My Blinkist experience – 6 months long-term test
Blinkist, the Netflix for book summaries. The app does not replace a book, but great for topic insights and research!
What is Blinkist?
Blinkist gives the key messages of over 4,500 books. You can read through the book summaries or listen to them as an audio book. For € 79.99 a year you have access to as many titles as you want. New titles are added to the Blinkist app every day and with over 4500 books there is more than enough for everyone.
REDEEM 20% DISCOUNT*
My short conclusion
My quick conclusion in advance: I’ve had the Blinkist app for over 6 months. I used Blinkist very intensively for the first month. But after a few weeks I totally forgot about the app. It wasn’t until a work colleague recommended Daniel Pink’s book “Drive” that I remembered the app again. I immediately checked whether the summary was available on Blinkist. YES there is the book in the app. I listened to the key points of the book, made a few notes, and the next day I was able to exchange ideas with my colleague on the subject. Since the book is not a scientific treatise and the key messages were enough to have a say on this topic, the app absolutely served its purpose in this case.
However, if you want to buy a Blinkist just so that you don’t have to read whole books anymore, you shouldn’t get the app. Blinkist does not replace books. You can compare the app to a snack. Some eat a snack and are then full, others get really hungry then.
Blinkist Advantage Example: If you want to get an insight into the topic of politics in the USA, you can listen to the book summaries of 8 books in 2.5 hours:
- Im Wahn – 391 pages – 15 minutes
- Joe Biden – 263 pages – 13 minutes
- A promised land – 1019 pages – 38 minutes
- Oilquake – 304 pages – 15 minutes
- Without mercy – 416 pages – 13 minutes
- The deep ditch – 384 pages – 25 minutes
- Too much and never enough – 288 pages – 18 minutes
- Fire and Fury – 480 pages – 15 minutes
Total 3545 pages or 152 minutes
As I said, the Blinks are no substitute for a book, but for a quick and varied look at a topic it is great and an absolute recommendation from me.
Blinkist costs – Blinkist subscription – Blinkist discount
The Blinkist prices
There are actually three Blinkist prices. You can use them completely free of charge. However, this gives you access to only one selected title per day. You can also choose between monthly and annual payments. The Blinkist app costs € 12.99 / month for a monthly subscription and € 6.67 / month for an annual subscription
Blinkist subscription overview
Free | Monthly Subscription | Yearly Subscription | |
Terms | none | monthly | yearly |
Number of Titles | 1 title per day | +4500 | +4500 |
Subscription renewal | none | monthly | yearly |
Price | 0€ | 12,99€/Month | 79,99€/Year |
Price with Discount | 0€ | 12,99€/Month (stays the same) | 63,99€/Year |
Is there a Blinkist discount?
You can save 20% on the Blinkist app costs with the Blinkist voucher. Simply click on the button and you will get to the offer page with the voucher.
REDEEM 20% DISCOUNT*
With this Blinkist voucher you get a 20% discount on an annual membership with Blinkist. You can cancel the subscription at any time so that it does not renew automatically.
What books are there?
Blinkist has over 4500 titles in their app. This makes it the second largest collection of book summaries. In first place is the competitor getabstract with over 5000 titles. New books are in the app very quickly. You can find almost all titles on the Spiegel bestseller list there. And with 27 categories, everyone can find the right blinker.
The Blinkist app has these categories in its portfolio:
- Job & career
- Biographies & Memoirs
- History
- Management & Leadership
- Productivity
- Psychology
- Science
- Marketing & Distribution
- Communication & soft skills
- Mindfulness & Happiness
- Corporate culture
- Motivation & inspiration
- Stock market & money
- Health & Nutrition
- Creativity
- Nature & Environment
- Religion & belief
- Economy
- Parenting
- Love & sex
- Education & Knowledge
- Personal development
- Society & culture
- Entrepreneurship
- Philosophy
- Technology & future
- Politics
How does the Blinkist app work?
Core functions
The Blinkist app’s features are manageable, which doesn’t mean that’s a bad thing. The main function involves reading or listening to book summaries. The books are always divided into key messages. The sections are mostly 300-500 words long. In my Blinkist experience, you get an average of 15 minutes per title. With the help of the favorites function you can mark books that you still want to hear. The app also recommends new books based on your preferences and titles you’ve already heard.
Practical feature: set the playback speed
What I find very useful is the ability to set the playback speed. You can choose between 0.5 and 2 times the speed. a track can be listened to in 7.5 minutes instead of 15 minutes. This is very practical for me, as my commute is only 7 minutes and I can hear two tracks a day.
Can also be used in an airplane
Thanks to the download function, you can listen to your tracks on the plane, abroad, on the bus or train. You can download as many titles as you want. The limiting factor is the storage space of your cell phone.
Now also audiobooks
For some time now, Blinkist has also been offering audio books. There are not many titles in it, but I think this area will be expanded as well. With a subscription you can listen to the tracks in full. You don’t have to pay anything extra. At Audible, for example, you only get one audiobook per month for € 9.90. This means that the price of € 6.67 for an annual subscription is more than fair.
That’s annoying – automatic playback of new tracks
A feature that bothers me a lot about the app is the automatic playback of new blinks. As soon as you have heard the end of a blink, the app will immediately play a new track. However, it does not take the titles in your favorites list, but a title from the same category. My Blinkist review:
- Why does it just keep playing? I’ve finished the book, so I don’t want to hear any more for now
- If it keeps going, why not choose a book from my list?
For whom does Blinkist make sense – for whom does it not?
Who needs book summaries anyway? Blinkist is a product that I didn’t think would be so popular. It created a new market for audio content. But the question of who needs book summaries at all is still justified. I once asked my friends and acquaintances who had the app and why they were using it or not using it. I got the following answers:
Blinkist is ideal for … | DO NOT get a blinkist if you … |
the way to work | you only want to train yourself professionally |
long car journeys | Want to read novels and stories |
Students | you don’t read or listen to much by nature |
Eager to learn | |
Blogger |
How do I cancel Blinkist?
I have read from many people that canceling a Blinkist subscription should be difficult. I can not confirm. Canceling the Blinkist is child’s play. If you cancel your Blinkist subscription, you can still use it for as long as the duration you have selected goes. After that, however, you no longer have access to the Blinks & Co. Depending on where you bought, you have to follow these steps:
Website
Go to blinkist.com
Select Login in the menu at the top
Log in with your access data
Select the menu item “You”
Click on Settings
Press the button “Cancel”
Finished
Google Play Store
Go to the “Play Store” app
Open the menu in the top left
Click on “Subscriptions”
Select Blinkist
Press Cancel Subscription
Finished
App Store
Go to the “App Store”
Go to your profile
Select Subscriptions
Select Blinkist
Press Cancel Subscription
Finished
Blinkist alternative
If you have already been a Blinkist customer but are not yet satisfied, then here are a few Blinkist alternatives for you. After a little research you will find Blinkist’s main competitor – getabstract.
Getabstract alternative to Blinkist?
This provider focuses more on those interested in a career. The categories include more business topics, but hardly any lifestyle topics like you can find at Blinkist.
There is also no monthly subscription with getabstract. You can choose between a starter and a pro subscription. The starter subscription costs 99 € per year and the Pro 299 €. In the Pro subscription you can access 20,000 titles and have even more app functions than in the starter version.
In case you’re wondering: getabstract or blinkist?
That depends entirely on your personal and professional goals. If you want to listen to / read entertaining titles in between, without a fixed goal behind it, then I recommend Blinkist. But if you are pursuing professional goals and want to actively recommend yourself, you should invest in getabstract.
Blinkist vs getabstract
Blinkist | getabstract | |
Number of titles | 4500 | 5000 |
Subscription Terms | 1 Month & 12 Months | 12 Months |
Audio Books | yes | no |
Prices | 12,99€ Month/ 79,99€ Year | 99,99€ Year |
Blinkist conclusion
Blinkist has the best price-performance ratio of any book summary provider. With over 4500 titles & many audio books for only 6.67 € per month, Blinkist is number 1. I use the app regularly and it helps me to keep my finger on the pulse, to quickly get an overview of topics and new books to read to find.
If you are looking for bits of knowledge for in between, then I can absolutely recommend Blinkist.
PS: What experiences have you had with Blinkist or are you still thinking about whether it is right for you? I look forward to your input in the comments.