooks at a huge discount when you borrow eBooks on Kindle Unlimited, as explained in the above Whispersync deals section.

Kindle Unlimited offers a 30-day free trial to get you started.

9: Return an Audiobook You Do Not Like

Audible makes it easy to return titles that you do not like. This gives you a chance to try new authors, genres, and narrators.

Do not worry if you do not like a book or purchased one with an error, you can always return it and get your credit refund to purchase another title. It is an easy way to exchange a book on Audible that you did not enjoy.

To return a title

• You must have an active Audible subscription
• Titles can be returned within 365 days of purchase
• You can only return titles purchased through Audible credits

To return a title on Audible’s desktop website

• Go to the Audible site and sign in to your account
• Click on Account Name > Account Details

• Click on Purchase History
• Find the title you want to return and click on Return this title

After confirming the return, 1 credit will be added to your account.

To return a title on Audible’s mobile website

• Go to Audible’s mobile site on your mobile device and sign in to your account
• Tap on your Account Name
• Under your account, tap on Purchase History

• Tap on the title that you want to return and tap the Return this title option on the next screen

This will return the title and you will get back the credit to use it again. You cannot return a title that you purchased without a credit (through cash).

Audible can limit the number of returns or revoke return privileges if you abuse the return feature.

10: Pause Membership to Take a Break from Payments

If you have plenty of unfinished audiobooks in your library, it is better to take a break and finish them first. Audible allows members to pause their membership for up to 90 days every 12 months.

It is a great way to take a break from membership payments without cancelling your membership.

During a pause

• You do not pay the monthly subscription payments
• You can use the existing credits
• No access to Plus Catalog and monthly membership credits
• You still have access to the sales and enjoy members exclusive discounts
• You can purchase credit bundles and participate in 2-for-1 deals

You can pause your Audible membership on Audible’s desktop website. Click on your Account Name > Account Details and you will have the Membership Details section where you can click on the Pause Membership option.

You can resume your Audible membership at any time in your account’s Membership Details section. The membership will auto-resume for regular monthly payments after the pause period ends.

This is the best way to save money on Audible membership payments for 3 months.

11: Pretend to Cancel Your Membership

You can cancel your membership and rejoin Audible as many times as you want. Audible (like any other subscription service) does not want you to leave. So, they offer you a discounted membership if you decide to leave.

Warning: Use your credits before trying to cancel the membership. If you end up cancelling your membership, you will lose any unused Audible credits.

If you are looking for how to pay less for Audible membership, this trick may help you. If you do not succeed, there is nothing to lose.

To cancel your Audible membership, go to Audible’s desktop site and click on Account Name > Account Details.

In the Membership Details section, click on the Cancel Membership option.

Audible will ask you the reason of cancelling. Select the ‘it’s too expensive’ option and click on Continue Canceling

Audible will offer you some kind of deal to keep you as a customer. This could be something like the below example where Audible offers a 50% discount ($7.49 instead of $14.95) for the next 3 months to stay.

You can pull this move at least once every year. Do not worry, even if you do not get the discounted offer and end up cancelling your account, you can always rejoin Audible.

Audible has no restriction on how many times you can cancel and rejoin the membership.

12: Check Other Options

When you are exploring different methods to save money on your audiobooks, it is no brainer to check other options beside Audible.

This includes looking at Audible alternatives and free audiobook options.

If you have your local library membership, you can use apps like Libby and Hoopla to get free audiobooks, eBooks and other content from your library.

Chirp offers audiobook deals without a subscription. You can sign up for a free account and whenever see a good audiobook sale you can buy it. The process is as simple as that.

Chirp’s audiobook collection is not as extensive as Audible but has more than 200,000 titles. You can listen to Chirp purchases on their free app.

Audiobooks are expensive as compared to eBooks and physical books. This is because they cost more to produce.

If you are looking for how to save money on Audible membership and audiobook purchases, the above tips will help you save and pay less for Audible purchases.