One credit a month plus unlimited access to a large VIP listening library.
- Price
- $14.95 / month (US)
- Free trial
- 30 days, 3 titles on most offers
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Chirp review
Daily discounted audiobooks with no subscription at all.
By Jonah Reyes · Tested and updated 18 August 2026 · BookBub
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Pricing at a glance
Chirp — cost and free trial
- Free trial
- Not applicable
- After the trial
- No monthly fee; deals often $0.99–$5.99
- Catalogue
- Rotating deals across most major publishers
- Cancel anytime
- Yes — purchases are permanent
Not an affiliate link — we earn nothing if you sign up here. Prices checked 18 August 2026; always confirm on the provider's own page.
The short version
The best way to build a library cheaply if you are patient about what you read next.
- How it works
- À la carte — limited-time deals
- Price
- No monthly fee; deals often $0.99–$5.99
- Free trial
- Not applicable
- Catalogue
- Rotating deals across most major publishers
- Do you keep books?
- Yes — purchases are permanent
- Offline listening
- Yes
- Devices
- iOS, Android, web player
- File restrictions
- DRM-protected, Chirp app
- Where it works
- US primarily, some titles elsewhere
What we liked
- No subscription required
- Genuinely low prices on backlist
- Purchases are permanent
What held it back
- You read what is on sale
- Basic app
- Few new releases
How it felt to use
Chirp sells time-limited audiobook deals and nothing else. There is no membership, no credit to burn before it expires, and prices on backlist titles regularly beat every subscription in this list on a per-book basis.
The daily email is the product. Deals rotate, so your reading order is dictated by what happens to be cheap, which suits browsers and frustrates anyone with a fixed list.
Playback lives in Chirp's own app, which is basic but stable.
Best for
- Bargain hunters
- Backlist readers
- People who hate subscriptions
Our verdict
A perfect companion to a subscription rather than a replacement for one.
Head to head
Chirp or Libby?
Libby is free but you wait; Chirp is cheap and instant. Most listeners we know use both — Libby for the queue, Chirp for the book they want tonight.
Other services we tested
The biggest catalogue and the deepest bench of exclusive originals.
- Price
- $14.95 / month (Premium Plus, US)
- Free trial
- 30 days, 1 credit
Same credits, same catalogue — but your money supports an independent bookshop.
- Price
- $14.99 / month (US)
- Free trial
- First month, 1 credit