How Much Is Kindle Unlimited & Is Amazon’s Reading Subscription Worth It?

Amazon Kindle Unlimited is a tempting subscription for avid Kindle readers, but how much is Kindle Unlimited and is it worth it? In 2022, subscription services are everywhere you look. A few years ago, the norm was to buy digital and physical content outright for full ownership. Today, there’s a much greater focus on moving towards subscription models.

There are countless examples of this. Rather than buying movies and TV shows, most people now subscribe to apps like Netflix and Hulu. The same rule applies to music streaming. Buying individual MP3 files used to be common practice. Now, most folks get their music through a Spotify or Apple Music subscription. There’s also Xbox Game Pass for video games, monthly installment plans for new smartphones, etc., etc.

This subscription world also applies to reading. Anyone with an Amazon Kindle (or Kindle mobile app) can buy individual books and read them that way. Alternatively, they can subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and pay a monthly fee to access millions of books at once. So, how much does all of that cost? Kindle Unlimited is priced at $9.99/month after a 30-day free trial. Unlike some other subscriptions, there’s no annual plan, family plan, or student discount. Kindle Unlimited only has a $9.99/month subscription for full access for one person.

Why Kindle Unlimited Is (And Isn’t) Worth It

The main draw to Kindle Unlimited is its huge collection of e-books. Kindle Unlimited subscribers have unlimited access to more than 2 million titles, including “popular series, best sellers, classics, and more.” Considering that many e-books sell on Amazon for $10, $15, or $20 apiece, paying $9.99/month for over 2 million titles is an incredible value. Furthermore, ‘thousands’ of books in Kindle Unlimited have the option to listen to them as audiobooks with Audible Narration. And as if that wasn’t enough, Kindle Unlimited also includes up to three free digital magazine subscriptions (including titles like People, Food Network Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, and others).

All of that’s certainly worth $9.99/month, right? While it may be for many people, there are a couple of reasons why you’d want to avoid Kindle Unlimited. For one thing, the book selection may not have specific titles you’re interested in reading. Chances are there will be some books in Kindle Unlimited that catch your fancy, but there are also bound to be many titles you have no interest in at all. Furthermore, with Kindle Unlimited’s library constantly changing, there’s no guarantee that certain books will be included with your subscription forever. Additionally, Kindle Unlimited might not be a good fit for families. While it’s technically possible to share Kindle Unlimited books if a family/couple is reading from the same Kindle account, there’s no way to share Kindle Unlimited books with other users.

Like most subscriptions, it’s worth trying Kindle Unlimited’s free trial and seeing how it works for you. If you end up liking the service, spending $9.99/month to read so many titles could be money well spent. If you find that it’s not a good fit, simply cut ties after the free trial and call it quits.

Source: Amazon

About The Author

Joe Maring
(1516 Articles Published)

Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he’s happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix.

More From Joe Maring