Every European ebook subscription service reviewed
Stockholm, Sweden
Basic 8.99 EUR per month (20 hours), Premium 10.99 EUR per month (100 hours), extra profiles from 1.99 EUR; 45-day trial (Dutch site)
Demo on request
Best for: Light and medium listeners who want a long trial and cheap family profiles
BookBeat is a Stockholm service that charges for reading and listening time. Its two Dutch plans are Basic with 20 hours at 8.99 EUR a month and Premium with 100 hours at 10.99 EUR, and a new subscriber starts with 45 free days and 20 hours. Someone who reads a few ebooks a week will rarely hit the cap.
BookBeat AB names registration number 556560-4583 in its privacy notice, together with the Swedish authority IMY as supervisor. A Dutch subscription requires residence in the Netherlands, and the vendor claims more than one million audiobooks and ebooks. Extra profiles from 1.99 EUR carry their own hours, though the family size is given as both four and five on the page.
What BookBeat does well
- 45-day trial with 20 hours
- Premium offers 100 hours for 10.99 EUR
- Extra profiles from 1.99 EUR
- Offline listening
- Swedish controller named with registration number and DPO contact
Where BookBeat falls short
- Hour caps on both plans
- Residence in the Netherlands required for the Dutch plan
- Family-size figures conflict on the page
- No data-location statement
Standout feature. BookBeat is the entry where each household member gets a separate budget of reading hours.
Stockholm, Sweden
Flex 7.99 EUR (10 hours), Premium 9.99 EUR (30 hours), Unlimited 13.99 EUR, Family from 18.99 EUR, each per 30 days (Dutch site)
Demo on request
Best for: Heavy listeners who value an unlimited tier and a read-along feature
Storytel offers three metered plans and one open tier on its Dutch page. Flex gives 10 hours for 7.99 EUR, Premium gives 30 hours for 9.99 EUR, Unlimited costs 13.99 EUR and Family starts at 18.99 EUR, always per 30 days. Unused Flex hours can pile up to 50, which suits irregular readers.
Storytel Sweden AB supplies the service and Storytel NL B.V. sells it on the Dutch site, with Storytel AB (publ) as the parent in Stockholm. The vendor claims more than one million titles and 2.5 million subscribers. Synced Listening, Kids Mode and machine-written story recaps are listed, and the recaps are not described as proofread.
What Storytel does well
- Unlimited tier without hour cap
- Unused hours on Flex accumulate up to 50
- Synced Listening for follow-along reading
- Kids Mode
- Contracting entities in Sweden and the Netherlands
Where Storytel falls short
- Billed every 30 days
- Lower tiers count hours
- Headline Unlimited price sits next to a temporary discount
- AI recaps are machine-generated
Standout feature. Storytel highlights the printed text while the narrator speaks, a feature no other service in this list describes.
Stockholm, Sweden
6.99 EUR per month after a 14-day trial with 30 hours (Dutch site)
Demo on request
Best for: Budget-minded listeners in the Netherlands, Belgium and the Nordics
Nextory advertises the cheapest start among the Dutch storefronts checked for this page: 6.99 EUR a month after 14 free days that include 30 hours. The vendor says its catalogue holds 1.4 million books, and the menu has sections for children, sleep and relaxation, and easy-reading titles.
Nextory AB, organisation number 556708-4149, has its address on Norrtullsgatan in Stockholm according to user terms valid from 12 January 2024. A family plan needs one profile per person and one shared household. The home page shows no tier table, so the hours that follow the trial need confirming, and the 6.99 EUR applies to the Dutch site only.
What Nextory does well
- 6.99 EUR per month after the trial on the Dutch page
- 14-day trial with 30 hours included
- Catalogue of 1.4 million books according to the vendor
- Easy-reading and sleep categories
- Contract with a Swedish company registered in Stockholm
Where Nextory falls short
- Family plan limited to one household
- Hour allowance details are not shown on the home page
- Prices differ by country
- No data-location statement on the pages checked
Standout feature. Nextory is the lowest priced way into a Nordic catalogue on the Dutch pages we checked.
Hagen (registered seat), Munich (office), Germany
Audiobook plan 17.99 EUR per 30 days after a 30-day trial; reading and listening subscription advertised from 12.99 EUR per month
Demo on request
Best for: German-speaking listeners who want unlimited audiobook hours at a flat fee
Skoobe frames a book as a loan. A subscriber borrows up to 10 titles at once, returns one that disappoints and takes another, on up to three synchronised devices. The audiobook plan lists 100,000 audiobooks with no hour counter at 17.99 EUR per 30 days after a 30-day trial.
The imprint names Skoobe GmbH with its seat in Hagen under HRB 12467 and an office in Munich, plus named managing directors. The main page cites more than 600,000 titles from over 5,000 publishers and a reading and listening plan from 12.99 EUR, but the tier boundary is not spelled out. The site and support are in German.
What Skoobe does well
- Audiobook plan without hour limits
- 30-day free trial
- Three synchronised devices and 10 simultaneous loans
- Publisher base of more than 5,000 houses
- German company with named managing directors in its imprint
Where Skoobe falls short
- 17.99 EUR per 30 days for the audiobook plan
- German-language service
- Smaller audiobook count than the Nordic libraries
- Tier boundaries between the 12.99 EUR and 17.99 EUR offers are unclear on the pages
Standout feature. Skoobe sells lending rather than streaming, and states a limit of 10 titles on loan at the same time.
Warsaw, Poland
49.99 PLN per billing period regular price; promotion of 24.99 PLN for the first 4 periods for new users until 30 November; 7 days free
Demo on request
Best for: Polish shoppers already buying from Empik who want a retailer-backed app
Empik Go belongs to a Polish bookshop chain, and the subscription page shows it: gift cards, student prices, a publishers' area and the retailer's own GoBook readers sit in the same menu. The regular price is 49.99 PLN per billing period, with a 24.99 PLN offer for the first four periods that ends on 30 November, and 7 days are free.
Empik S.A. in Warsaw is entered under KRS 0000636785 with share capital of 97,028,362 PLN, according to the subscription terms. The vendor lists 240,000 titles, an offline mode and unlimited podcasts, with plans of 30 and 360 days or a single payment. The app is Polish-language, and a month equals one billing period.
What Empik Go does well
- 7 days free before paying
- Offline mode
- Unlimited podcasts
- Several plan lengths including one-off payment
- Operator named with KRS number
Where Empik Go falls short
- Polish-language only
- Promotional price expires 30 November
- Billing period rather than calendar month
- Audio shares the app with eBooks and podcasts
Standout feature. Empik Go is the one service in this list that a physical bookshop operator runs.
Madrid, Spain
Premium EUR 8.99 per month, no commitment (home page, 4 November 2026)
Demo on request
Best for: Readers who want an ebook-only subscription in several European languages
24symbols asks for one thing: 8.99 EUR a month, with no commitment, for an ebook library of more than 500,000 titles by the vendor's own count. Categories run from romance and crime to university textbooks. The interface exists in Spanish, English, German, Italian, Portuguese and French.
Newry Global Media S.L., registered in the Mercantile Registry of Madrid, offers the brand according to its privacy policy dated 14 October 2024. The contact page gives an office at c/ Ercilla 9 in Madrid. No trial length, family plan or hosting location appears on the pages we read, and audiobooks are limited to a free section.
What 24symbols does well
- Newry Global Media S.L. is registered in Madrid
- Price is public: EUR 8.99 per month
- No commitment to stay, per the home page
- More than 500,000 ebooks listed
- Interface in six languages
Where 24symbols falls short
- Data hosting is not stated on the pages we read
- Only one paid plan is visible
- No trial length shown on the pages we read
- Audiobooks are limited to a free section on the menu
Standout feature. 24symbols is the only ebook-only flat fee here whose price is printed on the home page.
London, United Kingdom
Monthly, semesterly (save 17%) or yearly (save 33%) plans; the amounts are not in the text we read
Demo on request
Best for: Students, teachers and researchers who read textbooks
Perlego is a London library for study and professional reading. It states more than 1.5 million books, sorted into topics such as law, medicine, economics, computer science and study aids, and adds study guides and essay writing guides. Fiction is not the focus.
Perlego Ltd lists a head office at 138 Holborn and a VAT number in its footer. Billing runs monthly, per semester (17% saving) or yearly (33% saving), with cancellation at any time and access to the end of the cycle. Institutions can request a quote, and the vendor says more than 250 trust it. The amounts did not appear in the text we read.
What Perlego does well
- Catalogue of more than 1.5 million books stated
- Monthly, semester and yearly billing
- Cancel anytime, access until cycle end
- Institution licences available
- Interface in five languages
Where Perlego falls short
- Prices not shown in the text we read
- Academic focus, little general fiction
- Data hosting not stated
- UK entity, outside the EU
Standout feature. Perlego is the only plan in this list that bills per semester.
Munich, Germany
Described as an advantageous subscription price; the amount is not shown on the pages we read
Demo on request
Best for: German-language readers who want curated picks and a tolino reader
tolino select works against the idea of a catalogue. Booksellers in the tolino alliance name 40 titles each month and the subscriber picks four, with sample chapters for some. The October 2026 list was grouped into crime, novels, romance and further recommendations. One month is free and the plan can be cancelled monthly.
tolino media GmbH & Co. KG in Munich, registered at Amtsgericht Munich under HRA 98454, runs the tolino brand site. Titles open on a tolino eReader, in the webreader or in the app. The contract runs through the bookseller you choose, an ebook.de term names Hugendubel Digital as partner there, and the price is not on the pages we read.
What tolino select does well
- Run by tolino media GmbH & Co. KG in Munich
- One month free
- Cancellable monthly
- Expert-curated selection with sample chapters
- Works on tolino eReader, webreader and app
Where tolino select falls short
- Only four titles a month
- Price not shown on the pages we read
- Contract runs through the chosen bookseller
- Third-party tracking tools listed in the privacy text
Standout feature. tolino select limits the choice to four of forty titles, a deliberate opposite of a full catalogue.
Paris, France
izneo Pass EUR 9.99 per month, no commitment, 10 days free (izneo.com/fr/abonnement)
Demo on request
Best for: Comics and manga readers
Izneo concentrates on comics, manga and graphic novels. Its izneo Pass costs 9.99 EUR a month with no commitment and 10 free days, and it lets readers open a selection of several thousand albums without ads on the web, Android and iOS. Single albums remain for sale outside the Pass.
ONO SAS, registered at RCS Paris B 522 564 392 with share capital of 660,000 EUR, publishes the service from Paris. The legal notice says the site and database run on Amazon Web Services, without naming a region, which matters to a reader who is leaving Amazon. The site is mainly in French.
What Izneo does well
- ONO SAS is registered in Paris
- Price is public: EUR 9.99 per month
- 10 days free
- No advertising
- Works on web, Android and iOS
Where Izneo falls short
- Comics and manga only
- Hosted on Amazon Web Services
- Subscription covers a selection, not the whole shop
- Site is mainly in French
Standout feature. Izneo is the only subscription here dedicated to comics and manga.
Solingen, Germany
Described as free on the home page; how the service is funded is not stated on the pages we read
Demo on request
Best for: Readers who want to try a free ebook flatrate on a phone or tablet
Readfy presents itself as the free ebook flatrate. The home page states more than 70,000 ebooks from literature, crime, romance, fantasy and science fiction, plus weekly top titles, reviews and reading lists made by users. Apps exist for Android and iOS, and an offline reading feature is announced.
readfy GmbH gives a Solingen address and Amtsgericht Wuppertal number 27672 in its imprint. The terms date from March 2016 and name a Dusseldorf address and court, so imprint and terms disagree. How the free offer is funded, whether ads appear and where data is hosted are not stated on the pages we read.
What Readfy does well
- Free offer stated on the home page
- More than 70,000 ebooks stated
- Apps for Android and iOS
- Offline reading feature
- German company with registered imprint
Where Readfy falls short
- Funding model not stated
- Terms dated March 2016
- Imprint and terms differ on address
- No hosting information
Standout feature. Readfy is the only service in this list whose home page calls it free.
Bielefeld, Germany
Series subscriptions with a chosen term; prices are not quoted from the pages we read
Demo on request
Best for: Readers of serial pulp novels who want DRM-free files
Beam is a bookshop first. BEAM Shop GmbH in Bielefeld sells ebooks without DRM, and its Abo area sells subscriptions to series such as westerns, science fiction serials and romance. New episodes can be downloaded as soon as they are released, and a subscription ends after the chosen size instead of renewing.
The imprint gives Stapenhorststr. 42b in Bielefeld, Amtsgericht Bielefeld HRB 43148 and Daniel Brun as managing director. Prices were not quoted on the pages we read, the privacy text names Google Analytics, and hosting is not stated. The shop speaks German, and nothing about it works like a catalogue flatrate.
What Beam does well
- BEAM Shop GmbH registered in Bielefeld
- Ebooks without DRM
- New episodes ready on release
- Subscriptions do not auto-renew
- Wide genre shop
Where Beam falls short
- Not a catalogue flatrate
- Prices not quoted in the pages we read
- Google Analytics in the privacy text
- German-language shop
Standout feature. Beam is the only entry where the subscriber ends up holding files without DRM.
