Key Takeaways

• Spotify currently offers over 375,000 audiobooks, including public domain classics that are available for anyone to listen to for free.
• While Spotify Free users can listen to public domain audiobooks, Spotify Premium users get 15 free hours of premium audiobooks every month.
• Premium users can also purchase 10-hour top-ups for audiobooks which last for 12 months, whereas the 15 free hours do not carry over from month to month.

While music is Spotify's main focus, the streaming service also offers podcasts and audiobooks. And Spotify users, both on the Free and Premium plans, can listen to audiobooks for free (if they know where to look).

Does Spotify Offer Audiobooks?

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

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

Spotify has pushed heavily into podcasts, both producing and hosting them. In January 2021, Spotify began releasing its own original audiobooks that are exclusive to the platform. And since then, Spotify has added premium audiobooks that are available to buy.

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

Does Spotify Let You Listen to Audiobooks for Free?

Yes, but the number of audiobooks you'll be able to listen to for free depends on your subscription plan...

Public Domain Works Are Available to All

Spotify's original audiobooks are mainly based on books that are so old they're now out of copyright. This puts them in the public domain, and means anyone can reprint and distribute them without permission from the original author. Which, in the case of audiobooks, means someone can record a narration of the book and make it available to all.

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

Premium Audiobooks Are Reserved for Premium Subscribers

Spotify also hosts what can best be described as "premium audiobooks". These are recordings of new or more recent novels that are very much still in copyright, and therefore not entirely free to listen to. At the time of writing, these are only available in the US, the UK, and Australia.

These will be narrated by either the author, a celebrity, or someone trained in the art of narration. And they'll be available to buy rather than listen to for free. However, Spotify Premium users are given 15 hours/month to listen to premium audiobooks for free. After that, you can also buy top-ups available in 10-hour increments, as detailed on this Spotify Support page.

What Audiobooks Are Available on Spotify?

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

Some of the more modern audiobooks that come with a price tag attached are The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (read by Andy Serkis), One Day by David Nicholls (read by Anna Bentinck), and Spare by Prince Harry (read by the author).

As good as Spotify's audiobook offerings are, if you're a big fan of this form factor for consuming books, you'll likely get more value from an Audible subscription.

How to Listen to Audiobooks for Free on Spotify

How you can listen to audiobooks for free on Spotify depends entirely on whether you're a free user or pay for the Premium plan.

If You're a Spotify Free User...

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

Probably your best option is to look online for a list of books in the public domain, then search Spotify for one you're interested in listening to as an audiobook. For example, GoodReads has a list of Public Domain Books listed in order of popularity.

Unfortunately, some of these may still show up on Spotify as available to buy, as publishers can still sell a reading of books in the public domain. Others may have free versions available as podcasts or albums rather than audiobooks, with each chapter available as an individual episode or track. So don't just click on the first match for your search.

If You're a Spotify Premium User...

Spotify Premium users can use the same method as above to find audiobooks that are completely free to listen to. However, thanks to a Spotify Premium perk that 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 every month without paying a dime on top of your existing Premium subscription.

Once you have used these 15 hours in a calendar month, you'll have to wait until the next month to carry on listening to a premium audiobook for free. Or, as previously mentioned, if you're too impatient to wait, you can buy a 10-hour top-up.

FAQs About Listening to Audiobooks for Free on Spotify

Spotify Free users who don't pay for the privilege of using Spotify can only listen to audiobooks for free that don't have a lock icon attached to the Play button. While those audiobooks are available for everyone to listen to, free users will need to pay for those audiobooks by purchasing the title first.

Spotify Premium users can and should take advantage of the 15 hours of free audiobooks Spotify offers each month. This is a perk of subscribing to Spotify Premium, so you would be foolish not to use it.

If your Spotify subscription is part of a Duo or Family plan (how to get started with Spotify Duo), only the plan manager can take advantage of the 15 hours/month perk. Everyone else on the plan will be prompted to buy an audiobook in full before being able to listen to it.

The 15 hours of free audiobook listening per month does not carry over. So, if you don't use all 15 hours, the remainder will be lost. However, the top-ups which are available to purchase in 10-hour increments do carry over from month to month. They also last for 12 months from the purchase date.