Do you love reading but currently lack the funds to buy many books? You’re not alone, so relax. Many people enjoy reading, but often, their wallets can’t keep up. Thankfully, you can get free books online!
Yes, you read that right – FREE books! We’ll show you the best places to get free books online. We’ll show you the best places to immerse yourself in fascinating tales and expand your knowledge without spending a dollar.
Let’s begin.
Top Websites and Resources to Get Free Books Online
If you’re searching for the best place to read free books, check the best places below:
1. Project Gutenberg
Project Gutenberg is a volunteer-run initiative named after the first printing press from the 15th century. Its goal is to preserve books by converting them to digital format. On this site, most of the books are free to use.
That means they are no longer subject to copyright restrictions and can be freely distributed.
Pros
Books are available for free download and sharing without restrictions.
No registration or payment is necessary.
View a list of the best-selling novels.
You can see what books are accessible with offline book catalogs.
Cons
Not all books are freely accessible.
Only a small number of international books are available.
2. ManyBooks
One of the best places that offer free books online is ManyBooks. The best aspect is finding a sizable collection of hundreds of titles in fascinating categories for free. Not all of the books are classics.
However, the platform offers a helpful alternative for readers with different literary tastes. ManyBooks stands out for its user-friendly features. You can quickly browse through their selection of free books by language and choose author and category searches.
You must sign in and establish a free account to download books. You’ll then have access to several download formats, including EPUB, PDF, FB2, RTF, HTML, and more.
Pros
Finding the correct book is made simple by book categories.
ManyBooks supports Mobi, PDF, FB2, HTML, RTF, and others.
Easy to find classic books and Creative Commons
Different book formats
Cons:
Some sections aren’t updated.
Also Read: 7 Bestselling Books Of All Time
3. Open Library
Open Library, a member of the Internet Archive family, gives you access to an extraordinary library of 1.7 million ebooks. You can read these free ebooks in two ways: directly online or by checking out a copy from their eBook lending collection.
The lending library has more recent titles than books only available for online reading. The Open Library has shown to be a priceless online resource, particularly for students.
They provide a sizable selection of free textbooks. This is a big plus, given that college students sometimes need more money and the usually expensive textbook prices.
Pros
You can use the “sponsor” book feature to create a wish list
Available in different formats.
Lots of free books online.
Preview books.
Cons
A donation is needed for sponsoring books.
Directs to an external online platform.
4. Free Computer Books
Free Computer Books cover numerous computer topics and programming languages. Many free resources are available, such as detailed lecture notes and textbooks.
Computers and programming languages, data science, computer engineering, Java, networking, and communications are among the genres you can get.
Also, many subgenres make finding the precise book you’re looking for is simple.
Also Read: What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of eTextbooks?
Pros
Helpful book descriptions
Informative lecture notes by authors
Lots of computer book collections.
Download books in multiple formats.
Cons
There are limited genres of books.
The website design is outdated.
Also Read: The Pros and Cons of Ebooks – A Detailed List
5. Google eBookstore
Many free books are available in the Google eBookstore’s free area, covering many subjects. You can find popular bestselling books, cherished classics, and works by popular authors here.
You can select from various formats and read ratings and reviews others have left. It’s one of the best places to find free books online.
Pros
Numerous modern and classic books
You can read books on the website or a mobile app
Read books offline and online.
Save your book in an online account.
Cons
Free books online are limited.
You need an account registration.
6. GoodReads Free Shelves
The best way to find free books online is occasionally to rely on the collective knowledge of readers. Thankfully, Goodreads free shelves provide an easy way to do that. The idea is simple: these shelves compile books that users have labeled with the same name.
You can find shelves with the labels “free-ebooks,” “free-ebook,” “free,” and others. Remember that this system depends on consumers tagging ebooks on their own.
So, certain books may have been put on hold while they were briefly free but are now subject to a fee.
7. Amazon Kindle Store
Amazon’s Kindle Store has adopted the practice of giving away free ebooks to its users to increase sales and engage its audience. This is a wonderful chance for readers.
You can download over 80,000 completely free books online from the Kindle Store, and they’re even arranged by popularity.
In this way, you can quickly find what you’re looking for without having to sift through countless pages of results.
Also Read: The 10 Books to Read in 2022
8. Reedsy Discovery
Do you enjoy independent publishing and want to be among the first to read new releases for free? That’s exactly what you can expect if you apply to review products on Reedsy Discovery. Independent authors are willing to give your frank feedback for free ebooks.
Write down your ideas while you read, and then after you’ve finished the book, use your notes to compose an insightful review.
When you do this, you help potential readers find excellent books while supporting the author and getting a free book to read!
Writing book reviews can also be a great stepping stone if you’re just starting in the publishing industry.
Also Read: Big 5 Biggest Publishing Houses in the US [2023]
9. International Children’s Digital Library
Visit the International Children’s Digital Library (ICDL) to browse a selection of excellent free children’s literature. These books are scans of the original paper versions, and you can go through and enjoy each page as a single image.
You can easily navigate the collection depending on language, characters, forms, formats, genres, and more by using the links on the site.
10. Archive.org’s eBooks and Texts
The Internet Archive’s eBooks and writings project is a comprehensive library that includes fiction, popular literature, children’s books, historical writings, and scholarly publications. This platform offers many free books that appeal to various interests.
There are several ways you can arrange these books. You can sort them by title or publication date or organize them by view count to find the most popular ones.
You can browse selected collections from organizations like the California Digital Library, Getty Research Institute, and Boston Public Library to get even more free reading material.
There are usually several download formats available, including PDF, EPUB, and Kindle, if you want to download books rather than read them online.
11. 24Symbols
24Symbols offers several free books online in addition to its subscription-based model. You get access to free reading across numerous platforms after making an account on the website, which connects to your Facebook account and device.
You can browse books on this user-friendly website by author, category, language, and alphabetical order. Also, you can find fantastic book club picks to share with your friends.
12. BookBub
BookBub is a vital resource for everyone who enjoys reading and is always looking for new books. You only need to sign up for a free account to access its vast collection of thousands of eBooks.
The website will ask you to choose your preferred genres when you create an account so that it can personalize reading suggestions for you.
BookBub is more than just a place to find many free books online. It’s also your entryway to incredible discounts on bestsellers.
You’ll be reading so many novels with BookBub that you’ll quickly become familiar with all those well-known first sentences.
13. Authorama
Authorama is a simple website about getting books to eager consumers without fussing about complex designs or challenging setup processes.
It’s the perfect place to get free online books because they load rapidly even on slower internet connections, which is especially useful in rural areas.
There are many fascinating historical fiction books, including classics by Charles Dickens, Francis Bacon, etc.
14. The Online Books Page
The Online Books Page, run by the University of Pennsylvania, acts as a portal by providing readers with access to free ebook downloads. Over three million online books are included in their outstanding library.
This website doesn’t own or host any of the content directly on its platform, in contrast to Project Gutenberg. It instead directs users to the sources.
Don’t be fooled by its rather old appearance! It may look more like a hyperlinked Word document than a contemporary website, but as the subheading below the website header indicates, it’s constantly updated.
15. Ebooks.com
Ebooks.com is an ebook retailer selling a significant selection of fiction and non-fiction books. However, they also offer several no-cost ebooks, many classics.
Ebooks.com is one of the best free books online, and it claims to be the only independent ebook shop that offers services to consumers worldwide.
Since the books are immediately hosted on the website, unlike other platforms, you can download files without being forwarded to another page.
The internal online reader and an ebook reader app are significant aspects of Ebooks.com. Thanks to these features, you can easily read the books you download from the platform.
Conclusion
We’ve explored various resources and platforms that offer free books online. These platforms have something for everyone, from Project Gutenberg’s enormous library of cost-free classics to BookBub’s inexpensive blockbusters.
These online resources offer helpful options, whether you want to clear out your bookcases or are just trying to find new reading material. Each platform has unique advantages, from Authorama’s ease of use to Ebooks.com’s global reach.
Go through them and choose the one that best suits your needs.