Audible Pause vs Cancel: Which Option Is Better for You?

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Audible makes it easy to pause or cancel your subscription. While the pause option is useful if you want to take a break from Audible payments or want to catch up with unfinished titles, canceling your membership may be a better option in certain situations.

You can pause or cancel your Audible membership from Account Name > Account Details > Membership Details on Audible’s website.

Before showing you how to pause or cancel Audible membership, let’s discuss some of the pros and cons of both options to see which option makes more sense in your situation.

Pause Vs Cancel – Which Option to Choose?

This section will help you with your decision to pause or cancel your Audible membership.

5 Things to Know Before Canceling Audible Membership

You can use Audible without a subscription. It is also possible to purchase individual audiobooks, and listen to all your purchased titles after canceling your membership.

Other important things to know include.

1. You can cancel and reactivate your Audible membership as many times as you want without any restrictions.
2. If you cancel your Audible subscription, any unused credits will be lost. It’s important to use them first. If you need more time to decide or want to wait for a sale, consider pausing your membership instead. Pausing gives you up to 90 extra days to use your remaining credits.
3. You can pre-order audiobooks using credits and books will be delivered to your account on the release date, irrespective of your membership status. This is a useful option if you are waiting for the next book in a series or your favorite author is releasing a title soon and it is available for pre-order.
4. Audible allows you to exchange any title that you do not like. To use this feature, you need an active Audible membership. Return any title you did not like and get your credit back to purchase another title before cancelling your membership.
5. If you have decided to cancel because you think Audible is expensive, you can check out several other ways to save money on Audible. Pausing your account gives you a 3-month break from the monthly membership fee. It is also possible to downgrade your membership plan and pay less.

You can go to Account Name > Account Details > Membership Details and click on Switch Membership to change your membership plan

You can cancel and rejoin Audible anytime, as often as you like.

5 Things to Know Before Pausing Your Audible Membership

Members can put their Audible membership on hold to take a break from monthly payments without canceling the membership.

You are eligible to pause Audible membership after 30 days of paid membership.

1. You can pause Audible membership for up to 3 months (90 days) once every 12 months. The 12-month period starts once your membership is resumed again. This means you can pause again after 15 months at most.
2. Audible members billed through Apple’s App Store or Google’s Play Store are not eligible to pause their memberships.
3. Pausing membership will pause your monthly payments and membership benefits. You can not access the Plus Catalog or get your monthly membership credits during the pause period.
4. The existing credits can still be used and you can also buy credit bundles and participate in 2-for-1 sales.
5. You can resume (unpause) or cancel your membership anytime during the pause period or It will auto-resume after 90 days for your monthly membership payments.

The Pause option is also not available for annual membership plans.

Pause or Cancel? My Recommendation

Audible has no issue with how many times you cancel and rejoin Audible. That being said, putting your account on hold through the pause option can be a better option in some situations.

Pause Makes More Sense When

• You have accumulated lots of credits and need some time to use them before getting more credits
• You want to take a break from audiobooks but do not want to cancel your subscription
• You have plenty of unfinished titles in your account’s library and need to catch up.
• You want to cancel the membership but are not sure how to use the existing credits. Pausing will give you 90 extra days to think and use your credits and get advantage of any sales or offers during this period.

Canceling an Audible Membership is a Better Option When

• You tried Audible’s free trial and do not think it is for you. You want to cancel to avoid future monthly payments.
• You are not eligible to pause your membership and want to take a break from monthly payments. This could be because you need to finish the unlistened titles or have a bunch of credits saved up.
• You just want to take a break from audiobooks and are not sure when you will be back again.
• You want to try other Audible alternatives or get free audiobooks from your local library via Libby or hoopla.

I would suggest giving the pause option a try, even if you want to cancel your membership. This will give you enough time to use up the existing credits and catch up with your unfinished titles. You can cancel anytime during the pause period.

How to Pause or Cancel Audible – A Complete Guide

To pause or cancel Audible membership, follow the instructions below.

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

• The first option on the side menu is Membership Details. This section has your current membership plan details and gives you the options to Switch Membership, Pause Membership, or Cancel Membership.

If you click on the Pause Membership option, you will be asked to confirm to pause your membership. Once you click on Continue, the membership will be paused.

If you want to cancel, click on Cancel Membership and Audible will guide you through the process.

Like any other subscription service, Audible does not want you to leave. If you choose it’s too expensive as the reason for cancelation, Audible generally offers you to stay for a discounted membership price for a few months.

You may get an offer of 50% discount on your membership fee for next 3 months.

You can take the offer by clicking on Switch Membership or continue the canceling process by clicking on Cancel Membership.

You can also cancel Audible membership through Audible app on your Android devices

• Open Audible app and and tap on the Profile option from the bottom navigation bar
• Tap on the Manage option

• Next, tap on Cancel/ Pause Membership from options

• Tap on Cancel/ Pause Membership from here

Follow the on-screen instructions to pause or cancel your membership.

Note: If you are subscribed to Audible’s annual membership plan, you only get the option to cancel your membership.

I hope you have a clear idea of how to pause Audible membership or cancel your subscription and which one of these features is suitable in your situation.