Among so many questions related to Scribd, Audible vs Scribd is one of the most asked questions. When I publish my Scribd review, I didn’t wholeheartedly recommend Scribd.

Audible vs Scribd, which is better? I have shown my opinion in the title of the post. However, that’s my opinion, not yours. Therefore, we will still compare Audible with Scribd in range of content, number of audiobooks, price, platform and content ownership side by side unbiasedly and honestly. Then, you can make your wise decision.

Let’s dive right in.

About Scribd and Audible

What is Scribd?

Founded in 2007, Scribd is an e-book, magazine and audiobook subscription service. Its library includes over one million bestselling and award-winning ebooks and audiobooks, and articles from leading magazines and newspapers like The New York Times. Now, it has over one million monthly subscribers in over 100 countries with over a million premium titles to choose from.

What is Audible?

Founded in 1995 and acquired by Amazon in 2008, Audible is the world’s largest producer of Audiobooks. With Audible, you can choose from binge-worthy audiobooks, exclusive podcasts, bite-sized audio content and genre-bending Audible Originals.

Audible vs Scribd: Range of Content

Scribd offers a variety of content which sets it apart from Audible to establish its spot. It offers an excellent choice of magazines, eBooks, and even a useful document repository and sheet music. Buying sheet music is expensive, so if you are a musician, Scribd could be a great choice.

Audible is mainly an audiobook platform. It has the world’s largest library of Audiobooks, which features over 425,000 Audiobooks. Expect for audiobooks, Audible also provides audio news via the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and additional publications. What’s more, Audible has a program called Audible Originals. These are audio-books created exclusively for Audible by authors and not available elsewhere.

If you are only interested in audiobooks, you may not find Scribd as useful as Audible but you may prefer Scribd if you also enjoy ebooks, magazines, reports and other media.

Audible vs Scribd: Number of Audiobooks

When it comes to the number of audiobooks, Audible has a selection of over 450,000 audiobooks to choose from, whereas Scribd has 70,000 audiobooks. It is obvious that Audible has a massive store for Audiobooks. This also means that there is a chance that the audiobook you want to listen might not be available on Scribd.

In addition, Audible provides the industry-leading audio quality with a bit rate of 64 versus Scribd’s standard 32 bit. If you are an audiophile with great speakers or headphones, you will notice the difference.

Please note that these numbers are unverified and self-reported (meaning I’m just repeating the company claims) or reported by other people on the internet, so I wouldn’t take these numbers as fact. 

Audible vs Scribd: Price & Platform

Price

Scribd offers (almost) unlimited access to their e-books, audiobooks, documents, magazines and more for $9.99 per month. Although it is, in theory, unlimited, when you listen to too many titles of one genre it greys it out so you have to wait until the next month to listen.

Audible comes with a $14.95 monthly plan that gets you one credit. Each credit can be redeemed once for one audiobook. At the same time, you get two Audible Originals. The Platinum plan costs $22.95 and offers two credits. After that, each additional credit will cost you $14.

It is obvious that the Audible subscription plan costs more ($14.95 per month) than a Scribd membership ($9.99 per month). 

Platform

Both Audible and Scribd provide great apps for mobile that are highly rated in the App Store and Google Play by users. The biggest difference here is that Audible will play on your Smart TV, your Amazon Firestick, and even Alexa will play your audiobooks. 

Audible vs Scribd: Content Ownership

When comparing Audible with Scribd, another important aspect is the ownership of the books. In other words, can you keep the books as long as you want?

With Audible you own the books. It means that you can still log in and listen to the audiobook even when you have ended the subscription.

In the contrary, Scribd offers an unlimited listening subscription, but you are really just borrowing the book for the duration of your subscription. When you end the subscription, you have nothing.

Audible vs Scribd: Conclusion

Let’s use a chart to summarize what we have discussed above.

For me, Audible is the best option because I live to listen to audiobooks. And the best thing is that I own the books I purchase on Audible.

Then, is there any reason to choose Scribd in the batter of Audible and Scribd. Of course! If you like audiobooks, but you also want to read ebooks, magazines and listen to sheet music, then Scribd is a better choice.