Are you looking for audiobooks to listen to for free? Then this is the list for you! Audiobooks are wonderful whether you’re listening to them during your commute, while doing chores around the house, while exercising, while you’re stuck at home during the coronavirus, or really anytime. But audiobooks can also be super expensive. So if you’re looking for ways to download audiobooks for free, these 20 sites are perfect to find free and legal downloads and streams of audiobooks…from classics to modern works!
1. LibriVox
When you’re wanting to listen to audiobooks online free, LibriVox is a wonderful place to go for free audiobooks of public domain books. Their goal is to make all books in the public domain available in audio format on the internet, which is pretty amazing!
You’ll find all sorts of gems on this site, whether you’re looking for an audiobook of a well-known classic like Pride and Prejudice or simply want to browse by genre or subject. Most of the texts for the audiobooks come from Project Gutenberg, which is one of my favorite places to find free ebooks on the internet!
However, LibriVox is a volunteer reading project so anyone can offer to read and record a book, which means you’ll find that the quality sometimes varies quite wildly. Some readers are incredible, while others you might not like…but there are usually multiple versions of each book (especially for popular books) so you can try out a few before you decide which one to listen to.
To listen to the audiobooks, you can download them to your computer or you can transfer them to your phone, tablet, etc. The formats should work just fine with any audio app you already use on your phone, but if you prefer you could also use a LibriVox app to pull all the audio files directly from the LibriVox catalog in an easy-to-use interface. One of the best free audiobook apps for LibriVox is called LibriVox Audio Books, and you can download it for android or download it for iPhone.
So if you’re looking to find the best free audiobooks to enjoy, then this is an excellent site to start with if the book you want is in the public domain. With so many different books and so many different readers to choose from, you are certain to find plenty of audiobooks to keep you entertained for a long, long time!
2. Lit2Go
Lit2Go is another excellent site for free audiobook downloads, and also offers some unique features that set it apart from many of the other sites on this list. It’s a collection of books and poems, but the additional features make it an especially good site for teachers to use with students (although it is still a wonderful site for individual users as well).
Some of the features that set Lit2Go apart are the abstract included with each audiobook plus the inclusion of the book’s text alongside the audio. You can listen directly in your web browser, or if you prefer you can download the audio and download the text as a PDF if you would like to read along while the audio plays!
To find audiobooks for free download on Lit2Go, you can search by keyword, title, author, etc. or you can use some of their sorting features including looking through books alphabetically, browsing by genre, filtering based on reading level, or even checking out their pre-made thematic collections.
The production quality on the audiobooks here is overall quite good (and often far better than audio quality of many books on LibriVox), so you can be assured that whatever you download should be easy and pleasant to listen to. No matter how you choose to explore this site, you’ll find that these free audiobooks online are a delightful way to experience some amazing literature!
3. Overdrive or Libby
If you’re looking for a free audiobooks app, then downloading Overdrive or Libby is a good idea! Both of these apps work by syncing your device to your local library’s online lending system, so once you enter your library card number you can immediately start searching for and borrowing audiobooks.
Overdrive and Libby allow you to find and download both audiobooks and ebooks, and if you are a member of multiple libraries then you can enter card numbers from each library to search all their online lending databases. It’s easy to search and easy to borrow from these apps, so when you’re looking for free online library audiobooks then this is the place to look!
As these apps rely on your library’s lending system, you may have to join a holds list for certain audiobooks as each library only has a certain number of electronic “copies” they can lend out at a time. This means if you’re looking for a really popular audiobook (like a free Harry Potter audiobook) then you may have to wait for anywhere from a day to several weeks for it to become available. You can place a lot of holds at a time, though, so if you have a TBR list then you can place holds in advance so the audiobooks are ready for you to download when you are ready for them.
While some audiobooks may require joining a wait list, there are also plenty of amazing audiobooks that will be available to download immediately. Whenever I want to listen to books for free, this is nearly always my first stop to see if it’s available here!
4. Audible
Wondering where to get free audiobooks? If you haven’t used Audible before (or haven’t used it recently), then this is the perfect place to get a free audiobook! All you have to do is sign up for a free trial of Audible and you’ll be able to choose any one book that you want at no cost. Then if you decide you’d rather not join the subscription service, you can simply cancel within 30 days and you won’t be charged.
Like the ebooks available from Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited, audiobooks are available from Amazon’s Audible and you can enjoy your one free audiobook before you have to pay for the service. But Audible allows you to keep the audiobook from your free trial forever! This is a pretty nice deal, especially if you choose a book you know you’ll want to listen to again in the future.
A few of the limitations of this method for finding audiobooks are that you only get the one book free and that you cannot have used an Audible free trial in the recent past. But if you have a book you want right now, then this can be a great way to get an audiobook free download right away while you wait for other books to become available through another method (like Overdrive).
So when you’re looking for where to find free audiobooks, give Audible a try! Their books are high quality and are often read by famous readers with amazing reading voices, so this is an excellent site to use.
5. The New Yorker‘s Fiction Podcast
If you’re interested in hearing some incredible short works by amazing authors, then listening to The New Yorker’s fiction podcast is the way to go. You may know some of the works and have read them already, but you’ll likely also discover some cool new short stories you’ve never heard of before!
There are all sorts of fun short stories to listen to here, many of which are from back issues of The New Yorker Magazine. You’ll find penty of famous authors’ works on this podcast, as well as plenty of famous authors reading and discussing other authors works…so this is definitely any literary lover’s dream podcast. And it’s free to listen to, so go browse through the offerings and start listening today!
6. Digitalbook
Looking for a place to listen to books online free that aggregates all the best free and legal books from across the web? If so, then Digitalbook is what you’re looking for!
This website offers over 100,000 Kindle, EPUB, and audiobooks for free download. Unlike other sites like LibriVox where audiobooks are recorded and produced, Digitalbooks merely aggregates audiobooks from sources including LibriVox, Gutenberg, Open Library, and more. If you’re looking for a mostly one-stop place to find some of the best audiobooks available for free, then Digitalbooks is your friend. It has a clean and easy to use interface that makes finding your next great read a breeze!
7. Google Play Books
Google Play Books is another place you can go to find free audiobooks. Not all of the items on this site are free, but there are a good number of free audiobooks you can search through when looking for your next book to listen to. There’s a large selection of classics as well as an interesting hodgepodge of modern/self-published works.
I find that finding an audiobook to listen to on Google Play Books works best when I don’t have anything specific I’m looking for, but instead when I am just curious about what books are on offer. Some of the books will be amazing, while I can also guarantee that others will be complete trash. That’s just the risk you take finding free audiobooks on this site!
The best way to find books here is by searching “free audioboks” or something more specific like “free fantasy audiobooks” or “free romance audiobooks” This will bring up a variety of free options, which you can then sift through to see if anything catches your attention.
So while you never know what you’ll discover here, this is a great site to browse when you’re bored and looking for some new possibilities to keep you occupied. It will certainly be an adventure!
8. Open Culture
The Open Culture site is an excellent place to find free things to do…from ebooks to read, to audiobooks to listen to, to movies to watch, and more! This collection of audiobooks is mostly classics with a few extras thrown in, and they have a nice easy list to browse through as you decide what to listen to next.
This complete list of free audiobooks on Open Culture will allow you to download files in a variety of formats, whether you’re looking for MP3 downloads, iTunes downloads, Audible downloads, or more. There are hundreds of works to choose from, including fiction and poetry selections, so you are sure to find plenty to keep you busy on this site!
9. Hoopla
Hoopla is another great app similar to Overdrive for finding free audiobooks, ebooks, movies, etc. to enjoy. While Hoopla does require a library card number, this service is different from Overdrive in that you can download any work available on the app immediately for free.
This change means no more waiting on the holds list to get a hold of the book you’ve been wanting to listen to! Instead, you can browse the enormous library of audiobooks to discover exactly what you want right now. Of course, there are some books that aren’t included in Hoopla’s library, but you’ll definitely be able to find a range of popular audiobooks here…including anything from The Hunger Games series to the Wings of Fire series and more.
So when you’re searching for audiobook free downloads that you can get right away, Hoopla is a good place to go. One thing to note, however, is that you only have a certain number of downloads per month (depending on your library’s restrictions) so if you can find audiobooks through other methods then you can save these Hoopla downloads for books you can’t find immediately on other sites. On the whole, this is a great way to help you find audiobooks to listen to while you wait for books on Overdrive and other sites to become available!
10. Storynory
Are you looking for free audiobooks for kids? If so, then Storynory is the place to go. This site offers all its content for free, from delightful fairy tales to original stories exclusive to Storynory!
This is definitely one of the largest and most beloved sites for finding free children’s audiobooks, and the quality of the audiobooks here is quite incredible. From the musical intros, to the quality of the readings, to the production quality, everything about these books makes them perfectly delightful to listen to.
Whether you’re looking for Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales or popular Storynory originals like Astropup (a story about a dog who travels through space with a cat and a parrot), there is something here for every type of kid and often something here for those of us who are kids at heart as well! You’ll also find a collection of some non-fiction audiobooks, including a series on Herodotus for older listeners.
These stories are told in podcast-like segments for easy listening, and you can listen online or download the audiobooks if you prefer. You’ll find that each podcast/audiobook segment also includes the text of the book that is read in the audio, which is great for those who like to follow along while someone reads out loud.
So now if you’re wondering where to start on Storynory, check out their recommendations on what to listen to first or simply start taking a look around. You’ll be surprised at all the fun and amazing audiobooks you’ll find here for free!
11. Kobo
When you’re searching for somewhere to find free audiobooks, Kobo is a great place to go! If it’s your first time on Kobo, you can start a free audiobooks trial to get your first book free. This service works similarly to Audible, in that you have 30 days in which to use your free trial and then if you decide to continue you will need to pay a monthly fee. However, if you cancel in the first 30 days then you will not be charged.
While you can’t get every audiobook on Kobo for free, this free trial does allow you to get one audiobook for free that you can keep forever (even if you cancel). This is a pretty amazing deal, especially if you’re looking for popular books in audiobook format for free! You’ll find a range of popular books here, from The Lord of the Rings to the Harry Potter series and more so this is a great place to go when you can’t find these (or other books) available immediately through other sources.nSo if you want to get a free audiobook, be sure to get your free Kobo audiobooks trial now!
12. Learn Out Loud
Learn Out Loud is another great place to find free audiobook content, and is particularly aimed toward the goal of learning (instead of just offering any and all book content). This site’s stated goal is to turn “dead time” into “learning time,” whether that means listening and learning on your commute, listening while exercising, or more.
While not everything on this site is free, you can find their complete directory of free audio and video content here or can even enjoy lots of free podcasts in their podcast directory or their Learn Out Loud Podcast Originals. There are lots of incredible audiobooks available for free on here as well as some great podcasts to help you learn new skills or new facts about history, mythology, poetry, etc. So whether you’re looking for something just for fun or for something to fill your “dead time” productively, Learn Out Loud is the perfect place to look!
13. Audiobooks.com
Another excellent place to search for free audiobooks is on Audiobooks.com. This site is a subscription site like Audible and Kobo, but if you haven’t used it before then you can sign up and get two audiobooks for free before either continuing with the subscription or canceling.
This site has an amazing collection ranging from bestsellers to classics, so it’s likely they’ll have the book you’re looking for! Or if you aren’t looking for anything in particular, you can simply browse their selections until you find something that interests you. There are both fiction and non-fiction options, so there’s something for everyone.
One thing to be aware of, however, is that some users have trouble canceling their subscriptions. When I used Audiobooks.com for a while and tried to cancel mine, I was still billed the next month for the subscription. My recommendation if you want to try out this site is to give it a go, but then keep an eye on your credit card statement the next month to make sure it successfully canceled. If it didn’t, give them a call and they’ll be able to refund you for that month and officially cancel your subscription to the service.
So if you’re looking for a new audiobook subscription site to rent audiobooks or to find a few audiobooks for free, then Audiobooks.com is a good place to go! Their wide variety of books to choose from makes sure that you will be entertained with any audiobook you choose.
14. Loyal Books
Loyal Books is another free public domain audiobooks site, similar to LibriVox, so those looking for audiobooks to listen to for free might enjoy finding their next read/listen on this site.
One of the things that sets Loyal Books apart from other public domain audiobook sites is their browsing experience. Since Loyal Books recognizes that some audiobook users listen to audiobooks because reading does not come easily to them, they have set up their site in a way that makes it primarily a visual-based browsing experience. Rather than having to read lots of text to decide what to read next, you can discover new books through the book covers and titles.
You’ll also find that the Loyal Books website is screen reader friendly, which makes this an excellent site for the print disabled. If this is you or someone you know, then be sure to check out this amazing site and discover the brilliant world of free audiobooks from the public domain offered by Loyal Books!
15. BookBeat
If you listen to audiobooks regularly or have a lot of books you want to listen to in the upcoming weeks, then BookBeat is the site for you! This is an audiobook subscription service similar to Audible, but unlike Audible it allows you to listen to as many books as you like. With no limits!
So while BookBeat is a paid subscription, it also makes this list because they offer a 2 week free trial for new users. That’s two weeks where you can listen to as many audiobooks as you want for free! It’s a pretty sweet deal and you can cancel at anytime.
Through this service you can also download audiobooks to listen to them offline if you prefer. This is definitely a site worth looking into, especially since they have such a generous free trial!
16. Amazon Prime Reading
Did you know that if you have Amazon Prime you can listen to free audiobooks? Prime gives you access to the Prime Reading books for free, and many of these offer the audiobook version alongside the ebook version for you as well. All you have to do is check out the Prime Reading Free Audiobooks section!
These Amazon Prime free audiobooks are a great option for those who already use Prime, and all you have to do is look for the books with the little headphones symbol. This tells you that there is an audiobook version you can listen to, and then you can either read along with the ebook version or simply listen to the audiobook.
If you don’t yet have prime, however, don’t despair! You can get a free 30-day trial of Prime and listen to the Prime eligible audiobooks while the trial lasts. There are plenty of interesting books to listen to here through Prime Reading for free, so go ahead and take a look!
17. RBdigital
The RBdigital app is another library audiobook app that your public library may grant you access to. It is similar to Overdrive and Hoopla, but you may wish to check here when neither of those have the audiobooks you’re looking for immediately available.
The RBdigital app experience (in my opinion) is inferior to that of Overdrive and Hoopla, so Overdrive is always my first go-to when looking for free library audiobooks. However, I occasionally check RBdigital when neither of the other apps have what I’m looking for. This is my recommendation for you as well, although perhaps once you try it you’ll find it fits your needs better than the other library apps. It’s all up to personal opinion!
The offerings available on this app will differ between libraries, but if your library offers it you’ll be able to find audiobooks, ebooks, magazines, newspapers, and a lot of other media formats as well. That makes this a unique app, as you can find lots of things here for free even beyond audiobooks!
You’re also allowed to “binge” on content here (there aren’t restrictions like with Hoopla), so this is definitely a good app to check when you are looking for amazing audiobooks to read for free!
18. Free Classic AudioBooks
The next completely free and legal audiobook service for you to check out is Free Classic AudioBooks. Here you’ll be able to access public domain books as well as other offerings like free language learning audiobooks, so this is a great site to explore!
Another cool thing about this site is that you can make requests for audiobooks you wish to hear but aren’t yet part of their library. Whether they make it or not depends on lots of factors (including whether it is legal to distribute for free), but it doesn’t hurt to ask if you know there’s a public domain book that you want to hear!
On this site you can download the free audiobooks in multiple formats including MP3 and from iTunes. So be sure to check this site out next time you’re looking to download audiobooks free!
19. Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is another good place to find free audiobooks and recordings. This site aggregates recordings from other sites (some of which are already on this list of places to find free audiobooks and some of which aren’t).
Here you’ll find audiobooks and poetry recordings from sites including the Naropa Poetics Audio Archive, LibriVox, Maria Lectrix, as well as some originals recorded by Internet Archive users. It’s quite a vast library, so you should be able to use it to find a lot of free and legal audiobooks (many of which are in the public domain).
If you are print disabled, you might also find that Internet Archive’s project Open Library is a good place to find books as their books here offer the text read to you either in audiobook format or simply with a computerized voice. However, Open Library/the Internet Archive have become controversial over the last few years (which you can read a bit more about in my guide to finding free ebooks online), so be sure to check out the controversy to decide whether Open Library/Internet Archive is a site you feel comfortable using.
20. Kindle Unlimited
Like the Prime Reading service for Amazon Prime users, Kindle Unlimited users will find that they can also listen to some audiobooks from audible for free with their subscription or trial. Not every Kindle book offers an audio version too, but enough books do that this can be a great way to combine a love of reading with a love of listening to audiobooks!
If you are already paying for Kindle Unlimited, then the book narration is a fun extra service Amazon provides for you at no extra cost. However, if you aren’t already using Kindle Unlimited and haven’t used it in the recent past, then you should be eligible for a 30-day free trial of Kindle Unlimited where you can download both ebooks and audiobooks to read and enjoy.
With Kindle Unlimited, you can borrow up to 10 books at a time…but you can return these at any time to continue borrowing as many other books as you want during this 30 day trial period. If you have a month where you will have a lot of free time, then that’s a great time to give Kindle Unlimited a try both for its ebook and its audiobook collections!
To discover which books are available with narration, simply browse through this list. Or, if you prefer to search by a specific book, then you can see whether it offers free narration by looking for the headphones symbol next to the words “Kindle Unlimited.” If it has this symbol, then you’ll be able to get the audio for free while using this service! There are tons of books on offer here (many of which are also incredibly popular books), so be sure to check out what is available and start listening now!
Bonus: Audible Stories for Free!
If you’re looking for something to keep your kids (or yourself) occupied while schools are closed due to the Coronavirus, Amazon has graciously offered a selection of Audible stories for free!
These stories range from stories for little listeners, to stories for elementary school kids, to tweens, to teens, and even ranging genres from classics, to fairy tales, and more. There are also books available in multiple languages, if this is something you are interested in.
This is an amazing service to use during this time of social distancing, particularly if you’re looking for ways to keep your little ones occupied now that they’re home all day. And Amazon has promised this audiobook library will stay open and free as long as the schools are closed, so go ahead and start browsing the selections today!
