14 Best Audiobook Apps in 2027: Free, Paid, and for Your Own Files

The best free audiobook app is Libby, which unlocks your public library at no cost. For the biggest catalog, Audible leads. To actually own your audiobooks, Libro.fm sells DRM-free files and supports indie bookstores. Already have audiobook files? A dedicated player like Smart AudioBook Player or Bound beats them all.

I listen to a lot of audiobooks. On walks, in the car, doing dishes. Over the years I have tried nearly every app out there, and learned one thing: there is no single best audiobook app. There is only the best one for how you listen and pay.

So instead of ranking apps one to fourteen, I have sorted them by what you actually want to do. Listen for free, get the biggest catalog, own your files, listen without limits, or play audiobooks you already have. Find your situation below and jump straight to it.

Best Audiobook Apps at a Glance

Prices change often, so treat these as a guide and confirm before you subscribe.

App	Best for	Model	Cost	Own the files?
Libby	Free library audiobooks	Borrow	Free with library card	No
Hoopla	Free, no wait times	Borrow	Free with library card	No
LibriVox	Free public domain classics	Free	Free	Yes
Audible	The biggest catalog	Credits	$8.99 to $14.95/mo	Premium Plus only
Libro.fm	Owning files, supporting indie	Credits	$14.99/mo	Yes, DRM free
Chirp	Cheap deals, no subscription	Buy	Pay per book	Yes
Apple Books	iPhone users, frequent sales	Buy	Yes	Yes
Everand	Ebooks and audiobooks together	Unlock	$11.99/mo	No
Spotify	Listeners who already pay for it	Perk	In Premium	No
Smart AudioBook Player	Playing your own files (Android)	Player	Free, paid upgrade	Your files
Bound	Playing your own files (iPhone)	Player	Free	Your files

How Audiobook Apps Actually Work

Before the picks, it helps to understand the five models, because this is where most people overpay or get confused. Each app fits one of these.

Borrowing apps like Libby and Hoopla are free, but you return the book, just like a library. Credit subscriptions like Audible and Libro.fm give you one book a month for a flat fee. À la carte stores like Chirp and Apple Books sell books one at a time.

Unlimited and unlock services like Everand give you a set number of titles a month for one price. Finally, player apps like Smart AudioBook Player hold no store at all. They simply play audiobook files you already own, often better than the big apps do.

Knowing which model you want is half the decision. The other half is whether you care about keeping your books forever, which we will come back to. If you are new to the service, our full guide on how does Audible work explains credits, plans, and what you keep if you cancel.

Best Free Audiobook Apps

Let’s start with the question I see most: is there a genuinely free audiobook app with good books? Yes, and most people are shocked how good the free options are. You may never need to pay at all.

Libby

If you take one thing from this guide, get a library card and download Libby. It connects your card to your local library’s entire digital collection of audiobooks, completely free. In the Reddit threads I read, Libby was the single most recommended app by a wide margin, and I agree.

You borrow, you listen, you return, all in a beautifully designed app with adjustable speed and a sleep timer. The only catch is wait times for popular titles.

Here is the insider trick serious listeners use: add more than one library card. Libby lets you hold several cards at once, and some big city libraries offer a non-resident card for a small annual fee, which hugely expands your selection. Keep a long hold list and books roll in steadily.

Hoopla

Hoopla is Libby’s perfect partner, and also free with your library card. The big difference is that Hoopla has no wait times at all. Any title can be borrowed instantly, with just a monthly checkout limit set by your library. It also carries movies, TV, and comics.

My approach is simple: use Libby as the main app, and check Hoopla whenever a book I want has a long Libby wait. Between the two, I rarely run out.

LibriVox

LibriVox is different: it offers thousands of public domain classics, read by volunteers, completely free to download and keep. The narration is amateur, so quality varies, but for the great classics it is unbeatable value. If your taste runs to timeless books, you may never pay a cent.

Best Audiobook Subscription: Audible and the Credit Model

Audible is the giant, with the largest catalog going, over a million titles, plus exclusive Originals you will not find anywhere else. It is also the app people complain about most, usually about price, so let me explain how it actually works.

As of 2026, Audible has two main plans. Standard is $8.99 a month for one audiobook, but you lose access to that book if you cancel. Premium Plus is $14.95 a month for one credit, and books you buy with credits are yours to keep even after you cancel.

Not sure if Prime covers it? We break down whether Audible is free with Prime and exactly what you get at no extra cost.

That difference matters. I recommend Premium Plus over Standard, because you are building a permanent library rather than renting. Premium Plus also includes the Plus Catalog, thousands of titles you can stream free as a member, which many listeners overlook.

Audible’s real downsides are honest to name. It is owned by Amazon, the files are locked with DRM, and at full price it is not cheap. But for catalog size, exclusives, and Whispersync for Voice, which syncs with your Kindle ebook, nothing matches it.

A money saving tip from avid listeners: watch for the annual plan (around $149.50 for 12 credits) and frequent promotions, which drop the cost per book considerably.

Best for Owning Your Audiobooks

Here is something Audible will not tell you. With its credits you buy a license, not a file, and it stays locked inside Audible’s apps. If keeping your books truly matters, these services sell audiobooks you actually own.

Libro.fm

Libro.fm is the one I quietly cheer for, and it keeps coming up in reader discussions as the ethical choice. It costs about the same as Audible, $14.99 a month for one credit, but with two beautiful differences.

First, every audiobook is a DRM-free file you download and keep forever, playable on any device, even if you cancel or the company disappears. Second, a share of every purchase goes to an independent bookstore you choose. Your credits never expire, and new members often get a first month for under a dollar.

You give up Audible’s exclusives, but for ownership and supporting real bookshops instead of Amazon, many listeners happily make the switch.

Chirp and Apple Books

Two more ways to own without a subscription. Chirp sells audiobooks one at a time with no membership, and its daily deals can be as low as a dollar or two, which is perfect if you only listen now and then. The selection is less predictable, but the prices are hard to beat.

Apple Books is the easy pick for iPhone owners. It runs frequent sales with audiobooks under five dollars, carries free classics, and the books are yours to keep. It is already on your phone, which makes it the simplest paid option for Apple users.

Best for Unlimited Listening

If you devour books and credit plans feel stingy, these services let you listen to more for one flat price. Just know the fine print has shifted recently.

Everand

Everand, formerly Scribd, bundles audiobooks, ebooks, magazines, and podcasts into one subscription. Be aware of a big 2026 change: Everand ended its old truly unlimited model. Today its Standard plan is about $11.99 a month for one title, and its Plus plan about $16.99 for three, from a large catalog.

It is still great value if you like switching between reading and listening, with a 7-day free trial. For the reading half of that habit, our roundup of the best book reader apps covers where to read ebooks. The main complaints are a limited selection for specific new releases, and some AI narrated titles creeping in.

Storytel, BookBeat, and Kobo Plus

A few more unlimited style services worth knowing, especially outside the US. Storytel and BookBeat offer large catalogs for a flat monthly fee, with BookBeat using tiers based on listening hours. Both are strong in Europe but can be geo-locked by country, so your selection depends on where you live.

Kobo Plus Listen offers an unlimited audio tier for around $9.99 a month, and ties neatly into Kobo e-readers. These rarely appear on other lists, but they are real options if unlimited listening is your goal.

Best Audiobook Player Apps (For Your Own Files)

Here is the gap almost every other guide misses completely. If you already have audiobook files, from a CD you ripped, a DRM-free purchase, or a book you own, you do not need a store at all. You need a player, and the dedicated ones are better than Audible’s app at the actual listening.

Smart AudioBook Player (Android)

In every audiobook forum I read, this was the app Android users praised most, and often the only app they had ever paid for. Smart AudioBook Player plays your own files with far more control than the big services.

Listeners rave about its features: a sleep timer that fades the volume slowly, playback speed in tiny increments, an equalizer, bookmarks, a character list, and headphone button controls. It is simple, reliable, and works even on old phones. For playing files you own on Android, nothing beats it.

Bound and Prologue (iPhone)

Apple users have excellent options too. Bound is a clean iPhone player with a sleep timer, speed control, AirPlay to speakers, and direct uploads through a web page. Prologue is another favorite, especially paired with a home Plex server, for a small one time fee.

Both do the same job: let you listen to audiobooks you already own, with all the modern comforts, and no subscription. Listen Audiobook Player is a strong Android alternative worth a look as well.

Apps That Include Audiobooks as a Bonus

Some apps you may already pay for throw in audiobooks, which can cover a lot of your listening for no extra cost.

Spotify Premium includes a set number of audiobook hours each month, around fifteen, plus thousands of free titles, alongside your music. The hours do not roll over, and it is bundled in only a handful of countries, but for existing subscribers it is a lovely free extra.

Kindle Unlimited includes some audiobooks and, cleverly, lets Alexa read your Kindle books aloud for free. YouTube Premium also carries many audiobooks alongside its videos and music. None replaces a dedicated service, but each stretches what you already pay for.

If you like to track what you listen to, most reading trackers count audiobooks too. Our guide to the best Goodreads alternatives covers apps like StoryGraph that log your audiobooks alongside your ebooks and print reads.

A Quick Word on AI Narration

One trend worth flagging as you choose. More services are quietly adding AI narrated, or virtual voice, audiobooks to pad their catalogs, and listeners in the research clearly dislike them.

A great human narrator is part of what makes an audiobook special, so it is worth checking who, or what, is reading before you commit to a long book. Most apps list the narrator, and a real name is usually a good sign.

If a synthetic voice reading your own ebooks and PDFs is actually what you want, that is a separate tool. See our guide to apps that read books to you.

Which Audiobook App Is Right for You?

To keep it simple, match the app to how you want to listen:

My own setup, for what it is worth, is Libby for most listening, Libro.fm for books I want to keep, and Spotify’s free hours in between. A simple, mostly free stack that keeps me in audiobooks all year.

Looking for reading apps beyond audio? See our full guide to the best apps for reading, covering ebooks, free library books, and reading trackers for every kind of reader.

Every app here was assessed on hands on use and on what real listeners report. Prices and features change often, so please verify current details with each app before subscribing.