Audible is a great audiobook service. But it’s not the best at giving their plans self-explanatory names. So, let’s compare Audible Plus vs Premium Plus to find out what they include, what they cost, what you can expect, and which one is best!
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Audible Plans Explained: How does this work?
Let’s quickly cover the basics. If you already use Audible, just scroll down or jump to the next section to read about the differences between Audible Plus and Premium Plus.
Audible is the largest audiobook store online, and almost any book with an audio version can be found on this website. The standard plan is Audible Premium Plus. It has two different parts:
Firstly, you receive one Audible credit per month. You can use this to buy any audiobook from Audible’s entire premium catalog. You own this audiobook and can listen to it whenever and as often as you want. And you can still listen to it even after you cancel Audible!
Secondly, you get access to Audible Plus. It’s the biggest membership benefit for Audible Premium Plus subscribers!
During your paid membership, you have unlimited access to the included audiobooks. The Plus catalog only makes up a small-ish part of Audible’s entire catalog. But that’s still over 10,000 free audiobooks for you – Nonfiction and Fiction books!
You can also sign up for Audible Plus by itself. This plan is cheaper, and you won’t receive an Audible credit. But we’ll get back to this later.
Whether you buy an Audible book with a credit or borrow one from the Audible Plus catalog, the title will show up in your Audible app, where you can download it and listen to it.
The app syncs so you can swap between different devices and can always continue your book where you last left off.
Now let me help you find the best Audible plan for you 🙂
What is the Difference between Audible Plus vs Premium Plus?
To cut right to the chase, the most important difference between Audible Plus vs Premium Plus is that Premium Plus gives you one free audiobook per month on top of access to the Plus catalog!
If you are still confused by these weird terms, let me explain it like this:
Imagine Audible as one giant candy store. They have two different departments. One big department with super fancy, expensive chocolates. And one smaller department with gummy worms.
Audible Plus gives you access to the gummy worms, and you can EAT THEM ALL! No kidding. With Audible Plus, you can have all the gummy worms, a.k.a. all the audiobooks included in the Plus catalog.
With Premium Plus, you also get all the gummy worms. But on top of that, you get one voucher to pick fancy chocolate, a.k.a. one Audible credit per month, for which you can buy any premium audiobook from the entire Audible catalog.
Behold my amazing MS Paint skills 😉
The Audible catalog includes over 250,000 titles. The Audible Plus catalog includes over 10,000 audiobooks.
Plus books are only borrowed, though, and will be returned if your membership is canceled. The Audible books you buy with an Audible credit or for money are yours to keep, and you can always access them, even after you cancel your subscription.
The Price of Audible Plus vs Premium Plus
Audible US offers five different plans. Audible Plus is the cheapest plan at $7.95 per month. It gives you access to the Audible Plus catalog, and you can listen as much as you like, but there are no additional membership benefits.
Audible Premium Plus is $14.95 per month or $149.50 per year. In addition to unlimited borrowing from the Audible Plus catalog, you get one Audible credit per month (or 12 per year at the start of the billing period) for an audiobook of your choice from the entire Audible catalog.
As an additional benefit, you can also buy audiobooks at a reduced membership price and have access to various sales events.
Audible Premium Plus 2 credits is $22.95 per month or $229.50 per year with the same membership benefits.
I’m really pleased that the new Plus plan is so cheap and that access to the Plus catalog is a “free” addition to the Premium Plan. But whether you’ll be completely satisfied with Audible Plus vs Premium Plus will depend on what kind of audiobooks you like and if you can find enough included titles that interest you.
Membership Benefits Audible Plus vs Premium Plus
Audible Premium Plus continues to be the flagship subscription. I assume Audible saw a market for a cheaper audiobook plan. But Audible Plus has no additional benefits, unlike Audible Premium Plus.
Plus-subscribers can’t even buy books for a discount! Audible Plus only gives access to the Plus catalog. Nothing else whatsoever.
Now, the question is: How good are the Premium Plus benefits, and are they worth the higher price?
As I see it, $7.95 for as many audiobooks as I want is a good deal. The caveat is whether you find enough audiobooks that interest you in the Plus catalog. 10,000 titles might sound like a lot. But if you only like a handful of narrators or only enjoy Space Opera or only like audiobooks that are at least 10 hours long, then you will run out of Plus content at some point.
And that point might come sooner than you’d like if you listen to audiobooks every day.
The Premium Plus plan is only $7 more expensive. This means that the Audible credit (the “free” premium audiobook) you get as a part of that plan would only cost you $7. From that angle, it’s a sweet deal.
And you get the additional benefits like access to the 2-for-1 or $5 sales events, which are pretty good. These sales happen several times a year, and always have a great selection of audiobooks.
Even if this isn’t a free membership benefit, it’s still nothing to scoff at and a great opportunity to get a book you found interesting for a cheap price.
Related article: Is Audible worth it?
Audible Plus Review
Personally, I am absolutely thrilled about Audible Plus. Firstly, it offers people with a smaller budget a great option to listen to as many audiobooks as they want.
Secondly, it’s a fantastic membership benefit for Premium Plus subscribers because you get more audiobooks to listen to after using your Audible credit.
A standard Audible subscription finally offers unlimited listening!
The Audible Plus catalog mostly contains Audible Originals and Audible Studios productions. So, you can only find these audiobooks here and not in other stores. And I can tell you, I really enjoy Audible Originals!
They create so many fantastic audio plays with elaborate productions. Audible’s exclusive books always feel very current and relevant, and I still have the feeling that this company is passionate about audiobooks.
Some books in the Audible Plus catalog that I loved are:
Love Lines series by Cara Bastone
All three books in this Romance series (no spicy scenes) are absolutely adorable and fun! They are warm, extremely entertaining, laugh-out-loud funny, and have a wonderful cast of characters.
The productions of Cara Bastone’s Love Lines series are fantastic! The most recent book in the series is Seatmate.
Check out more of the best Romance audiobooks in Audible Plus!
The Dispatcher by John Scalzi
One of the most popular audiobooks on Audible is The Dispatcher. This series is narrated by the amazing Zachary Quinto, who brings the characters in this weird world to life.
This series of captivating thrillers with their weird premise is a must-listen!
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Not only since the Wheel of Time series is everyone in love with Rosamund Pike. So, her version of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen is an absolute must-listen as well!
Related article: The Best Audible Originals
If you want to browse the Audible Plus catalog yourself, make sure you check out my new guide that shows you how to easily search Audible Plus books and filter out Virtual Voice. The Plus catalog is currently being flooded with generated audiobooks and my guide will help you to see only human-narrated books. It also guides you through the various filtering options, e.g. for genre, length, or release date.
Audible Plus vs Premium Plus Conclusion
Over the years, I’ve tried a variety of Audible plans.
I had a discounted 12-month subscription to Premium Plus which I had a great time with and that made me feel like I got a lot for my money. I also had an Audible Plus subscription for a long time.
I have a lot of audiobook subscriptions and a library card, so I don’t need many Audible credits. But I do want to have access to Plus so I can still enjoy new Audible Originals.
They are the main reason why I wouldn’t want to cancel Audible entirely!
Generally speaking, if you are looking for more bang for your buck Audible Premium Plus is probably better than Audible Plus. But the Plus service is a very solid offer, and there might be many situations in which it is a perfectly good, perfectly sufficient choice for audiobook listeners. Especially if your book budget is limited.
Of course, you can try out both Audible Plus and Audible Premium Plus in a free test month. However, I strongly recommend that you go for the Audible Premium Plus 30 day free trial**!
You get to keep the audiobook you buy for the Audible credit. And you can easily cancel Audible in the first month and then sign up for the Plus plan afterward.
You simply get a more valuable free trial this way.
Read on in my blog post on how to get more out of an Audible Free Trial!
Summary
Is Audible Premium Plus worth it?
If you want an Audible subscription and can comfortably spend $14.95 per month, I would say that Audible Premium Plus offers more value for the money than the Plus plan for $7.95. So, if you are wondering which Audible plan is best and fits most listeners, I’d probably say Premium Plus, as discussed here.
What is Audible Plus? And what does Audible Plus include?
Audible Plus is an “all you can listen” audiobook subscription. It’s a digital library, like Kindle Unlimited or Netflix. As long as you have an active subscription, you can listen to as many of the included audiobooks as you want. But you don’t own them. Audible Plus offers around 10,000 audiobooks from all genres and adds several new books every month.
How does Audible Plus work?
When you browse through the Audible catalog, Premium books have the tag “1 credit”. Any book that doesn’t have this is included for free in your subscription, and you can simply click on the button “Play” or “Add to library” to listen to it.
Eline Blackman (pronouns: she/they) fell in love with books as a child – with being read to and reading herself. 10 years ago, she bought her first Audible book. It was love at first listen! An average of 250 audiobooks per year has become the new normal and you will rarely see Eline without a wireless earbud. Romance and Fantasy are the go-to genres for this audiobook fan.
So I’m trying to understand this correctly, the Audible Plus gives me access to 10,000 books. Does the Premium Plus unlock over 10,000 i.e. 20,000? Or is it only the 1 credit a month, 30% discount and the same 10,000 free books? If that’s the case I’m thinking the premium isn’t that great of an option as I’m still restricted to the same library and would have to wait each month to use my 1 credit for a premium title.
Indeed, Premium Plus is the 1 credit a month, 30% discount and the same 10,000 free books, as well as access to the daily deal and membership sales events.
One thing to consider here, when you’re comparing premium plus vs plus, is that this 1 credit a month “only” costs you an additional $7 or so which is a really good price for a premium audiobook. But it really depends on your individual listening whether this is worth it.
E.g. I have a lot of different audiobook subscriptions, in addition to a library card with Libby and Hoopla, and I just don’t need an Audible credit every month. But I do have a subscription that gives me access to Audible Plus because these are audiobooks I can’t find anywhere else and I like Audible’s own productions.
This was really helpful — I have been listening to audio books for free through the library but sometimes the wait time for a book I really want to listen to is several months long! Amazon doesn’t really make it clear how the different plans work so I found your candy store analogy really helpful! Thank you for spelling it all out.
So glad to hear that my comparison of the Audible plans and Audible Plus vs Premium Plus was helpful to you 🙂
Library audiobooks are awesome, but yeah, the wait time can be long. And Audible Originals are usually not available there.