Audible is amazing at audiobooks, but I don’t think they are good at giving their plans self-explanatory names or making their offers easily understandable.
I’ve been an avid audiobook listener and Audible customer for over 10 years and have closely watched all the developments and changes in their plans, policies, and features.
So, let me explain Audible Plus vs Premium Plus for you to help you decide which Audible Plan is best for you!
**The marked links and book covers on this page are affiliate links. If you use them to purchase something, I earn a fee at no additional cost for you. Disclosure**
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, as a subscriber, I receive one Audible credit per month. I can use this to buy any audiobook from Audible’s entire premium catalog and I will own this audiobook so I can listen to it whenever and as often as I want. I can even still access it after canceling Audible!
Secondly, I get access to Audible Plus. It’s the biggest membership benefit for Audible Premium Plus subscribers!
During our paid membership, we get unlimited access to the included audiobooks. The Plus catalog only makes up a small part of Audible’s entire catalog. But that’s still over 30,000 free audiobooks – Nonfiction and Fiction books!
It’s also possible to sign up for Audible Plus by itself. And I have done so myself in the past. 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.
What are the Differences between Audible Plus vs Premium Plus?
Pricing
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.
Membership Benefits Audible Plus vs Premium Plus
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 bears.
Audible Plus gives you access to the gummy bears, and you can EAT THEM ALL! No kidding. With Audible Plus, you can have all the gummy bears, a.k.a. all the audiobooks included in the Plus catalog.
With Premium Plus, you also get all the gummy bears. But on top of that, you get one voucher to pick one of the fancy chocolates, a.k.a. one Audible credit per month, for which you can buy any premium audiobook from the entire Audible catalog.
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.
How to choose the right Audible Plan
Are you a Plus-type of listener?
Plus-plan subscribers love their audiobooks and want to be able to listen to several titles every month. But they’re also budget-conscious. They don’t look for specific books but appreciate Audible’s recommendations and promo and will happily download the latest Audible Originals.
As a Plus subscriber, you likely appreciate the large range of available genres and subgenres and enjoy trying out many different books.
Are you a Premium-type of listener?
In many regards, you are probably exactly like the Plus-listener. You love audiobooks and appreciate unlimited access to the catalog.
But unlike the Plus-listener, you also want very specific books. You might be in a book club. Or you are friends with a book blogger who incessently recommends you books (that’s me, I’m book blogger, haha). You don’t just want the Plus catalog to guide you toward your next listen. You want specific titles and for those, you need Audible credits.
You might also enjoy owning audiobooks so you can cancel Audible at times and listen to all your purchases. And you like browsing Audible’s sales offers to pick up backlist books you have good things about.
2-for-1 or $5 sales events happen several times a year and always have a great selection of audiobooks.
You might well be just as budget-conscious as Plus-subscribers, but your math is mathing differently!
The Premium Plus plan is only $7 more expensive than Plus by itself. That means that the Audible credit (the “free” premium audiobook) you get as a part of this plan would only cost you $7. From that angle, it’s a sweet deal.
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.
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. 30,000 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 attractive Plus content at some point, even if new audiobooks are added regularly.
And that point might come sooner than you’d like if you listen to audiobooks every day.
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.
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 30 day free trial**!
Read on in my blog post on how to get more out of an Audible Free Trial and my in-depth guide to Audible Plus.
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.