Download Free Audiobooks From the Library to Save Money

To access titles, you’ll need to download a library app like Libby or Hoopla

By Octavio Blanco

Published July 11, 2022·Updated September 25, 2022

Smartphone with the app on the screen in the form of an electronic library and headphones.

With inflation at a 40-year record-high, the best place to cut costs is discretionary spending, such as restaurants, shopping, and entertainment. Among the money-saving tips Consumer Reports got from readers and financial professionals is to download free audiobooks, which can make an arduous commute or a boring stretch of highway on your summer road trip more tolerable. They can be a nice addition to your daily walk or make long workdays go by a bit more quickly.

There are plenty of sites like Audible, Scribd, and Audiobooks.com that charge users to download titles. Recently, even Spotify, the music streaming giant, launched its own audiobook service. Spotify’s audiobooks display a lock icon on the play button signaling that they need to be purchased, the company says. Download fees vary depending on the title. But for avid book listeners, paying for a subscription—or to download titles one at a time—can become an expensive habit. Instead, consumers looking to cut costs can download audiobooks from their local libraries, for free.

“I love to get audiobooks from the library to listen to during the endless time spent alone in my studio,” says Carol MacConnell, a 65-year-old professional artist from Cincinnati. “One of the reasons I get them from the library is I rarely listen to a book twice. So to be able to get it from my library online for free is wonderful,” she says.

Check our review of the best budget headphones for under $50.

And with a free library download, you don’t have to worry about buying a book you might not like.

“I love listening to audiobooks, but I am also really picky. If I start listening to one and don’t instantly like it, I will stop,” says Grace Baena, director of branded content at Kaiyo, a furniture site. “If I bought or paid to rent all of my audiobooks, I would end up wasting money because there would be plenty of books that I paid for but didn’t listen to all the way through,” she says.

Plus, downloading titles from the library can help you keep storage space free on your smartphone.

“By checking them out from the library, I can listen to the book and return it, clearing space on my device for the next book I want to listen to,” says Sharon Hughson, a 55-year-old author and writing coach from Scappoose, Ore.

Like physical books, each download must be returned to the library after a certain time.

And borrowing audiobooks from the library can serve as an easily accessible form of community service.

“The public library is an important part of our community and works to increase access to a wide variety of populations,” says Michele Peck, a 45-year-old Consumer Reports reader from Bloomington, Ind. “I support their audiobook platform to raise awareness, promote my personal health (I’m a huge fan of walking and “reading”), and to add to the numbers of people utilizing these services that are primarily funded through grants,” she says.

To access titles, you’ll need to download a library app. Two popular ones are Libby and Hoopla, both of which are free. If your library isn’t connected to the apps, check its website to see whether it has its own stand-alone app. Many do.

Downloading books from the library comes with a few caveats.

One is that the time frame for reading and returning an audiobook is limited. If you’ve borrowed a particularly long book or can’t find enough time to listen, you may need to extend your loan period. Another common quip is that popular books aren’t always available. Readers say they’ve had to wait weeks or months before getting access to books that are in demand.

“Overall, I recommend library audiobooks for anyone who is good at planning ahead or who doesn’t mind listening to what is available,” says Brenda Kosciuk, a 39-year-old Consumer Reports reader from Pennsylvania. “I have a big list of to-be-read books, so waiting for a specific title is not a big deal to me,” she says.

Octavio Blanco

My mission: To write stories that broaden readers' horizons and offer new solutions they can apply to their lives. Who I write for: My family, my friends, my neighbors, myself, and—most important—you. My passions: Music, art, coffee, cheese, good TV, and riding my electric bike.