Amazon Kindle Unlimited, is it worth it?
It's been over a decade since Amazon launched Kindle Unlimited UK. Then priced at £7.99 a month, it offered a 'Netflix of books' style experience with over 650,000 ebooks and 2,000 audiobooks from Amazon's Audible sub-brand.
Since then, the service has grown to offer a less specific 'millions' of ebooks, audiobooks, news and magazine subscriptions, with the price sadly keeping pace. If you have one of the best Kindles, it's a compelling offer, but is Kindle Unlimited worth the money?
What is Kindle Unlimited?
Kindle Unlimited is a digital library with a monthly subscription that allows you to read millions of ebooks and magazines on your Kindle, phone, computer or tablet whenever you want and at no extra cost.
Unlike a traditional library, there's no due date for returning books. That means that as long as you keep up with your Kindle Unlimited subscription, the books are yours to hold onto. Amazon says that Kindle Unlimited members have cumulatively read over three billion books in the service's first decade.
How much is Kindle Unlimited?
Kindle Unlimited costs £9.49 a month, but there is a free 30-day trial if you want to try it out before you commit.
It's worth exploring offers around sales events like Black Friday and Prime Day, when Amazon has previously had limited-time price reductions. Even outside of these periods, however, you may find a personal offer to tempt you. I was offered £3.99 for my first two months, for example.
What do you get for the money?
For the cost of your monthly subscription, you get instant access to millions of ebooks, as well as audiobooks and magazines.
It is a digital library, but with a slightly odd limitation in that you can only hold up to 20 titles at once. There's no physical limit to the number of available books like a traditional library so this is a slightly strange parameter. That said, you can create more space by 'returning' a title at any time so it's not a huge problem on the whole.
There are some big-hitting names in the Kindle Unlimited collection. The most popular titles on the service come from the likes of J.K. Rowling, John Marrs, Nelle L'Amour, Freida McFadden, T.L. Swan, Colleen Hoover, Suzanne Collins and L.J. Ross, with optional audio narration available on plenty. Magazines include BBC Science Focus, Livingetc, The Atlantic, Country Life, People, Runner's World and many more.
For adventurous readers, the benefits of Kindle Unlimited are clear. You can explore work from millions of authors you wouldn't normally try, without having to pay for each individual title. My partner, who has used the service for years, finds it great for horror books for example, so you may find that your niche of choice is well covered, too.
Are there any downsides?
There are a few drawbacks to Kindle Unlimited. The most prominent is that not every book is included in the subscription and if you have something specific in mind to read, there's a chance it won't be available. Even authors whose books are routinely on the Kindle Unlimited service don't always have their latest title included immediately either, so that's something to keep in mind.
Despite the presence of some big-name authors, Kindle Unlimited is also home to a number of self-published titles. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it won't be to everyone's liking when looking for their next read.
The sheer volume of available titles also presents a logistical problem of finding titles that you might enjoy. There's no monetary cost in trying dozens of books in search of your new favourite author, but there is a time cost. In that sense, Kindle Unlimited is arguably no different from Spotify or Netflix, but books are a bigger time-sink than a music track.
Elsewhere, there's the same downside that taints all subscription services from Spotify to Xbox Game Pass in that you don't own the content. When you buy a Kindle book, it's usually yours forever, but when you read one on Kindle Unlimited, you only retain access for as long as you stay subscribed.
In short, readers with limited time for exploration and who prefer to own their content may be better off spending the cost of the Kindle Unlimited subscription on books by authors they know they love, rather than paying the subscription for an unlimited selection of books they may not even like.
Are there any alternatives?
In another round of the ongoing Kindle vs Kobo battle, the latter has its own rival subscription to Kindle Unlimited. Called Kobo Plus, it costs £8.99 a month, with access to either 1.5 million ebooks or 150,000 audiobooks. A combined membership for both costs £11.99 a month, with a 30-day free trial available so you can test the waters.
Everand is another popular choice, featuring millions of ebooks, audiobooks and podcasts. It's a little pricier than Kindle Unlimited at £11.99 a month, but the subscription also includes Scribd and Slideshare at no extra cost.
It may seem counter-intuitive for ebooks, but one money-saving alternative is your own local library. OverDrive provides ebooks and audiobooks to over 3,000 UK libraries, so it's worth enquiring at your local one to see if it's an option for you.
The Telegraph verdict: Is Kindle Unlimited worth it?
Kindle Unlimited offers a phenomenal amount of value but it's not for everyone. If you're a reader that's open to taking a chance on different genres and unknown authors, then you may find the all-you-can-eat buffet of literature a tempting proposition.
If you only have limited reading time and have a select hit list of books, however, you might find it represents poor value for you.
The good news is that Amazon offers a 30-day free trial so you can get a feel for whether the titles included within Kindle Unlimited are to your tastes or not. With that in mind, there's really no harm in trying it out, as long as you remember to cancel before the end of your trial.
Amazon Kindle Unlimited FAQs
Is it easy to cancel Kindle Unlimited?
Yes, it is easy to cancel Kindle Unlimited. Just go to Your Memberships & Subscriptions in your Amazon account and click 'Cancel Kindle Unlimited Subscription'.
Is Kindle Unlimited included in Prime?
No, but an Amazon Prime subscription does include Prime Reading. This is essentially a scaled-back version of Kindle Unlimited with a far smaller library.
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