Is Kindle Unlimited Worth It in 2024? Cost, Benefits, and More

Amazon's Kindle Unlimited service is a popular choice for bookworms due to its convenience and generous borrowing policy, but at its current price, is it still worth it? With millions of titles available across e-books, audiobooks, and magazines, it certainly would seem like it on the surface. But before you sign up, give our guide a read on the cost as well as the benefits you can expect, plus some drawbacks that might be potential deal breakers for some deal seekers.

What to Know About Kindle Unlimited

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Is Kindle Unlimited Worth It?

For avid readers, Kindle Unlimited can be well worth the subscription fee. A membership provides access to more than 4 million e-books, thousands of audiobooks, and even select magazine subscriptions. Members can borrow up to 20 eligible titles at a time, and there's no return due date, unlike a traditional library setting. You'll likely have a bigger selection to choose from, too, which is another way the service can be worth parting with your cash for.

With so many titles available, one big question to ask yourself is whether or not the bulk of those options are things you'd read anyway, outside of the service. That said, a fair amount of Reddit users and some bloggers have reported that one of the most prolific genres on Kindle Unlimited is actually romance. Anecdotally, there are plenty of other genres available too, but if romance is dominating and you don't read romance (or rarely do), then you might find the service lacking. Additionally, many report that you won't find a ton of new releases — or at least you will very rarely — on Kindle Unlimited, so if this is something you're hoping for, it might not be worth it for you.

Ultimately, you'll probably want to be reading a high volume of books each month in order to find the service truly worth it — somewhere between five and 10 at least. Otherwise, you may feel like you're throwing your cash away.

How Much Is Kindle Unlimited per Month?

Kindle Unlimited is currently priced at $11.99 per month. If you're unsure about the service, it's worth signing up for a free trial — a free trial is typically 30 days, theoretically providing plenty of time to dive into some reading.

What Are the Benefits of Kindle Unlimited?

Having access to millions of e-books, audiobooks, and magazines might be benefit enough for some readers, but is that all Kindle Unlimited offers?

That might be the biggest selling point, but in addition to that, there are other perks. Some of them don't even require you to sign up first. For instance, you can check out this Kindle Unlimited page to browse titles and get an idea of what's on offer — you don't even have to sign in to your Amazon account to see them!

As noted previously, romance seems to be a big genre for Kindle Unlimited titles, but you will find other genres, too, including:

• Mystery & Thriller
• Literature & Fiction
• Sci-fi & Fantasy
• Manga & comics
• Health, Mind, & Body
• Bio & Memoir
• Nonfiction

How Much Cheaper Is Kindle Unlimited With Prime?

Kindle Unlimited and Prime have no connection — they're two completely separate services. That means if you're a Prime member paying $14.99 per month or $139 per year, you'll still have to pay $11.99 per month for a Kindle Unlimited subscription on top of that.

SEE ALSO: Here's Why Amazon's Return Policy May Surprise You

The good news about this, though, is that means you don't have to be a Prime member to sign up for the reading service. If you're not sold on Prime and its many benefits, then you can just sign up for Kindle Unlimited and focus on getting the best value for your fee there.

That said, if you are a Prime member or considering joining, you may want to time your Kindle Unlimited sign up around big Amazon holidays. In the past, we've seen the retailer extend the typical 30-day trial to a full three months for Prime members around holidays like Prime Day, Black Friday, and more. If you're not quite ready to give Kindle Unlimited a try, it's worth watching for one of these offers to reappear to get an even better value. If you're in the market for a Kindle device, you can also watch for special deals and bundles on those as sometimes they will include an extended trial to the Kindle Unlimited service as well.

Are There Student Discounts?

Unfortunately, there aren't student discounts for Kindle Unlimited. But, subscribers to Prime Student can actually get an extended trial of Kindle Unlimited (among other benefits). New subscribers can get a 6-month free trial of Prime Student, after which the cost is 50% off the regular fee. As part of your sign up for Prime Student, though, you'll enjoy a two month trial of Kindle Unlimited instead of the standard 30 days. Note that this is a limited time offer, though, so it could disappear at any time; if you're on the fence, double check before joining Prime Student to make sure the perk is still available.

How Can You Save the Most on a Kindle Unlimited Subscription?

If you're still wondering "how can I save the most on a Kindle Unlimited subscription?" after all this, the good news is we have some tips. As mentioned above, taking advantage of Prime deals is just one way to save the most on a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Aside from that, though, there are a few ways to get Kindle Unlimited for free that are worth checking out. Most aren't completely free — you'll have to spend at least a little something or be prepared for the short-lived Kindle Unlimited trial period.

However, if you're looking for free reading options in general, it's worth joining your local library first and foremost. While you might not want to spend time physically going to the library, having a membership will enable you to take advantage of some free alternatives to Kindle Unlimited.

If your local library supports it, you should be able to use things like Libby and Hoopla. The former works very much like a regular library experience, so you may have to join waitlists for books or audiobooks you're interested in, depending on how many copies your library has available. But the good news is that it's all digital, so you can check out titles or join waitlists from the app. Then you'll receive a notification when a title is available to be checked out. For every title you borrow, you should have about 14 days to read it before you'll have to return it.

Hoopla, on the other hand, allows you to borrow five titles per month and gives you 21 days for each to finish reading them before they're automatically returned to the library. Since Hoopla borrows are restricted to 5 per month, it's worth signing up for both services and checking Libby first to determine if a title is available there before wasting a borrow at Hoopla.

Kindle Unlimited vs. Prime Reading

If you're familiar with Amazon perks in general, you may know that Prime Reading is a thing. This is one of the many Prime benefits members can take advantage of, but there's a pretty large difference between Kindle Unlimited and Prime Reading — mainly it's the number of titles available. While Kindle Unlimited boasts millions of titles to choose from (even if they aren't necessarily the latest and greatest), Prime Reading provides "over a thousand" books, magazines, comics, Kindle Singles, and more. If you're just looking to supplement your reading options, then Prime Reading may be perfectly fine — as long as you're going to be a Prime member either way. But if you're looking for significantly more options, it may be worth giving Kindle Unlimited a try.

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