The Best Book Summary App For You (Nov 2024)

Best Book Summary App

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The best book summary apps ranked in my view (ranking criteria explained later in the blog)

#1 — Blinkist: The best book summary app in the market

It delivers fantastic value for money — great summaries, wide collection (7000+ titles), affordable pricing (around $7/month, with an additional 40% discount from this site). Blinkist is like an iPhone at Android prices!

Try Blinkist with a 40% Discount!

#2 — Headway App: A close second

The summaries are mostly great, the pricing is slightly better (around $7/month, with an additional 50% discount from this site). It’s like a great Android phone, at Android prices.

Try Headway with a 45%+ Discount (& check pricing for your location)

#3- GetAbstract: A distant third

It’s almost in a different league — with a massive collection (over 25000+ titles), but also more expensive (around $27/month). It’s the Ferrari of Book summary apps — if you can afford it

Try getAbstract for FREE (3 days)

Now, let’s dive into the details!

Here’s a video version — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px9WNCyjgvg

Disclosure: Some of these may be affiliate links. I may earn a coffee or two when you buy a subscription (at no extra cost to you). I live in Denmark, and at the current discounts and the Danish prices, probably only a shot of Espresso.

What is a Book Summary App?

If you’re like me, you often find yourself at bookstores (physical or virtual), with dozens of books catching your interest. You’re eager enough to read the entire shelf, but smart enough to know that you can only afford to buy one or two (both time and money-wise!).

What if a smart person read the book in full and gave you a 15-minute summary? That could help you digest more books and, more importantly, save a lot of time and money!

That’s exactly what the best book summary apps do! They provide concise summaries of popular non-fiction books, allowing you to grasp key ideas quickly and decide which books are worth reading in full.

5 Reasons to Use Book Summary Apps

Why Book Summary Apps

1. Save Time: Time is money. Book summary apps condense hours of reading into 15–20 minute book summaries, allowing you to absorb key ideas quickly.
2. Explore More Books: With summaries, you can “read” more books in less time. This broader exposure helps you discover new ideas and authors you might have otherwise missed.
3. Make Informed Choices: Use summaries to preview books before committing to reading the full version. This helps you invest your time and money in books that truly resonate with you.
4. Refresh Your Memory: If you’ve read a book in the past, summaries offer a quick way to revisit key concepts without rereading the entire book.
5. Learn On-the-Go: Many book summary apps offer audio versions of their summaries. This feature allows you to learn while commuting, exercising, or doing household chores.

3 Things to Remember (What Book Summary Apps Don’t Do)

1. They Don’t Replace Full Books: While summaries are great for grasping main ideas, they can’t capture all the nuances, examples, and depth of a full book. They’re a complement and not a replacement for, reading entire books. So when you see an ad that says ‘read 7 books a week’, it is not true.
2. They Don’t Cover Everything: Book summary apps typically focus on non-fiction, self-help, and business books. If you’re looking for summaries of fiction or very specialized academic works, you might be disappointed. The nature of the service is to offer summaries, so the details, examples etc., are lost.
3. They Don’t Provide a Personal Experience: Reading a full book allows you to form your own opinions and interpretations. Summaries, by nature, often reflect the summarizer’s perspective.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are there free book summaries from these apps?

Yes, there are many book summary websites/apps that provide book summaries (including chatGPT). But the point with a book summary app is about getting value for your time. Cheap or free isn’t always the best!

Why do book summary apps cover mainly non-fiction?

You can summarize a business book, but almost impossible to do so with the Harry Potter series. With fiction, you want the story and all the evolution of the characters. You care about the story arc, the jokes and everything else. But the focus on nonfiction book summaries is to cut the fluff and just give you the key insights of the book — most times that is good enough!

1. Blinkist: The Market Leader

Overall Rating: ★★★★★

Blinkist is the most popular book summary app, and for good reasons. No other app compares to the value Blinkist delivers for your money.

Title Collection

Blinkist offers over 7000+ titles covering a wide range of bestselling books. They also add 25+ titles each week.

Number of titles on Blinkist keeps expanding rapidly

Blinkist also offers expert-led guides, curated collections and more!

Quality of Summaries

With a book summary app, the most important criteria is quality of summaries. It doesn’t matter if the cost is $2/month or $5/month if the quality is sub-par. Here, Blinkist wins big time!

The summaries are

• Concise yet comprehensive: You can make a decision if the full book is worth your time
• Typically around 15 minutes in length, not too long & not too short
• Available in both text and audio formats — this is par for the course
• Narrated by professional voice actors & Brilliant use of music to boost engagement and focus. I personally love the audio format more than the text formats.

User Experience

The app is a breeze to use. You get everything you expect from a modern day app. You can read or listen on the mobile app, switch to Apple/Android car play and continue on your desktop browser seamlessly.

I’m not sure people ever worry about being ‘offline’ these days, but the app does offer ability to download and listen without internet connection.

Cost

Blinkist offers flexible pricing options to suit different needs and budgets:

• Annual plan: Approximately $8/month (billed annually)
• Monthly plan: Around $15/month

You get a 40% discount via this link, making it less than $5/month.

Special Offer: Through this site, you can access an exclusive 40% discount on Blinkist subscriptions. This brings the cost down to approximately $5/month on the annual plan — roughly equivalent to the price of one coffee per month.

Try Blinkist with a 40% Discount!

2. Headway App: The Second Best

Overall Rating: ★★★★☆

Headway is a close second in the book summary app space, with its own strengths and features.

Title List

Headway has over 1500+ titles, across non-fiction categories like business, personal development, psychology and more. Not as many as Blinkist but Headway adds new titles regularly to keep the content fresh.

Title categories on Headway App

Headway’s summaries are generally good with a few cool features:

• Concise and well-organized: Summaries capture the book’s main points
• Visual learning aids: Infographics and mind maps
• Actionable takeaways: Each summary has practical tips

User Experience

Headway has a clean and simple interface with some nice features:

• Personalized reading plans based on your goals and interests
• Gamification to help you build reading habits
• Ability to highlight and save key points for later

Price

Headway’s pricing is competitive especially with the discount through this site:

• Annual plan: $7/month (billed annually)
• Monthly plan: $15/month

Special Offer: Through this site you can get 50% discount on Headway subscriptions making it cheaper than Blinkist for budget conscious users.

Try Headway for a 40%+ Discount (& check pricing for your location)

3. getAbstract: The Premium

Rating: ★★★★☆

getAbstract positions itself as a more premium, business focused option in the book summary space. Suitable for professionals and organizations looking for in-depth insights across many topics.

Title List

getAbstract really stands out in the breadth and depth of its library:

• 25,000+ titles, way more than most others
• Books, articles, reports, video talks
• Business and professional development focused
• Summaries in multiple languages

Quality of Summaries

getAbstract takes a more academic approach to its summaries:

• Longer summaries (5–7 pages) with more detail
• Structured format with “recommendation” and “abstract” sections
• Critical analysis and context with key points
• Citations and references for further reading

User Experience

getAbstract is for individual and corporate users:

• Clean and professional interface
• Advanced search and filtering
• Integration with corporate LMS
• Mobile app for on-the-go learning

Price

getAbstract’s premium is more expensive:

• Professional plan: $27/month (billed annually)
• Enterprise solutions for corporate clients

More expensive than Blinkist or Headway but getAbstract’s large library and in-depth summaries can be valuable for professionals or organizations that need to stay up-to-date with the latest business literature and research.

Try getAbstract for FREE (3 days)

Overall, Blinkist is still our top choice for the balance of quality, quantity and price but Headway and getAbstract are good alternatives depending on your needs and budget. Headway has gamification and visual learning aids, getAbstract has the most breadth and depth if you’re willing to pay for premium.

More Book Summary Apps to Try

While Blinkist, Headway, and getAbstract are our top picks, there are other book summary apps worth looking into. Each has its own unique features that might suit your needs or tastes.

4. Instaread

Rating: ★★★★☆

Instaread is a solid option with its large library and multi-platform access.

• Title Collection: 5500+ titles (same as Blinkist)
• Summary Quality: Decent, some users find them not as comprehensive as others
• Availability: Desktop and mobile, offline access
• Cost: Slightly more than Blinkist, 7-day free trial, 12% off annual plan

Shortform is for those who want to read more but have no time. You can also buy full audiobooks within the app.

5. Shortform

Rating: ★★★★☆

Shortform is unique in its in-depth approach to book summaries.

• Title Collection: 1200+ titles
• Summary Quality: Comprehensive guides with exercises, often over 40 minutes
• User Experience: Focus on understanding and application
• Cost: $20/month

Shortform is for readers who want detailed analysis and are willing to invest more time in each summary.

6. 12min

Rating: ★★★☆☆

12min offers quick summaries but at a higher price and with some limitations.

• Title Collection: 2500+ titles
• Summary Quality: Concise, some users find AI-generated feel in audio versions
• User Experience: More popular on Android than iOS
• Cost: $109/year, more than most competitors

Try 12min if you want very short summaries and don’t mind the extra cost.

7. Sumizeit

Rating: ★★★★☆

Sumizeit is a budget-friendly option without sacrificing too much quality.

• Title Collection: Not specified, but includes popular titles
• Summary Quality: Decent quality with slightly robotic audio versions
• User Experience: Offers infographics as an add-on service
• Cost: $5/month, one of the cheapest options

Sumizeit is for budget readers who want quality summaries.

8. StoryShots

Rating: ★★★★☆

StoryShots summarizes content from multiple sources.

• Title Collection: Books, podcasts, blogs, YouTube videos
• Summary Quality: Key points, quotes, takeaways
• User Experience: Animated, text, audio, video
• Cost: $2.99/month, 3-day free trial

StoryShots is for those who want summarized content beyond books.

More to consider

The book summary app landscape is vast and has options for all tastes and budgets. While our top picks are Blinkist, Headway and getAbstract, these others have features that might suit your needs:

• For detailed analysis: Shortform
• For budget readers: Sumizeit
• For multiple content types: StoryShots

Remember, the app for you is based on your reading habits, time and learning style. Most of these apps have free trials, so try a few before you subscribe.