The best book summary apps
- Written by
- Artin Bogdanov, Founder & CEO
- Published
- Reading time
- 4 min
SUN writes and voices a book summary at the length you choose, including books the other apps do not carry. Blinkist offers more than 9,000 books and podcasts in 15-minute summaries you can read or hear. Shortform goes deeper, setting each book against what other experts say, for more money. StoryShots is the best free one.
Compared
| App | Best for | Library | Free | Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 SUN | Any book, at the length you choose | Any book you name | Your first hour of generation | $15 a month or $99 a year |
 Blinkist | The widest library of short summaries | 9,000+ titles, 15 minutes each | One pre-selected book a day | Premium, $79.99 to $99.99 a year |
 Shortform | Depth and analysis | 12,000+ books | Free trial | $24 a month or $197 a year |
 Headway | A daily reading habit | 1,700+ summaries | Free trial | Subscription in the app |
 StoryShots | Free summaries | Text, audio and animated | 400+ bestsellers | $5.99 a month, $24.99 a year |
 getAbstract | Business books | 25,000+ books, articles and talks, 10 minutes each | Paid plans only | From $59.99 a year |
 Libby | Whole books instead of summaries | Your public library's | Free with a library card | Free |
SUN: for any book, at your length
We built SUN for listening, and a book summary is one of the things people ask it for most. It works the other way around from a catalogue: you name the book and the minutes, "Summarize Atomic Habits in 20 minutes, with the key ideas and how to apply them to my week", and SUN writes the summary and reads it to you, and you can ask it questions as you listen. That makes it the app for a book no catalogue carries, for a summary of 5 minutes or 45, or for one book turned into a course you finish over a week of commutes. Summarize a book for me
For a book out last month, attach the PDF or your notes and the summary is built on them rather than on what is known about the book. For some titles SUN has the whole book too, so you can choose the summary or listen to all of it. Your first hour of generation is free; SUN Pro is $15 a month or $99 a year. Our own written summaries start with Atomic Habits, The Psychology of Money and Sapiens.
Blinkist: the biggest library you will use
More than 9,000 books and podcasts, each cut to about 15 minutes, every one with an audio version, in an app that runs on iOS, Android, the web, CarPlay and Android Auto. If you are not sure which app to try, try this one.
Premium is $79.99 to $99.99 a year in the US, depending on the offer. When a trial ends you keep one pre-selected book a day. Pro adds an AI assistant that summarizes videos, podcasts and documents.
The catch is the format itself: fifteen minutes holds a book's main ideas, not its argument.
Shortform: for when fifteen minutes is not enough
Shortform's guides are longer and add analysis: where a book's ideas agree or clash with other experts, and exercises to test what stayed. It covers more than 12,000 books plus more than 1,000 article and topic guides, every guide narrated, on desktop, iOS and Android.
It is the expensive one: $24 a month, or $197 a year, about $16.42 a month. Start with the free trial on a book you have read, and you will know within one guide whether the depth is worth it to you.
Headway: for a few minutes every day
Headway is built as a daily habit, with more than 1,700 summaries to read or hear, on iOS, Android and the web. Its catalogue is a fifth of Blinkist's, so check that the books you want are in it before the free trial ends. The price is set in the app and changes with the plan length.
The free options
StoryShots gives away the key takeaways of more than 400 bestsellers, in text, audio and animated video, and Premium is cheap: $5.99 a month or $24.99 a year, or $39.99 once for lifetime access for two people.
If what you want is the book itself and not a summary, Libby is free with a library card: thousands of public libraries lend their ebooks and audiobooks through it.
getAbstract: for business reading
getAbstract summarizes more than 25,000 business and nonfiction books, articles and talks in about 10 minutes each, in seven languages, and much of its business is selling to companies' learning teams. Plans in its app start at $59.99 a year. If your reading is for work, and especially if your employer would pay, look here first.
Common questions
Is Blinkist free?
Not after the trial, beyond one pre-selected book a day. StoryShots is the closest to a free Blinkist.
Which app has the most book summaries?
Of the ones worth using, getAbstract with more than 25,000 titles counts the most, mostly business. For general nonfiction, Shortform covers 12,000+ books and Blinkist 9,000+ titles.
Are book summaries worth it?
For deciding which books to read in full, and for remembering the ones you have read, yes. As a substitute for a book whose argument you need, no: that is where Shortform's depth, or a longer episode you ask SUN for, earns its price.
Reading lists: books recommended by Bill Gates, books recommended by Elon Musk, Joe Rogan book recommendations.