8 Ways to Listen to Audiobooks Without a Subscription

If you are new to audiobooks or only listen occasionally, you might not want to commit to a monthly subscription.

Luckily, many major audiobook platforms let you purchase audiobooks without a membership plan.

If you have been searching for ways to listen to audiobooks without a subscription, you’re in the right place! This article reveals 8 clever ways to enjoy audiobooks without the strings of a subscription.

How to Listen to Audiobooks Without a Subscription

Here are 8 ways to get audiobooks without a membership plan

1. Buy Audiobooks from Amazon
2. Buy Audiobooks from Audible without a Subscription
3. Chirp Audiobooks
4. Purchase Audiobooks from Audiobooks.com
5. Libro.fm
6. Borrow Audiobooks from the Local Library
7. Join a Free Trial
8. Listen to Free Audiobooks

1. Buy Audiobooks from Amazon

You can purchase audiobooks from Amazon and listen to them on the Audible app without any subscription.

• Go to the Amazon website and sign in to your account
• Search for the audiobook from the top search bar [or choose a title from Amazon’s audiobook collection]
• Once you have selected an audiobook, select the Audiobook option on the book’s details page. You can listen to the sample of narration before buying the book. Amazon offers you to join Audible’s 30-day free trial and get the book for free.
  To purchase the title with cash, click on the Buy option

• Next, click on the Buy now with 1-Click option

• Next, select a payment method to make the purchase. You can add bank card details here if you do not have a card attached to your Amazon account. Click on Continue to proceed

• You have purchased the audiobook successfully

You can now listen to the audiobook on the Audible app or website. You can sign in to Audible using the same Amazon account you used to purchase the title.

2. Buy Audiobooks from Audible without a Subscription

You can purchase audiobooks from the Audible app or website without a subscription.

To buy an audiobook from Audible’s website

• Go to Audible’s website and sign in using your Amazon account. If you do not have an Amazon account you can create one for free
• Use the search bar to find the audiobook you are looking for. Alternatively, you can click on the Browse option from the top navigation bar to explore books from different categories.

• Click on the title from the search results. On the title’s details page, Audible offers you to start your 30-day free trial and get the audiobook for free. Click on the Buy for $XX.XX option to purchase the title with cash

• If you don’t have payment details on your account, you will be asked to Add a payment method to make the purchase

Once you have purchased the audiobook, you can either go to the Library section on Audible’s website to access your purchase or listen to it on Audible’s app on your smartphone.

To purchase an audiobook from the Audible app

• Open the Audible app on your phone and sign in to your Audible/ Amazon account
• Tap on the Discover option from the bottom navigation bar and search for the title you want to purchase from the top search bar

• Tap on the book title from search results. On the title details page, tap on the Buy for US$XX.XX option to purchase the book with cash

Follow the instructions to complete the purchase. The audiobook will be available in the Library section after the purchase.

3. Chirp Audiobooks

Chirp is one of my favorite platforms to get audiobooks at affordable prices, without any subscription or commitment.

You can create your free account on the Chirp audiobooks website or app, get daily personalized deals in your email, and save up to 95% on book purchases.

You can listen to Chirp audiobooks using their smartphone apps (iOS or Android), on your computer (web player), car, tablet or Alexa devices.

Here are a few important things to know about how Chirp audiobooks works

• All deals are limited-time so act fast to grab your favorite titles. Deals generally last for a few days. Book listings show a countdown for how much longer the deal will last.
• Deals are a mix of popular titles and ordinary audiobooks. For the best offers, select the categories you like (during the setup) so you receive the offers according to your preferred genres and categories.
• Most deals are under $5. Discount prices range from $2.99 to $4.99
• You can explore current deals from the All Deals section. You can also browse less than $1 deals, less than $3 deals, and less than $7 deals.

To get the most out of sales, put your favorite titles in the Wish List by tapping on the heart icon on the book listing. You will get notifications when your wish list titles go on sale.

Chirp is named the best budget app by Popular Science 

4. Purchase Audiobooks from Audiobooks.com

Audiobooks.com is one of the best audiobook platforms with an extensive collection of over 500,000 titles. The audiobook.com app has over 10 million downloads and offers 10,000+ audiobooks for free.

If you are looking for how to listen to audiobooks without a subscription, audiobooks.com is another platform that allows users to purchase audiobooks without a membership.

They also offer monthly discounts on select titles for non-members. You can also look forward to seasonal sales to grab top titles for major discounts.

The purchases outside a subscription are currently only available through the website.

5. Libro.fm

Libro fm is one my favorite audiobook platforms due to their support for local bookstores. You can create a free account on Libro fm and either sign up for their membership plan or buy audiobooks audiobooks à la carte.

Libro.fm stands out as one of the rare audiobook platforms offering DRM-free audiobooks.

This means you’re not limited to listening through the Libro.fm app or website—you can also download MP3 files and enjoy them on any MP3 player, giving you complete freedom with your audiobooks.

Purchasing audiobooks from Libro fm without a subscription is an easy process.

• Browse Libro.fm catalog to find the audiobook you want to purchase
• Select the Add to Cart option to purchase the book

• Next, go to your cart and select the Checkout option

Enter your bank card details to complete the purchase. You can listen to the narration sample or gift the audiobook to others on the title’s details page.

6. Borrow Audiobooks from the Local Library

You can borrow audiobooks, eBooks, and other digital content from your local library using your membership card.

Libby and Hoopla are two major apps supported by most libraries.

1. Libby by OverDrive

Libby is the most popular app to borrow audiobooks, eBooks, magazines and other digital content from your local library.

Libby is used by millions of users and is currently number 2 app in the Books category on the App Store and has over 10 million users on Android.

Libby is used by over 90% of public libraries in North America and can be found in 78 countries worldwide.

• Get started with Libby
• Libby for iOS
• Libby for Android

2. Hoopla Digital

You only need your local library’s membership card to borrow digital content from Hoopla Digital. It works pretty much the same as Libby.

One major benefit of Hoopla, over Libby, is that there is no wait. Users can get a certain number of instant borrows per month.

Hoopla offers audiobooks, eBooks, movies, TV shows and other digital content that you can access thorough the app on your smartphone, TV or computer.

• Get started with Hoopla
• Audiobooks on Hoopla
• Hoopla app for iOS | Android

You can check with your library what app they support.

Note: If you live outside the U.S., you can use BorrowBox app to get audiobooks from your library

7. Join a Free Trial

Some of the major audiobook platforms offer free trials. If you are occasional audiobook listener and want to know how to listen to audiobooks without subscription, joining a free trial could be a good option.

Here are 5 audiobooks platforms that offer free trials

• Audible: You can sign up for 30-day free trial on Audible. This allows you unlimited access to the Plus Catalog with 70,000+ titles. You also receive 1 credit and redeem it to get any audiobook you like. Audible also offers plenty of sales and offers to grab audiobooks at huge discounts. Amazon Prime members can start their trial with 2 free credits.
• Audiobooks.com: Sign up for Audiobooks.com free trial and get 1 free audiobook, 2 free audiobooks from the VIP selection and access to member exclusive benefits like 2-for-1 monthly sales.
• Spotify: Spotify offers a 30-day free trial of its Premium membership that comes with 15 hours of free audiobook listening time. Spotify is currently number 2 audiobook platform (behind Audible) and offers hundreds of thousands titles in its catalog.
• Everand: Evernand also offers free trial of its Standard and Plus plans. The Standard plan unlocks 1 audiobook from the premium selection while Plus plan users can unlock 3 titles. Both plans come with a select catalog of free audiobooks.
• Kobo: Kobo offers 30-day free trial where you get your first audiobook for free. You can go to Kobo Audiobooks and click on Start Free Trial option to sign up for free trial.

You can cancel free trials of above platforms anytime you want. This gives you a chance to listen to any audiobook for free without any subscription payment.

I recommend Audible and Kobo free trials as you get to keep the audiobooks that you get as part of free trial benefits, even after canceling the trial.

8. Listen to Free Audiobooks

Some of the top audiobook services offer free audiobooks to give you a taste of their offerings.

You can find some hidden gems in these free catalogs and do not need any subscription or commitment to access them.

• Audible’s Free Listen section: Audible offers hundreds of free titles from different categories in its Free Listen section. The free catalog includes new releases, bestselling novels and celebrity memoirs.
• Chirp’s Free Audiobooks: Chirp offers a list of free audiobooks that you can access without any payment or commitment. The audiobooks are handpicked by Chirp editors and include titles from all categories.
• Audiobooks.com’s Free Books: Audiobooks.com offers 10,000+ audiobooks for free that you can access without any subscription or trial.

If you are interested in classic titles and public domain books in audio format, here are some of the best websites to get them for free.

• LibriVox: Over 45000 public domain audiobooks. You can find some classic bestsellers and out of print treasures in over 30 languages.
• Digital Book: Digital Book offers public domain audiobooks and eBooks in 12 languages. You can explore audiobooks from different genre or languages and browse trending and popular titles.
• Open Culture: Open Culture is not strictly an audiobook website, but it offers around 1000 free audiobooks.

You can also get free audiobooks from Project Gutenberg, Free Classic Audiobooks, and Learn Out Loud.