Our 8 Favorite Free Book Downloads
The best free book download sites should be well respected, safe to use and have lots to offer. We’ve selected the top 8 best choices for your reading needs. After all, whether it be old school paperbacks or digital platforms, reading will never go out of style.
Project Gutenberg: Best for Classics
Run by thousands of volunteers, Project Gutenberg allows you to download and/or read free epub and Kindle books. For the most part these books are older works with expired copyrights. Classics like Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick, Frankenstein, even Shakespeare. These are some of the most respected and well-loved titles in history, and they’re all free. Need tips on downloading? Here’s how to find downloaded files on your iPad.
What We Love:
Thousands of books available both online and offline. Well respected and run by the monumental efforts of so many volunteers, this is a passion project that the public can enjoy and appreciate. If you’re looking for classic titles this is the place for you. It also has a very intuitive and diverse system for finding books so you can browse their collections with ease.
What We Don’t Love: The collection consists of books that no longer have a copyright in the U.S., putting them in the public domain. This means other countries may or may not have the same access to these titles. Also there isn’t a wide variety of non-English books.
Open Library: Best for Newer Titles
Open Library is a subset of the Internet Archive. Their mission is to create a webpage for every book published, which is an ambitious goal to say the least. It’s an open project run by volunteers and they are always looking for more help, trying to increase their range. As for borrowing, here’s how it works. Public domain books are widely available but they also provide access to more modern titles that are still copyrighted. Controlled digital lending means that so long as they own a physical copy of a print book they can create a digitalized copy to lend out. Only one digital copy per print book owned, so that means if they have 10 printed books they can lend out 10 digital copies.
What We Love: Tons of audio books are available along with digital versions. They also offer more up to date items than some free lenders. Besides that, you can “sponsor” a book by donating to the site, in order to add it to the library.
What We Don’t Love: Downloading software to read the books can be complex. Also, if someone has the book you want checked out already you have to wait to borrow it yourself. You can only borrow 10 books at a time, so there are a lot of limitations as to what is available and how long you can read it for.
Amazon Prime Reading: Best Kindle Membership Alternative
This service isn’t exactly free, but it does come as an added perk to becoming an Amazon Prime Member. Not only do you get deals on shipping and Amazon items, you also get access to music and video streaming services. What many don’t know is that there is a free book borrowing service that comes with membership. With it you get unlimited access to a rotating catalogue of magazines, eBooks, and audiobooks.
What We Love: You can borrow up to 10 items at a time with no due date. If, however, you want to read anything additional you’ll need to digitally return one of the items. The fact that magazines and comic books are available too is an added bonus as these are harder to find with many sites.
What We Don’t Love: Obviously you’ll have to be a Prime member to access this perk. The catalogue size is dramatically smaller than many other free book sites. Also, even though it’s not actually through the Kindle membership, you’ll still need to read through the Kindle app, though you can do so with your phone or tablet. Speaking of Kindle, here’s how to use a VPN for streaming on your Kindle Fire.
Barnes & Noble Nook Store: Best for Kids Books
If you don’t have Barnes & Noble’s Nook (their eReader), don’t fret. You can access their free titles through their Nook app, which can be used on your smartphone or tablet too. They have a wide selection, including indie, romance, and other grown up genres. However, they have some really good options for your kids. Everything from alphabet books to middle grade chapter books.
What We Love: It feels good to support one of the last remaining new book stores left, even if you’re not actually paying money. Also, the fact that you don’t need to have a Nook to access these titles is beyond handy.
What We Don’t Love: You’ll need a Nook account and credit card information to set up the account. No, you aren’t paying anything and it won’t be charged, but it can be less than ideal to go through all that trouble and have your credit card info stored like that.
Google Play Books: Best for Romance
Similar to the other services on this list, Google Play Books is available through various eReaders, tablets, or smartphones. As the name implies, this digital service is available through Google, and has a plethora of online books available, some even for free. The romance genre is particularly represented here, though be aware that some of these freebies are temporary, so read fast! By the way, Google Play has a lot more to offer than just books. Music, movies, all kinds of entertainment is accessible. Here’s some info on how to install Google Play on your Fire Stick.
What We Love: You can read from a mobile device or the actual website itself. You will need a Google account, though that is free to set up. If romance isn’t your thing, there are lots of other genres, including classics and other public domain media.
What We Don’t Love: Some of the free books, especially newer indie titles, may not be the best quality so it’s a bit limiting.
Libby Library App: Best for Popular Titles
Let’s be honest. Often free books are either really old or really obscure. Not the case with Libby. This app is run through the library system, giving you digital access to a huge catalogue of reading, including some New York Times bestsellers. What’s interesting is that these digital lending systems are causing a lot of controversy. Here’s an article about how the future of libraries is in jeopardy.
What We Love: Through the Apple CarPlay app (and other similar ones) you can listen to audio books. Magazines and eBooks are also available through a wide variety of platforms. Bookmarks and reading progress sync across multiple devices so you have a lot of choices on how to read. You can even download for offline reading.
What We Don’t Love: You have the option to read via your Kindle, if you prefer, but only in the U.S. You also need a library card for access.
Digital Public Library: Best for Historical Content
The DPL is an organization that provides millions of materials from scholarly and cultural institutions throughout the U.S. for people at home to enjoy. This is far more complex than just books, though they have plenty of digitalized tomes available too. Art, exhibitions, articles, artifacts, all manner of educational materials have been documented to explore. Public domain books, such as Sherlock Holmes, are also present.
What We Love: The sheer amount of U.S. history and culture is incredible. It’s a way of bringing museums and historical artifacts straight to your computer, including through the written work. An amazing opportunity for education, whether just for fun or for more traditionally scholarly pursuits.
What We Don’t Love: This is a very niche site. You won’t find the usual popular fiction here, nor will you find as much world history as you will American history. Still, limited as it is, it’s remarkable.
Wattpad: Best for Fanfiction and Original Content
This site may not come to mind first when you’re thinking of free book downloads, but it has a lot of hidden gems to keep a look out for. Wattpad is a writing site for anyone who wants to throw their self-published works up to read. Obviously this means a massive range in writing quality. Some will barely know how to form a sentence and others are so good they go on to have major book deals with the finest publishers out there. There’s a genre for everyone but one of the most popular, by far, is that of fanfiction. Yes, it can be silly. Yes, it can be laughable. But for many readers, it’s simply a blast. After all, 50 Shades of Grey started as fanfic.
What We Love: They have every genre and thousands of free options. You can also see how well a title is rated to get an idea if it’s worth your time so the scoring system is very handy. If you’re feeling creative it’s easy to post your own original writing too. You just never know.
What We Don’t Love: Let’s be honest. Writing is hard. Like, really hard. 80 percent of Wattpad is extremely rough in terms of quality. That said, if you like a good laugh or you have very niche fiction interests, it may be worth it to wade through the muck.