Is Waffle a Shortform alternative?

For listening, yes. Shortform is a written guide with audio narration. Waffle is audio first: a podcast series in the author's voice with a synced transcript. Both go deeper than a 15-minute summary, but one is made for a desk and the other for headphones.

Is a podcast as thorough as a written guide?

Not in the same way. A guide covers every chapter and adds commentary. A Waffle series covers the book's main ideas with the author's own reasoning and examples, one per episode. It is closer to hearing the author explain the book than to reading notes on it.

Yes. Every episode has a full transcript that scrolls in sync with the audio, so you can follow the text, jump back, or read without sound.

Does Waffle have a free trial?

The first episode of every book is free, with no trial to start or cancel. Pay only if you want the rest of the series.

Waffle

Books as podcasts

Shortform

In-depth book guides

A study guide to read, or a podcast to listen to?

Shortform is the summary app for people who found the others too thin. Its guides are long, add the writer's own analysis, and are meant to be read at a desk. If that is how you learn, it is a good product. Waffle is for the rest of the time: the commute, the walk, the kitchen. The book itself, in the author's voice, as a podcast.

Download for iPhone

Side by side

What you get with each.

Shortform

In-depth book guides

Long-form written guides, often an hour or more of reading
Adds commentary and comparisons to other books
Text first, with audio narration of the guide
Billed as a subscription, yearly or monthly

Waffle

Books as podcasts

Whole books as podcast series, in episodes of about 10 minutes
Hundreds of books, chosen for the people who wrote them
A host in conversation with the author, in the author's voice
The first episode of every book is free

Why a podcast, not a summary

Less dense. Easier to follow. More of it stays with you.

A conversation is easier to follow than a list of key ideas

Each episode is a host talking with the author, in the author's voice. The host asks the question you would ask, the author answers with the example from the book, and the point lands because you heard why it matters. The full transcript scrolls in sync with the audio, so you can read along or go back to the line you missed.

The read-along transcript on Waffle, with the host and James Clear in conversation

One idea per episode, not every idea in fifteen minutes

A summary has to fit the whole book into a quarter of an hour, so every sentence carries a key point and nothing gets room to breathe. Waffle splits a book into episodes of about ten minutes, each on one part of it. Atomic Habits becomes four episodes, one law each. You can stop after one and still have learned one thing properly.

Atomic Habits on Waffle, split into four ten-minute episodes

Start from the person, not the catalogue

You already know whose ideas you want to hear. Waffle organises books around the people who wrote them, so you can pick James Clear or Michelle Obama and listen to their book the way you would listen to them on a podcast. The first episode of every book is free, so you can try one before deciding.

Waffle's Discover tab, with books for you, people and top series

On Waffle

Hundreds of books, each one a series.

Browse all book podcasts

$100M Offers
Alex Hormozi
Zero to One
Peter Thiel and Blake Masters
The Creative Act
Rick Rubin
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
Sapiens
Yuval Noah Harari
$100M Leads
Alex Hormozi
Never Split the Difference
Chris Voss; Tahl Raz
Educated
Tara Westover
All About Love
bell hooks
Shoe Dog
Phil Knight

At a glance

WafflevsShortform

Format: Long written guide; Podcast series, 4 to 8 episodes
Best for: Reading at a desk; Listening on the move
Who you hear: A narrator reading the guide; The author, in conversation with a host
Text: The guide itself; Full transcript, synced to the audio
Depth: Chapter by chapter, with analysis; One idea per episode, with the author's examples
Try before you pay: Subscription after a trial; First episode of every book, free

Feature	Shortform	Waffle
Format	Long written guide	Podcast series, 4 to 8 episodes
Best for	Reading at a desk	Listening on the move
Who you hear	A narrator reading the guide	The author, in conversation with a host
Text	The guide itself	Full transcript, synced to the audio
Depth	Chapter by chapter, with analysis	One idea per episode, with the author's examples
Try before you pay	Subscription after a trial	First episode of every book, free

When Shortform is the better pick

If you are studying a book rather than listening to it, Shortform's guides go chapter by chapter and add outside analysis that Waffle does not. It also has a much larger library. For a book you plan to take notes on, it is the stronger tool.

Questions

WaffleorShortform?

Is Waffle a Shortform alternative?: For listening, yes. Shortform is a written guide with audio narration. Waffle is audio first: a podcast series in the author's voice with a synced transcript. Both go deeper than a 15-minute summary, but one is made for a desk and the other for headphones.
Is a podcast as thorough as a written guide?: Not in the same way. A guide covers every chapter and adds commentary. A Waffle series covers the book's main ideas with the author's own reasoning and examples, one per episode. It is closer to hearing the author explain the book than to reading notes on it.
Can I read along?: Yes. Every episode has a full transcript that scrolls in sync with the audio, so you can follow the text, jump back, or read without sound.
Does Waffle have a free trial?: The first episode of every book is free, with no trial to start or cancel. Pay only if you want the rest of the series.

Other comparisons

Hear the first episode. It's free.

Download for iPhone