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Free Audiobooks, Legally
Four routes that are genuinely free, ranked by what they actually cost you: waiting, catalog, or a trial you have to remember to cancel.
Updated September 2026 · By Sawyer V.
The short version
Four routes are free and legal. Your public library, through Libby, is the best of them and costs only patience. LibriVox is free forever but volunteer-read and limited to public-domain books. Spotify Premium includes a monthly allowance of audiobook listening. A trial membership is free if you cancel in time. Everything else advertising free audiobooks is either an ad or a pirate.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. If you buy through one we earn a commission at no extra cost to you, and it does not change which books are here or the order they appear in. Read the full disclosure.
How we picked
The picks below are not a best-of list; each one illustrates which route suits which kind of book, because the answer changes with the title. We name no prices or allowances, because every service changes them; the links go to the services' own pages. We have not listened to all five.
What we do on every list: read the publisher’s own description rather than a summary of it, check print length and first publication year against library catalog data (last refreshed September 24, 2026), confirm the book is still sold in the format we suggest, and write the match line before the blurb. What we do not do is claim to have read every book here cover to cover. The full method is published, and it is written so anyone can check it.
The four routes, and what each really costs
Free audiobooks are genuinely available, and the differences between the routes are practical rather than moral. Each one is free in a different way, and each takes something back.
- Your public library, through Libby. The best answer for most people. A library card gets you current books, including new releases, and the cost is waiting: popular titles have holds. Many libraries also run Hoopla, where borrows are usually instant but capped per month.
- LibriVox. Volunteer recordings of public-domain books, free forever with no card and no account. The catalog stops where copyright begins, so it is classics only, and the readings are amateur in the literal sense.
- Spotify Premium. A subscription you may already pay for, which includes a monthly allowance of audiobook listening from a large catalog. Good for a book a month; the allowance is the limit.
- A free trial. Audible and its competitors run trials that include a credit or a month of listening. Genuinely free if you cancel in time, and titles bought with a credit stay yours after you do.
The order matters. Try the library first, because it is free permanently and carries the books you actually want. Use a trial when you want one specific long book now. Treat LibriVox as a bonus for classics rather than as a substitute.
The short answer
Who each book is for, at a glance. Select a row for the full write-up.
| # | Book | Give this if | Where to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  The Count of Monte CristoAlexandre Dumas · 1240 pagesLibriVox territory | you want a classic and do not mind a volunteer reading | |
| 2 |  Lessons in ChemistryBonnie Garmus · 464 pagesA library hold | you want a recent popular novel and can wait | |
| 3 |  The Way of KingsBrandon Sanderson · 1008 pagesA trial credit | you want one enormous book for nothing | |
| 4 |  Born a CrimeTrevor Noah · 304 pagesSpotify's included hours | you already pay for Spotify Premium | |
| 5 |  The Tale of DespereauxKate DiCamillo · 267 pagesLibrary, for children | you are looking for something for a child |
#ad — buying through these links earns us a commission at no cost to you. Prices, where shown, come straight from Amazon’s product feed; the listing is always the final word.
Which route suits which book
1. LibriVox territory
The Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre Dumas
Give this ifyou want a classic and do not mind a volunteer reading
Anything published long enough ago is out of copyright, which is exactly what LibriVox records. A nineteenth-century doorstop like this costs nothing there, and the trade is the reading: volunteers vary, and a chapter recorded by someone you do not enjoy is a chapter you will not finish.
One caveat: Enormous, and the narration quality changes between volunteers.
- Print length
- 1240 pages
- First published
- 1920
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of September 24, 2026
2. A library hold
Lessons in Chemistry
Bonnie Garmus
Give this ifyou want a recent popular novel and can wait
Recent bestsellers are what libraries buy in quantity and what subscription catalogs rarely include. Place a hold in Libby and it arrives, often in a few weeks; the wait is the whole price.
- Print length
- 464 pages
- First published
- 2022
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of September 24, 2026
3. A trial credit
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
Give this ifyou want one enormous book for nothing
A trial membership usually comes with a credit, and a credit buys any single title regardless of length, so the sensible thing to spend it on is the longest book you actually want. Cancel before the trial ends and the title stays yours.
One caveat: Set a reminder. An unremembered trial becomes a subscription.
- Print length
- 1008 pages
- First published
- 2010
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of September 24, 2026
4. Spotify's included hours
Born a Crime
Trevor Noah
Give this ifyou already pay for Spotify Premium
Premium includes a monthly allowance of audiobook listening, which suits one normal-length book a month rather than a long series. A memoir read by its author is a good use of it.
- Print length
- 304 pages
- First published
- 2016
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of September 24, 2026
5. Library, for children
The Tale of Despereaux
Kate DiCamillo
Give this ifyou are looking for something for a child
Children's audio is where library apps are strongest, because the catalogs are deep and the waits are short. Libby and Hoopla both carry a great deal of it, and a child who abandons a book after twenty minutes has cost you nothing.
- Print length
- 267 pages
- First published
- 2003
- Formats
- print, Kindle and audio where the publisher offers them
#ad — how we’re funded · price as of September 24, 2026
Side by side
| Costs you | Best for | Catalog | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libby (library) | Waiting, sometimes weeks | New releases, children's books | Whatever your library buys |
| Hoopla (library) | A monthly borrow cap | Instant listening | Smaller, no waitlists |
| LibriVox | Variable narration | Classics and public-domain books | Out of copyright only |
| Spotify Premium | A monthly hour allowance | One book a month | Large, but not everything |
| A free trial | Remembering to cancel | One long book, kept | The full store |
If you have never used a library app
Most US public libraries issue a card to anyone who lives, works or studies in the area, and many will issue one online in a few minutes. Libby then wants the card number and nothing else. If your library offers both Libby and Hoopla, use Libby for the book you actually want and Hoopla when you want something immediately.
Audible vs Libby compares the paid and free routes in more detail, where to buy audiobooks covers the stores if you decide to own rather than borrow, and audiobooks for beginners is the place to start if the habit itself is new. The subscription panel on this page is for the listener whose honest answer was a membership.
Two ways to read this list for less
If several books here appeal, a subscription usually beats buying them one at a time — but only for the right kind of reader. Here is who each one actually suits.
Audible Premium Plus
For anyone whose hands are busy
Driving, walking, cooking, cleaning. It converts hours that were never available for reading, which is a bigger effect than any discount. Books bought with a credit stay yours after you cancel — titles from the included catalog do not, and confusing the two is the most common complaint about the service.
See Audible plans and current pricingHow Audible actually works — credits, gifting and what happens when you cancel.
Kindle Unlimited
For fast readers who browse
It pays off from about three ebooks a month, in the genres the catalog covers well — romance, romantasy, cozy mystery, thriller, progression fantasy. It does not pay off if you are waiting on a specific new hardcover, because those are usually not included. Everything is borrowed, not owned.
See Kindle Unlimited terms and pricingIs Kindle Unlimited worth it? — the arithmetic, done on your own reading.
#ad — how we are funded. We print no subscription prices anywhere on this site, because they change and a stale figure sends you to a checkout expecting something that is not there. And if you read in silence in a chair, neither of these is for you — buy the book, or borrow it from your library.
What we would skip
Sites that offer new releases free
If a site is offering this year's bestseller as a free download, it is not licensed to. Those files carry the usual risks of unknown downloads, they pay the author nothing, and the catalogs vanish without warning. Your library gives you the same book legally, and the author is paid for the loan.
Questions people ask
What is the best way to get audiobooks for free?
A public library card and the Libby app. It is free permanently, it carries current books, and the only cost is waiting for popular titles.
Is LibriVox legal?
Yes. LibriVox records books whose copyright has expired, using volunteers, and releases the recordings into the public domain.
Can I keep a book from a free trial?
A title bought with a trial credit normally stays in your library after you cancel. Titles you only borrowed from an included catalog do not.
Are free audiobooks on YouTube legal?
Some are, where a publisher or a public-domain recording has been posted deliberately. Many full audiobooks there are uploaded without permission and disappear.
Sources
- Libby, by OverDrive — Free ebook and audiobook lending through US public libraries. We earn nothing from it and recommend it anyway.
- Audible Premium Plus membership page — The only authoritative source for current Audible plans, prices and terms.
- Open Library Search API — First publication year, median print length and cover art for every book on this page. Queried 8 September 2026.
Read next
- Audible vs Libby
One sells audiobooks you keep; the other lends them free if you can wait. Regular listeners use both.
- Where to Buy Audiobooks
Six ways to get an audiobook, sorted by what you still own when you stop paying.
- Best Audiobooks for Beginners
Six first audiobooks, and the three mistakes that make people give up in the first hour.
- Audiobooks on Spotify
How an hours-allowance model compares with credits and included catalogs, and who each suits.
- Audiobooks
Audiobook lists, Audible explained, and the titles that are genuinely better in audio.