Audible plans and pricing
Two plans, one price gap, and one question that decides between them. Prices below were read off Audible's own pricing block on the date shown.
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New customers only. 30 days free, then it renews automatically at the monthly rate shown at signup unless you cancel first. Terms verified 17 September 2026.
#ad · The link goes straight to Audible's own free-trial signup page, and we are paid a flat fee if you start a qualifying trial there. It costs you nothing extra and it does not change what we conclude on this page. Full disclosure.
Audible lists two membership prices: Audible Standard at $8.99 and Audible Premium Plus at $14.95. Both carry a 30 days free trial for new members. Those figures came off Audible's own pricing block on the date stamped below, not from a review site.
Audible Premium Plus: what we could verify
Verified 17 September 2026
| Cost per month | $14.95 |
|---|---|
| Free trial | 30 days |
| Who can take it | New members only. Audible's own wording is that each plan offers a 30-day free trial to new members, and that eligible new members can sign up for a free trial anytime. Audible's help center adds one published window, read 24 August 2026: you will not be eligible for a free 30-day trial if you have already taken advantage of it within the last 12 months. That states an exclusion rather than a promise, so treat twelve months as the earliest point worth checking again. |
| Current promotion | Prime members only, re-read on Audible's own site on 27 September 2026: Audible Standard at $0.99 a month for 4 months plus a $20 Audible credit, auto-renewing at $8.99 a month afterwards, offer ends October 7, 2026 at 11:59PM PT. The $20 credit was added to Audible's own banner between our 17 September and 27 September reads; the rate, the renewal rate and the end date are unchanged. This is a discounted paid membership from day one, not a longer free trial, and Audible's page does not say whether taking it uses up new-member trial eligibility. The standard 30-day free trial was still offered beside it. |
Checked against Audible's own membership pricing block on 17 September 2026. How we check these.
What we could not confirm
- Whether either annual plan carries the 30-day free trial. The two monthly rows on Audible's Plans & Pricing page say 'Try for $0.00' and name the trial; the two annual rows say only 'Auto-renews at ... Cancel anytime.' Audible does not state either way, so neither do we.
- The size of the listening catalog. Catalog counts are marketing figures that change constantly and we could not confirm one against a dated source.
What the price gap buys
The monthly difference between the two plans is what a credit costs you. Everything else people mention — the app, the catalog access, the listening experience — is common to both. So the decision reduces to a single question: will you spend a credit every month on an audiobook you would otherwise have paid for?
- Yes, on expensive titles. The credit plan is very likely the better buy, because a credit is worth the full price of whatever you spend it on.
- Yes, but on cheap titles. Check the arithmetic. A credit spent on something that costs less than your monthly fee is a loss.
- Not reliably. Take the cheaper plan. An unused credit is money committed to a purchase you did not make.
Do the arithmetic
How many books a month does Audible Premium Plus have to save you?
Change any number to match your own habits. Everything below is computed from what you enter — there is no hidden assumption, and the sum is simple enough to check on the back of an envelope.
$14.95 ÷ $15.00 = 1.0 audiobooks a month — that is the point where the subscription stops costing you money and starts saving it.
At 1 a month you would spend $180.00 a year buying them outright, against $179.40 a year subscribing. The subscription is $0.60 cheaper over a year.
Both of those figures are beaten by zero, which is what your public library charges. If the titles you want are available through your library's app, that is the cheapest answer available and no subscription competes with it on price.
A note on prices you find elsewhere
Audible's plan lineup and naming have changed, and a lot of articles ranking for this question were written against an older version. If you see a page quoting a plan name or a figure that does not match what Audible shows you, the page is probably stale rather than lying. This is exactly why we print the date we checked next to every number on this site — a price without a date is not information, it is a rumor. Our verification method sets out how often we recheck.
Advertising disclosure · we are paid for this
We get a flat fee if you start a qualifying trial through this link. It costs you nothing extra, it does not change what we conclude on this page, and the full disclosure is here.
Start a free trial and see your own price
Any current promotion appears in the signup flow rather than on the standing pricing block, so it is worth looking even if the standard rate is what you expected.
New customers only. 30 days free, then it renews automatically at the monthly rate shown at signup unless you cancel first. Terms verified 17 September 2026.
#ad · The button goes straight to Audible's own free-trial signup page. The offer you see there is whatever Audible is running at the moment you click, which is why we send you to look rather than printing a number that could be out of date. What we checked, and when, is on how we research.
Common questions
How much does Audible cost per month?
Is there a cheaper Audible plan?
Does Audible cost less with Amazon Prime?
Can I change Audible plans later?
Sources
Everything on this page that states a program term was checked against these pages on the review date above.
Advertising disclosure · we are paid for this
Ready to start a free Audible trial?
New customers only. 30 days free, then it renews automatically at the monthly rate shown at signup unless you cancel first. Terms verified 17 September 2026.
#ad · The link goes straight to Audible's own free-trial signup page, and we are paid a flat fee if you start a qualifying trial there. It costs you nothing extra and it does not change what we conclude on this page. Full disclosure.
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