Spotify Has a New Audiobook-Only Plan (but Here’s Why You Should Skip It)
Audiobooks Access is Spotify’s new audiobook-only subscription tier. If you like listening to audiobooks but aren’t really into music streaming, this is for you. We can’t recommend Audiobooks Access since it’s too expensive when compared to Spotify Premium.
Spotify Debuts Free Audiobook Access Plan
Spotify introduced a new membership option on March 1, 2024, targeted specifically at audiobook lovers. For a monthly fee, you can enjoy 15 hours of audiobook listening with Audiobooks Access, in addition to the same ad-supported access to Spotify’s music and podcast catalogue as with the free plan.
Spotify advertising the Audiobooks Access subscription service
For the Record, Spotify’s blog post announcing the new premium tier read: “continuously innovating to provide the best possible offering for every kind of audio fan.” Considering that “a 45% increase in free users searching for and interacting with Audiobook content each day” explains Spotify’s decision to introduce an audiobook-only tier, it’s obvious why.
Having said that, the only country where Audiobooks Access is now accessible is the US, and the fee per month is $9.99. Which is an issue.
Justification for Not Subscribing to Spotify’s Audiobooks Service
Just looking at how it stacks up against Spotify’s Premium plan makes Audiobooks Access not worth subscribing to. You could think that Spotify’s $9.99/month Audiobooks Access plan is a steal until you weigh it against Spotify’s Premium plan, which is more expensive.
The monthly fee for Spotify Premium is $10.99, which is only one dollar higher than the price of Audiobooks Access. In addition to the 15 hours of free audiobook listening every month, you can access all of the Premium benefits for only $1 extra. This is due to the fact that all Spotify Premium subscriptions now come with equal access to premium audiobooks for 15 hours per month.
Advantages of Spotify Premium vs Free
To refresh your memory, Spotify Premium has several advantages, such as the ability to listen to music without ads, download playlists and albums to listen to offline, play songs in any sequence, increase bitrates, and much more. None of these are available with Spotify’s Audiobooks Access subscription. In its place, you get all the benefits of Spotify Premium, including 15 hours of free audiobook listening.
The Superior Option Is Spotify Premium
Compared to Spotify Premium’s Duo ($14.99/month) and Family ($16.99/month) subscriptions, Spotify Premium’s $10.99/month Individual plan is a steal. With all the benefits it gave above the free version, it was already a bargain. On top of those Premium benefits, Spotify just introduced 15 hours of audiobooks each month, giving subscribers even more incentive to sign up.
With only one dollar less than Premium and almost no further features, Audiobooks Access doesn’t seem like a good value at $9.99/month. It does have certain advantages than Audible, which charges $14.95/month for Premium Plus and gives you one credit to go towards a premium audiobook per month. Spotify Premium is still worth the additional $1 for existing Audible members who are considering making the move.