Audible vs Bookmate

Audible offers audiobooks, podcasts, and Audible Originals across Android, iOS, macOS, web, and Windows. Its catalog includes bestsellers, new releases, exclusive titles, and Originals. In the mobile app, listeners can download titles for offline playback, adjust narration speed, set a sleep timer, and use Car Mode’s larger, simplified controls. The Cloud Player streams titles in a browser on a computer with an internet connection. Free or purchased titles can be played in the app without a membership, but an Amazon account is required. Audible also works with Alexa-enabled devices when both services use the same Amazon account, and supports Android Auto, Android Automotive OS, Apple CarPlay, and Waze. Alexa does not support clips and bookmarks, ratings and reviews, listening logs, or marking titles finished. Plans include Standard at $8.99 a month, Premium at $14.95 a month, and Premium (24 credits/yr) at $229.50 a year. The service was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Newark, New Jersey.

Bookmate is a subscription service for reading electronic books and listening to audiobooks, available on Android, iOS, and the web. Its catalog lists 1,800,000 books and 100,000 audiobooks in 16 languages, and it describes a free collection of 50,000 books. Readers can upload their own FB2 or EPUB files for use on a smartphone, tablet, or desktop, then adjust brightness, font, and background color. Social features let users follow friends’ reading, share books and quotes, and create or subscribe to themed bookshelves. Audiobooks can be saved for offline listening and synchronized across devices so listeners can resume where they left off. Bookmate lists a free plan and a seven-day trial; the Premium plan is listed at free. The subscription page describes monthly and annual options but does not show their prices. An account is limited to one person and no more than three devices. Books cannot be downloaded and distributed outside Bookmate.