How to Find Affordable Audiobooks Without Overpaying
Audiobooks do not have to be expensive. Whether you want to listen for free, find the cheapest way to buy, or just make sure you are not overpaying on a subscription you barely use, there are more options in the UK than most people realise.
This guide covers the best ways to get audiobooks for less, from completely free to genuinely affordable, with no tricks, no trials you will forget to cancel, and no monthly fees you did not ask for.
Free audiobooks in the UK
If you want to try audiobooks without spending anything, you have several solid options.
Your local library
Most public libraries in the UK now offer free audiobooks through apps like BorrowBox and Libby. All you need is a library card, which is also free. You borrow audiobooks digitally just like you would a physical book, listen on your phone, and return them when you are done. The selection varies by council and popular titles often have waiting lists, but it is a generally good service that more people should know about.
BBC Sounds
BBC Sounds has around 150 audiobook titles available for free, including well-known fiction and non-fiction. You do not need a TV licence to listen. The main limitation is that many titles are abridged rather than full-length, and availability can change.
LibriVox
LibriVox offers thousands of free audiobooks from the public domain, read by volunteer narrators. The quality varies since the narrators are volunteers, but if you are interested in classic literature, it is a good resource for free.
Listening Books
Listening Books is a UK charity that provides audiobooks for anyone with an illness or disability that makes reading print difficult. It has a catalogue of over 11,000 titles and membership is free for those who qualify.
Cheap audiobooks: what are the options?
Free is great, but if you want access to new releases, bestsellers, and a wider range of titles, without having to wait, you will need to spend something. The question is how much, and whether you are getting good value for what you pay.
The subscription trap
The most familiar way to buy audiobooks in the UK is through a monthly subscription like Audible. Audible now charges £8.99 per month for its Premium Plus plan (or £5.99 for its streaming-only standard plan) and gives you one credit per month to spend on a book.
This works out well if you use your credit every single month. But if life gets busy and you skip a month, you are still paying. Credits can expire, and if you cancel your subscription, you may lose access to your library depending on the platform. Over a year, Audible’s Premium Plus plan costs £107.88 whether you listen to twelve books or three.
Spotify includes 15 hours of audiobook listening per month in its Premium plan, which costs £12.99 per month. That sounds like a free bonus until you realise a single audiobook can be 10 to 15 hours long. Once your hours run out, you need to buy a top-up. You also cannot download audiobooks for offline listening, which makes Spotify impractical on the Tube, on planes, or anywhere without a reliable signal. And if you are paying £12.99 a month for a music subscription you would not otherwise have, those audiobooks are not really free.
Pay-per-book: only pay when you listen
The alternative is to buy audiobooks individually, with no subscription and no monthly fee. You pay for what you want, when you want it, and you own what you buy.
xigxag is built around this idea. There is no subscription, no credits, and no commitment. Prices may differ from region to region, but in the UK (from 1st August 2026), prices start at £8.99 per audiobook, and the more you listen, the less you pay. After every five full-price books you buy in a year, your price per book drops by £1. If you listen to 20 or more books a year, you are paying significantly less per book than any subscription would cost. And there is always a selection of titles in the Listen for Less section for just £3.99.
When The Guardian reviewed 15 audiobook platforms and compared prices across a basket of the same titles, xigxag came out consistently cheapest, averaging £7.68 per book compared to Audible’s £16.57 for the same titles bought individually. (Please note this analysis was conducted when xigxag’s headline price was £7.99)
Other pay-per-book options include Hive, which supports independent bookshops with every purchase, and Google Play Books, which sells audiobooks individually through its marketplace.
What “cheap” actually costs you
Price per audiobook is the obvious comparison, but it is worth thinking about what else you are paying for, or giving up.
Ownership. When you buy an audiobook on xigxag, you own it. It stays in your library permanently, and you can re-listen as many times as you like. With subscription and streaming services, you are often paying for access rather than ownership. Cancel your plan and your library can disappear.
Narration quality. Some platforms are filling their catalogues with AI-generated narration to keep costs down. It is cheaper to produce, but the listening experience is noticeably worse. xigxag only carries audiobooks with professional human narration.
Offline listening. Streaming services require an internet connection. If you commute underground or travel frequently, you need an app that lets you download audiobooks to your device. xigxag lets you download and listen anywhere, with or without signal.
Hidden costs. Subscriptions that auto-renew, credits that expire, top-ups for extra hours, and premium tiers for better features all add up. A straightforward price per book, with no strings attached, often works out cheaper and simpler in the long run.
The bottom line
If you are looking for cheap audiobooks in the UK, start with your library. BorrowBox and Libby are free and the selection is better than you might expect. If you want new releases, bestsellers, and a wider choice without being locked into a subscription, xigxag is the most affordable pay-per-book platform in the UK, with prices that drop the more you listen and a Listen for Less section at £3.99.
You can also read more about how xigxag works without a subscription and why we think buying audiobooks should be as simple as buying a paperback.
