Libraries · pricing
Libby pricing
Libby publishes a single tier. Below is what it costs, what it covers, and how that compares with the libraries tools listed alongside it.
As of 1 September 2026, Libby pricing is free. Figures are the vendor's list prices as recorded on this page's last check; the vendor's site is the final word.
- Entry price
- Free
- Model
- Free with a participating library card, no subscription
- Tiers
- 1
- Free tier
- Yes
Libby plans, side by side
Every published tier in ascending order of price, with the number of features each one lists. An absence here means the record does not itemise it, not that the tier lacks it.
| Plan | Price | Features listed | Step up from the tier below |
|---|---|---|---|
| Libby | Free | 3 | Entry tier |
Where Libby stops being free
Libby, Free
- Free with an eligible library card
- Borrow limits set by your library, not Libby
- Holds queues on licensed copies
No paid tier on record
Libby lists a free tier and no priced tier above it in the record we hold.
What the product covers
The full Libby feature record, grouped as the catalogue groups it. This is the product as a whole; the record does not map every feature onto a specific tier.
Other
- Library card authentication
- Holds queues
- Multi-library support
- OverDrive Read and Listen
- Send to Kindle
- Tags and shelves
People bring Libby in for a reader who wants free access to bestsellers and is willing to wait weeks in a holds queue for popular new releases, someone who holds cards for multiple library systems and wants to widen their available catalogue in one app, a reader who wants ebooks sent directly to a kindle without buying them, a budget-conscious reader who already pays library taxes and wants to use the benefit fully instead of also paying for everand or storytel. If that is not the job you are buying for, the alternatives to Libby are worth a look before you commit to a tier.
How that compares in Libraries
Too few libraries tools in this directory publish a starting price to quote a meaningful median, so the table below is a like-for-like list rather than a ranking.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Rated | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Libby (this page) | Free | Free with a participating library card, no subscription | - | |
| Hoopla | Free | Free with a participating library card, capped by monthly borrow limit | - | vs Libby |
| Leafmap | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Libby |
| PDAL | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Libby |
| daisyUI | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Libby |
| Mantine | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Libby |
| Ant Design | Free | Open source, no licence fee | - | vs Libby |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry, they are not reviews hosted on Softwr. How each figure is used is set out on the Libby badges page.
Before you pay for Libby
Three things this page cannot tell you, and all three change the bill. The record carries a price and a billing period but not the unit - per-seat and flat-rate pricing are indistinguishable in this data, so a five-person team may be looking at five times the figure above. It carries no annual rate, so any discount for paying yearly is not something this page can quote. And it carries no trial length.
What it can tell you is the shape of the ladder: a single tier at Free. Because there is a free tier, the cheapest way to answer the rest is to use it before paying anything.
Libby runs on ios, android, web, kindle (for ebooks), and is published by OverDrive, Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The full record is on the Libby review, and the rest of the category is under best libraries tools.
Libby pricing questions
- How much does Libby cost?
- Libby publishes a single tier, Libby, at Free.
- Does Libby have a free plan?
- Yes. The Libby tier costs nothing and covers free with an eligible library card, borrow limits set by your library, not libby, holds queues on licensed copies.
- Which libraries tools can I use without paying?
- 8 of the 8 libraries tools listed alongside Libby have a free tier: Hoopla, Leafmap, PDAL, daisyUI, Mantine.
- What am I actually paying for with Libby?
- The record lists 6 features across 1 area: other. In practice it is brought in for a reader who wants free access to bestsellers and is willing to wait weeks in a holds queue for popular new releases, someone who holds cards for multiple library systems and wants to widen their available catalogue in one app, a reader who wants ebooks sent directly to a kindle without buying them.
- Does Libby charge per user?
- The record carries a price and a billing period for each of its 1 tiers, but not the unit that price is charged in. Per-seat and flat-rate billing look identical in this data, so check the vendor's page before budgeting for a team.
- Are these Libby prices current?
- They are what the catalogue entry holds, refreshed when the entry is. Vendors change pricing without notice and nobody at Softwr re-verifies each tier by hand, so treat this as a structured summary and the vendor's own pricing page as the authority.
- What should I compare Libby against before paying?
- The closest libraries tools in this directory are Hoopla, Leafmap, PDAL, daisyUI. Each has a side-by-side comparison with Libby covering price, platforms and features.