Kindle Unlimited vs. Prime Reading vs. Audible vs. Scribd: Full Comparison & Verdict 2024

Kindle Unlimited vs. Prime Reading vs. Audible vs. Scribd: Overview

1. Kindle Unlimited

Official Site：https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/hz/subscribe/ku

Kindle Unlimited, or KU, is Amazon’s subscription service for books, audiobooks, and magazines that allows you to explore, read, and download over 2 million titles. Contrary to the name, the reading material on Kindle Unlimited isn’t quite “unlimited.” Yes, there are plenty of Amazon Kindle books to choose from, but you can’t just read anything you want. In addition, despite having over 2 million titles to choose from, Kindle Unlimited doesn’t offer a lot of books from big publishers, especially those published by the “Big Five” (Penguin/Random House, Harper Collins, Macmillan, etc.). As a result, there’s a possibility that you won’t find your favorite book or author in Kindle Unlimited. 

The vast majority of the KU library is self-published books, in part because every author who enrolls in KDP Select automatically has their book added to it; best-selling authors generally only offer their back catalogs. Kindle Unlimited also includes some popular magazines, and many of the ebooks support Audible Narration. Kindle Unlimited lets you borrow up to 10 books, audiobooks, and magazines at a time, and then return them whenever you’re done! Again, you can read KU titles on any device — not just a Kindle — so long as you have an Amazon account.

2. Prime Reading

Official Site：https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/nonprime-pr/

Amazon Prime Reading, also known as Prime Reading, is a kindle service that is part of the Amazon Prime subscription. According to Amazon, Prime Reading is a sort of “private library” that lets Prime members read as much as they want from over a thousand books, magazines,comics, KindleSingles and more. With fiction, non-fiction, children's books, short works, and magazines right off the newsstand, you'll always find something to read. Prime Reading also includes books with Audible Narration, so Prime members can switch seamlessly between reading and listening without ever losing their place.

There's a higher ratio of mainstream titles to indie titles on Prime Reading, which will appeal to those in the zeitgeist. All 1,000 titles are available for download. You don't need a Kindle device to enjoy Prime Reading. With their free Kindle apps for iOs and Android, you can read on any device as well as on any Kindle or Fire tablet. Another great advantage of Prime Reading is its Amazon First Reads service. Amazon First Reads allows members to choose and download up to six soon-to-be-released titles, giving you the chance to read said books before their official public release.  

Saving Tip: Such a high amount of cash back comes from Extrabux (What is Extrabux?), it also offers coupon codes and recent promotions, and brings together 10,000+ sites (US, China, UK, Japan, Australia , Germany, France, Italy, etc.).

Just sign up for an Extrabux account and earn up to 80% cash back every time you place an order via the relevant link. Sign-Up Bonus: Join for FREE & Earn $20 Welcome Bonus today! Then earn $5 Friend Referral Bonus!

Whether you are buying cheap domestic products, international luxury goods, or buying mobile phones, computers, refrigerators, washing machines, clothes, shoes, bags, mother and baby products, snacks, drinks, or booking air tickets, hotels, car rentals, or registering services and memberships , you can save money on all related purchases - save $1,000 a year!

3. Audible

Official Site：https://www.audible.com/

》》App Store

》》Google Play

Audible is by far the biggest and most well known audiobook service around today. Now owned by Amazon, it’s the big daddy of the audiobook world thanks to its absolutely huge selection of titles.Audible in content produced over 200,000 audio programs through current audio book publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazines and newspaper publishers, and business books. There are exclusive Audible Originals to keep fresh content coming your way. Plus, there are also many titles that are Audible-exclusives, so they can't be found on any other app.

Users can choose to purchase audiobooks individually or subscribe to receive monthly credits that they can use to purchase audiobooks. With a subscription, you also get access to a selection of audiobooks that you can listen to without spending any credits.  The credits worth one title each, toward the premium library. Since Audible is also owned by Amazon, there are some great incentives to join if you’re already an Amazon Prime member. There are often deals that entitle you to free books if you sign up through your Prime membership, and they regularly run discounted membership deals. Audible offers all the playback features you need, from adjustable speed to bookmarks, easy chapter navigation, a sleep timer, and multitasking support for background playback and offline downloads. It also provides the unique Whispersync feature that allows you to switch seamlessly between audiobook and Kindle books.

4. Scribd

Official Site：https://www.scribd.com/

》》App Store

》》Google Play

Scribd is a popular and feature-rich audiobook and e-book app that stands out thanks to its unique content offerings, including sheet music for a variety of genres, magazines, study guides, government reports, podcasts, medical reports, and more. It cooperates with over 1000 different publishing houses including the so-called big 5 (Simon and Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Macmillan). Scribd also has the awesome 30-day free trial, For just $11.99 a month thenafter. But works in quite a different way to Audible. Rather than a credits based system, once you subscribe to Scribd, you can access their entire library and consume as much material as you like.For audiobooks, you can adjust the narration speed, set sleep timers, download audiobooks for offline listening.

The big advantage that Scribd has over other competitor is its extensive collection of articles from the world’s leading newspapers. Whereas regular web users have to log in to an account and pay a subscription for many articles from leading papers like the Guardian, The Independent, and the New York Times, Scribd gives you access to a huge collection of articles, all included in their monthly fee. Scribd potential downside is that you won’t get to keep your audiobooks once your subscription ends. You are effectively renting each audiobook rather than purchasing it outright.

Kindle Unlimited vs. Prime Reading vs. Audible vs. Scribd: Full Comparison 

1. Library and Content

Kindle Unlimited subscription allows you to access nearly 2 million titles that include Kindle ebooks, magazines and audiobooks. However, only 20,000 ebooks come with narrated Audible audiobooks, which is also called Audible Narration.Most of the titles are self-published by new writers and authors. It is lack of titles from big publishing houses, which means you won't find many bestsellers or popular books among these titles.

Prime Reading allow you access over 1000 titles of hot Kindle books, popular magazines, and comics. These 1000 titles are updated periodically. All titles are selected by editors, including best sellers, popular and highly recommended books from trusted publishing houses.What's more, dozens of these books are available with Audible narration which mean you can switch seamlessly between reading and listening. 

Audible has the world's largest library of Audiobooks, which features over 425,000 Audiobooks including 180,000 bestsellers, new releases, mysteries, sci-fi, romances and more. Members gain access to an extensive collection of audio shows. The Audible membership also includes audio news via the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and additional publications. What’s more, Audible has a program called Audible Originals. These are audio-books created exclusively for Audible by authors and not available elsewhere

Scribd is a modern solution for reading lovers which lets them access million of e-books, audiobooks, magazines, music. Articles from such popular periodicals like Bloomberg Businessweek, Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, New York Magazine are available for Scribd users. It also cooperates with the big 5 publishing house--Simon and Schuster, Penguin Random House, Hachette, HarperCollins, and Macmillan. That means you might find some new bestsellers in its library. All the content after getting premium membership will be unlimited to read, listen and download.

2. Subscription Pricing

A Kindle Unlimited subscription costs $9.99 per month, or $119.98 per year. There's also a free 30-day trial so you can test it out beforehand. If you’re in for the long haul, keep in mind that Amazon sometimes runs price promotions on Kindle Unlimited, such as deals on three-month and one-year subscriptions. Look out for these promotions if you’re hoping to get a deal on KU. 

Prime Reading includes in Amazon Prime memberships. Amazon Prime memberships costs $12.99 plus taxes per month. Their annual Prime package costs $119 plus taxes, allowing you to save approximately $40.

Audible offers 30-day free trial and various subscription plans:

• Audible Plus ($7.95/month):  the cheapest option but comes with no included credits.

• Audible Premium Plus ($14.95/month): the most popular subscription available which entitles you to 1 credit per month.

• Audible Premium Plus with Double Credit ($22.95/month): which entitles you to 2 credits per month.

• Audible Premium Plus Annual ($149.50/year): which works out cheaper overall. You'll pay for theentire year upfront and receive 12 credits per year.

• Audible Premium Plus Annual 24 ($229.50/year): which is the most expensive package upfront, but it entitles you to 24 credits per year.

Scribd also offers free 30-day trial which gives you premium access to all audiobooks, e-books, magazines, and sheet music from their library.The monthly fee is just $11.99 per month after a 30-day trial.  You get unlimited access to all audiobooks, e-books, magazines, and sheet music.

3. Supported devices/Apps

You can access your Kindle Unlimited contents on a Kindle eReader, Kindle Fire tablet or Kindle app for iOS/Android/PC/Mac. The devices thaKindle Unlimited t support audiobooks from Kindle Unlimited are Android/iOS devices, Amazon Fire Phone, Kindle Fire 2nd Generation, Kindle Fire HD, Fire HD 6 & 7 and Fire HDX with a free Kindle reading app.

Like Kindle Unlimited, Prime Reading is compatible with Kindle eReaders, Fire tablets, Kindle for iOS/Android.

Audible audiobooks are compatible across dozens of different devices, including but not limited to:

• Audible app for iOS/Android/Window 8/Windows 10

• Kindle Fire tablets, Kindle Oasis (8th & 9th Gen), Kindle (8th Gen), Kindle Paperwhite (10th Gen)

• Sandisk MP3 Players, Creative MP3 Players, Garmin & Tom Tom GPS Devices.

• Alexa-enabled devices including Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Dot Kids Edition, Echo Plus, Echo Show, Echo Spot and Echo Input.

Scribd support web browser, and Scribd App for iOS/Android.

Bottom Line

Kindle Unlimited vs. Prime Reading vs. Audible vs. Scribd: Which Digital Reading Subscriptions Service Should You Choose?

Which digital reading subscriptions service should you choose depend on what you want out of them.

Prime Reading is an exclusive reserve for Amazon Prime subscribers.  If you are not an Amazon Prime member, the Prime Reading library would remain inaccessible to you. In addition, compared to Kindle Unlimited’s 2 million titles, Prime Reading only has up to 1,000 titles. But if you’d rather take advantage of Amazon Prime’s many benefits, it’s certainly worth subscribing to a Prime membership. 

Kindle Unlimited allows you to explore, read, and download over 2 million titles. There are a lot of indie and self-published books in Kindle Unlimited that are amazing and you can discover a lot of great authors and stories through KU.If you’re a voracious, indie-book-loving reader, and want to consume mainly E-Books on your kindle with some options also available on audio, Kindle Unlimited is your way to go.

With Scribd, you can read magazines, listen to audiobooks, and access a library of documents and e-books. And compared to Kindle Unlimited, Scribd has a much better collection of best sellers.If you’re looking for more than just audiobooks and you want to choose the material a little more freely, then Scribd is the better choice.

Audible specializes in audiobooks & podcasts. It is for the modern busy multi tasker who only wants to consume books in audio format and wants to have the best choice of audiobooks available and the best audio quality on the market.

Extrabux is an international cashback shopping site, offering up to 30% cashback from 10,000+ Stores!

Squarespace, SkinStore, MATCHESFASHION, The Wall Street Journal, NordVPN, Visible, Armani Exchange, Sam's Club, PUMA, AliExpress, Card Cash, NET-A-PORTER, Udacity, Udemy, Selfridges, LOOKFANTASTIC, Vimeo, Coach Outlet, lululemon, PrettyLittleThing, Booking.com, Ripley's Aquarium, iHerb, Groupon, etc.

Join to get $20 welcome bonus now! (How does Welcome Bonus work?)