Audible vs Blinkist: The breakdown

Do you want to listen to audiobooks or just get the highlights? Check out our Audible vs. Blinkist comparison.

Blinkist, Audible, which is better? What matters to you more when reading books—enjoying the process, or taking in all the key insights as quickly as possible?

Answering these question will decide whether you should go with Audible or Blinkist. Even though both are audiobook services, they approach listening in vastly different ways. Let’s see how they compare with our Audible vs. Blinkist review.

What are Audible and Blinkist?

Audible and Blinkist are subscription-based audiobook services. They have one key difference—Audible offers full books, while Blinkist is a book summary app. They both offer free trials as well as premium plans, which allow users to download titles without restrictions.

Here’s an in-depth overview of the two services.

How does Audible work?

Audible by Amazon offers hundreds of thousands of audiobooks. Once you sign up, you’ll get access to audio versions of the world’s most popular books with professional narrators alongside a variety of other offerings. All the books are available for both online and offline listening.

The subscription service is like a blend of Kindle and audiobooks.com. You can test it out for 30 days with one free audiobook, after which you’ll have to pay a monthly fee. Audible offers Audible Plus and Audible Premium Plus yearly and monthly plans.

How does Blinkist work?

The Blinkist library offers short summaries of best-known books. It works similarly to GetAbstract, a popular business book summary service. The main difference is that Blinkist offers other non-fiction books as well. You can browse many genres:

• Personal development
• Self-help
• Politics
• Popular science

Instead of reading an entire book, you can get its key takeaways in 15 minutes. You can choose to read or listen to the summary for added convenience. You can use Blinkist with a seven-day free trial, or you get unlimited access to Blinkist Premium via paying by a monthly plan or once per year. There is no fully Blinkist free plan.

Main differences Blinkist and Audible

The main difference between Blinkist vs Audible is in their purpose. Audible aims to provide as many books as possible with an enjoyable reading experience. Blinkist is all about convenience, so it takes the most popular and trending books to offer readers a quick summary.

Another difference is in platform support. Both services offer Android and Apple/iPhone/iOS apps, but Audible is also available on Amazon’s products like the Fire TV.

Does Blinkist or Audible have more books?

Audible has far more books than Blinkist. Let’s look at the exact numbers.

How many books does Audible have?

Audible currently has over 420,000 books. It also has a variety of short stories, poems, and podcasts.

How many books does Blinkist have?

Compared to Amazon, Blinkist’s library seems small at just over 5,000 books. Around 40 new books are added per month, so there’s no doubt the library will keep expanding with so many new titles. Blinkist also offers shorter versions of popular podcasts, similar to the Shortcast app.

Returning an Audible book

You can return an Audible book and get a free credit within 365 days of purchase. Just go to your purchase history, find the book, and click ‘return.’

Canceling your Audible membership

You can cancel your Audible subscription at any time. However, you’ll lose all your credits the moment you do.

The pros and cons of Audible

Pros

• A large number of books
• High-quality audio
• Responsive customer support
• An option to save your favorite books for offline reading

Cons

• Certain books are expensive
• Unused credits disappear when you cancel the subscription

The pros and cons of Blinkist

Pros

• All the key concepts of a book summarized
• Convenient and simple listening
• An option to highlight key takeaways

Cons

• Matter-of-fact summaries without unique styles
• Some summaries are too short.
• Discontinued Evernote support

Final thoughts: Audible or Blinkist

If you’re a fan of the audio format for consuming content, Audible and Blinkist can each deliver their version of a fun listening experience. The two apps serve different purposes, so we can’t necessarily say one is better than the other.

Audible is an excellent choice if you want access to a vast library of books. The Blinkist app, on the other hand, is perfect for people who don’t have the time to dive into all the latest and most popular titles. If your goal is to sample the essence of every book quickly, Blinkist can be a great option.

Speechify Audiobooks

Did you have a poor user experience with Audible? You may be interested in Speechify Audiobooks. This platform offers thousands of books in a variety of genres and languages, including English and German. Speechify Audiobooks also offers affordable pricing plans so you can access your favorite audiobooks with ease.

Check out Speechify Audiobooks today.

FAQ

Is there anything better than Blinkist?

If you’d like a free alternative to Blinkist, you can check out QuickRead. You can also turn book reviews and summaries into audio with the help of Speechify.

Is Blinkist as good as reading the book?

Blinkist can be as good as reading the whole book if you’re all about the essence of a topic.

Does Audible do book summaries?

Audible offers 30-minute summaries of some books, just like Blinkist.

Is Blinkist the best book summary app?

Blinkist is the most popular book summary app, but there are others to explore.

What are the pros and cons of Blinkist?

The main advantages are ease of use and convenience. As for the drawbacks, it’s a bit expensive compared to other audiobook services.

Is Blinkist worth the money?

It can be worth it if you enjoy taking in knowledge quickly and on the go.

Is Audible cheaper than Blinkist?

Yes, an Audible subscription is cheaper than a Blinkist subscription.

Is Blinkist better than Audible?

Blinkist is better for quickly skimming through books, but Audible gives you the full listening experience.

Is Blinkist good for non-fiction books?

Blinkist is an excellent option for non-fiction books, as they’re its main focus.

What is Blinkist’s most popular book?

Currently, the most popular book is Atomic Habits by James Clear.