How to listen to free audiobooks on Spotify

Does Spotify offer audiobooks?

Yes, Spotify has audiobooks available to listen to on its service but the selection is limited in certain regions. The audiobook is available on Spotify in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

While music has traditionally been the main focus, the platform has added more alternative audio-based entertainment offerings in recent years.

Spotify has been pushing the envelope on podcasts, both producing and hosting them. In January 2021, Spotify began releasing its own original audiobooks exclusively for the platform. And since then, Spotify has added premium audiobooks available for purchase.

How to listen to free audiobooks on Spotify Picture 1

At the time of writing, Spotify boasts over 375,000 audiobooks on its platform, so you should be able to find something worth listening to.

Does Spotify allow listening to audiobooks for free?

Yes, but the number of audiobooks you can listen to for free depends on your subscription.

Public domain works are available to everyone

Spotify's original audiobooks are largely based on books that are so old that they are no longer copyrighted. This puts them in the public domain and means anyone can reprint and distribute them without permission from the original author. In the case of audiobooks, this means someone can record the book's narration and make it available to everyone.

These audiobooks based on classic novels are free to listen to for all Spotify members, no matter your plans. However, like music and podcasts, Premium subscribers can listen to them without ads.

Premium audiobooks are reserved for paid subscribers

Spotify also hosts "premium audiobooks". These are audio recordings of new or more recent novels that are still under copyright and therefore not completely free to listen to. At the time of writing, these options are only available in the US, UK, and Australia.

These will be narrated by the author, a famous person, or someone trained in the art of storytelling. And they will be available to buy instead of listening for free. However, Spotify Premium users get 15 hours/month to listen to premium audiobooks for free. You can then also purchase top-ups in 10-hour increments, as detailed on this Spotify support page.

What audiobooks are available on Spotify?

How to listen to free audiobooks on Spotify Picture 2

Some classic audiobooks available for free are Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (read by David Dobrik), Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (read by James Langton), and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre (read by Sarah Coombs).

Some more modern audiobooks available for a fee are The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (read by Andy Serkis), One Day by David Nicholls (read by Anna Bentinck), and Spare by Prince Harry (read by the author).

Spotify's audiobook offerings are also very good quality, and if you're someone who enjoys reading books, you'll probably get more value out of an Audible subscription.

How to listen to free Audiobooks on Spotify

How you can listen to free audiobooks on Spotify depends entirely on whether you are a free user or paying for a Premium plan.

If you are a Spotify Free user.

How to listen to free audiobooks on Spotify Picture 3

Spotify Free users are limited to listening to out-of-copyright audiobooks that are in the public domain. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to browse audiobooks available to listen to for free. Spotify has chosen not to provide a list of these audiobooks. That means you need to search for a book title or author, or find playlists created by other users.

Perhaps your best option is to find a list of books online in the public domain, then search Spotify for a book you want to listen to as an audiobook. For example, GoodReads has a list of Public Domain Books listed in order of popularity.

Unfortunately, a few of these options may still show up on Spotify as available for purchase because publishers can still sell books in the public domain. Others may have the free version as a podcast or album instead of an audiobook, with each chapter available as an episode or individual track. So don't just click on the first match for your search.

If you're a Spotify Premium user.

How to listen to free audiobooks on Spotify Picture 4

Spotify Premium users can use the same method as above to find completely free audiobooks. However, thanks to the Spotify Premium perk, which is one of the many differences between Spotify Free and Spotify Premium, you also have the option to listen to 15 hours of premium audiobooks per month without paying a penny on top of your existing Premium subscription. at his own.

After using up these 15 hours in a month, you will have to wait until the next month to continue listening to premium audiobooks for free. Or, as mentioned before, if you can't wait, you can purchase a 10-hour recharge pack.

Micah Soto

Update 23 February 2024