How good is Blinkist? Is it worth it? Is it still relevant in 2025? What’s the difference between the free version and paid version of Blinkist? As a user I’ll be sharing my experience and thoughts about this app.
Table of Contents
What is Blinkist?
Blinkist is a book summary app made to distill non-fiction into bite-sized, easy to digest summaries, called “Blinks”. They provide the the key insights of a book and generally are around 10-15 minutes in length, covering a wide array of topics such as self-help, psychology, business and more. The summaries can be read in text form or even listened like an audiobook.
Features
Free Version
Most of the features in Blinkist requires subscription to unlock, the only free feature being the Daily Blink.
- Daily Recommendations:
- Blinkist features a “Free Blink of the Day” – a free summary that changes everyday. This daily recommendation has introduced new books and topics that I have not previously considered before, making for rather interesting reads. I will admit not every daily blink piqued my interest, but overall I can’t complain about a daily free summary.
Paid Version (Premium & Pro)
The rest of the features are accessible in the paid version of Blinkist. The difference between the Premium and Pro version will be covered later.
- Content Variety:
- Blinkist offers a broad selection of topics, encompassing personal development, entrepreneurship, health, and sociology, among others. Their ever growing collection of summaries currently sit at over 7,500 titles.
- Blinkist also offers a curated list of recommendations based on their reading habits and preferences.
- Shorts:
- 5 condensed ideas that refresh daily, each taking about a minute to consume. These shorts include quizzes, quotes, and explanations, ensuring a stimulating digestion of information so users remembers more.
- Offline Access:
- Users can download blinks to read or listen to offline, which enhances the app’s usability for those who travel or have limited internet access.
- Integration:
- Blinkist integrates well with other platforms, allowing users to share insights on social media or bookmark content for future reading. The app also offers integration with Kindle, enabling users to send highlighted quotes or notes.
- Subscription Sharing:
- Blinkist allows paying users to share their subscription with another person, making it basically a 2-for-1 deal.
Pro Version
Pro has all the features of Premium, with the addition of the newly added Blinkist AI.
- Blinkist AI:
- Able to summarize podcasts, articles, PDFs, and videos into extracts that you can read and listen to, essentially creating your own Blink.
- Gives recommendations based on specific prompts.
Free vs. Premium vs. Pro
| Free | Premium | Pro | |
| Daily Blink | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Book Selection | No | Yes | Yes |
| Shorts | No | Yes | Yes |
| Offline Access | No | Yes | Yes |
| Kindle Integration | No | Yes | Yes |
| Blinkist AI | No | No | Yes |
Pricing
The app offers a 7-day free trial, allowing users to explore its features and content before committing to a paid plan. They also constantly offer discounts like the one shown above.
Pros
- Time-efficient Learning: Blinkist excels at condensing complex ideas into short summaries, perfect for busy people that want to learn and grasp the key ideas of different books quickly.
- Wide Selection: The sizable library covering numerous different subjects makes it suitable for learners of all kinds.
- Quality of Content: The summaries maintain a good balance of conciseness and depth, capturing essential insights from the original works and explaining them in a way that’s easy to understand.
- Multimedia Learning: The option to read or listen adds versatility, accommodating different learning styles.
Cons
- Not A Substitute: While summaries capture key ideas, they inherently lack the depth and nuance present in full books. They lose the humour and expressiveness of the author, and sometimes even the impact of the lessons.
- Limited Fiction: Since the app’s selling point is quick learning, it primarily focuses on non-fiction, which may not appeal to users interested in literary fiction or novel narratives.
- Subscription Cost: Although the service offers a wealth of knowledge, some users might find the subscription price steep, especially if they don’t consume content at a rapid pace.
User Experience
The first time I used Blinkist, I found it very easy to navigate. The interface is intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy to browse their library and filter through to find the blinks I was interested in.
It has a minimalistic design that has enough colour to make it interesting without it being a distraction. The recommendations and categorization of said recommendations into “playlists” is also a very convenient way to discover interesting Blinks.
Overall, I have no real complaints about the app.
Conclusion
While Blinkist is not a substitution for real books, it can be used to see which books are actually worth reading through. There are some books that feel like the author is bloating them with words, like they’re just trying to satisfy a word count instead of trying to add value.
Blinkist has saved me a lot of time by allowing me to see the essences of books and choosing from there instead of using a lot more time to read through reviews and trusting the opinions of strangers online.
And if you skipped the entire blog straight to the conclusion, chances are that you’re not a big fan of reading full-length books; then Blinkist is definitely suited for you! For those that don’t have much spare time or don’t like to read, it’s great for increasing knowledge and self-improvement.
All in all, I would recommend Blinkist to anyone, and even if you don’t feel like paying for the subscription, you can always just use it for the Daily Blink.
