As we get more and more time-poor, book summaries are having a new boost in popularity.
So, when it comes for the best ways to read book summaries, there’s plenty on the market.
Blinkist is still the industry leader in our opinion, but there are some other alternatives that you can look at.
Notably, Mentorbox has seemingly sprung up overnight and is working with the book’s authors to bring book summaries to Mentorbox subscribers.
In this article, we’ll compare Blinkist vs Mentorbox and see which one is the best for you and your needs.
Don’t want to read until the end? Blinkist is still our number one book summary service and the clear winner here. You can try Blinkist for free here.
Remember: If you want to learn more about each platform, you can read our reviews of both Blinkist and Mentorbox.
Breaking it down
In this article, we’ll compare some of the core features and benefits that both Blinkist and Mentorbox both have.
I’m going to cut straight to the point with this comparison and only compare the three things I get the most questions about:
- Ease of use
- Range and quality of summaries
- Value for money
Because let’s be honest, when comparing book summary services, if the price is right, it’s easy to use and has a wide range of useful book summaries, you don’t need much else.
Ease of use
When it comes to ease of use for Blinkist and Mentorbox, I’m talking about complete user experience.
Blinkist
I have been a customer of Blinkist for a few years, and I have always found the platform really intuitive to use.
Blinkist offers a variety of fresh ways that you can access:
- Written and audio summaries
- An easy-to-use app
- Download your summaries on the app and listen offline
- Compatible to read your blinks on a Kindle
- Highlight key passages from the book
- Save your highlights and even share them your Evernote account
You may not use all of these features, but there’s enough to offer that you’ll find something that makes your day a little easier.
Mentorbox
Okay, I have a bone to pick with Mentorbox that is kinda related to ‘ease of use’ but not really.
Once you sign up to the platform, they send you millions of scammy emails.
Now, they’re not alone in online business when it comes to pushing an upsell, but c’mon… even the author interviews are trying to sell you something.
Other than that, the platform is actually pretty easy to use.
All of the Mentorbox courses are easy to navigate, but there are certainly fewer key features than Blinkist.
Winner
For me, the winner is Blinkist.
All the added features make the program easy to use in several different ways.
The annoying part about Mentorbox is that if they got rid of all the scammy crap, it would have the potential to be an excellent service.
Range and quality of summaries
After all, what’s the point of having a book summary service if the quality is no good?
Blinkist
With over 3,000 summaries, Blinkist has a massive variety of nonfiction books (and it is getting bigger).
They offer almost every nonfiction book you can think of with business, marketing, psychology, biographies, and more.
Most Blinkist summaries are fantastic, they give a brief rundown of the book’s key lessons that you can read in under fifteen minutes.
Which, when you think about it, is about what you’d remember from reading a nonfiction book anyway.
Still, there are some negatives when it comes to the quality of Blinkist summaries. For example, the summaries are only the conclusions of one person – the Blinkist employee. Secondly, the quality isn’t entirely consistent. I have read the occasional summary and been a tad underwhelmed.
These occurrences are few and far between though, and I find that 99% of summaries I have read are excellent.
Mentorbox
Mentorbox offers a lot fewer options when it comes to books. At the moment, there is only a few hundred. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if the number increased soon.
Although, because Mentorbox is based at entrepreneurs, all books are relevant if you’re in the specific target audience.
Each book summary offers a short video course, that is usually presented by the book’s author. While this sounds like the coolest thing ever (in some ways it is), some shortcomings are sticking points for me.
For starters, you don’t always want the author presenting a conversation or summary of their book. Writing a book and summarizing a book are two totally different skill sets.
On top of that, most authors use Mentorbox as a way to pitch their products and services to members.
But my favorite thing about Mentorbox summaries are the cheat sheets on offer. The book sheets give excellent guidance on how to get the most out of each book you read.
Having a background in education, I am a big fan of writing notes when you read to solidify knowledge.
Important Note: Not all of the courses in Mentorbox are free, nor are they all about books. There is some sub-quality filler content on there.
Winner
This one is really close, however, for me, Blinkist wins out.
Blinkist offers a lot more book summaries than Mentorbox, and the quality is usually more dependable.
What I would love to see, though, is Blinkist introduce the cheat sheets and learning resources that Mentorbox offers.
The only thing that is holding Mentorbox back from winning this category besides having fewer summaries is that a lot of Mentorbox courses and summaries feel like they’re just there to upsell you another product.
Value for money
Price is always a sticking point, in this section we’ll see what the best value for money is.
Blinkist
Blinkist offers pretty basic pricing and membership structures:
- A free version which only enables you one summary a day that is sent to you via email
- Monthly subscription with no lock-in
- Yearly subscription at a heavily discounted rate
You can even get a seven-day free trial as a part of the deal when you sign up for the annual subscription and cancel at any time without paying a cent.
For what it is, I think the yearly subscription is a great price. I happily pay the $120 every year.
Personally, I don’t see why you even bother with the monthly subscription offer. At nearly $20 a month, it is reasonable, but a little on the expensive side considering there are plenty of places you can read book summaries.
I have had readers on here before that have tried the seven-day free trial and decided to cancel and nobody has had any complaints about the process.
Mentorbox
Mentorbox offers a $7 a month plan that is all the online elements of their service – which, I think is all you’ll need.
However, if you like spending money, there is also an $89 a month plan that gives you a physical box every month that includes:
- A study guide
- Physical books
- Video Book Summaries on a USB stick
- Physical workbooks and cheat sheets for each book
- A bookmark
- A magnet
The $7 a month plan is enough to get the most out of the membership, and there is a three-day free trial where you can suss out the platform for yourself.
Sadly, when you sign up for the cheaper option, you need to prepare yourself for constant emails and attempts to upsell you to the stupidly unnecessary $89 a month plan and other products.
Note: The following hasn’t happened to me, but I have read complaints from others.
While there is a three-day free trial advertised, I have read a lot of comments online about people who have suffered a range of issues regarding the Mentorbox prices:
- Gross overcharges
- Failing to get refinds
- Being incredibly difficult to cancel your membership within the three days
You can read more of these in our review.
Winner
While Mentorbox’s online plan is incredibly reasonable at only $7 a month, potential overcharges, the constant upsells and all-around shady behavior overshadow the good of the cheap pricing.
The Blinkist plan is a tad more expensive, but once you’re in, you aren’t bothered with further marketing. Also, you have access to 10x the amount of summaries with a Blinkist account.
Blinkist vs Mentorbox: Our verdict
Blinkist – 3
Mentorbox – 0
For me, Blinkist is the definite champ.
Even taking away my dodgy feelings about Mentorbox and trying to be as objective as possible, the chips are stacked in Blinkist’s favor:
- A far more comprehensive book selection
- Higher quality
- More features
- More straightforward to use
- Better value for money
But genuinely, for me, the main difference is that while Blinkist is a comprehensive service, Mentorbox (especially the $7 membership) is treated as a cheap product to try and upsell you other crap you don’t need.
Because of all the alleged dogy behavior from Mentobox, I am not offering any affiliate links to the service.
