Best Kindle+ Alternatives

Why look for a Kindle+ alternative

Kindle+ is what Kindle Unlimited became, and the rename has made it harder to find what it does and does not say; our news item on the rename has the background and our Kindle+ review the record. The reasons to look elsewhere are specific:

• You borrow. Titles come with a cap of 20 at a time, and the subscription stays active until the next billing date after you cancel. Amazon says you will not receive a refund of fees already paid. Twelve payments of $11.99 are $143.88 before taxes, and you own nothing at the end.
• No erotica rule is stated. Amazon's publishing guidelines say it does not sell content that "contains pornography" and do not define the word. The Kindle+ pages we read do not name erotica as a sub-product or mention an age check inside the Kindle app.
• Erotica is not a labelled part of it. Amazon names mystery, thrillers, romance, science fiction and fantasy as example genres across more than five million ebooks, a vendor claim we did not count.
• Prices outside the US are not recorded. Memberships exist in more than 30 countries and regions, and we kept only the US figure.
• For authors, exclusivity. KDP Select, the programme that puts a book into the Kindle+ pool, requires the ebook to be exclusive to the Kindle Store for each 90-day enrolment period, which matters to writers as well as readers.

Amazon's Kindle+ page carries the price and the 30-day trial for new subscribers, and what Kindle+ costs is set out in Kindle+ pricing.

The best Kindle+ alternatives, by what you give up

No service in our records matches Kindle+ for size, so every alternative gives up something. We picked five and ordered them by how much of the Kindle+ idea they keep. Readers choosing between Kindle+ and its closest rival can also read Everand alternatives, and the alternatives index has the other thirteen pages.

Everand

Best for keeping the subscription idea

$11.99/mo

Type

Subscription library of ebooks, audiobooks and podcasts

Free tier

No

Library

Millions of audiobooks and ebooks (vendor claim)

Explicit content

Unclear: an Erotica category exists for mature audiences; limits for licensed titles are not stated

Creator program

Not confirmed

Web version

Yes

Everand is a subscription library of ebooks, audiobooks and podcasts, "From $11.99/month after trial" on its home page. The trial is 30 days on the website or 7 days through the App Store, each with one free title. It has a dedicated Erotica category that, according to our record of its blurb, is for mature audiences and needs a subscription to browse. Terms set 18 as the minimum age, and cancelling is done in account settings.

Against Kindle+, the price is level, we found no 20-title cap, and its description names podcasts where Kindle+'s names comics, manga and magazines. What it shares is the gap: the rule for licensed erotica titles is not stated. Everand against Kindle+ sets them side by side.

Visit everand.comFull Everand page

Spicify

Best flat fee for dark romance, with a far smaller library

$4.99/mo

Type

dark romance audiobook, book and Webtoon platform (iPhone, Android, web)

Free tier

Not confirmed

Audio stories

Yes

Interactive stories

Not confirmed

AI stories

Not confirmed

iPhone app

Yes

Android app

Yes

Spicify sells dark romance for adults 18+ as books, multi-voice audiobooks and Webtoons, all Spicify Originals. The website lists Ink & Desire at $4.99 a month for unlimited reading, marked "No Coins / No Ads", Voices in the Dark at $14.99 with audiobooks, and All Obsessions Unlocked at $19.99 with Webtoons as well. The FAQ claims 100+ titles, so this is a different kind of catalogue from five million. It runs on iPhone, Android and the web.

The caveats are many. The $4.99 was seen from a European IP, and the App Store lists items with the same names at $49.99, $149.99 and $199.99 with no period stated. Its own pages disagree on what is free. Voices are AI, the FAQ says, and listening offline is "not yet" possible. Its refund policy says all payments are final. We found no statement on whether explicit content is allowed, and none that all characters are adults.

Visit spicifyapp.comFull Spicify page

Epictos

Best iPhone plan with offline reading

$5.99/mo

Type

dark romance novel reader (iPhone only, solo developer)

Free tier

Not confirmed

Audio stories

Not confirmed

Interactive stories

Not confirmed

AI stories

Not confirmed

iPhone app

Yes

Android app

Not confirmed

Epictos is a dark romance reader for iPhone only, with weekly ($2.99), monthly ($5.99) and yearly ($39.99) plans on the US App Store. Its listing claims 500+ novels, new chapters every day, offline reading and no ads, and the yearly plan works out at $3.33 a month. The App Store rates it 18+.

The evidence behind it is thin. The seller is an individual developer, the Terms are Apple's standard licence, the privacy policy sets only a floor of 13, the listing does not say what each plan unlocks, we found no Android listing, and the website is a policies portal and not a reader. It suits a single-genre reader who wants an ad-free iPhone library and accepts a one-person operation.

Open on the App StoreFull Epictos page

Wattpad

Best low-cost general platform with a free tier

$4.99/mofree tier

Type

Social reading and writing platform for web fiction and fan fiction

Free tier

Yes

Library

Not confirmed

Explicit content

Only in stories rated Mature (17+), between consenting adults; pornography is banned

Creator program

Yes

Web version

Yes

Wattpad is a social platform for web fiction and fan fiction. Reading is free with ads, and Premium removes ads and adds unlimited offline stories, from $4.99 a month on the web page, billed in local currency, or $5.99 a month on the App Store. A 7-day trial is offered. Paid Wattpad Originals unlock with Coins, and Premium includes five free Originals a month.

It is not a licensed library. Stories come from members and from Wattpad Originals, adult material is a labelled part and not the product, and its guidelines allow explicit scenes only in stories rated Mature, between consenting adults, while banning content made primarily for sexual arousal. The App Store rates the app 16+.

Visit wattpad.comFull Wattpad page

Smashwords

Best for owning the file, with a written erotica rule

Pay per title

Type

Independent DRM-free ebook store (web only), no subscription

Free tier

Yes

Library

Over one million original DRM-free ebooks (vendor claim)

Explicit content

Yes, hidden by default: registered users switch on 'Filtering' to see erotica

Creator program

No

Web version

Yes

Smashwords is a web ebook store with no subscription. Books are DRM-free, which means the file works on any e-reader or app, and the About page claims over a million of them, nearly 100,000 priced at free. Its Erotica Content Guidelines (March 10, 2026) say erotica is words-only, that pornography has never been allowed, and that erotica stays hidden until a registered user switches it on.

You trade the all-you-can-read fee for a price on every book, and there are no apps. Whether it costs less than $11.99 a month depends on how many books you buy, which we cannot work out without title prices.

Visit smashwords.comFull Smashwords page

Kindle+ and its alternatives side by side

Kindle+ heads the table, and the blanks are as informative as the figures.

Platform	Monthly	Yearly	Free trial	Offline reading	Explicit content	iPhone app	Android app
Kindle+ (formerly Kindle Unlimited)	$11.99	Not confirmed	30-day free trial for new subscribers who have not tried Kindle+	Yes	Unclear: pornography is not sold; no erotica-specific rule on the pages read	Yes	Yes
Everand	$11.99	Not confirmed	30 days free when subscribing on the website; a 7-day trial via the App Store; both include 1 free title	Yes	Unclear: an Erotica category exists for mature audiences; limits for licensed titles are not stated	Yes	Yes
Spicify	$4.99	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	No	Not confirmed	Yes	Yes
Epictos	$5.99	$39.99	Not confirmed	Yes	Not confirmed	Yes	Not confirmed
Wattpad	$4.99	Not confirmed	7-day free trial	Unlimited for Premium; limits for free users not stated	Only in stories rated Mature (17+), between consenting adults; pornography is banned	Yes	Yes
Smashwords	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Not confirmed	Yes	Yes, hidden by default: registered users switch on 'Filtering' to see erotica	No	No

Only Everand matches Kindle+ on price and library type, and only Smashwords states in writing what it will carry. The small apps compete on price and nothing else, which is a fair trade only if one genre is all you read.

If you are an author leaving KDP Select

Kindle+ pays authors from a monthly KDP Select Global Fund, based on pages read, with no fixed per-page rate. Enrolment is free for 90 days and requires the ebook to be exclusive to the Kindle Store for the term, although print and other formats may be sold elsewhere. Whether erotic titles can earn from Kindle+ is not stated on the pages we read, and KDP Terms 5.4.8 say Amazon owes no royalties on a book it finds in breach of its Content Guidelines.

Three other routes are on record. Draft2Digital says it does not require exclusivity: on Smashwords.com sales the writer receives 75% of list price for sales of $2.99 or more and 40% below that, after a $20 one-time activation fee and a $12 yearly fee unless the account earned $100 or more in the prior twelve months, and Draft2Digital says not all partner stores accept erotica. Apple Books for Authors states 70% royalties on every ebook and "No hidden fees or exclusivity requirements". Google Play Books offers a 70% split in most countries to partners who accepted its 2019 terms, and 52% otherwise; its exclusivity position is not confirmed. The creator pages cover the detail: how erotica platforms pay writers, subscription against pay per story and platforms that ban erotica.

How to choose

• You read widely and want one fee: Everand. Check the Erotica category after the trial starts, since it sits behind the subscription.
• You read one genre and want to pay less: Spicify or Epictos, and treat both as a small shelf, not a replacement.
• You want to try something free: Wattpad, or see the best free erotica apps.
• You want to keep what you buy: Smashwords, or a per-title store such as Apple Books, which has no subscription.