Now is as good a time as ever to build up your digital library without opening your wallet. Whether you prefer literary classics, more modern indie titles, or genre page-turners, this mix of archives, library platforms, and companies’ promotional pages offers thousands of free ebooks at the click of a button.
They are all legal and reliable, and have a certain polished quality. Nearly all offer EPUB files, which work on almost everything; a couple of retailers support direct delivery to the most popular e‑readers. Here is a professional guided tour of 10 highlights, along with pointers on how to read them on whatever you’ve got.
It’s Easier Than You Think to Get Free Ebooks
The future of libraries, the future of reading, and the future of bookstores are inextricably linked.
Library lending has been shifting increasingly to digital borrowing for years, offering public libraries a reprieve from fears of obsolescence.
But like the retail chain Borders before them, America’s public libraries now find themselves at an existential crossroads. Can they adapt quickly enough to a rapidly changing world? Conversely, can they keep up while reeling from what is arguably their biggest crisis since the Great Depression?
New Yorkers rely on public spaces more than perhaps anyone else in this country; the library system remains one of the great treasures. Its 90 branch locations provide services far beyond books alone — free classes for new immigrants learning English or high school graduates preparing for college placement exams; job training; after-school programs providing safe havens where children can learn and grow — making it a fundamental part, yet also as much under threat as any institution out there right now — turbulence that will directly inform how people across America live their everyday lives once this pandemic ebbs away.
Public libraries and schools delivered more than 662 million digital checkouts in 2023, a record year, according to OverDrive. Pew Research Center also reports that about a third of American adults read ebooks, illustrating again how mainstream the format has become.
How to Read Free Ebooks on Any Device You Own
EPUB is the most universal ebook format, supported by the iPad, iPhone, Kobo, and many apps. Kindle devices will accept EPUB via Mail to Kindle, and open‑source tools like Calibre convert formats for personal use. Look out for DRM, and stick with licensed sources in order to avoid access headaches down the line.
Here Are the 10 Best Sites for Free Ebooks
- Project Gutenberg: The original digital library, established in 1971, boasts more than 70,000 public‑domain titles. It offers clean text in the most popular ebook formats, from Shakespeare to Jane Austen and more. It’s the fastest way to get classics free of ads or gimmicks.
- Internet Archive: Great for extreme research and long‑out‑of‑print works, the Archive also offers texts that number in the tens of millions. Some items are direct downloads; others are available through controlled digital lending with timed borrowing periods. It is a treasure trove for the historian and for the curious general reader as well.
- Open Library: Constructed by the Internet Archive, Open Library pursues a goal: one page for every book ever published, with access to millions of digitized titles that can be borrowed for limited windows. It is great for finding ebooks of obscure or out‑of‑print titles that might otherwise be hard to locate on the web.
- Libby by OverDrive: If you have a library card, Libby gives you access to your public library’s ebook collection for free borrowing. Waitlists function like a physical library, but the selection is wide and modern, with best‑sellers and award winners. The interface is simple and perfect for reading offline.
- Hoopla Digital: Another library‑powered platform, Hoopla boasts instant borrows — no waitlists — across ebooks, comics, and audiobooks. Your library caps your monthly borrows, but everything is available immediately. It’s great for graphic novels and micro nonfiction that other apps don’t see.
- Standard Ebooks: A volunteer‑driven project that takes public‑domain texts and releases them as ebooks with a high standard of typography, content, layout, and design. You can browse hundreds of beautifully formatted editions that often read better than the paid‑storefront version.
- ManyBooks: A welcoming Reddit community hosts tens of thousands of free titles, including Project Gutenberg mirrors and indie submissions. Useful genre filters and editor’s picks make discovering books simple, and the site regularly shines a spotlight on hidden‑gem mysteries, romance novels, and historical fiction.
- Smashwords Store: An indie‑publishing mainstay, Smashwords carries over 90,000 free ebooks as well as paid titles. Discovery tools allow you to filter by price, length, and genre, so it’s easy to try new authors on for size. Since Smashwords’ integration with Draft2Digital, it has seen continued growth in its catalog reach.
- Feedbooks Public Domain: A curated collection of free public‑domain works, with solid formatting and metadata. It’s a nice alternative if you’d like a classic that looks sharp on high‑resolution screens and allows for clean table‑of‑contents navigation.
- Baen Free Library: A fan favorite for years, Baen has dozens of DRM‑free ebooks from its authors. (The selection does rotate and tends toward series starters and anthologies, but it’s a low‑risk way to discover some hard sci‑fi, space opera, and military SF voices.)
Smarter Searching and Staying Legal Online
When possible, filter for “free,” “public domain,” and “Creative Commons” licenses, and check for DRM‑free labels. Library platforms are always legit; for open repositories, the American Library Association and author‑publisher statements signal legal access.
Another piece of advice: Establish a routine. Subscribe to your library’s “newly added” feeds, monitor Standard Ebooks’ recent releases monthly, and try a few samples from Smashwords titles in genres you particularly enjoy. With a little curation, you can turn your email client into a personal reading pipeline that remains full — and free — year‑round.
