Free Audiobooks
Audiobooks can be an expensive hobby—so instead of burning a hole in your wallet and spending ages searching online, we’ve compiled the best collections of free audiobooks and audio dramas in what might be the most comprehensive roundup out there.
The audiobook market is growing year by year, both in terms of user numbers and the range on offer. And the requirements for this form of entertainment often vary widely. It’s especially hard to get an overview when it comes to free collections.
That’s why we’ve put together a comprehensive list of the most important sources for free audiobooks and audio dramas, including an overview and comparison table, plus brief descriptions of each website.
We highlight websites that stand out from the crowd, especially those distinguished by original (self-produced) content that’s fully available, rather than just individual chapters.
Note: Alongside our free audiobook overview, we also offer an overview and comparison of free eBooks.
Free audiobook collections
| Name | Kategorie | Umfang des Sortiments ca. | Sortiment (Qualität) | Original- oder Verlagsinhalte | Download / Streaming | Anmeldung nötig? | Nur kostenlos nutzbar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Audible Webseite | Beschreibung | Kommerziell | 350.000 | ++ | ja | ja / ja | ja | nein, Abo-Modell |
| Archive.org Webseite | Beschreibung | Sammlung | 15.000 | ~ | nein | ja / ja | nein | ja |
| Freiszene.de Webseite | Beschreibung | Sammlung | 1.000 | ~ | nein | ja / nein | nein | ja |
| Gratis-Hoerspiele.de Webseite | Beschreibung | Sammlung | 3.000 | ~ | nein | ja / ja | nein | ja |
| Hit-Tuner Webseite | Beschreibung | Sammlung | 700 | ~ | nein | ja / ja | nein | ja |
| Hörspielprojekt Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | 250 | + | ja | ja / nein | nein | ja |
| Librivox Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | 30.000 | + | ja | ja / nein | nein | ja |
| Lübbe Audio Podcast Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | 80 | + | ja | ja / nein | nein | ja |
| Märchenblog Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | 350 | + | ja | ja / ja | nein | ja |
| Ohrka Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | 130 | ++ | ja | ja / ja | nein | ja |
| Vorleser.net Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | 750 | + | ja | ja / nein | nein | ja |
| YouTube Webseite | Beschreibung | Sammlung | ? | ~ | nein | nein / ja | nein | ja, mit Werbung |
| Onleihe Webseite | Beschreibung | Verleihservice | 10.000 | ++ | ja | ja / nein | ja | nein, öffentliche Bibliothek |
| Overdrive Webseite | Beschreibung | Verleihservice | 140.000 | ++ | ja | ja / nein | ja | nein, öffentliche Bibliothek |
| ARD Mediathek Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | 350 | ++ | ja | ja / ja | nein | ja |
| Bayern 2 Hörspielpool Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | 330 | ++ | ja | ja / ja | nein | ja |
| WDR Hörspiel-Speicher Webseite | Beschreibung | Originalinhalte | ? | ++ | ja | ja / ja | nein | ja |
| Audioteka Webseite | Beschreibung | Kommerziell | 26.000 | ++ | ja | ja / ja | nein | nein, Abo-Modell |
| Bookbeat Webseite | Beschreibung | Kommerziell | 40.000 | ++ | ja | ja / ja | nein | nein, Flatrate-Modell |
| Napster Webseite | Beschreibung | Kommerziell | ? | ++ | ja | nein / ja | ja | nein, Flatrate-Modell |
| Spotify Webseite | Beschreibung | Kommerziell / Werbung | ? | ++ | ja | nein / ja | ja | ja, mit Werbung |
General information about audiobooks
An audiobook is an audio recording of a reading. In English they’re called “audiobooks”; in German you’ll sometimes see the analogous term “Audiobuch”.
By now there are around 15 million regular audiobook listeners across Germany—and the number is rising. For the majority (around 66 percent), unabridged versions are important. Surprisingly, this requirement isn’t often met in practice, so audiobooks are usually abridged compared to the print editions. The most extensive selection of unabridged titles can currently be found at Audible (see below).
Don’t confuse audiobooks with the so-called text-to-speech function (TTS). While audiobooks are read by real people, TTS is merely a computer-generated reading of content. TTS quality has improved significantly in recent years, but it’s still nowhere near as good as classic audiobooks. TTS is therefore more suitable as a reading aid or a quick stopgap, whereas audiobooks are a good solution for primarily consuming book content in audio form.
It’s also worth noting that the term audiobook is often used as a catch-all for different audio formats. Audio dramas, podcasts, audio guides, etc. are commonly referred to as audiobooks too.
Unlike books, audiobooks aren’t subject to fixed book pricing. As a result, offerings (and sometimes catalogs) vary widely, so it definitely makes sense for users to compare paid providers.
Categories of free audiobook providers
Free audiobook offerings can be divided into several categories:
- Free and self-produced (private): Hörspielprojekt, Librivox, Märchenblog, Ohrka, Vorleser.net, Lübbe Audio
- Free and self-produced (public broadcasters): ARD Mediathek, Hörspielpool, Hörspiel-Speicher
- Collections from different sources: Archive.org, Freiszene, Gratis-Hoerspiele.de, Hit-Tuner, YouTube
- Fee-based lending services: Onleihe, Overdrive
- Primarily paid services: Audible, Audioteka, Bookbeat, Napster, Spotify
Collections drawing from different sources usually use content from the other providers listed in the free and self-produced categories (private & public broadcasters). The potential advantage is a consolidated overview. In my research, however, I quickly found myself preferring the original sites, because I wasn’t constantly running into duplicates I’d already seen elsewhere.
Even though this is primarily a list of free catalogs, commercial providers are included as well.
The reason is simple: they often offer free trial periods, which deal-hunters can use to get popular audiobooks at no cost. Given the nature of the market, subscription and flat-rate models are also an important way for heavy listeners to get audiobooks affordably. So it’s definitely worth taking a look.
In general, you can also distinguish between free and paid catalogs by whether the works are in the public domain or protected by copyright. Many free audiobooks and audio dramas are recordings of public-domain titles, and more rarely, protected material licensed from rights holders. Occasionally, you’ll find narrated indie titles. Paid sites, on the other hand, primarily feature popular, current publisher titles.
Legal or illegal: what to watch out for
From an end-user perspective, it isn’t always easy to distinguish legal from illegal offerings. That’s as true for audiobooks as it is for other digital areas.
Unfortunately, there are no universal tips to make sure you haven’t inadvertently landed on an illegal platform while searching for free audiobooks. Even while compiling the list below, I wasn’t always sure whether what I’d found was legal.
This uncertainty usually clears up after a bit of research on the relevant sites. It becomes obvious especially quickly when popular audiobooks are being offered in large numbers for free. You can assume that such titles—apart from isolated promotions—aren’t simply allowed to be distributed freely on the web.
A request for payment is no guarantee of legality either, since some illegal download platforms also offer paid sections. A good indicator of such platforms is the domain ending: illegal offerings often use lesser-known TLDs like “.bz”, “.to”, and similar.
The safest route is to stick to known sources, which are often backed by publishers or media companies, and rely on common domain endings (.com, .org, .net, .de, .at, .ch, etc.).
Audible
Note: Commercial provider, only partially free
Strictly speaking, Audible isn’t a classic provider of free audiobooks. It’s a commercial service from Amazon. It’s listed here anyway because Audible has one of the largest German-language audiobook catalogs, including numerous unabridged titles, and offers a free trial followed by an attractive subscription model.
The subscription costs 9.95 euros per month, with the first month free. Amazon Prime customers even get 3 months free. There’s no minimum term. Each month you get one to two audiobooks included. You can choose them from the entire catalog. Even if an audiobook normally costs 30 euros, it’s included in the membership at no extra charge. Additional audiobooks then cost 9.95 euros, even if the regular price is higher.
In addition to audiobooks, Audible also offers a range of high-quality podcasts with no access restrictions. For more information on Audible, you can take a look at our review, which answers all the key questions.
Archive.org
Archive.org hosts a collection of numerous audiobooks from different sources. You won’t find original, self-produced audiobooks here—only those from other providers. The largest source is LibriVox (see below).
The free audiobooks are mostly in English. Other languages, including German, are available as well, but in smaller numbers. The filter menu on the left offers some handy options to narrow down the selection.
No registration is required. Audiobooks can be downloaded as MP3 files or streamed directly on the website.
Freiszene
Freiszene is another collection of free audiobooks from various sources. German-language audiobooks are sorted by different categories on the right-hand side, with download links.
The links either lead directly to the respective audiobook file or to other websites. Some links no longer work because they point to external pages. There’s no streaming option.
Gratis-Hoerspiele.de
You’ll find a large, nicely presented catalog at Gratis-Hoerspiele.de. The free audiobooks come from a wide range of sources and are offered in several formats for listening. Some are streaming-only, others download-only.
Some of the Spotify streaming embeds are a bit annoying. They do play for free, but without logging in you can’t listen all the way through. That can be confusing when the track suddenly skips to the next one halfway through.
Download and streaming sections are separated and organized into different categories. The search function allows you to search for titles across categories. The browsing section is extensive but, due to the peculiar split of genres, not very clear at first glance. Unfortunately, filtering and sorting options are missing.
Hit-Tuner.net
Hit-Tuner is a (large) collection of various sources of audiobooks, podcasts, and radio stations. The site is clearly laid out and invites browsing.
The audiobook offering appears to come exclusively from LibriVox and mainly adds the benefit of a tidy streaming player. In addition to audiobooks and audio dramas, there are countless free podcasts split into categories. Content from public broadcasters is highlighted—these are also available directly on their respective websites.
This collection overview makes Hit-Tuner a good place to sort and browse content. You won’t find original audiobooks here, though.
Hörspielprojekt
Hörspielprojekt offers around 250 self-produced audio pieces. The project is connected to the HörTalk forum, whose community creates the free audio dramas. The content itself therefore comes almost exclusively from self-publishers.
The Hörspielprojekt website is clearly structured and offers cover-view lists for various genres. Not content-related, but worth mentioning: the site uses no tracking codes or ads. Funding comes from donations. (As of 11/04/2018)
The associated community offers an interesting look behind the scenes of producing free audiobooks, bringing together authors, narrators, and editors.
LibriVox
LibriVox probably offers the largest selection of free audiobooks—around 30,000 titles in total (about 2,200 in German). The project exclusively records public-domain books.
Public domain means the standard term of protection has expired, so copyright no longer applies. In Germany that’s 70 years after the death of the author or translator.
Some collections are read by multiple narrators, so within a single work you may hear different voices. The audiobooks can be downloaded for free directly from the website in ZIP or M4B format. You can also download individual sections as MP3s.
Lübbe Audio Podcast
Bastei Lübbe offers two different podcasts (books and children’s books), updated roughly every two weeks, with an attractive mix of audio samples, free audiobook episodes, interviews, and recordings of live readings.
Together, the two Lübbe Audio podcasts provide interesting behind-the-scenes insights and, thanks to their regular updates, are a good place to find new free material over a longer period. The goal is to whet listeners’ appetites, so you won’t find complete audiobooks for free here.
The archives for the two podcasts go back to December 2016 and November 2017, respectively. The “Play” button is a bit misleading, as it leads straight to a download—just like the linked file name. There’s no built-in streaming player. Unfortunately, there’s also no information on file size or episode length.
Märchenblog
Fairy-tale fans will find an interesting selection at Märchenblog. The website offers around 350 free audio dramas of all kinds of fairy tales, available for streaming and as free MP3 downloads with no registration. They’re sorted by author, country, and type of fairy tale.
The narrator and operator of the site is Beatrice Amberg. Some titles are public domain; others are current self-published fairy tales. Unfortunately, no new audio dramas have been added for quite some time.
Like Hörspielprojekt, the website is free of tracking and ads.
Ohrka (free audiobooks for children)
Ohrka’s child-focused catalog is supported by several federal institutions and provided by the association of the same name. This non-profit, free, ad-free project offers high-quality audiobooks and audio dramas voiced by well-known narrators.
For example, there’s the audiobook “Alarm im Uhrenland”, narrated by Nico Sablik, the voice actor for Harry Potter (as well as Captain Kirk and Spider-Man). Or The Jungle Book with Anke Engelke as narrator. You’ll also hear a range of other familiar film and TV voice actors.
The catalog is explicitly aimed at children, grouped by age (from 5, 8, or 12 years), but in reality it’s entertaining well beyond those age groups. The audiobooks can be downloaded for free in MP3 format or streamed on the website. It’s a pity the layout makes the overview a bit harder to navigate and, for example, you won’t find dates to quickly spot newly added audiobooks.
Also unfortunate: There haven’t been any new audiobooks for about a year.
Vorleser.net
You’ll find over 750 audiobooks at the classic site for free audio books, Vorleser.net. For years the platform has offered free audiobooks and audio dramas for download and streaming. The catalog consists primarily of public-domain works, with recordings produced exclusively for Vorleser.net.
This provides another selection of narrated literary classics alongside LibriVox. The quality of the audiobooks is consistently high.
The offering is financed by advertising. Dedicated iOS and Android apps complement the regular web version and make accessing the audiobooks even easier.
YouTube
Almost everyone is familiar with YouTube. You can find a video on just about any topic there. Google’s video platform also hosts music and audiobooks. How much is available, however, isn’t easy to figure out.
The second issue is legality. YouTube is sometimes misused for illegal uploads, so copyrighted material finds its way onto the platform. That can happen with audiobooks too. For the average user, there’s no easy way to tell whether an audiobook landed on YouTube legally or illegally.
In the end, you can only make assumptions—ones that become more plausible the more popular the title being offered is. As a rule, it’s best to stick to known or official channels from narrators and audiobook providers when listening on YouTube.
Public broadcasters (ARD, Bayern 2, WDR)
You’ll find rich, high-quality, and regularly updated selections of free audiobooks from the public broadcasting institutions.
Whether it’s the ARD Mediathek, Bayern 2’s Hörspielpool, or WDR’s Hörspiel-Speicher, there’s something here for almost everyone. The offerings comprise free audiobooks and audio dramas across a wide range of formats.
Crime stories and fiction are narrated alongside conversations and themed features. Many recordings are available to stream and/or download directly; some are provided solely as audiovisual content in video format.
- To the ARD Mediathek website
- To the Bayern 2 Hörspielpool website
- To the WDR Hörspiel-Speicher website
Onleihe
Note: Public library fees apply
Among eBook readers, Onleihe has already become very important—especially heavy readers benefit from the service. It’s a platform for public libraries.
Libraries can offer their members a digital counterpart on the internet in addition to the physical library. In other words: members can also borrow eBooks and audiobooks online.
It isn’t completely free, but with an annual membership fee usually no more than 30 euros, it’s close. In return, you can borrow as many titles as you like.
The only catch: if an audiobook has already been borrowed, you have to wait until it’s “returned”. While the file could theoretically be given out to unlimited members, for licensing reasons online lending works just like it does on site. If a title is “out”, it isn’t available for other interested users.
Overdrive
Note: Public library fees apply
Overdrive is similar to Onleihe. It’s also a platform for public libraries but run by a different operator. While Onleihe is operated by the German company divibib GmbH from Reutlingen, Overdrive is run by the Japanese-Canadian eBook specialist Rakuten Kobo and originally comes from North America.
This also affects the catalog and usage: Overdrive has an extensive English-language catalog that some German libraries also offer. The help pages are currently available only in English. The exact scope of the German offering is hard to determine, but you can assume it’s smaller than Onleihe’s due to the English focus.
The advantage is that it’s currently less well known here, so you may not have to wait long for an audiobook. Some libraries use both services (Onleihe and Overdrive) in parallel, so your membership fee can give you access to both.
Audioteka
Note: Commercial provider, only partially free
Audioteka is a Polish audiobook provider and Audible competitor. It also offers a free 30-day trial of its subscription (9.95 euros), with no minimum term.
In addition to regular audio samples, which are only 5 minutes long, there’s a dedicated category for audiobooks that offer entire chapters to stream for free. That way you can get a better sense of the narrator and the content beforehand.
Bookbeat
Note: Commercial provider, only partially free
You can currently try Bookbeat for free for two weeks. It’s a commercial provider originally from Sweden (Bonnier) and offers a counterweight to Audible.
It’s listed here not only because of the free trial but also because of the flat rate. For 14.90 euros a month you get 30 hours of listening; for 19.90 euros a month you can listen as much as you want.
For heavy listeners, Bookbeat is an interesting alternative to other paid audiobook sites. With Bonnier, a major media company, behind Bookbeat, you also get high-profile publisher titles. The catalog is smaller than Audible’s, though.
Napster
Note: Commercial provider, only partially free
Napster is a music streaming provider that also has a large audiobook catalog. During the free 30-day trial month you get full access to the offering. After that it costs 9.95 euros a month, which is still a great deal for audiobook fans.
Unlike Spotify, audiobooks and audio dramas at Napster are sorted into dedicated categories, making them easier to find and filter. The catalog includes numerous well-known (including current) titles and authors.
Even though the homepage doesn’t exactly encourage it, you can browse a bit here before registering to get a feel for the service.
Spotify
Note: Commercial provider, only partially free
The music streaming service Spotify also has audiobooks in its catalog, but unfortunately they can’t be sorted easily. They’re buried within the rest of the catalog and can be found either via search or various playlists.
A big advantage, however, is that the service can also be used with a free account. You’ll have to tolerate ads, but you do get free access to the entire audiobook catalog.