What does it cost to read with audiobooks, recaps and trackers?

This page summarizes the Reading app price index, Q4 2026, which has every price, its source and the exact text it was read from.

Audiobooks: three ways to pay

Audible's own help page says unused Premium credits roll over month to month "until they expire or membership is cancelled". Audible Standard ($8.99 a month) works differently: one title a month from a selection, and unused selections do not roll over. Our Audible vs Libro.fm and Audible vs Spotify comparisons go deeper.

An hour and a credit are different units: a credit buys a whole title you keep, an hour is listening time that expires. Compare within a route, not across.

The same plan can cost more inside the iPhone app

Some services charge more when you subscribe inside their iPhone app than on their website. On 4 November 2026, Audible Premium with one credit was $14.95 a month on the web and $15.99 as an iPhone in-app purchase; Audible Standard was $8.99 on the web and $9.99 in the app. If you are about to subscribe on impulse from your phone, that impulse costs about a dollar a month extra.

Subscriptions you might forget

A monthly plan you stop using is the most expensive plan you have. Two things in the data help:

• Free trials are common (Audible 30 days, Kindle+ 30 days, Kobo Plus 14 days), so put the end date in your calendar the day you start, not the day it renews.
• Yearly plans save 16% or more on most trackers and summary apps, but only if you would have kept paying all year. If your interest in a tool runs in bursts, the monthly plan you cancel is cheaper than the yearly plan you forget.

Coming back to a book after a gap

• Kindle ebooks: Kindle Recaps and Story So Far have no separate fee.
• Print, other ebooks and audiobooks: Magic Bookmark works alongside your own copy of a supported title, on iPhone. One credit covers one whole book and never expires: $4.99 single, $4.00 each in a 5-pack ($19.99), $3.50 in a 10-pack ($34.99), $1.40 in a 50-pack ($69.99). The App Store says your first credit is free, and the developer's website also describes a two-week free trial. There is no subscription to forget. See our Magic Bookmark desk review.

Trackers

All the trackers checked have a free tier. Paid tiers cost $29.99 to $49.99 a year for most (Bookly, Bookmory, Basmo, The StoryGraph, Hardcover, Fable), $9.99 once for BookBuddy Pro, and nothing at all for Goodreads, which has no paid tier. A paper log, our printable reading log, costs a sheet of paper. See best reading trackers.

Limits of this summary

US prices before tax, read on one date from official pricing pages and the US App Store. Prices change without notice and differ by country. We did not buy every plan, and we do not know which plan suits your reading; the cheapest plan is the one you actually use.