30 Apps Where You Can Hear and Read Books For Free
It is simple to understand why audiobooks have recently become more and more popular; there is something in particular alluring about tales brought to life by performers who are trained to give different characters depth. Audiobooks are your travel companions if you want to learn from stories while you stroll, perform your duties, or just relax on the couch with your eyes closed.
With this comprehensive list of free audiobook applications with subscription options, we have you covered if you’re seeking the best audiobook apps for Android and iPhone. Here is a quick look at some of the most recent audiobook data and trends before we examine these well-liked audiobook apps.
Even though audiobooks are often more expensive than eBooks or print books, we can help you save money and make the most of your library by looking through this list of the top free audiobook apps online!
30 Best Apps For Book Lovers
Many people enjoy reading various genres of literature. The majority of readers, however, are unable to finish their favorite novels due to busy schedules and a lack of time, and the books end up as museum pieces.
What would happen if you had the chance to listen to your preferred book while working or performing other tasks? Isn’t that amazing? Numerous audiobooks are available for listening, buying, and downloading for little or no cost. So, to assist you to get all the audiobooks you prefer, we have put together a list of the top audiobook applications.
A few years ago, reading books was quite popular, but today, due to their hectic schedules, individuals seldom have time to read a book from cover to cover. You may read your favorite book instead of listening to it thanks to audiobooks. You can carry out this action while driving to work, traveling to work each day, working at your regular job, or using a treadmill at the gym.
There are numerous audiobook apps, and their databases range in size from thousands to millions. These apps allow you to look for, download, and listen to any book you want.
Spotify
This industry leader in music streaming offers a wide selection of audiobooks, and they’ve even entered the fray by putting out a line of excellent, expert audiobooks of their own. Put your sophisticated hat on and get ready to start crossing books off your list as both of these lists include public domain titles, meaning their 95-year copyright has expired and they will be fairly old classics.
It’s worthwhile to use Spotify’s search bar to look up the writers or stories you’re interested in, as the platform also hosts a sizable number of short story podcasts containing works from all around the world. The podcast 1001 Classic Short Stories and Tales is a fantastic place to start. Just keep in mind that you will want a free Spotify account to listen to stories.
LibriVox
Since volunteers produce all of LibriVox’s recordings, the audio quality might vary and particular voices or accents may be a little challenging to understand if English is not your first language. Despite this, this nonprofit service offers a sizable collection of free audiobooks to increase accessibility to audiobooks. It was also a pioneer in digitizing public domain books for a wider audience. You can view their channel on YouTube here if you are having any trouble navigating their website. They also post their recordings on Facebook. You may even offer to read a book yourself if you’re feeling especially thankful.
Audible
We acknowledge that not everyone feels like reading classic literature. There are a ton of expertly voiced books available on Amazon’s Audible if you’re in for modern audiobooks or a specific title that isn’t in the public domain. Even though the service is normally a paid one, you can sign up for a 30-day trial that includes a free audiobook and benefits like Audile’s fiction podcasts and an additional selection of free audiobooks for Alexa users.
Lit2Go
The Florida Center for Instructional Technology at USF provides Lit2Go, a free library of texts in the public domain. The Secret Garden, The Story of Doctor Dolittle, Little Women, and Peter Pan are just a few of the fantastic classic children’s books in Lit2Go’s collection. In their libraries, you’ll find timeless classics like Great Expectations, Moby Dick, Dracula, and Wuthering Heights, just to name a few. Adults are also spoiled for choice with some of the best books of all time.
Audiobooks.com
Another paid site is Audiobooks.com, how, however as part of their generous trial offer, you can download three audiobooks for free. This is perfect if you’re looking for certain recent releases or don’t care too much for the oldies, similar to how Audible is. It’s difficult to choose incorrectly because all their professional-quality audiobooks are narrated by skilled voices. Is anyone up for some road trip audiobooks?
All-Access Books
Like a feast, but with books. This is a paid service like Audible, Kobo, and Audiobooks.com. But if you join up for a free 30-day trial with All You Can Books, you’re free to listen to as many audiobooks as you want during that time, which is a challenge.
Learning Aloud
Since 2005, Learn Out Loud has been successfully delivering free multimedia for educational reasons. Their website offers more than 3,000 free audiobooks to help you broaden your horizons, and if you feel flexible about your listening preferences, you can also check out their larger directory of audio and video content, which includes lectures, courses, speeches, and much more in addition to audiobooks.
Open Culture
A comprehensive selection of online audiobooks that are available for free has been compiled by Open Culture for you. Due to their list’s incredible usefulness, you’ll be able to get beyond the fact that some of the public domain books on the remainder of this list overlap with some of those on theirs.
The Kobo
You should be able to locate whatever you’re looking for on Kobo because its selection of audiobooks is pretty large and it functions similarly to other subscription services. Like Audible, it’s generally a subscription service, but you can acquire a premium audiobook for free during a trial, so it’s worth a shot! Just be sure to discontinue your subscription before being charged and the same goes for all other trial periods mentioned in this post.
BBC sounds
A brand-new, free BBC app is called BBC Sounds. It is presently the location of its radio stations, which broadcast a wide range of radio programmers, podcasts, and even audiobooks. The BBC has a long tradition of producing dramatizations for radio in collaboration with the most successful actors in the UK, and it is now expanding into providing free abridged audiobooks. You’re sure to get some truly top-notch listening as long as you don’t mind listening to condensed editions.
OverDrive
Digital content for libraries is distributed by OverDrive. Ask your librarian if you are a member of your local public library to see if you have access to OverDrive through your online account To provide their readers with a more enjoyable reading experience, they have also released an app called Libby. This is a superb high-caliber resource that offers both recent releases and timeless oldies. You’ll also, and maybe most importantly, please your librarian!
Scribl
The website Scribl sells both ebooks and audiobooks online, and since more than half of the audiobooks they list can be downloaded for free, it’s well worth a look. If you do read any of the books they recommend, please leave a review because many of them are written by independent authors. For self-published authors, reviews are extremely valuable.
Free classic Audiobooks
Still, craving the classics? The website Free Classic Audiobooks is uncomplicated and does exactly what it says on the tin: it lets you download MP3 or M4B files of classic classics. Sure, it’s simply another option for public domain works, but the beautiful thing about having so many choices is that, if you don’t like someone’s voice, you can genuinely choose your narrator. You are spoiled by the web.
Storynory
Full-length audiobooks, fairy tales, and educational material Your child’s audiobook needs are taken care of by Storynory. Little readers are sure to find something they enjoy in this great anthology, which includes anything from Oscar Wilde’s stories to Greek, Indian, or Norse mythology. When we have a little mythology ourselves. Never let it be too late.
Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is the world’s oldest digital library and is run by volunteers. Like many of the services above, it provides exclusively public domain works, but it stands out because of its linguistic diversity the site provides audiobooks in 50+ languages. Do check that the audiobook you select is narrated by a human, though, as this website also lists computer-generated recordings that are nothing if not a bizarre experience.
Mind webs
Michael Hanson used to host Mind Webs, a dramatized radio show. Its online repository of more than 100 fantasy and sci-fi short stories makes for fantastic listening. Fans of sci-fi audiobooks may expect to be transported into other worlds by these top-notch half-hour programmes.
Sync
Teenagers can participate in Sync, the annual summer reading marathon sponsored by AudioFile Magazine and OverDrive. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be a marathon; you can just pick and choose which novels you want to read. The basic idea is that during the summer, participants receive free access to two thematically related audiobooks each week. More information about how it operates can be found on Sync’s FAQ page.
World book day
If you believe that audiobooks are only available on World Book Day for one day, you would be mistaken. Instead, beginning in the middle of February, they offer a variety of free listens for kids for six months except for books published by Penguin and Hachette, which only stay up for one month. They cater to a wide age range and all of them are expert recordings, from picture books to selections for teens.
Digital book
Digital book is a website that functions as a search engine for free audiobooks in the public domain. You may remember it from the past when it was known as Librophile. On their website, you can search for particular titles from the several websites mentioned here as well as store websites like Amazon. Finding particular books is made much easier by Digitalbook’s emphasis on simplicity. The best audiobook app for audio listeners.
RBdigital
Last but not least, RBDigital functions like OverDrive: it collaborates with local libraries to give users access to a sizable selection of audiobooks of a high caliber. Most likely, OverDrive or RBDigital have a subscription at your library. Whatever they decide, your library will have you covered because both have outstanding lists of respected titles. For interesting listening during your travels, it’s the best app.
Internet Archive
You can browse among the many free audiobook downloads available on The Internet Archive by topic, keyword, or by using the search bar.
Sorting by view count to locate the most popular books is our preferred method of finding books on this site. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Huckleberry Finn, Jane Eyre, The Swiss Family Robinson, Moby Dick, The Art of War, and Dracula are just a few of them. With varied tales, one can listen to the best audiobooks
Loyal books
It’s simple to download free audiobooks with Loyal Books. You can sort the audiobooks by language, the Loyal Books top 100, and category, which includes more than a dozen others in addition to children’s, fiction, fantasy, and mystery.
These books are available in a variety of formats: you can download the entire audiobook as a single M4B file for iPhones and iPods, the entire audiobook as a collection of chapter-by-chapter MP3s in one ZIP file, individual chapters alone, or even the entire book using an RSS reader. Additionally, there is an iOS and Android mobile app for Loyal Books.
Given that these books are in the public domain, you might not find anything here that sets this website apart from the other public domain audiobook websites we’ve already listed.
One of the best audiobooks to listen to during your travel and leisure time. With varied recent apps in audiobooks, one can swear on this app as it contains many features for listeners.
Light up your brain
Several concise, free audiobooks for children are available on Light Up Your Brain. You can download the audiobooks or stream them to your PC.
For those who are just learning to read, a transcription of the story is also available.
Additionally, there are several educational games for kids here that are completely free and designed to keep youngsters’ minds sharp.
Thought Audio
Classic volumes on philosophy and literature are accessible as free downloads through ThoughtAudio. You can go through the entire list, conduct a book search, or view the books in chronological order according to when they were most recently added to the collection.
You can either listen to these audiobooks on the website or download them in sections by right-clicking the sections you want to download. These audiobooks also include PDF transcripts that may be downloaded.
Hoopla
Hoopla offers free audiobook downloads, but only if you have a library card at a participating library, similar to OverDrive, which is described at the top of this list.
You can use the user ratings, release dates, date added, and language filters to narrow down the thousands of free audiobooks available here. To display just kid-friendly audiobook downloads, use the Children’s Titles Only checkbox.
If you are unsure of where to begin, go through Hoopla’s most popular audiobooks or the page for trending audiobooks. You can explore the genres as well.
You may stream these audiobooks from your computer or different gadgets. This is one of the best audiobooks to listen
Google Play
If you prefer keeping your library of books in your Google account to read on the Google Play Books app, you’ll appreciate the free options available to you.
For a list of the free audiobooks Google offers, click the link below and scroll down to the section labelled “Free in fiction” or “Free in nonfiction.” Though few, they are all completely free, and legal, and will be added to your account right away.
Through the Google Play Books website or the iOS or Android app, you may listen to these audiobooks. You can play an audiobook if you use the website.
Scribd
One of the easiest audiobook apps to use is Scribd, which is offered in the Google Play Store. The best audiobook app, as determined by user preference, is Scribd, which has received more than 10 million downloads and a rating of 4.5.
The content you are reading or listening to on Scribd may be synced across a variety of devices, and it boasts a library of more than a million free audiobooks. Users of Android 6.0 or higher can also change the narration speed of an audiobook, which is a special feature of the app.
Scribd is the best-known audiobook for many book listeners and enthusiasts. The narration of this audiobook app is clear and interesting.
Story tel
Storytel features one of the most interactive and user-friendly user interfaces of any audiobook software in the Google Play Store. The fact that Storytel has a mode specifically for children is fantastic. By selecting the settings tab and creating a pin, you can turn on the kid’s mode.
The categories include a variety of audiobooks for kids, including fantasy, science, mythology, bedtime stories, nursery rhymes, and a few others. By going to the settings tab and entering the pin, you may always turn off the kids’ mode.
Storytel is the best audiobook for all book enthusiasts and book lovers. It is easy to listen to this audiobook as it contains many stories.
Freed Audiobooks
Freed audiobooks can be streamed over the internet at any time and from any location. Books in the following genres are accessible for search in this application like romance, poem, mystery, sci-fi, children, and more! This app is Chromecast compatible. Your favorite classics can be found here. You can find both popular and new books.
Every audiobook is in the public domain, which means you can listen to it for free. There are numerous free audiobooks available, including Sherlock Holmes books, Moby Dick, The Art of War, Dracula, Romeo and Juliet, Heart of Darkness, and many others.
GALATEA audiobooks and Novels
This audiobook software provides a more immersive, interactive, and entertaining experience than a regular book.
Music, atmosphere, and sound effects can all be turned on and off. Hear the Alpha King growl, the villain’s approaching footsteps, and the billionaire’s moan. Watch the conversations of your favourite characters unfold via text messages as well!
Conclusion
Today’s ebooks frequently feature listenable audio files. You can use audiobook apps instead, which is preferable. These apps are easy to carry as it is on your phone, not like physical books. Audiobooks are book readers’ gifts.
These premium and free audiobook applications are the ideal starting point for anyone who has even a passing interest in audiobooks. You can choose one after using each of these applications as most of them provide a free trial. Start listening to your favourite books at your convenience by getting started right away.
Audiobooks, one of the digital publishing sectors with the quickest growth rates, make it simple to read and listen to best-sellers while on the go. Audiobooks are now more accessible than ever before thanks to advancements in technology, which has contributed to their steady rise in popularity.
With the best free apps available it’s a treat to go, book lovers and listeners during their travel and leisure timings can opt for this free app audiobooks.
Disclaimer: The list furnished in this article does not indicate any ranking based on quality of services provided by these companies. This is just a collated list of companies operating in this industry. We do not claim any ownership of the accuracy of the data furnished in this article. The readers are requested only to use this as an information for reference and is requested to get in touch with the companies directly to understand their services and service quality. The information provided here is curated based on existing information available on public domain. Any discrepancies in data observed and suggested by readers or the companies directly shall be ammended.