Kobo Books vs Prologue

Kobo Books is a digital platform for buying and listening to audiobooks, with apps for iOS and Android and playback on select Kobo eReaders with Bluetooth. The mobile app lets listeners pause, fast-forward, rewind, and resume playback. Downloaded audiobooks can be played on a smartphone or tablet without an internet connection, and Bluetooth headphones or speakers can be used with the app. Kobo Plus Listen costs $7.99 a month after a 14-day free trial, plus applicable taxes. Kobo Plus Read & Listen costs $9.99 a month after the trial, plus applicable taxes. These subscriptions include audiobooks, or eBooks and audiobooks in the latter plan, but neither includes every title. Subscription credits also apply only to eligible audiobooks. Audiobooks cannot be played in the Kobo Desktop app or on a laptop or desktop computer. On iOS, audiobook purchases must be made through Kobo.com because the app does not support in-app purchases. Kobo Plus members can open up to 15 books offline in an eReader or app during a 30-day period before reconnecting and syncing. Kobo is based in Toronto and was founded in December 2009.

Prologue is a self-hosted audiobook player for Plex and Audiobookshelf libraries. It can connect to either service or both, with offline downloads, collections, series, bookmarks, a reading list, statistics, and playback history. Playback controls include per-book settings, sleep timers, smart rewind after pauses, Voice Boost, and an equalizer. The maker lists iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Siri, widgets, and CarPlay support, with macOS also listed as a platform. Apple Watch can stream books being read or on the reading list, download books for offline listening, and use widgets and complications. Prologue says library data remains on your devices and that it does not store or handle Plex or Audiobookshelf passwords; access tokens are stored on-device. It collects pseudonymous usage and Apple Ads attribution data, and uses Sentry for crash reports that may include device and operating-system details. The App Store listing requires iOS 26.5 or later and lists iPad, Mac with Apple M1 or later, Apple Vision, and Apple Watch compatibility.